Comments by "Gordon Graham" (@gordonbgraham) on "What’s it like Teaching English in Japan ?" video.

I've taught English in Japan for 30 years. For the first 15, I was an ALT. It took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to get a teaching license from a Japanese university, which my school facilitated by giving me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan. Once I obtained my teaching license, my status was upgraded to full-time, salaried teacher and my salary increased considerably. People can't expect to advance in the workplace if they are functionally illiterate. Advancement is very much possible if you have the same credentials as Japanese teachers, meaning a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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@aGGeRReS It’s primarily due to the fact that Japanese high schools teach students to pass entrance exams, rather than for communication. Entrance exam content for good Japanese universities would be difficult for native English speakers. It’s native speaker university level. Japanese high school students are required to learn in 3 years what it takes a native speaker 20 to acquire. English conversation ability is not the goal of most Japanese...unless they are genuinely interested in English. Most students aren’t interested in English. English is foisted on them and they study it begrudgingly. It’s the same reason most Canadians can’t speak French, even though we have to learn it in school. We’re not interested in learning French and we don’t need it to survive. Japanese don’t need English because they have a strong economy and can find a good job which requires no English. These are a few of the reasons most Japanese don’t speak English. That said, many are fluent and those who are have far better grammar than most native speakers.
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@paulbarclay4114 A teaching license from another country is non-transferrable. To become a full-time teacher (not an ALT) a teaching license from a Japanese university is required. To obtain a teaching license from a Japanese university you first have to gain admission to a teacher's licensing program. In order to do so you have to be able to read and write at a minimum high school level. I was required to submit a hand-written 2000 word essay about pedagogy and language acquisition. It took me a full 15 years of diligent study to get to that level of proficiency. Once admitted, all of your courses will be in Japanese. All written work must be in Japanese as well.
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@aGGeRReS It’s a matter of addressing the students’ needs and wants. Competition is high in education in Japan. Parents choose schools based on the number of graduates that enter prestigious universities. There’s a lot to cover in the span of 3 years. Teachers are tasked with teaching the entirety of English grammar and vocabulary that it takes a native speaker into adulthood to acquire. It’s not like students aren’t acquiring knowledge. But, it’s like being able to read and write Mozart but not being able to play the piano. Which is the opposite for most foreigners living in Japan, most can speak Japanese after a few years, very few can read and write even after living here for 10 or more years.
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@marshallmhamad It can only be obtained through a licensing program at a Japanese university. I obtained my B.Ed from Rikkyo University. As a foreigner you'd have to satisfy the literacy requirement. I had to submit a hand-written 2000 word essay on language acquisition and pedagogy in Japanese. It took me a full 15 years of diligent study, 2 hours a day, 5 days a week to attain that level of proficiency.
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@jackfitzpatrick8173 I didn’t know a word of Japanese when I first arrived. If you’re lucky enough to get an ALT job at a junior high school or high school you’ll be teaching in the classroom with a Japanese teacher. To be a full time teacher, not a teaching assistant, you need a license from a Japanese university. If you do teach alone in a classroom you'll need Japanese because the students won't understand you otherwise. It's fine just using English when modelling the target language, but in terms of explaining grammar and setting up drills, you'll need to use Japanese.
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@Jordan-inJapan As of 3 years ago, the Ministry of Education has made it mandatory that teachers have a minimum of 40 days off a year. Our hours are also monitored remotely. We used to just sign in with a hanko in a paper ledger. Now we have to sign in digitally and all that information is on a database that the ministry has access to. I now work 8:30~5:00. We have also been mandated to have 2 days off a week. Our school has classes 6 days a week. I coach ice hockey as well, which means off ice training from 3:30~5pm, 3 times a week and on ice training twice a week, Wed evening from 8~9:30 and Sunday morning 7am~9am. I get paid extra for hockey outside of working hours. To be honest, I'd do the hockey for free as it's my passion.
