Job Discussion Forums

[wolfman]

I've noticed a lot of people asking for advice on the interviews with AEON. but i have a more general question.

I've been looking more into JET until a couple days ago when i heard about AEON. AEON seems to have a bit more flexibility than JET in terms of application. but it doesn't seem as well known.

am i right with these observations?

is one program distinctly better than the other?

as always, any help is appreciated!

[womblingfree]

JET and Aeon are completely different.

JET is a governmnt based scheme to supply ALT's to high schools in Japan.

Aeon, Nova, Geos, ECC, Berlitz, Shane, yada-yada... Are all private language schools teaching mostly adults in little offices dotted around towns, cities and shopping malls.

JET has better remunerations and is professionally managed and probably looks better on the CV.

All the other private schools are run for profit alone, you are a necessary evil. However you'll probably have more fun at a private language school as you can hang out with students of your own age, and your co-workers will be english speaking graduates. Also you'll be placed in a big city if that's what you want.

[wolfman]

[Perpetual Traveller]

Not sure exactly how picky you'd want to be, for fear of looking a bit difficult, but I asked for something in the Kansai region, which includes Kyoto, at an 'A' school, which means high school and above, and when I received my job offer that is what I got, adults (mostly business people) and just outside Kobe.

PT

[womblingfree]

[dudelebow]

I can only speak for the company's EAST division. I had an interesting experience with them. Be careful of these guys. They try to get you to sell your soul to adopt an attitude towards the job that is ridiculous and unreasonable in the name of 'professionalism'. examples: no crossing your legs in class or meetings. call students at their homes when they are absent. calling all students by their last name "mr. sato". laughable, yet mandatory warm up activities. i could go on. the head guy who runs the EAST division and name rhymes with mr. teriyaki is a nutcase. so is their highest ranked western representative who has a familiar speech impediment 'uhh uhh uhh' and last name rhymes with the word 'filler'. the foreign training staff is either fearful for their jobs or have suffered a cult like brainwashing. or perhaps they have just been in japan too long. who knows. anyway.....it all depends on your branch office and managers. if you get on with them, you can get away with anything. if you don't, you better be a 'yes-man' or you can kiss your chances for contract renewal goodbye. they evaluate teachers on the following: teaching, interpersonal skills, and business support. the latter two are just ways if they need to reject a contract renewal offer even if you're a standout teacher. they are not honest and forthcoming about your work performance. if you didn't get along with your manager, then it's your fault and you lacked the interpersonal skills or cultural sensitivity. if you didn't sell enough self study materials, then you lacked the business support. it's a crap shoot. my first 6 months with them, despite the head office's attempt at mental control, was excellent. after the new area and branch manager stepped in, it was downhill for me from there on. proceed with caution.

[womblingfree]

[seanmcginty]

I worked for AEON west for two years and it sounds a lot different. I had no idea there were differences like that between east and west.

I never had to call students at home, never had to call them by their last name, never had to refrain from crossing my legs....

AEON west was pretty good. I never had any dealings with head office people, they pretty much just let me do my thing. The manager and assistant managers observed my lessons maybe 3 or 4 times in 2 years and then offered annoying advice/criticism but that was about the extent of the interference. I didn't have to do any set warm up activities or anything, basically so long as I did that weeks unit in the text I was free to use whatever activities I want.

We had to sell study materials in AEON west too, but I never had head office people pressuring me or anyting. When I worked at GEOS though....boy was that ever a pain in the ass.

I also worked for GEOS, and I have to say a lot of this stuff going on in AEON east sounds like my experience there. The two companies used to be the same (GEOS and AEON), so maybe thats why.

[womblingfree]

[shikushiku-boy]

I worked for AEON for 2 years.

AEON positives:
fewer lessons than Nova.
more prep time than Nova.
public holidays (unlike Nova) NB: Aeon has 2 teacher schedules,
Mon. to Fri. or Tue. to Sat. The Tue. to Sat. schedule means that
public holidays will often fall on one of your days off (i.e. Monday).
While your Mon. to Fri. colleagues get a 3 day weekend you�ll
only get a 2 day weekend. You won�t get an extra day to make up
for this.
You will teach in a classroom (albeit small) unlike Nova�s dog-boxes.
You will teach the same groups of students every week.
Completion of contract bonus.
Company supplied teaching materials.
A lot less paperwork than GEOS.
An apartment to yourself.
You can socialize with students (unlike Nova).
You get to work with Japanese English teachers
(they teach the absolute beginners).

AEON negatives:
Beware the AEON east�s Omiya training house. A real
nest of vipers, in my opinion. Watch your back!
The Tue. to Sat. teaching schedule (see above).
Very difficult to transfer to another school (a really
serious negative if your school is a nasty place work).
The �sales campaigns� AEON has 3 or 4 times a year.

A happy AEON experience depends on 3 things:
1. Your ability to knuckle under and �play the game�.
2. The financial success (or lack of it) of your school.
3. The sanity/competence of your manager/headteacher
(I know of a headteacher who was such a paranoid
control freak, that demanded two teachers stop
speaking Spanish in the teachers� room, because they
might be saying bad stuff about him).

The rest is Japanese corporate stuff that just comes with territory.
Railing against it is like railing against the smog over Tokyo.

[Nicedog777]

I can also personally vouch for AEON West's overall goodness. Solid support from head office, pleasant coworkers, coolest trainers this side of the Pacific.

Man, Aeon East sounds rough.

I will agree, however, that it really comes down to your head teacher and manager and how you get along with them when thinking of your overall stay. After all, they are the bosses you're living with.

That being said, I gave out some cake for White Day.

[womblingfree]

[dudelebow]

Womblingfree, you hit it on the nose. I was a victim just like the ones you mentioned of the EAST division. I'm not surprised there are others. If a problem arises, you will inevitably have to meet the 'driller killer'. He'll take you into an interrogation room. He is notorious for twisting words around and making you look like the bad person. If you ever have to deal with him, you should record your conversation, make your case and say as little as possible. If they cross the line, don't be afraid to contact the labor consultation service. And by the way, if by chance you are assigned to the EAST division's branch with the initials K.S. (which is 10 min by train from Ueno), be careful of the head teacher and branch manager there. Not to be trusted.

[womblingfree]

Thanks for the advice but I'm long gone from Aeon and unfortunately now possibly overqualified to sample their delights again.

A week of fly on the wall training at Omiya again could be pretty funny though.

[Nicedog777]