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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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 Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| blindjackdog wrote: |
| As for proper university jobs, what's the story there? I remember reading that they don't like to employ you if you're over 35 because of some pay scale thing. (I'm not quite there, but it's not as distant as I would like to kid myself.) |
I'm in my forties and on my second full time contract. I know others hired at age 45. salary is tied to years since you graduated from university as well as publications and experience. The older you are the more they pay but it depends on the university and they usually have a budget for hiring an older person if thats what they advertise. Younger teachers are cheaper but also less experienced and a few ask for a phD under 35. Those types tend to be rarer as they have less teaching experience and most dont want to teach oral communication after getting a PhD.
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| Experience elsewhere (and I think its the same in Japan(?)) tells me that in a university you go mad if you can't get along something like a local - ie actually speak the language etc so you can deal with administrative stuff. So, again, as my Japanese is less than negligible at present, starting off with Westgate seemed an opportunity to at least learn enough to pretend. |
Part timers speak Japanese anything from none whatsoever to 'conversational or 'intermediate level' Japanese. Full time teachers the responsibilities are greater. You might have department meetings, office hours and forms to fill in and sign. There is always someone around who speaks English but the less you rely on other people for your language needs the easier it will be on you and other people. Part timers teach from anything from 3-5 universities during the week. its easy to pick up plenty of work but you are a kind of teaching nomad, going from one place to the other and not seeing much more than the teachers' staff room and your classes.
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| What kind of stuff do people tend to teach in a university? What are the attractions/detractions? How best to apply? Questions of that nature now arise.... |
The range is as wide as the teachers: oral communication (eikaiwa, speaking classes) reading writing, TOEIC, cross-cultural communication, debate classes, drama. Many involve English but dont always involve teaching the language but teach a class through English as a medium of instruction. I have taught students how to study for the TOEIC test for example.
Some foreign teachers with Japanese fluency and knowlegable about specialist topics teach their classes IN Japanese, e.g. CALL, Language lab, philosophy, Literature. |
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sumyunguy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
Posts: 20
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| Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 1:35 am Post subject: RE |
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Just to repond to Paul H on one point, albeit a couple years later-- I found 3 months to be enough time to make a meaningful impact on students; it just depends how much energy you bring, and how good you are at connecting with students on a personal level.
More thoughts on Westgate generally: I think it's a pretty well run company on the whole, lots of pleasant staffers, and organized in terms of what you're to do, and what they expect of you. The repetitiousness of the lesson bothered me at first, but I got used to it. As another poster said, it does allow you to tweak and find ways of improving it throughout the day. Don't look to travel much during the term though--certainly outside of Japan is discouraged; I suppose they're worried about you getting into some kind of trouble, or maybe taking a job elsewhere, who knows. There's not much time for travel anyway. Better to try to enjoy the are you're in. You'll have some say on this, and I've even heard of people insisting on specific spots and getting their way, but generally you give preferences and they make the decision. Most likely it will be in the greater Tokyo area, since that's where most of their contracted Universities are. One other thing: expect a bit of a commute. You're likely to live in a different town than you teach, or a different district, if it's a major city. My commute was about an hour, door to door, and involved both train and bus. I didn't really mind it, but it did make me wonder why I coudn't just be in the town I was teaching. I suppose they have certain contracts with certain apartments, and they stick with them even as the University contracts shift around. They pay the train and bus fares, though, so, again, an hour to read a book or finish a lesson isn't bad (I have heard commutes range up to 90 minutes, though). All in all, I recommend the company; even if you won't love everything about it, from what I gather it's one of the better options out there, and 3 months is a nice low-stress committment. |
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