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@aceent5145 I'm not sure about international schools. I imagine it depends on which country administers the school. University is different. I believe credentials are transferrable for professors. Some universities hire ALTs, but I believe they do so through dispatch companies like GABA. I only say this because that was the situation for the two people I've met who work as ALTs at a university. I'm uncertain to be honest. Yes, those school holidays include summer, spring and winter vacations. And, yes, a full-time teacher, regardless of nationality gets the same remuneration. As for ice hockey, it's a niche sport, however, it has over a 100 year history in Hokkaido where most of the strong teams are from. Outside of school, I run a youth ice hockey team that trains out of Kushiro, Hokkaido. You can see footage of our pee-wee team in a AAA tournament in Canada (pee wee is 11~12 year old, elementary school students) if you click on my name and see the video I've uploaded from the tournament. AAA is the highest level for youth ice hockey. Our teams have competed in Russia and Canada and have done very well. Our team won the bronze in the tournament the footage was taken from, losing only once, 6-3 to the number one team in Canada at the time, Burnaby Winter Club. We beat every other team by lopsided scores. Kids in Japan don't talk back to refs or get in fights. They are taught to respect officials, volunteers and opponents. They are so easy to coach because they listen carefully and do exactly what they're told...always, which is why they become so skilful at such a young age. 5 of our players have been drafted into major jr. programs in the US and Canada in the past three years. A big accomplishment for kids coming from a non-hockey nation. The biggest issue for our kids is finding them adequate competition. You can see by the video footage what they do against top AAA teams in Canada...They don't get that kind of competition here. So, we try to get teams from Russia, Canada etc. to come to Japan for our summer training camps and exhibition games.
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I've taught English in Japan for 30 years. The first 15, I was an ALT. It took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to get a teaching license from a Japanese university, which my school facilitated by giving me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan . Once I obtained my teaching license, my status was upgraded to full-time, salaried teacher and my salary increased considerably. People can't expect to advance in the workplace if they are functionally illiterate. Advancement is very much possible if you have the same credentials as Japanese teachers, meaning a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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@Sharkey007x For an ALT position or a conversation school teaching job all that is required is a B.A. in any field. Yes, all grammar in depth is taught. For example, next week there are mid-term exams. 1st year high school students are being tested for knowledge and application of the subjunctive clause (not only American but British forms...such as "Were it to rain, I would bring my umbrella", "Should it rain, I'll bring my umbrella" etc.), the passive voice, "The window was broken by Takuma.", "The Olympic Games are held every four years." and the past perfect tense, "She had already left by the time I arrived." That is for first year students! Spelling mistakes are deducted.
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Daenack Dranils the malcontent whose failure is everyone's fault but his own
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@maegalroammis6020 Teaching English with a teaching license from a Japanese university is a great job with a good salary, great benefits and 40 days off outside of your two days a week off. Does that sound “stupid”? The thing is stupid people can’t do it because you have to get that license by taking a full course load entirely in Japanese including all of your writing assignments, which are many which is why you have to be university level literate to get into an education program in a Japanese university in the first place. Stupid people can’t become fully licensed English teachers in Japan.
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@Pbe99 You’re welcome. Good luck. Gambatte!
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@jeric_delmundo I am a Canadian citizen. I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Many Canadian institutions are racist against white males. It only took me a year to be functional in Japanese, 5 to be conversational, but 15 to become literate. Learning to read and write Japanese takes a long time, especially at a university level.
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@marshallmhamad Full time teachers make ¥500,000 ~? I make ¥700,000 which is more than double what I made as an ALT, but I'm also a 30 year veteran and my time as an ALT was considered when determining my salary.
