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double agent
Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 152
Location: In the wild wild west
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 Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 7:08 am Post subject: Paid flights to Japan and solid contracts? |
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Which employers in Tokyo offer this? Who are the solid
companies to work for?
What kind of hours will I be looking at?
Money?
Advice?
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 8:59 am Post subject: |
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Paid airfare is paid by the JET program and Westgate Corporation. You will get some money ("bonus") after you complete a contract with some of the big 4 eikaiwas (check web sites for NOVA, ECC, AEON, and GEOS to learn which ones).
"Solid" contracts/companies? That is a difficult term to pin down. If you mean reputable company, all of the above (including the JET program) are reputable. How well you take to their in-house regulations and contract clauses may differ with each employer and with each person.
Look at their web sites for salaries, but you will find little difference among the big 4. They pay around 250,000 yen/month. This varies on the probationary training period and on location. JET offers 300,000 yen/month. These are all figures before taxes.
Hours will be noonish to 9pm for the eikaiwas, with 25-29 classroom contact hours per week. This amounts to 8 classes per day with 5-10 minutes between class. You may or may not have 2 consecutive days off per week, and vacation time varies with the company. Some places don't want you to leave the building, either. JET puts you in a high school situation, so your hours will be 9 to 4, plus whatever extracurricular time you get assigned to. You won't be in the classroom for 8 hours; it's more like 3 hours a day, so you have lots of down time. With JET, you may also have traveling between schools to take into account. Westgate hours are also daytime, about 9 to 5, I think. These are more like 5-7 classes per day.
Advice? Read their web sites thoroughly. If you want more, tell us your qualifications and intentions (ie, how long you want to stay, who you want/don't want to teach, etc.) and ask a specific question. |
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cheryl
Joined: 01 Apr 2003
Posts: 119
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2003 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Tokyo has pulled out of JET. |
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double agent
Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 152
Location: In the wild wild west
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 8:04 am Post subject: slave hours in japan |
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thanks for the info.
oh that sounds like hell, working up to 29 contact hours without
leaving the building.
I think I have heard that JAPAN is really serious about
how INVOLVED a tefl teacher should be. Sounds more like
slavery. NO THANKS.
I will give japan a pass.
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BenJ
Joined: 11 May 2003
Posts: 209
Location: Nagoya
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 9:07 am Post subject: |
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| you think 29 hours a week is hell? let me know when you find the place that gives money away for free |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:54 am Post subject: Re: slave hours in japan |
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| double agent wrote: |
thanks for the info.
oh that sounds like hell, working up to 29 contact hours without
leaving the building.
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29 hours is what you work per week not per day and usually consists of six or seven 50 minute lessons a day and a 10 minute break in between classes. Multiply that by 5 days and you have 1750 minutes or 29 hours a week of actual teaching. 10 hours is your lunch breaks, breaks between classes and doing level checks and administration.
Do they wipe your bottom for you at university too? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 12:27 pm Post subject: |
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| 29 hours is what you work per week not per day and usually consists of six or seven 50 minute lessons a day and a 10 minute break in between classes. |
In some cases (like my old conversation school job), this works out to be 2-4 80-minute classes per day. The afternoon classes stop around 4 or 5pm, and I had an hour or two (sometimes even 3) between afternoon and evening shift. So, basically, I taught about 15-16 classes per week. In Paul's example, one would teach about 30-35 classes per week (40 at NOVA). Obviously, school situations vary.
For comparison, I teach full-time at a high school now, and I have 16 45-minute classes per week. Pretty standard.
What else would you expect to get paid US$25,000/year for at a language school? You usually get the company to...
1. find and furnish your apartment,
2. pay your commuting fees,
3. sponsor a work visa that lasts 1-3 years,
4. sometimes provide training for their methods,
5. provide an office staff that handles all your taxes and doesn't involve you in dreary meetings,
6. give you 3-5 weeks of paid vacation a year (try that when you start any job in your homeland!), and
7. ask you to teach a room with only 2-6 students at a time, with office hours from noon to 9, so you can sleep all morning and take care of your personal affairs (shopping, post office, banking) in normal work hours.
Oh, and not ALL places prohibit you from leaving the building. I wrote "some".
| Quote: |
I think I have heard that JAPAN is really serious about
how INVOLVED a tefl teacher should be. Sounds more like
slavery. |
What did you expect "involved" would mean?
