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skarp
Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 50
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 Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 4:10 pm Post subject: How to be happy in Japan? |
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I'm asking for a prescription for a happy life in Japan...
How to juggle the conflicting priorities successfully?
Basically - if you are happy in Japan, how have you managed it?
My priorities (in order) are:-
Job satisfaction - I need to be teaching well and for this to be recognised and rewarded.
Adequate money - I'm not a total bread head but I do need to make some money.
Free time. - I don't wanna work so many hours I can't enjoy Japan.
Environment - I wanna live somewhere pleasant - which probably rules out Tokyo long term.
I am not likely to be impressed by nightlife or 'the dating scene', though I'm open to the benefits a committed relationship could bring.
I'm thinking if I can get a better Eikaiwa job in a smaller Eikaiwa then that might fit the bill.
Are there jobs like 'senior teacher' responsible for training and assessment of teachers? What's it like being the DOS of an Eikaiwa?
I may be able to fund an MA and apply for University Jobs. Money and hours seem good but is the teaching rewarding?
I am not likely to be impressed by nightlife or 'the dating scene', though I'm open to the benefits a committed relationship could bring. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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| if you are happy in Japan, how have you managed it? |
How many fish are there in the sea? There is no formula for happiness.
However, I recommend coming with an open mind, not imposing western values on what you see and experience here, learning some Japanese before and after you come, learning something about the culture (daily life and business life) before and after you come, and keeping a lifeline back home with friends and family. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2004 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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This is only my personal opinion, but working in an eikaiwa there is something of a glass ceiling, beyond which its difficult to make headway in your personal and professional development. You could do a Masters or a CELTA but you would find your income and job responsibilities flatten out, and very rarely are your rewarded or recognised for your efforts.
Eikaiwa teachers in generally suffer burnout after a few years and either start looking at improving their skills, getting better paying jobs or with increased responsibilities. This is usually found teaching in a high school, university or some other institution.I dont know much about being a DOS t a language school, but my guess is you become a lightning rod for all the complaints that teachers have about a company, and end up defending the school who pays your salary, rather than for the teachers who may feel aggrieved. you may be seen as the 'bad guy' that teaches focus their grips on when things go wrong.
Money is obviously better at universities (but not by much these days) but I think most university teachers have a lot more personal job satisfaction- the salary is usually enough that you can support a family and a lifestyle on too. |
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guest of Japan
Joined: 28 Feb 2003
Posts: 1601
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 12:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Job satisfaction - I need to be teaching well and for this to be recognised and rewarded.
Adequate money - I'm not a total bread head but I do need to make some money.
Free time. - I don't wanna work so many hours I can't enjoy Japan.
Environment - I wanna live somewhere pleasant - which probably rules out Tokyo long term |
Job Satisfaction - It is unlikely that your good work will be recognized and rewarded. Most employers feel that it is your responsiblity to do a good job. Your reward is having a job. If you wish to be happy, then come to terms with this phenomenon.
Free time - Don't teach in an eikaiwa if you want free time.
Environment - Japan is crowded with ugly cities. Find little nooks that give you happiness.
Money - An eikaiwa job will pay you enough to enjoy single life. You can't base a future on it. |
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Sweetsee
Joined: 11 Jun 2004
Posts: 2302
Location: ) is everything
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 3:25 am Post subject: reply |
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Be happy with you first.
Don't look for things they will find you. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:05 am Post subject: |
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[quote="guest of Japan"]
| Quote: |
Job satisfaction - I need to be teaching well and for this to be recognised and rewarded.
Adequate money - I'm not a total bread head but I do need to make some money.
you will make some money- not much but enough to live on. I wouldnt think youd be able to save much though as its a liveable wage and not much more.
Free time. - I don't wanna work so many hours I can't enjoy Japan.
If you want to come to Japan to enjoy it the best idea is to come as a tourist and see the sights. Working 40 hours a week your body will be here but there wont be much time except for sleep, a bit of socialising and R & R.
