Teaching Japan: You’re a Teacher?
This is part of a series of articles about the experience of living abroad and teaching English for AEON. These represent only my viewpoint and are not sponsored in any way.
I will present both the positive and negative. Ask questions! I tend to gloss over some details while going too far into others.
When you tell people “I taught English in Japan,” they tend to make certain assumptions. Like the assumption that you actually are a teacher or went to school for education.
Well I can testify that not I nor a single person I taught with at my school had planned on going into education when we received our college degrees. Personally I have a degree in Psychology and a minor in Philosophy. I’m great at generating random bullshit for hours on end with little to no prompting. However, I was not a teacher, which any teacher can tell you, is a much different set of skills.
The general requirements for teaching in Japan are as follows: a college degree, 12 years of education in English, and a passport or ability to get a passport. Yep, that’s it. What they are looking for is not some specific background, what they look for is the right kind of personality. If you’re nice, energetic, and adaptable you can teach abroad.
So yes, I was a teacher, and no, I am not a teacher.
A lot of Koreans come here to be taught English, even by college students or anyone who can speak English. I even experienced teaching a Korean kid English for $2/hr.
AEON doesn’t hire teachers. They hire sales people who look nice in ads, for which they will not be paid extra. They hire sales people who will sell lessons and materials. They rehire those who will not bring up their hiring contract or dispute the issue of unpaid overtime. In short, they exploit fresh graduates who think they can teach without any substantial credentials or intensive training. None of my co-workers or colleagues had any background in teaching. They worked hard in the classroom but harder to present themselves as experts during sales campaigns. Although me students were happy with my lessons, my management team and trainer were not satisfied because I raised valid legal objections about unpaid work. I loved the students yet hated the company. If you want to be a true teacher, get a credential and teach at a school that puts its students before its profit margin.