Job Discussion Forums

[kerryn]

hey guys
im posting this merely to help.
i worked for this "school" and it was horrible! The woman running it is a bit crazy and u are expected to teach lessons from a fully written plan that is ridiculous!!

Avoid it!!

[starteacher]

Hi
Could you be more specific ?

[TheCyn]

I worked at this school, too, and I loved it. The lesson plans are all written out for you, so you can really focus on the kids. I don't understand what is ridiculous about teaching from a fully written plan. If you're new to teaching (which I wasn't), it's a great way to learn the structure of a lesson plan and focus on something that's more important and harder to learn--classroom management. The owner is...intense, definitely. But she's rarely there. The managers (who are always there) are two of the most wonderful people I've ever met. TD is a really well established school that makes it easy for you to jump into teaching. Plus, the building you get to live in is full of really cool people, and the city is awesome. I can't recommend this school enough.

[Apsara]

Yeah, I was wondering what was ridiculous about having to teach lessons from a fully written plan. Sounds like standard eikaiwa to me.

[TheCyn]

It's funny, I knew a lot of people who worked at eikaiwas and had to write their own lesson plans, which is fine, but ineffective when you consider how many teachers are inexperienced. Each teacher comes in and experiments for a year, and maybe the last 4 months are effective--then the next new teacher comes in and the cycle starts again. Having a set (and flexible) curriculum makes teaching much more effective.

[Mr_Monkey]

I think this thread illustrates pretty fully what's wrong with ELT in Japan.

[TheCyn]

Care to elaborate, Mr Monkey?

[Mr_Monkey]

Unqualified teachers providing lessons they don't understand to students they don't know well enough with materials they took no part in creating.

[TheCyn]

Still not sure what you mean. What exactly do you think is wrong with ELT in Japan? Inexperienced teachers? Do you think they should be using pre-made lesson plans, as in the TD case, or make up their own? How do you want to approach the problem of not knowing your students well enough? Don't all teachers everywhere start teaching their students before they get to know them?

And what's wrong with using materials you didn't create? After all, do we expect new (to the country) teachers to create materials for students they don't know, for a market they're not familiar with?

What exactly is your concern with ELT in Japan, and what do you think could be better?

[fluffyhamster]

I think Mr Monkey's just suggesting that ELT in Japan (or anywhere, for that matter) should be more about 'qualified teachers providing lessons they understand to students they know well enough with materials they took a part in creating'.

[starteacher]

Interesting

[fluffyhamster]

I care quite a bit about fixed lesson plans: a large part of teaching is using one's own voice and idiolect, and what the supposed "authority" is insisting one uses is an imposition at best or plain wrong - by which I mean unrepresentative of the actual linguistic facts - at worst. (That's not to say however that reasonable materials won't be unwelcome, to a teacher who can see they're reasonable and decides of his or her own accord to use them).

Or it could simply be called micromanaging. (Still, that might be just what really clueless newbies need - shame that initial training wasn't better, and/or they could pull themselves up by their own bootstraps that little bit more).

But hey, this thread is years old, the OP probably won't ever be back to expand, and TheCyn seems to have balanced the facts of the specific case out sufficiently that one can see the advantages of it (even if there are disadvantages in the asbtract, for more experienced/knowledgeable/capable teachers), so there doesn't need to be a prolonged discussion about anything on my account at least! (I would like to add just one more point though: I think teachers - good teachers - should be scrutinizing the linguistic aspects of lessons more than the methodological; in fact, the two should be and indeed are quite intimately connected, in any even halfway-natural approach. [I'm always maintaining that there is often a natural methodology to be discerned within the language, and that a lot of methodology is often quite empty handwaving, linguistically-speaking]. Just picking up on something TheCyn said: that plans fully written for you are "a great way to learn the structure of a lesson plan and focus on something that's more important and harder to learn--classroom management").

[yukinomonogatari]

I also worked for TD, and would like to share my own experience.

