If you've set your heart on teaching English in Japan then you are bound to have done some research on what qualifications and certifications are required to do so. There's lots of different certificates, diplomas, and even degrees that you can obtain that will prepare you to teach English as a second language in Japan. I have personal obtained a TEFL certificate from a short course that I took a few years ago. In this post I will give you some insight into what this certificate is all about as well as it's usefulness or lack there of.
What is TEFL?
TEFL is an acronym that stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. It is usually used in reference to a certificate that is obtained through a university, online program, or in person class. The class teaches you how to teach other people English through various assignments games and activities.Who's it For?
TEFL is available for any adult located anywhere in the world. Anyone can sign up! There are no real requirements as long as you pay. Most people who obtain TEFL certification of any kind are those who don't possess bachelor's degree but are permanently living in Japan, individuals that are married to a Japanese spouse, or those who have bachelor's degrees in fields and subjects irrelevant to education/teaching.
What Will You Learn?
TEFL prepares individuals for some of the challenges that may arise in a classroom. It provides you with listening and speaking skills, teaching strategies, and hands on practice (should you choose to take a course in person). It essential trains people how to be teachers within a short period of time (if you're taking a non-degree course) with an emphasis on how to teach English as a second language. Course structure varies depending on the amount of money that you pay and which company you take your classes through.Where's It Located?
Coursed can be taken online or at various locations around the world on every continent and in just about every country. Private for profit companies, junior colleges, and universities commonly offer TEFL classes.How Much Does It Cost?
Prices range from $200-$4,000 USD. If you are traveling to an in person course that is extended you'll also need to have enough money for transportation food and accommodation during your out of town stay. Otherwise if you take a course online you won't get to experience any hands unlearning with a real classroom (which to me defeats the purpose if you're taking this course to gain experience and confidence in teaching for yourself and NOT just to impress employers).How Long Is The Course?
Depending on how much you pay determines the longevity of the course. It varies from 8-200+ hours. Some courses last for 2 days others can take a few months or more to complete.There's Three Sides To It!
Before you decide that you'd like to sign up for this course or brag about your certificate, I want to help you understand why it's become so heavily talked about.
The Turnover Rate
The turnover rate for English teachers in Japan is EXTREMELY high! People quit their jobs and switch to new one's daily. Why? The short answer is simply because of the low pay, high stress, unrealistic expectations from parents and management, and let's not forget about the extremely bad, rude, childish, yellow-fever driven, creepy, unprofessional men who make up almost the entire market of "teachers" here.
The interview process is too fast and too easy so naturally there's a sea full of garbage applicants who are just trying to get their foot in the door or working to keep their spouse happy temporarily before giving up and quitting. Most foreigners come here to party, have sex (sex tourist), runaway from their problems, and get drunk. Contracts are commonly broken. Marriages end in nasty divorces, engagements are off, and foreigners get homesick.
With all of the things considered an applicant/teacher with TEFL certification is seen as a more reliable, professional, and serious applicant.
The interview process is too fast and too easy so naturally there's a sea full of garbage applicants who are just trying to get their foot in the door or working to keep their spouse happy temporarily before giving up and quitting. Most foreigners come here to party, have sex (sex tourist), runaway from their problems, and get drunk. Contracts are commonly broken. Marriages end in nasty divorces, engagements are off, and foreigners get homesick.
With all of the things considered an applicant/teacher with TEFL certification is seen as a more reliable, professional, and serious applicant.
Most English teacher's here are hired based off of 3 things.
- Their sexual attractiveness [looks matter here a lot].
- Their Country of Origin [If you're an American (preferred) Canadian, British, Australian, New Zealand?] HIRED!
- Their visa status [Companies hate sponsoring visas from the start] that allows work legally.
In order to weed out applicants many schools are now "requiring" that applicants have the following....
- A bachelor's degree in a field related to education/teaching
- Native English speaker from an English speaking country
- 2-5 years of teaching experience (preferably in Japan)
- Experience teaching the specific age demographic that you're applying for
- Certification of N4 level Japanese
- Valid visa with permission to work
- TEFL certification (course hours requirement varies)
- 3 professional references
- A 1-2 page essay on "Why do you want to live and work in Japan?"
