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mfuechec
Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 16
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:43 pm Post subject: Teacher Training? |
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Hi,
I'm looking into getting a job in Japan, hopefully starting aroundish CNY. I have 1.5 years experience experience in Taiwan and 10 months in Vietnam. But I also have about a months experience teaching Vietnamese public school English teachers FCE test prep.
I found that to be a pretty challenging and rewarding job and I'm interested in working in teacher training more.
My questions are:
-Will that experience be viewed as anything significant when I look for a job in Japan?
-Any ideas where I could find a job like that?
-Should I consider a job recruiter? |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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You don't mention qualifications, but assuming you have a degree and a TEFL cert of some kind, your experience qualifies you for a cuppa at Starbucks after the day's entry-level work (eikaiwa/private language school, AET dispatch, possibly JET) along with everyone else. I'm not sure how your FCE coaching will be viewed (especially if you hope and push to do similar in Japan), as not all the Japanese Teachers of English that I've worked with have been open to learning anything, even when it's they who broached a question (that they often had already decided the answer to, even if that answer was incorrect). You can lead a horse to water... |
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OneJoelFifty
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 463
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Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:22 pm Post subject: |
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I'd say your best bet would be a position with a dispatch company. You'd likely have to put in a year or two of work in public schools, and if you're good you might be able to climb the ladder within the company a little, towards some kind of training role. I wouldn't count on it though. Also, my limited experience with foreign teacher training in Japan is that it's as much about the unique situations in Japanese schools as it is about actual teaching skills. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 1:01 am Post subject: |
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I once interviewed with an eikaiwa based in Minato-ku that was branching out into AET dispatch work in Chiba. When I showed them some of the materials I'd created, and explained a little about my approach to teaching, they asked if in addition to the AET job I'd be interested in developing some workshops to help train their AETs. I had to say no to the job generally for several reasons:
1) The low pro-rated pay (similar jobs had paid an average of only 160K per month, no pay during school holidays, been difficult to get absolutely any time off from, etc)
2) The very probable lack of interest and even resentment from most AETs (see 1) regarding training, esp. if during "holidays"
3) I didn't particularly want to work in Kashiwa (I'd worked in neighbouring Nagareyama for a year), let alone potentially beyond that city.
I don't see teacher training as a particularly rewarding area, at least not in Japan LOL. You can have some good online discussions, but that's probably about it. Sure, there's stuff like AJALT (if you're that interested in literally paying the profession's membership dues yet further), but that's not really connected enough to one's day job ultimately.
OneJoelFifty wrote: |
I'd say your best bet would be a position with a dispatch company. You'd likely have to put in a year or two of work in public schools, and if you're good you might be able to climb the ladder within the company a little, towards some kind of training role. |
Good at what? Brown-nosing, and turning a blind eye to the hypocrisy and cut-throat practices of these blood-sucking middle men? These companies don't even want to pay their "star" performers (I've been emailed stories from ex-managers looking to poach teachers - stories complaining of them not being paid their due. Little sympathy from me though, all I could think was "Tell me and everyone else about it already!"). Proceed with extreme caution, and preferably a lot of subsidizing savings in the bank (you'll need it, to work worry-free for these intermediate exploiters (that is actually how they are defined in Japanese law)). One thing is for certain, 99% of the time you won't get a good, unbegrudging reference or even any informal acknowledgement no matter how hard you work for these types (and the actual workplace is the school, not the dispatcher's office). |
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mfuechec
Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 16
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 2:37 am Post subject: |
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Alright, thanks for the information guys. Any thoughts on using a recruiter? Reach to teach got me my job in Taiwan. I do have a degree and tefl btw. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:37 am Post subject: |
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I've never found it necessary to use a recruiter, so I'm afraid I can't help you out with that one, Mfuechec! |
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marley'sghost
Joined: 04 Oct 2010 Posts: 255
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 6:06 am Post subject: |
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mfuechec wrote: |
Alright, thanks for the information guys. Any thoughts on using a recruiter? Reach to teach got me my job in Taiwan. I do have a degree and tefl btw. |
Take a look at www.ohayosensei.com and Gaijinpot, (and of course the job boards here at Dave`s). I don't know of any "recruiters" in Japan. There are dispatch companies and big national chain English schools aplenty though. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009 Posts: 1218 Location: Ecuador
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:34 am Post subject: |
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FCE exam prep isn't teacher training, it's exam prep. Your class just happened to be teachers. If you seriously want to get into teacher training you need to improve your qualifications, e.g. DELTA, MA and get a lot more experience under your belt. Although neither will help you much in Japan. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 1373 Location: Way, way off course.
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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Given there are, AFAIK, only two prefectures (Aomori & Hokkaido) in Japan that require genuine practicum training and in-service training, I'm thinking that the odds of finding genuine teacher training positions aimed at Japanese EFL teachers will range from "slim" to "none".
There are certainly a few more prefectures that are now requiring teachers to pass certain tests (you mention one, although that one's not common in Japan) in order to fully gain tenure, but that's effectively juku or eikaiwa work, not genuine teacher training. |
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Mr_Monkey
Joined: 11 Mar 2009 Posts: 661 Location: Kyuuuuuushuuuuuuu
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Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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Teacher "training" in Japan is a joke.
What you were doing would be closer to test prep. Frame it that way when applying for jobs: don't - DON'T - try to frame yourself as a 'teacher trainer', because 1) you're not, and 2) it will be perceived as arrogant (if it doesn't, indeed, generate a "what does that mean?" response from anyone looking at your CV).
Teacher training is - as G Cthulu notes - practically non-existent in Japan.
then we wonder why they can't speak English... |
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timothypfox
Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 492
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:26 am Post subject: |
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There used to be teacher training back when I when GEOS was still around. The first year I worked for them in 1995 it happened about once a month during a work day (so you would cancel your classes and go). 1/2 to 1/3 of the meeting was genuinely useful training applied to improving our practice in the classroom while the other "training" was how to improve your sales of courses and textbooks. You get the picture.
In my second year, they introduced a program called "Big Jump." If you signed up for this, the understanding is that you were interested in staying long term with GEOS. This training also included going to extra trainings on your day off. GEOS had two days off - but usually Big Jump happened once a month on a Saturday. It was fun meeting people - but again 1/2 to 1/3 was practical, and 1/2 or 2/3 was business.
I'm not sure whether dispatch companies provide training or "training" - since there are very few real eikawas of any great size left - and I don't count GABA because they are a different beast altogether. |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005 Posts: 3292 Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, most dispatch companies (e.g. Interac, RCS, Borderlink even) do provide at least a day of training per year. If only so they can make that claim in their brochures.
Well, I say training, but it is more like a general induction day than anything that well thought-out and thorough. I guess a lot of it goes over complete newbies' heads, as they have little experience to relate it to.
Interac conducted small group sessions, say 3 teachers chatting to the teacher trainer at Interac HQ i.e. they processed the teachers as they came. RCS did large hall gigs shortly before the first term started, but attempted some form of interactive, two-way give-and-take with the audience, and endeavoured to supply very basic teaching resources. They also saw about ordering in lunches and drinks (nice of them, eh. This was the good boss part, the bad boss part came later, but then it always does with dispatch work!). Borderlink in contrast was very much a "sit down, shut up and listen", quite patronizing affair, but at least it was reasonably short (only a few hours).
Bear in mind that my experiences are from several years ago now. Things might've changed since (though probably not for the better!). |
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mfuechec
Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 16
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:52 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the advice guys, good stuff. Sorry it took me so long to respond, just flew back to America. I guess I'll be writing it down as test prep and applying my little balls off. |
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