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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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 Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:04 am Post subject: |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:11 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| That interview is 8 years old and IMO really doesn't say anything new, even back then. I don't see how you got "progressive" out of it. |
The small classes are way better than most Japanese uni's and stuff from the interview like:
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| One thing we agreed on was to consider English language education holistically, integrating all levels of teaching. At present, English is taught at different levels, at high schools and colleges, without any effort to give it coherence and continuity. In other words, people in the ELT field are doing what they feel is the right thing, but there is as yet any effort to review the whole picture in terms of cohesion, which is counterproductive and would not produce tangible results. |
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| if a foreign person is hired just because he or she is a native speaker without any training in teaching languages and without any understanding of their students and their culture, the teaching often ends in frustration and disappointment on both sides, which is unfortunate. |
show at least an attempt to engage in the needs of the learner and confront some of the problems of Japanese English education, certainly more so than a lot of the language programs I've encountered.
Unfortunately they don't yet seem to have realised that if you want to attract experienced, well-quaified staff you'll have to give more incentive than an eikaiwa salary (almost) and six day a week timetable. The idea of a supervisor doesn't bother me as I think being able to feedback about what you're doing in a potentially culturally sensitive situation is a good idea. It all depends on how that system's integrated though.
Looks to me like the set-up's pretty good for the students and not so good for the teachers. Classes of 8 is fantastic but obviously you'll need more teachers, meaning lower salaries. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 10:11 pm Post subject: |
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| womblingfree wrote: |
| Unfortunately they don't yet seem to have realised that if you want to attract experienced, well-quaified staff you'll have to give more incentive than an eikaiwa salary (almost) and six day a week timetable. |
Agreed.
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| The idea of a supervisor doesn't bother me as I think being able to feedback about what you're doing in a potentially culturally sensitive situation is a good idea. It all depends on how that system's integrated though. |
Also agreed on this caveat. Who can say how much they will micro-manage their teachers or how much paperwork is involved in those daily and weekly reports? |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:57 am Post subject: |
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At one time I did briefly consider applying for the Rikkyo post, but then decided against it. For the time being I feel that it is in my best interest to remain a JET ALT in Shizuoka. In the meantime I can use the time and space that JET allows me to attempt to bolster my credentials in other ways, i.e., presenting at JALT, getting published, etc.
I wouldn't be willing to teach 14 ninety minute classes a week. That's quite a load, and like the prescribed six day work week, also not the norm, true?
Regards,
fat_chris |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:38 am Post subject: |
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Maybe they're relying on dispatch company salaries, especially in the public sector, dropping and envisaging university work eventually going for the rate that high schools were / are, and the salaries of high school ALTs going for less than that.
In other words, totally ignoring that foreigners can and will just go to a different country.
In jobs where conditions such as benefits are lower than they are elsewhere, it's not unusual for the school / company to try to micromanage the teachers, in an attempt to use their 'authority' to scare them into not breaking their contract and going someplace else. This is something that often works well with Japanese staff, but is more likely than not to result in a greater chance of the foreign teacher just leaving. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 5:35 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe they're relying on dispatch company salaries, especially in the public sector, dropping and envisaging university work eventually going for the rate that high schools were / are, and the salaries of high school ALTs going for less than that. |
It wouldn't surprise me. I even worry as I get more experience, as some of the unis seem to want to keep salaries to be lower, by making schedules for part-timers more unmanagable for high koma days. I have a few lower level classes now only available periods 1 and 2, even though the unis usually know this means that teachers will have a harder time getting fuller schedules for those days.
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| In other words, totally ignoring that foreigners can and will just go to a different country. |
Well, yes and no. The few jobs I have seen that were avaiable in the US are often a) part-time or b) low salary fullt tme positions. So I could leave and a) take part-time posts at higher pay with no paid vacations (so actually the net pay is lower than Japan) or b) take a full time post at a much lower salary, but with better job security. I have seen a few better paying jobs advertised, but they are of course highly sought and extremely tough to even get interviews to.
