Hello, i’m just trying to find out how was it your experience working in a private school compare to public schools as ALT , and did anyone here have tried to work in English Garden?

9 comments

1. Private schools are always going to be better than ALT jobs, but you have more work. The pay is better as well.

2. If you’re talking about the difference between Eikaiwa or ALT jobs I’d heavily recommend ALT (not sure if you meant private language schools vs alt jobs in public schools). Eikaiwas are pretty notoriously scummy and even with a dispatch company as an ALT your main point of contact is the school rather than the company. I suspect you’ll earn more at an Eikaiwa though? As dispatch ALT companies often don’t pay for school holidays.

3. When you say “private school” in this context, you are talking about Eikawa right?

4. I’d say your chances of landing something longer term and more stable would be higher with a private school.

5. When you say “private school”, are you talking direct hire or dispatch?

   When I dispatched at private schools, it had most of the good parts of being an ALT with very little of the bad, aside from the fact that I was doing a lot more work without getting any more pay.

   But that was at least more work relevant to teaching. Working as a direct hire in a private school, I have more work than an ALT for my teaching *and* a ton of administrative duties that ALTs will never face. I’m told there are some direct hire private school English teachers who get out of this, but with meetings, recruiting duties, and just taking care of students’ well-being, there is no possible way I could get out without putting in some unpaid overtime every day. People here take it for granted that all teachers will just lose some of their holidays for extra school events, and unlike when I was an ALT, there is no way to make that lost vacation day up because that would meant losing a day I’m scheduled to teach on.

   That said, for all the complaints, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone who is qualified to solo-teach actually being willing to take on ALT work. The schedule is great, but knowing how to teach properly and potentially not being allowed to do it because the “real teacher” (who may not even speak the language they are teaching well) wants to be in charge sounds like an absolute nightmare. If I think back to my ALTing days and remember just how many lessons I proposed that the JTE responded with, “I don’t know if the students can do that…” and compare it to my career since then and all the things my students could do because I took the time to prepare them for it… I can’t imagine how soul-crushing it would be to go back.

6. ALTs get better work schedules and more time off than Eikaiwa teachers, but Eikaiwa teachers usually get paid a little more. It really comes down to whether you value money or time more.

   Personally, I prefer having more free time. You’ll eventually want to move onto a direct hire ALT job or a different career choice if you want to stay in Japan, and having all that free time will help you prepare for that.

7. yes it’s eikaiwa

8. thanks to all your advice and sharing really appreciate it guys✌️🙏 to be honest i did take the eikaiwa for the meantime because of the hourly wage and hopefully it would be worth it i mean the job experience, if it does nt worth i mean if they take me for granted you know asking too much stuffs or unpaid ot issue probably try next time as an ALT, by the way its my first time to teach in Japan Im scared a bit…………….

9. You need to brush up on your grammar.

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   >Hello, i’m just trying to find out how was ~~it~~ your experience working in a private school **compare to** public schools **as ALT**

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   >if it ~~does~~ nt worth

   If it isn’t worth it

   >asking too much stuff~~s~~

   asking too much stuff