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but thats the problem....BoE's don't take a punt on good teachers......they settle for the path of least resistance and use crappy dispatch companies who don't give a rat's ass about whether their employees are a) happy, b ) qualified and c) good. This environment is not conducive to crap teachers wanting to better themselves, why strive to improve when there are no incentives to do so? Give us what we are due by Japanese law, we want the same benefits given to Japanese people. I WAS a good teacher, now I'm jaded and don't give a rat's ass. I was shown just how much schools/BoE's/Company's really value their ALT's by being told 1 week before the end of term that there would only be a part time contract on offer for all ALT's in the school......much too late for 99% of the school jobs, they are already filled. So I've been forced to sign ANOTHER 1 year contract, tying me into part time hours and scrabbling around to fill up my week. The silver lining is that I have managed to sew up and large proportion of my previous wage on much less working hours and in the long run may just be the kick in the ass I needed to get off the crutch of teaching english. Schools and BoE's demand professionalism and complain when the ALT's that they get don't measure up.........well that's a 2-way street. Treat your ALT's right, pay them what's due and you will attract those who wish to be here long term. Pay peanuts and all you'll get are monkeys!!

 

I kind of understand where you are coming from TB but there are a few points I disagree with.

- You seem to be assuming that they need you, but they don't.

- A lot of BOEs have had ALTs forced on them with no hints about how they will fit into the curriculum.

- Loads of Japanese people don't even get what they are 'due' by Japanese law.

- Why should someone with no qualifications expect to get decent pay? (simply speaking a language doesn't amount to being qualified to teach)

 

Of course BOEs will get what they pay for... but ALTs will only get back whatever they put in.

 

I'm sorry to hear about how you were treated. That's a very poor way for employers to act. It's the nature of the game though... especially if you fool around with dispatch companies. I hope you find something that suits you better.

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I worked in a total shambles of an eikaiwa. Anyone could get a job there, so there were lots of right characters. We used those Streamline books and somebody realized you could rub out the print with

I don't assume they "need me", but as I work for a private school that doesn't come under a BoE, I at least know that they WANT native English Teacher's. What we do in the school is not the same as the usual ALT. We run our own Conversation Program, that's independent of the mainstream English Subject. We don't team teach with a Japanese English Teacher, we are solo teaching. This is a program that the school wants and hasn't been foisted upon them with no idea as of how to fit us in, my truck with what has happened is in a professional context.........telling someone 1 week before the end of term that they will have to take a huge pay cut for next year is a shitty way to treat anyone. When I then said I would have to look for a new job they were surprised that I would think about leaving!

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Yeah, it's a shame you got treated like that... I've had to go through a similar situation only it actually happened after we'd already come back from the spring break. If the program is something that the school wants, do you know who designed it? Who wrote the curriculum, decided on the material, etc? You need to make the program your own or run the risk of anyone being able to teach it (and making yourself easily replaced). Also, I'd be very careful about the type of teaching situation you are in now. If there is no certified teachers in the classroom the students technically can't get credit for the course. If they aren't getting credit for it than no one is going to take it seriously. However, if they do get credit for that program and if your school were ever audited (very very unlikely) there would be a big problem.

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I may have missed this, but what are you doing now ippy? Just going 3-months by 3 months?

My contract is weird. Its technically got a term by term clause, but im salaried, so they pay me a fixed rate each month with no deductions. If however i choose to leave at the end of the term, i wont get paid the full monthly sum, but up until the end of term. So case in point from my last contract with them... left at the end of the school year 2009, only got paid up until march 20th (my last day at school) and not to the end of march (my "holidays").

 

Truth is i dont actually find increasing restrictions irrational. I find things like excluding non first language teachers irrational given that the stated purpose of the jet programme (and indirectly the japanese public school gaijin programme) was internationalization over teaching. It bogled my mind that people from sweden and norway who spoke fluent english (and often better than people with some thick accents or who speak at a million miles a second (me)), couldnt work in Japanese public schools. Not only could they speak english to a fluent level, but understood both the grammar behind it AND the difficulties faced by second language learners. We had a kind of unfair run at it for a decade or two. Its only right that BoEs get a bit of freedom to decide what they want.

And dont think that bites you on the ass too... it means the former cut off teaching in public schools (around 40) is now opened up much as it is in Korea. Of course it was always an implied rather than a strictly enforced cut off, but more diversity helps those of us getting a bit on in our years :)

 

That all being said, dispatch is not a career. You dont do dispatch if you want a career in japan. You do it (as GN said), because its the easiest way into the country, or you do it because youre killing time building up your language/teaching skills to do something else. This could be direct hire, it could be jet, it could be another industry entirely. Complaining about dispatch (no one is, but you know what i mean), seems silly. Its low pay, entry level ESL. If youve got experience, language skills, and accreditations to your name, you dont need it anymore. Leave it to the fresh off the boaters or the people like me who have no idea what they want to do and are happy treading water (financially) until they figure it out. I dont hate my company, i kinda like them to be honest. They dont pay well and they have punitive clauses in my contract. But its a competitive market out there. Dispatches are scavenging at the carcass of the Jet programme, and just trying to make a living. The bidding is FEROCIOUS, and often they themselves dont know until a week before term starts whether the BoE is going with them for x placement or another dispatch. Hell, my boe didnt even know what school i was going to for this term until around the 5th April.

