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Sody
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 55
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 Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:54 pm Post subject: Peppy Kids Club questions |
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Hi, I'm thinking of applying for Peppy Kids Club but I have a few concerns that I was hoping some of you former Peppy teachers could help me with. There are a lot of additional costs with this company:
You must pay 1000Y for training materials during the training.
You must pay 1500Y each day (total of two weeks) for your training to cover the costs of rent and utilities.
You must pay 1000Y maintenance fee per month for the furnishing and appliances of your apartment.
Starting January 1, 2005 you must pay approximately 2500-3000Y per month for EI or 7/1000 * gross yearly income. I am assuming they mean the income from Peppy, not additional income, eg. 2nd job, tutoring.
An application fee for a criminal background check (not sure if this applies to me I live in Canada).
Health insurance, but supposedly they reinburse you up to 40000Y.
How do you pay this as an employee? Is it deducted from your paycheck? Are you reinbursed for any of these costs?
There is another concern I have that I was hoping some of you could elaborate on. According to the company "teachers may be scheduled to assist in trial lessons at the homes of potential customers on workdays when no regular lessons are scheduled." What exactly does this entail? Does this mean that I have to travel to someone's house and force a lesson on some unsuspecting kid? I'm a pretty good teacher I think, but I don't have any experience trying to sell myself to a kid and I really don't think I have the desire to try and make them want to join a school. Basically what I'm trying to say is that sales is not my strong point. Will this be a problem?
If anyone else has any opinions on Peppy Kids Club I would really appreciate it. From my research it looks like a good school, but any additional thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!
Sody |
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Reisender
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 3:05 am Post subject: Re: Peppy Kids Club questions |
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| Sody wrote: |
You must pay 1000Y for training materials during the training.
You must pay 1500Y each day (total of two weeks) for your training to cover the costs of rent and utilities. |
Both deducted from your first salary. The training apartments aren't bad and you get heaps of materials in training so that �1000 is only a portion of the cost.
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| You must pay 1000Y maintenance fee per month for the furnishing and appliances of your apartment. |
Again; not bad. A bargain really although if you had some in country experience, you could get a better apartment for less. It's the apartment where you don't really get value for money. Think of it as the price you pay when you don't really know what you're doing and need to rely on your employer.
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| Starting January 1, 2005 you must pay approximately 2500-3000Y per month for EI or 7/1000 * gross yearly income. I am assuming they mean the income from Peppy, not additional income, eg. 2nd job, tutoring. |
Technically, your contract prohibits a second job. In reality... pffft. Just don't brag about lessons in the office or make a big deal about it. Discretion is the word here. EI? That's a new one to me though..
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| An application fee for a criminal background check (not sure if this applies to me I live in Canada). |
I'm Australian and didn't need one. Perhaps they mean the small fee your local police force charges for a police report? About $20 in my case but that's something you need to get and give to the company.
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| Health insurance, but supposedly they reinburse you up to 40000Y. |
The company uses AIU. �98,000 for a year. You sign up and they consider �58,000 of that to be a loan to be repaid in installments from your next 6 months' pay.
| Quote: |
| There is another concern I have that I was hoping some of you could elaborate on. According to the company "teachers may be scheduled to assist in trial lessons at the homes of potential customers on workdays when no regular lessons are scheduled." What exactly does this entail? Does this mean that I have to travel to someone's house and force a lesson on some unsuspecting kid? I'm a pretty good teacher I think, but I don't have any experience trying to sell myself to a kid and I really don't think I have the desire to try and make them want to join a school. Basically what I'm trying to say is that sales is not my strong point. Will this be a problem? |
A demo lesson is where you go out with a sales rep and meet the parents (who are the customers) and the kid. Mum and Dad want to see a real live gaijin teacher and ensure you don't drool and shoot up in their loungeroom or anything. The kid won't be unsuspecting and you'll probably only need to show a few flash cards and ask a couple of questions. It's all about clinching a sale and putting the parents at ease. The important thing to remember is that it is a company and is sales focussed with teaching as a sideline. They can tell you're obligated to do this stuff but if you look suitably unimpressed with the idea of a demo lesson, then the company won't even consider risking a sale by exposing you to the parents.
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| If anyone else has any opinions on Peppy Kids Club I would really appreciate it. From my research it looks like a good school, but any additional thoughts or feedback would be appreciated. |
I'm happy enough with them. As Japanese companies go, they're pretty good and I don't have any substantial complaints. They can be sticklers regarding some (all?) inane points of bureaucracy but then they are a Japanese company. At least they are honest and ethical which is all that is really important to me no matter where I've worked. Give them a go. |
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Sody
Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 55
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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Reisender, thanks very much for your insightful post! It helps a lot, I am definitely going to apply 
Sody |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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THEY hire you, but they expect you to pay for training and a background check? Not for me.
THEY hire YOU, but you have to pay 98,000 for a year of insurance? National health insurance is 2500 per month x 10 (for 12 months coverage) = 25,000 for the year. (First year only. After that, it goes up tenfold).
By getting a loan for health insurance, you don't even get a full paycheck for 7 months? Hmmm. Is that insurance the type where you have to pay for the full expenses, then wait to get reimbursed? Imagine a rather high bill...will you have the money to pay that and WAIT? |
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Celeste
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 814
Location: Fukuoka City, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2004 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I am on the JET programme, and we just got notice that we will have a similar Employment insurance deduction increase as well, so I would say that it's legitimate. |
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Reisender
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 6:10 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| THEY hire you, but they expect you to pay for training and a background check? Not for me. |
Of course it's not for you. You're not just some FNG in Japan. You have countless other options compared to what Sody has. Japanese language ability, contacts, experience with the bureaucracy and, perhaps, a heap of postgrad awards. In a sense, you deserve better. Just showing up with a North American accent and some variety of work visa doesn't entitle people to rockstar benefits anymore, if it ever did. Newbies have to expect some downsides and that's probably a good thing (speaking as a newbie to Japan but an old hand with regard to working outside the West.)
