Possible to make it in Japan?
Is it possible to make it in Japan as a student at a language school? I want to know If I'll be able to survive with all of the living expenses to the amount of money I will be making working part time. My tuition will be payed for, my ticket will be payed for, but will work alone be enough to support myself? How many hours of English could I realistically teach (within the 28 hour limit of student visa) Would I be able to teach 28 hours in a week? how hard would It be to find students (I'm going to be teaching private lessons.) And yes I have a decent level of Japanese, and I have some experience in teaching English (taught volunteer ESL for a year in the US.) I want to be self sustained, without receiving any outside funding.
Japan - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it
2 :
If you mean finding private students on your own and teaching them and making a living on that alone, sorry but that is UNREALISTIC. Realistically going that route might yield 1-3 hours of private students. I've met a good number of people who think they can come over and be kings in finding private students, realistically that's only a fantasy world. I recommend you work through a contract with a company (other then GABA). If you worked through a company that assigned you students, that might be a bit more realistic, however don't expect all 28 hours to be filled up and a lot of down time. Also that and balancing school is difficult (I KNOW because I did it myself). Teaching private students is the worst thing out there. They cancel, you don't get paid, they don't show up, you don't get paid. These situations happen a lot too. If you work for a company and have a contract to teach a class (usually you are better in that regards because you know you are "probably" going to get paid) vs a private student who might/might not show up. Again depends on the terms of the contracts, but in this economy not everyone is lining up to take English courses like they were back in the 1980s. READ YOUR CONTRACTs! Cannot stress that enough. If you have a decent level of Japanese try for even steadier work at a restaurant. At least you are virtually guaranteed pay with steady hours. I had a friend who also worked inside a hotel (cleaning) because they couldn't sustain language instruction (with private students alone). It would also depend on your life style. Part-time is usually not enough to sustain someone, unless you lived frugal or with a roommate or in a hostel. If you mean in a private apartment, by yourself, then that's difficult.
3 :
Well, it depends on your hourly wage (part-time job is usually hourly in Japan). Usually, you can't. But you might earn more than average as an English teacher.
4 :
If I understood you correctly, you want to support yourself while going through language school in Japan? Unfortunately this is not possible. You will be on a student visa and most people won't hire you because you can't work more than 20 hours a week. Some of my friends over there worked while in college but they got 2-3 hours teaching max. Your best bet is to either save money and go or just skip the school part all together and go there to work. You should also check out this post: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101026061652AAtZ1ke