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@Greenforrest7342 Certainly, anyone can live comfortably in Japan without any Japanese skills whatsoever. I didn't even know "konnichi wa" when I first stepped off the plane. Initially, I lived in Chichibu which is a fairly remote, traditional town surrounded by mountains in the far reaches of Saitama, where very few people speak fluent English. Currently, there are English signs in train stations etc. but 30 years ago there were none, or very few anyway. Even still, I had no issues with navigating daily life. I'm talking about advancement in the workplace. Imagine expecting to advance in the workplace in North America, but not being able to read or write English. Japan is no different. An ALT is merely an assistant in the classroom who gives students an opportunity to hear English spoken by a native teacher. They do very little "teaching". Yes, wages have been stagnant for decades, but so have big ticket items like houses. I recently purchased a gorgeous 3 bedroom home on a 1\4 acre lot in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama, 5 minutes from my school, one hour from Ikebukuro, which is in the heart of Tokyo, proper, for the equivalent of $150,000 USD! The same home would have cost me 10 times that in my native Canada. Also, while it's true that wages have been stagnant, I make the equivalent of $70,000 as a full -time salaried teacher, while I made $30,000 as a "part-time" ALT. Part-time meaning full-time hours, part-time pay. Again, teaching English in Japan as an experience of living abroad for a short time is certainly a worthy pursuit which I highly recommend. However, for anyone who wants to make a career out of it, I recommend putting in the time to develop your Japanese reading and writing skills as that is the only way you'll be able to obtain a teaching license in Japan and enjoy the remuneration and job security which that brings.
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As an ALT, yes. As a teacher, it’s a requirement.
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@melid9 Permanent resident visa status, Canadian passport
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I've taught English in Japan for 30 years. The first 15, I was an ALT. It took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to get a teaching license from a Japanese university, which my school gave me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan to do. Once I obtained my teaching license, my status was upgraded to full-time, salaried teacher and my salary increased considerably. People can't expect to advance in the workplace if they are functionally illiterate. Advancement is very much possible if you have the same credentials as Japanese teachers, meaning a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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@pumpkin7889 That's true. Conversation school chains only require a B.A. in any field. The same for ALTs in the public school system. Conversation schools also favour those from British heritage English speaking countries. There are, however, quite a few foreign teachers from Asia in elementary, junior and senior high schools throughout Japan. Three of the four foreign language teachers at my high school are from Taiwan.
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@Pbe99 About the same...wages and prices have been stagnant for decades. You can make a lot of cash under the table doing private lessons. For example $20 per one hour class per student, 4 students per class, 2 classes 3 or 4 nights a week. If you learn to read Japanese at a high school level you can more than double your salary by obtaining a teaching license at a Japanese university. It took me 15 years to do so but was well worth the time and effort.
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@Pbe99 Around ¥300,000 ($2200) per month.
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@idlesfinx4777 For an ALT job (assistant language teacher) all that's needed is a B.A. in any field. To get a full-time salaried position you need a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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@Greenforrest7342 I think it would behoove them to have realistic expectations and realize that, like anything in life, it takes commitment and effort to succeed in any endeavor. To imagine that one could advance in the workplace merely by dint of being a wonderful foreigner who is proficient in English is extremely naive. A full-time teacher has many duties outside of the classroom that require the ability to both read and write Japanese at a minimum of native speaker, high school level. It honestly took me a full 15 years of diligent study (living in Japan) to attain that level of proficiency. I think that working as an ALT for a year or two is fine. It's a great way to come to Japan and enhance one's life though the experience of immersion in an entirely different culture, as well as having the ability to travel to other Asian countries with their close proximity and having summers off (if they work in a jr high school or high school). That said, anyone considering teaching English in Japan as a career, I highly recommend resigning yourself to the reality that you're going to have to put in a mountain of time and effort to achieve any kind of advancement in terms of both remuneration and status. I recommend patience and perseverance...as well as the understanding that most Japanese schools and businesses, in general, recognize and reward commitment.
