Job Discussion Forums

[Heifer]

Can you tell me what calendar to expect from a Japanese High School with a 2 semester system? I know what vacation time to expect in Korea(2 two-month paid vacations on a good contract), but I have no idea about Japan. Also, what hours should I expect to work.

[Quibby84]

You should have to go to school for about 8 hours a day but usually only have 4 classes (which are about 50 min each). You usually get two weeks off in March/April (end of March, beginning of April). Around one week for Golden week in May, at least a week off in August. And at least a week off for Christmas. There are also days off scattering around (on average like one day off a month..or something...)
Of course this would be different for everyone but this gives you a small idea of what to expect...

[Glenski]

Full-time or part-time?
JET Program ALT or dispatch agency ALT?
Private school or public school?

Private school FT employees will work the longest hours. Roughly 8am to 8pm, plus every other Saturday half a day. You could have 1-2 classes or 5 classes a day. Some private HS have mandatory club activities for teachers to attend, whether 3 or 7 days a week. Plus dormitory duty 9pm - 11 pm.

ALTs usually work Mon-Fri 8ish to 5ish. Depends on various factors.

Vacation time is a relative thing for FT workers (not ALTs), too. There is a month off in March, but that only means no classes. You still have responsibilities. Same for summer break (the timing of which will vary on the region of Japan), but it will last 3-5 weeks. Winter break is roughly a month long from mid-Dec to mid-Jan. And, yes, you may have work to do during those days. I know I did at a private HS. Dispatch ALTs should not expect to get paid for such breaks.

The calendar year begins in April. International schools tend to start in Aug or Sept.

[Heifer]

Thanks for your answers. It's a private, all-girls' school. I think it is full-time. My last full-time job in Korea required working only about 630 hours per year at a university.

[Brooks]

it is hard to say since every school is different. My schedule is as follows:

from April first, the teachers have an assembly.
Classes start about April 4th.
Golden Week is only two days this year but some years we get a week off.
Classes go until the end of July (the 25th this year)
Classes start again in early September.
Finals are in mid/late September.
New term starts in late September and mid-terms are in late November.
From December 22nd or so we get time off until early January (5th or 6th)
Finals are in early March.
The annual dinner is March 21st.

Teachers with clubs get less vacation.

[Glenski]

My former private school year went something like this.

You get 7-10 days notice in March to know what your courses will be, and perhaps one meeting to decide what to do in them. You may have a textbook selected already by someone who may not have ever even taught the course. No changing because students are told to buy it.

Golden Week kills the beginning momentum you might have had going.

Monday national holidays will mean makeup days for classes, meaning another day of the week will be selected as "Monday". This has the effect of throwing all your lessons off balance so that you teach 2 different plans for many sections.

You could be mandated to assist in some club, even if you know nothing about it. You are expected to do little more than babysit the kids during practice, see to it that they are there. Club usually starts at 4:30 and runs till 6:30 or later. It might be 2, 3, or 7 days a week.

Expect to be a part of a few groups.
1. Your gakunen (grade) of teachers of various subjects.
2. Your English department.
3. A committee or two.
4. The whole school staff.
All of these could have meetings at least once a week, all in Japanese. You may even have more meetings with team teaching partners, to get lesson plans ready. Your own individual planning will be any time outside of these meetings.

Private schools run on private tuition. Open campus requires your presence. So will the 1-2 days of festival usually on the weekend. The days before and after have no classes, so there goes more makeup days and lost time. I hope you don't have to teach speech classes because the students will never give you updates on time.

Speech contests. Yup, you'll have to take part as a coach and/or judge. More time you can't afford.

If you end up an assistant homeroom teacher, you may be expected to help out in morning and afternoon. That's when the HR teacher visits class to distribute papers and make announcements every day. And, students need someone to monitor them when they clean the HR daily.

Summer has a 2-week period of kotairen, sport tournaments. Kiss any class consistency goodbye then. Students in sports are excused from classes then, yet you still have to hold classes for the remaining.

Private tuition also means school trips, usually abroad for 1-2 weeks. You will undoubtedly take part in the planning (yup, weeks and weeks before the trip, your evenings will be taken up with this, too). And, when you go, who does your classes for the other students?

Summer break is not what you might think. Students have makeup tests, clubs, and other things, so it's not like they are gone at all. Teachers, too.

Winter break is 3-4 weeks long, but you will usually be expected to stick around (or have to just because you couldn't finish other stuff) for about half that.

My school had 2 dorms. If your committee is the dorm committee, don't expect anything but sympathy from others. It means going to dorms 1-3 times a week from 9pm to 11pm. You get a whopping 1000 yen for your troubles. Hey, it's more than you get for club assistant coaching.

You will also be expected to monitor hallways and bus stops and lunchroom and gym, etc. Assemblies for student elections/campaigns suck time away. So will pointless meetings that always crop up, especially if a student breaks a rule and needs to be talked to.

Tests. Five major ones a year. You will proctor the ones you don't teach. Know what is expected of you, especially for cheaters. Know how to speak enough Japanese to make yourself understood. You will contribute to making the English exam and spending a long time checking and doublechecking the scores with other teachers.

Entrance exams will also be your responsibility. My school had 3 types, so there goes 3 weekends, plus all the time planning and correcting. You will even have to correct the sections for non-English courses. And, let's not forget college entrance exams and their prep time, and TOEIC or TOEFL.

Semester ends in February, but you will still have to deal with inputting grades, triple-checking them and attendance records, cleaning the staff room, moving to a new gakunen, etc. right up to those scant days that you know what new courses you will teach next year.

You get no privacy. Staff rooms are divided into gakunen, but with no walls to separate anyone, and with about 2 phones per 15 people. Interruptions galore will surface if you have Japanese teachers wanting to know if their section of the exams were written without error, or if their lesson plans make sense, or if they ask you to explain differences in arcane grammar or words in the Word Navi book.

You put in 630 hours per year in university in Korea?
630/12 = 52.5 52.5/4=13 hours per week
You will work 13 hours per day in a private HS here. And, 2 Saturdays a month, so if they fall back to back (end of one month, beginning of the next) you have 4 weekends in a row with work.

[Brooks]

well Glen, just because you were busy doesn't mean all schools operate like that. Your school sounds very traditional.
Where I work, the shortest day is 8:15-5:00 and on Wednesday til 6:00.
I have a club so my schedule varies.
We have to work some Saturdays, but most are off.

We can't be assistant homeroom teachers.
We aren't allowed to proctor exams.
There is no dorm. It closed 20 years ago.
We don't have to clean. There are a couple janitors.
There is an entrance exam in February. We only have to help grade the English one.
We don't have to be in any committees.
We almost never have meetings.
We don't have to monitor anything.
There are no school trips anymore. Students don't like that.

[Glenski]

Never said they all operated like that. And, if mine is traditional, by definition, perhaps most operate like that...? I dunno. Just pointing out my case. I have a survey of data from others in private HS. Somewhat similar data.

[Heifer]

Thanks for the info. The school told me the salary, but I was given no info on hours or vacation time. It sounds like I need to work in Korea and just visit Japan on visa runs.