Good Things About TD:

1) If you are interested in teaching, not a vacation in Japan, go to section "Bad
Things About TD"

2) As some of the posters mentioned, the two managers are real sweethearts. They really take care of you, and after having some experience in other Japanese companies and academic establishments, I have to say they are very very lenient for Japanese mangers. They also were a great help when it came to everyday life in Japan difficulties (like banking, shopping, traveling). They were also there for personal advice, and I can say that one of them took real care of me, almost like I was family. This was very helpful, especially in the first few months in Japan. Even after I am done with TD (and never going back), I still talk to her, and she would be one of the first people I'd go for advice while I am here in Japan.

3) Furnished apartment (good or bad depending on your situation)
It is convenient that a furnished apartment is offered. It's very old, and the furniture is old and not so good, but if you are here for one year, if you are not willing to invest in start-up costs (key money, furniture), it's a pretty good deal.

4) Bicycle
It was good to have a bicycle. It was a pretty old specimen that was falling apart, but again, if you have no start-up money to spend, it's good. Some of the bikes are new, so it depends how lucky you are.

5) The kids (in non-Toyohashi branches) are nice.
Some kids in Toyohashi are nice too, but a lot of them acted very spoiled. The kids in Toykawa, Gamagori, and Kosai were really nice for the most part.


Bad things about TD:

1) The lesson plans and lack of academic freedom
Some posters said it's so great to have a curriculum. I agree, but it is only a plus if the curriculum is well-designed. At TD the curriculum is old, with mistakes that have not been corrected, but worst of all, it is not based on any academic base, besides the owners "teaching experience". She has not had formal teaching education (as far as I gathered from her explanation), only teaching experience in the eikaiwa industry.
While I can't say anything about the value of her curriculum with the 2 year old - 5 year old target student group (it seems to work), for children over 5 it is not effective, and wastes time of the students and the teachers. This is why:
a) the lessons are based on repetition and don't take into account that repetition in the same environment causes children to switch off their attention. All of the activities are based on the same flash cards, and no spontaneous language learning happens.
b) students' natural curiosity about language and inquiry is not encouraged. There is no time for questions, off-topic language play, etc.
c) the lesson plans are timed very rigidly. If the lesson plans were a rough guide, then the teacher could work around them, but the teachers are not allowed to deviate from the lesson plans. They get in trouble for deviating at the weekly (or bi-weekly) meetings. Teachers are also videotaped at least once during their term, and their lessons are observed by the managers.

If you are new to teaching and don't plan to continue as a teacher, if you like to be told what to do, and don't really think about the content of what you are doing, you will be ok. Otherwise you will not enjoy the academic environment.

2) The commute
You will go to 3 or 4 schools (Toyohashi, Gamagori, Kosai, Toyokawa), 10-15 train ride away + commute to the station (10-15 minutes if memory serves me right).
Usually you'd have one or two days in one location, then go to another location.
This is possibly not so different from other eikaiwa schools, but it's tiresome to go to a different location each day.

3) The bonus
Despite the good evaluations from the boss your bonus will still be cut, most likely, without any explanation as to why.
If you want to keep your sanity, think that you won't get the bonus, otherwise, hoping to get the bonus will make you follow some of the ridiculous school rules, and you won't get it in full in the end anyway.

4) The weekly/bi-weekly meetings
The meetings with the boss, over the phone or Skype, are designed to catch up, review the upcoming weekly lesson, and address any issues that the teachers or the boss have.
Sounds wonderful, but in fact it's an 8:30 AM unpaid one hour meeting where the owner/boss regurgitates what is already written in the lesson, and then shares her life difficulties. If you haven't really learned how to read, and if you care about the boss' personal family life, then it's a great meeting... otherwise, it's a major waste of time. I would have much rather met with the teachers and talked about lesson ideas, but then we were not supposed to think about the lessons anyway.

5) The boss
She is a control freak, does not have a solid academic background in education, is clingy and emotionally unstable. She also does not care about the level of education offered at her school (the money is the target, not the education), does not treat her managers well (they slave away at the school), does not treat the teachers well, wants to macro-manage everything, and baby-sits the teachers as if they are 5 year old children. Some people may thrive in this environment, of course... you decide.

6) Cleaning the school
I am sorry, but I didn't go to university for 4 years to clean toilets and vacuum floors. None of the other eikaiwa school teachers that I talked to ever have to do cleaning duties beyond erasing the blackboard and putting away the teaching materials.