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@marshallmhamad Yes, you need a teaching license for a teaching position. It doesn't matter if you've written 10 books on language acquisition and pedagogy, the license is a requirement. If you're interested in a career in education, I recommend you spend at least 2 to 3 hours a day learning to read and write Japanese, because you can only get into a teacher's training program if you are literate. You could come here as and ALT and start your own language school. ALT's salaries have been stagnant for 30 years. ALT's make from ¥250,000~¥300,000 per month with most falling under the ¥250,000 range. That's about $2000 USD per month. An ALT position is a good way to get your foot in the door then you can start to build up a private business by taking on students little by little. A friend of mine has 50 students who each pay ¥8000 per month. So, there is some ability to work independently. He works 4 days a week. Outside of teaching, Japan requires that foreign workers have a special skill that Japanese don't possess or are in short supply of.
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@marshallmhamad I'm a high school teacher so that's what I'm familiar with. I'm not sure about credentials for becoming a professor. I think you need a PhD, no? I'm pretty sure that's the minimum requirement. As for a full time teacher, for elementary school, jr. high school or high school, a teacher's license issued by a Japanese university is the minimum requirement. A teaching license from a foreign country is non-transferrable. A masters degree certainly helps, but will only get you an ALT position without the teaching license.
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Daenack Dranils That depends on what kind of teacher you decide to be. If you’re a good teacher then it’s most certainly not a waste of time. Also, if you’re a crappy teacher who simply uses teaching as a means to come to Japan and travel around then it’s a waste of your students’ time but not yours. It depends entirely on you. Yes, there are obstacles vis a vis the curriculum, but if you’re not up to such challenges then perhaps it’s you who are wasting others’ time.
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*still not get tenured
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@aceent5145 I'm not sure what professors make. I'm a high school teacher and make the equivalent of $70,000 per annum, including bi-annual bonuses and 手当, which is supplementary income for things like coaching, editing, coaching kids for "eiken" etc. I have 5 kids and live a comfortable middle class life. My wife only began working part-time 3 years ago, and not out of necessity. I also bring in a decent supplementary income with my youth ice hockey program, above and beyond my teacher's salary. So, there are opportunities to make a good living here. It depends entirely on the individual and his or her commitment. I'm from Canada, and can honestly say that the cost of living in Japan is much cheaper. I recently bought a beautiful traditional Japanese home in mint condition a 10 minute bike ride from my school, for the equivalent of $150,000 USD. I'm 50 minutes by train from Ikebukuro, which is in the heart of Tokyo proper. The same house would have cost me 10 times that in my native Canada. Also, we have universal health care (including dental and medicine), government subsidies for kids under high school age, used cars in mint condition for under $5000, $1000 if you don't care about style, all kinds of discount clothing, drug stores and dry goods stores. Income tax is also relatively low. For singles, rent is dirt cheap. You can rent clean one room apartments for as cheap as $250 a month! Bump that up to $400 and you can get a really nice place that you can make of what you will. Moving to Japan from Canada 30 years ago was the best decision I've ever made.
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@aGGeRReS It’s primarily due to the fact that Japanese high schools teach students to pass entrance exams, rather than for communication. Entrance exam content for good Japanese universities would be difficult for native English speakers. It’s native speaker university level. Japanese high school students are required to learn in 3 years what it takes a native speaker 20 to acquire. English conversation ability is not the goal of most Japanese...unless they are genuinely interested in English. Most students aren’t interested in English. English is foisted on them and they study it begrudgingly. It’s the same reason most Canadians can’t speak French, even though we have to learn it in school. We’re not interested in learning French and we don’t need it to survive. Japanese don’t need English because they have a strong economy and can find a good job which requires no English. These are a few of the reasons most Japanese don’t speak English. That said, many are fluent and those who are have far better grammar than most native speakers.
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I've taught English in Japan for 30 years. The first 15 I was an ALT. It took me a full 15 years to become literate enough to get a teaching license from a Japanese university, which my school gave me a year's hiatus and an interest-free loan to do. Once I obtained my teaching license, my status was upgraded to full-time, salaried teacher and my salary increased considerably. People can't expect to advance in the workplace if they are functionally illiterate. Advancement is very much possible if you have the same credentials as Japanese teachers, meaning a teaching license from a Japanese university.
