KidsDuo: thoughts/experiences?

17 comments

1. Run.

2. I worked at Kids Duo International (the posh brand) and it was horrific

3. I got hired by Kids Duo and was spooked by the reviews, so I later backed out and took an ALT job instead

4. I’ve worked at KidsDuo for over 4 years now. Honestly don’t know what the big deal is, it’s not bad

5. i wanna preface this by saying i think experiences for any company are always going to differ amongst people based on location/supervisors.

   me myself… i don’t know about the regular KidsDuo, but i worked for Kids Duo International, and it was as black as black can get. I’ve met several people who worked at different KDI locations and i’ve heard it was all the same.

   from the moment you clock in until the moment you leave, you have exactly 0 minutes to yourself to do any prep. the only time you actually have to do prep work, meaning time away from the kids, is on your lunch break. you’re with the kids even if they’re doing japanese lessons, music lessons or PE… which are all in Japanese… so… it makes no sense why native teachers need to be there…

   aside from not having time to prep for your classes, you also have to write weekly progress reports for each individual student praising only their good points (at the location i worked all the kids in every level were rich and spoiled shitholes…) which must be done by the middle of the week so that they can be approved and passed on (very unlikely). in the case they don’t like your reports or they’re not “positive” enough this gives you two more days to edit your comments and submit them by friday before the hellish cycle starts again the following week.

   you basically have to work overtime everyday to get anything done.

   TL;DR

   as someone else already said: Run.

6. I can’t remember if its kids duo or one of their affiliated companies but I was talking to a girl who worked there and she described how she had to forfeit drinking and eating during the day as if she needed the toilet there was no one else there to watch the small children (some being babies) which obviously cannot happen. She described it as a poorly ran nightmare

7. It was shit but you don’t really do anything and starting is 270k for full time, which is decent. Why I quit was because it’s boring as shit. There is no curriculum, so the teachers have to make it fun , Which is almost impossible. I mean, if you want a decent salary and don’t mind just essentially working in a day care, then it’s not bad I suppose.

8. I saw a job ad once. The pay seemed really low.

9. I have a kid I teach privately who also takes group lessons at KidsDuo and she actually complains in English about how little English they learn and use.

10. My friends works for one of their schools and absolutely hates it.

    HOWEVER they do at least pay decently and pay the benefits properly such as pension/healthcare and they pay him an allowance for having a child.

    It’s sad that this is considered a plus but a lot of English schools don’t even bother to follow the rules and are very, very shady.

11. I worked at kids duo international for a single day. At lunch the only place to sit were chairs and tables made for kindergarteners. I handed back the snazzy polo at the end of the day and never looked back.

12. Unless you’re extremely desperate to come to Japan, then you should work there, but for the most part I wouldn’t do it. I’ll just get the visa then run and get a better job.

13. One of my best friends used to work there. The teacher to student ratio was way off. If I remember correctly 1:30. And in such a class, where you might be outside on some kind of excursion, apparently safety is overlooked by the need for you to confirm to your identity of what a teacher should look like. What I mean by that is you’ll get in trouble for using Japanese even if it’s strictly only for safety.

    She mentioned how little children were trained on phonetics and that it was confined only to singing the ABC chant. Basically a curriculum that had very low quality but would be easy to bring a revolving door of new teachers to keep their business alive.

    Obviously this is what my friend has said and each location will differ. I am sure there are good places and bad ones. It’s honestly a lucky dip. Good luck though

14. I’ve worked at KD for 3 years and I have no huge issues with it. But it’s luck of the draw for which school you get placed at: some are managed better than others.

    Things I don’t like:
    – heavy focus on sales aka getting kids to sign up, stopping them from quitting, seasonal school goals, etc. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop a kid from quitting but we’re expected to do “everything” in our power to stop it.
    – salary could be more for the level of work ACTUALLY required to have a successful school
    – if you’re hardworking but your coworkers are lazy/bad at the job, then it doesn’t really matter how much effort you put in, the teamwork never will come together and this affects the sales in the end.

    I can use my paid leave. I’m taking time off next month and I never work during my lunch break. Also rarely do overtime except during busy seasons.

15. Their recruitment events within japan are the messiest red flag parties ever.

16. I’ve now worked as a native teacher at Kids Duo for 5 months and I actually really enjoy my job. The management is not the best and I don’t like how much of the system is focused on money making. But I think if you get lucky with a good school, it’ll definitely change your experience.

17. Money > English Education