Job Discussion Forums

[1gurlrevolution]

Hey guys,

My fiance and I have just completed the ECC interview and have been accepted but what we learned at the interview raised a few concerns for us and I'd like to know how you've found working for them regarding:

1. The variety of ages taught. Do you find it difficult to teach so many different age groups in one day and do you find it difficult to transition between classes--say from children to adults? Or does ECC take age group transitions into account when making up your schedule? How many infant (1-3yrs) classes do you teach and are they tolerable? Do you find your adult classes rewarding?

2. Lesson planning. Because there are so many different age groups and different kinds of classes, do you find it difficult or hard to lesson plan? How much time do you think you spend on lesson planning per week?

3. Scheduling (a question for couples). Obviously, my fiance and I will be coming together but I it's a bit disappointing that ECC doesn't make more effort to give couples the same days off. Do you find this difficult when you want to spend more time with your partner?

4. The curriculum. We had a chance to look through the curriculum at the interview and our initial impressions were not so good (but maybe we just saw old copies?). Do you like using their materials and do you find them easy to use? Do you have to adapt them very often? What do the students think about the curriculum?

5. The pay. Maybe I missed something but I don't remember hearing anything about pay increases following the completion of a year contract--is this right? Do you find the pay to be sufficient to save a bit of money? (We're applying for Kinki disctrict.) For a couple, do you think it's possible to live entirely off one salary and save the other?

6. Positions. We heard in the interview that most teachers teach at 4-5 schools--how many do you teach at? Did ECC really try to find you work near to where you live or do you have a long commute (if so, how long)? Do you find it difficult having numerous bosses/managers spread out amongst many schools?

7. Housing. Everything I've heard about the apartments they find you is generally positive but I'd like to know if anyone has had any problems--especially getting things fixed should you require maintenance. Are the agencies easy to work with? Were you given any options other than the one when you arrived? I gathered from the interview that you're pretty much presented with one apartment--take it or leave it.

8. Internet classes. Not much was said about these at the interview--what are they like and do you enjoy them? Are they engaging? I know they go pretty late into the evening (11pm I think?)--do you find it difficult to awake for those?

I know that's a lot of questions but I greatly appreciate your input.

Thanks!

[Kankidan]

[seklarwia]

[1gurlrevolution]

Do you teach for ECC, Kankidan? I'm surprised you don't already know the answer to your question! (Yes, ECC places couples and helps them find couple's housing.)

You're right that living in a foreign country can be hard on relationships but in my opinion (as someone who's done it both as a single and as a couple), I think it's easier because you have your own personal support team at home. For that reason, I think couples are more likely to stick out the hard times than singles. As for us, it's not really an issue as we've lived and taught together overseas on two separate occasions now--i don't think Japan is going to break us apart.

Seklarwia, I think you've made a few erroneous assumptions here: 1. we're not demanding anything and 2. we're not ungrateful for the offer. Obviously I had more concerns about the job than just a day off (did you read my post or stop at question three?). Thanks for your reply though. If you work for ECC, I'd like to know your opinion on the other questions I raised.

[1gurlrevolution]

A lot of really positive things are said about ECC and I know that in this economic climate, being accepted by them is pretty good. But despite all of the good things said, I haven't found many personal anecdotes about the questions I raised.

I think it's important to know the difference between a good job and a bad job. Anyone who's ever been stuck in a bad or unfavorable situation knows the difference.

We're trying to figure out if this is the right kind of job for us. I hope some of you working for ECC can help us make the right decision by sharing your experience. Like most people, no one issue can or will make the decision for us but the combination of several issues might. So thanks in advance for contributing. Your insight is appreciated.

[Kankidan]

[1gurlrevolution]

[Kankidan]

O that is where I said I work for ECC and would know the answer to my own question. gotcha.

[NoExit]

Congrats on both getting hired! Nice to see some couples get accepted together and hear that ESL teaching in Japan not always "singles only".

Sorry I can't help with too many of your questions, but goodluck! ECC has some of the better reviews as far as Eikaiwa goes, with Aeon being a close second.

Try doing a search for "ECC" here on Daves. You may have to go a number of pages back, but there is a lot of good/relevant information available via the search function! (Dave's has a very good search- it actually works!)

[1gurlrevolution]

Thanks NoExit! Yeah, we were pretty excited about being accepted because it's hard for couples to get jobs these days...

And thanks for the suggestion about doing searches here. I find that Dave's search engine works about 50% of the time for me but maybe it's just the slow Aussie internet. I've done quite a few searches before and came up with some good answers about AEON but not as much for ECC (and very few on the one's I mentioned above). Maybe I should repost on Gaijin Pot...

[Rakis]

[Kankidan]

****Edit: Forgot cell phone bills! And internet!****

When looking at the expense break downs that have been posted, I think you'll find it to be a bit difficult to save a lot of money.

For example, lets take a look at two possible scenarios:

Living in the same home:

If you are living in the same home, your rent will certainly be higher. They will place you in to a home that is set for two people right? Those will naturally cost more, and I am not sure (correct me ofcourse if im wrong) that ECC subsidizes rent. So, you may end up paying say, 70,000 - 80,000 for the base rent + utilities. Safe to say with two people, you can total that to, 100,000 -120,000 yen a month? ( extremely rough figures).

Food will come in to play, I personally live cheap, and spend maybe 25,000 + - 5,000 yen. I've seen estimates of 50,000 and I would say that would make sense if you traveled a bit and liked to eat at restaurants. So, lets say for the sake of it, you two will probably spend 60,000-70,000 yen a month on food. So thats 190,000 (on the high side).

Now, 252,000 - 190,000-11%tax-insurance-workers pay insurance - Cell phone 7,500-6,500 = -9700 yen. Which I don't this is too bad. So add your husbands and you have 189,000 yen to play with(roughly).

So really, you have a lot of money left over. Of course you need to pay transportation for non-work related travel, and general expenses.

They say you typically save 30,000-60,000 a month alone, so maybe you will end up with 120,000 yen. Which after my break down sounds about right. I'm not sure if you guys have student loans either, or credit cards and such. I would start adding up your guys' current bills.

Good luck though truly!

[Kankidan]

Oops! The 2nd scenario would be you two not living in the same room, but it seems that you more than likely will! So thats a huge positive!

O when you move out, you will be responsible for the Key money and the new deposit required for that apartment. These two costs are pretty high seeing as key money can be 60,000-100,000 yen and then your deposit, which is usually 2-3 months rent. Pretty expensive. Apparently they have a 4-5 month clause that allows you to move out, so it seems it certainly is an option.

[Rakis]

[Rakis]