Job Discussion Forums

radiodaddy · Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

OK, I'm taking a hard look (not for the first time) at teaching for Westgate in Japan and I've read about how conservative collegiate life is in Japan. The proper dress, the mandatory lesson planning/attendance records, the workshops, the activity hosting and other items make the university life of Japan sound stuffy, rigid and simply NOT FUN.

I know there has to be some present-day or former university FTs from Japan who can shed some light on this issue. Give me the scoop:

*How conservative is Japanese collegiate life?
*How much "free time" do you (or did you) REALLY have as a teacher?
*What kind of social life do you (or did you) have?
*How much interaction were you allowed to have with other faculty members and/or students outside of the classroom environment?
*Would you recommend university teaching as opposed to teaching university-age students in another setting?

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

-Radiodaddy

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Westgate is not a university, you know. It is a dispatch agency that farms out teachers to, among other places, universities for English lessons.

Dress code may vary with the university (mine doesn't even have a dress code, and many Japanese professors just wear casual clothing to class, some look just like ojii-chan). If you get hired through Westgate, you may have to follow its dress code, if they even have one.

Free time? FT teachers may teach 4-10 classes per week. Figure the rest out yourself, but there aren't that many meetings and extracurricular acticvities. I'm in my first year, so I'm making a lot of lesson plans first time around and hope that I can just recycle them for the coming years. With Westgate, I would expect that you are on a certain schedule, a rather busy one, if I recall.

Here's what a guy I used to know wrote about his Westgate schedule:

Mark · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 500 Location: Tokyo, Japan

One other important thing to note is that Westgate doesn't farm teachers out directly to universities. You'll be teaching what's called "Career English" I believe. You'd be in the equivalent of an extension college teaching non-credit programs. Students who complete the program get some kind of certificate.

As far as I know, that's most of the jobs. Westgate also sends people to replace regular professors, but many companies are in this business.

If you're in the "Career English" program, I'd expect to have pretty much no contact whatsoever with the regular teaching staff. You are supposed to ask permission to meet students outside of class, but I don't think many people bother with that.

radiodaddy · Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 10

Glenski -

Thanks for the information! A couple of things to respond to:

1. You're right, the way I wrote the first sentence of my first post it sounds like I thought Westgate was the university ... I know they're a placement agency. Thanks for calling my attention to that.

2. The dress code that Westgate wants is listed on their website. Here's the URL:

http://www.westgate.co.jp/00home/university.html

It seems they want that "conservative" appearance and that casual clothes are just not appropriate in front of students (in the office is OK). That's one of the things I wanted to understand from people like you and you cleared it up pretty well.

3. Your buddy's schedule that you pasted in your post sounds most like the schedule Westgate is offering to prospective uni FTs. It sounds like overkill at the outset, while YOUR schedule sounds typical of other university positions I've heard about. However, those schedules are usually obtained by working for the university directly ... not going through a placement company like Westgate. Am I right here?

4. I guess the two questions involving "social life" and "interacting with students and teachers" do collide with one another. Seems I was repeating myself. Sorry.

5. You are correct with the length of time involved with this position. They are looking for a 3-month (min.) to a 7-month (max.) contract, yet the pay is reasonable (280K/mo with proper qualificiations), the contract is renewable and working visa is sponsored. Sounds decent, but I say this with no teaching exp in Japan ... only one year in China.

Any further thoughts on the issue would be welcome!

Thanks again.
-Radiodaddy

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

sidjameson · Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 629 Location: osaka

Westgate is a pretty good alternative to working at Nova or another language school I would say. But compared to getting even part time work directly from a university it is a very poor second.

Me too Glenski, I havent had so much as a single wasted night as of yet attending some bonenkai or some such thing Very Happy

I would have thought that the only person interested in the Westgate thing is somebody who wants a 3 month taste of Japan. Perhaps also, somebody who lives cheaply in Thailand etc and just wants 3 months work a year to extend their Thai savings.

sethness · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 209 Location: Hiroshima, Japan

280k is no great deal. Shop around.

The standard no-experience, entry-level English teaching job in Japan is abotu 25 contact hours per week, variable prep time/office hours, and 250k yen per month, with a 1-year contract including 3~4 weeks' vacation.

Compared to that, teaching 7-hour days at W. for 280,000 per month sounds like a very. bad. deal.
Shop around... with one year's experience under your belt, I'll bet you can find a comparable salary with far fewer working hours.