Job Discussion Forums

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

The other day I was talking to an English teacher about his previous jobs. He is a freelancer just as I am, and he told me about a small conversation school he worked at some time ago.

The boss was nice, he said, but manipulative. Before his day`s schedule (the teachers were rostered one day a week), he had to go in about 2 hours early, not for lesson preparation, but to give his boss a conversation lesson. Unpaid. He finally quit because he felt uncomfortable at being used in this way. She was not in need of free lessons because of money - her husband was a professional earning a very good salary and of course they owned that school as well.

He said she didn`t mention anything at the interview to him about it, but when he was asked to come in earlier he assumed it was some kind of orientation. Instead she had a free lesson for about an hour and a half, sometimes it was one hour depending on her schedule.

I could not believe that! If it had been me, I would have asked to be paid for the boss` lesson and if she had acted dumb (he said she was not direct as is the Japanese way) I would have said sorry, this is only a part time job with no benefits so I cannot afford to give you my time for free. I know that is hard to do as the job market has been bad for about 3 years or more in Fukuoka.

Has anybody encountered this kind of scam - to put it bluntly it is, because this woman was getting a teacher`s valuable time for free - anywhere? This school is in Fukuoka Prefecture somewhere but I would be interested to know if anywhere else it is happening, and I`d love to know that school`s name!

BlueSky · Joined: 22 May 2004 Posts: 13 Location: FUKUOKA

I think I know this school. It sounds VERY similar to a school that my friend worked at in Fukuoka. I worked there for my friend a couple of times and the lady there is really nice and the school very well organised. She doesn't pay per hour but pays a monthly rate for working 4 days a month. I think that the owner studies English just one day a week (????) which happened to be the day that my friend worked there.

Usual hours were from about 1pm to 10.30pm and the pay wasn't bad (compared to other schools in Fukuoka). For working four days a month you would get paid 90,000yen (this compared to my old school where the part-timers would get paid just 10,000yen for a 9 hour day). Anyway - my friend had to come in at 11.30 I think to teach the owner. She never complained about it though - she was told about this in the interview.

I know one or two other people that worked there and most of them said it was a good place to work.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Have you mentioned this here before? If not, it's not the first time I've heard of this. The first person I heard about actually confronted their boss about it and point blank refused without being paid the going rate for it in addition to their salary. The lessons ended soon afterwards.

I'd refust immediately on grounds that it wasn't in my contract.

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Blue Sky - maybe it is the same school but the guy who told me about it didn`t tell me the name of the school. He did say something along the lines of what you are talking about re the schedule.

The schedule sounds good to me, too, but he said that students came on a `whim` basis - that is the teacher never knew who was going to turn up.

The fixed pay sounds good to me, but if you think about it, the guy had to hang around waiting for students so the school would not attract teachers in the first place if they were told - `You get paid exactly for the number of classes you teach, and by the way, we don`t know who is going to turn up to whichever class or if there is going to be a class.` So it`not as great as it seems.

He was not told at the interview he would have to teach her for free - and he said she was getting free lessons from other teachers on other days. Maybe it was different when your friend and yourself worked there. `A charming user` is how he described the woman.

I have to say I am on his side as I deplore the tendency of small eikaiwas to get as much out of their English teachers as possible while not compensating them - no matter how nice the owner appears to be. Easy to be nice when you`re getting the advantage of saving money at the expense of your workers who really need the job and therefore won`t complain.

I have a simple rule - I don`t work for such places.

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Blue Sky - forgot to also mention he said the working conditions were poor - a small room with no natural lighting and classes running on to each other with no break. Except a dinner break which he appreciated but he didn`t appreciate having not even a 5 minute break between classes til then.

Maybe I am older and wiser than some on this board but that school sounds like a typical, amateurish set up to be found in Japan, especially in Fukuoka! I wouldn`t touch it with a 600 ft bargepole! Don`t forget that exploitative bosses can afford to be nice in their manner - they are manipulating their teachers in a way that would not be acceptable in our home countries.

I am English and the idea of a person who owns a Japanese language school getting the native speakers to give them free lessons is just not on.

BlueSky · Joined: 22 May 2004 Posts: 13 Location: FUKUOKA

Yes - it must be the same place as the school that my friend worked at as it also had classes running back to back. There was no time to prepare at all for adults classes, but for the kids classes in the afternoon she had a Japanese assistant plan the class and you just had to stand there and do what the assistant told you to do.

Basically the way she had it set up was that students would pay just 10,000 yen a month and could come up to eight times a month. Each lesson was scheduled as a beginner, intermediate, or advanced class and the students could choose which ones they came to. I think that there would always be students in each class, just that the members would be different every week and you wouldn't know until the time who was coming.

I agree with you that if she told the teachers that they have to teach her for free then it is not acceptable however, my friend was told about it in the interview and was told it was part of her responsibiltes. Maybe the owner started to tell teachers about this when your friend quit for that reason.

