The general process is as follows:

1. You apply for a position, have the interview(s), then hopefully you will be accpeted.

2. You will have to gather some documents, such as a copy of your university diploma (sometimes you may have to send your original), a copy of your valid passport, passport photos, and a signed contract. You will have to send this to the company in Japan that has hired you.

3. The company, who has hired you and is sponsoring your visa, will then send your documents to the Immigration bureau in Japan. From that point, there is usually a 4 to 6 weeks wait for the immigration bureau to process something called a Certificate of Eligibility. Once this is processed, it will be sent to you by your company.

4. You must now take the Certificate of Eligibility, along with some other documents, and bring or mail it to your nearest Japanese consulate. You are now applying for the actual visa that goes in your passport. This can take between 3 to 5 business days. Once this is done, you are ready to go.

So all this can take at least 2 months.

You also have to think about booking your flight, buying some travel medical insurance for the first few weeks (to cover you before you get Japanese national health insurance), and tying up any loose ends you have at home.

If you are set on teaching in Japan this spring, you should be applying right now!

From the schools point of view, public institutions such as public schools and universities will continue to hire foreign teachers. Education through public institutions is not a “luxury” or an “extra curricular”, so the demand for teachers here will probably continue. In addition, although the global economy is on a downturn, English, as a global language, is and will still be a necessity. The schools that are most effected are the private language schools or as they are called in Japan and Korea, eikaiwas and hagwons. These are the “extras” in peoples lives, and as consumer spending is cut down, so will the tuition towards these schools, which are private businesses. If these schools have a tough time of keeping students in the class, then they will have to cut down, and therefore decrease the number of teachers that are hired.

From a teachers point of view, although working for a private language school might give you a higher salary, working in a public institution will give you more stability, and you won’t have to be thinking everyday, “Is the school I work for gonna go under?” Teaching overseas might still be attractive to teachers since the unemployment rate in their home country may be rising, whereas the English language industry continues to have a high demand. It actually might be a good time go travel and live abroad if a teacher does not have any significant responsibilities back home, such as a mortgage payment.

Regarding currency exchange, as of today, November 22 2008, there is quite a disparity between working in Korea and Japan, and then exchanging the money a teacher makes into US dollars. Today, on www.xe.com, if you exchanged a 2.1 million won (typical salary in Korea) into US dollars, the amount would be a bit over $1400.00 US dollars. Where as, if you exchanged 250,000 yen (typical salary in Japan) into US dollars, the amount would be a bit over $2600.00 US dollars. This his a huge difference. Remember, 3 or 4 months ago, the difference may have been just a few hundred dollars. But please remember that this is now, and exchange rates can change dramatically. Although Korea’s economy doesn’t look liks it’s going to improve anytime soon, the strength of the Japanese yen is also not sustainable, so it will probably come down. But I’m not an economist, so don’t take my word for it.

These are just some of my thoughts on the EFL industry and how it is being affected by this financial madness. Please let me know your thoughts.

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In general, it doesn’t hurt take one of these courses because it will give you a good background on how many of the schools, especially private language schools, approach their lessons. Many of these courses focus on the “communicative approach” which focuses on interactive lessons and practical use of the English language, as opposed to just learning from a textbook. I would suggest to everyone thinking about taking one of these courses to avoid doing it online. Taking these courses in a real classroom setting will give you a chance to learn and practice with real people, it’s interactive, and more fun. Also, you’ll make some new friends, some of whom may be thinking about traveling to the same country as you.

If you are going to take a course, make sure it has a minimum of 100 hours. For South Korea, having one of these certificates can increase your salary, but they won’t consider it unless it has the minimum 100 hours. In Japan, some position do require these courses in addition to a teacher’s experience, especially if you are trying to get away from the regular eikaiwa (conversational schools) positions, and many of the Assistant Language Teacher positions in public schools.

If you are thinking about pursuing a long term career in teaching English, then I would suggest that you think about doing a Master’s Degree in TESOL, Master’s Degree in Education with a specialization in TESL, or a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics with TESL. Having these credentials will open up doors to university level positions.

If you’re just getting started, it might be a good idea to take one of these courses. But don’t put too many of your resources into it. There are plenty of courses that offer the 100 hours, and the cost is reasonable at less than $1000.00.

If you have any questions or thoughts please send us a message.

The current financial crisis / credit crunch has spread from the the USA to all over the world. How does this affect your plans to go abroad to teach English?

Most recently, the Korean Won is at a 10 year low against the US dollar. This means that your US dollars will go along way in Korea, but whatever amount of Korean Won you have saved is now worth less than what it would have been a few months ago if you are going to exchange it to US or Canadian dollars. This is unfortunate, as many teachers go to Korea to save up money to pay back student loans they incurred during university.

In contrast, the Japanese Yen is quite strong and steady at the moment. If you’ve been teaching in Japan for the last year, you probably have noticed that the 250,000 Yen you received the first month would have been worth about $2200.00 USD (approximate), whereas currently the 250,000 Yen is worth about $2450.00 USD (approximate).

So if you’re thinking about teaching in Korea or Japan, you’re thinking to yourself, “in which country would I be financially better off when I exchange the money I saved back to US dollars?” If you compare just the standard salary amounts, you would currently be better off going to Japan. But, when you factor in the benefits of free airfare, free housing, and a contract completion bonus given by every Korean school, then you’re probably close to even.

Please remember that I am writing this on October 10 2008. So who knows what will be happening with the currencies in the next year.

Money is important, but getting the experience you want is important as well. So if you have a particular interest in a country for whatever reason, then you should go to that country.

Any thoughts on this topic?

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For Japan, we have more varied positions than any other recruitment company that works with schools in Japan (and there aren’t too many).

In Japan, there are 3 or 4 very large private language schools, which can afford to have recruitment offices in North America. But this doesn’t always mean that they are the best school, or best suited to what you, as a teacher, are looking for. NewPath Recruitment has partnered with small and medium sized schools to help their exposure in North America, which also then gives more options to you, the job seeker. We can give you a more objective look on what types of positions are out there, and give you helpful advice on how you can land a specific type of position. We’re not afraid of recommending you to apply with one  of those larger schools, if we think that would be the best option for you.

For South Korea, as you probably have noticed, there are many “recruitment companies”. Be aware that schools in Korea use many recruitment companies, so there isn’t too much of a point to using different recruiters, as they all end up to the same position. Just work with someone you can trust and are comfortable with.

We work with a large staffing company in South Korea. We offer different public school, private language school, university, teacher trainer, and short term summer/winter camp positions through this company. Most importantly, we are here to support you. The visa laws for South Korea changed last year in December, and since then, the paperwork has become much more strict. The process can sometimes be confusing, so that is why it is important to work with company that is there for you and can guide you properly.

Since we are based in North America, it’s easy to get in touch with us since we are basically in the same time zone. This is actually quite helpful because we are here to help you when you need the help. If you are working with a recruitment company that is based overseas, you’re not going to get the answer to your question until the next day or in the middle of the night, in many cases. If it’s something urgent, you’re going to want an answer right then and there.

Feel free to comment!

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Photo Credit: millsy99

This news just seems like another bit of bad news for Nova since it started crumbling last summer. It probably doesn’t matter too much anymore to the teachers of Nova who had to experience this ordeal. Do any of you ex-Nova teachers out there care anymore? Or is it just a bad memory now locked in the back of your minds?