Job Discussion Forums

[maryknight]

i hate hot weather. do any of you work at schools that have breaks during the summer? i think that might be a way for me to handle the humid japanese summers. i could come home!

[JimDunlop2]

That all depends on what kind of school you are talking about. If it's a public elementary, junior or senior high school then pretty much all of August is off. However, having said that, it doesn't necessarily mean YOU will have all of August off. My BoE requires me to work (or at least COME TO work) except for a week that I can take off at my convenience, in one or more chunks... (This is in addition to my regular 20 days of holidays).

If you work for a (ugh) dispatch company, you will often be faced with a mandatory time-off for no (or half) pay... Eikaiwas that provide teachers to BoEs often have similar rules.

However, if you work for an eikaiwa or juku, they run pretty much all year-round with few exceptions. You MAY get some time off during Obon. Please note however that since Obon is a religious (not a national) holiday, there is nothing in your calendar that says those are holidays -- it's all discretionary and just happens to be the time when Japanese people traditionally take their holidays.

The best thing to do is to make sure you are crystal clear on your employer's policies regarding summer break and taking time off work. Each situation is guaranteed to be different.

[Zzonkmiles]

JimDunlop is right.

For most teachers here that don't work at a conversation school/eikaiwa, there are generally no classes in March or August. However, in my case, even when classes aren't in session, I'm still required to be in the office. I do get national holidays off as well as other paid holidays I can take at my discretion, but I can only use those during these semester breaks. I'd imagine this is how it works for most people here. University teachers probably get a lot more time off during the summer. Part time teachers working anywhere here generally DON'T get any paid holidays at any time.

If you work at a conversation school, especially NOVA, forget about getting holidays off during the summer. [b]Eikaiwas are COMPANIES, rather than SCHOOLS, so there is no such thing as summer or spring vacation.[/b] And as JimDunlop said, if you work for a dispatch company (Interac, W5 Services, etc.), you might be forced to take time off at a reduced salary or no salary at all.

[Gordon]

Airline tickets in the summer are unbelievably expensive. In March a flight to the west coast of NA: 50,000 yen. In August: 150,000 yen. How bad is the heat to you?

[maryknight]

thanks for the information. i really appreciate it.

[gaijinalways]

Uni jobs generally pay through the summer for part-timers, a nice benefit. I get off from mid-July (once the grades are handed in) to sometimes late September to early October (though syllabus making and sometimes book orders need to be done during this time). I go away part of the time, work another job part of the summer.

As to airline tickets, it depends on when exactly you live. If you can go later August, it's cheaper or if you can usually leave the first week of July (which sometimes I can't). In between, it can be very expensive, though a courier ticket will cut part of the cost.