Job Discussion Forums

milesdenman · Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 42

Hi. Have just finished a CELTA course in Poland, and am looking for work in Japan.
I would like to make the most of having a CELTA, thus i'm interested more in working for Saxon Court as they require CELTA, as opposed to NOVA/AEON/ECC etc. who don't.
The only thing putting me off is that they only appear to have schools in and around Tokyo, i would prefer to be in a more medium city- Fukuoka, Kobe or somewhere like that.
Does anybody have any suggestions? Maybe another language school that requires CELTA located in other cities.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

Saxon Court require a CELTA in Japan? That's news to me. I thought Saxon Court were owned by the same guy that runs Shane, who's name is Shane by coincidence. Laughing

Dipso · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 194 Location: England

I have seen adverts for Shane in Nagoya, so there must be schools there too.

I worked for Shane in Kanto in the late nineties, btw. I don't know if things have changed since, but they had a policy where teachers "owed" the company 12 days. These twelve days would be made up when you were on "stand-by" on your day off - if someone rang in sick, you had to go and work their day. Yuck!

Mind you, now I am back in Japan and working for one of the Big Four, I am beginning to appreciate Shane's hands-off approach. I think I only went to one meeting the whole year I worked for them!

Khyron · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Tokyo Metro City

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

Dipso · Joined: 28 Apr 2004 Posts: 194 Location: England

I worked for Shane in 1998. Back then, all 12 days were stand-by or cover days. My day off was Tuesday; I was one of only three people in my district to have Tuesday off at the time. Whenever I was on stand-by, I had to go in. In fact, my very first day as a Shane teacher was a stand-by day, a 90 minute commute away. Talk about a baptism of fire!

Also, setsumeikai campaigns were unpaid unless you had any interviews - you still had to be in school several hours early though, even if you didn't. No doubt things have changed for the better. Smile

Khyron · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 291 Location: Tokyo Metro City

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

To address the two posts above mine, when I worked at Shane (left four and half years ago, so times may well have changed):

Setsumeikai's counted as a day worked, so they were not unpaid as such. However, the only hours you got towards your teaching bonus were the actual minutes spent doing the demo lessons.

On the other hand, standby days when you were not needed did NOT count. It's great for teachers if that has been changed, as the previous post implies - that was the one complaint I thought that really was legitimate.