Job Discussion Forums

fat_chris · Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing

Here is a link to the same article posted by the OP, on a different website (www.japantoday.com).

http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/english-language-learning-industry-in-bad-shape

I posted this same article again because I have found the reader comments at the end of the article on the japantoday version to be interesting.

I am more and more grateful for my current set-up as a JET ALT with each passing day.

Regards,
fat_chris

saloc · Joined: 04 Jul 2003 Posts: 102

I'm not sure what to make of the article. Especially this:

According to the Nikkei, there were about 4.51 million people enrolled at foreign language schools around Japan in 2008�this information apparently comes from statistics collated by METI. Although this number includes those learning foreign languages and presumably foreigners learning Japanese as well, I can imagine that at least 4 million would be those learning English in the conventional way�by attending English language schools.

The 4 million number also includes all ages, from seniors through to kids�so if we were to slice this number some more, we could probably say that around 60%, or 2.4 million, are people of working age�ie, the bulk of people who would have been most hurt by Nova going under, due to the large amounts they were having to pay as tuition deposits.

Why could we probably say that? About 85% of the students in my school are kids and other owners I know have similar situations. I'm not saying he's wrong but just curious as to where he picked that 60% from.

He also suggests that one-on-one teaching makes good business sense when almost anyone who runs a school knows it doesn't. Group lessons are almost always more profitable for the school or teacher, so why, from a business point of view, would popular teachers try and encourage more one-on-one time