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maggietulliver
Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 19
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 Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:32 am Post subject: Coco Juku School? |
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Anyone had any involvement with the Coco Juku School? I see it is a new English conversation school, but know nothing other than that....
They have requested a Skype interview + lesson plan + lesson plan enactment. There was no mention of pay rates, location etc.
Hmm. |
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Bigs
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Had the interview - despite not doing too well (in my own opinion) in the interview / demo lesson - still got offered a position. Have gotten the visa and am waiting for them to sort out travel.
Not much else to offer at this stage though... sorry... |
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maggietulliver
Joined: 06 Oct 2011
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2012 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the reply.
I have been reading some kind of dodgy stuff online about them (lawsuits etc)...have sent an email enquiring about the locations, pay rates etc. with no reply as yet...
Will wait and see, I guess...
Let me know if you receive any more info  |
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OneJoelFifty
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 463
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:38 am Post subject: |
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| Bigs wrote: |
Had the interview - despite not doing too well (in my own opinion) in the interview / demo lesson - still got offered a position. Have gotten the visa and am waiting for them to sort out travel.
Not much else to offer at this stage though... sorry... |
You accepted the position with no knowledge of pay, location, etc? Or you don't want to share those things? |
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Bigs
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:37 am Post subject: |
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I have knowledge of pay - standard entry level salary for ESL in Japan, and know where I will be going.
Hell if worst comes to worst I'll take my visa, enter the country then worry about it... don't see it coming to that though. |
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mrmarsit
Joined: 14 Sep 2012
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:22 am Post subject: Pay location |
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All your answer are on their website.
I tanked that demo to but I thought did rest right. |
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BigInJapan
Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:43 am Post subject: |
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| If its helpful, I currently work for coco juku and might be able to provide some info. Pay rate can be found on the site but to add it is required that you pay into the pension. The company is a part of Nichii Gakkan so it's a big company in Japan so you are never going to be screwed out of payment like what may happen at other schools. The hours are standard, 9 hour days with a one hour lunch break. Because its very new as a company most schools are not busy so I recommend people with no or little experience to still apply as you can ease into the job rather than being thrown right Into the deep end so to speak. Just in case it isn't mentioned you do get paid for the training week. If anyone has any specific questions feel free to write here again or pm me and I'll try to reply as soon as I can. Forgive any mistakes here today I've made this on my phone. Good luck with looking for a job |
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mrmarsit
Joined: 14 Sep 2012
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 8:49 am Post subject: interview |
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I tanked my interview.
I hope it was lack of exp.
But can ya walk through the interview u had ? |
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BigInJapan
Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2012 12:20 am Post subject: |
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| My interview was so so I felt haha. I did a written test which I wasn't 100% convident on but felt I did ok and also a demo which I bombed. They said ok let's start this again. After that I was asked the usual questions why this company etc. I left thinking I wouldn't get a call back but they asked me for a second interview which I felt I did really well with. I didn't have a lot of experience at the time either so I'm sure they where aware of that and it doesn't count against you as much, since they want you to teach using their method so you would be kinda starting over in that aspect anyway. |
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Ravlen
Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure which thread is more active, but I posted a few questions in the other thread:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=96176
Thanks a lot for all your information, it doesn't sound too bad so far.
Ravlen |
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SmithJones
Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 10
Location: Canadar
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| Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2013 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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So, I just had an interview with Coco Juku the other day and thought I might try and bump this thread to get people discussing the topic. Particularly, I am looking for the impressions of people who work there. From the interview it all sounded so incredibly formulaic (the interviewer, though nice, seemed to be just spewing out memorized information) and impersonal. I get it that this is a chain school and will obviously be that way, but sometimes the reality on the ground is different.
Specifically, I am curious about people's experiences with:
Days off: Anybody getting weekends or consecutive? I was told to expect neither.
Placement: Did you find out where you were going before you signed your contract? I was told I have no choice but they would take note of my preferences.
Students: I was told to expect to teach to all ages. Though I prefer teaching adults, I am fine with that, but do they give you a choice in the matter? I said I was willing to teach babies, but I'm not sure I could truly tolerate that.
Housing: Though Leo Palace is covered in other threads, what are people's impressions? How do their rent prices compare to others?
Travel: I was told to expect to travel up to an hour to other locations. Is this considered part of your 9 hour work day (I forgot to clarify this)? And how often are you required to do this?
Teaching hours: I was told that I may have to do up to 40 classes a week. Is this normal in your experiences?
General impressions: I haven't taught in Japan, but this seems like it has few perks to it aside from actually being in Japan. Is this normal for Japan, or can one find better?
All comments appreciated! |
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rebelsatellite
Joined: 17 Sep 2013
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:23 am Post subject: |
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| SmithJones wrote: |
Days off: Anybody getting weekends or consecutive? I was told to expect
neither. |
For private schools, this seems to be the rule rather than the exception.
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Placement: Did you find out where you were going before you signed your contract? I was told I have no choice but they would take note of my preferences. |
Again, for private schools like ECC, Shane et al, they say they do not know until nearer the date as your often replacing teachers. I think the general area is the most info you'll get.