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Indians can be teachers. *They can't be *a teacher.
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He’s an ALT not a teacher. Their role is to give kids an opportunity to use English. If he were to speak Japanese to the kids it would defeat his purpose.
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You need a teaching license from a Japanese university to teach English in an elementary school, jr.high school or high school. ALTs don't teach, they facilitate learning by providing students with an example of native speaker pronunciation as well as an opportunity to communicate with a native speaker. Teaching licenses from foreign countries are non-transferrable, which is why there are very few certified foreign teachers in Japan.
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Mispronouncing the L sound has no effect on being understood or not. The greater impact is from the mispronouncing of vowel sounds which is just as much or more common, and it goes both ways, for foreigners speaking Japanese and Japanese speaking English. For the first year or so, I'd often get two coffees when I ordered one...I was pronouncing the "o" in "hitotsu" like a short o in English.
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@pumpkin7889 I have noticed more than a few English teachers here who have a remarkable lack of English grammar knowledge.
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*revert to~ *improvement in~
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@Mansplainer452 Certainly, immersion type learning would be optimal, but would have to occur at an earlier stage and carry on through to include more than just English class per se. I think we’re in agreement on that. The issue in Japan is students are tasked with learning the entirety of the English language within the span of 6 years, as native speaker level knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary is what is required for the difficult entrance exams of Japanese universities. Have you seen entrance exams for national universities in Japan, let alone prestigious universities like Tokyo, Kyoto or Waseda? High school students in Canada would have difficulty with them! Meaning, the amount of knowledge required in 6 years is equivalent to the amount of knowledge it takes a native speaker close to 20 years to attain! Students drown in a sea of information they find extremely foreign. Afrikaans is derived from Dutch which is similar to English, so there is somewhat of an advantage for Dutch or English speakers. You’ve noted, yourself, that in 3 years of immersion in Japan you were barely conversational. It was the same in my case. It took me 5 years to be conversational, 10 to become fluent and 15 years of diligent study to become literate! I’ve taught at a private high school in Japan for 30 years, half of those as an ALT. It wasn’t until I was able to read and write in Japanese at a minimal high school level that I was able to enter a Japanese university to obtain a teaching license and become a full-time teacher. It’s impossible to teach kids who can’t speak English complex grammatical structures that are as dissimilar to their language as English is to Japanese, which is why English is a requirement for high school teachers, not merely a benefit. Try teaching the subjunctive clause or future perfect progressive tense entirely in English to a class of high school students. You’d be looking at a room full of blank stares. Certainly, you could teach them functional language such as that for ordering food or asking for directions, gesturing could make up for gaps in understanding. However, with the amount of vocabulary and grammar students are required to learn in such a short period it’s not practical to use only English in the high school classroom. Elementary school? Yes.
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It depends on your background. I obtained a teaching license from a Japanese university and enjoy a full-time position at a prestigious high school with a pretty decent remuneration including a full severance package upon retirement, health insurance, including dental and medicine (I have 5 kids so in dental alone that has saved me at least $20,000), and 2 full months paid holidays a year...as well as bi-annual bonuses of 2 and a half months salary each. Kids here are so well disciplined that teaching is a walk in the park. Moving to Japan from Canada 30 years ago was the best decision I've ever made.
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@jeric_delmundo It took me 15 years to become proficient enough in writing to be accepted into the education program of a Japanese university. The course itself took a year. The reason I came to Japan in the first place was after graduating summa cum laude, in the top 2% of my graduating year and with 2 academic awards to my name, I was told, in my interview for the education programme at York University in Toronto, that they were not currently accepting white males. Despite an exemplary academic record I was turned down by 15 subsequent universities in Canada. So, to answer you question...systemic racism made me leave Canada.
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More Japanese teach English in Japan.
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