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Job Satisfaction - It is unlikely that your good work will be recognized and rewarded. Most employers feel that it is your responsiblity to do a good job. Your reward is having a job. If you wish to be happy, then come to terms with this phenomenon. Forget about being rewarded for your efforts. they are paying you to do a job and pay you what the market will bear and what they think you are worth. Get some more qualifications, develop some experience, leverage yourself into a better paying job. What you are paid depends on what you bring to the table and no more.
You can learn to teach well but dont expect your employer to show you how or give you time off to get certification, as they are paying you to be a warm body on a seat and they will give you the guidance and training so as you can know a little bit about what you are doing without appearing ignorant. You want to learn to teach -you will have to do it for yourself, on your own time. NOVA pays an extra $40 a month for having a Masters or a CELTA. thats how much they respect training and teaching ability. The desire to be a good teacher has to come from within you, not waiting for your employer to heap praise on you or pay you extra.
Free time - Don't teach in an eikaiwa if you want free time.
Full time work week is 40 hours on the job and 26 hours in front of students. Add in commuting, lunch breaks, overtime, working weekends and evenings and you could be working 50-60 hours a week over seven days. get a job that pays you more for less hours e.g. high school work.
Environment - Japan is crowded with ugly cities. Find little nooks that give you happiness.
Pleasant is in the eye of the beholder. Kamikochi, Karuizawa are nice places but there is not much work there. All Japanese cities are ugly, even Kyoto. Plenty of gems if you seek them out though.
Money - An eikaiwa job will pay you enough to enjoy single life. You can't base a future on it.
Ditto. Impossible to support a family or do much travel on an eikaiwa salary. Good for single guy/girl but if you have dependents you have to think about upgrading your skills and training. Expect to have about $600-700 a month left over after expenses for travel, medical bills, insurance etc
Gold rush to Japan ended in the early '90's. |
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AgentMulderUK
Joined: 22 Sep 2003
Posts: 360
Location: Concrete jungle (Tokyo)
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 9:08 am Post subject: |
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If you really love teaching as a first priority, then I would consider becoming a teacher in your home country. (Unless it's English you particularly wanted to teach, of course)
If you've got a degree, etc, you can probably make more money in your home country and have a more well-defined career path.
Just a thought. |
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easyasabc
Joined: 13 Jul 2003
Posts: 179
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 10:23 am Post subject: Re: How to be happy in Japan? |
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| skarp wrote: |
| Job satisfaction - I need to be teaching well and for this to be recognised and rewarded |
The fact that you put that at the top of your list of priorities looks like a problem to me. There are very few institutions in Japan that would even know what quality teaching is let alone recognise or reward it.
| Quote: |
| Adequate money - I'm not a total bread head but I do need to make some money. |
That's possible for a single person - in particular since you said that nightlife doesn't appeal to you so much so you wouldn't be spending lots on drinking expensive beers in bars here. Generally you're unlikely to make a fortune unless you get incredibly lucky but you'll live comfortably and save some.
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Free time. - I don't wanna work so many hours I can't enjoy Japan.
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I know it was said further up the thread that you'll work 40+ hours and travel time etc etc and won't have much time to enjoy Japan but ....
If you work for a smaller eikaiwa school outside of a really big city there's every chance that you won't work such hours. My first job here was in a small school where the maximum teaching hours was 25 (but we actually rarely did that many) and there were no extra office hours. The school was only 5-10 minutes from home so there was very little communting time. Finish time was 8:30 at the latest. If you work efficiently and know what you are doing you can plan classes for the whole week in advance so you aren't hanging around planning. I used to do all my planning for the following week in a long break between classes on Fridays. Then you have plenty of time to see stuff in Japan, have lunch with friends, take a Japanese lesson in the morning like I used to, go to the gym after work or generally hang out and do whatever you want.
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| Environment - I wanna live somewhere pleasant - which probably rules out Tokyo long term. |
Yes that does rule out Tokyo - I think all cities in Japan are pretty ugly but some are certainly more pleasant than others.
| Quote: |
I'm thinking if I can get a better Eikaiwa job in a smaller Eikaiwa then that might fit the bill.
