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.
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I feel that 2024 will be the year that companies go full-on with zoom lessons, making it impossible for anyone to move to Japan to make a go of being an ESL teacher. The industry doesn’t only employ instructors, so a lot of local workers are going to fall by the wayside as the final crunch bites hard.
The double-edged sword of the countryside…
There’s a fairly decent chance I may have the opportunity to move closer to my favorite city in japan (and it’s not Tokyo!) continuing as an English teacher. I still go to said city frequently, though it currently takes me about an hour by train. I admit that the location is a big factor in why I wanted to take this opportunity, even though my current situation is pretty nice as well.
Of course, I was then reminded of how different city kids are from countryside kids. In fact, the kids are one of the biggest reasons why I continue to do this job- kids might be kids at the end of the day, but I’d rather deal with Japanese kids than American kids. And in the countryside, you’re a rockstar to them- one of the few advantages of being a foreigner in the countryside. Meanwhile, you go to a Big City, you find out very quickly you’re nothing special to the kids.
So the countryside is overall very boring for anything outside of work, but it makes for very fun work so long as you like the kids (though we can’t forget ESID). Meanwhile, the Big City is fun for life outside of work… but you spend a lot of time at work where you are no longer special.
Do universities take into account SIG officer positions and assisting with conferences when hiring?
A lot of of my current colleagues have been having a hard time finding work, even part-time. Anyone hear anything similar? Seems to be a more recent problem.
I was looking through my payslips and noticed my company deducting my pay for school lunch expenses, even though I told them I don’t use them (vegetarian). It doesn’t say anywhere in my contract that they will deduct for the lunch expenses. I hope I get the money back, but does anyone have any advice?
Saw a high school today actually promoting their extensive reading program as part of their global studies course. Which makes me happy with how much I have tried and failed to get extensive reading done in schools I worked at.