Job Discussion Forums

starteacher · Joined: 25 Feb 2009 Posts: 237

What are your opinions on this ?

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

JET population has been declining in recent years, so of those 5000 ALTs, you might say some of the "young'ns" group is going down. I can't speak for any other population here, but I have a similar sense of a growing number of older (over 30) teachers. Perhaps I just notice them more because I hang out with them more.

As for students, don't know what to say. The negative birth rate here will have an effect on who one ends up teaching. Will the government's notion of putting English in elementary schools counter that? Dunno. I think globalization is slowly creeping into the Japan market to the extent that we see more ESP/EAP/business related courses (akin to stuff for the "older set"). Is it a chicken or the egg thing, though? Build it (English course for business people, e.g.) and they will come, or were they already here and just need a better textbook?

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

You're seeing 'Eikaiwa for Obaasan and Ojiisan' because there is a market for it, the companies are just trying to make money.

There are fewer JETs, and the age limit on JET is also starting to rise- the number of people (especially North Americans) who show up in this country with absolutely juvenile mentalities has increased (see www.bigdaikon.com), leading to an attempt to alleviate it with older teachers.

As the salaries drop, more young people are going to other countries to teach where they can get more money. Some of the older teachers here haven't just shown up, but have decided to stay for a while, because they figured out that with contacts, experience and language skills (and possibly formal academic qualifications in the area), they can get access to better jobs (or at least get a better chance at dispatch jobs then a newbie).

aynnej · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:43 am Post subject:

There has also been an emphasis on "brain training" to stave off dementia. Some of my elderly students have told me that's why they study English.

"Brain training" seems to be a big thing in Japan lately. Sometimes you'll see older people doing puzzles on DS players on the train (no, it's not just for kids anymore), and there have been several news articles about it.