Job Discussion Forums

[gaijinalways]

I noticed my part-time work at a language school really went down this past summer. I used to work 4 days a week and get plenty of lessons. great gig for me as it is close to where I normally live and I don't have to prep or correct homework outside of class time.

This past summer, I had to make myself available all day for 6 days a week, and still didn't get the number of lessons I would normally get.

I have some coworkers who have also seen drops in their number of private students or in the number of presentation classes, etc they have been doing. I know translation and rewriting/editing work has decreased for most teachers I know.

Just wondering, anyone else seen a big drop in income this year? What do you think is the best strategy for dealing with it?

[Glenski]

I just posted a news clip from El Gazette that talked about business English in the future. Some of the tidbits there might be of use. See http://jalthokkaido.net/blog/?p=631 .

[gaijinalways]

That's a good article on what is happening in Europe, which seems to be mirroring what is going on in Japan. Not surprising the conclusions, and yes, companies are holding the purse strings on related training programs very tightly.

[dove]

Although one of the major companies where I freelance is going through some rough economic times, they have kept their English classes because many of their workers need to improve their English for their teleconferences. My students tell me that communicating in English in these teleconferences is much more difficult than face to face.

[mrbbkk]

I left Japan six years ago cause I saw the slowdown coming

They need lots of teachers in the middle east

Good salaries, free housing and no local taxes

Only down side is it takes a long time and a lot of documents to get a work visa

You have to be experienced and qualified