Now that I think about it however, when I worked there I didn't have to teach the owner and I got paid the same amount as my friend did for the one days work.

With the situation as it is now in Fukuoka teachers are starting to have less choice as to the jobs that they can take. I was working full-time for a typical eikaiwa and recently quit, I (like you I think) am now making my money from privates and a couple of other part-time jobs. I refuse to take anything less than 3,000yen an hour (although I haven't been able to find much paying more than 3,000yen).

How long have you been living in Fukuoka cafebleu? I have been here for just over two years and the situation has changed so much even in that time. What was it like before that? And do you have any ideas as to why this is happening in Fukuoka? Is it because Fukuoka has become such a popular place for foriegners to go? It doesn't seem to be so bad anywhere else in Japan from what I can gather.

BlueSky · Joined: 22 May 2004 Posts: 13 Location: FUKUOKA

cafebleu - if you want to know the name of the school I will PM it to you.

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Blue Sky - thanks but I won`t worry. If I go for an interview with a school and the woman asks me to teach her for free in my own time (!) I will know which school it is.

I`d like to ask Paul H and Glenski what they think of this. I am still amazed that somebody could use up teachers like that. I don`t care how nice she supposedly is - for me that person is not nice for exploiting her teachers like that. Sounds like she is playing on the fact that any number of foreigners really need as much work as they can get to survive in Japan.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

What do I think of teaching your boss for free?
It's a pile of manure. I don't teach anyone for free. (Don't suggest my wife. I don't teach her at all.)

What do I think of back to back classes with no break?
Foolish. Depending on how many classes you have, it might even be illegal.

What do I think of the excuse that "she was getting free lessons from other teachers on other days"?
I'm not one of those other teachers. See my point #1 above.

What do I think of the fact "that students came on a `whim` basis - that is the teacher never knew who was going to turn up"?
Gee, sounds like poor business operations to me. What is it? A drive-up window for hamburgers, or an English school? At least Berlitz asks part-time people to phone in the day before just to see if any students have signed up for your classes, so you would know whether to go to work the next day. And, when I teach private lessons, I show up, whether students do or not, and I STILL get paid for that time. When I worked at an eikaiwa, we sometimes had a class that no students would sign up for. I was still on the roster, so my responsibility was to sit in the classroom for 30 minutes out of the 80. If anyone happened to show up and take the class (which meant signing a 3-month contract), I was physically there. During that time, I prepared other lessons, did the crossword puzzle, read a magazine, or some other such thing. And, I got paid for the full 80 minutes no matter if anyone came or not. A couple of times, this happened for the whole 3-month period.

What do I think of the fact that this "Sounds like she is playing on the fact that any number of foreigners really need as much work as they can get to survive in Japan"?
I agree 100%.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

If you are coming in 2 hours early that counts as overtime and you should be paid for it. We are not in the business of providing free lessons on our time. She may be your boss but she has no business telling you to come in early and work for nothing.

Either tell her you want to be paid for the lesson or to raise your salary to allow for it. Even if there are no students you signed a contract to be on the premises at a certain time and what she is doing is shifting the goalposts.

On a side note, you might even want to ask her if she is paying for part of your pension and health insurance if you are considered to be full time.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

cafebleu · Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 404

Glenski and Paul H - thanks for you quick responses (as usual). I actually don`t work there and I wouldn`t want to - I will chalk down that school (if I find out which one it is) as one to avoid.

I started the thread about it because I met a guy who seemed reasonable and was unhappy about what he had to do for this woman - teach her for free. Blue Sky actually seems to know what school it is and she was a sub teacher there.

She says her teacher friend whom she subbed for says the owner is nice. As you have seen, I don`t think so. Unfortunately professional-thinking owners of Eikaiwa schools in Fukuoka seem rare.

I am not criticising Blue Sky or her friend - my thinking is that this woman is exploitative. Easy to be `nice` when you are using somebody up. Would this woman teach Japanese for free in the UK, US etc? I don`t think so.

azarashi sushi · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 562 Location: Shinjuku

Cafe Bleu... The manager of this school does seem very unreasonable, expecting your friend to come in two hours earlier... Especially since that makes it an 11 hour work day! That's way too much time to spend at work.

Within the regular nine and a half hour block, how many classes is he usually expected to teach?

As a compromise, could he not offer to teach her during his regular hours?

Nagoyaguy · Joined: 15 May 2003 Posts: 425 Location: Aichi, Japan

My initial response would be to tell the boss in question to take a long walk off a short peer, or something simillar.

But as we all know that doesnt work in Japan.

Better answer; when the boss asks for favours like that, start sucking your teeth. Get real apologetic and say "I'm sorry, I'd love to, but I am busy at that time", then go to work at your regular starting time. Very few people, I think, will press you for more information than that. If they DO press you, make up something outlandish and untraceable, like going to a tea ceremony lesson, doing your laundry, etc.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK