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cvmurrieta
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 209
Location: Sendai, Japan
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 Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 6:08 am Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
Age doesn't have to be a problems. I got my first teaching job in an eikaiwa at 40-41. ECC Junior didn't take me on 3-4 years later, but that could have been due to my age (younger is better for the kiddie classes), or for other reasons. Bear in mind the age factor when your students are very young, though, for that may be a real concern. Will you demonstrate the energy level needed to keep up with the kids? Is your teaching style for kiddies or for older students (older meaning teens and up)?
Show the right energy, though, and you may have no problems getting hired for the teen and up crowd. There are so many factors. People say that only the young and beautiful get hired by eikaiwas, but they are wrong. Yeah, the ads that students see depict teachers mostly in their 20s, but the fact is, lots of students are middle-aged housewives and retirees who would rather have some sort of mature conversation with someone with life experience. |
I agree with Glenski especially when the person who is doing the hiring is an over-50 something American himself who openly admits that he still sings "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!" To give Glenski's statements on here even more support, this guy started teaching here in his late-40s. Since I am in my late 30s myself, I felt more comfortable being interviewed by him than by someone in his/her mid-to-late 20s. |
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Rezz
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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I have an interview with AEON next month and am currently in the process of making up my lesson plan. For those who have gone through the AEON interview already, do you get to select which part of your lesson that you demonstrate or do they pick a section and ask you to perform it?
On my written lesson plan I'm thinking of having the start section where I explain the terminology, then a game about 10 minutes in, to get the students using those words. If I demonstrate the game as my demonstration, do I just presume that they already know the phrases I would have taught them if it were a real lesson?
Cheers |
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thecobra2006
Joined: 24 May 2009
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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I went through the interview a couple of months ago and got a job. As far as I know you can teach any part of the lesson you want. At my interview we were allowed to select the section to teach.
What I did was quickly review the vocab and key phrases so everyone knows what they should be saying. This will make the game go much smoother and should take about 1 min. Then I explained the rules of the game (use a simple game and use lots of body language). This took about 1 min. Then I jumped straight into the game for the last 3 mins.
Some people assumed the "students" already knew the vocab and phrases but their demonstrations tended to not go as smoothly. |
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Rezz
Joined: 26 May 2009
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks a lot cobra, much appreciated! I'm planning on going to the local library tomorrow to hopefully get some teaching books out to give me a few ideas. Was there much room to move around in your group presentation room? |
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thecobra2006
Joined: 24 May 2009
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Nope it was held in a small conference room at a hotel and there were 35 people there. So it was pretty difficult to do really active games that involved lots or movement. Keep in mind that the group that you are teaching to could be a lot larger than you originally planned for. |
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Seibu
Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:03 pm Post subject: Re: Turned down by Aeon |
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| RollingStone wrote: |
| Ack! this is pathetic but went for a demo session (their version of an interview?) and was not offered employment. I thought just getting that far was an indication of getting in. I didnt suck (for someone with no prior experience), so was very disappointed and suspicious about the process. Likely there was slim to zero chance of getting hired, but the office has to keep busy. I assume that this is because the market is flooded. This was in March. A friend suggested that I would have no problem simply going to Japan and getting a job there in ESL. My friend however has been out of the ESL game for several years, so am curious as to what the climate is (likely dire). |
Interesting thread.
I interviewed with AEON back in February as a nearly last-ditch effort to get back into Japan. With eight years of ESL experience and a decent level of Nihongo, I felt pretty confident. And considering some of the demonstration lessons I observed, let's just say I was overconfident at the end of day one.
Short story long, I wasn't invited to the one-on-one interview on day two. I was completely baffled and just came to the conclusion that they thought I was going to make a visa run. I'm surprised no one has brought that up so far on this thread. Visa runs seem like a legitimate concern for eikawas.
Let's just say that was a long six-hour drive back home thinking....'Jeez, I can't even get a job with AEON!'  |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject: |
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Seibu,
Perhaps you were TOO qualified for them. Eight years in eikaiwa is a long time, too, and they may have wondered about that.
Visa runs still happen, but people use them to come into the country and seek greener pastures. Right now, it's a buyer's market, so where are those pastures that ensure grazing? |
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Seibu
Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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Glen....
I spent a couple of years at an eikaiwa and most of the time as a corporate slug in a lazy gig. That could have been part of the problem. 
As for the visa run thing, I'm basing my opinion on conditions pre-2005 when I left for Myanmar. At that time, lots of Nova hires were not showing up to their gigs getting hired elsewhere, as we all know and remember. I'm a little out of touch now.
I actually heard a couple of cocky and somewhat informed rookie applicants at the AEON interview say privately to the others the ol...'all you have to do is start applying as soon you get over there. AEON is the Wal Mart of ESL jobs.' |
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thecobra2006
Joined: 24 May 2009
Posts: 9
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| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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| I would probably say that you were overqualified as well. Next time you apply you might want to down grade some of your experiences on your resume like your 8 years of experience. Especially for an entry level position. For my interview with AEON I never mentioned that I had a Masters Degree (non ESL related). I think you can apply again in 6 months or so...... |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:55 am Post subject: |
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| Seibu wrote: |
Glen....
I spent a couple of years at an eikaiwa and most of the time as a corporate slug in a lazy gig. That could have been part of the problem. |
In your other thread, you wrote:
I spent 8 years in Japan as a corporate ESL teacher for a software company
If an employer sees that, he does not automatically assume you were a lazy slug. He will assume you worked in a business English environment. Again, I say either your personal chemistry worked against you, or they thought you were too experienced (street savvy?). |
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starteacher
Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 237
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:07 pm Post subject: |
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| I would probably say that you were overqualified as well. Next time you apply you might want to down grade some of your experiences on your resume like your 8 years of experience. |
I'm going ot stick my head out here and say that many of the big eikaiwas and ALT positions are looking simply to fill posts for those teachers who they can get rid off easily, i.e. carry little baggage. The turnover of teachers are usually high, in the case of big eikaiwas it is branding that runs the business (Nova put a dent and to some extent Berlitz), and ALTs are paid via the Board of Ed academic expense account, so the less hassle the better.
