Job Discussion Forums

[tobin]

Could anyone give me some feedback regarding their/or someone they know teaching experience with WinBe? For example, materials used, management, holidays, sales tactics, e.t.c....

Thanks very much

[wangtesol]

You can try the Winbe Teachers Union

http://www.winbeunion.org/

[earthmonkey]

Hi.
I worked for Winbe for two years as my first job in Japan. Basically Winbe sends native English teachers to create an Eikaiwai school within a Juku(cram school). So, the school is not just English conversation. There are two types, company owned and franchise. In a company owned school, you are paid by Winbe. In a franchise school, you are paid by the owner of that school. It's really hit or miss. If you get a good owner/manager, it's not bad. If you get a bad one, it is. The only time I met other Winbe teachers was once or twice a year when we had training sessions near the head office in Chiba. I heard some horror stories about some of the franchise schools' owners. Not paying on time, forcing you to teach babies (official minimum age is 4) etc. Management were idiots, but I never had to see them. Gaijin head office saff was ok, but long gone now. I don't know the new ones. I worked in a different section (Eikaiwa in sports clubs) which no longer exists. I was working directly for the company and was always paid on time and recieved the promised bonuses. I lived in a company apartment for one year. It wasn't great, but I only had to pay 50,000 a month. You will not get paid for overtime, as it is calculated monthly. One national holiday and there goes your overtime.

To summarize, it really depends upon where you are sent. Could be quite nice. Could be a living hell.

Good luck.

[earthmonkey]

In regards to the Winbe union. It didn't exist when I was there. Also, it doesn't appear to be very active. The last "news" post is from October 2004.

[wangtesol]

The Winbe union is a branch of the National Union of General Workers - Tokyo South.

http://www.nambufwc.org

And you can find a link to the Winbe branch from there.

Branches are all made up of volunteers who are also employees at the particular company. There is no webmaster or anyone else that is being paid to keep the site up to date. Posting info on a union website is always tricky, since a typical management tactic is "power harassment" (pawa hawa) where frivolous lawsuits for slander etc.. are sometimes filed just to harass the branch union.

[tobin]

Thank you for all the info on WinBe. It gives me a better idea of what's going on with them since I've never met anyone working with them.