Teaching English Weekdays Only?

Is it possible to teach English basically from Monday to Friday during school hours? I will be moving there with my husband and daughter who is 8 and want to teach while she is in school. My husband will have a work visa through his job but I would like to have a second income. I was looking at Gaba and a few other places and they say you can �gset your own schedule�h but I�fm wondering how true that actually is?

It might be possible - but your chances of actually getting a job will be severely diminished - unless you actually work for a school. Others will know more - but people wanting to learn English during school and business hours will be severely limited.

If your husband has a work visa and you are coming along, you'll be on a dependent visa, which only allows you something like 20 or 28 hours of work per week (I can't remember the exact amount, I'm sure someone on the forum will chime in to correct me!) If you're just wanting to work part-time while your daughter's in school, then it'll be fine for you. You might have a little trouble finding work, but just be diligent and flexible. Plenty of people look for classes during the day time, mostly retired folk or those who keep different hours in their jobs. But you might not be satisfied with the number of hours you get during the week, and frequently those kinds of places can have pretty big changes week to week. It's not usually a very consistent income, I can tell you with experience!

Another option if you're just wanting Mon-Fri but want to work more full-time, is to find either a dispatch company or a direct-hire job through a BOE that will sponsor you in a work visa. With a work visa instead of a dependent visa, you'll be able to work the full week, but working in a school (elementary, middle, or high) means most of the time you'll just work M-F 8am-4pm or similar. Occasionally you may be asked to work a Saturday, but then you'll have another week day (usually Monday) off to compensate.

Either way, if you're coming on a dependent visa already, you've got the time and flexibility to look for a job that suits you... as long as you've got a degree, of course!

The limit is 28 hours.

I have a Bachelor's degree in English. Essentially the plan would be to get over there on my husband's work visa, but then get my own. It's great to know I can actually work on a dependent visa, I wasn't aware of that. (Still in early research stage at the moment)

It seems as if my best move would be getting in a school then. Is it hard to get a position with a BOE. I'm assuming that's something you'd need to be in country for first? I've been told Interac is the best school to go for, but I've only talked to one person that's worked for them. Are there any others you guys would suggest? My husband will be working near Yokohama, but I've read it's best to look for rural places when looking for school positions. (Which is fine with me)

The "best" places to look are the ones that are hiring. Rural or urban are personal preferences. People probably say to look for rural schools because they assume less people apply there, but if you are going to live with your husband, you'll have to look for schools in/around Yokohama.

You have a degree in English, which will give you a big advantage over most applicants who tend to have degrees in fields unrelated to English or teaching. You should look into private schools. They can hire foreign teachers who don't have Japanese degrees. That would allow you to become a real teacher with your own classes and students instead of an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT), which is what you'll be with Interac. If you don't want to be the main teacher, though, being an ALT may be a good choice for you.

Read this to get an idea on what is teaching English in Japan about, and what are the options are.

http://zoomingjapan.com/life-in-japan/teach-english-in-japan-alt-vs-ei...

Depends on where you stay, there are many eikaiwa or dispatch company to choose from.
Interact is one of many dispatch companies around

Thanks everyone for all the help! I am going to look into private schools and ALT. Might as well take advantage of having a degree. Glad it will benefit me there, doesn't do much for me here in America.

Just to add to rabbityama's comment, I'd be an ALT instead of trying to get a "real" teaching job. Japanese teachers work LONG hours that ALTs can usually get out of. If you only want to work when your daughter is in school, the ALT job will work much better for you. It just might take a bit of adjustment since you'll be the "assistant" (which can sometime mean "human tape recorder"). But every school/teacher is different.

Thanks scarreddragon!

Is it worth trying to get some form of ESL certification, on-top of my degree, if I plan to be an ASL? Or would it be a waste of money?

No, not really, unless you were already planning to do so for future job opportunities. Obviously extra things like that don't necessarily hurt, but at the same time I've noticed that the people who come over as ALTs who already have experience teaching/teaching degrees/etc. actually have a lot harder time getting used to the ALT job than those of us with nothing. Get it if you've got the time and want to use it for other things, but it isn't necessary if your only purpose is to use it as an ALT.