Are there jobs like 'senior teacher' responsible for training and assessment of teachers? What's it like being the DOS of an Eikaiwa? |
As far as I know from my experience and could imagine from what I've heard I don't think many eikaiwa schools really have a senior teacher position and most of them don't train or assess teachers too much. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 11:09 am Post subject: Re: How to be happy in Japan? |
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| skarp wrote: |
I am not likely to be impressed by nightlife or 'the dating scene', though I'm open to the benefits a committed relationship could bring.
I'm thinking if I can get a better Eikaiwa job in a smaller Eikaiwa then that might fit the bill.
Lots of people talk about a 'better' job than the big 4 language schools but they dont define what is better about the positions they are looking for or what is important to them. You may one or several of the above at a language school, but not ALL of them. Take your pick.
Better pay
Better holidays
Better level/quality of students
Better work location
Better holidays
Better relations with your immediate boss of superior
Better textbooks or curriculum
Better commuting
better work hours
Better chance to socialise with students outside of work.
Are there jobs like 'senior teacher' responsible for training and assessment of teachers? What's it like being the DOS of an Eikaiwa?
No idea what a DOS (Director of Studies?) does but it sounds like a head teacher. Again it comes down to things like your own experience, your aptitude for teaching and interest in your job and where you work/your interest in your teaching materials. Your level of satisfaction with your job. If you feel you are not paid enough for what you are asked to do it will be hard to convey that enthusiasm to others. You might have an MA in TESOL but use very little of it or are significantly underappreciated. Would you know how to teach "language teaching" to others who have never done it before? Do you know the different language teaching methods and the effectiveness of each one? Or do you just teach "to the textbook" and whatever your boss tells you what to use so you can bring in more teachers and students? Bums on seats is the name of the game, and good teaching often gets lost in the shuffle (and it may take up to a year for a teacher to feel comfortable in his teaching skin before he moves on- a year too late for most language school owners [/b]
I may be able to fund an MA and apply for University Jobs. Money and hours seem good but is the teaching rewarding?
see my post above, but i would add that for me, the salary and long vacations make uni teaching a little more bearable, though the text and materials doesnt differ that much from an eikaiwa. I have classes where students walk in half an hour late,send email under the desk, sleep in class and some just simply do not even try.
Fortunately with university teaching there are other areas you can get into, a wide variety of disciplines teaching reading, writing, TOEIC, CALL, teaching culture to name a few). Opportunities to publish and do research on topics of interest to you and not just churning out classes. Meet with like-minded, mature disciplined educated and professional people not just interested in jumping in the sack with students or waiting for bar night at Gaspanic.
Its rewarding when you can make a difference in students lives (I helped a couple last week with an inter-college speech contest and they got first and second place).
I am not likely to be impressed by nightlife or 'the dating scene', though I'm open to the benefits a committed relationship could bring.
a committed relationship can mean you spending the rest of your life here, even raising bilingual kids. Are you ready for that?
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:50 pm Post subject: |
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Skarp
the people above have advised you well but I fear it will not sink in. I already advised you on another thread you started that getting an MA and being DOS of an eikaiwa are, by and large, mutually exclusive goals. I know this, as I said there, from experience.
I was happy in Japan for about four years of the 6 I was there. I got my MA at the end of that 4th year and it all went downhill from there. I outgrew the eikaiwa scene and, as I also want recognition and reward as well as results for my teaching input, knew that neither the high school nor university scenes would cut it for me (great for those it does - I"m only speaking for myself).
You sound very similar to me. If I were you, I would choose between being a happy teacher or being a happy employee in Japan and go from there. I really don't think that, long-term, many people can do both. |
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kiracle
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Gifu, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:44 am Post subject: |
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I'm happy at my eikaiwa job because I know its temporary and I enjoy it for now. If teaching was my passion (or I had invested a lot of time, money and energy into a Master's) I would not be able to stay here long.
Generally, leaving my preconceptions at home and becoming very skilled at enjoying the small things and not sweating the big unchangeable one has made me happy.
