Interview With A Former EFL Teacher/Current Attorney At Law, Part 1

“Chester” is a former EFL teacher and a current high-powered attorney who agreed to be interviewed only on the condition that his identity be concealed. So forgive the cloak and dagger-esque nature of the picture and use of an alias – take it as a sign of the lenghts I go to to bring good information to my readers!

Following university graduation, Chester took off to Japan. He’d been before, when he’d basically quit school for six months to study Japanese and hang out, and had a few local contacts. These contacts proved to be important initially for finding work but grew less important once he was able to establish himself – working for an English newspaper no less. He does point out that he’d already had some experience in journalism.

He quickly came to the realization that for every fifty or so teaching jobs advertised, there were probably one or two good ones.

He started out teaching kids, which was challenging, particularly toddlers who didn’t really speak English at all. His most interesting interview was with a school director in her forties who asked him, over the phone, not only if he was cute, but which actor he most resembled.

In addition to the editing work, Chester taught some private English lessons to pad the income. At the peak of it all, he was bringing in no less than $80 an hour for conversing with a variety of fascinating people (college professors, former corporate executives, and WW II veterans to mention just a few). Chester spent just over a year in Japan this time, and returned to enroll in law school, after which he moved on to a successful, fulfilling and I suspect also lucrative career in law.

Continue reading about Chester’s experience and get some free counsel in Part 2.