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Do Gaba bully?

 
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georginasmiley



Joined: 27 Jun 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 9:54 am    Post subject: Do Gaba bully? Reply with quote

Hi

I've heard a ton of bad things about Gaba in terms of money and benefits. However, I'd like to know a few other things.

1.Are Gaba known for pushing teachers around?
2. Are the classes difficult or do newbies take to them quite quickly?
3. Are they easy to leave or do they make you give a quarter of a year's notice?
4. Could you realistically make at least 180,000 a month?
5. Are they a good option for short term work?

Thanks
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HLJHLJ



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador

PostPosted: Sat Jul 14, 2018 6:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It depends a lot on whether they are sponsoring your visa, and where you work. If you have your own visa, and are looking for flexible part time work, they are a reasonable option. If you are on their visa, and you get placed in a busy, popular center, you'll probably be fine as well (depending on the local manager). If you are on their visa and you get placed somewhere quiet or with notoriously difficult students, it can be a fairly miserable experience. The materials are extremely easy to work with. It's not teaching, so much as reading from a book.
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georginasmiley



Joined: 27 Jun 2015
Posts: 8
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 9:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks. I have my own visa and am after something I could potentially get out of quickly and easily. I will not be needing a guarantor for my accommodation either.
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you're a woman, you should also know that harassment/stalking have been major issues at Gaba. E.g., these articles here:

http://www.generalunion.org/gaba/1802-sexual-harassment-by-clients-at-gaba

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/06/16/issues/harassers-exploit-gabas-man-man-lesson-format/

Etc.
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HLJHLJ



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 6:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Harassment at work is something to consider, but it's definitely not restricted to GABA. Pretty much all of my foreign female friends in Japan (and the majority of my Japanese female friends) were routinely harassed, and nothing was ever done about it. Several were stalked (one at GABA, two at AEON, and a couple of ALTs), and again nothing was done about it.

georginasmiley, GABA won't offer you housing help anyway. Given your circumstances, if the GABA set-up interests you, then give it a try and see what you think. But go in with your eyes open, and be ready to walk if you aren't happy with it. One advantage of the GABA freelance contract is that you can use it to get started in Japan, then cut back your hours if something better comes along. Of course, they don't like that much, and prefer the contract to work in their favour, but if you are popular with students and work peak hours in a busy center, they can't really stop you.
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good point that harassment can be a problem anywhere here. I'd always thought, though, that the set-up with GABA made the situation even worse--e.g., you had to meet your harassers one-on-one away from, say, a workplace...and that you couldn't say no to meeting them (without quitting your job). Maybe I've misunderstood the situation?
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HLJHLJ



Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, it is one-to-one, but in the centers I worked in at least, it was always at the GABA center. No-one I worked with was meeting clients off-site. (If that's an option at other centers, I never came across it).

Also, a lot will depend on the center and the center manager. There were a couple of creeps at the places I worked. One I was officially warned about, and the others I was unofficially warned about by other teachers. I know that in other centers teachers were disciplined for passing information like that on, but it didn't seem to be an issue in my centers.

You can block clients, so that they cannot book a lesson with you. But the way the system was set-up you couldn't block them until they had had a lesson with you, and again my manager was mostly reasonable about letting you block clients if you had a good reason (though he definitely didn't encourage it). You had to be entirely pro-active though, aside from that one single warning when I was still expected to teach the class, it was down to me to draw boundary lines and insist they were enforced. They also had zero interest in anything that happened outside of work (i.e. stalking).

In my limited experience, no client was ever banned no matter how outrageous their behavior.
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taikibansei



Joined: 14 Sep 2004
Posts: 811
Location: Japan

PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good information--thanks!
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