|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
dudelebow
Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 42
|
 Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 6:50 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| Jazz, honestly I couldn't give you a definite answer as to why being asian would serve you better or not. I suppose it would just depend on the personalities and preferences of the managers and students. Who knows. I'm sure you'll discover it on your own though. From a daily life stand point, at least you won't deal with as much staring and gawking. That is if you aren't overheard talking or don't look very non-Japanese. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Brooks
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1369
Location: Sagamihara
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
I have known a few Asians: one Japanese-American, one Chinese-American, and one Chinese-Canadian. All three seemed to be doing fine teaching English.
The Chinese-American had been in Tokyo for 10 years.
I think what could happen is that, with an Asian face, Japanese people may assume you know Japanese, but with me, since I have a white face, it seems that some people assume I am fresh off the boat or in the military. Many people assume I don`t know Japanese.
My brother`s ex-girlfriend is half Taiwanese/half white but she looks Chinese. She was a tourist in Japan years ago but didn`t have a good time. People would just assume she was fluent in Japanese but she knew next to nothing. She got sick of the dirty looks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jazz1975
Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 301
Location: Zama, Kanagawa
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| dudelebow wrote: |
| Jazz, honestly I couldn't give you a definite answer as to why being asian would serve you better or not. I suppose it would just depend on the personalities and preferences of the managers and students. Who knows. I'm sure you'll discover it on your own though. From a daily life stand point, at least you won't deal with as much staring and gawking. That is if you aren't overheard talking or don't look very non-Japanese. |
No problem, I understand. Thanks for giving me the heads up though in your last post. I'm sure I can figure it out for myself. As for the lack of staring and gawking as an Asian, I know about that. I have a friend who is currently teaching in Japan that is of Asian descent. I suppose I can touch base with her about the points u raised. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
angrysoba
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 446
Location: Kansai, Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
womblingfree:
| Quote: |
| Mr Aki is the president of Aeon and he's still very good friends with his old pal the Geos president, whose name I don't know. |
The GEOS president is Kusunoki. A few years back he 'accidentally' evaded paying taxes while the company was expanding overseas. He claimed he was spending so much time out of the country that he didn't need to pay domestic taxes.
The little thief was caught and coughed up the money immediately. I was working for GEOS at the time and head office staff called us up to tell the students the whole thing had been an accident and not to believe the viscious rumours of those naughty newspaper writers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SDSUMarcus01
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 20
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Jazz1975 wrote: |
| dudelebow wrote: |
| Jazz, honestly I couldn't give you a definite answer as to why being asian would serve you better or not. I suppose it would just depend on the personalities and preferences of the managers and students. Who knows. I'm sure you'll discover it on your own though. From a daily life stand point, at least you won't deal with as much staring and gawking. That is if you aren't overheard talking or don't look very non-Japanese. |
No problem, I understand. Thanks for giving me the heads up though in your last post. I'm sure I can figure it out for myself. As for the lack of staring and gawking as an Asian, I know about that. I have a friend who is currently teaching in Japan that is of Asian descent. I suppose I can touch base with her about the points u raised. |
I wouldn't mind not being stared and gawked at though. Especially if I were better at the language. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jazz1975
Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 301
Location: Zama, Kanagawa
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:37 am Post subject: Update |
|
|
Still waiting on word from AEON as to whether I've been invited to an interview or not. The suspense is killing me. Does anyone know if the "invite" is by snail mail or email? As of writing, I'm working on my application to NOVA. They ask a s***load of questions so I have to think carefully of what to write  . |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
J-kun
Joined: 13 Mar 2004
Posts: 43
Location: The Hell of Pachinko
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
Jazz,
I'm sure you'll get the AEON interview. You sound like a bright kid- don't stress. But what about JET? A much better gig from what I've heard- more money, fewer lessons, team teaching, Japanese lessons- practically a paid vacation. Look into it before you sign up with AEON. Not that it's so bad at AEON- I did it and had an overall great experience, though it is, as other posters have said, a bit of a crap shoot and depends a lot on which school you end up at. Mine was pretty cool. I've heard of better. I've heard of a lot worse. I'd advise you to stay the f away from nova though. Especially if you have any inclination towards teaching, or desire to do your job well. The Nova teachers I met had way to many classes to teach to worry about little things like lesson planning. ... "So, ... what did you do last weekend..., Takahiro?"
Good luck and enjoy your self in Japan. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jazz1975
Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 301
Location: Zama, Kanagawa
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:42 am Post subject: |
|
|
| J-kun wrote: |
Jazz,
I'm sure you'll get the AEON interview. You sound like a bright kid- don't stress. But what about JET? A much better gig from what I've heard- more money, fewer lessons, team teaching, Japanese lessons- practically a paid vacation. Look into it before you sign up with AEON.
I'd advise you to stay the f away from nova though. Especially if you have any inclination towards teaching, or desire to do your job well. The Nova teachers I met had way to many classes to teach to worry about little things like lesson planning. ... "So, ... what did you do last weekend..., Takahiro?"