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| THEY hire YOU, but you have to pay 98,000 for a year of insurance? National health insurance is 2500 per month x 10 (for 12 months coverage) = 25,000 for the year. (First year only. After that, it goes up tenfold). |
True but apples and oranges. The insurance we're talking about here is traveller's insurance. It's at least as comprehensive as National Health but covers theft, loss, unavoidable changes to itineraries caused by things like a death in the family &c. By all means go for National Health if you can but if you're Canadian and on a Working Holiday Visa, you can't be considered resident and won't get it. And like Glenski says, if you are resident status, the premiums really start to hurt when they start taking into account your non-zero income from the previous year. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Of course it's not for you. You're not just some FNG in Japan. You have countless other options compared to what Sody has. |
To be honest, I don't know what other options Sody has. Do you? All I have is the one post to go on. And, it really doesn't matter. Read on.
What I meant by "not for me" was that to expect to pay your employer for a criminal check on yourself is outrageous. When I started here, I had zero teaching experience, zero experience with the bureaucracy, no post grad awards, etc. (don't know where you got the idea that I had any of that, Reisender), and if anyone would have told me to pay for a criminal check, I would have told them to take a hike. If they want to check me out, let them pay for it.
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| The insurance we're talking about here is traveller's insurance. |
Thanks for qualifying that. I didn't know what AIU was. Still, I have to say...huh? A school in Japan offering traveler's insurance instead of some private Japanese plan (even one like NOVA's JMA) or allowing you to sign up for national health insurance? What a way to do business! I'm beginning to lose much of my good feelings about Peppy quite rapidly.
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| By all means go for National Health if you can but if you're Canadian and on a Working Holiday Visa, you can't be considered resident and won't get it. |
True, but, we don't know if Sody is coming on a WHV, do we? |
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Synne
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Posts: 269
Location: Tohoku
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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Im presently working for Peppy in the northern area, and in all honesty the company isnt too bad.
Its undergoing a bunch of changes at the moment though but nothing serious.
Id say go for Jet if you have a degree and a chance, but seeing as Im 18 years old and without a degree, I had no other option.
Anyways Im not overly affected by the new structure of the company seeing as I signed up the contract before they underwent it, but I have no real complaints with the company...
...thats just my two cents though. |
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ohahakehte
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 128
Location: japan
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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the decent opinions of KTC/Peppy Kids Club looks fair to me and i met a guy in Vietnam would who will be working for them soon and he recommended them to me. but what to make of this on their website?
"The company reimburses all work related commuting expenses (the average commuting time is about 1-1.5 hours commuting each way)."
is this a teaching job where you travel long distances each day to a different school or something? whats the deal? when i taught in seoul my school was a 20 minute walk away and that was nice. if i had to get used to long drives every morning that would suck. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun Dec 26, 2004 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Get used to it in most eikaiwas. You may live across the street from your office, but most likely you will live 20-90 minutes away by public transportation. |
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Nismo
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 520
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| Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:15 am Post subject: |
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| Commuting is a normal thing in Japan, especially in the large cities - most people live on the outskirts and commute to the center. |
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ohahakehte
Joined: 25 Aug 2003
Posts: 128
Location: japan
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| Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2004 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Get used to it in most eikaiwas. You may live across the street from your office, but most likely you will live 20-90 minutes away by public transportation. |
so that turns a normal 8 hour day into a 10 (or more) hour day? ouch |
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GK
Joined: 18 Mar 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Far Far Away Land
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 3:00 am Post subject: |
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| ohahakehte wrote: |
| Glenski wrote: |
| Get used to it in most eikaiwas. You may live across the street from your office, but most likely you will live 20-90 minutes away by public transportation. |
so that turns a normal 8 hour day into a 10 (or more) hour day? ouch |
Not really for Peppy, because you rarely work more than 6 hours a day. |
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Synne
Joined: 06 Apr 2004
Posts: 269
Location: Tohoku
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| Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2004 11:33 am Post subject: |
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I work on average about 4 hours a day and the commute can be either good or bad.
You will have three or four schools at which you will teach one week at, every month. The other three weeks that you are not there and at your other schools, the Japanese teacher will be teaching.
For me, I live in the city and I have two schools located within 15 mins of me. I also have two schools located in smaller towns outside the main city which I have to commute by train to.
One is about an hour each way, train+walking, the other is about two and a half hours each way, but the long school is a hotel stay for me so I am put up in a hotel for the week that I am teaching at this school.
Your schedule will be similiar to this and the commute is something that you will just have to accept with this company.
All in all I find the commuting the biggest disadvantage to Peppy, so if you can get over the fact that you will be commuting a lot then the rest should be smooth sailing. |
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ellethecat
Joined: 11 Apr 2004
Posts: 75
Location: edmonton
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| Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2005 12:59 pm Post subject: commute |
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[ is this a teaching job where you travel long distances each day to a different school or something? whats the deal? when i taught in seoul my school was a 20 minute walk away and that was nice. if i had to get used to long drives every morning that would suck. quote]
I also work for this company.... and in general, i think its pretty good, as long as you like children. They did not recommend to me that i use the company insurance. Infact, they seemed to recommend the emergency travel insurance, and they reimbursed a good portion of that.
I feel that there are trade offs.... some days i only work a few hours but I have a long commute. At nova or a big school, I would have teh convenience of only having to travel locally, but Id have to work 8 hours every day for full salary. |
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