Teaching Advice

[BigBen]

I have looked through the archives and there is a lot of useful infomation about the merits of Nova, Aeon, JETS etc although some of it is quite conflicting so what I'd appreciate is someone putting me straight on whats the best option for me.

Basically I plan to go to Japan next year for a year to enjoy the sake, culture, babes and food (althogh not neccessarily in that order!) and plan to work as a teacher to fund my trip.

First off, I have no desire to make a career for myself in teaching English as I'm a qualified accountant (yeah, I know it's boring but it pays the bills) so I'm not too fussed about where I work just as long as the pay is ok and the work is relatively stress free. Also I want to work in a big city so maybe JET is not good for me as they could stick me anywhere.

What I'm thinking at the moment is that I'll get myself signed up with NOVA or similar to get my visa (not taking their apt or Insurance) and making a run for it at the airport past the Nova meeting man.

Once in Japan I'll look for a easy job with a small conversation school doing minimal hours per week leaving me free to study Japanese full time in the mornings before school.

Realistic? any advice? Whats the score with the small schools re hours and pay? any comments appreciated (except for "why don't you read the previous posts")

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Skipping past the NOVA man at the airport is quite possible, but just remember that when you apply to some other places in Japan, they might ask you how you got your work visa. Your explanation might make you appear to be too dubious so that they will not want to take the risk of hiring you.

My advice to you is to take the ESL teaching job seriously at least for the first 6 months. Teaching is a skill unto itself which gets developed over time. It's a far cry from accounting work.

Since you intend to study Japanese once you're in Japan, look for a school/company that provides Japanese lessons to its employees. I don't know if they still do, but Interac used to offer that fringe benefit of Japanese lessons to employees. There might be other places as well.

[Glenski]

Expect a standard salary of 250,000 yen per month. Other items (housing allowance, travel allowance, etc.) vary considerably.