Four Seasons Links: Additional information about employment in Japan, life in Hamamatsu, and more

Four Seasons Language School and Cultural Center, Hamamatsu, Japan

Four Seasons Links: We are NOT Afraid of the Competition

Comparison Shopping is allowed!

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Their sites might be slicker or they might make bigger promises, but we know the conditions of these "instant language schools." (Just add foreigner...)

If you are a professional, looking to be appreciated for your experience and skills, and if you want a supportive management where you are treated as an individual, you won't need these links. The only reason you might be interested in one of these schools is that you really want the bright lights (and crowds and pollution and costs) of Tokyo living....

But so that you can make an informed choice, and so you understand that we are not afraid of a direct comparison, please feel free to browse these links for some of the national language schools in Japan.

Four Seasons respects your professionalism. We want professional teachers. We have hired one or two people without masters or advanced certification in the past, and yes, a few have done well, but we do believe that in the whole, teaching English well requires training. We want to offer our students a true educational opportunity and to do that, we need professional teachers.

We'd like to quote our competitors FAQs about who they want:

GEOS FAQs: Do I need a TESL or TEFL Certificate?
No, we urge all outgoing, dynamic and flexible people to apply. We do not believe that a specific amount of specialized or formal education is a guarantee of these attributes.

NOVA FAQs state: The minimum requirement is a Bachelor's degree and 13 years of formal education completely in English.

AEON's FAQs state: To be a qualified applicant, though, you need a university degree, a pleasing and professional demeanor, a desire to succeed at new challenges, an ability to adapt to a new environment, an adventurous spirit, and the responsibility to fulfill the commitments of the job.

See for yourself what these schools require and offer:

AEON

NOVA

GEOS

OTHER SITES YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT INCLUDE:

Teaching in Japan --this site offers general information and advice about teaching in Japan. It also includes a list of good Japanese language materials that you may want to pick up if you're interested in studying before you come.

The Lets Japan site seems to be off line at the moment, but we'll leave the link up in case it comes back. The home page started out with:

As an English teacher, contrary to what you may believe or have been told, you are an entertainer and salesman. You are the official English-speaking person. You are the Norman Rockwell, rosy-cheeked, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, apple-pie eating, product of the suburbs- a pet gaijin to some Japanese.

You may think you are a shoe-in with your TESL or RSA certificate but the fact is you don't really need it (well, Immigration wants to see it so they can keep riff-raff out but that's another story). Any person who can speak English clearly (you should ideally be white, by the way) and wear a suit properly can teach English in Japan. In fact, most Japanese figure that if you are a native speaker of English, you are qualified to teach.

We are not out to criticize English language learning; learning a second language is a noble and worthy pursuit. If anything, we wish there was a lot more communication between people all over the world. Our beef is with the large schools such as GEOS, AEON and NOVA where more entertaining than educating is going on. English is being taught professionally and being taught well in Japan. However, such institutions are few and far between; eikaiwa simply rules the landscape the way fast food rules North America. Keep this in mind as you read on:

We found this site by chance while doing a few web searches of our own to fill out this page. We just happen to agree with a lot of what's posted and we hope it comes back soon!

For all links offered on our site, the accuracy of information from these sites is not guaranteed by Four Seasons, nor are the ideas expressed there always endorsed by Four Seasons. All are independent sites under independent management. Further, while we do our best to keep things current, we can not be certain of the link validity day to day. Please do report any broken links to us. All pages open in new windows.