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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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 Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Sheep-Goats wrote: |
| But if the work, pay and especially benefits themselves are good, I would be satisfied with a much more "grunt-level" teaching posistion -- which, if it was at a university (in Americanese that means at least 18 to 22 year olds pursuing a BA), would never be considered "grunt-level" even in my mind of minds. |
I can only speak for myself, but these are some of the perks I enjoy:
10-12 classes a week
teach about 30 weeks of the year, not really required to be on campus except for scheduled classes and a weekly meeting.
shared office with Internet
research and travel allowance (can use to attend overseas conferences)
photocopying and computer lab facilities
opportunity to publish in a wide range of journals
Can get free textbooks and teaching resources for use in class. Dont remember the last time I paid for a book or CD.
Yearly bonuses
pension and health insurance partially paid for.
Downsides:
3 year job contracts which means you are looking for a job as soon as you start, or at the beginning of your 3rd year.
Job insecurity. having to re-oreint yourself to a new school every 2-3 years.
Large classes of varying levels or ability and motivation. My EFL classes now have 40-50 students, including reading classes.
Not easily transferable job opportunities out of Japan (though there are some if you look and have a phD and experience) . Gilded birdcage, you might say.
Stiff competition for jobs
Lack of available places to work. Less than a dozen full time positions being offered in my area last Christmas, which meant possibility of relocation outside immediate area.
Sometimes you dont get much say in what texts are used, and in some schools, lessons are planned down to the minute by the higher ups.
Depending on your school, a lack of interest by Japanese colleagues in your speciality or areas of interest. Lack of feedback or support for your pet projects. Getting Phds etc is discouraged. |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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Sheep-goats,
I'm not sure what your impression of university teaching is like in Japan, but I think you have the wrong idea. This is not something I'd strive for years for. Yes, the perks are good as Paul alluded too, but the teaching here is disappointing. You teach and then you go home, there is little rewarding about it. If you try to change the way things operate, you're up against thousands of years of history. I'm not saying you can't get a uni job here, but it takes a long time and frankly, I doubt it is worth it. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Dont want to cry in my beer or feel sorry for myself here, but I spent a good part of $20,000 on a Masters degree, am sinking about UK STG14,000 on another graduate degree, and my salary still got cut this year about 45% when I involuntarily changed jobs.( Shoved out more like it- I was on a good wicket before but have now experienced a 'market correction'). You have to consider whether the time, expense and energy spent in getting pieces of paper just so can get your foot in the door here as an EFl teacher, and you are still treated like temporary hired help with no real hope of getting in someone on a semi permanent basis (sukketo is the b@stard term for such people) for 2-3 years at the most, is really worth it. |
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sidjameson
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 629
Location: osaka
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 1:38 pm Post subject: |
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well I got to just balance it up and say that although some good points have been made I do think that teaching at a university level here is more than worth it. If you can accept the intellectual limitations of the teaching of English and come to think of it the intellectual limitations of your students as well then there is a very nice lifestyle to be had. Where else without selling your soul to the coporate devil can you make at least $45000 a year in an almost stress free enviroment and get nearly half the year off as holidays? not to mention that you can be home by 4.
If Einstein were alive today he wouldn't be working in a library to fund his intellectual past times he would be teaching English at a university. (might have got things a bit mixed up here  )
This is my last year in Japan (probably ) as I just have a desire to try newer pastures but I can't help thinking that I will never have it anywhere near as good as this again.
Might become an alcoholic whoring retiree in Thailand |
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sidjameson
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 629
Location: osaka
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Hi PaulH. What kind of degree costs 14k? Just curious? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 1:53 pm Post subject: |
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| sidjameson wrote: |
| Hi PaulH. What kind of degree costs 14k? Just curious? |
Thats 14,000 British pounds, not dollars, and its a PhD in Applied Linguistics by distance learning. Top shelf school, too.
http://www.bham.ac.uk |
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Smooth Operator
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 140
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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Paul has covered most points already, but let me say that if you find a university that doesn't dictate what you teach then it can be very rewarding, and not just financially.
