Job Discussion Forums

[robertokun]

Hi

I was just curious how many people here have made the transition from teaching eikaiwa in Japan to teaching public school back in their home county. After college I took a year and did the eikaiwa thing in Japan with Nova in Fukuoka. Then I went home and became a licensed teacher in the US. I taught high school for a year in Chicago and now I'm teaching middle school at an international school in Mexico.

While receiving daily abuse at the hands of the spoiled kids of the elite class, devoting at least half of my time to discipline issues, trying to create lessons that are dynamic, meet everyone�s needs, use technology, etc. and grading work that the children put little or no effort into, I think back to my eikaiwa days, when I was teaching English conversation to polite, motivated students in Japan. It was a walk in the park compared to my life now.

I know no one likes a bitter rant, but if anyone else out there wants to share their thoughts on the transition from eikaiwa to public school teaching or any other related circumstance, it might be nice to hear some stories while I grind away over here.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

[fluffyhamster]

Agree with GBBB. Robertokun, you might find it interesting to compare your current situation with what I experienced in a Japanese private high school (thread is called 'Was I a whinger?'). Now I know that eikaiwa work isn't quite as bad, but it also sometimes isn't quite such a walk in the park either! (I'll try and dig up some links to a few of my eikaiwa "horror" stories if it'll make you feel any better LOL).

Actually, come to think of it, I've had pretty crap employers in almost every one of my TEFL jobs, but that's never stopped me from enjoying the actual teaching and trying to make lessons enjoyable, even when the students seem(ed*) to hate me almost as much as the English language itself.


*If 99% of the students really do appear to have it in for the teacher, and no change seems likely, then one might just have to consider changing jobs pronto!

[Glenski]

It's just my guess but if someone has made the switch to public schools in their home country, they are not likely to be reading the Japan forums anymore. Perhaps addressing this question to a native English speaking country's forum would produce more results.

[fluffyhamster]

Glenski, the guy is nostalgic for the good times he had in Japan, even though being a licensed (and now international school) teacher is probably a better-paid and more secure job - indulge him. But if there really are genuine/serious problems looming in that job, then yes, like you say, a different sort of forum might be a better, um, forum.

[robertokun]

Good point, guys. 'Was just blowing off some steam.

I like to check in here from time to time, though. It's interesting to see what's going on in the industry in different places I've been and might want to go again, and to hear some sometimes interesting/funny stories.

For example, reading the Nova debacle posts was kind of entertaining since that was who I worked for during my time there. I could see things going in that direction before I left in the middle of '06.

[Glenski]

I've reread the OP and still don't get it. You asked about who has made the transition (even stated it twice) to homeland schools. That seemed to be the one and only point in the article.

I saw no real rant (which is a surprise for anyone in eikaiwa, I guess!), but whatever.

I just thought you wanted "life support" for your relocated career. Sigh.

[johanne]

If you are interested in teaching Japanese students, you can try and teach in international schools here. The pay will be twice what a starting eikawa teachers gets and the students are very nice. Although I teach elementary school, the middle and high school kids at my international school seem very nice. They are polite and according to the teachers, easy students to work with. Most are motivated and there are very few behaviour issues at our school. From what I've heard from teachers at other international schools in Japan, this is pretty typical.

Many of our students have at least one Japanese parent, while the others come from different countries in Asia, North America and Europe. There are not a lot of "spoiled kids from the elite". Most of the non-Japanese kids are in families where their fathers, generally speaking, work for multi-national corporations and are then sent to various 2-5 postings. Their kids are often friendly and open to new ideas and cultures. The bi-cultural kids are very similar.

Anyway, if your post is more than just a rant and you are looking to return to Japan, it's worth thinking about.

I also went from teaching ESL in Japan to teaching public school in my own country and then returning to teach in an international school here because of family reasons. To be honest, I would never go back to teaching ESL because it doesn't give me the variety or close connection to my students that being an elementary homeroom teacher does. I spend 5 hours a day with the same group of 20 kids for a year, teaching them most of their subjects and really getting to see them grow, academically and socially. For me, nothing beats that. Of course, everyone is different and I could see that for some people ESL is a better fit.

I hope you end up doing what you enjoy, otherwise teaching can be a very tough profession.

[fluffyhamster]

This might be of interest:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=47861

[robertokun]

Thanks for the info and link.