1. They want you to show up, often without any more credentials than a bachelor's degree in any subject (and in some cases no degree is even needed).
2. You are expected to talk your head off and attract students with your western looks and outgoing personality.
3. If there are prospective students, you may be expected to interview them to assess their placement levels.
4. Or you may be asked to sit in the lobby and chat with prospective students just to show them how swell a person you are (and how attractive the company must be to have hired a great person such as you).
5. If there is paperwork to be done regarding student attendance, progress, and performance, some schools have you do this.
6. Some even have teachers train others and/or write teaching materials for the company/school.
For all this you are expected to do the following:
You will have to show up on time or be docked for wages (not always done in your homeland). You are also expected to act professionally, use their materials, not destroy the apartment they (usually) provide to you. And being in the office 29 hours a week is 11 hours less than what a normal job requires in your homeland.
Slavery, yeah. Right.
Oh, and that US$25,000/year can really amount to a monthly savings of $500 - 1000, depending on circumstances, and Americans don't have to pay a single cent of taxes on this (or on anything earned overseas up to $80,000). With private lessons on the side, you can double that savings. |
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homersimpson
Joined: 14 Feb 2003
Posts: 569
Location: Kagoshima
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| Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2003 11:46 pm Post subject: |
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Stay home ... and buy a box of Kleenex. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 4:34 am Post subject: Re: Paid flights to Japan and solid contracts? |
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| double agent wrote: |
Money?
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Yeah, sure, send me whatever you've got. I always like getting money, thanks.
Drink less coffee? |
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ajarn
Joined: 15 Mar 2003
Posts: 53
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 11:50 am Post subject: Re: slave hours in japan |
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| double agent wrote: |
thanks for the info.
oh that sounds like hell, working up to 29 contact hours without
leaving the building.
I think I have heard that JAPAN is really serious about
how INVOLVED a tefl teacher should be. Sounds more like
slavery. NO THANKS.
I will give japan a pass.
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Hardly slavery at Westgate. I teach 6, 40 minute lessons a day. Works out to 20 contact hours per week. Airfare paid, accomodation sorted, travel allowance paid. One of the easiest gigs I've had in my life. I really don't know what some people expect, you want good money and don't want to work too hard. We're not teaching rocket science here or saving lives. Compared to how hard some Japanese work and the peanuts they receive English teachers in Japan have it OK. |
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bohinj
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Posts: 30
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| Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2003 6:35 pm Post subject: INVOLVED is fun |
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| Yes, most employers want you to be INVOLVED with your students. This means talk to them outside of class, attend school parties (for which you are usually paid), be friendly with everyone, care about the students' progress and make recommendations to them how they can improve, be open to invitations from students to go to their homes, out to dinner, etc. If that sounds like slavery then you should NOT seek a career in teaching, especially in a foreign country. Why would you want to live in a foreign country if you don't want to get INVOLVED?? |
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double agent
Joined: 18 Jun 2003
Posts: 152
Location: In the wild wild west
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| Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2003 5:32 am Post subject: some angry tefl teachers out there...who take it up the... |
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what can i say. I believe and I know this to be true
that CONTACT HOURS should fall in the 12-18 mark. Okay
20 max. More than that and you are FRIED. TAlKED OUT.
I give a lot, in prep and in class. I did not sign up to
be camp counsellor. If that is what you need, you can
pay me for this job too.
Teaching ENGLISH is a demanding job. It takes
a lot. Being used as a slave to crank out as many
classes as the school can cram in to make money off
of your FORIEGN butt...it a well know occurence.
I am just saying ...i will only work for companies who
are interested in me..and I them.
I see teachers getting the shaft all the time. Abused no overtime,
their holidays taken from them ...and they TAKE IT....
WHY is it these are often British teachers?
In North American we stand up for ourselves..and yes
maybe it sounds like complaining to you. Or maybe it
is just agreeing to do what is set out in the contract. ANd what
is best for the students.
Whos the real teacher on this board I wonder? |
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Lucy Snow
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 218
Location: US
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| Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2003 6:29 am Post subject: |
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Well, in a perfect world we'd all like only 12 - 18 contact hours/week, but this is ESL in Asia and it doesn't work that way.
If you're going to take a job in a language school, the school's main purpose is to make money. And that means keeping the students happy so they continue to sign up for more classes.
You could look into getting an AET position at a middle or high school, but I'm sure you're going to teach more than 12 - 18 hours/week. Glenksi could fill you in on this.
