In addition to the huge for-profit English conversation industry in Japan, there are also many opportunities for people to teach English in junior and senior high schools, junior colleges, universities and vocational schools. These types of classes are generally much larger, and people hired for this in Japan usually have some teaching experience, although the JET program (explained earlier in the book) hires people with no teaching experience. Indeed these jobs generally pay better, so you will see many people leaving conversation schools after a year or so to get these jobs.

    If done directly through the institution, the general wage for a one-hour English conversation class at a high school or college is ¥6,000 - ¥7,000 for a "per-class" payment system and ¥4,500 - ¥5,000 on a salary basis. In the first case, you will only be paid for each class you teach which will amount to about 65 percent of days (of the year). The other days will be school holidays or testing periods. In the latter case you will be paid a monthly salary based on the number of classes you have. This salary is paid during the summer too, even when there is no school. The actual results are about the same, although some people with the salaried system find themselves with more restrictions under their contracts.

    In either case, these jobs are better paying, and you will have much more free time. Many people do actively pursue this kind of work as it seems to be a better package, but teaching four or five classes of 30 or more students a day is an exhausting thing to do. You have to constantly speak in a loud voice, and you will do more talking. You will also have to prepare more.

    In some cases there are companies that send people out to high schools and colleges. This is not such a good situation because after the company takes its cut you will find yourself teaching large classes (more tiring) for the same amount of wages that you could get at a conversation school.

    Furthermore, some of the salary systems are not entirely clear. It is my understanding that it is illegal for a college to pay a teacher's salary to a corporation, but rather the salary must be paid directly to the teacher. The college generally pays a separate fee to the company sending the teacher. However, I know of separate cases where three different companies set up bank accounts with teachers' names (unknown to the teachers or the colleges) and directed the colleges to make the payments into that account from which they then skimmed off up to 60 percent of the money before paying a ¥3,000 per hour wage (only for classes taught) to the teachers. This was on top of the placement fees these companies also received. The companies also had strict rules in the contracts prohibiting the teachers from discussing any salary or contract matters with the colleges. If you are working at a college and you receive your salary directly from a corporation, I would strongly advise that you find out what bank account the college is paying your salary into.

    In most college classes, you will be able to teach the class by yourself, but many of the high school jobs tend to fall under the AET (Assistant English Teacher) category. I think a more appropriate description would be HTR ("human tape recorder") because that is what many of the Japanese counterparts use the AET for. When I was an AET for one year (total of 17 classes a week), I remember that most of my Japanese counterparts would go on and on for about five minutes, and then he or she would point to me and say, "Mr. Gibbs." I would then repeat what the Japanese teacher had just said, and he or she would continue talking. I would stand there and wait for my next opportunity.

    There was, however, in my opinion one very smart Japanese teacher. Rather than feel threatened by the presence of a native English speaker (someone who spoke English better than she did) in the classroom, this lady would hand me the class roster and walk to the back of the room where she stayed until the end of the hour. Like all Japanese high school teachers, she taught a lot of classes during the day, and I think she welcomed the break. I on the other hand certainly earned my wages during her class. As the year went on, I kind of preferred the other teachers because I could relax more while I waited for my cue. This was especially true in some of the night classes that were comprised mainly of Japanese sweathogs.

    Whatever happens do not get frustrated in a Japanese high school class. Remember that you are only there as a guest to show the students that English is real and not only a textbook thing. Be happy that you have a good paying job and the experience of seeing the inside of a Japanese high school.

    At the end of the In the Classroom Chapter and after the lengthy list of English schools, I have listed three types of schools. The first is a list of primary and secondary schools, and then colleges that have advertised for English instructors and AETs. In fact, most Japanese universities and boards of education in major cities hire native English teachers. However, many of them do not advertise, only relying on introductions or getting their teachers from the JET program. Most of this hiring starts in the late fall and continues through to February and early March.

    For AET jobs at public junior and senior high schools (nearly always part-time), call the local city government office where you live and ask to talk to the shidobu (curriculum and guidance division) of the kyoiku iinkai (board of education). The largest of these organizations, the Tokyo Board of Education, hires about 40 teachers a month all year long. However, there is usually a waiting list just to get an interview. Long holiday months like March, August and December tend to be more brisk as more teachers are returning home at these times.

    The third list of schools falls under the category of International Schools. There are quite of few of these in Japan, and anyone applying at these schools should have professional teacher qualifications, although some international schools do have EFL programs as well.