Japan Living
Vol. 35
Learn about living & working in Japan from those that do!
Japan Living`s Forum
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Teaching Japan:
A balanced forum about teaching English in Japan ********************************************************** Back to Japan Living Smearing an Entire Industry Let`s Japan! The Site Dedicated to Debunking Eikaiwa "Let's Japan was not created to smear an entire industry. On the contrary, right on the front page of our site it says, "English is being taught well by great teachers here in Japan." It has always been hoped that the site would foster a discussion and inform newcomers in an effort to improve the conditions of eikaiwa." --Shawn Thir, Co-Owner of Let`s Japan.org Mr. Thir, right on the front page next to your title Let`s Japan, it states, `The Site Dedicated to Debunking Eikaiwa.` If that isn`t smearing an entire industry, I don`t know what is. Mr. Thir says , "It has always been hoped that the site would foster a discussion and inform newcomers in an effort to improve the conditions of eikaiwa." Just a second, I gotta get a tissue. Okay, I`m back. If that is true, then why the "Debunking Eikaiwa" motif at your site? You can`t be all things. Either your site is a joke. Your site is a debunker of all Eikaiwa, or your site is balanced. You can`t be all three. You are starting to sound like Bill Clinton. "But I didn`t inhale." Why not point out some of the schools that are doing a good job then? If you are truly trying to improve the industry, point out which schools are doing a good job.--positive reinforcement. Why not mention that at schools like mine, teachers routinely sign a second or even third contract? There are many great small schools in Japan, but you won`t read about them at Let`s Japan. At LJ they like to debunk the big schools. Unfortunately it taints the whole industry. This isn`t all LJs fault of course, but if you can`t read anything positive there, people will leave with a negative impression. "English is being taught well by great teachers in Japan."--Let`s Japan! You are not saying anything positive about the Eikaiwa industry with this last quote. Why not point out some of the schools where those teachers work? How the school has helped to foster a good environment for their teachers? I think if you don`t work in Eikaiwa and haven`t done for five years or more, it is difficult to know what is happening in the industry. If your site is just a joke, you should get rid of the "Debunking Eikaiwa" motif on the front page. If you have ever had the experience as I have had, of posting a positive story at Let`s Japan it is truly amazing. You will get many posts "debunking" your positive story about Eikaiwa. Even posting an employment ad there-- a job opportunity, generates negative comments. They will debunk your job ad. The trolls are ensconced at Let`s Japan. Some of the people there need to get some fresh air. Leave your keyboard trolls! Go for a walk, there is a whole world out there. There are flowers and trees, and cute furry animals out there if you look. Open the door, run out, smell the air!!! Unfortunately, some "newbies" take the stories at LJ at face value, which really is a shame. Kevin Burns Read the article below that has generated so much controversy. I frankly don`t know why it should be controversial. I simply stated the truth that the forums about teaching English here are too negative and present a distorted picture of the Eikaiwa industry. In spite of what Mr. Thir believes, that article wasn`t about Let`s Japan. ELT News and other forums also have very negative forums about Eikaiwa. There are many forums at Yahoo about Nova and Eikaiwa in general that are very negative. If you post a positive story, you will get ten posts rebutting you. It really is amazing. Try it for fun! If you talk about teachers going through culture shock and how that can affect their opinions about their workplace, that too is a taboo topic at many forums. You have hit too close to the bone. The article below hit too close to the bone and people felt uncomfortable with that and had to lash back. In their backlash though, it is obvious that I have struck a chord. The louder they bark, the more truth I have revealed. If you could call the rebuttals, a discussion that would be a different matter. What the people post in their so-called rebuttals is truly inane at times. At other times it is outright aggressive, and vindictive, and in most cases they lack substance. There are a lot of unhappy expats in Japan, going through culture shock. Most of these types were unhappy before they stepped on the plane to Narita. The Eikaiwa industry didn`t create them. Kevin Burns |
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Kevin`s English Schools
Jobs in Nippon!
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The Forums About Teaching English
in Japan Need to Take a Reality Check
"After reading what they had to say in
the forums there, I almost decided to go to Korea, it is so negative.
When I did ask, well what schools are good to work for?-no one answered."
--A.P., USA--commenting recently on Let`s Japan a very popular forum about teaching English in Japan. Many forums are too negative
and distort the reality of teaching in Japan.
