Come teach children in an international school in one of the nicest cities in Japan!

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職務内容

Job Description

Teacher will team-teach in class of 35 students in an immersion preschool.  Applicant will teach with one other native English speaking teacher and a licensed Japanese preschool teacher in English.  Instruction is not “teaching English” so much as it is “teaching in English.”  We balance study and play, indoors and out.  Our curriculum includes a wide range of activities, including swimming with students in the pool, presenting a yearly musical and theatric performance (think “Wizard of Oz” and “Snow White” performed by 4 and 5 year olds), celebrating various Japanese and Western holidays, and putting on a mini Olympics-like track and field day.

Picasso is the preschool division of Kumamoto International School and is located in Kumamoto, on the Island of Kyushu, in western Japan.  Built around one of the 3 most famous castles in all of Japan, Kumamoto boasts one of the highest qualities of life anywhere in in the country: the air and water are clean, the weather beautiful (300+ days of sunshine / year), and there is easy access to abundant and pristine nature.  If you love nature and the outdoors, you’ll love Kumamoto.  In addition, the active volcano Mt. Aso is only an hour away, and Osaka is only 3 hours away via a direct bullet train: weekend getaways are easily arranged.  Thanks to the numerous farmers in Kumamoto prefecture, fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat are also easy to come by and cheap: 1/2 the price in Tokyo!

Successful applicants must be positive, energetic, hard-working, love children, enjoy being part of a team, and committed to continual growth as a person and as a teacher.  Although all instruction is in English, almost all students are Japanese, and as such, respect for Japanese culture and manners is very important.

Picasso opened 19 years ago, and we currently have a total of 25 staff between our preschool and primary school divisions.  Our goal is to find great staff and build a great team.  Our philosophy: we don’t teach people to be nice and work hard; we hire hard-working, nice people.  Our longest-serving Japanese staff have been with us for 15 years, and several other teachers have been with us for almost 10 years.  In many cases, staff socialize outside of work, and the school serves as a great base from which to find your bearings in Japan and make friends.  We place a high priority on staff cohesion and cooperation, and there is always someone there to help as necessary.  You will never be treated as, or feel like, a cog in a large organization.

Picasso is an ideal learning environment for someone who wants to acquire and / or further his or her experience as a teacher.  Working here will provide you with significant real-world teaching experience that you can build on in your career.  In addition, there is significant potential for teachers to advance their career by moving to our primary school division.

Our school is a very positive, bright, high-energy environment.  Only teachers who want to be part of, and will actively contribute to, such an environment, should apply!  If that’s you, you’ll love it here!

Benefits

Training / Professional Development

Potential for advancement is significant - Our primary school, KIS, is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) and we will form a junior high school in 2024 and a high school in 2027.  Picasso teachers can potentially move to teach in the primary school or, in the future, in the junior high or the high school.

We also offer Shakai Hoken insurance

Picasso provides an apartment for the teacher; teacher pays the rent

Paid vacation

Job Requirements

• Applicant must be a TRUE native English speaker
• Applicant must already reside in Japan
• Applicant must have a BA degree
• Applicant must be a team player who loves working with children

Website

Picasso Preschool division: https://preschool.kumamotointer.jp/

To Apply:

Please submit the following:

1. Letter of introduction with thoughtful answers to the following questions:
   1. Why you want to teach children.
   2. How teaching at Picasso would fit into your longer-range goals, and what those goals are.
2. Resume
3. Recent Color photo

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