- 2-3 letters of recommendation
Don't worry this list is NOT a real requirement. School's commonly ask for all of that and even more! I've seen jobs that requested musical abilities!
They'll hire you regardless. It's just a way of scaring off and weeding out bad applicants. Besides why wouldn't you want an overqualified good teacher?
Japan has become a very popular place to live and work as an English teacher. There's too many applicants but there aren't enough GOOD ones! Most of the people who apply for these jobs lack proper valid working visas, and aren't native English speakers.There's a cesspool of bad applicants. For every 100 applications I'd say only 5 are even realistic options.
The Teachers
Because you have looked into TEFL certifications a bit too much (or because you believe everything you've read about them) you have convinced yourself that you'll be able to walk into your interview with a chip on your shoulder and plaster your certification all over your resume and emails.
If you are serious about becoming an English teacher in Japan then you probably want to give yourself the best chance possible to land the job right?
The longer it's been since you have taught and the less experience that you have, the more uncertain you're bound to be about your teaching abilities. Teaching can be very fun and rewarding, but it is still a job, and it can be hard at times.
The longer it's been since you have taught and the less experience that you have, the more uncertain you're bound to be about your teaching abilities. Teaching can be very fun and rewarding, but it is still a job, and it can be hard at times.
Many people are afraid that they will make grammatical errors or that they are simply unable to teach English even although it is their first language. Taking a TEFL class will help calm your nerves and it will provide you with some experience before you ever press submit on your application or conduct your very first demo lesson. The idea of paying for experience helps to develop and reassure your teaching skills. It's really no different than paying for college!
Keep in mind once again that not everyone who takes this class is a newbie! A lot of people with degrees in education chose to take it as a refresher course and as a way of gaining experience specific to that of an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher.
NOTE: While obtaining this certification can be beneficial to non-native English speakers it isn't very helpful and provides an almost invisible advantage. You'll only be considered over other non-native English speakers who are equally educated. For example a non-native English speaker with no TEFL certificate but that has a bachelor's degree or above in any field will be chosen over you if you only have this certificate. You will not be chosen over a native speaker even if said native English speaker has no degree or certification. It can happen otherwise but it's rare.
You can't get a visa to work in Japan with just this! Most employers don't really care about your degrees or certificates unless English is your native language AND you are from a "preferred" country such was America, Canada etc..
your best bet is to teach in another Asian or European country besides Japan. Keep i mind that even There you'll still almost always play second fiddle to an American. It's not fair in a sense but that's just the way it goes. Particularly in Asia the requirements to teach English are more relaxed and you can even get a visa more easily.
Nevertheless it can provide you with experience, practice, skills and confidence.
It's Still a Business
The creators of these TEFL programs have successful scared and tricked professional teacher's into obtaining additional certification by reminding them that teaching English as a second language is not the same as teaching a normal elementary or high school class. There is obviously a lot of truth to this not to mention the cultural differences and language barrier but it's a scare tactic and marketing scheme.
Schools that offer TEFL have convinced people who have no teaching experience that they are pretty much useless without having this certification by stressing how much employers and schools require TEFL certification and usually suggest that you take a lengthy course of about 120 hours or whatever the mid range priced course is.
They have sadly given false hope to non-native English speakers by suggesting (not promising but implying) that by finishing their course you'll be able to teach just about anywhere and it's really quite the opposite. Most schools and recruiting agencies won't give a non-native English speaker the time of day if even if they are a neurological scientist (I worked with an Indian woman who was and she was my assistant and being paid $15 LESS an hour than me! She was almost twice my age too.).
Employers have become brainwashed by TEFL as they have been convinced that a teacher with this certification is a professional and won't quit before their signed contract is up. It has also become a way of avoiding the need to train teachers. As I mentioned earlier almost none of the teachers here have a degree that is actually in education. Teaching is a gift for some and a skill to others. Most school's offer very little to absolutely no training whatsoever. TEFL is an affordable certificate but it's still just a luxury.