If you come for the money or a great career or natural beauty you will be dissappointed. At least, I think so. |
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azarashi sushi
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 562
Location: Shinjuku
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 4:44 am Post subject: |
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Hi Skarp...
I think everyone has answered this question very well and I don't have much more to add... just to echo that if job satisfaction is you're main priority then you would be better off looking for a job in your home country.
I've read some of your threads but have forgotten the details... Have you been teaching for long (or at all)? Have you been to Japan before?
One thing I think is very important is to come to Japan with absolutely no preconceived notions or ideas about how teaching or the country itself will be like. If you do, you are only setting yourself up for disappointment. Come with a completely open mind, see how it is here and then take it from there.
I think in the short term it's fairly easy to be happy in Japan. The novelty factor of just being in a new place helps to smooth out the little lumps and bumps along the way... and even an unsatisfying job.
After a while, when the novelty factor fades you're stuck with reality... Unmotivated students and pretty low quality of life.
Recently I've been feeling a little jaded (you can probably tell) and am starting to think that it's time to move on. Teaching aside, to survive here long term, you really need to be deeply, deeply interested in the culture. Again, I don't know what your background is or how much you know about Japan... But you may not find the culture so appealing. I know I don't. |
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shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:06 am Post subject: |
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| kiracle wrote: |
If you come for... natural beauty you will be dissappointed. At least, I think so. |
I beg to differ here and would really encourage you to get out to some places. I have been blown away by some scenery in Japan. You have to search for it I admit but that kind of makes the stuff that is beautiful all the more so. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:40 am Post subject: |
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| kiracle wrote: |
I'm happy at my eikaiwa job because I know its temporary and I enjoy it for now. If teaching was my passion (or I had invested a lot of time, money and energy into a Master's) I would not be able to stay here long.
If you come for the money or a great career or natural beauty you will be dissappointed. At least, I think so. |
Just my opinion, but its because you dont have a Masters or developed teaching skills you dont make much money (relatively speaking) or much of a teaching career (i.e. something you'd still be doing 10 years from now). Working at an eikaiwa is a JOB. Getting a Masters, developing skills and knowledge, as well as better paying jobs is what i call developing a career. There is great money in teaching if you know what you are doing and are suitably qualified and experienced. Long term job security is a problem though.
I will add there are beautiful places in japan off the beaten track. My guess is you have never left the city or found them out yet. |
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kiracle
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Gifu, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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What a good English teacher I am.  I obviously didn't make my points very well.
When I said if you come for natural beauty you will be disappointed I certainly didn't mean that beauty is not to be found. One of my greatest pleasures here has been finding it depsite the urban sprawl, cheap construction and ubiquitous power lines. I simply meant that very few people will have the pleasure of waking up everyday and living in a beautiful place. Despite the fact I should have known better, I thought beofer I came that by living in Japanese "countryside" I would be living someplace truly beautiful and fitting with my idea of country. I was pretty shocked. But now, I focus on the smaller things such as the beauty of new rice fields, the distant mountains, the hidden temples and the contanst parade of flowering plants and trees on my walk to work and I don't mind the rest.
PaulH- not sure if the "you" in your answer was directed at me or a general "you". I actually am a certified teacher (in the States) with a decent amount of teaching expereince in the States, Europe and now Japan. When I first started my eikaiwa job, I really rebelled against the feeling of not being respected as a real Teacher (which I absolutely consider myself). The reason I can be happy now is that I know that my students consider me a teacher and I know that real creative teaching and learning is happening in my classroom. I also have no plans to make a career out of teaching English in Japan for the long term although I'm content with it now.
If that's what the orginal poster can be happy with than he shouldn't invest in a Master's just to make more money once he gets here. If however his passion is for teaching and specifically teaching English as a Second or Foreign language, only then do I think that getting a Master's is worth the extra money and prestige he may or may not get once he lands a job in Japan.
Anyway, I was just putting in my two cents becuase I felt like talking about how I'm happy to be here. To each his own!
Cheers,
kiracle |
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