Job Discussion Forums

[guest of Japan]

Well I'm dispatched to a private high school. I don't work Saturdays. I seldom stay after five, but it does happen occasionally. I'm paid for all vacation time and there is a lot of it.

High School teaching does have a lot more responsibilities. I have to choose textbooks, write out a syllabus, plan the lessons, create materials from scratch or creative photocopying, meet with my team teaching partners and prepare detailed explanations of what their roles will be, grade hundreds of worksheets a week, make listening tests (which take a long time from start to finish), and grade and submit everything. All this is coupled with a myriad of things that just seem to come up.

Still I don't feel overwhelmed in my high school. To me the hardest thing is dealing with Japanese culture upfront and personal on a daily basis. The first high school I worked was like a feudal kingdom and rigid in its heirarchy and conservatism. I don't know many Japanese people who could have endured that school. My current school is probably average a cross the board. I'm kind of a perifery character really. I have a good relationship with most teachers even outside the English department, but there are a few old timers who won't acknowlegde my existence unless they need the photocopier next. The actual teaching the foreign teacher is expected to do actually goes against the grain of the whole system. Student reject a communicative method because they are acclimated to the passive chalk and talk approach. They don't want to take chances. Trying to break a class of 43 students from this mold is not easy and for every success there are two blatant failures.

To me Eikaiwa is just too busy and repetitive. If I could get a school which focused on highly motivated students, had a real commitment to education, and rewarded teachers appropriately for their efforts, I'd probably go back.