Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

So you want to be a teacher? You figure you want to be a certified ESL/EFL teacher and use it to travel around the world teaching English? You can do it, of course if you have the correct credentials. You'd think working at one of these big schools in Japan, you'd get them. However, the only training you get is in-house, with in-house developed training material.

I played ball and did the in-house training. I expected they'd train me how to teach TOEIC and TOEFL. I was wrong. I gained nothing by working at the big schools. In the end, I wasn't any closer to being a qualified language teacher.

In my case, GEOS offered professional certification but you had to have X amount of years in Japan under your belt and had to quit GEOS and pay for the training. GEOS would hire you back and keep your possessions in storage but you would be placed in a school where a teacher was needed. If you give your head a shake, you'll see that once you have real teaching credentials, eikaiwa is a joke.

The in-house professional development materials I was subjected to were all very academic citing Total Physical Response, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Concrete Experiences, and Kolb's learning styles. There's nothing wrong in studying theory but eikaiwa is not the place for it because the school's Bottom Line is king. Your student contract renewal rate is down? No promotion or raise for you. Maybe you should do more games to keep the students happy.

At one "professional development" seminar in Tokyo, we were all talking shop after hours when I quipped,"Well........we have fun in our classes. Look, why don't we have real qualifications for this stuff. Internationally recognized qualifications?"
This question drew a large guffaw from my teacher trainer beside me.

"Chris, if we gave everybody real qualifications, there would be a steady stream of bodies moving out the door."

To that I responded," But, if you create a professional environment, you could honestly say in your advertising that GEOS is the real deal here."

But, "C'mon Chris, our customers are mostly high school girls who just want to have fun," was the reply.

Yeah, I slashed my throat that night. Was I stupid? Drunk? Passionate about my job? Why did I speak up? Maybe it was common sense staring me right in the face. Later on, a friend gave me a piece of advice that put everything into perspective, "Chris, you are just not playing The Game. You know you can't change the rules."

This is theft because you have invested your time but have nothing to show for it in the end. Nothing to help you in your career. You're nothing by a used up party boy.