Job Discussion Forums

[Ryu Hayabusa]

To add to what Pitarou said earlier (about "secret sauce") and to try and answer your question rslrunner, I think the primary reason why Aeon didn't give you resources and lesson plans well in advance is because they don't want to risk having someone take the teaching materials/resources and use them for private lessons, sell them to competing schools, use them at their own schools, etc. It's all about non-disclosure and protecting intellectual (hah!) property. I came over with ECC and they didn't supply any lesson plans, teaching resources, etcetera until after training started. It would have been nice for ECC to give me that stuff so that I'd be prepared for training and the first few weeks of teaching, but they didn't and I had to learn quickly and be as adaptable as I could.

You had the flu and jet-lag and I can understand how that made things more difficult for you. I'm sorry to hear that things didn't work out for you. Keep in mind that for other ESL positions, they probably will not give you any teaching materials, resources, or lesson plans in advance. It has been like that for me for every position that I've had in Korea and Japan.

Good luck to you wherever you end up.

[Pitarou]

rslrunner: please don't take comments like RollingStone's to heart. I think people say stuff like that because they want to believe that something like that could never happen to them.

After a blow like this, it's good to take some time to reflect and recover. If you give yourself a little time, I'm sure you'll learn whatever lessons there are to be learned and move on. Best of luck on your next assignment!

[HLJHLJ]

There are various reasons why they wouldn't send it out in advance.

1) As has been said, to retain control of the materials. It's probably a very small risk, but it's not an uncommon concern for language institutes.

2) To stop people attempting to memorise it word for word, as if it were an actual script rather than a lesson plan.

3) To put people under some pressure at the training to see whether they could cope with the pace once they are out in a school without being too high maintenance.

4) So there is something to actually teach trainees on their induction course, which is as much a trial period as it is a training situation. The actual method is just a variation of PPP taught straight out of the book. If that was all they had to cover it would be over and done with in less than a day.

5) Because it's unnecessary. The vast majority of trainees can manage it with a little effort. So why change it and risk 1-4 happening for the few who can't?

Although I can appreciate that some trainees would prefer to have more information in advance, I can see a lot of reasons why it benefits AEON more to do it this way.

It's just business, it's not significant enough to get hung up on.

[hagiwaramai]

rslrunner

Could you give us some idea of the differences between AEON's methodology and the methodology you'd used in the past? It would be useful to know if AEON's criticism seems genuine or just BS.

[rslrunner]

[hagiwaramai]

Sorry I just remembered after I posted that you'd put some info up before. They wanted you to say specific phrases during the lesson as well did they? If it makes you feel any better a friend of mine who was a qualified teacher and had taught for years in Australia had problems following the Berlitz method, which you would think says a lot about their teaching methods when a qualified teacher has trouble following them. These eikaiwas are a law unto themselves..

[rslrunner]

[Solar Strength]

[kah5217]

After going through a day of training myself, I sort of understand how the OP is feeling. I'm not with the same company but this one is very specific on how they want you to act and it's a lot of weight for someone who isn't at their best. The trainer actually berated one boy pretty harshly, I'm wondering if he's going to quit.

[bigjoe]

I'm interested to know whether teachers at these big eikaiwa chains (AEON, Berlitz, etc.) actually stuck to the methods they were taught during their initial training.

I read somewhere that after their training, teachers at some eikaiwas were never bothered by management, so they were free to teach however they want.

As long as the eikaiwas are making lots of $$$, does it really matter to them how lessons are taught in the classroom?

[mitsui]

I thought I heard that there were cameras in the classroom at Berlitz so management could watch if they chose.

Another school called Nichibei had teachers record their lessons on tape.
Don't know if anyone bothered to listen.

[nightsintodreams]

The Berlitz I worked at certainly had micophones in the room so that they could listen in, I hated that feeling.

[Shakey]

[jkozera]

that...that is terrible, like is that just because of the xenophobia or what?