Job Discussion Forums

[Dude Love Japan]

(1) All instructors start by earning 1,500 yen per 40-minute lesson. This can rise to 2,200 yen per lesson
Dear friends,
I have a job offer from Gaba. It seems pretty good all things considered but isn't the pay awfully low? Thanks for comments and advice.

[ripslyme]

That is insanely low. I wouldn't suggest trying to make a living off of that. At best it would be something for killing time away from one's regular full-time job. (And even then, there are better paying options out there than that.)

[Yawarakaijin]

I think a lot of people tend to look at the company and it's percieved reputation rather than the cold hard facts.

2,200x8 classes per day is 17,600 yen/day
17,600x5 days a week is 88,000 per week
88,000x 4 weeks is 352,000 per month

That is considerably higher than an eikaiwa jockey. The problem, I imagine, is being popular enough to get slotted for 8 classes per day.

I'm in a company posistion that requires me to be onsite 11 hours per day with 7 classes taught *only 4 days a week though* and make only a little more than what GABA would if you worked 8 hours a day at 2,200 per lesson. Hell, the 2,220 isn't even per hour, it's per class.

This is by no means aimed at the previous poster but i've found that the foreign community can be pretty pretentious when it comes to which eikaiwa/institution people work at.

Look at the hard numbers. No one in Canada would try to demean you or look down on you for making what is now over 3500$CDN per month. If you feel like you have the personality to handle 8 classes per day, I've heard of some people doing more, take the money and enjoy your life mate.

To tell you the truth, if it wasn't for me making just a little more with only having to work 4 days instead of 5 I might consider jumping ship and joining GABA myself. I would find myself in a bigger city with much more going on.

[BobbyBan]

Sorry, but if you really look at the hard numbers, Yawarakaijin, then the reality is everyone starts on 1500 per lesson. You'll also have to pay tax on that so if you take off around 100 yen per lesson then you will have a monthly payment of just over 220000.

GABA doesn't pay well, I am afraid and you can't guarantee that you'll have a full schedule. It also takes a few months at the least to climb each rung of the ladder so you will have to put in a lot of time before you even get close to the figure that you cited earlier.

[Yawarakaijin]

No doubt, you would have to put your time in to get reach that payscale. The company is open about it, are they not?

No doubt, 2200 is a low wage if you compare it with average hourly rates for a private class. I've had privates that paid 6,000 yen an hour. Guess what, those are pretty hard to come by.

I don't think that my figures are way off. 2,200 is the hourly (40min) wage after you work your way up the ladder. Pulling 8 classes is not beyond all imagination. Most of the people I have know who worked at nova or geos had 8 classes a day.

So, I guess it's how you wanna look at it. Eikaiwa jockeys get paid an average of 250,000 and have to pay taxes. It appears that, after some hard work, you can make 350,000 at GABA. I personally wouldn't consider that a low wage.

Now, is GABA charging considerably more than 2200 for its private classes and not paying the teacher a fair share of that fee? That is another story.

Maybe someone who works for GABA will chime in and tell us their highest montly paycheque. I would be interested to hear it.

[BobbyBan]

[Yawarakaijin]

Do the other Eikaiwa even enroll their teachers in the national health and pensions schemes? I've heard the deal with gaba is that if you want time off there is nothing to it. Just don't book yourself in for that week or month or whatever. I imagine if you had one part time company gig and gaba (after working your way up) it might not be such a bad deal.

[dove]

I wonder what the students are like at Gaba. Obviously they want private lessons. Is the clientele mainly businesspeople, housewives, college students? Gaba might be good for those who do not want to teach elementary, jhs, and hs students.

[Glenski]

[Yawarakaijin]

[quote="Glenski"]

[Apsara]

I worked at Gaba full time under the old management (2002- 2004), and I did a stint part-time there last year as well during a lull in my usual work.

I can confirm that it is under new management (since 2004 actually), and that they are again sponsoring visas for people who work approximately a full time schedule. I would not like to do it as a full time job again but as a supplement to other work is great as you can do as much or as little of it as you want to. I would go back again if I wanted to up my income a bit for a while.

Glenski, you may find teaching one on one classes draining, but not everyone feels the same way. I find group classes to be much more work- I teach in-house classes at a company one day a week- and would rather poke myself in the eye with a pencil than teach a class of junior high school students- everyone is different.

Gaba students tend to be quite motivated (they are paying through the nose so are usually trying to get their money's worth), and are mostly working people and some college students. Housewives and retired people are rarer, although the more suburban schools have a few. There were a few high school students, most of those were returnees or otherwise already quite proficient at English.

Students tended to be higher level, and many were an absolute pleasure to teach, or in a lot of cases just chat to, as that is all some of them want. There were of course lower level students but they were also motivated and worked very hard. A 40-minute chat with an NHK producer, radio DJ, haiku professor or other professional person was never draining to me, but it could be to some people- it must depend a lot on your own personality I suppose.

[Yawarakaijin]

My entire job consists of in house company teaching. I have to do about 6 classes per day but am required to be on site for 11 hours. I have to say the money is great but the motivation of the students ( if you can call them that ) is absolutely appalling. The only thing keeping me here is the cash.

I sometimes wonder if I am sacrificing too much for the golden ring. I also abhor teaching kids so I sometimes feel stuck here. If GABA could gaurantee you 8 classes a day or a teacher training position it might not be so bad. I would sacrifice a bit of pay to actually have some enthusiatic students and a little bit of interesting office banter with a fellow teacher.

[Glenski]

[Yawarakaijin]

Was just checking out their site. On the pay scale they indicate it is possible to make 3,300 yen per lesson. Just from my own experience, I found it pretty difficult, even in tokyo, to find anyone willing to pay over 3,000 yen for a private lesson. If this 3,300 yen rate per 40 minute lesson is true, and they can get you a certain amount of classes every month, it doesn't seem so bad. I'm surprised we haven't had any current Gaba teachers pipe up on the matter.

Glenski has about about private tutoring though. I know I find it more stressing than teaching an actual class. In my opinion, students actually get more out of a class based lesson than a private one. I doubt however that that will ever become a widely held belief throughout Japan. The big eikaiwa have done a pretty good job convincing everyone here that private classes are the ONLY way to go. I've come across students that would rather pay 5,000 yen per hour for a private than 1,000 yen for a class with only two others.

[dove]

Actually, I think some of the big eikaiwa schools discourage private lessons. They would rather fill the time slot with 6 paying students than with one (even though that private lesson student is paying through the nose).

When I was in Japan, I always preferred private lessons. I never found it draining at all (teaching a class of jhs students--now that is what I call draining). I found that in a group setting, many Japanese students hold back, defer to others. Private students just seemed more motivated.

Yawarakaijin wrote about unmotivated students at his job. I found those kind of students the most draining. So maybe a plus for Gaba is the students.