We’re hiring …

Welcome to The Wright Language School’s recruit site. We are inviting applications from qualified, experienced and energetic English teachers to join us on our small staff starting with orientation on March 26th, 2024. The successful applicant will be assuming full-time teaching responsibilities from April 2nd, 2024.

Brief overview of the position:

  • Teach English to students from preschool age to adult, in private to large group settings.
  • Minimum 3 to 4-year bachelor’s degree required, preferably teaching related.
  • Sponsorship/visa renewal will be provided for qualified applicants.
  • Competitive starting salary, with consideration given for successful applicant’s experience and qualifications.
  • Five-day work week, Tuesday to Saturday.
  • Twelve-month, renewable contract.
  • Completion bonus.
  • Accommodation arranged, rent subsidized.
  • All Japanese national holidays falling on work days, plus approximately a week each for spring, summer and winter vacations.

Interviews will be conducted in-person with applicants in final consideration for the position who reside in Japan and overseas applicants via Zoom. Applicants in consideration for final selection will be asked to prepare sample lessons for a children’s class and an adults’ class and present a sample lesson for each in the final interview.

If you feel this offer is in tune with your aspirations, please spend some time reading through the information below to ensure we are working toward a good match of your hopes and our expectations.

Please send your application to us as soon as possible addressed to Ms. Kazuko Takayama, including the following;

  1. Cover letter
  2. Résumé
  3. A recent photo of yourself
  4. References
  5. LinkedIn profile if available

Acceptable attachments (with your full name in all document names):

  • PDF document (*.pdf)
  • *.jpg for any pictures.

and send them to:

recruit2024@wright.jp

About Us

The Wright Language SchoolHistory: Situated in Tsuyama City, the regional capital of northern Okayama Prefecture, Japan, The Wright Language School has one of the longest histories of serving the local community of English language students. Founded in 1990 by Ms. Kazuko Takayama, the school is marking its thirty-fourth anniversary in 2024.

Students: We offer classes to students ranging from three-year-olds to mature students from all walks of life, learning in one-to-one, semi-private, small and large groups settings.

Students study an average of four lessons a month and are free to extend or cancel their classes on one month’s notice. While occasionally asked to teach a short sample lesson to prospective clients, staff are not pressured into conducting sales pitches; we believe a quality lesson delivered to the best of our abilities is the best incentive for all our continuing and potential students.

Staff: We have a small staff of three full-time teachers with teaching experience in America, Australia, and in some of the largest cities in Japan. While the small number of staff may leave us stretched at times, we are appreciated in the local area for our level of personal attention and professional standards, while maintaining a reasonable price scale for our customers.


Website: While way overdue for an update, the school’s main website is another step in our journey to improving our service to our local current and potential students, as well as bringing English education beyond the immediate area. Online for over twenty-five years, it has grown to a site of over 400 pages, accessed from locations far from our rural home. Though predominantly in Japanese, non-Japanese users can click around and get a feel for the school and our students from many of the pages.

Classes

Lesson Planning: Teachers are encouraged to prepare their own lesson notes prior to each class, outlining goals and methods for each lesson. All texts at the school have been carefully chosen and most are accompanied by detailed teaching manuals produced by the publishers, which the teachers should consult in preparation for each lesson, incorporating additional original teaching resources and activities.



Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the school rapidly restructured the teaching environment to offer online lessons, via Zoom, for all our customers and to conform to government guidelines on in-person teaching. All classrooms have cameras, mics and a document camera for text presentation online and on the large monitor in each class. Since the worst of the pandemic has abated, and following government guidelines, masks are now optional in class and students are asked to study from home should they present with any symptoms. Almost all classes are still in person, with the occasional hybrid lesson (in-person and online mix) from time to time.

The introduction to Zoom has been a great bonus for our students, giving them the flexibility to study when their schedule may prevent them from attending in-person, and even opening classes to students in other cities.

Schedule: The teacher is required to be at the school Tuesday to Saturday for the core business hours from 12:00 noon to 9:00 pm, with an hour off for lunch and time off to compensate for one early start.

The teacher is scheduled to teach just one class starting earlier than the regular hours, a 10:45 am start each Tuesday teaching a large adult group class for seventy-five minutes at the head school. The teacher won’t be required to resume regular office hours after that class until 2:00 pm that day.



The teacher will teach an average of twenty-five to thirty hours per week. Though yet to exceed that limit, teaching hours over a total of thirty in any scheduled week will be paid an additional ¥2,000 per hour.

The weekly teaching schedule will vary, with cancellations, re-scheduling by students and new classes beginning and classes ending. The daily schedule is finalized the day before, with unexpected cancellations being the only changes on the day. On average, teachers can expect to teach from four hours to a maximum of six hours per day, although occasionally as few as two or three hours may be scheduled.

