Just browsing the internet as you do, and I came across some information about DMM online Eikawia.
They apparently offer daily 25 minute one-on-one classes for between 200-500yen (higher for “native speaker”). This seems like a pretty crazy deal, but I’m not sure how popular it actually is.
The teachers salary is ofc pretty abysmal – 700 yen ($5) / 25 minute class, but I guess this doesn’t really matter for people working from developing countries . Not sure how the class fee covers the teachers salary though… I must be missing something.
How can the brick and mortar Eikaiwas compete with these online services?
7 comments
A lot of people still prefer face to face lessons. The pay is a lot lower than most other online teaching platforms, so DMM really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. Experienced, qualified online teachers, even in the Philippines, and make more than DMM pays.
A friend of mine used to work for an online Eikaiwa, Global Crown. Compared to the one you listed, it’s more expensive for students, but the pay appears slightly better for teachers. Anyway, they said a lot of it was gearing up students before they go to brick and mortar places. They do a few months online, build up a base and confidence, then enroll for in-person lessons.
The people taking these lessons generally realize they aren’t getting real teachers. They often just use it for conversation practice, in the same way those meet-ups at cafes where their teacher meets them for a coffee. The people who really want to learn, who need English for more than socializing or traveling once in a while, are more than willing to pay for lessons from qualified instructors. These two worlds only really overlap a little, though I do think that gap might lessen over time.
Which is extremely problematic in and of itself, and really does speak to the general lack of respect the ESL industry has garnered for itself by actively recruiting unqualified people and letting standards sink lower and lower.
Think about that the next time you bitch and moan about low wages – you reap what you sow.
If its online classes you are enrolling into , don’t worry !
Please check your inbox and chat !
As far as I know, it’s a cheap way to input some more English into their kids learning English. The people i know using it do it in tandem with whatever eikaiwa or efl lessons they’re doing. They can nominate which texts and units to study, eiken etc. So flexibility I guess.
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It is the new business model that they all will be using within the next few years. The low end is lower than Japan’s legal minimum wage and it’s 100% legal. Paying per unit allows them to play that 29.5 hour game in a slightly different way. Sign the workers up as independent contractors on a flat rate system and the company doesn’t have to pay insurance or pension.
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Small eikaiwa survive by offering better customer service than the big chains. If the kid is falling behind the small ones will toss in some free lessons and giver the customer more attention. Online isn’t for everyone and really isn’t suitable for kids so the local ones can pick up those customers too.