Comments on Teaching English abroad in Japan: Non-Japanese fluent in Japanese: a bunch of good v...

"If you search for this kind of thing, you...

2009-07-01T06:08:53.915-07:00

"If you search for this kind of thing, you'll find loads of unbearable videos on youtube."

LOL, that cracked me up. I know what you mean - when I'm looking for certain tutorials they're just ridiculously put together and stretch on needlessly for 7 minutes or more!

I tried teaching myself Russian and Japanese once. Maybe I should start with re-learning Spanish since I am, after all, Puerto Rican!

Great videos! I sort of fell in love with the firs...

2009-06-30T16:20:53.337-07:00

Great videos! I sort of fell in love with the first one (which sort of appears to be the idea, no?)
And the silent psychotic one has fangs!

Julie, I'm moving to Japan later this summer to teach, I'm sending my CV around schools in Kansai right now (I don't want to live in Tokyo)

I have a question for you, I did 3 years at 2 good universities in the US but never actually got my degree. I've been teaching professionally for 3 years straight now in Spain and think I'm a pretty good ESL teacher. I put I had a BA on my CV.... Do they actually check if you have a degree or will a transcript with a couple years of credits be enough proof if requested?

Thanks!

Oh wow, I just found your blog on Google and I lov...

2009-06-28T09:06:35.256-07:00

Oh wow, I just found your blog on Google and I love it ! Those videos are amazing, I love the first girl and the "moshi moshi umeboshi" guy. I feel especially proud because I've been in Japan for ten months now and can understand almost averything.
Thanks alot !

That's great! (I want to take a year off betwe...

2009-06-27T02:42:09.657-07:00

That's great! (I want to take a year off between my undergrad and my masters to live there) How would I get in contact with some decent or awesome places about teaching after I'm done my BA?

You don't need a masters!! You can have a BA i...

2009-06-26T23:04:57.667-07:00

You don't need a masters!! You can have a BA in visual arts and teach english in Japan. As long as you have a BA you're all set.

No BA and you can still teach at an eikaiwa like Geos or ECC. The pay is crap, but the hours are nice and you get to live here.

Hi, do you have to a Masters in English to teach E...

2009-06-26T14:35:52.557-07:00

Hi, do you have to a Masters in English to teach English in Japan? Or can you have a BA in pretty much anything and still teach there if you're a native English speaker? I thought that since they usually hire foreigners as conversationalists that you don't need a Masters but I was told something different by a friend and I just wanted to ask you. Thanks!

Japanese wasn't offered at my High School, so ...

2009-06-23T20:43:24.548-07:00

Japanese wasn't offered at my High School, so I taught myself.

Go out to Borders or Barnes and Nobles and buy self-help Japanese textbooks and start studying. Then go online and, since people have found this blog, then they already know somebody who can speak Japanese. And since they're in Japan, they probably know people who want to learn English.

Almost-instant pen-pals!

Or else... study from textbooks, buy Japanese movies and music and work up your listening skills. It helps a lot to do that before starting to watch Japanese drama, because they usually speak more clearly in music and movies.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Good luck!

Love the videos posted here! The internet is a *fu...

2009-06-23T15:25:44.601-07:00

Love the videos posted here! The internet is a *funny* place isn't it? Loved the Ken Tanaka video as well, he sounds so weird yet it's almost cute rather than annoying!

Sankyu, Seba.