Distance education for a teaching visa?

Hello everyone,

I'm a non-native speaker of English but I feel that my language level is advanced enough that I can teach it to others. I'm an Indian citizen (without a strong accent) but I have studied my A-Levels(last year of high school) in Scotland(U.K). I've also studied for two years in Canada and graduated with a two year long undergraduate Diploma in the field of General Business from a decent college in Ontario. I have a lot of Canadian work experience too but I had to return back to India since my work permit was expiring.

To be honest, I'm obsessed with Japan and I'd love to teach English there but I'd like to ask that if I complete a one year long distance education top-up degree from a British university will that make me eligible to obtain a Japanese working visa? I'm also thinking about doing a CELTA course as well. I know that it's mandatory to at least have a degree if you want to teach in Japan.

I actually even had a conversation with an institute and they were pretty impressed with my credentials but advised me to complete a degree first before they could hire me. However, I'm not sure if the Japanese immigration will accept a distance education qualification or not.

I'd love to hear from you all!

Thanks

As long as you have a bachelors degree, minimum, you can qualify for a work visa, provided there is a company willing to sponsor you. What qualification will the British university give you after the one-year course?

Just be sure that you have at least a "bachelor's degree." In some countries it takes four years, in some others three. But in any case, that's what you need.

I don't know if you can do another year to "top up" or upgrade your diploma to a bachelor's.

Having some teaching experience or having taken some teacher training classes (if you get to practice teaching in real class) might help in interviews with the potential employer, but you need to qualify first in terms of your education.

You say you have "experience", is it in English teaching? If yes, how much? 3 years is enough to fulfill the immigration requirements for "Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Service" as it pertains to language teaching.

TESOL or TEFL is renonwed (more efficient to get teaching position ) than CELTA in Japan.

Excuse me, it is not an answer to your question, but I wanted to advise you.

Hello folks,

I'm quiet humbled by all your prompt responses, The British university will give me a Bachelors degree after a one year course. They will take into the account the credits, I've completed in Canada and will do some sort of a credit transfer, I presume. Also, that University is very well recognized around the globe so I don't think there should be any problems with it's credentials.

Will there be any problems if I do just a "top-up" course for just one year? Will the Japanese immigration raise any eyebrows because of that?

I used to think that there isn't a significant difference between TEFL and CELTA. Looks like there is!

First of all, you mean "quite", not "quiet". If you're going to teach English, you really need to know things like that (or at least watch out for typos!).

As long as you finish with a degree that says "Bachelor of...", you should be fine.

Wow guest! Thank for pointing out my typos on a random forum! I bet you feel really good about yourself, don't you? :D

Guess I should be extra careful from now on so I don't escape your scrupulous observance!

Um, you want to be an ENGLISH TEACHER. Errors like this are important and glaring. Even if it was a typo, it's something you need to be careful about if you are going to teach a non-English speaker English - they are trusting that you know and understand the language very well. You could easily teach them incorrect terms like this if you are not careful.

I did not mean to come across as rude, and I was not trying to offend you. I was genuinely pointing out that as a future language teacher, you need to have a good command of the language.

Unlike most Americans.

Ok! Well, I guess thank you for pointing out my mistakes. I'll probably be more careful now the way I type.

Guest- Being an English language teacher doesn't mean that you have to write in impeccably PERFECT grammar when you're writing on online forums or chat boards. Sometimes people are in rush, busy, typing on their phones, etc when they're online.

Also, "they are trusting" is incorrect for the sentence you were trying to formulate. Irony much?