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.
9 comments
Are post-JALT blues a thing?
I am currently stuck deciding if I want to renew my contract for another year. There’s a line in my contract that really bothers me and hurts, stating that I may not do anything outside of my job that would produce any income. Not that I want a part-time or need more money, but this includes hobbies that may include income, such as streaming, commissions, etc.
Pronunciation is really important. I was walking in a nature area a few weeks ago. A Japanese woman and foreign man were walking towards me in the opposite direction. The woman pointed out that the signpost on the side of the road said 地獄谷 – hell valley. Except she said it as “heru ballet”. Her partner said “what?” She repeats. So does he. Until they were out of earshot.
Not sure its my dyslexia or something but I have a really hard time understanding kids Japanese when I am in bilingual teaching mode. Like simple stuff I know and its pretty automatic in other context. Its also really weird, different from just listening to Japanese I don’t know. Like I hear it, know I should know it but just does not connect with meaning at all.
How have all of the big eikaiwa been doing lately?
We all know Gaba went under and was bought by Nova. Is Nova doing well enough? Have they closed any schools since the pandemic? I know ECC has closed some schools.
How about Aeon/Berlitz/others?
I wrote a few textbook years back for a program I worked for in Korea. These were only used in the program. I wanna add them to a application for a university teaching job but the only section is a textbook, publication section, putting them there just seems disingenuous though not sure where else to put them.
Normally its not hard to tell but just in case anyone needs
[https://huggingface.co/openai-detector/](https://huggingface.co/openai-detector/)
Given the new gpt chat
I believe in systematic phonics over cueing but there seems a portion of the science of reading crowd that seems to think anything outside of phonics is destroying children. Like giving kids access to books and free reading time even before they are fully ready might destroy them. Or its not the teachers job to help inspire the kids to read or push them to read just teach them the phonics and leave the rest to nature. They seem absolutely dead set against any mixed programs. I do agree some balanced lit programs have just used it as a cover for cueing. I agree phonics should be systematic and not just here and there. But also really believe kids have to read. Otherwise its like doing aerobics kickboxing without ever getting in the ring.
the shinkansen to Exploitation Station
I can’t wait to make $10.50 an hour teaching English in Japan.
pure exploitation. even disrespect. English teachers need a union or some kind of organization. the regular teachers at these schools probably make around $14 or $15, seems like you should be paid the same as them or something much closer to their wage.