For myself, I teach full-time here (5 year limit on contracts though  ) but I have the freedom to teach an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) programme which focuses on the students' major subject. I DON'T have an MA in TESOL or Linguistics, but an MA in the same subject as the name of my university department. Hence, I am a specialist, and I was lucky to find my present job. However, I'm not the only one in Japan doing that. An MA in TESOL/Linguistics is the �lowest common denominator� in that it opens the most doors but also makes you little different from all your competitors. Specialising in something marketable MIGHT be another path to follow.
By the way, a piece of advice, if I may be so bold. You mentioned a few times your writing abilities. Reading your posts I am sorry to say they are not so apparent. I don�t want to criticise but modesty, or at least the appearance of it, is an important attribute in Japan�
Anyway, time is on your side. When I was 24 I was bumming around SE Asia for months on end not thinking about my future�  |
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Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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You've all made some good points here. I think what the worst part about university teaching in Japan is that jobs are not permanent. Of course nothing in this world is, but when employers force you to leave after 3-5 years, it doesn't make for a very secure environment. As Paul mentioned, who wants to leave a cushy job after 3 years? I happen to be very fortunate for some great reason, my university doesn't limit the number of years a professor can work for them. I can stay as long as I want, as long as I don't screw up or the uni folds (not a rare occurence in Japan).
I also want to second what Smooth Operator said, it can't hurt to be a little more modest. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 12:32 am Post subject: |
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| Sheep-Goats wrote: |
First, the math tells me that I'm 24 right now, and that tells me that by all rights I ought to not know my ultimate goal just yet. So let me explain my current goals, and the reasons I'm looking closely at Japan.
I'm interested in writing. If I could chisel out enough for a shoebox and food in a city of any passing level of interest (so, say, Austin might make the cut but Iowa City isn't going to cut it) I would do that. But right now I'm mostly interested in poetry, and for getting employed at a university teaching that you can take most of your Japan-teaching requirements and quadruple them. The only universtiy I know of that employs and of the poets I've read is Temple, and you have to be a gigas to get that posistion.
Not a helluva lot of demand for poets and writers in japanese universities though there are many Japanese professors wo teach literature including poetry. Foreigners here are employed to teach the spoken and communicative forms of the language, and such things as TOEIC, TOEFL and CALL. This year I am teaching a comparative cultures course- how to homestay in the US without them getting shot or beaten up for cultural faux pas. Temple has a campus here and all their teachers have phDs and d.eds, many are former graduates of the Temple schools in japan
So why not teach poetry at the community college level somewhere in America (the obvious answer), or just work as a taxi driver (big money) or security guard (you can often write on the job) or something? Well, there are many reasons for this. I've known plenty of community college teachers, I've worked as a security guard, and I have a friend who has driven a taxi.
The problem with all of these lies in the old parable about (generally a Mexican, for some reason) fisherman. You know, the one who was content with his simple fishing life until someone told him how if he worked hard he could make more money -- and now he works hard and makes more money but has a bad life. And the lesson is just work a little bit and live well. The problem with the parable, though, is that the fisherman probably had a wife, and some kids, and one day his kid probably got sick or got a fishook in his eye or something, and now the problems with working just to satitate current needs become almost lewdly apparent.
Not sure what any of this has to do with getting a teaching job here, except that you dont want to be a taxi driver and getting an education or teaching at a university makes you feel like you are worth something. I have a wife who doesnt work and two kids. If I dont work we dont eat and my two kids dont go to school. there is no higher meaning involved. When you work you get a salry to pay the bills. Monthly expenses for me are about 400,000 yen a month. No other place Im going to get it from.
The truth is that I need to secure a backup set of bulletproof employability in some field, and that while my current job in Thailand is quite a good one,
Well my bulletproof job has a 3 year lifespan on it, 2 if you count the last year you spend looking for jobs. Foreigners jobs here have a built in obsolescence
I only make 1000 USD a month doing it, and if I meet some Thai girl and have a kid then that's not going to be enough. And that means I'll have to start really working at the level I'm currently qualified at, and that means the Korean death mill (probably), and that means I can just forget about poetry for about 20 years, until the kid is well and fully grown.
You are going to find it tough where ever you are. I have a wife | | | |
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