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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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 Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:49 am Post subject: |
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| dudelebow wrote: |
| I was railroaded by my AEON EAST branch school. It was pushed forward through lies, rumors, and plenty of backstabbing. In a helpless effort of self-defense, I searched my personal file and found documents in Japanese (which I had translated) to prove it. I brought evidence to HQ (i.e. Mark, Jim and company) to show I had been deceived, but it was to no avail. It didn't matter. |
Best to circumnavigate all that. Join a union as soon as you arrive and get them to sort it out.
Eikaiwas rely on the lack of knowledge of working practices and labour law, especially when it comes to rail roading.
One letter or visit from a professional from the union is almost always certain to put the fear of god up them. This should solve most problems instantly.
Actually I just remembered something...When I first went to Japan I was taken aside by my co-workers who had all been there a year or more. they told me how I would be screwed over, lied to etc...
This was in sharp contrast to the reality I witnessed. Japanese staff seemed to work long hours, Western staff begrudged doing anything!
Remember that all the negative comments you hear about eikaiwas are from people that were there for a year or more. I personally had no negative experiences until I had been there for 18 months.
Enjoy your time, wonder at what all the fuss was about, and then when you get back you can post your horror stories along with the rest of us.
A lot of the problems come from boredom and over familiarity with the system. Once you stop being a genki yes man, that's when the trainers will come for you. This is why many get rail roaded. A fresh face for the grinder, full of enthusiasm, is infinitely preferable to them than someone who is looking for a career and demanding their rights. Cheap labour, high turnover. Consider yourself a freshly made bagel with a limited shelf-life. |
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womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
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| Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:02 am Post subject: |
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| The_Hanged_Man wrote: |
| obsequious |
Congratulations, you have just won todays Charles Dickens award for accurate description.
Hey, the forum *beeped* out the name of a well known Victorian novelist. Brainless automaton. 
Last edited by womblingfree on Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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I thought I would refresh this topic as I think it's a subject that will come up again.
I recently went through AEON initial training with AEON EAST Japan but I am in the Kansai area so did my training at the Osaka head office. My trainers were Mark Norton (who seanmcginty mentioned) and Bill Monken (who has been in the position about eight months). It sounds as though we were lucky to be training in Osaka as it is the only training centre that is not out in the sticks but I guess that is beside the point! 
The training itself was hard work, long days with homework and further reading at the end of them. That said, I actually enjoyed the week. I felt that Mark and Bill did a really good job of making everything comprehensible and were both very approachable (note: Mark has been doing the job long enough that there was a marked difference between his 'trainer' and 'regular' personalities, not in a bad way but until we realised this the 'trainer' could feel a little patronising, mostly because he was teaching us in the way we could expect to be teaching whilst at AEON... that is lot's of praise, big smiles etc). At times there certainly seemed to be a bit of information overload but personally I would rather have too much information than not enough.
I was very happy with the fact that several of the lessons were demonstrated to us and we were given a Japanese lesson that mirrored what we would be doing in English, definitely a great learning experience. We also had the opportunity to teach some lesson excerpts to real students, which was naturally very nerve wracking but also a great confidence builder once it was all over.
I really think that although the week is difficult it really does a good job of preparing you for what's to come. When I walked into my branch school on Tuesday knowing that I was going to be teaching a lesson that afternoon, sure I was scared but I also knew that I could do it.
That's my two yens worth, you can keep the change,
PT |
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