Japanese in secondary schools

Hernameislalex

Hi all!

I'm wondering if anyone could list any schools that they know of that do Japanese for the leaving cert or in transition year preferably in the Dublin area. I'm planning on doing a masters in teaching and wanna focus on Japanese but I have no idea on where to start even applying for placement!!

Konata

Do you have other subjects too to teach? I'm sure focusing on Japanese is the dream but realistically, no school is going to hire you full-time JUST to teach Japanese. Likely they'll hire you for other, more popular subjects and it'll be a bonus if they also happened to have room for Japanese to be taught. There is a small chance that you could get hired just to teach Japanese (I have heard of it) but it would only be on a part-time basis, so in that sort of case you'd have to try and teach at several schools or supplement with other part-time jobs to make any sort of living.

Anyway, you probably already know all that but I looked into it extensively as an option for myself too so just passing on my own discoveries Regarding specific schools that teach it, they're few and far between, even in Dublin unfortunately. Very very few have it timetabled but some others allow it to be taught as an 'after-school' subject. For finding schools, try contacting the Japanese Language Teachers of Ireland - one of their aims is to spread Japanese at secondary school level so they'd likely have contact details etc. for schools that already teach it. Alternatively you could try contacting the Post Primary Lanaguge Initiative who also promote Japanese at secondary school level. Best of luck anyway!

Hernameislalex

Hi thanks for responding!

I have studied spanish for 9 years but since I didn't complete my degree in it (I gave up three years in) I don't know if I'd be able to teach it.
I'm absolutely terrified that I won't get to teach Japanese as it is literally the only thing I want to do. I'll even move to Britain to do it once I finish my masters (I just have to get into the masters course first...)

Thanks for all the info! I've contacted them both so now I just have to wait!

Konata

Hernameislalex wrote: »

Hi thanks for responding!

I have studied spanish for 9 years but since I didn't complete my degree in it (I gave up three years in) I don't know if I'd be able to teach it.
I'm absolutely terrified that I won't get to teach Japanese as it is literally the only thing I want to do. I'll even move to Britain to do it once I finish my masters (I just have to get into the masters course first...)

Thanks for all the info! I've contacted them both so now I just have to wait!

I don't think you'll qualify to teach Spanish unless you have a certain number of Spanish modules completed in university. It has to make up a certain percentage of your degree to be deemed eligible by the Teaching Council. You can look that up on their website though to confirm.

If Japanese is the only thing you can teach, you won't get a full time position in a secondary school. You could maybe get hired to teach it outside of school hours as I mentioned above. You could also teach it privately, in a grinds capacity. Another option is to look for language schools, rather than secondary schools as these will have much less stricter requirements to get hired. There's a few dotted around Dublin, easy enough to find on Google. All of these would be part time but if you managed to string together enough hours it could work out.

Another potential (though would take much longer but be more profitable in the end!) would be to do a PHD and work towards lecturing in Japanese. A downside to this is there are few positions available in Ireland but there'd be further choice in UK universities offering Japanese. Would take a bit longer to get to that stage but let's face it, the secondary school option is unlikely to work out full-time without other qualified subjects sadly.

EDIT: Just realised you didn't actually say it in your original post - do you have a degree in Japanese?

Hernameislalex

Wow you're really bashing on my dreams here.. Like I know you're being helpful and it is good that you are being so straightforward instead of beating around the bush but it's just a shock to my system being told that I basically have no future in what I want and plan to do

Once again, thanks for all the info. Yep, I do have a degree in Japanese and I have completed a number of modules in Spanish. A friend of mine who had completed only one year of French in college but studied it for six years in school was told that she would be eligible to teach first year French in secondary school if she wanted to so maybe there is hope for me. I'm currently waiting for a response from someone in charge of my course for next year but hopefully I can figure something out (even if it does mean I have to move to Britain and teach for the GSCEs instead).

Can I ask? What do you do?

Thanks again!!