This is only a generality, but English is not seen as a necessity (yet) to life in Japan, it is a subject to needs to be passed at school to enter into higher education, which ironically has been happening over the many years even with poor levels of English so if nothing was wrong in the past why should there be anything wrong with it now. If a Japanese person says something is wrong with the system, they are in essence pointing a finger at their predecessors, and that is not a very Japanesey thing to do in their culture. The internet and globalisation may be changing the perceptions but so far the Japanese have been comfortable when their economy is fairly strong and rich in comparison to others, but this current recession may mean companies will require broader skills than simply selling into only the Japanese market. So as industry grows, the need for English will come. But at the moment English is just an add-on on their (Japanese student) resume.
So going back to to being overqualified, that is not the issue. The issue is simply supply and demand in a still relatively immature market. People get hired when they hirers can open and close an application easy, as it is simple for their business model. So I am sticking my head out and saying that big eikaiwas (and BOEs) do not care much for any teachers much, skilled or not skilled. Maybe they will be more selective later. English is simply a business. You can work your hell out for your school or eikaiwa, and whilst you may be temporarily appreciated by your students and staff and have some fun, they will really say it was your job to do so (as in any jobs Japanese people do). Japanese people take a lot of pride in their workplace. What p***es Japanese people off is they have to hire you (English teachers) for jobs they cannot apply for themselves.
BOEs are trying to put more cultural elements into the new Eigonote and this is where eikaiwas often work their niche, but at the end of the day it is still back to Japanese passing exams, and having a better add-on mark on their resumes when they start working. Of course, there are some who enjoy learning English for the sake of it.
Aeon hiring, Interac hiring, ALT hiring.... it is all up in the air. You catch the right interviewer on the day and regardless of age, the jobs yours. There is no standard yardstick to measure how well you do or on your resume. It's easy to say what you did right when you landed a job, but cannot list it out when you did the same thing and didn't get the job. I know of really experienced teachers getting nothing, and surfers getting jobs in these places. And vice versa.
(The above is about hiring in Japan, hiring outside Japan may be a bit different, but the ultimate thing is you end up working for the Japanese regardless of whether the interviewer was Japanese or otherwise).
And AGE has nothing to do with it. |
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Mosley
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 158
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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starteacher: You're new to the game(I daresay) but you make some valid points esp. in regard to recruiting FTs IN Japan. Certainly, where big visa hassles, etc., come into play, most Japanese employers will go the path of least resistance.
But I maintain that experienced teachers, esp. ones applying from overseas, are at a distinct disadvantage. Why? Because those are the ones who "know the score" & that's what employers DON'T want. The employers' gain is the students' loss.
And as far as "AGE has nothing to do with it[.]", you've got to be kidding. JET states emphatically that 40 is pretty well the limit. A dispatch co. recruiter once stated bluntly that most clients(i.e., BOEs) don't want over-40s...they aren't "genki".  (I'm not sure who'd want to work for a dispatch co. anyway but that's another issue). Many ads for FT jobs state bluntly the age limit for applicants(as well as desired gender). Compare the percentage of old 'uns teaching EFL in Japan with, say, China or Korea , and you'll find there's no comparison. The biggest losers with that mindset? Japanese students, that's who, at least the ones who value learning English as opposed to being enthralled with young, guitar-playing entertainers. |
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Seibu
Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="starteacher"]
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Aeon hiring, Interac hiring, ALT hiring.... it is all up in the air. You catch the right interviewer on the day and regardless of age, the jobs yours. |
Excellent post. And this point is so true regardless of whether applying for the government, a sales job, insurance, or ESL work.
I can recall my first interview as a pup in 1996 and failing miserably. Probably the worst interview of my life. Amazingly, I was offered the job and was soon living in Japan.
Then you go in and carry out what you fill is one of the better presentations in the group and get excused right away.
Alot of it does have to do with who, on that particular day, wants to take a chance on you. |
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fat_chris
Joined: 10 Sep 2003
Posts: 3198
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:00 am Post subject: |
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| starteacher wrote: |
| This is only a generality, but English is not seen as a necessity (yet) to life in Japan, it is a subject to needs to be passed at school to enter into higher education, which ironically has been happening over the many years even with poor levels of English so if nothing was wrong in the past why should there be anything wrong with it now. |
Furthermore, it could be contended that mandatory English for junior and senior high school students (6 years!) should be eliminated. Instead, English could become an elective subject for those students who choose to study it because they are truly interested in learning the langauge.
Regards,
fat_chris |
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cvmurrieta
Joined: 10 Jul 2008
Posts: 209
Location: Sendai, Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 3:35 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Seibu"]
| starteacher wrote: |
| Quote: |
Aeon hiring, Interac hiring, ALT hiring.... it is all up in the air. You catch the right interviewer on the day and regardless of age, the jobs yours. |
Excellent post. And this point is so true regardless of whether applying for the government, a sales job, insurance, or ESL work.
I can recall my first interview as a pup in 1996 and failing miserably. Probably the worst interview of my life. Amazingly, I was offered the job and was soon living in Japan.
Then you go in and carry out what you fill is one of the better presentations in the group and get excused right away.
Alot of it does have to do with who, on that particular day, wants to take a chance on you. |
Not attempting to incur the wrath of the mods, but what Seibu said can also be applied to dating  |
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