Advice for Non-Native English Speakers: Getting a Job Teaching English in Japan
Disclaimer
I am a native speaker of English myself. The content for this post comes from my experience teaching English in Japan over the past seven years. During that time I have worked with teachers from Japan, Germany, Romania, France, the Netherlands, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This information also comes from many conversations about the teaching of English with my good friends Adina, Uli, and Kylie. Check out their stories here.
Is it possible to teach English in Japan as a non-native speaker?
The simple answer is yes. And it’s actually very common, at least from what I’ve seen. Many Asians and Europeans from non English speaking countries are working in conversation schools around Japan. This post will look at the state of English teaching in Japan particularly with a view to how someone could get a job teaching English in Japan as a non-native speaker of English.
As a non-native English speaker you’ll come up against two main difficulties. The first is that Japan, especially the bigger cities, is a desirable place to live for foreigners to live. This increases the competition for jobs in those areas. The second difficulty is a preconception that a lot of Japanese people have that English can only be taught by native speakers. This is coupled with another more disturbing preconception that all native English speakers are of European heritage.
Only with a small percentage of students does it matter that you’re a native speaker
During my seven years teaching English at conversation schools in Japan, only on three or four occasions have the students benefitted directly from my being a native speaker. There were a few students that wanted to do post-graduate study in the UK. Their goal was to reach a high level in the academic IELTS. They needed a high level critique of their spoken and written arguments. And there was one further student whose speaking ability was very high and he wanted a lesson that was just discussing and debating current affairs topics. Other than these few exceptions, every other student out of the hundreds that I’ve taught could have been taught just as well by a non-native speaker who was fluent in English.
What do you mean by “fluent”?
That is an interesting question because the word “fluent” has different meanings for different people. In my opinion, to teach English in Japan you must meet these two requirements.
- A large enough vocabulary that you’re able to have a wide variety of everyday conversations.
- Have the fluency to carry on those conversations without being tripped up by the grammar every few sentences. You don’t have to be 100% accurate with your grammar (native speakers aren’t) but you can’t have it constantly interrupting the flow of your conversation.
If you’ve learned English as a second language and you meet the above two requirements I am confident that your grammar knowledge is high enough to teach. In fact, you probably have a far better knowledge of English grammar than many native speakers, myself included.
Why do all the advertisements ask for native speakers?
It’s not the quality of the teaching that makes a lot of English schools in Japan seek native speakers. It’s the idea that exists in Japan that you can only learn English from a native speaker. I can only comment about what I’ve seen first hand, but I believe that this idea exists because of the following factors:
- Japan is a largely mono-cultural society which, in general, is notoriously bad at speaking English. This is even though their reading and listening comprehension is very high. Japanese people don’t see non-native speakers speaking English (or Japanese for that matter) on a daily basis.
- It’s a society where perception is very important. The fact that the teacher “looks” like an English teacher is very important. Perhaps it is just as important as the teacher’s ability.
- Japan’s knowledge of the rest of the world can be somewhat patchy. That’s not too surprising given that it’s a very insular country. The people don’t have to look outside Japan for movies, TV shows, music, or sport. Because of this their knowledge of other countries can be quite general.
An example of the lack of knowledge
I have a good friend here in Japan who is from Fiji. She has Fijian and Indian heritage. English is an official language of Fiji along with Fijian and Fiji Hindi. And due to British Colonisation, English was the sole official language until 1997. She has been speaking English her whole life and did all of high school and university in English. Despite this she gets shocked looks when she enters a classroom to teach English here in Japan. One student (an adult) went so far to ask her, “Do you know English?”
Advice to non-native English speakers looking to teach English in Japan
Be good at speaking English
It’s the obvious one, of course, and I won’t spend any more time on it. Just remember that your English will probably be judged through a Skype conversation rather than a reading or grammar test. So if you haven’t done much conversation practice where you can’t rely on gesture, that’s something you could look at doing.
Get Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification
There is a lot of information out there on TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), and I don’t feel the need to rehash it here. All I really want to say is that having one is something that will give you an advantage over competitors for your first job. Having quick flick through job listings on Ohayo Sensei, about 50% of jobs listed say TESL/TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certification preferred. Some go so far as to say it is required.
