Job Discussion Forums

ripslyme · Joined: 29 Jan 2005 Posts: 481 Location: Japan

How low can they go?
http://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=1&ln=1&id=D109080397&ln_jor=1

(just the highlights)

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

The job is for people with an MA or people who have a PhD, and people with MAs in TESOL or Applied Linguistics aren't THAT uncommon.

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

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

Teaching in a Japanese university does not really require a PhD in applied linguistics. Anyone who has taught there knows that most courses are nearly eikaiwa in nature (with a much larger student body).

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

From my experience outside Japan there are two main areas that universities look for;

English for Academic Purposes for the overseas students, on the pre-sessional courses and support courses throughout their study time. You can teach these with experience of EAP and a DELTA or an MA. These aren't part of their degree and are often run by external language centres.

If you actually want to get out of EFL and become a full-blown lecturer you'll need to get classes teaching stuff like Introduction to Linguistics, Syntax, Discourse Analysis, etc. You'll need an MA in Applied Linguistics to get a foot in the door, but this stuff usually requires a Phd.

Doing conversation practise at a university doesn't really count for much in terms of getting a job elsewhere. But the fact that you've been at a uni does, as no one need know what you were actually doing there! The teaching of English conversation in Japan's a really interesting topic for research though.

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

I have no experience teaching outside Japan, so my views come only from within the country.

Universities vary a bit in how they approach teaching EFL. Most have the typical "support courses" for the first year or two: conversation, reading, listening, writing. Beyond that, it depends on the uni. You might have some specialized courses (ESP/EST/EAP), and you might have more advanced writing series of courses. Some (few) schools even divide the population into levels to stream students based on TOEIC scores. The smaller schools can't do that because there aren't enough teachers.

I have not heard of any school offering anything special as you described for the foreign students, though. My own school has only 1 or 2 foreign undergrads, and half the grad students are foreign but don't need to take English courses (yet).

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

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

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

What's the deal with that Rikkyo job? Is it usual to expect your staff to work 6 days a week? Doesn't look much like the Shangi-la I'd been led to believe was life working at a Japanese uni.

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

No, it is far from the norm to have a 6-day work week. Five is standard.

A 3-month bonus described on this ad...
http://jrecin.jst.go.jp/seek/SeekJorDetail?fn=0&ln=1&id=D109071348&ln_jor=1
... says "one month of summer bonus and 2 months of winter bonus", so it's not really a 3-month bonus. That's not a 3-month bonus per se. I get a summer bonus that's smaller than my winter bonus (like most companies). However, the ad also says something strange:
"The first bonus at the first year, will be prorated based on the numbers of calendar days after the commencement of assignment." Sounds like the school is really trying to be cheap here. Just my opinion.

I remember this job being described on GaijinPot. Not a heckuva lot of positive responses. Here's the ad in case people are interested.
http://recruit.rikkyo.ac.jp/content.html
14 90-minute classes per week
Monday through Saturday
Classes of only 8 students each

"Instructors are expected to devote two class hours (three hours) a week to office hours and one class hour (an hour and a half) a week to meet with their supervisor..."

Definitely not the norm. Regular teachers don't have "supervisors".

Instructors are expected to provide feedback to their students by filing a report after class.
Nope. Not the norm.

womblingfree · Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 826

That's a shame about Rikkyo, I always had an impression they had a progressive attitude towards ELT after reading this:

http://www.eltnews.com/features/interviews/2001/06/interview_with_kumiko_torikai.html

Also the classes for that advertised job are to classes of 8 students, whereas I thought classes at other uni's were usually enormous.

Looks like market forces are at odds with what's best for students and teachers yet again.

They've just re-advertised and extended the positions, so I guess it's not been very popular.

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

That interview is 8 years old and IMO really doesn't say anything new, even back then. I don't see how you got "progressive" out of it.

As for the small class size, yes, most uni courses have 40, 50, even more students (I've had as many as 120 in a single section!). Rikkyo states that they want 8 students because (so they say) that's the class size the bishop started with in the first year of Rikkyo. All well and good, and 8 is a fantastic class size, but how realistic is it to teach all students in one grade? You'd have to have a zillion sections and as many teachers (pretty close to what the ad suggests), or not a large student population overall.