(upbeat music)
- Hello, good morning,
or as we say in Japan (in foreign language).
My name's Yvonne Worden, and I'm taking over
the International TEFL Academy's Instagram story today.
I live in Nabari, Japan, so get ready for a full day
of teacher-life kinds of things.
So I usually try to be awake by around 7:30,
get going with my tea, and I just had half of my breakfast,
usually a banana and a protein bar.
And today is a busy day at school.
So, I've been living in Japan for about 10 months.
I can't believe how fast the time has gone by.
I work with a company called Altia Central,
so I actually work at public schools,
elementary schools, in Nabari, Japan.
I have five different schools, so each day of the week
I rotate to a different school.
I'm from Seattle, Washington, I haven't met
any other Seattleites here in Japan,
but it's kind of fun being able to talk about it
and to feel more Seattleite than I ever have
when I lived at home.
If you have any questions throughout the day,
feel free to shoot me a message here
on International TEFL Academy's Instagram,
or you can direct message me @yveywords,
so I'll be responding to messages on both channels all day.
- Okay, next up is the apartment tour.
I won't keep you waiting all day for that.
So, I live in Leopalace Apartments,
and my company arranged housing for me in advance,
so all I had to do was just move in,
so, let me show you around.
Let's take you inside.
First, take off your shoes in the entryway.
Shoes in homes are not usually permitted.
I live on the second floor,
so first you go up this kind of steep staircase.
Here is a hallway with various functions and things.
This corner I love right here is just
my little getting ready area at the moment.
I've got my rice cooker.
Here we are entering the kitchen.
So we have kind of a small mini-fridge, a bit of storage,
and the kitchen has this cupboard area
and two burners and a sink.
There's no oven, so that takes some getting used to,
but it does the job.
So, the apartments come with a washer,
but pretty much no one has,
so, apartments will generally come with a washer,
but you'll need to hang-dry your clothes
on this kind of rack things.
I have my shower and sink in here,
my Totoro towel that my mom gave me for Christmas.
Cute, right?
And here's the little toilet room.
These are in separate rooms for some reason in Japan.
Okay, we're entering the final room, my bedroom.
So, here's that.
More storage.
The apartments come with a TV, though I never use mine.
Nice big closet, I fit a lot of clothes
and hats and things in there.
The apartment also comes with a chair and table,
I added that little couch over here,
and I'll show you my view.
It looks like it kind of snowed a little bit last night
so that's going to be pretty today.
Just a couple of fast facts for you
while I finish up my tea.
I live alone, this is a single apartment,
and included with the rent are your internet
and also water bill.
I'm headed to work in just a few minutes.
I actually drive a company car to work.
A lot of us working in the countryside or suburban areas
are provided a car, and you can pay a little extra
to be able to drive to work
and also for your own personal uses.
Sadly, today I cannot take videos inside of my schools.
I work at elementary schools and both my company,
Altia Central, and the boards of education are very serious
about privacy and you're not allowed
to take photos or videos.
So I apologize for that, I promise you they're adorable,
and I'll tell you more about my students
later on in the day.
Since I'm about to head to work for the bulk of my day,
I'm going to leave some information
about my budget breakdown, what I make,
what I spend money on, and feel free to shoot me questions
and I will get to them this afternoon or evening.
So thank you in advance for your patience.
This is my car.
It's a 2012 Daihatsu Mira.
It's tiny, compact and does the job,
and it's great on gas mileage, I do really well.
(windshield wipers squeak on windshield)
Hello again, good afternoon.
It's 4:45, I just finished work for the day,
and I have a few minutes before the next thing I'm going to,
a Japanese lesson, and I thought I would fill you in
on some of the reasons why I'm here in Japan
and also how I got here.
Okay, next topic, certification.
I took the online TEFL course so I could
keep working full-time and save up for my move abroad.
I thought the course was a great foundation
for the skills that you'll need to teach English
in a classroom to English language learners.
I'm so glad I did the course and I've met a great network
of fellow ITA alumni, so, definitely a great way to go
if you want to work and save at the same time.
