Opening up a language school....

Has anyone ever had experience opening and running a language school? Are there any requirements besides normal business practices? Or is there a separate set of regulations for language schools in Japan?

 

make sure you have some sort of language qualification that the Japanese know about. You know what idiots they are for pieces of paper that say you went somewhere and got something rather than what you actually know.

Yakumo

 

I wouldn't be teaching. I was wondering more about the business end of it, but thanks for your input.

 

It doesn't matter. You'll still need one to show you understand the business. It's the "Japanese Way". You know, what they always say when they can't really explain why something is :lol:

Yakumo

 

You will need to supply your own texts (or buy them). There's a ton of work involved. Getting clients is not easy. Obviously, it's a huge business with a lot of competition.

 

A friend of mine who has been teaching in Japan for about 10 years wants to open one and I'd been thinking about it. I taught for about 5 years. I think it would be pretty easy to skim off some Nova teachers and students, especially with all of the uncertainty of Nova these days. Japanese staff, too. I also have a Japanese guy that we can team up with if we need some credibility with the government.

Mostly we're just brainstorming right now, seeing if there are any hurdles that are too big to overcome.

 

You will need at bare minimum an absolute fucking rock star Japanese speaker if not a real Japanese. Remember, it's a business... clients (business or personal) will want everything explained in plain Japanese to them, and they'll want it in writing.

It's a business. It's a lot of work. It will be a full time job. The main hurdle though is getting the students. Japanese are finicky, to say the least. Most people I know that have schools somehow weasel themselves into a decent sized corporate account and then start hiring other teachers, or they get a bunch of private students, then have them join the school once it's built. The hardest part will be getting the students, definitely.

 

I have experience the other way around - I helped manage a Japanese school here in Mexico for over a year or so.
It's quite a task, even for a small size institution, but at least in my case, I loved almost every aspect of it (Except the owner's "manager", who was an absolute cunt).
Now, this small school was part of a larger school that also offered Spanish classes - and let me tell you, the Japanese sure are finicky about language learning. I taught Spanish some months. Many Japanese students find it fun, so I recommend offering that.


I don't know what advise to offer, other than keeping papers up to date always, and being as friendly as possible. I myself had a lot of fun managing the school.
Maybe next week I'll go ask my former work-mates if they have something to say.

 

A friend of mine works for Smiths (http://www.sse-franchise.com/)... you start the school, they provide the material and help with other stuff. It seems like it could be rewarding. What kind of language would you be teaching?

I would move to Japan if you taught Swahili. You don't have to decide now, but just let that bounce around in your head for awhile... Swahili.

 

Swahili teacher wanted: Link

 

Ha! Add me to that list!

"We regret that due to the large number of applications received.."
I guess it's way more popular than I thought.