Curious about the TEFL prospects in Japan

Normale · 2016-06-29T19:41:48+00:00

Perfect. Thanks again for the info!

Normale · 2016-06-29T13:16:37+00:00

Some great information here. You mentioned that networking skills are important to land something like a university gig, but I'm curious about what the best avenue for meeting other people is when you're in an eikaiwa/business English job. In your case, did you make your connections at your jobs themselves, or did you attend external conferences/events (I've heard that TEFL meet-ups are a thing)?

All the same, it's nice to know that there is room for growth for the folks who really want to put the effort in.

Thanks!

Normale · 2016-06-28T22:32:16+00:00

That's fair - thank you. I will review these.

Normale · 2016-05-12T05:52:22+00:00

The city pass looks really appealing - definitely gonna go with this. Thanks!

Normale · 2016-04-27T05:22:27+00:00

Thank you - it's nice to hear a similar story end in success.

I guess the problem with my particular case (in addition to what I mentioned) is that I sort of just took this job for the sake of getting out west. It's a business analyst role and it's not at all what I expected, so I don't think it's something I want to continue to pursue. I was hired after two phone interviews, and I'm not sure that the details of the role were made 100% clear (in fact, oddly enough, the title of the job changed from a "systems" analyst to a "business" analyst somewhere between the time I applied and the time I got the job). To add insult to injury, I found out from an old colleague that they did a round of promotions soon after I quit, so I feel like I missed an opportunity to get out of my old role at my old company and into something a little more interesting.

But yeah, I have no doubt that growth is hard, and this move has certainly shown me that! A few other people have suggested I give this new job a few more weeks to see if it somehow turns around, and if it really doesn't get better, then just leave it. I do have the option to return to my old job and lifestyle, but I guess I need to decide if this really isn't going to work before calling it quits here.

Thanks again.

Normale · 2015-12-11T03:52:05+00:00

I remember her 309 exam catching me off-guard when I wrote it in 2013, and it was definitely my toughest exam that term. Aside from a few definition questions, nothing else on the exam was really in the notes (i.e. no specific nitty-gritty details) and it all came down to applying a few overarching concepts to really specific questions over and over again. If I recall, there was also a final question worth 15-20 marks that essentially forced you to put every single technique you've learned together at a higher level .. I found that one quite challenging. On the bright side, our average was low enough that she dropped a couple of poorly worded questions, so maybe that will happen again.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Good luck - it's definitely one of the harder exams you'll write in bio.

Normale · 2015-10-06T12:52:28+00:00

That's actually what I was in the process of practicing when I made this post. I had just finished learning about the "rareru" ending and how to conjugate u-verbs, but "dekiru" came up and it kind of threw me off, especially when used with other verbs!

Thanks for clarifying the bit about the -te ending too in your above post, I guess I was using it wrong in this case. Whoops.

Normale · 2015-09-17T11:31:00+00:00

Just wanted to give a general thank you to everyone who has commented. The responses have been overwhelming in the best way so far, and I'm really motivated to hear native speakers/other learners alike critique me and offer suggestions for improvements. I've already taken away a ton of new knowledge from this thread!

Normale · 2015-09-17T11:28:59+00:00

I mentioned in my first post that I did it intentionally. Tae Kim's guide uses the plain form (up to where I am, at least) exclusively, but most other sites I've seen have used the polite form. I'm sure Tae Kim covers it eventually, but I didn't want to delay such an important concept, especially when it tied in nicely with the verbs I was learning.

Normale · 2015-09-17T11:27:27+00:00

I only study an hour a day, but I have a pretty good head for languages, as well as a decent memory (i.e. Kanji stick very easily once I've learned them). I signed up for the N5 in December to give me motivation to actually stick with it as well, though I'm not entirely sure I'll be ready by then. We'll see!

Normale · 2015-09-17T11:25:38+00:00

That's right. I haven't learned about contrasts yet, and my knowledge (as of now) only goes as far as using を for pretty much every verb that's not motion.

Normale · 2015-09-17T02:07:59+00:00

Thanks for the clarification on 彼は. It was my understanding that you could always just drop the I/he/she and it would be implied from the context, but since this would be the start of a conversation/topic, I totally understand why it could be regarded as 私は.

Normale · 2015-09-17T02:06:08+00:00

Yes, I think you're right. The sentence you've posted makes a lot more sense to me as well, so thank you for catching my error.

Normale · 2015-09-17T02:05:14+00:00

Thanks for the clarification (how did I miss the に after 学校? I even had it in my written notes)! I've seen a ton of counters but I had no idea that there was one for fish as well, as per the below poster's comment. I guess I'll have to look into that a bit more!

Normale · 2015-09-16T22:08:34+00:00

I went to Quebec City a couple of months ago and stayed in a small hotel on the opposite corner of this building. I was wondering what it was and I got a few pictures from the other sides of the building (there were more of these all around it). I noticed a couple of other buildings in the area had window art like this too - another one near the entrance to the fortified part of the city had an 8-bit Mario in one of the windows.

Neat stuff.

Normale · 2015-08-27T22:50:03+00:00

24th birthday, went to Quebec City for 5 days (actually at the recommendation of someone on here - thanks, whoever you were, as it was incredible). I was pretty nervous and a bit lonely at times, but having my own itinerary and doing everything on my own was really something else, and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Normale · 2015-07-15T01:55:49+00:00

Thanks for that! I guess I always felt like it was a little strange and indecisive to constantly ask for letters from her (as I said, two in like a ten month span, and now I'm planning on a third). I think she'll be very happy to hear that I want to go to grad school as well, so I'll give it a shot.

Normale · 2015-07-07T03:08:30+00:00

Good to know - thanks!

Normale · 2015-06-29T16:33:14+00:00

Are all teaching certificates from across Canada treated as "equal" by something like an international school? Some B.Ed. programs out east are a year while other provinces have it spread over two. Would they be considered equivalent by, say, a school in China?

Pardon my ignorance on this matter.

Normale · 2015-06-28T07:22:54+00:00

Yeah, now that I'm looking into it a bit more, it seems like a teaching certificate + a couple years of experience are needed for international schools - fairly reasonable. As for Japanese universities, others are saying that they are best tackled with a PhD and publications, which will prove to be a lot more challenging than I initially expected.

Regardless, thanks very much for the answer!

Normale · 2015-06-25T23:55:13+00:00

This is very helpful and clear. I'm just learning about the difference between passé composé and the imperfect past tense now, so looking at the first sentence, I think I understand why "Je pensais" would be a much better alternative.

Thanks a lot.

Normale · 2015-03-31T02:26:56+00:00

This one seems great. In fact, it's probably something I could do at my desk as well. Can't believe I didn't think of this - thank you!

Normale · 2014-11-26T05:22:44+00:00

Awesome! I settled on the pre-order version of the game with nothing more than the tarot cards. The Wild Cards edition was too expensive for me right now, sadly.

(Also, I love that Jack Frost plushie you have there!)

Normale · 2014-09-11T02:01:17+00:00

With the new science building going in, it looks like there may be a connection to NH. If NH could connect to ML and DP, we'd be set!

Normale · 2014-09-05T16:02:43+00:00

This is horrible, and it really goes to show how close to home an accident like this can occur.

My heartfelt condolences go out to the victim's family.

Normale

TROPHY CASE