My philosophy on TEFL qualifications is that they’re good until you get your first job. And then your experience in the job is more important than anything you would have learned through the study. It’s to help you get your first job, especially if you’re applying from outside Japan, that the qualifications are important.
Learn Japanese
As a job-seeker who might be second choice to a native speaker, you should be looking to fill another need within the school. One thing that I have found is that because the barrier to entry is so low for native English speakers, often their Japanese ability is also very low. This can benefit you if you can speak Japanese. In English conversation schools there is often a need for teachers that speak English and Japanese. Sometimes a child is too shy to be in an immersion English class, and sometimes there is an adult whose ability is so low that they need explanation in Japanese. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that 90% of the non-native English speakers that I know in Japan have excellent Japanese.
Aim to teach children
The majority of non-native English speakers that I know, or know of, in Japan teach children. It is generally considered that it is less important for the teacher to be a native speaker of English if the students are kindergarten or elementary school aged. Teaching children at a conversation school also limits the amount of conversation that can come up during the class, and you’ll likely always be teaching from a textbook. That not only makes it easier for the teacher but it also gives the employer confidence that you won’t be out of your depth.
Look outside the main centres
Most foreigners to Japan want to live in the big cities. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and moving on down the list as the populations decrease. Because these big cities are so desirable for foreigners the competition for jobs is very high. If it doesn’t bother you where in Japan you live, I advise you to look at some of Japan’s lesser known prefectures. The two islands Shikoku and Kyushu would be a good place to start, as would the north of Japan. These places are often struggling to attract foreigners. On top of this, the smaller cities in Japan and the Japanese countryside are absolutely beautiful.
Patience and Perseverance
This could be advice given to any job seeker. Perhaps more so when you are looking for a job in Japan. You will get rejection letters, and some companies won’t even respond. Don’t be offended or discouraged, just cross them off your list and move on. Getting a job anywhere depends on being in the right place with the right skills at the right time. There is an element of luck to it. What you need to do is get yourself in a position to capitalise on your opportunities when they come up.
HELLO, am a senior high school teacher seeking for an english teaching job for childrens and adults. I had been teaching oral communications in english, reading and writing, practical research for shs and been in the teaching field for 30 years. I am so much fascinated with japan thats why I wanted to work there. I am a fun and loving teacher with students.I can also handle staffs if in case were a group because as a matured fifty four years old person I can manage other teaching staff.Hoping to find a good job for me there.
Hi Lucy,
How is your job hunt going? I’d be very interested to hear about how you’re getting along.
As I said above in the post, I believe that there are more opportunities when you look to teach in smaller private conversation schools.
Keep your eye on job listings like those on Gaijin Pot jobs and Ohayo Sensei.
Good luck!
Nath
Hey Nath and thank you for the very informative and encouraging email!
I am a Lebanese Anesthesiolgist who has become jaded with both my career and country and looking for a change. Working in the medical field in Japan is borderline impossible for foreigners since you have to have N1 level and add to that a knowledge of Medical Japanese to pass the licensing exam. This is why I have been considering teaching English as a career. My partner and I have been to Japan three times, inclyding the time of writing this comment (we are currently stuck here since our home airport is closed).
My question is : i’ve been checking the websites gaijin pot and ohayo sensei, but every single job listing specifically asks for 1- Native Speaker and 2- must currently reside in Japan.
As there is no chance for Lebanese nationals to get a working holiday visa, any application I must send must be from back home. We have no problem living in a rural area or working with kids. Tokyo and Osaka sure are nice but it’s nice to be able to settle in somewhere a bit calmer – get to know the community – make some meaningful friendships, etc.
To note I haven’t yet applied to any teaching posts as I am yet to muster the courage to send an application where I do not fulfill any of the requirements. Also I had been considering quitting my day job for a while and with Lebanon’s ongoing economic and political troubles , this consideration has been set as a priority.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks again
Alec
Hi Alec,
Thank you for the great comment and questions.
Apologies for the late reply.
I hope you have been able to get home and are not still stuck in Japan.
Yes, I know what you mean by them asking for “Native speakers” in the job listing. My advice is to ignore it. In saying that, I would always be upfront with the schools about the position that you’re in. State in the first few sentences of your email or cover letter what your circumstances are. Something along the lines of, “I’m not a native speaker but I’ve studied English for … and I believe my ability is…”.
