A few months ago started working for a major Eikaiwa. I was thrown into the wolves pretty quickly and started teaching an upwards of over 30 lessons a week. My most so far is 34 but my average is 32. This ranges from babies, kids, adults, to even special needs children. To be honest, I’ve been able to manage for the most part but the problem is that alot of my lessons are private meaning there’s a special curriculum I have to prepare just for them that’ll only be used once. In total I teach about 20 unique lessons a week. On top of that there’s a degree of paper work as apparently I’m supposed to be keeping track of the students progress. In between lessons I’m expected to be making small talk with students and providing updates to parents. I also have to keep the place clean. Generally, with meetings and stuff as well I have maybe 5-3 hours a week to prep for all my lessons.
As you can imagine. Many days I’m extremely stressed. It’s so damn jarring to switch from screaming kids trying to write on the walls to adults thinking they aren’t getting their money’s worth. My lessons often suck and sometimes I just wing an entire lesson with no preparation.
I’ve heard this is definitely not the usual Eikaiwa experience… all of my coworkers at other schools say they are doing 25 or less. but I’m really wondering what are my options… I don’t want to leave Japan but my Japanese language is shit. So im unsure if I can find a different job and move to a new apartment. Im currently in the boonies. I feel stuck
I know this post is more of a rant than anything. But I’m open to accepting any advice.
I’ll also add that despite all of this I still enjoy my job to an extent. Teaching and having conversations with students is very fun. Seeing kids be silly and yell English words during games is also great. I just hate the pressure it takes to be getting to this
by Good-Buy-63