Teach English Online to Japanese Students

Teach Japanese Students: Top Companies

Here are the top companies you can work for to teach English online to Japanese students. If you are interested in helping Japanese students learn English, there are quite a few options.

Keep in mind that Japan’s peak teaching hours are on weekday mornings and evenings, and weekends. This translates to United States’ early morning hours (5 am – 8 am ) or European afternoon hours (12 pm – 3 pm).

#1. Mainichi Eikaiwa

If you want to teach English to Japanese students then Mainichi Eikaiwa is the company for you.

Mainichi Eikaiwa is the leading online English school in Japan. Teachers working for Mainichi Eikaiwa teach business and conversational classes to Japanese students.

Mainichi Eikaiwa hires native English speakers only, but this includes South Africans!

The company focuses on teaching high school students and young professionals. This is a good teaching opportunity for teachers who don’t want to teach little kids or “clown around” in edutainment. If preparing students by offering college prep is more your style, then Mainichi Eikaiwa is a good fit.

Mainichi Eikaiwa Teacher Requirement

have a laptop
noise-canceling headphones
native English speaker (S.African OK!)
Bachelor’s degree

Mainichi Eikaiwa Teacher Pay

Minimum: $10
Maximum: $18

#2. E-communication

E-communication is a great option for teaching Japanese students online because they pay well, especially for those who live in Japan already. Their hiring process is one of the more difficult ones to teach online English in Japan, but they pay a standard rate of ¥2,000-¥2,300/hour.

E-communication English Teacher Pay

$16-$20/hour for Americans.
standard rate of ¥2,000-¥2,300/hour if the teacher is living in Japan

#3. Eigo Power

Eigo Power is a great opportunity for beginning teachers who want to teach Japanese kids online, because they don’t require any formal qualifications. You will teach one-to-one classes, 25 minutes long. However, note that their pay is low for ESL industry standards. They are a good stepping stone to start your online teaching journey, though.

Eigo Power Teacher Requirements

Non-Native Speakers accepted!
Have a PayPal account. Eigox pays salaries only through PayPal.

Eigo Power English Teacher Pay

￥600~ (approx. US$5.40~) per 25 minute lesson

#4. Cambly

If you want to teach English to Vietnamese students then Cambly is a good company for you. Cambly caters to students all around the world, but there is a large audience of Vietnamese students. If you open your schedule during peak hours in Vietnam, you will receive many Vietnamese students. You can go further and cater your profile primarily to Vietnamese students, too, to build a Vietnamese student base.

Teach for Cambly — Teach English Online for Cambly

The best part about Cambly is how easy it is. It is easy to get hired and also easy to be a Cambly teacher. To apply to Cambly, you apply online and upload a video of yourself with an introduction. That’s it!

Apply to Cambly

Cambly Teacher Requirements

no degree or teaching certificate is necessary
must be a native English speaker
laptop or desktop or Chromebook
no minimum hours, no commitment.

Cambly Teacher Pay

earn $10.20 USD/hour
Cambly pays the same regardless of your residency- so great for expats in cheap countries

Teach English: Live in Japan

In addition to checking out these opportunities to teach English online to Japanese students, you can also consider actually moving to Japan and getting a job in a school there. If this interests you, then read How To Teach English in Japan

I also made an extremely comprehensive comparison chart that you can look at, too. You can sort through the columns to filter by companies that only focus on Japanese students and find the company that is the best fit for you.

Comparison Chart

Once you have picked an online company to teach for, you also have to really tailor your lessons to Japanese students. They struggle with specific English language issues that might be new for you.

Tips for teaching Japanese students online:

First, don’t panic. Many people might seem that English and Japanese have nothing in common but, despite the two languages having different roots, English and Japanese do share some similarities. They both share similar usage of subjects, objects, and verbs, for example. Still, there are several English language issues that Japanese students might struggle with.

Let’s take a closer look at these issues so you can customize your classes for your Japanese students.

Japanese students have unique pronunciation struggles

The very first issue is pronunciation. English pronunciation can be tough for anyone to master, but Japanese students often struggle with the differences in pronunciation between the two languages. One of the biggest issues is the pronunciation of the “r” sound, which doesn’t exist in Japanese. Japanese students might also struggle with differentiating between similar sounds, such as “l” and “r,” or “th” and “s.” Try giving them a Needs assessment when you begin meeting them, to establish a baseline. Give them the Rainbow Passage to locate their pronunciation weaknesses.

They will struggle with verb tenses

English has a complex system of verb tenses, and it can be challenging for Japanese students to learn and apply them correctly. For example, the difference between “I am going” and “I will go” might be difficult to understand. Japanese also doesn’t have the same concept of past perfect or future perfect tenses as English, which can cause confusion for learners.

They will struggle with sentence structure

Japanese and English have different sentence structures, which can be challenging for Japanese students to navigate. In Japanese, the verb typically comes at the end of the sentence, while in English, the verb generally comes in the middle. This can make it difficult to construct grammatically correct sentences in English.

They will struggle with articles

English uses articles such as “a,” “an,” and “the” to indicate whether a noun is specific or general. However, Japanese doesn’t have articles in the same way, which can be confusing for learners. Japanese students might struggle to understand when to use articles and when to leave them out.

Study up and prepare

In conclusion, you will have to familiarize yourself with the differences between Japanese and English in order to ensure your students get the best ESL classes possible.

You might also want to check out these posts if you’re looking for online English teaching positions that cater to Asian students:

ESL companies that are hiring now

Understanding Your Cambly Rating: My Top Tips