Job Discussion Forums

onesentiment · Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Posts: 45

I currently work for ECC. Schedules are very different depending on where you live. Some teachers have mostly kids classes (usually 2-8 students a class) and others have mostly adult classes (1-4 students a class). I have mostly kids classes (2-3 a day and the rest Free Time Adult Lessons... these are cake), so time goes by extremely fast. It is true that there isn't a break if you work from 3:30-9 p.m., but you won't be thinking of break time because you'd get 10 minutes between adult classes and 15 minutes between kids classes. Just eat something before your classes start and you'll be fine for the rest of the day. If you work from 10-4 p.m. (once a week for me), they give you a 70-75 minute break depending on if you have kids/adult classes. I guess it's mandatory for them to give you a break during those times.

Anyways, hours couldn't get any better because you never have to worry about sleep if you work from 3:30-9. Having 7 weeks paid vacation isn't bad either. Overall, it's a good school. Since my school is very small (only 3 english teachers and 3 staff), I developed a good relationship with my staff and students. I recommend having an experience outside of Tokyo if you're looking for a real Japan experience. I'm basically forced to learn the language where I'm at. Well, it all depends on what you're looking for. If you really really want to actually teach, don't be an assistant.

Mapleblondie · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 93 Location: Canada

Onesentiment, thanks for the reply specifically about ECC. I know that I have a really hard time lasting for more than about 4 hours without eating, so eating before work starts and then not again until after is going to be tough. Does ECC typically mind if employees munch on something while they prepare for their next lessons? Heck, if worse comes to worse, I will eat in the bathroom! LOL.

You mentioned "my school" as if you only teach at one location...Is that so? If it is, wow. From what I hear, the average is 3-5 schools. I will be in the Osaka area, though I am not sure exactly where yet...I would LOVE it if conversing with most of the other staff required me to speak Japanese, but I don't think that's a reality for most people working at eikaiwas. You seem to be quite luck in that regard.

This is a bit off topic, but I rarely seem to find people actually working at ECC on these boards...How was training? I have heard a number of really varying reports about it, and I start my training in September with ECC, so any input would be appreciated. Thanks. You can pm me with your reply if you think that would be better than posting here.

onesentiment · Joined: 22 Nov 2007 Posts: 45

cvmurrieta · Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 209 Location: Sendai, Japan

OK, I will be digging WAAAAAAY back in the day (1994-1999) here. If I forget a few details, my apologies

Eikaiwa school 1: I taught at various branches throughout southern Osaka Prefecture Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Normal starting time was 3pm and quittin' time was 9pm. I did have to drive to some lessons and was made by the company to lease a car. I taught from ages 6-70. I taught two classes on Tuesday at someone's house. Toward the end of my contract I taught a class at an NTT branch. I also taught children ages 3-5 at two kindergartens. No official time was given for lunches on the days worked 3-9pm. All class prep had to be done at home. There wasn't even any time in between classes to take a break

Eikaiwa school 2: I taught Tuesday through Saturday at this one. I rotated among the three branch schools the company had. I taught ages 5-70. Typical starting time was mostly around 2 or 3pm. No official time for lunch here; however, each day had ample time between classes to head to a nearby convenience store and get a bite to eat. I also was farmed out to teach at a hospital during this time.

Eikaiwa school 3: NOVA before it had adopted the bunny as its mascot. This was the school I had taught the longest time at. No need for me to go into all the gritty details, but I will says this: during my stay in Japan it was the fairest of the three employers I had. There were no surprises with NOVA, and I appreciated the stability it gave me. During most of my tenure there my schedule was 1:20pm-9pm Saturday through Wednesday with a 40-45 minute lunch. I enjoyed the 10 minutes in between classes and actually enjoyed teaching lessons from the Quest textbook. My final seven months there my schedule on Tuesday was 1:20pm-9pm but Wednesday through Saturday I worked 10am-5:40pm. I liked the fact that I could change working at schools if I wanted to

miffycat · Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 3

Sorry if this doesn't work properly, it's my first post.
Reality of my schedule at, ahem, one-of-the-biggest-eikaiwas-still-standing, for most of this year:
Tues: official working hours 12 - 9 but should arrive at least 20 mins before and not leave until all tasks such as garbage cleaning, prep, check tests and other stuff are completed
Wed-Fri: working hours 1 - 9
Sat: working hours 10 - 7
Minimum of 6 classes per day. I have heard that Head Office has been phoning managers whenever foreign teachers are scheduled less than 6 lessons and a new class is supposed to be scheduled if one is canceled, so as a result, teaching over 30 classes per week in my school is getting to be the norm for me and my colleague. Teaching 7 classes in a day is quite a regular occurrence.
Just thought the info might be relevant.

Ichigo · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 29 Location: Japan

It's my first year here in Japan, I'm 27.
I work for a small family run eikaiwa in a very small city (inaka).
I only get 3 weeks of paid vacation, no national holidays off, no paid sick-leaves, no 2 consecutive days off. Work is 5 days a week, usually 8 hours with NO breaks (no lunch or dinner breaks at all).

Work starts usually at 2pm (Monday earlier because of a meeting, Saturday you come way earlier, namely when your first class starts)
Then preparing for classes (first classes usually start around 3-4pm), then 4-5 classes a 60minutes, often with only 10 minutes of break, sometimes no time to eat
sometimes only 1-2 classes a day and when you've finished all of your preparing you're not allowed to leave school and not allowed to do non-work-related stuff, so you have to pretend to be busy (which really sucks, because basically I wanna use every single second to study Japanese ... it's impossible with my current job).
2 other native teachers who have lately less teaching hours than me (gotta talk to my boss about that, it's not fair) and 2-3 Japanese staff.

I'm tired and stressed out lately.

I wanna try an ALT position next year and I hope that this will be more helpful for my ultimate goal of becoming close to fluent in Japanese.

Mapleblondie · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 93 Location: Canada

Ichigo,

Wow, that sounds like a really raw deal! I hope you are getting paid well for all that suffering...I would be outta there in a heartbeat if those are the work conditions. Japan's market may indeed be saturated with teachers, but what you are describing is rediculous and I wouldn't wait a year to find something else...but you know the situation best. Hang in there, and definitely keep an eye out for something better, soon rather than later, if you are really stressed. Best of luck~

Ichigo · Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 29 Location: Japan

Well, I guess there are still jobs with work conditions that are even worse. If I really can't take it anymore I'll leave, I have a working holiday visa and am not bound to anyone or anything anyway, but I'd rather finish my current job as I'm not a native speaker (I'm German) and I guess this will make things easier for me later on when applying for other jobs.

I guess for my current goals an ALT position would be the best deal.