Job Discussion Forums

[nomadder]

I meant that it's sad for the teachers that conditions have deteriorated so much. From free apt and airfare to paying for these and often hefty damage deposits, key money, things for the apt(when they should just keep an apt for the teachers). Salaries haven't risen. If anything they continue to plummet. More and more scammy schools -many spread so thin with their chains that guess who takes the hit? The immigrant with few rights. Less money paid for more classes taught.

[24601]

[Glenski]

[Mark]

[Yawarakaijin]

How many of us ask the same question question about second language learning in our own countries. I would say that its taken very serious in Canada. Most of us have at least one hour a day for the first ten years of schooling!

Yet how many of us come out of it not being able to speak a single lick of French? I imagine its a pretty high percentage of us if we dont live within a few miles of the Quebec border or a French speaking community.

In my opinion it always comes down to the resolve of the student. It doesnt matter if its English or Mathematics

[Mark]

[cornishmuppet]

I came out of school having studied French and German for five years but barely able to speak a word. But then there weren't F/G signs on every street corner. Considering the effort Japan makes you would think they'd be a little better at English by now.

I liked the OPs comment about language school bosses giving themselves a title. My first boss was company 'President', despite having only four teachers beneath him. Dikhead. We used to joke about that one.

I also agree with the OP that a lot of eikawas are shoddy jokes of schools selling a bad product to ignorant people who don't know any better. On the other hand, I imagine there are some good schools out there (I don't konw any, mind). I also think English learning depends a lot on the student. I had one student who turned up every week and a glance at her notebook revealed pages and pages of practice questions and sentences, while I had other students who would tut at the word 'homework' and after three or four years still had to think about a response to 'How are you?' (I'm talking about adults, by the way). No prize for guessing whose English was improving and whose wasn't.

I also think that a lot of people, long-termers especially, forget that TEFL is largely a travellers profession. Being a teacher in your home country often offers better salary and holidays, but for those of us (I'm included in this) who want to see the world but can't afford to backpack it, teaching English is a pretty good way to do it. Hence you get a lot of 'teachers' who don't really give a sh-it whether their students learn anything or not. A lot of schools are aware of this which to me seems to be why conditions are often so bad. I worked 18 months in an eikawa, and largely hated it. I wanted to leave on many occasions but a need for money or for some other reason meant I stuck it out. That I like my job as an ALT now is surprising, because I got into this game wanting to travel around as many different countries as possible and get paid while I did it. At the end of the day I was prepared to do what work I had to do just like any other job but I couldn't have cared less if the students learned English or not. Before I get flamed that's not to say I didn't do as good a job as I could, because I did, but it was just a job. It paid for my life.

[Mark]

I don't think you'll get flamed, Muppet. I've met a lot of folks in your situation. Teaching English is their job, and they try to do it well, but it's not their career and they're not really interested.

And, anyway, most students in Japan are not real students (ie, they don't have the time or interest to study on their own, etc), so there's no need for them to have real teachers. I just feel bad when serious students can't find a proper place to study.

[24601]

[Mark]

I think we have to acknowledge that language teaching has been evolving and has really only come together in the last 30 years ot so. And then teachers have to be trained in the new techniques (which are still being developed) and teach their students and so on. It's a process.

I entered high school 15 years ago and many of the people teaching me were in their 40s, so they were educated before the whole communicative thing really got going.

These things take a while to seep through the system. I can only assume that kids are getting much better results nowadays. I've checked out the exams used in Britain for GCSE and A level exams, and they're pretty difficult (and communicative). If the kids are passing them, then they must be doing ok.

As we don't have standardized school exams in Canada, it's a little more difficult to tell where we stand.

[womblingfree]

[tokyo story]

Why should English teachers get their air fare and apartment paid for? English teachers are workers here the same as anybody else. In many cases they get it better than most Japanese -- they earn more, they work less hours, their housing is cheaper, they pay a fraction of what most Japanese have to pay each year. Let's be realistic. This country has gone through a major economic recession. Who in the hell is going to roll out the red carpet after that?

[JimDunlop2]

[Gordon]

[Willy_In_Japan]