Job Discussion Forums

tbe1981 · Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 7

Hi All,

Does anyone know anything about GABA Corporation? Apparently they do computer aided stuff on a one to one basis, but that was pretty much all I could get from the website.

Any info on pay/working conditions/personal experiences etc would be greatly appreciated...!

Many thanks,

Tom.

Doglover · Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 305 Location: Kansai

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

And, if memory serves, they forged papers to get some of their teachers visas, so their sponsorship privileges were revoked by immigration.

Rorschach · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 130 Location: Osaka

They've just recently opened up in Osaka. They seem legit. I was offered a teaching position by them but I already had too many privates of my own. Also, my friend does privates with them and he apparently only pockets 1400yen for 40 minutes of work, far too low (the advertising says 2100yen per class for some reason though). I'm not sure what their fulltime positions would be like but they are very sales oriententated.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I worked for Gaba for about a year and a half. When I started they had this nightmarish full time schedule where you taught from around 12.30pm to 10.40 pm or 10am to 8.30 pm weekends- 13 lessons (!!!) 3 days a week and 7 lessons (usually around 5pm to 10.40pm) 2 days a week. Needless to say few teachers lasted long on that kind of schedule.

As I didn't need sponsorship I quickly changed to the kind of "free schedule" system which I think most teachers except those involved in sales work on now- the old brutal full time schedule was done away with as far as I know. This allowed me complete freedom to choose the hours and days I worked, within the working requirements of the branch- for example: of course most teachers want to do earlier shifts, but the students want to take the later classes since they work, so the manager will only accept the first few requests for early shifts on any given day.
You submit your schedule the month before, as much or as little as you like basically.

The pay is terrible, as above something like 1400 yen per lesson. The advantage comes from the ability to choose your own schedule- lots of people I worked with were involved part time in something else and used Gaba to top up their income- some people had other eikaiwa jobs, others were professional singers/ dancers etc. One guy was also a capoeira teacher. I was starting to teach yoga classes, and due to the scheduling freedom was able to slowly cut back on the Gaba classes as my yoga classes increased, to the point where I now haven't taught English in about 2 years. This would have been difficult with any other job so was ideal for me.

Other advantages: the students are quite motivated- partly because they are paying through the nose for the lessons and partly because it's one-on-one- they have no choice but to speak! Adult students only- I'm not a kids teacher so that was good for me. Generally the environment is quite a nice one to work in- schools are nicely decorated and the Japanese staff usually have a high level of English- a huge change from Nova where I also worked quite a long time ago and where the Japanese staff could often barely communicate in English.

The company has improved a lot from its earlier days 4 years ago or so when it was known for treating teachers quite badly- the management has changed since. I went back to my old branch to visit a few weeks ago and found that a lot of the people I worked with were still there, 2 years later- the lack of turnover suggests that the situation is much better these days.

If scheduling freedom is important to you and a high salary isn't, try Gaba, if you don't mind a fixed schedule and want a decent rate of pay, definitely go elsewhere.

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

I thought Aspara's post was very thoughtful.

Unless, you have some dream you are following, stay away from Gaba. That pay is horrid and they can't even sponsor visas. You can very easily get private lessons at far above that rate and still undercut the competition (don't do it you *beep*).

The absolute minimum wage in Japan is 800 yen and hour. Teaching is a lot harder than flippin' burgers or handing out flyers. Disgraceful.

tbe1981 · Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 7

Thanks guys and particularly Aspara for the highly insightful and helpful comments.

I'll definitely steer clear of GABA after finding out what they're really all about...

Cheers!

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I'm glad my comments were useful.

I didn't look at the link above before posting- I'm not pushing Gaba at all- there are much better places to work- but just in case anyone's thinking about working there part-time perhaps, and for the sake of balance I wanted to say that some of the information given on that page was incorrect- as far as I know facial hair is not a problem, and I knew plenty of teachers who were promoted, whether you would want all that stress I'm not sure however.

It's not really as dog-eat-dog as the link makes it sound- not at the branch I worked at anyway. 2 months' notice was not necessary. We did not have to be available at any time- as I said above there was complete freedom to choose our own schedule.

As for the non-socialisation, lack of help with taxes and delay in receiving the first full salary, that was also my experience at Nova- not limited to Gaba.

