Job hunting, lesson plans, and teaching tips
Jobs teaching in Japan
Job related websites
If you're looking for a teaching position in Japan or it's time for a change, browse these job sites.Ohayo Sensei has a comprehensive selection of teaching positions in Japan posted, ranging from conversation schools to universities.
Japan Times Jobs has a searchable database for English teaching jobs in Japan by location. Non-English teaching jobs also.
Jobs in Japan posts many openings for teachers in Japan and cover numerous other work fields.
Daijob have comprehensive multilingual job listings in Japan.
Gaijinpot is a resource for foreigners living and working in Japan.
CarreerCross. Jobs in Japan for bilingual professionals.
Smith's School of English provides English teachers in Japan the opportunity to own their own business teaching English to students in Japan.
Lesson plans and other teaching resources
Running out of ideas and textbooks? These sites are just what you need with heaps of lesson plans and other useful teaching materials.Onestopenglish has free resources, e-lessons, web guides, competitions, and much more for English teachers in Japan.
English-to-go has pretty much everything you need, get your lesson plans now!
ESL Library has ready-made resources for busy English teachers. Preparing for class is easy... just hit print!
Genki English has lots of ESL games, ESL songs, and plenty of ideas to make your English lessons even better.
Tips for teachers in Japan
When you set your lesson fees, don't undervalue yourself because if you charge too little you may not earn the respect of your students. You may want to have a cancellation policy as private students could cancel on you. You can partially solve this problem by stating from the beginning that you will charge cancellation fees for lessons.Scheduling
Keep a schedule for lessons you have set as you don't want to suffer double-booking hassles.Getting ready
It is good practice for private teachers to have some sort of level check for a first meeting with a student as it can serve two purposes.- The teacher will appear more professional and prepared.
- It helps determine what text you'll use.
In the lessons
- Punctuality is always good, as a teacher rushing in late and having to compose themselves will probably be a hassle.
- Having your lesson plans and teaching materials ready before your student arrives makes you look prepared and eager.
- Ease into the lesson with some small talk to get your student to relax. Speak slowly and clearly.
- Choose user friendly topics. Basically if it is not something you would talk about with your granny then it may not be appropriate to teach in a lesson.
- Grade your speech to your students level and try to be sensitive to signs that may indicate that they don't understand, e.g: avoiding eye contact, going quiet, pained quizzical expressions.
- Doing a brief review of the last lesson can help identify problems that your student may have, and it also shows that you're keen and have an ongoing interest. Teachers may want to keep lesson records.
- When possible, teachers should try to incorporate the theme of the chosen lesson into the warm up.
- Throw in a few comprehension checks along the way as students often say they understand when they actually don't.
- Allow a bit of time at the end of the lesson for a warm down and ask your student if there are any questions about the lesson.
- Homework can be fun (?), even in the form of quizzes and word games. Make sure you know the answers though.
- Final points. Schedule the next lesson... get paid... don't forget your student's name!