Konata

Hernameislalex wrote: »

Wow you're really bashing on my dreams here.. Like I know you're being helpful and it is good that you are being so straightforward instead of beating around the bush but it's just a shock to my system being told that I basically have no future in what I want and plan to do

Once again, thanks for all the info. Yep, I do have a degree in Japanese and I have completed a number of modules in Spanish. A friend of mine who had completed only one year of French in college but studied it for six years in school was told that she would be eligible to teach first year French in secondary school if she wanted to so maybe there is hope for me. I'm currently waiting for a response from someone in charge of my course for next year but hopefully I can figure something out (even if it does mean I have to move to Britain and teach for the GSCEs instead).

Can I ask? What do you do?

Thanks again!!

Sorry, I really don't mean to bash on your dreams or anything!! You have to be realistic though about the chances of getting a fulltime job teaching a subject that has little demand in Ireland (in comparison to the common LC subjects). But as I said above, with a bit of push and coordination, you can definitely rack up enough part time hours between hopefully secondary schools, private teaching and language schools.

Yea, I'm not 100% on the requirements for the Teaching Council as its a good while since I read them. Best thing you can do is just contact them and ask. Again, not trying to be pessimistic but have you heard about the situation for secondary school teachers in Ireland over recent years? You should have a poke about the Teaching & Lecturing forum if you haven't, to get an insight into the current situation. Basically, work is scarce and teachers who have 2-3 'major' subjects are struggling to get enough hours teaching. It's really crap

But here, where there's a will, there's a way. Just because it won't be easy, doesn't mean it'll be impossible so definitely go for it! Just double check those Teaching Council requirements before you spend money on a Masters though!

I was working as a freelance Japanese to English translator for a while but now I'm doing a Graduate Programme with a bank.

Hernameislalex

No, no! I know you're not being malicious so it's not like you need to apologise! I've been a bit of a dreamer when it comes to this topic anyway so I'm glad someone is being realistic with me haha.

My family are pushing me to move away as Ireland is fairly basic when it comes to getting jobs anyway I had no idea it was that hard for secondary school teachers

I will o.o I'm so scared I'll put in the time, effort and money into this masters and then get nothing from it..

Oh cool!! I once wanted to be a translator but I worked as an intern in a translation company and really didn't like it. Then I did JET and decided that I wanted to teach.

Konata

Hernameislalex wrote: »

No, no! I know you're not being malicious so it's not like you need to apologise! I've been a bit of a dreamer when it comes to this topic anyway so I'm glad someone is being realistic with me haha.

My family are pushing me to move away as Ireland is fairly basic when it comes to getting jobs anyway I had no idea it was that hard for secondary school teachers

I will o.o I'm so scared I'll put in the time, effort and money into this masters and then get nothing from it..

Oh cool!! I once wanted to be a translator but I worked as an intern in a translation company and really didn't like it. Then I did JET and decided that I wanted to teach.

If your dream is strong enough, and you work hard enough, and a bit of luck is on your side you'll get there. I definitely believe you can teach Japanese here, but I don't think it'll be as straight forward as just walking into full-time work in a secondary school. I've no idea what the situation is like in the UK but what I really think you need to do for both here and there is to research, research, research! Which you've already made a start on by looking for schools that teach Japanese in Dublin. Look into the requirements of the Teaching Council regarding subjects, and see if you can get your Spanish to qualify. That would definitely be a help. Read up on the job situation for secondary school teachers at the moment to familiarize yourself with the situation and pick up tips on best to get a job. I believe most teachers starting out are on temporary contracts or struggling to make up enough hours, which is obviously less than ideal, but the more you know about it, the more chance you have of increasing your own chances. Knowledge is power and all that Look into all the language schools I mentioned too, and of course the teaching privately option.

After you've done all that, look at your Masters programme and figure out if it's worth it. You won't be able to teach in secondary schools without it so it'll be up to you to weigh the cost vs. chances of getting a job etc.

Ah, JET very good! I'm hoping to do it myself within the next few years, I really miss Japan Aye, the translation is tough. Obviously there's no in house positions in Ireland (and I'm not able to go back to Japan at the moment) so it all has to be self-employed which is difficult to manage, and frankly wasn't really paying the bills! It's sorta like your situation with the teaching - it's a less than ideal situation, but if you work at it you can figure a way to make a living. My passion just wasn't strong enough to do that at the moment though, as the graduate programme took my fancy instead!