Job Discussion Forums

[Scozwi]

I will be having an interview in Japan in Feb, but I heard that i will be doing a demo lesson. I have no experience with teaching. Can any you give me any ideas for the class? Or what did u do when u had to do a demo lesson?
How did the interview go?
Any tips about the interview?
thanks again.
Scozwi in Japan

[klute]

Interac. Be afraid. Be very afraid!!

[shmooj]

Scozwi - search the Japan forum for the word "interac" and you will find the lowdown on them. Are you sure you know the full story here? They don't have a great reputation from what I've read here.

As for demo lessons, again, search this forum for "demo" and you should find a lot of results posted by people preparing for demo interview lessons with various companies.

[TokyoLiz]

Scowzi,

Personally, I wouldn't sell Interac my s n o t. They underpay for the work you do, don't support you at all, will put you in a building that isolates you from people, transportation, and the office people have no idea about curriculum, materials development, nothing, so don't expect anything.

Oh, yeah, and the Japanese language lessons are only available in Tokyo at times convenient to their office.

Even their supervisors don't last at the job, largely because they have no experience in personnel and are ruled by intimidation from Tokyo.

[Sam Adams]

Don't worry to much about the interview. Just be yourself. Most of the questions will be about adapting to life in Japan and the Japanese school system. If you go with a big smile and a real desire to work with students, you will get the job.
Before you start, you receive about 5 days training, which actually helped me. Everything else you will pick up on the way.
Don't be too concerened about the negative things you read. I did right before I left and got very concerned. Then I was able to contact people who actually worked for Interac as A.L.T's. Just remember that people who have a negative experience are 10 times more likely to write about it then those with a positive experience. This site is notorious for that.

[voodoochild]

I agree

[sidjameson]

Above is very true. Just remember that once you get here the 3 year visa is yours and if you feel you are getting a raw deal you can move on easy enough.

[april]

They've stopped issuing 3 year working visas now, it's back to one-year again. Bummer hey!

[shmooj]

April - what you say may be true. Could you tell us how you know this and that you are sure this goes for every immigration office in Japan? Just want to make sure.

[april]

The woman at ECC who is currently organising my working visa told me this. And no, I don't know if this is true for every immigration office in Japan. Even if I did, would you really take my word for it??? Maybe I should place a disclaimer on my postings.

[shmooj]

I wouldn't, no. But there are some who would. It might be helpful just to say how you know the info and how accurate you think it might be. Otherwise, you might draw fire you didn't intend for making general statements like the above. Adding more background covers your own back.

But, it's good to know that you heard it from someone official-ish.

[TokyoLiz]

Sam Adams,

[Gordon]

[G Cthulhu]

You generally get whatever the company asks for on your COE.

To me it's an indicator about the company that they would ask for a one year visa. It says (to me at least) that they expect you to bail if they get you a three year visa and that they want some small hold over you by only getting you the one, thus making you /slightly/ more dependent upon them for renewing. This is especially true for those that don't know anything about Japan or the visa system IMO.

Having said that, I know a few people working for interac outside of the big cities and they have no problems with the company. Everyone I know working for them /in/ a city hates them and has had nothing but problems.

Personally, I wouldn't touch them with a barge poll simply because any company that is willing to hire someone with no training or support whatsoever doesn't care about teaching IMO, and that's not who I want organising my teaching life.

[Experienced]

Enough people have had bad experiences with this company that there is reason for concern. Here's a link to one such experience:

www.fierceforward.com/interac

It's surprising the lengths that people will go to in order to warn others. Maybe the warnings about Interac should be taken seriously.