Job for Non-Native English speaker

Hello,

I'm from India and I'm looking forward to live and work in Japan. I have my bachelor degree in computer science have done my masters in computer science as well.

I want to be an English teacher in Japan. But most of the job requires native English speakers, which I'm not. So, can I get a job as an English teacher?

I have 14 years of education in English, and I'm TEFL certified. Although I still don't have any teaching experience and English is my second language, I'm pretty confident about my English speaking skills and I think it can be considered near native level.

With these qualifications, will I be able to get a job as an English teacher in Japan?

If not, what are the other better options I should try for?

I really want to live and work in Japan, and your replies would help me to plan my future.

Thank you so much
Divya Parantap

There are many cases and places where non-natives can teach English, but I've heard the bigger problem could be that you're from India. Apparently, there is some bias even against native speakers from Asian origin, because... well, they don't look "western" enough. And many Japanese customers have a hard time accepting the image of an Asian-looking person teaching them English. Sad, but probably true.

Thanks Alexander for your reply.

I have come to know about that issue. And it's really sad to know that hiring is on the basis of origin and not qualification.

Anyways, will I have a better chance of getting a job in IT or technical field? Or is there similar issue faced by non-natives over there as well.

I think you are enough capable of becoming an English teacher in Japan.

In Japan, many foreigner work as English teacher just because their native tongue is English. I know almost all of them work seriously, but some don't.They are not punctually, work without diligently, finally some seek girlfriend from their students.
Compared to them, if I were student, I'd like to study with the teacher who have passion to teach, even if he or she is not native.
In addition, you have TEFL.

The word "native English speakers"which Japanese people say means just "fluent speaker" in many situations.I believe that the experience of 14 years of education in English is deserve it.
However some school may not admit you to work due to some reason and you know...the reason what Alexander mentioned. I don't know where you will stay and which institution or school you would like to join, but I believe that there are many places you can work, because tons of Japanese people need to study English these days.

Actually I studied English in Tokyo last year, the school I attended have many teachers and their nationality were variety. And if you are willing to find your job as an English teacher without belong to somewhere, you can find your students personally via internet.(Although it largely depends on your work, in other words, student's evaluation.
http://www.enjoy-lesson.com/ etc....)
Personally speaking, you have huge advantage that English skill and IT skill. It will helps you that finding job in Japan.

Thanks Ann for the reply. Your reply really motivated me and filled me with a positive energy. :)

It's good to know that I can be an English teacher even if I'm not native. However, is it fair to take in consideration that I'll be competing against native English speakers for the same position, which in turn could greatly affect my chances to get hired?

Moreover, you mentioned about finding students via internet. But, that won't get me a visa. :'(

I'm a non-native English speaker and I've been working as an English teacher here in Japan for 6 years now.

Will you be able to find a job as an English teacher?
Yes, you will.

Will you be able to obtain the necessary work visa?
That might be very difficult and that's actually the real issue and the reason why most schools prefer native speakers. They'll certainly get the required work visa.

Thanks zoomingjapan for your reply.

Yeah, acquiring a work visa is the main issue. Would you mind telling me your story? How did you got a job for yourself and how did you managed to get a visa, being a non-native English speaker? Was is difficult? what difficulties did you face?

No offense, but your written English, while very good for a non-native speaker, has some grammatical issues that generally wouldn't come up with native speakers. That's one main reason that language schools prefer to hire native speakers - it's not just irrational prejudice.

There are IT jobs out there though, and that might be an easier route.

Zoomingjapan: yeah, the visa for non-native speakers is what interests me too. A friend will apply for a visa as a nursery teacher/helper. We're thinking that instead of framing it as "English instructor" (risky for non-natives), it should rather be something like "International education, multi-cultural training" or the sort. Do you think this can do the trick better?

Thanks Umami for pointing that out. I just didn't cared about that because I thought we were not talking about my grammar and written skills over here.

I thinking about that too. But, the requirements for any IT job listing I found over this vast realm of internet is quite high. It would probably take me another year or two to get necessary certificates and learn programming languages just to be eligible to apply.

Hello again.

These are some links that major English school's employment-related page.

http://teach.berlitz.co.jp/requirements/visa.html

http://recruiting.ecc.co.jp/faqs/index.html

http://www.aeonet.com/application-requirements/

Grammer, accent, that can become problems, but not all of the students are high level.
And usually, what kind of classes/students you will have is employer's power.
Never give up.

