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 Amity Frequently Asked Questions
There are many commonly asked questions about living and working in Japan. We hope that you can find the answers to your questions here. Feel free to contact your nearest Amity recruiting office with any additional questions.
Here
are some common questions we receive.
The answers for them follow below. |
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It is possible to survive and even flourish in
Japan with little understanding of Japanese. In
most situations, you can find someone with enough
English to help you. Additionally, the Japanese
staff members at your school are always willing
to help you with particularly difficult problems
where some Japanese is necessary. For example, you
will receive help with banking or visiting a doctor,
should you require it.
Many teachers come to Japan without any prior
knowledge of the Japanese language. For most,
they grasp at least the basics after a few months
of immersion. In many cities, Japanese lessons
are offered at the local community or international
center, usually at a very reasonable price and
in some cases they are free. There are some teachers
who work very hard on their Japanese, and the
results can be stunning. You will never have a
better chance to learn a foreign language than
by living in that country.
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Our company requires a minimum of a Bachelors
Degree from an accredited university. Unfortunately,
we are not able to consider an applicant who does
not have or will not soon have a Bachelors Degree. |
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Our company requires a perfect command of English.
An applicant from a non English-speaking country
whose native language is not English must have completed
their primary and secondary education in an environment
where English was the primary spoken language. If
your education meets these criteria, your application
will be considered. |
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Yes, while having some experience in a teaching
or tutoring environment is an asset, it is not a
requirement. To be a qualified applicant, though,
you need a Bachelor's Degree from a university,
a professional and pleasing demeanor, a desire to
succeed at new challenges, an ability to adapt to
a new environment, and the responsibility to fulfill
the commitments of the job. Most of all, you have
to love kids!
The training at Amity is comprehensive. New teachers
are provided with enough training to start their
teaching careers with confidence and our dedicated
Amity Foreign Teacher training staff continues
supporting our instructors in the classroom throughout
the year. You will be provided with the tools
to teach when you arrive, and your proficiency
as a teacher will quickly increase once you begin
the practical day-to-day experiential learning
that is a direct result of teaching in the classroom
at an Amity branch school.
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All Foreign Teachers are hired for a one-year
contract. Due to the visa requirements, we do not
hire people for shorter contract terms than one
year. |
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The prices will vary based on the route and the
season. We recommend arranging flights through travel
agents who consistently deal with routes to Japan
and have reasonable prices. Amity has no financial
connection to a travel agency.
Due to the travel distance involved in this position
and the amount of work required to prepare a prospective
teacher for departure, it is in Amity's best interest
to determine how committed our future teachers
are to the position. Amity is committed to securing
a new teacher's work visa and to providing the
best living and working environment for our teachers.
One way to gauge the commitment of a prospective
employee is to ask the teacher to pay his or her
way to Japan.
In turn, Amity urges candidates to prepare themselves
financially for such a big step in their lives.
A teacher is awarded a return ticket to his or
her home country or the cash equivalent upon completion
of the final contract with Amity. Also at this
time, there is a completion bonus that can be
roughly equated to the cost of the airfare necessary
to fly to Japan.
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Amity is an equal opportunity employer and therefore
we have hired and do hire qualified people of all
ages. |
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Couples, both married and unmarried may apply
to our company. Both members of a couple must apply
separately by submitting a resume as well as a one-page
essay explaining why he or she would like to live
and work in Japan to one of our recruiting offices.
Should both applicants be successful, we will try
to place them as close together as possible.
It is important to understand that we do not
provide housing for couples to live together.
Furthermore, the apartments we have set up for
our teachers are contracted with the landlords
for single occupancy. Since each teaching position
comes with an apartment, each teacher is consequently
responsible for their own apartment.
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It would be very difficult to have your family
with you in Japan. The apartments we have set up
for our teachers are for single occupancy. In addition,
day care is also not readily available in Japan
as it commonly is in other countries. Furthermore,
without the existence currently of Japanese as a
Second Language Programs in public schools, all
children will receive their education solely in
Japanese. Amity's benefits too, are stipulated for
individuals only; therefore dependents are currently
not covered by our health insurance. In addition
to this, the cost of raising a family in Japan is
quite high. Consequently, after considering all
of these variables it has not been possible for
an individual to take his/her family to Japan as
an employee of the AEON*Amity Corporation. |
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Although interviews are consistently held in our recruiting offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto and Okayama, Japan, there are also recruiting trips all over the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. Please check the dates of our recruiting trips online and apply through the office that will be most convenient for you to travel to. Applicants residing in Asia can apply through the Okayama, Japan office. All interested applicants must attend a series of meetings and interviews before being considered for a position. Please be aware that all travel and personal expenses incurred during the interview process are the sole responsibility of the applicant. |
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We hire throughout the year for positions that are filled every month by our recruiting offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto. |
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We do accept location requests, although we are
not always able to accommodate them. The more specific
a location request is, the harder it is to grant.
Naturally, we are working with the positions that
need to be filled.
When a person is offered a position with Amity,
the prospective teacher is provided with the location
of the school and the departure date before being
asked to sign the contract. Also prior to signing,
the prospective teacher is given some specific
information about the location. This has been
very successful in ensuring that our new teachers
will enjoy the area where they are placed to live
and work in Japan. Please remember that Japan
is the size of California with an extensive, fast
train system, allowing one to easily travel to
different points in Japan.
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While Amity does have its employees sign a binding
one-year contract, we are also cognizant that sometimes
there are unavoidable emergencies that must be dealt
with. In these cases, Amity capably works with our
employees to allow for time off to resolve the situation
and make a quick return to teaching. |
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After approximately 6 months in Japan, you will
have a meeting to discuss your contract renewal.
Based on your performance, you may be offered a
renewal of up to a year on your current contract.
You will continue to be offered a renewal contract
as long as the standard of your teaching remains
high and the relations with your fellow staff
and students remain professional and productive.
It is possible to renew every year,and our longest-serving
Foreign Teachers have been in Japan for over six
years.
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As an Amity teacher, you may be teaching individuals
from early infant aged students all the way up to
adults who come from all walks of life. We are extremely
diverse at Amity and our schedules often include
the teaching of English to toddlers, kindergarteners,
elementary students, junior high students, high
school students, college students, mothers, fathers
or retired people. Amity students include anyone
who has a desire to learn English. In general though,
the majority of our students are kids and the focus
of our curriculum is based on encouraging them in
the classroom.
For the majority of our younger students, learning
English is an exciting goal and an endeavor at
which they work hard. We take this goal seriously
and set to the yeoman's work of building a strong
foundation in English. However, for some of our
students, English lessons are a hobby or simply
an extra-curricular activity they pursue for sheer
enjoyment. One thing is true for all of our students
at any age; they want to have a wonderful time
while they learn English. So at Amity, our English
classes are fun!
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