What you don't seem to grasp is that when you're in Japan, you're not in your home country anymore, and your home country's rules don't apply.
You can complain about it all you want, but it's not going to change the simple fact that Japan is not North America, and they don't do things the same way as back home.
I'm a real teacher, but I'm also a realist. |
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Sherri
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Posts: 749
Location: The Big Island, Hawaii
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| Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2003 8:18 am Post subject: |
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[quote="double agent"]what can i say. I believe and I know this to be true
that CONTACT HOURS should fall in the 12-18 mark. Okay
20 max. More than that and you are FRIED. TAlKED OUT.
The place where I worked for the longest in Japan offered contracts of 18 hours of teaching a week to fulltime instructors. It was really a lot of work though because for every hour you put into a class, it usually took an hour of prep, marking etc. Places like this are around for people who have experience teaching EFL and qualifications.
You didn't tell us anything about yourself. What kind of students do you want to teach--kids? teenagers? adults? How many years of relevant experience do you have? What are your relevant qualifications? You can't just walk into a great job or expect people to tell you where the good jobs are without putting out a little effort yourself.
I don't know who told you that contact hours should fall between 12-18! I don't know of many places where 12 hours would be considered fulltime, actually I don't know of any and I have been in this game for more than 12 years. You mention that if you teach more you will be "talked out". I wonder if you are doing a little too much teacher talking time? |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2003 9:21 am Post subject: |
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From double agent:
| Quote: |
| what can i say. I believe and I know this to be true that CONTACT HOURS should fall in the 12-18 mark. Okay 20 max. |
Would you care to cite some magical reference that verifies this? Otherwise, read what Lucy and Sherri wrote and take it to heart. In Japan, you are not in Kansas anymore, and you play by Japanese rules, or you don't play. You are in no bargaining position to do otherwise.
Moreover, even though it's nice to hear that you care about your classes to the point of saying that you put in prep time, but just how much time do you need? You sound like you have experience. Anyone with experience knows that you recycle your lesson plans so you don't have to reinvent the wheel and spend wasteful time prepping for each and every lesson. I certainly don't if I can help it. Moreover, with a 25-hour contact time per week, you may also be expected to put in certain hours to do that prep. Sometimes not, and it may be left up to you, but even if that was true, that still leaves you with 15 hours per week (assuming you work a normal North American 40-hour standard week) to prep. With about 15 classes a week, there you go! One hour per class to prep. Can you still complain about that?
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| Teaching ENGLISH is a demanding job. It takes a lot. Being used as a slave to crank out as many classes as the school can cram in to make money off of your FORIEGN butt...it a well know occurence. |
Yup, it's demanding. And, it sounds like you are, too. Read the ads. The vast majority have contact hours of 25-30 hours a week. If you don't like it, don't come. And, don't complain. Someone else will gladly and eagerly take your place. From the sound of things, the school will be glad to have them over you, anyway. You are a very demanding person, and that just does not fly in Japan.
By the way, did you even read my message? In most eikaiwas, you can sleep till noon if you like, and even then you get only a handful of classes a day.
And, yes, it's certainly a FOREIGN butt, so learn to use it properly. That means a few important things:
1. obeying rules in the office that may be different than those in your North American one,
2. obeying laws of the country even though they may be different than your own,
3. putting your best foot forward in presenting yourself as an ambassador/representative of your country (and not embarrassing or disgracing your fellow countrymen here or back home).
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I am just saying ...i will only work for companies who
are interested in me..and I them. |
From where I sit, you will work only for companies that play by your rules.
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I see teachers getting the shaft all the time. Abused no overtime,
their holidays taken from them ...and they TAKE IT.... |
And, many don't. What is your point? I also see many that don't have those problems. So?
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| WHY is it these are often British teachers? |
Is this a relevant question?
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| In North American we stand up for ourselves |
Oh, come on! That statement comes only from the most arrogant of people (usually Americans), and such people don't last long in Japan. The world is an international place, not a doormat for you to lay your sociopolitical morals. If you can't get along with other nationalities, you are going to be a sad, lonely, aggravated person in Japan. Best advice continues to be to stay home.
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| maybe it sounds like complaining to you. Or maybe it is just agreeing to do what is set out in the contract. ANd what is best for the students. |
It sounds like arrogance and self-indulgence with a dose of unreality. If you don't like the contract, don't sign. However, I have news for you -- most contracts are going to be like what we've discussed here. |
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