At one popular forum, one of the moderators dispensing advice is a university professor. He doesn`t work for an Eikaiwa school. He is outside of the Eikaiwa industry. Still he is one of the `experts` (so-called) at a very popular forum on Eikaiwa and he is telling people incorrectly how to get a job in Japan. This professor stated that schools here won`t hire you unless you are already in Japan. I almost fell off my computer chair when I read that. I thought this guy is misguiding people. In fact, most schools will hire you while you are outside of Japan. Why? They have to. If you have a school in one of the mid to smaller cities in Japan--(which comprises most of Japan), you don`t have many teachers banging on your doors to teach at your schools. My point is that some of ths so-called experts are anything but. Yet they are espousing their opinions on the internet and you are reading them, and sometimes taking them at face value. The people who post at forums rarely post anything positive about any of the schools they work for. There must be some positive stories but you won't read them there. I think it would be a great idea to set up a forum that has a positive story only section. As this would help to redress the balance and restore some reality to the debate about is working for an eikaiwa school a good idea or not. Have a separate forum where people can only post positive stories--just to give some balance. If your purpose is to educate people, that requires balance. Even if you are "Debunking Eikaiwa," as the LJ quote reads, surely you should alert people to some good schools to work for? Unfortunately, I just spoke with a teacher from America-quoted above, and she felt the Let`s Japan site was so negative that she was debating whether to even come to Japan. If the situation were so bad here in Japan, then the forums would be doing everyone a service. But it just distorts the actual reality of teaching English here. Many of the teachers who post have had a bad experience at one school, yet in many cases still continue to teach there, and rant about it--ad nauseum at one of the forums. Can you say, "Get a life?" If it is truly so bad, why do they still work there? You won't find the people who enjoy their jobs posting much. If they do, they will take a lot of abuse from the complainers already ensconced there, and they are too busy enjoying their lives to log on and post. Happy people don't usually rant. Two somewhat famous webmasters did not enjoy their time at Geos. Yet I have a friend named Lee who loved Geos. He loved the fact that he had his own classroom, would brag about the fact in his animated way, and enjoyed teaching and his students. Lee doesn't post at Let's Japan to my knowledge though. At times some of the teachers seem to want to pick a fight over things so inane. In one story, a teacher said "Sayonara," to his students as they were leaving. Being an English school he should have said, "goodbye." His manager told him not to do it again. Had it been me, I would have simply said, "Sorry," and said "goodbye,"to my students the next time. But this teacher argued with his boss over it. A person was called from head office to have a meeting with him. I gather his local manager felt she couldn`t get it across to him that what he had done was enough to make some students quit. I can see both sides, but a simple "sorry it won`t happen again," would have sufficed. I agree with the author that it is a pretty silly thing, but students quit over silly things, and a lot of arguments are over them too. I enjoyed my time at ECC and the YMCA. I modelled Kevin's English Schools after the 'Y' to some extent. My point is we all have different experiences and we have to be careful about what we read, especially the negative stuff. Don't spend too much time at any one site, even here! Don't take my word! You need to explore many websites and read many books. You shouldn't jump on a plane and not be prepared. It is your life you are thinking about, so read all you can so you can select the right place for you to work. Both you and your employer will be happy for it. By all means read as many articles as you can about teaching in Japan. You may relate to things you wouldn't like, but keep in mind that all Geos managers are not the same. Personality conflicts occur everywhere. I'm not defending Geos, and it definitely is not in my interest to do so, they are my competition for students and teachers. Indeed there are many things about Geos that I don't like. My point is, I am in favour of being fair and I am worried that some people believe the negative postings at forums. I am concerned that it affects them to such a degree that they choose to teach in another country. That really is a shame when there are many good schools here, and it is a great, safe country to live and work in. Someone really should start a website about the good schools in Japan. It wouldn't be easy and small schools like mine would have a tough time, not having as many teachers to vouch for us as some of the bigger schools, but it is a badly needed site. So someone with some internet savvy, here's your notice. There is a need for an unaffiliated site like this. Many people abroad are going prematurely grey trying to decide for whom to teach. Help them! There are many sites like Gaijin Pot.com but schools pay to advertise. You can find jobs there but don't have any independent reviewers who can tell you about the schools. We need some independent reviewers who can give the unbiased low-down on various schools--ideally a few reviewers would be needed. It wouldn't be easy. Perhaps it is a needed service? Perhaps some teachers would be willing to pay for such a service to avoid getting into a situation they wouldn't like. Maybe even an independent site like Ohayo Sensei should consider offering this. They are well respected, independent and have been around for a while now. If they or some other site already does offer such a service please let us know here. In the meantime, I interview teachers by phone and face to face. If by phone, I try to reassure them that we are not one of the horror stories they have read about at such and such forum on the internet. Prospective teachers sometimes ask to contact one or more of our current teachers to ask questions about what it's like to work at our schools. I feel uncomfortable with this, never having asked any of my prospective employers for the same privilege and because I don't want to infringe upon the privacy or free time of our teachers. Our teachers are kind though and allow me to give out their Email addresses to prospective teachers. It's a bit sad that this is necessary, but some of the internet forums and the bitter negativity that a minority of teachers express, seem to help make it so. Kevin Burns Owner, Co-Manager and Head Teacher of Kevin's English Schools-"The Canadian Schools in Japan" |
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