I think there is a trend away from “Native Speaker only” to “Native Level Speaker” but I understand when you’re seeing “Native Speakers only” in job listing after job listing it must be pretty discouraging.
I only have experience in one prefecture in Japan, that is Ehime on the island of Shikoku. From what I’ve seen, other than the top nationwide English conversation schools. Nova, Berlitz etc… the other privately owned, smaller conversation schools are much more concerned about your ability than they are about whether you’re a native speaker or not.
As you know from my article I’ve worked with a German, two Romanians, four Dutch people, a French guy. These people are all in full-time work over here.
The “must currently reside in Japan” is also an interesting one. There are a large number of foreigners in Japan who look to change jobs at some stage. I think these schools are looking to snap them up when they’re in Japan looking to change jobs so the schools don’t need to go through the hiring process with an applicant from overseas. The overseas hiring process is not too difficult, but of course it’s easier if the new employee already has a working visa.
I hope this reply has been of some help. Don’t let fear stop you. Just email some places cold with no expectations and see what happens. I don’t think any school minds getting a query email, and if they do they will just ignore it.
Good luck,
Thank you so much for replying! I’ll get to it and do as you say. No harm done, right?
If anything else comes to mind please feel free to let us know as anything you say would be useful at this point.
Regards
I am a fresh educator of 27 years old.i am a govt teacher at punjab school education department in sialkot Pakistan. I have 6 years experience of teaching with pre school and kindergarten students. I want to get English teacher job in any area of Japan. Can you assist me in my search of a good company or school???
Hi Maryam,
I would be very happy if I was able to help you. What stage of the job search are you at? Have you been applying to different companies? As I say in the post, I believe that your best shot is to apply at smaller private conversation schools. Please let me know how you are getting along.
Please tell me about vacancies available at private conversation schools??
Hi Maryam,
Please have a look at this website: https://www.ohayosensei.com/current-edition.html
There are hundreds of jobs listed. This site is a little difficult to navigate because there are no search fields to narrow down your search. But just use the “find” function on your computer “control F” on a pc, “command F” on a Mac. You can then narrow down the search by keywords such as where you would like to live, for example “Ehime”, or the type of work you would like to do, for example “kindergarten”.
This is also a good job hunting resource: https://jobs.gaijinpot.com/index/index/lang/en
Please let me know how you get on,
Nath
Hi there,
I have a slightly different question.
I am from a non English speaking country, though I am a native English speaker for all intents and purposes.
I was looking into the JET program/interac and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get in that way.
I was wondering if you know of a way to become an ALT in the public schools without going through those specific programs.
I am not keen on starting in an eikaiwa because I feel my teaching skills are still lacking, and being an ALT in a classroom with an established and experienced teacher will give me the experience and confidence I need to eventually teach unassisted.
Any and all help would be appreciated
Hi Kiri,
Thank you so much for your comment.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure JET has countries they deal with specifically and if you don’t fall in one of those that’s the end of that.
A lot of the ALTs in Japan do come from JET or a dispatch company like Interac. But some don’t. I’m an ALT in a small city, and all 14 of the other ALTs are JETs and I’m the only direct hire. I’m employed directly by the Board of Education. I’m sorry I don’t know how to tell you to do that. I was told about the job at my local International Centre. I can tell you that some city’s / prefectures don’t take JETs (Osaka is the place that’s always given as an example). There must be information around about how to get jobs there.
But, I’m not sure that I agree that starting as an ALT is a better idea than an eikaiwa. My main reason is that at an eikaiwa they expect you to start with no experience and they give you training from there. Being an ALT varies from school to school and from teacher to teacher. At elementary schools you do find teachers that want to run their own classes, but you also have some that can speak no English, are afraid to look silly in front of their class, have had no English teaching training, and will make you do everything. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be, but it’s the reality at times.
I’d love to know how your job searching goes, keep in touch.
Nathan
Hello, Nath.
I am from Indonesia but I have learnt English ever since elementary school through local English courses. I would like to apply as an English teacher in Japan but it seems like, as others have mentioned it, require us to be native speaker and or experiences. I also stumbled on a “12 years education with English as its medium” requirement. I wonder if learning in English course count or not.