If only they would pay teachers a decent amount (they did indeed cut the pay several times in my first year there) they might actually be a reasonable company to work for.

SEndrigo · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 437

Regardless of what anyone here says, 1400 yen an hour is near poverty level.

What do they pay at McDonald's? Perhaps a bit less, but you don't have to wear a suit, don't have to prep lessons, and don't have to travel! And even if you did have to travel, Makudo would pay for your travel expenses. GABA doesn't !!!

If you are comfortable with working for peanuts, and driving down salaries for English teachers, go ahead.

This is related to the other post on private lessons.

Don't be a monkey!!

To be honest, I'd rather work at Shakey's than GABA. At least I'd get free pizza and salad bar.

seanmcginty · Joined: 27 Sep 2005 Posts: 203

Yeah, where I used to live the minimum pay for teachers working part time was more than double what Gaba's pay is. 1400 yen is just the most ridiculously low pay I've ever heard of, how do they get people to work there in the first place?

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Brooks · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1369 Location: Sagamihara

1. They hire non-natives. I know an Israeli who works for them in Ikebukuro. He had to work hard, and had to work 10 hour days.
He wanted to teach English but couldn`t get a job at other schools.
He has a Japanese wife, and I don`t know how he gets by.
He even moved to Tokyo, after getting sick of the commute from Saitama.
His wife got sick of living in Israel, so he is stuck in Japan.

2. They hire natives without experience. I know an American who started out with them, stayed a few months, and moved on to different and better jobs.

hip-hop boy78 · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Hip-hop land

I heard the same as Brooks, that basically they hire non-natives and other so called 'teachers' who have little or no teaching experience/qualifications whatsoever... Rolling Eyes

Filinadian · Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 27

It seems like GABA is getting more negative comments than positive comments on this board. I will come out into the open about this company, because I work for the company.

First of all, we teach for 40 minutes and not an hour. For 40 minutes, we get 1400yen. Yes it's low, but it's a teaching job. Many people in our company have quit other schools to come here. GABA has good points and bad points. Instead of listing all the bad things about GABA, I will go against the grain and try to convince people on this board that it's not so bad.

One of the good things about GABA is definetly the flexibility. For people who are interested in having a lot of free time to travel, experience other things in Japan, then GABA is good company for that. If you are here to make money, forget it, GABA won't help you out as you have to work grueling hours to make 250,000yen per month.

On the plus side, you don't have to prepare your work. You go to work, open a book and do the lesson with the student. There are no homework for teachers. You don't have to worry about preparing the night before, because everytime you go to work all you have to do is start a lesson with the student from where he or she left off. You don't have to worry about teaching a classroom, as GABA's system is 1-on-1 or as they say Man-to-Man. People who prefer to teach adults and not kids come to GABA. Most, but not all, students are in their early 20s and up.

GABA is good for the students too, as they can develop a lot of their conversational skills that other schools cannot provide. The power of Man-to-man english is catering to the student's needs. Some students prefer strict corrections, while others prefer an easy conversation, maybe working on pronounciation and intonation. Another good thing about GABA is that having teachers from around the world, and yes, non-native teachers help the students hear different types of accents and different words used depending on where the instructor is from. Not everybody has an American, British, Canadian, Australian accent. At GABA students get to hear how English sounds like from other countries including Israel. In my opinion, this is better for students because they develop good listening skills and be able to communicate to people all over the world.

I am not proud of GABA but I work there because I like it there, but I am here to tell others out there that GABA is not all bad. Some of my coworkers have quit other schools (NOVA, AEON, ECC, etc) to be here because of the reasons mentioned above. They come here not because they don't have a choice, they come here because they want to earn more money or because they like the flexibility.

hip-hop boy78 · Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Hip-hop land

Filinadian,

Looks like you've just shot yourself in the foot. First you mentioned that you only get paid 1400 yen for a 40 minute lesson and then later on in your post you stated that many teachers have quit Nova/Aeon/ECC in order to 'earn' more money at GABA!!!??? How is that possible? And by the way, Nova teachers also teach 40 or 45 minute lessons yet they get paid a lot more than those working at GABA. Stop trying to defend a crappy company who pay crappy wages in order to make a fast buck. English should be taught by native-speakers or at least by properly qualified non-native speakers.