Job Discussion Forums

[Yawarakaijin]

I just wanted to throw out a question to the general English language teaching public out there.

In your opinion, why is the EFL model in Japan so different from that back home?

In most Laguage schools in North America a group of students, usually between 8-10 is put into a classroom and a lesson is taught. Usually a textbook is followed or the teacher may have a grammar point he wishes the class to study. The teacher talks, ideally as little as possible, and the students are left to practice the language point among themselves with guidance and corrrection from the teacher. Now for this set up the students usually pay a premium. Usually around $300-400 a month.

Switch over to Japan. It seems just about the only option Japanese seem to have is pay through the nose private classes or find a private teacher desperate enough to teach for 1,500 yen/hour. These are obviously generalizations but from seeing what is on offer from most Japanese companies and having turned down countless ridiculous offers for private lessons, it seems to be the standard.

I can already predict the answer that is going to come from most posters. "Well you know, the Japanese are like that. They prefer to study alone and are afraid to make mistakes in front of others."

My question is, do you think this really still holds true? For the most part, almost all of my old Japanese students that I am still in touch with go on and on about how much they miss their language school back in Canada. How classes were lively and fun.

I don't want to go into too much detail but lately I have been wondering if now isn't a good time to try and break the established rules for language teaching in Japan.

Imagine having only 3 classes a day, each with 8 students at 1.5 hours per class. This gives a student total of 120 ( for your imaginary school )if you were to be open 5 days per week. Lets us say you charged only 4,000 yen for one month ( 1 class per week ) Granted, that total student number is high but I believe that number would be managable by a single teacher because class sizes would be "high".

That formula alone would work out to 480,000 yen per month. At that rate students would be paying only 666 yen per hour of study.

Is this kind of deal simply unimaginable to a Japanese student merely because they would be studying in a class and not alone? Would it be impossible to sell that kind of English language learning set-up in Japan?

Is there something in the Japanese DNA that categorically rules out speaking/studying a foreign language in the presense of another Japanese while being inside Japan?

[ShioriEigoKyoushi]

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[markle]

[markle]

[ShioriEigoKyoushi]

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[kinshachi]

To answer your first question, Yawarakaijin, I believe the main reason is time constraints. Overseas, most schools teach students who have the time and money to study full-time. In Japan, most people have busy lives and find it hard to find more than a few hours a week to go to classes. In terms of business, it is much easier and cheaper to fill a classroom with the same 8-10 students for 20 to 30 hours a week than it is to rustle up 120 students to fill all those time slots. On top of that, unless you want to double your hours, you'll need someone else full-time to advertise, check levels, arrange classes, handle problems, etc., which means cutting your salary in half or doubling your fee. Is this sounding familiar yet?

As a matter of fact, the overseas model has been done in Japan (and possibly is still being done somewhere - I wish I knew where!). Before it went bankrupt, my old school ELS made its bread and butter offering full-time intensive classes. One of the reasons it failed is that it was difficult to find enough students with the time and commitment to study 30 hours a week and pay the exorbitant fee (300,000 per month!), especially in the middle of a recession. The main reason it failed, however, was gross mismanagement and ineffective advertising. Nevertheless, it proves the model can work, perhaps just with a better business plan.

As with overseas, the students in general enjoyed their classes, made real progress and have great memories of their time at the school. The legendary Japanese shyness was not a limiting factor. In my experience, the vast majority of students get over it by the first day or two, although there are always exceptions. In general, after spending enough time in the same class talking together, the students relax, open up and even make friends. An hour or two a week, especially in a group where the students are constantly changing and everyone has to repeatedly reevaluate their relative status, just isn't enough to get there.

So, to go back to the original question, the main reason EFL is so different from back home (and yes, I know this is a gross generalisation) is that Japan is a country of workaholics with little real need for and thus commitment to learning English, and schools cater to their convenience.