Good luck and enjoy your self in Japan. |
I'm 30 years old, J-Kun. Hardly a kid . Thanks for your input though  . I can't apply to JET as I don't have any command of Japanese whatsoever aside from 'konichiwa' and 'sayonara'. Also, I do not have much teaching experience so for now, an eikawa would be the best fit. Which brings me to the point about NOVA. I wish I had enough experience on me to not apply to NOVA, but since I don't, I need to apply there just to have as many options open to me as possible. I also plan on applying to ECC and GEOS as I mentioned on my initial thread. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
J-kun
Joined: 13 Mar 2004
Posts: 43
Location: The Hell of Pachinko
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
JET doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese, as far as I know. They do provide some lessons, which Aeon does not. My silly conspiracy theory while I worked there was that they wanted to keep us ignorant so we wouldn't use Japanese in class.
Sorry I called you a "kid." I thought you were just out of college for some reason. Maybe I'm confusing posters. I only look at this site when I'm drunk. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jazz1975
Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 301
Location: Zama, Kanagawa
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| J-kun wrote: |
JET doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese, as far as I know. They do provide some lessons, which Aeon does not. My silly conspiracy theory while I worked there was that they wanted to keep us ignorant so we wouldn't use Japanese in class.
Sorry I called you a "kid." I thought you were just out of college for some reason. Maybe I'm confusing posters. I only look at this site when I'm drunk. |
Well, that's what it said on their site @ knowledge of Japanese. I do know that ECC provides a certain number of Japanese lessons free of charge to teachers and they can take these classes during their work day.
At this point, I'm not sure about teaching per se as a full time career so the plan for now, is to just go for a few years, pick up some skills and go back home. Travelling is part of this plan as well. Of course, like I mentioned on another thread, plans do change and if teaching is meant to be a career for me, then I'll be more than willing to follow that path.
Yes, you may very well be mistaking me for someone else. This does happen when alcohol is involved  . |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="Jazz1975"]
| J-kun wrote: |
| JET doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese, as far as I know. They do provide some lessons, which Aeon does not. . |
Strictly speaking you are being hired to teach your native language in a high school as a JET ALT and provide students with what we call 'input' i,e exposure to native English.
What JET doesnt tell you is you will be dumped in a high school teachers room in a school out the middle of nowhere. Other subject teachers will not speak English and not even many of the Japanese teachers who teach 'English' with you will be able to converse in the language or use it with any fluency.
Japanese is neither expected or desired as a job requirement. However you will need it as you will be in a sea of Japanese speakers, there wont always be someone to hold you hand for you and spell things out for you. a lot of stuff such as meeting sor sports days, the teachers wont be bothered informing you about, in Japanese or English. Knowing some Japanese means you understand or comprehend what is going on around you. Depending on where you go, Japanese staff will love you if you can speak Japanese and invite you out or they will simply ignore you as the strange strange Japanese speaking gaijin. Welcome to Japan.
PS dont expect to be fluent in Japanese in a year and be swapping dirty jokes with the other male teachers, just by sitting in a staffroom all day. It aint gonna happen. You cant learn Japanese by osmosis. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
chirp
Joined: 03 Dec 2005
Posts: 148
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
As for Jazz and JET, the next application deadline in Canada is November 2006 for a departure in July 2007. I am pretty sure she would like to go before then! 
And Jazz, J-kun is right. Don't stress! Not only will you get an Aeon interview, I am sure that you will do very well. Best of luck and keep us up-to-date!
Chirp |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Jazz1975
Joined: 14 Feb 2006
Posts: 301
Location: Zama, Kanagawa
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| PAULH wrote: |
Depending on where you go, Japanese staff will love you if you can speak Japanese and invite you out or they will simply ignore you as the strange strange Japanese speaking gaijin. Welcome to Japan.
PS dont expect to be fluent in Japanese in a year and be swapping dirty jokes with the other male teachers, just by sitting in a staffroom all day. It aint gonna happen. You cant learn Japanese by osmosis. |
To be quite honest with you, I'm not even breaking a sweat about not knowing how to speak Japanese. And I'm certainly not unrealistic about being able to learn Japanese "by osmosis" or even within a year. Also, I won't be going through the JET Program; I do know about being dumped in a high school in a middle of nowhere-I've read the editorials by that guy who is in this situation Chirp, you're absolutely right. I want to be in Japan well before July 2007. Thanks for the vote of confidence re. AEON interview and doing well. I'm gonna hold u to that...lol! . Sure hope you're my psychic. And yes, I will keep everyone up to date regardless of what happens. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SirZephyr
Joined: 06 Nov 2004
Posts: 8
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="PAULH"]
| Jazz1975 wrote: |
| J-kun wrote: |
| JET doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese, as far as I know. They do provide some lessons, which Aeon does not. . |
You cant learn Japanese by osmosis. |
My two sons learnt Japanese by osmosis. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SDSUMarcus01
Joined: 13 Oct 2005
Posts: 20
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
[quote="SirZephyr"]
| PAULH wrote: |
| Jazz1975 wrote: |
| J-kun wrote: |
| JET doesn't require any knowledge of Japanese, as far as I know. They do provide some lessons, which Aeon does not. . |
You cant learn Japanese by osmosis. |
My two sons learnt Japanese by osmosis. |
Children and adults are different matters when it comes to learning a language. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