It's a recipe for profit!
The Final Verdict
I believe that TEFL certification is good for both experienced teachers and those who desire to become one. It is a great idea to obtain this certificate or diploma if English is not your first language as it will help you stand out a little bit in a sea of applicants.
However it is nothing more than a little fancy decoration on your resume (it's like purchasing a bikini DLC for Resident Evil). Most companies don't care about your certifications and will never ask to see them. They will simply take your word for it and have you conduct a demo lesson, grammar test, phone interview, and degree verification (if even that!). It would be a huge waste of money to pay for a course that is close to $2,000 just for the class itself. If you are really uncertain about your ability to teach you'd be much better off with watching YouTube videos, borrowing some library books, going to Barnes and Noble, or purchasing an ebook/podcast on how to teach in general as well as how to teach English as a second language.
Have you considered volunteering to gain experience? Maybe you should try offering free private 101 and group English lessons. Every loves free stuff! You can add your experience teaching 101 to your resume. Find a non-profit organization that meets in your neighborhood or in a major city. A lot of colleges, churches, city halls, and recreational centers offer free English classes.
Hands on experience is so much better! It is more valuable than any piece of paper or even a degree (especially if English is your first language)!
I received my TEFL certificate free of charge through a non-profit organization that I was volunteering at in Chicago. While my Certification is listed on my resume, and I always carry it with me in my folder to every interview that I have attended, I haven't had even one employer request to see it and nobody even cared to mention that part of my resume!
TEFL certification is more beneficial to you as a teacher than it is to your employer as it give you some basic skills for teaching but it is nothing more than a way for schools and recruiting agencies to test how serious you are about being an English teacher in Japan.
Japanese schools know that their employment requirements are ridiculously high for just a measly salary of $1,500-$3,000 a month. Even if you don't have all ten of the things that are commonly "required" you'll still get hired anyway. Their goal is to simply scare off the uneducated, lazy, and potentially bad teachers, It is NOT mandatory to have this certificate.
If you have already obtained TEFL certification like I did before I came to Japan then don't worry it's not totally useless it's just unnecessary. It will not improve or hurt your chances of employment. It is somewhere between neutral and irrelevant. It is a "resume-filler" as I'd like to call it.
The choice is ultimately yours but if you can't afford to shell out $200 or more then I suggest that you pass on this course.
A lot of teachers here are married to a Japanese national and have neither a degree or a certificate in any form of education.
Having a degree is simply a requirement for a work visa. TEFL cannot help you obtain a work visa in Japan.
To summarize everything that you have just read TEFL is a nice program, but it is not a requirements and for most people there is no advantage to having this certificate. It CANNOT be used as a substitute for having a bachelor's degree in Japan. It cannot help you obtain a work visa. It is the equivalent of being CPR & First Aid Certified and trying to become a doctor.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you found the information here useful. If you have any questions or if you'd like to share your experience or advice please feel free to comment below!
Stay Tuned!
Please Subscribe to my Blog and Follow Me on my other social media pages.
Follow My Miscellaneous Adventures in Japan!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comic95/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoMic95/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Comic95?lang=en
Email: comic95thesavior@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.comic95.com
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CoMicninetyfive/videos
Gaming & Entertainment
PSN/Wii: CoMic95TheSavior
Xbox: CoMic95
Help Support My Channel & Blog by Making a Donation
PayPal
Paypal.me/CoMic95
$Cash App
CoMic95
Patreon
CoMic95TheSavior
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comic95/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoMic95/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Comic95?lang=en
Email: comic95thesavior@gmail.com
Blog: http://www.comic95.com
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CoMicninetyfive/videos
Gaming & Entertainment
PSN/Wii: CoMic95TheSavior
Xbox: CoMic95
Help Support My Channel & Blog by Making a Donation
PayPal
Paypal.me/CoMic95
$Cash App
CoMic95
Patreon
CoMic95TheSavior
