Job Discussion Forums

[Mike L.]

[moot point]

thanks to god that I only spent a minute or two perusing through the propeotionally deteoriating posts.

[PAULH]

[PAULH]

Manager #1


Foreign teachers often feel an eikaiwa is not school but rather a business; that we (management) aren't concerned with education. It's difficult for many foreigners to understand Japanese business practices because they aren't familiar with our culture. For example, some teachers get angry when we point out the need for friendliness and enjoyment in the classroom. They have a different idea of how students (and we) see teachers. In Japanese junior and senior high schools teachers are not just expected to teach the subject material but to serve as counselors, concerned with each student's well being. Teaching and counseling are equally important... As for the question about hiring qualified teachers, to be honest, we've had difficulty finding professional teachers. When we do interview qualified teachers they usually want to work part-time to supplement their other sources of income (from high schools and colleges)... It's hard to keep qualified teachers because they want a lot of money ...Yes, teachers sometimes want to have more responsibilities and make decisions but the problem we've had in the past is they don't stay long enough at the school. After 1 or 2 years teachers leave and the new teachers want to do things 'their' way... Students don't like it when the system and teaching staff keep changing.

Manager #2
Some foreigners are serious about teaching, but many are here just to make money. They don't want to work hard even though they are paid a lot of money compared to other Japanese employees. Many teachers aren't team oriented and feel the school is trying to control them. In the past we hired real teachers but they were very hard to handle. They wanted to change everything; the curriculum, the number of students in the class, the working hours, and so on. ..I don't think it's so important to have a teaching license. The most important thing is to have a caring attitude. Teachers should try to improve themselves...'trying', is the most important thing... It is very expensive to train teachers. We can't spend the time really necessary because we are a private school... My experience has been that teachers aren't aware of what students need; some qualified teachers are skilled (they have good techniques) but they are not good at giving each student what they need...students want English that is useful for them, specifically. Basically, we'd like the teachers to focus on teaching and not think about sales. Sometimes teachers complain that we (the managers) don't include them in the business side of the company. We don't like to tell teachers a lot about the organization because teachers move from school to school frequently, and, as it is a business, we don't want other schools to know how we operate.


If language teachers here have no idea how to be professional, responsible and manage their jobs well what makes you think they can make a go of scoring with the ladies?

[jello1]

Paul,

I appreciate your posts, and agree using your job to meet women is sometimes inappropriate.

But I disagree that this is always bad, or that this is at all specific to esl teachers abroad. I am in my early thirties, a professional in the states, and have worked for several years among many well educated folks. My doctor friends tell stories that would make a sailor blush. One of my good friends tells specifically about the nearly instant change from med school to residency.. He says almost instantly he was treated "god-like" by the women he worked with, flirting, wanting dates, making their intentions very clear. (he is level headed and therefore wary of this kind of attention, but I know others who take advantage at every opportunity.) Military pilot friends say the same thing. I have seen this phenomenon in my own career, and in that of many of my friends. Are some young men attracted to powerful jobs (at least in part) to meet women, the answer to me is emphatically, yes, in my experience(many of my friends are now married to folks they met at work). Are young women attracted to powerful jobs for their own reasons, certainly.

Having gone through the trouble of an advanced degree and put in many hours in my career so far, I have often wondered why someone would go through all the trouble (including myself) when there are careers which are definetly more pleasing and still give time for a life outside(a question which I soon hope to answer). The answer, I believe, is power. Professional jobs bring status, money, power. Perhaps this has similarities to the power or influence of westerners in Asia? Alexander Hamilton said "power is poison." Translated--power in the wrong hands, of the immature, the irresponsible, can be poison. Certainly this phenomenon is not only common to esl teachers.

Having gone the long way, it seems obvious to me that folks are attracted to esl work for many reasons, escape, denial, money, travel, meeting the opposite sex, and probably often teaching experience. How many professionals in the real world do their jobs because they like them? Are there more unhappy lawyers and engineers or esl teachers?

Simply put, I believe thoughtful folks can want to teach esl for many reasons which do not involve just "love of teaching." If we all act professionally whats the matter with that?

[blue jay]

[Big John Stud]

My theory is that most women, not all, but again most women do not like living abroad. Not only has most ESL teachers I meant have been men, but even traveling around the world most travelers I meant were men too.

Now a funny thing I noticed is that most ESL women I have meant were overweight to put it nicely and did not have such a pretty face.

My theory is that pretty women have life too easy in the country of their birth so they never develop a desire to live and work abroad.

Now this is only a theory I developed from past conversations with female ESL teachers, and observation.

[denise]

[Big John Stud]

denise wrote:

One possible reason for the disproportionate number of men that you meet may be safety. Sure, guys are victims of crimes, too, but who is more likely be harassed? Raped? Leered/whistled at? Groped on trains? And might I add that unless the men who complain about us gals being fat and ugly are Adonises, their words have no weight whatsoever. To me, at least. d

Oh Denise, I hope you won't offended by my observation. And I did write most not all.

Anyway, I must thank you because you pointed out the obvious but I had over looked. From you wrote one can assume that beautiful women usually don't develop a desire to live and work abroad because of the risk. Why take such risk when life is practically handed to them in on a gold plater?

I wasn't complaining about women being fat and ugly! Japanese women are very beautiful. And there are a few pretty western women too! Somewhere!

[blue jay]

Posted by Big John Stud:

[Big John Stud]

Blue jay I was wondering do you have an opinion of your own or do you just go around pasting other people's opinion?

But you do have a point!

[denise]

Big John Stud,

Actually, I was offended.

As I said before, you boys had better be drop-dead gorgeous if you're going to label most ("but not all") Western women as fat and ugly. If you want a trophy J-girl on your arm, then for her sake I hope you're in the same league as her looks-wise.

Sorry, but every time the topic of women comes up, we western gals get hit with the same tired old insult and the same tired old "it's just an observation/sure, there are some exceptions...". It really pisses me off.

d

[Big John Stud]

[quote="denise"]Big John Stud,

Actually, I was offended.

As I said before, you boys had better be drop-dead gorgeous if you're going to label most ("but not all") Western women as fat and ugly. If you want a trophy J-girl on your arm, then for her sake I hope you're in the same league as her looks-wise.

Sorry, but every time the topic of women comes up, we western gals get hit with the same tired old insult and the same tired old "it's just an observation/sure, there are some exceptions...". It really pisses me off.

d[/quote]


Most women don't look at men for being physically attractive. If they did I would be doing a lot better. I have no body fat, my ab muscles show as well as every muscle in my slender body. Women look at men for what they can do. Men though look at women for being attractive.
But if the relationship is going to last it must eventually through communication they establish an honest and trusting relationship.

This is why physical beauty is nice but real beauty is a state of mind.

If you get offended by reading a post written by someone who do not know and most likely has ever seen or will ever see how are you going to endure something truly offensive?

Anyway, I was only joking around. I really didn't mean to offend you or anyone. There are good and bad people in every group, culture, race and nationality just as they're beautiful and ugly people too.