|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
jimboclark
Joined: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 9
Location: Knoxville, TN
|
 Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:04 pm Post subject: Who Pays More: JET or the Big Eikai Schools? |
 |
|
I have a BA in Spanish and Japanese, no professional classroom experience, but lots of tutoring experience.
Taking into account the total compensation package (subsidized housing, etc.) who do you think would pay me more- JET or one of the Big Three (or is it Big Four?) English shools?
BTW, assume that I'd be working in Nagoya (even though the chances of that are slim with JET) so that the rural/urban cost of living doesn't factor in.
PS- sorry if this has been asked before, I figure even if it has the answer might change from year to year. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Gurdeep Rivenvald III
Joined: 28 Jun 2007
Posts: 27
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| JET. End of thread. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
maya.the.bee
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 118
Location: Stgo
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
check out this thread. there is alot of good info....
i vote JET as well |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Jet pays more than the eikaiwa chains. Every year. It doesn't change. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Dipso
Joined: 28 Apr 2004
Posts: 194
Location: England
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| JET. You might even get free accommodation to boot. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
taffer
Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 1:12 pm Post subject: Pay |
|
|
| It might be worth a bit of research to find out just how much more involved you will be if you go with JET, not that it is a bad thing, mind you. I work for a smaller school than NOVA or Geos but when I get off work, that's it. Judging from blogs I have read about the JET program, you have to devote a lot more of your energy...what price freedom? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 7:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Many Jet teachers end up going half-nuts because of not having enough work to do.
Sure there is the odd speech day or out-of-school-hours whatever to attend but, unless the teacher really pushes to get more involved, and is allowed to do so, the work of the human tape-recorders is much less onorous than that of the eikaiwa monkeys |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kilgore Trout
Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I have never run into a JET teacher who was not enjoying a prolonged paid vacation.
If you can stand doing nothing, go JET.
If you want problems, go with the eikaiwa because it seems that the majority experience them. There is an occasional hidden gem, but even they never last for long and business trumps all in the end. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:52 am Post subject: JET, hands down winner |
|
|
Stillnosheep and Kilgore or so down on JET.
I survived one year of JET. I worked at four junior highs. Two of the schools really embraced me and I did school-wide projects such as newsletters, penpal campaigns and lunchtime broadcasts. The demands were not so much in the classroom - performing skits in front of the kids for listening comprehension, or helping to start a communication task with a teacher. The two other schools were lame, and used me only as a human tape recorder. Boring, but I did a lot of time at the desk where I could study Japanese and prepare for the two good schools. I was a city hall ALT, so I had lots of contact with city employees and I attended functions and did editing jobs for other sections of the city hall.
I didn't get involved outside of school hours much. Instead, I threw my energy at volunteering in the city, doing homestays in the region for cultural exchange, teaching English to elderly people and traveling. Being in Japan is quite stimulating for the first year.
After JET, I went home to Canada, worked for two more years for immigrant services and international English schools, and came back to Japan as a high school ESL (for returnees) and EFL (for regular kids) teacher. Because my JET experience was so positive, gave me time to study and speak the language, and made Japan look attractive, a second go at Japan, in the capacity of a real teacher, just felt natural.
A year on JET is an cushy scholarship which gets you into Japanese life. The pay is great, the support is good (if a little spotty - few ALTs running workshops are ESL or EFL professionals), the rent is subsidized (I paid Y10,000 a month and the bills were included!) and the airfare to and from is paid. Overall, it's a really good way to come to Japan. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Kilgore Trout wrote: |
I have never run into a JET teacher who was not enjoying a prolonged paid vacation.
If you can stand doing nothing, go JET.
|
Oh, I get it now: you're a troll. Okay, all is explained. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kilgore Trout
Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| Kilgore Trout wrote: |
I have never run into a JET teacher who was not enjoying a prolonged paid vacation.
If you can stand doing nothing, go JET.
|
Oh, I get it now: you're a troll. Okay, all is explained. |
I think you totally misunderstood what I wrote, and you are completely wrong.
Try looking at something with a broader perspective.
