Hello everyone ~
As the recontracting deadline approaches, I find myself getting cold feet.
I’m a second year CIR and my experience so far has been a mixed bag. I love my job most days, but the stress I’ve experienced because of my position has taken a toll on my health this year. I’ve been able to experience once in a life time opportunities because of my job, but my city lacks a budget and I’m often unable to hold events that I know would benefit the community. I see so much potential here but it’s a 50/50 shot if I get the support needed to do anything.
This year, I’ve spent a lot of time teaching English and culture classes. I’ve loved every second of it and even got my TEFL certification online. I love meeting new people and my students have made every tough moment worth it. My classes are typically offered to retired folks/college students, and I adore teaching those age ranges.
My work has promised me a budget for events this year after not having one for my first year or half of my second year. They also said they got me one last year and then pulled it out from under me after I’d already planned things, so I’m honestly a bit worried.
I’m just not sure it’s worth gambling on and waiting. There are a ton of ALTs (10+) in my town and tbh it’s a unicorn placement. They don’t have to go in during breaks and get a done of great perks that I just don’t get as a CIR (For example, they get 20 nenkyuu days while I only get 10. They rarely ever have OT and often get paid for it while I work frequent OT and get daikyuu that I have to use within the month. They get free bus passes and I don’t). We obviously have two different jobs and they have their own type of stress and responsibility, , but we all work for the city under the same contract type, just in slightly different sectors of city hall. We even collab on the same projects and I handle teaching community classes that they were originally brought in to teach. I just feel like I’m being used as an ALT and CIR at the same time with half the benefits. I handle all the translation for the ALTs and have basically been their de facto advisor and advocate this year. I love helping them, but it makes the gap VERY apparent. I try not to get bitter about it, but it’s not always easy to avoid thinking about.
I got an offer to transfer over to be an alt and I’m torn. Helping people is a lot of fun and there are times when I do love my job. At the same time, I don’t always get respected and I often wonder why I’m even working at my work place. Every day is different and it feels Ike a yo-yo of emotions
I also got an unofficial offer from the local university to be a professor there, but I don’t know many details.
For context:
I love teaching and my post JET goal is to move around the world and teach while doing translation on the side (I got my n1 this year)
I’m hoping reading some experiences will help clear my head. Any advice would be appreciated.