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OneJoelFifty
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 463
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 Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| hagiwaramai wrote: |
| You shouldn't be liable for income tax because you hadn't been working, but the city taxes are not that much, averaged per week, and you don't pay anything in the first year anyway. I think what the guy said was obviously true if you think about it but the way he said it was probably intended as a scaremongering tactic and because he was a dick. |
You're right, city taxes are only charged the year after you arrive, by the city you had been living in. So while the OP would have been in the system getting days added to the bill, any money would have been owed a year into the future. And the guy was definitely a dick.
rsl runner, was it immigration that stamped your resident's card, and was it you that told them you wouldn't be coming back? Legally, you're allowed to return within the year and your visa would still be valid. If you did want to come back, I'd suggest contacting immigration and telling them you lost your wallet with your card, but still have the visa, and see what they say. |
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metropolis
Joined: 01 Nov 2011
Posts: 32
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 7:39 am Post subject: re |
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OP, this stuff happens at other companies, too. Last year during the Interac March training, one of the trainers spent the good part of the week yelling at people and interrupting them while they were demonstrating something, yelling at people some more, making some people cry, embarrassing people in front of the rest of us (200+ people), yelling at people some more, embarrassing people some more, etc. It was so obvious that he and the other trainer had no idea how to teach English. They were only throwing out the corporate line. Unfortunate. And do you know what the worst part about it was? People were so scared and brainwashed by the end of the week that they gave him a standing applause. Insanity.
I know one guy who was sent home because he went in and voiced his concerns about how the trainers were treating us.
To sum things up: most trainers here do not know how to teach correctly. They only know the corporate lines that they shove down your mouth. There are four areas to working as a teacher in Japan: your ambassador role, your relationship with your coworkers, your relationship with your students, and your actual teaching in the classroom. It is sad, but the latter is the least important here. These big ALT and franchise companies only care about image, and they will get rid of someone if a) that person has more teaching qualifications and disagrees with their mindset, b) that person tries to implement their own style of teaching, c) that person does not fully fit their version of the 'ambassador role' that they want, and d) that person cannot be mentally controlled like a slave.
It is sad, but some of the ALT dispatch companies have ruined English teaching here in Japan. |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:44 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| metropolis wrote: |
| and your actual teaching in the classroom. It is sad, but the latter is the least important here. |
Sad to say, the above is quite accurate. Most of the feedback I receive as an ALT is about my relationship with the students. "Talk more during lunch" and very little on my "teaching" techniques. I am often little more than a speaking machine, so this becomes a bit moot.
| metropolis wrote: |
| It is sad, but some of the ALT dispatch companies have ruined English teaching here in Japan. |
Might disagree with this. Not to defend dispatch companies, but I see them as reacting to the various BOEs' decisions to do away with direct hire/long term ALTs and turn the market into a race to the bottom. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:54 am Post subject: |
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| Do AEON offer ALT work? I thought they were just a conversation school. I've seen some of their eikaiwa materials and it was pretty straight forward 'teach-from-the-book' fare. The timings were quite tight, but the patterns were very repetitive so they should be easy enough to pick up quickly if you can follow a lesson plan. The content wasn't Earth shattering, but I've seen worse. |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:37 am Post subject: |
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| HLJHLJ wrote: |
| Do AEON offer ALT work? |
Not that I know of. Just slightly derailing the thread with some (vaguely) related experiences. |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:54 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| metropolis wrote: |
To sum things up: most trainers here do not know how to teach correctly. They only know the corporate lines that they shove down your mouth. There are four areas to working as a teacher in Japan: your ambassador role, your relationship with your coworkers, your relationship with your students, and your actual teaching in the classroom. It is sad, but the latter is the least important here.
These big ALT and franchise companies only care about image, and they will get rid of someone if a) that person has more teaching qualifications and disagrees with their mindset, b) that person tries to implement their own style of teaching, c) that person does not fully fit their version of the 'ambassador role' that they want, and d) that person cannot be mentally controlled like a slave.
It is sad, but some of the ALT dispatch companies have ruined English teaching here in Japan. |
What a great summary of what it's like working for giant eikaiwa chains. |
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rslrunner
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 252
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| Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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| HLJHLJ wrote: |
| Do AEON offer ALT work? I thought they were just a conversation school. I've seen some of their eikaiwa materials and it was pretty straight forward 'teach-from-the-book' fare. The timings were quite tight, but the patterns were very repetitive so they should be easy enough to pick up quickly if you can follow a lesson plan. The content wasn't Earth shattering, but I've seen worse. |
It's true that the methodology had a great deal of repetition in it: set-up the section, model an example, then carry out the exercise. But the subtle differences in each section, and there were 8 or 9 sections in a lesson, meant that if one were to follow exactly what they were looking for required a fair amount of training and practice.
