Discuss the state of the teaching industry in Japan with your fellow teachers! Use this thread to discuss salary trends, companies, minor questions that don’t warrant a whole post, and build a rapport with other members of the community.
Please keep discussions civilized. Mods will remove any offending posts.
8 comments
Where do you look for private school jobs in Japan? I check gaijinpot pretty regularly but almost never see these listings.
What’s the best way for asking for a pay increase and how much would be a reasonable figure to request? Looking at some of the salaries of people on here it seems my salary is quite low considering the responsibilities and working hours, also a workmate who has been working at the same school for over 4 years hasn’t had a single pay increase so its quite clear that if I don’t ask for one I’m not going to get one.
If anyone here has done a TEFL, what was the company that you did it through, howmuch did it cost you and how long did it take you to finish? I’m assuming at least 120hr courses. I’m planning on signing up for one this month. I know a CELTA is better but a TEFL gets me prepared for something like a CELTA without costing a fortune. ALT salary is what it is.
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I didn’t think this needed yet another thread on here.
When the job you are applying for starts sending you casual emails do you respond casually or keep up the formalities. I tend to do the latter but feel like I might look like an uptight wierdo with over formal responses to casual emails.
It’s really confusing how Japan using international school for everything. When I think international school, a school run entirely in English with mostly expats maybe some locals. Here its used for preschools, expat schools, high schools with a language track, even jukus sometimes.
In recent weeks, I’ve noticed that there are a lot more… well, useless and borderline combative comments, especially in ALT-related threads. It can be something benign like “what kind of indoor shoes should I wear to my ALT job?” and there’s a good chance one of the first comments will be something like “alright first of all, you’re a *dancing monkey*, not a teacher so get that through your head. Your dispatch company is shit and there’s absolutely no future in this job, just stand in the corner and read the fucking textbook. You can buy cheap shoes or slippers from GU”.
I get it. Dispatch ALT work is the pits. My concern is that this place is becoming a cesspool of people just looking to bring others down a peg for being ALTs or eikaiwa teachers and frankly, I wonder why people who don’t consider ALT and eikaiwa work as legitimate teaching work are even hanging around here. There’s a sub specifically for university teaching, so what’s the appeal of hanging around this sub, with its constant stream of ALT and eikaiwa posts?
Is hourly paid leave on top of or taken from annual leave?
A couple weeks into applying for stuff and I’m already just…. Tired.
I love the students I teach now. I just wish my company wasn’t as black as the night.