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| Students: I was told to expect to teach to all ages. Though I prefer teaching adults, I am fine with that, but do they give you a choice in the matter? I said I was willing to teach babies, but I'm not sure I could truly tolerate that. |
I was told the same. In fact I prefer teenagers to adults but I'm a teacher not a baby sitter! I was told it would be around a 50/50 mix, however if I really have to teach 1.5 year olds who do not even understand their native language yet, I think I'll forget the whole Japan gig and look elsewhere.
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| Travel: I was told to expect to travel up to an hour to other locations. Is this considered part of your 9 hour work day (I forgot to clarify this)? And how often are you required to do this? |
I don't know but for Shane I've been told that my day would be around six contact hours per day, with my overall day starting at 12/1pm and ending at 8/9pm at night.
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| Teaching hours: I was told that I may have to do up to 40 classes a week. Is this normal in your experiences? |
40 hours contact time is a hell of a lot when you factor in planning, getting to classes, needing a bit of time before hand to get there early etc. ELT teaching can be quite demanding and personally if I'm going to give creative and interesting lessons, develop rapport with the students, I think anything over 25 is pushing it.
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| General impressions: I haven't taught in Japan, but this seems like it has few perks to it aside from actually being in Japan. Is this normal for Japan, or can one find better? |
I think China is probably the best right now in terms of making cash and having a good life style. I knew someone who taught in Shenzen and was saving a lot of cash. |
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SmithJones
Joined: 20 Oct 2009
Posts: 10
Location: Canadar
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| Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Rebelsattelite for your input.
I have never taught at a chain school before and am trying to sort out the differences between what was said, and reality.
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| 40 hours contact time is a hell of a lot when you factor in planning, getting to classes, needing a bit of time before hand to get there early etc. |
Indeed. I was kind of shocked by a lot of what he was saying, and when he kept saying 'Is that okay'? , I just said 'yeah, no problem', all the while red flags kept appearing in my head...
Still better to say 'yes' now, and decline later, then say no and not have the option!
| Quote: |
| I'm a teacher not a baby sitter |
My sentiment exactly. That's not how I envisioned my career path.... I'm sure some love it, and it's probably pretty easy (as long as you don't change diapers), but not what I'm after.
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| I don't know but for Shane I've been told that my day would be around six contact hours per day, with my overall day starting at 12/1pm and ending at 8/9pm at night. |
Do you presently work for Shane, or did you simply have an interview? I'm sure there are a multitude of threads on that subject, but how is it?
My thinking is that perhaps a chain school is the best way to get a Japanese visa, suffer through your contract, and after it is up, you move on from there, still holding the visa.
Can anyone say if this is a good plan/worth it? Have you done it? |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| SmithJones wrote: |
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| I'm a teacher not a baby sitter |
My sentiment exactly. That's not how I envisioned my career path. |
Working at an English conversation school in Japan was never designed to be a career. It was only ever supposed to a 1 year - 2 at most - work abroad opportunity for young English speaking foreigners.
Eikaiwa companies wanted to keep the stream of 20-dumbthings constant and fresh.
However, those that came wanted to stay - permanently. Thus the tension that has existed.
Never was meant to be a career, though. |
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rebelsatellite
Joined: 17 Sep 2013
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| My sentiment exactly. That's not how I envisioned my career path.... I'm sure some love it, and it's probably pretty easy (as long as you don't change diapers), but not what I'm after. |
I had a phone interview recently with ECC and asked about this. Apparently the mums bring the babies in and you kinda teach them by proxy through the mothers. Sounds weird to me but I suppose if you're okay just singing songs and stuff it would be okay if it were only for an hour or two a week.
| Quote: |
Do you presently work for Shane, or did you simply have an interview? I'm sure there are a multitude of threads on that subject, but how is it? |
Sorry I'm just in the same position as you. I don't even have a contract yet. I'm in talks with ECC and Shane at the moment. There is a lot of vitriol for Shane but then people on the web love to complain. The more reasonable and balanced posts about it say that whilst the chain schools aren't ideal, they're a good way into living and working in Japan and Shane is no different in this regard. The pay isn't bad either and of course with JET or Interac there is very little chance of getting put in Tokyo or Osaka and brings other problems to the table.
| Quote: |
| My thinking is that perhaps a chain school is the best way to get a Japanese visa, suffer through your contract, and after it is up, you move on from there, still holding the visa. Can anyone say if this is a good plan/worth it? Have you done it? |
Again, same boat as you and I think you pretty much summed it up. That said I'm told the average contact with Shane is now 2 years and with ECC they seemed to imply they'd expect me to hang around for 3 or more years.
Quite a lot of posts that address Japan are super negative with people saying things like "go to China' but then if you read the Chinese forums you'll hear horror stories there. And of course, the whole point of going to Japan is because there's no where else quite like it.
I think the thing with the big agencies like Shane, ECC, AEON etc would be that they all offer a similar sort of deal and the work tends to be of a similar nature, accept with perhaps AEON being a lot more scripted and mechanised than the others.
I'm really interested to know if there is a big difference between Shane and ECC because I have interviews with both of them, but then the interview process for ECC sounds like an X-factor sort of affair and sounds pretty hard going actually.
I've never heard of Coco Juku but like I said, 40 hours (are they contact hours?) is sky high! Contact hours for the others should be 25 approx, with five paid hours doing admin, planning etc. |
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