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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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 Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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| jjprine wrote: |
| A note on Glenski's article: Forgive my ignorance, but the issues discussed don't seem like very big disparities that would be difficult to overcome. I don't mean to sound condescending, but if a teacher cannot handle such seemingly small differences with management, how is said teacher able to understand and communicate quality lessons to the students? Or am I underestimating how difficult it can be to deal with management? |
I haven't read/reread that article in a while, so here goes.
Eikaiwa management for the most part tends to have the attitude that they know what the students want. Unfortunately, many/most eikaiwa managers are not even teachers. They are (trying to be) businessmen first and foremost. So, in many cases they window-dress the material (courses and teachers) to attract customers (students), and do other things that just don't fit a pedagogy.
Ex.
I was told to do level checks on potential students, then recommend the course they were to take. That was overridden by the OL staff often just because the customer wanted to be in a certain classroom, whether because they thought the teacher was attractive or they had a friend who was chosen to be there.
Ex.
One student might complain about something in a class, yet the staff would go to the teacher later and say "we have had complaints (plural) about X". Only with careful finagling would the teacher finally discover the truth.
Management here operates like much of Japan -- the higher-up is in authority, so it must always be right, and don't argue about it. Moreover, many foreigners are too direct on their complaining, simply because of their own cultural upbringing, so even a genuine effort to change a real problem is seen as b!tching, and that rubs the higher-ups wrong. Even though this is partially a fault of the teacher (something they should learn how to deal with culturally), the fact remains that many eikaiwa have had foreigners working with them for a long time and should learn to adjust, too. |
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NorthofAmerica
Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 187
Location: Recovering Expat
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| Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:47 am Post subject: |
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Thanks a lot jjprine!!
Still a lot of thinking to do but it looks like I will be in China by the end of the year! |
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isukifabs
Joined: 17 Dec 2007
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I haven't been following my own thread for quite some time but I'm happy people are responding to it with useful info. I'm also happy some of you were entertained. After reading the opinions on Japan, it sounds like a lot of the same downfalls happen over there. I didn't hear anything that got me too excited to move to Japan. Bummer, I was pretty pumped but I think if I packed up and left I'd plunge into the deep and again. Whether you're in Japan or China we can agree on one thing...it sucks always being cold. No insulation. No central heat. For those of you thinking about leaving Japan for China...I think you'll be pleased with some things but be shocked by others. A lot of the disorder and complications can be humorous at times but other times you might get tired of it. One thing is for sure though...China is cheap and I think those of you that come from Japan will get an appreciation for that real fast. If I have anymore questions I know where to turn. Until then, I'll keep trying to find that perfect place to live. |
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