ESL Teaching - Jobs, lesson plans - View Single Post - Teaching ESL in Asia; is it possible anywhere, especially Japan, without a BA?

himalayas2 · Sat 04-Aug-07, 12:53 PM

hello,

i'm a long time member on gaijinpot, but first time here. you said that you have placed members with only diplomas and tefl certs in japan. how? i have two associates degrees, a fair amount of experience teaching esl(worked at showa women's institute in boston and at broome community college decker lab) as well as a good deal of proof reading experience. i have done this for bae platform systems, lockheed martin, rockwell collins and suny binghamton. i was told, even by nova, that there was absolutely no way to be able to work in japan without a ba. i know you can get a specialist in humanities visa without a ba, but those are few and far between and when i went to see immigration in osaka, i couldn't get them to tell me one way or the other if i qualified for one, even though i have three years experience teaching ESL.

in addition to this, i grew up in sapporo and can speak japanese. maybe not as well as a friend who has lived there for twenty years and is indistinguishable from a native speaker on the phone(loved the shock in the pizza store worker's voice whenever we ordered and until he said his name they hadn't realized he was a gaijin), but quite well enough to live an everyday life there.

at this time i am trying to find a way to go back to school to get a degree in anything for the sole purpose of being able to work in japan.

if you know a way to be able to work there and not have to go back to school, not have to get a ba, i would really appreciate your input.

thank you for your time

Sat 04-Aug-07, 12:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
himalayas2 ESL Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Occupation: interpreter Location: Posts: 1	Teaching ESL in Asia; is it possible anywhere, especially Japan, without a BA? hello, i'm a long time member on gaijinpot, but first time here. you said that you have placed members with only diplomas and tefl certs in japan. how? i have two associates degrees, a fair amount of experience teaching esl(worked at showa women's institute in boston and at broome community college decker lab) as well as a good deal of proof reading experience. i have done this for bae platform systems, lockheed martin, rockwell collins and suny binghamton. i was told, even by nova, that there was absolutely no way to be able to work in japan without a ba. i know you can get a specialist in humanities visa without a ba, but those are few and far between and when i went to see immigration in osaka, i couldn't get them to tell me one way or the other if i qualified for one, even though i have three years experience teaching ESL. in addition to this, i grew up in sapporo and can speak japanese. maybe not as well as a friend who has lived there for twenty years and is indistinguishable from a native speaker on the phone(loved the shock in the pizza store worker's voice whenever we ordered and until he said his name they hadn't realized he was a gaijin), but quite well enough to live an everyday life there. at this time i am trying to find a way to go back to school to get a degree in anything for the sole purpose of being able to work in japan. if you know a way to be able to work there and not have to go back to school, not have to get a ba, i would really appreciate your input. thank you for your time Last edited by gfell; Sat 04-Aug-07 at 01:34 PM.