Arrived in Japan about one month ago from the USA. I'm a native English speaker with a childhood interest in Japanese and I am conversational, but not fluent! I also cannot read and write, and thus, was motivated to enroll in a language center.
I moved here alone after my mother's death, so I am quite motivated to do a good job + take care of myself.
Without spreading gossip online & endangering my own privacy, I want to say that I ended up in a "super sketchy school" (without naming it) in Kyoto.
It's such a letdown : ( as every other part of my life in Japan is actually quite wonderful + rewarding + sparkling, from the place I live in & it's location, my daily interactions with people, my language proficiency, my mental wellness (following my mother's death); everything in my life is good and I do everything the same way (earnestly, efficiently, a very hands-on approach).
The only thing that doesn't "fit" is the school and it's not because of the difficulty-level or anything: it's due to a poor curriculum, disorganization among the staff, poor lesson planning & too many students in class (20 a pop!). I have prior teaching experience myself in the USA and my mother is a teacher so my exposure of what is considered good teaching and bad teaching is very high. It creates such a stressful environment, and at first I "blamed myself" thinking it was jet-lag, so I gave it a week of my full-unbiased attention (without judgement) in which I would have the opportunity to see/experience all the teachers + yeah, still no improvement; it's just a "messy" place.
Because of this, I would like to change my visa, but I'm new here & I had really high expectations for the school so I had no plans of needing legal advice before coming. BTW I am more interested in the possibility of changing my visa entirely than I am in changing schools as I don't want to repeat the same experience in another setting. : >
I think that I have multiple options to choose from, including "cultural studies" visa activities in Kyoto (?), but I'd like to consult with a lawyer / law firm about this IRL. I know there are TONS of resources online but these can either be contradictory or invalid so I'd actually like a person or an office with whom I can have a chat about all of this.
Sorry for the rant! I look forward to any opportunities you can provide & thanks in advance! ❤️ / Have a good day or evening wherever you are. ~ 🕊️
P.S. I was actually holding this post in for an entire week but I do not think I can solve the issue without outside help. 💚
by OGUN1990
2 comments
Kokoka international community house has resources and consultation services you should consider looking into.
If you are open to coming to Osaka, you can Google Murai Bengoshi. He speaks English and was great.