However, I will not trade insults with you as it serves no purpose. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kilgore Trout
Joined: 18 Jul 2007
Posts: 27
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:02 am Post subject: Re: JET, hands down winner |
|
|
| TokyoLiz wrote: |
Stillnosheep and Kilgore or so down on JET.
|
I'm not really down on JET, but I do think it is a program that serves little or no purpose in a school. If I was down on it, I would simply say that it sucks, and I did not say that because I do not know.
I base everything I say on the words of a few hundred people who have worked in the program whom I have met over the years (that is many not a few).
Am I wrong for believeing what I see as a consensus when it comes from the mouths of those with the experience?
It is a rarity for a JET person to actually teach anything, and this is not something that can be disputed. I know many Japanese teachers who teach English who will atest to this fact.
Of course, people who have just come out of the university and have never held a teaching position may be deluded that this is actually teaching, but I believe they are shocked into reality at some point after leaving the JET program.
Good for those of you who may have had a nice experience, but you know from talking to others in the program that is not the norm.
I am simply stating the reality of the situation that some of us have been looking at for, again, years. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TokyoLiz
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1548
Location: Tokyo, Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:53 am Post subject: JET, hands down winner |
|
|
| Quote: |
| I'm not really down on JET, |
Okay.
| Quote: |
| but I do think it is a program that serves little or no purpose in a school. If I was down on it, I would simply say that it sucks, and I did not say that because I do not know. |
I agree, ALT positions, for the most part, are of limited value to the school. I'd say that, in rural areas where there are no foreigners, the presence of an ALT can be a way to keep kids from being skittish and weird around non-Japanese and less scared of English. But it takes a special person to fulfill that role.
Like I said, I stayed only a year because it served my purpose - a first taste of Japan, a chance to learn spoken Japanese and a break from my regular job teaching English in Canada. I saw it as a treat to me. But I couldn't continue. Not enough stimulation, no chance to do professional development, and few people with whom I could talk about pedagogy (total conflict between grammar translation on the teacher's side and structure and communicative method on mine).
| Quote: |
| Of course, people who have just come out of the university and have never held a teaching position may be deluded that this is actually teaching, but I believe they are shocked into reality at some point after leaving the JET program. |
Ditto, deluded into believing this is teaching.
However, if a JET ALT has a good mentor in the person of a Japanese teacher, it can be a way to learn about classroom management and cross-cultural communication. Again, this takes a lot of patience and intrinsic motivation on the part of both the Japanese teacher and the ALT. I only had this kind of relationship with two out of the dozens of teachers I worked with.
I still say pick JET over other jobs IF this is your first experience in Japan. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:28 am Post subject: Re: JET, hands down winner |
|
|
| TokyoLiz wrote: |
| I still say pick JET over other jobs IF this is your first experience in Japan. |
And that's just what I did. I find that JET is a nice entry into Japan. I am a new JET ALT at a high school in the inaka of Shizuoka Prefecture. This is my first time in Japan.
I am an atypical JET in that I have an MA in TESOL; New York State Teacher Certification for ESL, grades K-12; and a significant amount of teaching experience (including teacher training) in three different countries, excluding Japan.
I applied to JET as a way to relax for a year (just finished a three year stint as an elementary ESL teacher in the New York City Department of Education--UGH!), learn some Japanese, and get first hand experience as to how a Japanese classroom and Japanese high school students and teachers can be.
I'm very much in the honeymoon phase right now and I know the sweetness will eventually thin out. I have no illusions about the JET program and serving as an ALT. It is what it is. Nonetheless, I intend on keeping myself busy with work for the school and personal projects and all throughout, do my damndest to maintain a positive and upbeat demeanor. We'll see how it all turns out.
Regards,
fat_c |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jimboclark
Joined: 24 Nov 2006
Posts: 9
Location: Knoxville, TN
|
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:45 pm Post subject: Thanks! |
|
|
Wow, thanks for all the replies, everybody!
I thought I might just get flamed for asking a noob question I mighta been able to search for.
Anyways, a lot of people seem to think that being a JET isn't like being a real teacher... but, I've heard quite a bit worse about the three big eikaiwa schools I'm also considering.
Sounds like JET with eikaiwa as a backup is the best plan. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
