Job Discussion Forums

[SteveStevenson]

I've received interest from a small eikawa in Japan after posting my resume on the jobs board on this site. I'm wondering, since I have no experience with this kind of thing, what questions should I ask them? What should I expect from them in terms of a good contract, and how can I tell if they are less than desirable?

[SteveStevenson]

PS: Is anybody familiar with Morioka?

[Shonai Ben]

Morioka is a small city,for Japan anyway.It's cold and snowy in winter.Hot and not so humid in summer as Tokyo.
If you get bored in Morioka you can hop on a shinkansen and come to Sendai in about 2 hours.
The sake is good......

[tsunatuna]

I'd ask them about the following things:

Working days (always 2 consecutive days off)?
Working hours: do you get a lunch/dinner break? Are you allowed to leave the school during the break?
Do you get national holidays off?
What about paid vacation?
Paid sick leave?
What about the appartment arrangements? Do they help you or do you have to do EVERYTHING on your own?

[mimimimi]

I would also add the following:

1.) Are all the classes to be taught on site or are some off site?
2.) If there are off site classes, do they provide a company car?

Good luck!

[Glenski]

Steve,
What do you know so far? Kinda hard to help you pose questions blind.

Generally speaking, ask about --

a typical schedule, including classroom hours vs. other time, plus days of the week and time

assistance with housing (finding it, or is it already there waiting for you to move in, plus rent)

assistance with local transportation, and where the office is from whatever housing may be set up already

teaching format expected from them

Now, what you should EXPECT from them, is roughly this:

EXPECT a contract. Yes, some don't even offer that.
The contract must by law state your work hours and pay. It should also explain whatever you can get from health insurance copayments.

EXPECT to get copayments, but don't be surprised if they renege on it by claiming you are listed to the government only as part-time (despite any announcement in the job ad for being FT).

EXPECT a reasonable description of how much notice you need to give to resign. Anything over 30 days is silly, just because they only need to give YOU that much (or pay in lieu of).

EXPECT little more, but take all you can get.

[fluffyhamster]

Ask if they have a particular teaching method/materials. Some schools have homegrown and/or strange stuff that they'll honestly expect you to stick with no matter what. But if so, they'll probably impress that upon you without you needing to ask. But they might not (as I found out, much to my dismay, at least once). (Glenski kinda had this all covered though with 'Teaching format'). Ask also about their resources generally - a good school will have set/"fallback" textbooks, if not plenty of other/older textbooks and supplementary materials also.

You might also ask what sort of learners you'd likely be getting (again, 'schedule' might cover this, but...), and if the school has come to fully cater for them - for example, it could be tough if they've only recently (a few months before hiring you) started accepting young children and have few materials bought or developed for them yet (and/or you don't have quite that type of experience).

And obviously, find out as much as you can about them from web searches. Do they have a website? Is any of it in English (not a problem if you can read Japanese)? How long have they been around? Do they have any links with local businesses? Does there appear to be any sort of input from other foreign teachers (e.g. in the form of a newsletter)?

Finally, ask what the number of teacher or student deaths has been in the past year. If the teacher figure especially is anything other than zero, don't work there. (Just joking with this last bit of advice!).

[steki47]

Lots of good advice there so far. My two cents' worth:

Professional:
1. Training-how long? where? method?
2. Prep time-how much?
3. Schedule-how many classes a week/day?

Personal:
1. Housing-where? what's the rent?
2. Private lessons-ok? Dame?
3. Vacation time?
4. Insurance?

These are in particular order and are just off the top of my head. I was interviewing last month and went through the same thing. Good luck!

[Glenski]

Do NOT ask about private lessons! Be discreet if you want to do them. It's on your own time, anyway, but some employers will try to stop you, but (I repeat) it's on your own time!

[steki47]