Job Discussion Forums

[tcatsninfan]

My wife and I are currently researching various opportunities to teach English in Japan. One of the eikaiwas we stumbled upon recently is Gaba.

I went to their website and it looks pretty nice. I know companies shouldn't be judged by their websites but I couldn't help noticing that theirs is fairly attractive, it's laid out pretty well, and I didn't see a bunch of typos/grammatical errors that are common with these sorts of sites.

They appear to be fairly transparent about the details of their teaching contracts. However, one of the things that concerns me about their company is the way they're focused on hourly salary rather than monthly. I don't want to move to Japan and only get 20 hours a week...

I'd like to know if any of you all have taught with them before and, if so, whether you had any trouble getting full time hours. Any other issues you've had would be helpful to point out as well. Thank you very much in advance.

[Apsara]

There have been a number of people asking similar questions to your one in the past, and searching or going back a few pages should bring them up- I've written about my experiences with them in various threads.

Briefly, they do not pay a salary, as you have noticed. You are free to apply to work for as many (or few) hours as you like, but you will only get paid if students book lessons with you during those hours (they are free to choose which teacher they would like to take a lesson with). It can take time to build up a student base, so you could expect not to be on a full-time salary the first couple of months. You increase your chances of getting lesson bookings by applying for evening and weekend hours.

As I've said in other threads, the schedule flexibility is great for people who want to supplement their income or are moving into working in another field but have not yet gone full time in another job (this worked well for me when I was transitioning to teaching yoga full time), but someone wanting a fixed income with benefits is probably better off looking elsewhere.

Pluses to Gaba other than the flexible schedule include very motivated students (they are paying plenty for the lessons so tend to try hard), a very hands-off approach by management, leaving you to do your own thing as long as the students are happy, no pressure to do sales of any kind unless you want to, and a clean and tidy atmosphere to work in (these things are definitely not the case in all eikaiwas).

[Glenski]

You may want to read this.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20101019zg.html

[rxk22]

Whats stopping Gaba from massively overstaffing your school, so no one has to wait for a teacher, but you only get 2-3 lessons a day?

[tcatsninfan]

Yeah, I'm not feeling the whole Gaba thing, especially after reading that (fairly recent) article in Japan Times. Thanks for the heads up.

[rxk22]

[Apsara]

[rxk22]

[Apsara]

There is no "sh$t list". You submit the schedule you want, and either the students pick you as their teacher or they don't- the management have nothing to do with it. The first few months can be tight as the students don't know you yet, but pretty much anyone with a few brain cells and a not-completely-repellent personality will build up a base soon enough.

You mean 12,000 yen a day, not 120,000 I take it? Eight 40-minute lessons gets you 12,000 a day, and is pretty effortless really, nothing like teaching group lessons- I have experienced both and I can tell you which one is easier. Most people do 10 or so quite comfortably. Some do more but only work 4 days a week, or take a month off every 4 months to travel for example. There are also bonuses for teaching over a certain amount of lessons a month (quite achievable), or for people involved in sales.

Most full-timers I worked with were on considerably over 200,000 a month, and I know long-termers (5+ years at Gaba- yes, they exist!) who have worked their way up the payscale who do well over 400,000 a month- you couldn't get them out of there with a crowbar, and they are pretty much entirely uninterested in what the union is doing.