7) The schedule
The schedule is not so different from other eikaiwa schools, I suppose, but there is one caveat. You are supposed to be at work from 2 to 1.5 hours before it starts, for prep, and 15 (was it) minutes after to clean up.
Of course prep time is needed and is a very reasonable thing, but since you'll be doing parrot teaching (see section (1)), the initial time for set up gets down to 30 minutes. Of course this differs for some people, some are slower than others, but in general, if you are a reasonable and responsible adult, then it shouldn't take you 2 hours to set up. It's not like you can change the lesson plan in your prep time, you are supposed to follow the lesson and not deviate. Some extra time is good to have for lunch (but you can eat as you set-up), and of course back-up time for the case that you are late or something happens. Yet, it feels like a waste of time to be at work early and sit around and wait for the lessons to start. Of course you can read, etc., but still.
Same goes for the clean-up after class. It takes 5 minutes, not 15, and especially in the non-Toyohashi locations you just miss the train if you stay the mandatory 15 minutes. The train is a small thing though, the main thing is that you have to sit and waste your time before you can clock out with your time card.

You will also likely have blocks with no class. It is not bad as prep time if you are in Toyohashi, but if you are at the other schools, you have no internet (in Toyohashi you can get wireless if you bring your laptop), and no materials (there are some in Toyokawa, but not enough).

If I had to teach or had some work that I knew was useful to someone, I really don't mind to stay extra, but wasting time is really unacceptable.

8 ) The "seminars" around school vacation time.
Teachers are scheduled (at the last minute, often) to teach seminars during the public school vacation times. These range from computer skills, to phonics intro (to attract new customers). They are added to your schedule, you are not provided with enough guidance of what is expected (especially if you are new to the subject), and you are pretty much on your own, and are expected to give a high-level performance to attract new customers.

9) The phonics programme
The phonics programme doesn't make sense to me. You are supposed to make a fool out of yourself, repeating the phonics sounds. The program is based on a method developed by someone (sorry, I don't have the information on that), but after trying several phonics methods, I think it is not effective compared to other phonics methods. The kids also look at you with the "what's wrong with you, teacher? Are you ok? Why do you make such ridiculous gestures and sounds?" face.

10) Adult and Junior High School classes, and private lessons
You will have to teach at least one adult or JHS class.
There are not enough materials and/or prep time for these, and no academic support. The managers are wonderful, but have no training or experience in teaching, and you don't see your fellow teachers enough to get to talk about the adult/JHS classes.
The purpose of the classes is "conversation", but it is very unclear what the students want from you. If you are lucky to get a new class, and think about their programme, it's not so bad, but then your curriculum would likely be changed once you are gone. If you are stuck with the JHS kids in Toyohashi (one of the classes), then, well, good luck.
You don't have access to the school textbooks, and don't know the students' level, so it's very difficult to plan. If you are an easy going teacher, with a lot of experience, who can teach a good class and foster a great conversational environment in any situation, then you'll be ok (but then you won't be applying to TD). Otherwise it will be stressful. Also the times for some of these classes are bad, like early morning lessons, etc.
Private lessons are also difficult to teach because often the kids with behavioural problems are put into privates. You get to hear things like "your boyfriend is ugly" (you are lucky if you don't understand Japanese), or deal with kids rolling on the floor and drooling (and if you have not had experience with special ed, then you are on your own, there is zero support from the boss or the managers when it comes to behavioural problems).


The Bottom Line
You have to decide what you want, I guess.

If you don't care about education, or personal and professional development, if you want to come to Japan for one year, "for the experience", if you don't want to be bothered looking for a place, if you want to be watched and micro-managed, if you love the fraternity atmosphere, if you are fresh out of college and clueless as to what to do next, if you don't care to have co-workers who also care about teaching, then by all means apply to TD. If none of the above apply to you though, then I would think very very carefully about applying.

~ If you want more information, please PM me. I would be happy to talk about my experience and help you decide if you want to take the job or not.

~ Also, I would be curious to hear other people's feedback, especially those who worked for other eikaiwa schools and can compare.

[starteacher]

Interesting