Time between classes will be used for lesson preparation, upkeep of the student files, assisting in the day to day running of the school and self-directed professional development. It is an ideal time to keep abreast of current topics and peruse available teaching catalogs and resources on-line in preparation for scheduled classes.

Texts

The following is a list of some of the main texts used at the school. Where available, links to publisher’s sites, and specific text information have been included. All links will open in a new window/tab.


Children:

Text: SuperKids Third Edition 1~6 with Activity Books.

Publisher: Pearson

Description: This series focuses on presenting and learning language through functional dialogs, TPR activities and engaging story lines while developing key vocabulary, grammar skills in context, and writing skills. Lots of chants, rhymes, songs and movement accompany all units.


Text: Chatterbox Emergent & Early Stages. (Currently out of print.)

Publisher: Pearson Education Australia

Description: A really popular readers’ series for younger learners. A total of 72 vibrant and engaging readers that challenge and extend our elementary students’ reading abilities. Each lesson the students can make their own selection from their appropriate level, practice and present the reader to their peers, before moving on to the next challenging book. It has proven a great motivator for our younger learners.


Junior High to High School, Young Adult:

Text: American Headway (Third Edition) Starter , 1 & 2

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Description: Solid general skills development through authentic listening and conversation activities. Supplementary writing and cloze activities augment the well structured exercises.


Adult:

Text: Interchange Fourth Edition Intro, 1 & 2, and Interchange Fifth Edition, Intro, 1 & 2

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Description: Takes the beginning to intermediate level adult student through guided conversations, topics for discussion, grammar focus and review activities, supplementing the core work with audio and workbook activities.


Text: Passages, Second Edition, 1 & 2

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Description: Written for students looking to develop their upper-intermediate skills, this series is the logical successor to the Interchange series. Challenging both linguistically and conceptually, an engaging text for students with high aspirations.


Additional Materials & Resources: The school also has a large number of flash-cards, additional skills books for spelling, reading and writing, story books and some board games, primarily aimed at children’s classes, all useful in instructing, extending, reviewing and engaging students.

Wireless Internet access is available in the head school for those wishing to utilize the school’s or their own PC for online and computer based learning strategies and lesson preparation. Each classroom has a computer, document camera, conference microphone and large monitor for presentations and online lessons.

Free Conversation: Adults’ classes are usually balanced between the text and free conversation. For almost all of our students this is the only regular opportunity they have to speak with a fully fluent English speaker. It is an opportunity for the students to practice the skills they have learned in class, and the teacher should view it as an integral part of the lesson: correcting errors in usage and pronunciation, extending vocabulary and idiomatic usage.

Housing

The teacher will have an apartment arranged for them. It is a modest 3-bedroom, partially furnished apartment, conveniently located within a short walk from the school and the downtown area of Tsuyama.

The teacher does not have to pay any deposit, key money or “gift” money, a common and expensive practice in Japan when signing contracts with landlords.

The ¥50,000 monthly rent will be subsidized ¥10,000 by the school, the teacher’s share of ¥40,000 being deducted from the monthly salary.

The apartment has air conditioning, bedding, washing machine, western style toilet, bathroom, kitchen utensils including rice cooker, cook top, refrigerator, cups, pots, flatware, chopsticks, crockery, basically everything needed to survive. The teacher will be responsible for utilities, Internet, wear and tear and living expenses.

Conditions

This section provides an overview of the remaining working contract not mentioned in previous segments.

Salary, Bonus & Taxes: Basic salary is ¥250,000 per month, subject to a raise dependent on the teacher’s performance on subsequent contract renewals.



The teacher will be paid a ¥80,000 bonus upon the successful completion of the contract.

The school will deduct income tax from the teacher’s monthly salary. The teacher will be responsible for paying local and city taxes, as well as national health insurance.



Holidays and Leave: Approximately a week each for the New Year, the Golden Week (late April to early May) and Obon holidays (mid-August), plus all national Japanese holidays falling on work days.

Days off for personal business are to be mutually agreed upon by the school and the teacher. Classes canceled for teacher’s requested days off will be re-scheduled.



Tsuyama

About Tsuyama: The head school is located in the central district of Tsuyama, the regional capital of the Sakushu, or Mimasaka area of northern Okayama Prefecture. It has a population of just under 100,000 people, predominantly families of farmers, business persons and merchants. The outlying areas support rice, dairy, cattle and pig farmers, as well as timber industry workers. There are several industrial parks in the surrounding areas, containing some of the major names in Japanese industry, including National Panasonic and Chugai Seiyaku. Situated in the Chugoku mountain range, the city is surrounded by mountains and the natural beauty of the area may come as a surprise to those used to the industrial, big-city images of Japan.

Climate: Summer is hot and humid; winter is cold, with the occasional moderate to heavy snowfall. Spring and autumn are truly beautiful with very mild weather and spectacular flowers and foliage. The wet season in early summer is very much as the name suggests, but no more so than any other area in Japan.