Thanks Ann for that information. I really appreciate it.

I have heard about those major names before. I believe ECC and Aeon are at top after NOVA closed down.

From what I know, you need to be a native English speaker in order to apply for ECC and Berlitz. Also, you already need to have a visa in order to apply for Berlitz. Few J-bloggers on youtube said, "for non-natives, even if you have the qualifications, if you don't look like a Caucasian they won't hire you."

Which I can kinda understand. In Japan if you don't look like a Caucasian, parents refuse to believe that you're an English teacher. Which can in-turn affect the profits of the company.

I don't know a lot about Aeon, but I need to be in Japan in order to apply. And if it turns out the same way as the two mentioned above, I wouldn't bother going half a way around the world just to get myself offer a rejection.

As for work visas you'll need the "instructor visa" if you work as an ALT, but a "specialist in humanities" if you work for an eikaiwa (English conversation school).

Each of these has their own requirements, but generally it's "easier" to get a "specialist in humanities" visa for non-native speakers.

I was lucky back then, because I came on a "working holiday visa", so I brought my own working visa.
A lot of schools won't hire non-native speakers because they fear they wouldn't be able to get a work visa for them.
If you can bring "your own", there's no problem.

I did have issues when I tried to change the visa status from "working holiday" to a proper "work visa" after a year.
At first, my application was rejected, saying that I could easily get a visa for being a German teacher (my native tongue), but not for English.

Luckily my boss as well as an organization that trained and tested me, wrote letters saying how good my English is and that I got top scores in all tests. I was much better than most of the native speakers.

And no, that was not about English skills, but TEACHING skills. But LUCKILY they accepted it.

If you're going to teach kids, then it doesn't matter if your grammar is perfect. What is important is that you have a clear and proper pronunciation.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your story zoomingjapan.

Unfortunately, I'm not as lucky as you are. My country doesn't provide WHV.

I'm thinking about going to Japan on a tourist visa, do my job hunt, and then convert my visa to a working visa. I know it's illegal, but that's the only option I have got right now.

Yes, you will be able to find English teaching jobs in Japan and small mistakes you have made while writing this post won't come to play against your chances of getting jobs over here.

I have seen many European with intermediate level of English working as a teacher.

Main factor in finding jobs is the location, bigger the city more competition and and opposite applies for the small.

Just try to have a good grasp of grammar that is what matters a lot while getting hired. Experience does not count much as they have their own syllabus and there is very little scope to be creative.

Hi , i am from Nepal and i am looking forward to work in japan as an English teacher.I have completed my bachelors degree in major english and also TEFL certified.I have 5 years working experience on teaching field.I have worked in government school as a english teacher in secondary level. So being as a non native english speaker can i get job with all this qualification

Hello there,

I am also looking for a teaching position in Japan. I took my Cambridge Celta certificate last year in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Besides, I am BA in English Language and Literature from a prestigious University in São Paulo, Brazil, where I am living at the moment. I have no problem relocating. But it's hard to find jobs in Asia for non-native. Is there a site where non-natives have a better chance to register and get hired there? Thanks.

@Nisha lamichhane and @Vivian Fittipaldi Pereira

Thank you for reviving this old post. I had long forgotten about it.

Just to give you guys an update, assuming you're trying to follow the same dream that I had couple years ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to land a job in Japan. The only language school that I could find that hires non-natives was Gaba Corporation (it was 3 years back, not sure if there are more such schools today). But, I came to know that they had a fairly poor reputation and treated their employees as expendables and the work environment was not very good. Hence, I decided to not work for them. All other ALT and language schools weren't really looking to hire non-natives and specially Asian. So in the end my dream is still just a dream, unfortunately.

But it might not be the case for you. You have teaching experience. I guess you have a better luck at getting hired than me (I didn't had any English teaching experience). So, you may give it a try. But you'll need to be in Japan for the face-to-face Interview. Also, they might ask you to show a proof that you had at least 14 years of your education in English (doesn't matter if you have a teaching experience or not). A letter or certificate stating that you had your education in English from your school and college.

I'm currently working in my country and saving up. I'm hoping to be able to visit Japan as a tourist and live there for couple of months. :)

@Vivian Fittipaldi Pereira: You may want to look at Gaijinpot.com. Although it would be very difficult to get a job if you don't have a passport from native English speaking country, but on the other hand you would have better chances than an Asian looking for English teaching position as a non-native. The idea of an Asian teaching English to another Asian, is something hard to grasp for Japanese.