Anyone want to talk about their experiences teaching in Japan? -

I just got a job with the Aeon company. I leave for Japan in November. I speak conversational Japanese, but I have only visited Japan once. I will be living in Komatsu. It is 200 miles north of Tokyo. Anyone have any advice, warnings, statements, or anything else to contribute either about Komatsu or Aeon? I would like to hear what you have to say. Thanks!

Since you ve already decided to work for AEON, probably you don t want to hear about negative things... My husband used to work for GEOS, which is similar school to AEON, and he quit before he finished his contract for quot;somequot; reasons. But he enjoyed teaching, and he liked to hang around with his students. Probably you will have a 2-year contract. I would recommend you to teach English for 2 years, and switch the job... My husband taught at GEOS, and then taught at a small, small English school, then started working for the English newspaper company in Tokyo.

My advice is to get into Japanese society as much as you can. Make your Japanese friends. Join a gym. Get into a routine. That ll help you a lot. Of course, it ll help to have foreigner friends too.

Just do as you are told without questioning it! Don t take that job seriously! And enjoy the rest of your time by travelling around Japan!

Don t take it very seriously. You will be teaching English conversation. That means you will be a conversation partner (the technical term is quot;informantquot;) for people who need to learn to actually hear and speak English. They will address you as quot;teacherquot; to give you the proper level of respect, but you won t be a teacher in the sense of teaching anything. You re just a practice partner. Enjoy your time there, but don t take yourself or your job too seriously. Learn as much as you can about Japan, especially the language, while you re there.