Anyway, I would like to know where should I start from? I have been looking around tenshoku.mynavy.com but most companies look like high profile and I had no luck so far. I am thinking to get TEFL course if necessary but my budget is pretty tight. If it really is necessary, could you recommend me which TEFL course should I enroll to? Preferably online, of course.
Thank you, I wish you could help me.
Sincerely,
Nicholas F.
Hi Nathan! Ive been learning and speaking English since I was born I might as well be a native speaker but of course my passport says otherwise (lol!) l just started my Japan job hunt and I wanted to ask you if there are other reliable websites other than ohayosensei and gaijinpot? Working in Japan has been dream since my first year of uni but my nationality has always made me doubt myself from thinking it’ll ever happen 🙁 This whole corona-border-closure is certainly not helping either.
Hope to hear from you soon and stay safe always!
xx
Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Gaijin Pot and Ohaiyosensei were the ones that were always good for me. A quick google found me a few that I hadn’t heard of. One’s near the top of the search results were https://www.daijob.com/en/ and https://jobsinjapan.com . There’s also https://www.yolo-japan.com/en/ .
Yeah, it’s an interesting time. Please let me know how you get on with your job hunt.
Nathan
Dear Nath, thank you for taking the time to keep this post up and running. I have tried my luck at using gaijinpot or ohayosensei and even sent direct applications to the ALT dispatch companies. None of them answered. The only company to respond to my inquiry was Educareer. They were very nice in pointing out that living abroad, not having any formal teaching experience, and being a non native speaker were the most glaring handicaps. By now I have lost hope, but I keep filling an application every now and then.
I know perseverance is key, but by now I have lost hope. Getting an online TEFL or TESOL certification is also a nightmare in Lebanon since they have blocked all our international transactions (due to the ongoing economic crisis) and we can’t pay for anything on a foreign website. Any other tips to follow?
Thanks again
Hi Alec,
Sorry it’s a really tough situation.
It’s difficult for me to comment on so specific a situation because the pandemic has really shaken things. I think a lot of the smaller privately owned conversation schools are not even considering hiring outside Japan at the moment because there’s no telling when people will be allowed to travel in.
One thing that I could do is have a look at your cv / resume though. Feel free to send it through to my email writeteachjapan@gmail.com and I will have a look at it and offer you any tips I have.
I hope the situation where you are is improving.
Nath
Teaching English in Japan is really fantastic as teaching environment in japan is very cool and friendly.I have been teaching English for the last 20 years particularly to the young learners exploiting my creativity and innovation.I completed my Master Degree in English Language from Dhaka University in 1990.I have been trained on ELT from British Council,Dhaka,Bangladesh in 1990.I enjoyed Academic Supervision training from UK in 1990 and School Management training from Malaysia in 2003.Teaching English is my passion.I would like to more professional in the field of teaching English supporting young learners abroad.To meet the diverse needs of young learners is an interesting part for me to deal with.
Hello, I have a few questions. I am from Serbia and I’ve been learning English for 12 years formally, had it in elementary and high school. I plan to study either Japanese language, literature and culture or English language, literature and culture at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology. But I’ve read that in order to get the Visa needed to teach in Japan you need 12 years of English education so that English is actually used as a medium of instruction, not just as a subject as in my situation. Is that true? Is my said experience not enough for the Visa? Of course, after I graduate from university. I would be okay with teaching in eikaiwas or anywhere for that matter, as long as it’s in Japan. Is there hope for me? I am asking because I want to know is it worth it for me to study those subjects, with the hope of coming to Japan. It would mean a lot if you could help me with this a bit. Thanks in advance!
I heard back from a few friends who are non-native speakers and teaching English in Japan. One of them told me that they remember having to prove that they studied English for 7 years. Another said that she wasn’t even required to take an English proficiency test.
Though I’m not comfortable giving a direct yes / no answer, this is the information that I have at the moment.
After a quick web search this was the only site that I found that mentioned “12 years of English study”: https://www.teachaway.com/blog/teaching-english-japan-what-are-requirements
I will try and get in touch with the writer to ask about where that information came from.
I do know that a lot of company’s ask for minimum English language study / ability before they will sponsor you to get a visa, perhaps that’s where the confusion is.
Hey Petar,
I just wanted to alert you to an answer I found to your question. Please look at the response I gave to Laura below.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Nath
As far as I know, that is not part of the visa requirements for a working visa but it may be a requirement for a company looking to hire you.