Sights: One of the finest places in Japan to view cherry blossoms in spring, and situated directly across from our school, is the ruins of Tsuyama Castle. Now a park, it has some 1000 cherry trees that burst with this symbol of Japan in early April heralding the start of festivals and celebrations that carry on through the summer months and into autumn.

There are many festivals celebrating the seasons in Tsuyama and the surrounding area, and anyone interested in this aspect of Japanese culture will be well served living here. Teachers in the past have joined these festivals on a regular basis.

The greatest attraction in Tsuyama is undoubtedly its citizens. People with any experience of the larger cities of Japan often comment on how friendly and approachable the local people are. They are proud of their city and keen to show you its best side. Happily, a large number of the best you are to meet here are among our students.

The National Tourist Organization provides a more colorful description of Tsuyama and the surrounding Mimasaka area. A more localized description of Tsuyama can be found on the official Tsuyama Tourism site.

More about the local area, industries and festivals can be found on the official Tsuyama City site.

Information about Okayama Prefecture can be found on the official prefectural site.



Leisure

Teachers in the past have enjoyed a wide range of leisure pursuits in their free-time and on holidays, from fishing, cycling, snowboarding and hiking, to the more sedate indoor activities including karaoke, streaming movies, reading books and the local area has inspired the writing muse in many. Teachers have joined classes in the local area such as aerobics, weight-training, table tennis, painting and swimming.

Sports: Sports are very popular in Tsuyama including outdoor and indoor pursuits such as tennis, cycling, running, basketball, badminton, table tennis, baseball and bowling.

The Japan Swimming School (Japanese language site) is centrally located, not far from the teacher’s accommodation and the school, offering classes and training times at affordable rates.



Study: There are ample opportunities for foreign residents to study Japanese in Tsuyama with a well organized local team of experienced volunteer teachers running classes in several locations around town for a nominal fee.

The local area also supports a large number of classes in the traditional Japanese arts, such as pottery, the tea ceremony, calligraphy, kendo, karate, kyudo and ikebana.

Movie Theaters: The major cities to the south, Okayama and Kurashiki have a large number of movie theaters showing all the major and many minor releases from all over the world.



Shopping: Tsuyama is well serviced by shops and department stores, and apart from the occasionally needed ‘tastes from home’, almost anything a teacher needs can be found here or online. The much better serviced Okayama City, the largest city in the area with a population of about 700,000, is about an hour away by express train, and the much bigger Osaka is just over 2 hours away by highway bus.

Intercity Transportation: The local area is moderately serviced with public transport facilities should the teacher wish to travel outside Okayama on vacations or on the weekend. The local Tsuyama Train Line connects to Tottori City in the north and to Okayama City in the south with Bullet Train connections from there to the major cities of Japan.

There are a number of Japan Rail Highway Bus services departing from Tsuyama Station to most major cities in Western Japan as well as Tokyo.

Okayama Airport, with domestic and international connections, is about a seventy-minute drive from Tsuyama.

Applicants

Equally important to any formal qualifications we may list here, the successful applicant must show a willingness to incorporate themselves in what is a very close working environment. This is a small school in a relatively small city and the teacher will be very closely associated in the eyes of the people here with the school. This is true in any small city, but particularly so in Japan. We are looking for someone who is conscious of their image and performance, both personally and professionally, in the minds of those around them.

Education and Experience: Minimum three or four year Bachelor Degree is required, and is essential for sponsorship purposes. Preference will be given to applicants with a degree and experience in teaching, particularly in EFL. EFL training and certification will be favorably looked on.



During the interview process, select applicants will be invited to present sample lessons for a children’s class and an adults’ class and deliver them either in person when possible, or through Zoom. When planning the lessons, please consider group scenarios of 4 to 6 students incorporating materials you will be provided with. Details of the target students for the lessons will be provided later in the interview process.

Japanese Ability: Proficiency in Japanese is a major plus, but not an essential requirement. While not essential, it is occasionally beneficial to use directions in Japanese for lower level students and in particular to maintain order in children’s classes. Other staff will only too willingly assist in the linguistic development of the teacher to these ends.

Application

If you feel this offer is a good match with your aspirations, please note applications for this position will be accepted until the end of January, 2024 with the position beginning with orientation on Tuesday, March 26th, 2024.

Please send your application to us as soon as possible addressed to Ms. Kazuko Takayama, including the following;

  1. Cover letter
  2. Résumé
  3. A recent photo of yourself
  4. References
  5. LinkedIn profile if available

Acceptable attachments (with your full name in all document names):

  • PDF document (*.pdf)
  • *.jpg for any pictures.

and send them to:

recruit2024@wright.jp

Please feel free to ask any additional questions about the position along with your application.

We are looking forward to hearing from all interested applicants!