So at the moment, until I get a better idea of get lucky, I will stay here and battle it out for more koma. Of course, with the current yen to dollar exchange rate, it's highly attractive to stay here as well. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 5:49 am Post subject: |
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I meant people would go to other non-English language countries more than back to an 'inner-circle' country. ESL environments always have a different level of competition than EFL environments.
As it is now, I know a Japanese woman who regularly publishes in her field, is well known etc and she works at high schools now only supplementing that at universities (and only when she needs to). |
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Shimokitazawa
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Posts: 458
Location: Saigon, Vietnam
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| Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 12:29 am Post subject: |
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This is a very bad place to work.
The President of the university appointed his friend from the Banking industry, and who only holds a B.A. in Finance, as the head of the English and Foreign Language Dept. 100% student enrollment rate, located in the middle of the jungle and has a two-tiered system of pay and benefits - one for locals and one for foreign instructors. Guess who gets paid 2 or 3 million Yen a year less but has to be equally qualified! aha!!
Nagoya University of Commerce and Business
Nagoya University of Commerce and Business is a perfect example of a university that is a university in name only. |
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cafebleu
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 404
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| Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:25 am Post subject: |
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See my post in the dispatch thread - I mistakenly put it there. A backwater provincial university is asking somebody to teach classes of 50 students, no health insurance/pension, probably no housing and has to have TESOL up - all for 3 million yen salary a year.  |
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cafebleu
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
Posts: 404
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| Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:27 am Post subject: |
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| cafebleu wrote: |
| See my post in the dispatch thread - I mistakenly put it there. A backwater provincial university is asking somebody to teach classes of up to 50 students, no health insurance/pension, probably no housing and has to have TESOL up - all for 3 million yen salary a year. |
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ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| cafebleu wrote: |
| cafebleu wrote: |
| See my post in the dispatch thread - I mistakenly put it there. A backwater provincial university is asking somebody to teach classes of up to 50 students, no health insurance/pension, probably no housing and has to have TESOL up - all for 3 million yen salary a year. |
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Well if we're going to keep the discussion in the relevant thread, then why not copy/paste the info over. Oh wait, I'll just do it for you. :p
| cafebleu wrote: |
I saw an ad for teachers with qualifications (at least TESOL) to work at a university in a prefecture not noted for its vibrancy, night life, social capital or population.
Teachers are expected to teach classes of UP TO 50 STUDENTS. Of course you get no health insurance/pension coverage paid by the University in question. The salary mentioned is 3million per year.
Nothing was mentioned about accommodation and there doesn't seem to be a housing allowance. I know people are desperate to work at unis but come on, are you that hard up?
Can you guess the University I am talking about? It's nowhere near Tokyo but in a relative backwater of a province.
The ad was a direct hire - no dispatch company. But it still is damned exploitative. |
By the way, I can't be bothered scouring the internet for this job posting. I'd like to see the actual terms and conditions for myself. Can you just tell us the name of the uni or at least link the job ad? |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Also agreed on this caveat. Who can say how much they will micro-manage their teachers or how much paperwork is involved in those daily and weekly reports? |
This applies to just about any English instructor job. I've never been maicro-managed, overloaded with paperwork and harrassed as much as when working for a community college in London. It's really down to the management skills (or lack) of your line-manager. |
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Shimokitazawa
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Posts: 458
Location: Saigon, Vietnam
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| Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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| cafebleu wrote: |
I saw an ad for teachers with qualifications (at least TESOL) to work at a university in a prefecture not noted for its vibrancy, night life, social capital or population.
Teachers are expected to teach classes of UP TO 50 STUDENTS. Of course you get no health insurance/pension coverage paid by the University in question. The salary mentioned is 3million per year. |
Amazing. I bet the person that gets hired there will be working along side full-time foreign faculty there making 8 million to 11 million yen a year and teaching the exact same classes.
That's shameful. |
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