I don't think they were looking for someone who followed the model perfectly during the first week.
My problem is that I tend to learn something by internalizing it, practicing it, so then having it become second nature. This did not serve me well, as AEON was looking for someone who could pick up the method on the fly by copying it, which is not my strong suit at all.
I got corrected within a few seconds of starting a 40 minute lesson. I would say, Today we are going to..." before getting cut off. The trainer would say, "Too wordy!" Then I would use terminology, and then I was told, correctly, that I was talking like a caveman. The correct terminology was "Let's (verb) to (noun)." There was an exact phrase that had to be used, and I had trouble remembering it. After all, I had just been introduced to the term after one day.
I have no doubt that I would have been able to master the methodology relatively quickly (two weeks tops), and then serve the company quite well over time. I actually chose AEON in part because of their unique methodology, as I see definite value with it.
But I certainly wasn't able to learn the Learning and Acquisition Method quickly enough from AEON's point of view, and definitely not in the two to four day period that AEON required.
This last paragraph probably can be construed as accurate by both myself and AEON. That's probably also the last area of agreement as well. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:49 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| Solar Strength wrote: |
| metropolis wrote: |
To sum things up: most trainers here do not know how to teach correctly. They only know the corporate lines that they shove down your mouth. There are four areas to working as a teacher in Japan: your ambassador role, your relationship with your coworkers, your relationship with your students, and your actual teaching in the classroom. It is sad, but the latter is the least important here.
These big ALT and franchise companies only care about image, and they will get rid of someone if a) that person has more teaching qualifications and disagrees with their mindset, b) that person tries to implement their own style of teaching, c) that person does not fully fit their version of the 'ambassador role' that they want, and d) that person cannot be mentally controlled like a slave.
It is sad, but some of the ALT dispatch companies have ruined English teaching here in Japan. |
What a great summary of what it's like working for giant eikaiwa chains. |
yeah, was just talking to my wife about that. How eikaiwas in order to make more $$$ or rather ����, print and make their students buy their textbooks. Which are almost always error ridden, and are full of archaic/odd English.
Really, a whole bunch of Japanese English learners are being denied a reasonable way to study English. Sadly enough |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:43 am Post subject: Re: re |
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| metropolis wrote: |
| To sum things up: most trainers here do not know how to teach correctly. They only know the corporate lines that they shove down your mouth. |
Most of the trainers I have met in Japan (and I was a trainer at old Nova) generally do not have advanced education in language teaching. They are promoted from within and are taught to follow the company model. Not to defend that, but there is usually a drive for consistency at the larger companies. Ups and downs there, I suppose. |
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RollingStone
Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Posts: 138
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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A bit different perspective --
all this introspection, discussion and querying spent on a dead end job that pays about $12/hr for which you need... a degree, regardless of GPA and in which you are, to a large degree, basically a dancing infotainment bear hired to impress customers to buy products and services. This entire industry is supported simply because Japan is considered by many in the English speaking world as an exotic destination, so exotic in fact, that such low-rung jobs are given near extensive deliberation. It's about on par with an assistant-managerial position at fast-food joint, with the exception of course that the latter actually does have some potential career upside. "Dear forum, I can't believe I got canned during my first week in training as an assistant manager at the Burger King near I-79. I was sick and had trouble catching on to the order-taking, data-entry system. As one with managerial experience I took this really seriously. I just can't get over how it all went wrong."
Really? |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:17 pm Post subject: |
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| RollingStone wrote: |
| Really? |
Yeah, really.
Some people are hell-bent on coming to Japan for whatever reason.
Some people have a sense of responsibility and professionalism.
Some people thinking teaching in Japan is really about teaching. |
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RollingStone
Joined: 19 Jan 2009
Posts: 138
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| steki47 wrote: |
| RollingStone wrote: |
| Really? |
Yeah, really.
Some people are hell-bent on coming to Japan for whatever reason.
Some people have a sense of responsibility and professionalism.
Some people thinking teaching in Japan is really about teaching. |
That's nice but it's hardly necessary is it. What we know IS necessary is that you come from a country where English is the official language and you have a degree in something or other with whatever for GPA. Without THOSE "credentials"(!) your prospects decline accordingly. And needless to say if "professionalism" (can you define professionalism? Since you identify it as distinct from responsibility) is really at the heart of this then a "professional" would realize there are other places where one can be underemployed and overworked. So to extend my analogy after getting the sack at Burger King the would-be assistant manager would realize oh there's Taco Taco, and Micky D etc etc. Just that you won't find many highly populated forums back home discussing ESL teaching prospects back home, though we are sure there are those seeking ESL instruction there too. People here express disbelief when someone claims he grosses $3600/mth. The OP asked about possible cult-ishness afoot. I would point the question at the Japan/ESL labour pool. I get the exotic trip thing. Have been there myself. But sometimes a little broader perspective can help. And this perspective is not one that will be found in this little ESL hobble. Iow, it's always about the job here. But - really - it's about.... Ja! Pan!.
