Job Discussion Forums

[Glenski]

[junan]

Thanks Johanne that's really helpful.

�100 a day and survive in Tokyo though? That's what subbing pays in London as it's so expensive there. I thought that Tokyo was even more expensive to live there??

Zorro...also thanks. I'll look into Westgate (and have done a bit already) They sound ideal for what I want to do, but it sounds like a flippin Frat Party to be honest and they seem to have introduced some draconian rules in an effort NOT to be taken for a ride by their teachers. Fair play in some respects, but I'm 36, I'm not one for being told that I can't have people staying over etc...

Having said that, I'll still do a bit more digging on the idea as their 'short term' contracts sound promising.

[junan]

wow! Ta Glenski

Well if I can impose on you (you all) further......

I come from a very multicultural city here in the UK. I am also not a lass who takes kindly to being treated poorly due to my gender.

HAVING SAID THAT ....In previous overseas jobs and travels, I have learned to adapt to various cultures, embrace (sometimes begrudgingly) their customs and practices.....

So...I have read the term 'discrimination' on many other posts on this Japan forum so I'm intrigued as to what people mean by this exactly. Also, I have taught kids in multinational language schools in the UK and found the Japanese kids to be adorable, polite and yes very very shy and therefore not the easiest to teach. So I'm interested in people's experiences of Japanese students IN Japan...different to my experiences of said students in the UK?

[zorro (3)]

I know that some people consider Westgate to be a frat party, but there are also more mature teachers who work for them. I've worked with older married couples who have retired from teaching in Canada and just wanted to experience Japan and it suited them fine (they keep going back in fact). Don't let the negative posts on here affect your decision because when all is said and done, you don't need to go out boozing it up with the young reprobates if you don't want to.

[Glenski]

Having taught HS students for 4 years in a private HS, here's my take.

Their minds switch from junior high shenanigans to more serious thoughts of getting into university. Just how serious depends on the school, and private schools have to entice kids with many clubs (which take far too much time away from their studies), festivals and open house (again, a waste of precious time and money, and a major drain on their motivation to study for a few weeks, if you ask me), and overseas trips (prep time alone kills time and motivation to study, plus being gone for 1.5 to 2 weeks is not cool, either, even if you the teacher has to accompany them).

Some private schools have sister universities, so kids on that track may not even have to worry about an entrance exam, but they still have to maintain a certain grade level. Other kids will have to work on their entrance exams, so they don't usually give a hoot about foreign teacher classes in communicative English.

The kids never seem to get used to a foreign teacher's style of teaching, as compared to their Japanese teacher's style of shut up and listen to me for the whole period (and sleep if you want to). No corporal punishment exists, of course, but there is also no academic probation, either, so kids can screw off if they like and still remain on their clubs (sports or otherwise) and be excused from classes whenever tournaments arise. Don't expect anyone to come and ask what homework they missed.

Being a teacher means being assigned to a gakunen (grade), whose teachers of other subjects sit together in the staff room and deal with that grade's issues (even if you [usually] have to teach other grades' students, too). Staff rooms are open, no cubicles or walls, and segregated by grades. This means no privacy for phone calls or lesson planning. Meetings every day before classes begin, and after classes finish. Meetings weekly with the entire staff, and even more meetings frequently for the committees you are on, the clubs you are assigned to (mandatory in my school), the English department, and any lesson planning groups you need to create. Good luck in getting PT workers to stick around after their classes finish in order to help with anything; they are off to their next PT gig.

Vacations are practically non-existent in a sense. Summer break is 4-6 weeks long around late July and August, but we had to stay and deal with study support classes, open house, cleaning, and club activities. Oh, you could take paid leave, but there were certain activities that almost required you to stay. Winter break is more forgiveable, but I know of many people who stayed in the building for all but a week. Spring usually means you get Golden Week off, of course, and March is often without classes, but there are tons of duties to attend to in order to close out the academic year and get ready for the next one. Essentially, no days off then.

Private schools operate on every other Saturday, too, and if they schedule 2 Saturdays in a row one month to coincide with 2 from the next month, you may find yourself working 6 days a week 4 times in a row.

Meetings are almost always conducted in Japanese. Deal with it. Memos are usually read aloud in them just to make sure everyone has been given the information, even though the memos WERE physically given. Discussions are minimal, mostly because they all happen behind closed doors before the meeting. Staff meetings can take 1-5 hours long (no pizza delivered, either, to take care of your empty stomach).

Major tests are given 5 times a year. You will likely have to make your part. This will be accompanied by 1 or 2 long-winded meetings where the English staff goes over every word in everyone's section. And, you may have to make listening sections, too, and test the loudspeakers in each room after the kids leave the building around 7pm. You proctor other subjects' exams, so get used to Japanese. Teachers cannot sleep or study during the exams. You have specific rules on how to proctor, even to the kids taking the tests in the nurses' station! Then comes the long correcting time, double-checking each other's grades, totalling the scores, and double-checking everyone's addition, and the teamwork needed to put scores in the computer (section by section). Of course, you burn a whole day later when tests are returned by the Japanese staff and gone over in class instead of providing a lesson. You will also be part of at least one entrance examination (my school had 3), which is even worse, but at least you won't have to make most of it.

Kids stay in school until ungodly hours, so you must, too. Theoretically, you can leave around 5 or 5:30, but some people frown upon that. If you are in a club, God forgive you, because you will likely have to babysit your kids through practice 3 to 7 days a week, from 4 or 5 to 6 or 7pm. (Saturdays and Sundays are earlier.) You don't have to know a whit about that club to be assigned to it, but you are only there to "assist", which means sit and watch, not help train in most cases. Tournament? You go, too. So, in general, kids stay until at least 7 or 8pm studying and doing club. Good luck if you get hit with dormitory duty; that's the worst because you are expected to visit the dorms often (1-2 times a week) from 8 or 9 to 11pm, do bed checks, and see that they are studying in the cafeteria all that time. You also deal with any problems even if it means staying past 11pm. You'll not get paid for any club activity (except to be reimbursed for traveling to tournaments), and you'll probably get about 1000 yen a month for dorm duty.

The kids are what you make of them. They won't feel comfortable speaking, but some will try. Being overly strict won't work well, and being their best buddy only exacerbates their poor performance in the long room. You are in charge in the classroom, so it's up to you to decide how to deal with discipline (in their language, not yours, usually) and how to enforce the school's rules. Homework and lesson planning are all your own creation, but you are likely not going to have a book (or a good one) to use, and you won't know what you're classes are until 2 weeks before April begins, so you can't change the text anyway. Grades may not even come from your classes, and even if they are, schools have a quota system here, where a certain percentage is automatically allotted the equivalent of As, Bs, Cs, etc.

15% are 5 (A)
25% are 4 (B)
40% are 3 (C)
20% are 2 (D)
0% are 1 (fail) (with some exceptions)

That means you might see your grades "adjusted" despite how well/badly the kids performed. Oh, and the grades themselves only show how wide a berth kids are given on passing and failing:

5 (A) = 80-100%
4 (B) = 60-79%
3 (C) = 45-59%
2 (D) = 30-44%
1 (fail) = 0-29%

[johanne]