 

I know this makes me sound like an apologist for them, but i honestly think its a race to the bottom, i understand this, i know that dispatches are at the behest of BoEs rather than the other way around (so theyre often powerless to protect you), and its because the bid aggressively that i have a job and the english programme in japan keeps ticking along. But i dont fool myself that its a career. Thsi doesnt mean i wont work my ass off to keep them in x-schools though. They give me a job, i make sure that the job still has a chance of existing next year. (it doesnt guarantee it though... it just requires another dispatch to turn around and say "we'll pay our dudes on an hourly wage instead of a salary" and the BoE might just think thats a great way to save some cash and afford to re-channel the money they get per ALT from central government into things like computers or flowers or something else).

 

If youre not on the JET programme, youre pretty much treat somewhere between a temp and a first year teacher (JETs the same mind you, but you at least get paid well). If you dont want to be treat like that, well, you know... you get the wage you deserve at the end of the day. I get paid an okay wage (sustainable for moderate savings), i dont really care about money... i care about the easy life. Dispatch is fine by me. But i think im at or near the base salary id be willing to accept now that i have my visa. Were it to go lower, or were they to start introducing term by term contracts, id hand my notice on the spot and look for another job. The nice thing is im actually very competent as a teacher and ridiculously energetic (im called genki ippy at every school ive taught in in Japan). The only reason i stay is because they gave me the visa so i feel i should help them out a bit, and moving every couple of years is expensive so switching after only 6 months would be a bit insane. Plus the area is alright. I like my students, teachers, and employers. The boe likes me. Still, if the next contract is shittier, ill look online, check out demand, and make a beeline for a job in a location (or wage) i actually want. BoEs might like us, but it means nothing at the end of the day. We're a resource to them, and likewise, i have no loyalty to them either. If the contract sucks, im off. No guilt trip about the school being left without a teacher will induce me to stay.

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Yeah, it's a shame you got treated like that... I've had to go through a similar situation only it actually happened after we'd already come back from the spring break. If the program is something that the school wants, do you know who designed it? Who wrote the curriculum, decided on the material, etc? You need to make the program your own or run the risk of anyone being able to teach it (and making yourself easily replaced). Also, I'd be very careful about the type of teaching situation you are in now. If there is no certified teachers in the classroom the students technically can't get credit for the course. If they aren't getting credit for it than no one is going to take it seriously. However, if they do get credit for that program and if your school were ever audited (very very unlikely) there would be a big problem.

 

 

yeah, I hear what your saying. The course is more considered an elective, so the kids don't get credit for it as such. The students are very prim and proper so actually they take it pretty seriously....sometimes I wish they wouldn't!! :lol: Dunno about the legal ramifications TBH, but now they've cut me to only 3 days, if it was to go down the spout then the hit on me wouldn't be that bad....silver linings. i started at my new gig today, actually really looking forward to this....may just spark my interest again IF it turns out to be what it seems.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This comes from 2 maths teachers with a combined total of 70 yrs. experience.

It has an indisputable mathematical logic. This is a strictly mathematical viewpoint..it goes like this:

 

What Makes 100%?

 

What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

 

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%.

 

How about achieving 103%?

 

What makes up 100% in life?

 

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help

you answer these questions:

 

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

 

Then:

 

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K

8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 =

98%

 

and

 

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E

11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

 

But ,

 

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5

= 100%

 

And,

 

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T

2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20

= 103%

 

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.

 

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G

1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+

14+7 = 118%

 

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty,

that while Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, its the Bullshit and Ass Kissing that will put you over the top.

Now you know why some people are where they are!

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This came across my desk recently - Very Interesting

 

Subject: Economics 101 - Very well put

 

When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when

government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to

succeed.

 

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had

never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an

entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that

no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

 

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class

on Socialist's plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will

receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an

A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and

more readily understood by all).

 

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied

little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who

studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard

decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

 

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

 

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

 

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame

and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study

for the benefit of anyone else.

 

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the professor told them that

socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,

the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the

reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

 

 

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all

applicable to this experiment:

 

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the

wealthy out of prosperity.

 

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must

work for without receiving.

 

3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government

does not first take from somebody else.

 

4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!

 

5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work

because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the

other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody

else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the

end of any nation.

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Good one Snowjunky. I see so much of that in today's society. At one time when you saw a really rich guy.....you respected him and he inspired you to raise your game...... now, all that's been replaced with envy and ridicule.

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