Anyway, to the OP, sucks they put you back on the plane. Can they do that?? If it were me I would have taken the visa and gone applying elsewhere. So you were sick, got sacked, and wanted to... just get the hell out of Japan?? LOL!!  ) |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:31 pm Post subject: Re: re |
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| rxk22 wrote: |
| Solar Strength wrote: |
| metropolis wrote: |
To sum things up: most trainers here do not know how to teach correctly. They only know the corporate lines that they shove down your mouth. There are four areas to working as a teacher in Japan: your ambassador role, your relationship with your coworkers, your relationship with your students, and your actual teaching in the classroom. It is sad, but the latter is the least important here.
These big ALT and franchise companies only care about image, and they will get rid of someone if a) that person has more teaching qualifications and disagrees with their mindset, b) that person tries to implement their own style of teaching, c) that person does not fully fit their version of the 'ambassador role' that they want, and d) that person cannot be mentally controlled like a slave.
It is sad, but some of the ALT dispatch companies have ruined English teaching here in Japan. |
What a great summary of what it's like working for giant eikaiwa chains. |
yeah, was just talking to my wife about that. How eikaiwas in order to make more $$$ or rather ����, print and make their students buy their textbooks. Which are almost always error ridden, and are full of archaic/odd English.
Really, a whole bunch of Japanese English learners are being denied a reasonable way to study English. Sadly enough |
As with many fees in Japan - e.g., gyms, rental properties, etc., the books and cassette tapes sold at Berltiz were terrible and way overpriced. I remember 2 cassettes and a booklet that were sold for �15,000 and textbooks sold for �30,000. Complete garbage. They really stick it to the students.
For example, I wanted to join one of those Japanese style gyms the other week and they wanted me to pay a �20,000 joining fee and �5,000 for the membership card, in addition to the monthly fee of �12,500. And it's not even a proper gym in terms of what we would consider a gym with proper free weights, bench-press, racks, etc. They just rape you with these "joining" fees or "registration" fees and Japanese are okay with it.
I also just finished paying a month's rent Gift Money and a month's rent to the real estate agency and other month's rent for a deposit that I'll never see again plus additional fees to move recently. Japan is just one big rip off after another.
And so getting back to the ������ point made above, why do Japanese people continue to be duped by these greasy eikaiwa chains? Have they not yet learned their lesson after NOVA and GEOS?
My guess is that the Japanese are so used to being overcharged for everything else that they just think it's normal to pay �15,000 for 2 cassette tapes. NOVA used to gauge their customers big time, which as we know lead to its demise. |
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Solar Strength
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 557
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| RollingStone wrote: |
That's nice but it's hardly necessary is it. What we know IS necessary is that you come from a country where English is the official language and you have a degree in something or other with whatever for GPA. Without THOSE "credentials"(!) your prospects decline accordingly. And needless to say if "professionalism" (can you define professionalism? Since you identify it as distinct from responsibility) is really at the heart of this then a "professional" would realize there are other places where one can be underemployed and overworked. So to extend my analogy after getting the sack at Burger King the would-be assistant manager would realize oh there's Taco Taco, and Micky D etc etc. Just that you won't find many highly populated forums back home discussing ESL teaching prospects back home, though we are sure there are those seeking ESL instruction there too. People here express disbelief when someone claims he grosses $3600/mth. The OP asked about possible cult-ishness afoot. I would point the question at the Japan/ESL labour pool. I get the exotic trip thing. Have been there myself. But sometimes a little broader perspective can help. And this perspective is not one that will be found in this little ESL hobble. Iow, it's always about the job here. But - really - it's about.... Ja! Pan!.
Anyway, to the OP, sucks they put you back on the plane. Can they do that?? If it were me I would have taken the visa and gone applying elsewhere. So you were sick, got sacked, and wanted to... just get the hell out of Japan?? LOL!! ) |
Rollingstone,
I know I ramble, and I'm sorry. But your writing and thinking here is really tough to follow. "afoot", "Assistant Managers at Burger King"? I wouldn't put Japan TEFL'ers even at that level; maybe clerks taking the orders?
Anyways, I think you're trying to come across as being a little more clever than you really are - a unique perspective, really? Shorten it up and get to the point.
Or, maybe your just drunk. |
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steki47
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: BFE Inaka
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| Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| RollingStone wrote: |
| steki47 wrote: |
| RollingStone wrote: |
| Really? |
Yeah, really.
Some people are hell-bent on coming to Japan for whatever reason.
Some people have a sense of responsibility and professionalism.
Some people thinking teaching in Japan is really about teaching. |
That's nice but it's hardly necessary is it. |
Uh, I was being facetious. |
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