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

The job of the Japanese staff at NOVA is to sell. We are under enough pressure as it is from our bosses to meet sales targets. One reason why the turnover in staff is so high is probably because of the stress we get. It comes from all sides-our bosses, the foreign teachers and from the students. We are helplessly stuck in the middle.

When I quit GEOS and started with my new job at a small eikaiwa, I remember sitting in my apartment and thinking, "This is it?" It was worlds apart from GEOS. I had classes three times a day窶俳ne in the morning and two in the evening, leaving me huge amounts of free time. All this for 250,000/month. No renewal campaigns. Zero BS. The town newspaper even did a story on me.

In my first days at GEOS, I was center stage for the first few weeks. I was taken out on the town, shown the sites, showered with all sorts of small presents. The arrival of a new teacher is a big thing in a little town and people seemed to be genuinely happy to meet me; or were they were happy in the sense Gilligan was when he finally made it back to civilization?

I brought a fair chunk of cash with me in traveller's checks to tide me over since my first paycheck would be minuscule as I was arriving in the middle of the pay period.

Many years ago, I used to work at a daycare center as a nurse. I don't know about what other countries' daycare centers are like, but this is one custom my daycare had: GOHOBI SEAL, a reward seal.

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.

Guest post by Rob S.

To the Let's Japan Folks,

If you have a fear of being met at the airport and being overwhelmed by the representative from Nova whose knowledge of Japan should be immense compared to your own then please continue reading.

TOZA used to be a mid-sized eikaiwa until it went bankrupt in 1998. The TOZA situation built up slowly over a period of a few months. I didn't know it at the time, but all of the teachers at TOZA hadn't been paid their complete salaries in 4 months. They had received 20%, 30% depending on how bad their situation was; usually just enough to pay the rent at the gaijin house. They hired me in February of 1998 and nobody told me that they hadn't been paid since Christmas. I was surprised that nobody told me. Their response was," If we told you, would you have worked here?"

The rain was falling pretty steadily and even though I had an umbrella, I was still getting wet. Only a few more blocks to the red lanterns and greasy pine pillars. I was looking forward to this. God I hated Fridays. My kids class drove me up the wall. With Chris and Yo gone, I was the only male teacher in the school. I wasn't interested in my coworkers' gossip about the latest trendy dramas or forays to the local gaijin bar. I was going to forget about all that now.

Background: We were initially surprised to find an email from GEOS. The subject line didn't bode well, either. However, as you read, you'll see that the missive is in our favor. We appreciate the note and revel even more in the notion that people are coming to our site for information.

Subject: A word to the wise
Date: Wednesday, 14 February 2001 19:25:15 +0900

About one month before I was to leave for Japan, I received a "Welcome to our School" card from the staff of the GEOS school I was being sent to.

It had greetings from all of the staff, a floor plan of the apartment I would stay in and a bunch of other miscellaneous information about Odawara, the city where I was to make my new home. One of the staff had even scribbled "Go Canucks!" in the card. I was looking forward to my stay in Japan.