In Japan, English teachers are in high demand due to the low number of English speakers among Japanese people. Since Japan has been striving to become a more international country as well as expanding outward, the number of people wanting to learn English has greatly increased in the past years. Therefore, it is the most popular career field among foreign workers in Japan since Japanese language is not necessary.   The requirements to teach English in Japan are not too complicated. For the most part they require that your first language is English, a bachelor’s degree of any type, TELF certification, and depending on what facility you teach at they will require a certain amount of experience. There are many different types of English teaching jobs that you can do if you decide to teach English in Japan. You can teach kids, teenagers, adults or mix and match. It all will depend on your preference of students you would like to work with. Once you decide what type of students you would like to teach you can look into the different type of facilities are available for jobs. There are four different types of teaching jobs available to foreigners for all grade levels:

• ALT (Assistant Language Teacher), or teaching jobs within the Japanese public school system. Here you generally teach kids from elementary school to high school students allowing you to have normal work schedule Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 5 pm. Sometimes you might have to work Saturdays but generally it is a standard schedule.
• Teaching at preschool and kindergarten schools. This job might require more experience with teaching children, since it is much different than teaching teens and above. Here you might have to have a bigger connection with not only the students, but the parents as well since they will want to be aware of how their kids are doing. The work hours are similar as the ALT jobs where it is more standard.
• Business English teaching is another rising type of job where you teach to businessmen/women that are looking to learn a higher level of English skills for their job. A lot of companies now hire specific English schools that help teach their employees English in order to use in their business. For this type of English teaching you might need a more structured lesson plan and will be in a more formal setting.
• Teaching jobs at private language institutes (also known as English conversation schools or Eikawas). Will range with the type of students you will encounter from teenagers to elderly. Students in these facilities will be more motivated to learn English since they are going out of their way to learn English in a more serious manner. Since it is a non-standard school, work schedule might be at non regular working times such as weekends and evenings, since most students will attend after work or when they are free. At Eikaiwas unlike the two previous types of jobs it is likely to be paid by lesson rather than a standard pay the whole day. So, it’ll depend more on how many customers you have.

  English teaching is one of the few industries where you can work at most major cities in Japan, since they are now increasing the demand for English schools around the country. It is a great way to be able to come to Japan and experience what it’s like living here, Japanese culture, and more! We hope you were able to get some insight into the English teaching industry! Thank you for reading!