teacher salary and child

Hello,

Do you think an english teacher's salary is enough to support a child? I'm a teacher an I'm thinking of adopting a child. Please let me know your opinions.

It honestly depends where you teach and what you teach as well. Generally speaking, most companies offer a base salary of 250,000 yen per month for English teachers. If you work in an area that is more demanding or the work is also more demanding, a company may pay you between 250,000 and 300,000

It's up to you if you adopt a child and I would look into the costs of that and if the government allows any kind of payment for adopting a child.

From the way your question is asked, i am assuming that you are not yet a teacher in Japan, but you are a teacher in your home country currently and considering to come over as an English teacher with an adopted child?

That complicates your life quite a bit, in the sense (depending on the child�fs age) of having to look for a child care, after-school child care, etc., and then the child�fs education here�c i would suggest you to consider longer term for both yourself and your child-to-be. Best wishes.

This question has a lot of things which makes it difficult to answer.

How much are you getting paid?
Which city are you living in?
How far away is the childs school from your work?
What type of teacher are you?
What time is your job hours?
What support network do you have? (eg - do you have family in Japan to help you)
Do you have other expenses?
Is the child Japanese or other?
What type of school will the student attend?

If you are a single teacher who tutors kids, then you may earn enough. However - these hours are normally after school which is when you need to normally look after a child which kind of defeats the purpose of having a child.

If you are an international school teacher - it really depends on the school, wages and if tuition is included. Note that tuition is a taxable benefit if it's included, so this can add thousands of dollars onto your current taxes.

Also - international schools are expensive and start from around $7000 for indian schools all the way up to 25-30,000 for some schools like ASIJ a year.

I do not know your Japanese level, but having a Japanese child and having them attending a Japanese school would be difficult if you can't communicate in Japanese well.

Also note that the questions above were not meant to be answered on the forum as some are sensitive, but they are important questions to ask yourself.

If you wanna adopt a child. Asking vague questions to strangers isn't the way to go.

But for an low pay English teacher job to support a child probably isn't a great outcome. Most single complain the money isn't great. So one income for 2 people isn't realistic.

It seems to me that you already are a teacher (although perhaps not one in Japan). Then I don't know why you're asking your question here instead of asking it to co-workers who actually know more about your income and possibilities. Maybe you just wanted to throw your thoughts out somewhere. (And you are not even spelling English correctly.)

By the way, my personal opinion is that there is no occupation that is definitely promising. There are risks and disadvantages in any job. So, people try to step up or gain support in order to gain more income if you need it. Whether you are likely to do that or not, I can't tell, because I don't know you.

Do I think an English teacher's salary is enough to support a child? I don't know, but that doesn't matter, because supporting a child depends more on the bonuses, benefit packages, savings and how you make them happen.

You know, (and forgive me if I sound weird but) I feel that the world in general is not at its happiest at the moment. I hope tomorrow is a better day for you, and hopefully for all of us.

Like many others in this thread, I�fm assuming that when you say you�fre a teacher, you mean you�fre currently teaching in some country other than Japan, and that you�fre thinking about looking for a job as an English teacher in Japan.

If that�fs correct, I would say no, I do not think an English teacher�fs salary is enough to support a child in Japan.

Again, I�fm assuming that when you say �gan English teacher�fs salary,�h you�fre referring to the average salary foreigners make working in Japan either as ALTs (assistant language teachers in elementary, middle, or high schools) or as eikaiwa (English conversation school) teachers. As mentioned, starting salaries for such positions are usually about 250,000 yen a month. In Japan, this is usually enough money for a single person to afford a modest lifestyle. A modest, one-room apartment will generally cost between 50,000 and 100,000 a month, depending on location, age of the building, and other factors. That leaves somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 yen a month for everything else, and by the time you pay for other expenses (utilities, groceries, taxes, insurance) there�fs not a whole lot left over for entertainment or savings.

As a single person working as an ALT or eikaiwa teacher, you won�ft be living in poverty, but there�fs probably not going to be enough money left over to properly care for a child. Also bear in mind that for ALT and eikaiwa jobs, there is little chance of getting a raise or promotion, so a plan of you and a child living on a shoestring budget until you climb the ladder at work and start making more is unlikely to work out well. ALT and eikaiwa jobs also rarely provide much in the way of benefits. Bonuses aren�ft paid, and while some may offer basic health insurance or rent support, others offer no benefits at all.

Another thing to consider are childcare costs. If you are working as an ALT, you will be working when children are in school, so you will need to obtain childcare for your child if they are not yet in school themselves. Childcare needs/costs will be even higher if you are working as an eikaiwa teacher, since eikaiwa shifts are usually weekday nights and weekends.

Add up all those factors, and trying to raise a child on an English teacher�es salary would require an extremely spartan, and likely unhappy lifestyle with near-constant money worries.

On the other hand, if by �gan English teacher's salary�h you mean the salary for English teachers at universities, international schools, or military bases in Japan, those salaries vary widely by the exact position/school. Some of them may pay enough for you to support yourself and a child, but the number of available jobs is much lower, competition for them more intense, and the professional requirements (years of experience, certifications, etc.) higher.

Last, from the way your question is phrased I�fm assuming that you�fre not currently living in Japan, and are thinking of moving there to teach English. That would mean either adopting a child in your home country and moving to Japan together, or moving to Japan by yourself and then adopting a child there. While I�fm not a child psychology expert, I would imagine those who are would recommend against either plan. Moving to a new country and adjusting to your new lifestyle, even in a country you�fve researched extensively and feel a strong attraction to, is a challenging and stressful process. Likewise, adjusting to a new family is challenging and stressful for an adopted child, even if the adopting parent is loving and committed. Combining those two processes at the same time is likely to place excessive difficulties on you and your adopted child, so it may be best to handle them one at a time instead.