(I literally made a Reddit account just to write this. This is my first ever post so I’m sorry if it’s not good!)
Dear people thinking of applying for this company,
Don’t come here if you come from a teaching background.
This place is an eikaiwa as well as a general class and test prep school, but as a foreign teacher you are not allowed to do anything other than “repeat after me”. The manager will hammer this into you repeatedly for no reason, waste a lot of time, tell you that business is more important than students, say that because you are a foreigner you can’t teach and you should be thankful you ever got the job. (He will say this no matter your experience unless you have a masters degree. Then he will suck up to you everyday and praise you??)
Honestly, even if you don’t have a teaching background I’d stay away from here unless you use this place as a foothold to get into Japan and search for another job within 6 months.
The students are lovely, don’t get me wrong, but the management?
There is only one person above you and it is the manager of the school. He is extremely stubborn, doesn’t know how to properly schedule, gets angry easily, takes multiple breaks throughout the day, does little to no work and forces the other Japanese teachers to do it, gives a low salary and is just a horrible person to be around.
It is not worth being in an environment where you are constantly spied on during class. (He stands outside the door and watches you through the window as you teach)
There is no break room so you’re stuck at your desk all day.
The school is very small (only 3 classrooms) and the classrooms are not properly separated. You can hear everything going on. If there are 3 classes and an online lesson all at the same time, it’s a battle of sound and everyone trying to focus on their own class.
There has been a previous history of the manager getting angry in front of students. He has also told off a co-worker of mine for getting covid, saying that they need to take better care of themselves, they’re losing money and it’s a pain for the company. He showed up at their apartment unannounced to tell this at their door, then told them they need to do prep for their classes before they come back to work.
This school does not care about it’s employees.
Shakkai hoken? The contract is misleading, the company refuses to pay anything.
Proper scheduled breaks? There are days we have 8 classes over 8 hours and get only a 20min break which is often used for prep time or printing. Otherwise, you’ll have maybe 7 classes, but your break will be at the very start of the day before your first class.
Pension payment? According to some students, the manager has put us on a more expensive plan that may be partially illegal because the company benefits somehow. (Not too sure on details)
Anywho, that’s all I have to say for now.
For this school, if you can put up with this arse, it’s not too bad. You go numb after a while.
If you do work here, I only recommend short-term.
Thank you for reading!
6 comments
Ugh, I know a few places like this. Avoid English teaching in Japan at all costs, I say
Thanks,
I’m sure it’ll be helpful to someone in the future!
> This place is an eikaiwa as well as a general class and test prep school, but as a foreign teacher you are not allowed to do anything other than “repeat after me”. The manager will hammer this into you repeatedly for no reason, waste a lot of time, tell you that business is more important than students, say that because you are a foreigner you can’t teach and you should be thankful you ever got the job.
Likely the school is using foreign teachers as window dressing and real instruction is done by Japanese and/or qualified foreign teachers.
> There has been a previous history of the manager getting angry in front of students. He has also told off a co-worker of mine for getting covid…
Your coworker ought to talk to your local hokensho and city hall about your power-harassing, covid-shaming boss.
The pension issue, the lack of breaks, and then you say
> I only recommend short-term.
Get outta here!
Sounds like 3/4 of the schools in Japan tbh; but when you find a good school, it is like an oasis in the desert. I have been to schools where the Japanese teachers physically and mentally abuse children, managers don’t do anything except blame and yell at people over things outside their control, owners changing the contract mid-school year to pay less money and work more hours and if you didn’t sign you were fired same day, owners trying to manipulate parents into giving teachers bad scores to pay less of a bonus, and numerous other problems regarding contract breaches, sexual/workplace harassment, and pension fraud.
You just have to find and research a school before signing the contract and remember that you are in control. If you don’t like a job, you are under no obligation to stay there. You can look for another job and quit (or get fired, if you get fired you can go to Hellowork and collect unemployment for 3-6 months).
I applied for this school and got a “wait until we have students” reply. It’s been 2 months and no further correspondence from them.
Thanks for posting this review, it was difficult to find anything online.
Were you able to survive off the salary comfortably?