So I'm meeting up with the fellow
Assistant Language Teachers here in Nabari
and we're going to take a Japanese class, yay.
Say hello to International TEFL Academy!
- Hey!
- Hey! Yes, Japanese language time.
Hi, Taneesha.
I might be a couple of minutes behind.
Okay so it's actually time for Japanese class,
I'll check back in with you later.
Okay (in foreign language) Tuesday is our Japanese class.
(In foreign language)
- (students reply in foreign language)
- It's fun; yay.
So we meet for two hours, and then we have snacks and tea,
and today we sang the New Zealand national anthem
and Allie played her clarinet,
so it's always fun on Tuesdays. Yay.
- [All Students] Yay, (in foreign language).
- Okay, hello ITA world again.
We come to this wonderful place for udon noodles
called Kamiroku after our Japanese class on Tuesdays.
I'll show you what everyone's eating.
I'm having the kizami soba, and Allison, what did you order?
- I ordered a yaki udon.
- [Yvonne] And you get a yaki udon every week, right?
- Every week.
- [Yvonne] (chuckles) And you Taneesha?
- A yaki udon for me as well, if you can see it.
- [Yvonne] What did you guys get?
- Well, we're both vegan so we're eating vegetable tempura.
- Tempura.
- And then we'll soon have some kizami udon coming,
oh, and the most important part is the beer, which arrived.
- (giggles) it's all here.
Hello, I'm back at home now.
I'm in my cozy pajamas and I'm going to get
to everything I haven't covered yet.
So one of the toughest decisions that I faced,
that everyone faces when they get their TEFL certificate
I imagine, is where to teach.
So, why Japan?
I chose to move to Japan because I did take some Japanese
in high school and I wanted to remember
those language skills again.
Also, I love Japanese food, always have.
And, I wanted to learn more about the culture.
For me there's a mix of very modern and interesting
and also very traditional art and culture to learn about
so it kind of checked all of the boxes for me
for a teaching and living abroad experience
and now here I am.
I'm so glad that I decided on Japan.
I was still taking my TEFL certification online
when I started job searching.
I came across Altia Central's website,
and I noticed that they had a recruiter coming to Seattle
so I sent in my application materials, cover letter, resume,
and I was invited for an interview.
The process consisted of two 90 minute interviews
and some other essay-type materials,
and then I was offered a position.
I was really excited for how quickly that all came together.
Just to clarify, I work
for a private dispatch company, Altia Central.
Another big on is called Interac, I-N-T-E-R-A-C.
Some of you may have heard of the Jet Program.
Now the job is similar, Assistant Language Teacher, ALT,
but the Jet program is run through the government,
so they're different.
In Japan, I am on an Instructor Visa.
My company organized everything for me
to get my Certificate of Eligibility.
I had to visit the Japanese consulate
in Seattle a couple of times
and they gave me my Certificate of Eligibility.
I had that with me when I made my move to Japan,
and then you are able to have a valid working visa
as an instructor when you land at the airport
and go through immigration.
Prior to teaching in Japan and taking
the online TEFL certification, I did not have
any other professional teaching experience,
so if I can do it I know you can do it.
In case you're wondering, my major for my Bachelor's degree,
I studied Journalism.
I'm very inspired by travel,
and teaching abroad allows me to do that,
and then I can do as much storytelling and writing
and taking photos and videos as my heart desires.
It's fantastic.
On the topic of storytelling, if you are interested
in more of my perspectives and experiences teaching
and living abroad, I do have a YouTube channel,
you're welcome to follow me there.
It's yveywords, so stay tuned for more Japan stories
and adventures there.
There is way more that I would love to share with you
about living and teaching in Japan,
but it's getting late and close to my bedtime.
I have work tomorrow morning and it's time for me
to sign off and say (in foreign language)
and you can connect with me on my personal Instagram,
yveywords, and again feel welcome to send me
any questions that you may have.
I urge you, if you are at all tempted
to follow through and make the big leap
to move abroad, to do it.
If you are even curious now, you'll always wonder
what would have happened.
So, I encourage you, go for it! Goodnight.
(upbeat music)