Actually, I’m going to ask around and get back to you.
Hi Nath, thanks for keeping this comment section up and running. You said to let you know on my job hunting update and here it is:
I managed to get a dispatch company to sponsor my Visa but because of the recent travel restrictions on non residents of Japan until 31st Jan 2021, immigration isnt taking any new visa applications until restrictions ease. So hopefully after that I’ll be able to get my COE. Fingers crossed!
Stay safe always x
Hi Nath,
I’m from Germany and want to teach English in Japan. Initially everything you wrote here gave me a lot of hope, especially since I’m currently doing my TEFL certificate. But after reading what Teachaway said on their website (for example that people without a passport from an English speaking country or people without an English education for at least 12 years have no chance to obtain the required visa), I’m fairly discouraged. Interestingly, I’m not able to find a reliable source regarding this problem, only the Teachaway website. Do you maybe know where I could find a reliable source of information? The problem for me is that I have studied English in school for seven years and that I have studied it in university for another five years, but I didn’t obtain a bachelor’s degree and am now in the process of obtaining a bachelor’s degree in a different subject that doesn’t have anything to do with English. Would that still count for the twelve year thing?
It is my absolute dream to live and work in Japan and I honestly am at my wit’s end right now. Thank you in advance for any help you’re able to give!
Hey Laura,
Thanks for taking the time to leave a message.
I think you’re talking about this article: https://www.teachaway.com/blog/teaching-english-japan-what-are-requirements
It was only brought to my attention a week or so ago and I was puzzled by it as well. But this is what I’ve found out:
There are two different categories of Work Visa that you can teach English under in Japan.
David Olsen in the above Teachaway article is talking specifically about the “Instructor” category of the Work Visa.
Here are the pertinent points:
In most cases, the Applicant must have graduated from university or must hold a license to teach the subject that she will be teaching.
In addition:
When the Applicant intends to teach a foreign language, she must have been educated in that language for at least 12 years,
For teaching other subjects, the Applicant requires at least five years’ teaching experience in that subject, and
The Applicant should receive no less remuneration than would a Japanese national for comparable work.
Please see this link for more details.
https://www.japanvisa.com/visas/japan-instructor-visa
This category of Work Visa is the one you must have if you work in a public school: elementary, junior high school, or high school. It is the category of visa that ALTs get.
The other category that you can teach English under is the Japan Specialist in Humanities Visa.
This is the category of Visa that allows you to teach in Eikawa (English language schools) in Japan.
This link is for the specific page regarding The Japan Specialist in Humanities Visa.
https://www.japanvisa.com/visas/japan-specialist-in-the-humanities-visa
And this link is for the site I got the information from.
https://www.japanvisa.com/japan-work-visa-solutions
The bottom line seems to be that you will not be able to get the Instructor Visa to teach in the public school system in Japan. But you will be able to get the Specialist in Humanities Visa that will allow you to teach in private English language schools.
I hope that this allays your fears a bit. Let me know if you have any further questions.
I intend to update my own post with this information as soon as I can.
Nath
Hi Nath,
I am from Romania and I would want to teach English in Japan. Currently, I am in my 3rd year (out of 4) for my Maths Degree in Scotland and I ‘ve been in the UK for the last 5 years and a bit.
I would be interested in the teaching opportunity since I am not sure at the moment if I can become a secondary Maths school teacher in Scotland as soon as I finish my degree (it would be more advantageous if I had any sort of teaching experience before I start the course for it, just in case). So, the opportunity in Japan looks great to me, since I could use a change of pace and get a good amount of experience in a different environment (preferably at least 1 year).
Is there anything in particular that I should look out for? I already read through Adina and Uli’s experiences, so any extra tips would help.
This is mostly to see what I should prepare in advance, in case I wanna fully commit for the opportunity in Japan.
Thank you very much for the help. The articles were packed with helpful information for my case, but I am still stressed out about any important points that I should keep in mind.
Hey!! I want to be an English teacher in Japan. If someone here can suggest me for the same, I will be really grateful
Regarding the “Only with a small percentage of students does it matter that you’re a native speaker” section, I’m not really sure why you assume that a non-native, college educated English teacher couldn’t hold a high level conversation about current affairs or give useful feedback for an advanced, university level student.