Disclaimer: These posts are not meant to be about all teachers and forms of teaching English in Japan. The stories and events reported in there are specific to my experience and the company I work for. They should not be interpreted as being relevant to all forms of teaching in Japan. This is what has happened to me and while I don’t think that it’s the same for everyone, some research and talking with other people has shown that there are good and bad things in all companies and all situations. They’re just my story.

Rouding off on the trials and tribulations of quitting my 9 to 5 to move to Japan and become an English teacher, is the more ugly side of things. As I’ve said before there’s good and bad things, and that’s fine I can take it - it’s life after all. You should always try and take everything that comes to you with a little ‘recul’ (as they say in French) and realise that what goes around comes around.

However there are definitely some ugly things when it comes to English conversation schools in Tokyo. Obviously not anything that is forcing me to leave right now (though even that might not be so easy to do when you’ve packed it all up and are dependent on your job for your housing) but things that definitely make you stop and go ‘wtf!?’

Following from what I mentioned before about school managers, especially franchise owners who aren’t employed by the same company as you, one thing you realise soon enough after teaching for a few months is that no matter what advice you give when it comes to putting students at the right levels for their learning, school managers are likely to ignore you and do what makes the most money. Which means you end up with students who are either on totally the wrong level from the go, or with students who have been studying for so long but haven’t got any better and have done all the books they can do so they are moved to higher levels even though they’re unable to do what the books, or level, requires.

I can understand people having been in a system like the English conversation schools for long enough and being somewhat behind their current level, but some of it takes the piss. The worst part is doing level checks for new students and then being ignored or being asked to recommend a book for a student to progress to and then being told that none of the choices you put forward are applicable. And don’t even be thinking of suggesting someone should be put down to a lower grade! That’s seemingly unthinkable for most school managers, even though it’s painfully obvious to anyone (teacher or not) that the poor kids or adults are struggling and slowly drowning in levels of English far too high for them.

Another thing that kind of goes with this seeming ‘out for all the money’ mentality some managers have is the lack of motivation of some students. Now Japanese teenagers and working adults are overworked, stressed and generally don’t have the kind of lives your average Westerner does, but still it’s also painfully obvious to anyone that some adults have no real motivation or want to speak and learn English yet here they are studying one hour a week, instead of being at home, and here they are being squeezed for all the money the managers can squeeze out of them.

Back to the less glorious business of pay and other contractual legalities, as I’ve already mentioned teachers are legally entitled to ten days of paid holiday after 6 months of employment but conveniently never told by the company that this is the case. Which let’s face it is a hard thing to swallow when you’re told the truth - why it’s not made clear is beyond me, as it’s obvious that it’s more likely to piss people off in the long run and make them leg it then it is to make want to stay (and in turns this create the kind of shortages which overwhelms people who stay behind).

Hand in hand with this is the fact that new teachers who have arrived after a certain point in 2006 aren’t paid for their stand by or cover overtime (see previous post), though teachers under the previous contracts are. But I’ve just found out it’s not even like they’re paid a full day’s wage for a full day’s work. Oh no, it’s more like a third of what the normal wage should be. While us new teachers are still able to make some money from the overtime days, as these count towards a quarterly bonus (but again won’t equate to anything near the amount they would if they were paid in full).

Which is great, but the trick here again is that you seemingly really have to keep an eye on everything you’ve done, all the hours you’ve worked etc… to ensure you’re given the bonus you’re owed. After a few chats with other teachers I was soon repeatedly told that if I wanted to get what was mine I should keep track of all my hours, and extra time, and then double check it all when the bonuses are paid in - as it’s apparently quite common for people to be short handed when that time comes. Again this kind of behaviour doesn’t really entice the best reactions out of people. I don’t get paid a lot for this overtime, as the bonus system doesn’t mean I get anywhere near what a full day’s wage would be, but on top of that I have to make sure I get all of what I should get. As my mate said to me the other day - ‘I haven’t really checked my bonuses and I’m sure I’ve been had quite a few times for small amounts. But the thing is it’s the small amounts that accumulate to one big rip off in the long run.’

So with that in mind today I decided to go through all my previous timesheets since I started and write down all the hours I’ve done ahead of the first quarterly bonus coming in next month. And what do I find out… one of the schools I work at, a franchise, had tipex-ed out the only overtime I did in January out of my timesheet The way it works is that if you do over 6h of teaching a day, extra time is overtime and you are paid for it in that month and it goes towards your quarterly bonus. I remember doing a little amount in January, because it was my first day in that school. But lo and behold it wasn’t there anymore, not so neatly tipex-ed out of my timesheet (and stupidly only part of it was tipex-ed out meaning it was quite easy to see it’d be done) and I was never paid for it in my first month, as I didn’t know I should have been. By this point I’m pissed and told my DOS who at least seem to take this seriously and promised to get a complaint across straight away. Which is cool, but I can see how this isn’t going to do any wonders for my working conditions in that school in the near future. But hey, it’s my dues and I’m not gonna have someone who’s obviously more interested in making cash out of me and students take the piss. Step back and all that.

This nice story aside, it’s apparently not uncommon for some franchises to ‘cheat’ the books like that by moving actual overtime to quieter days thus ensuring teachers don’t get paid for it and they save money. Another thing which has stuck in my throat is the first yearly bonus. When you sign, you pay for your flight out and are told that you’ll be paid back (up to 75%) after three months - kinda like a deposit and security for the company in case you leg it before and also a nice way to have some more cash once you’re out there. The trick here, and again this wasn’t explained until we’d arrived, is that this repayment of your flight means that you don’t get a first year bonus. So essentially you get flight money back or a first year bonus, but not both. Which is downright disgraceful considering how it’s done - I mean yeah I can opt to have my first year bonus, but that’s only actually money I gave the company to pay for my flight. Not quite the definition of a bonus is it?

And then there are sick days. Now when you sign up you’re told that sick days aren’t paid - again fair enough, you know what you’re signing up for. It’s a bit of a shitty one, considering anything can happen, but at least you’re told upfront. You know the risks… but hey it’s not all so simple. Not only do you not get paid, you have money taken away from you for not working. Ain’t that a beautiful thing? And the money taken away (which increases after a year of employment) is more than what you would make in a normal day. And to top it all off, if you call in sick you lose money, and the guy who covers for you doesn’t get paid if he’s a new teacher or only gets paid a fraction of what he normally would. Presto the company is quids in. And you’re left shafted especially if, as has happened a lot according to some horror stories I’ve heard since being here, you have an accident which leaves you unable to work. And I’m talking serious accidents or problems here - not feeling rough due to too much drinking or a flu bug. Get run over and end up in hospital - not only are you bed ridden and probably neck deep in hassles trying to understand what’s happening to you, who’s paying for what etc… you’re also losing money by the day. One guy who had a road accident lost the best part of 190,000 yen, which is pretty much 80% or so of your wage after all taxes and bills are taken out.

I don’t really want to be in a situation where this can happen to me - it’s easy to see how it can put people off the country and the job for ever. And to crown this whole bullshit sick days thing nicely I’ve also recently found out that deducting more money from you for not working then you would actually earn is illegal by Japanese law - and let’s face it probably illegal in most first world countries. Come to think of it, when you’re first told it just sounds bugged out and you think ‘wtf’ and then kinda take it for granted, but then once you come to think of things like being hospitalised or the such, you do realise that there can’t be that much legal grouding to such a practice. Thankfully there isn’t but that doesn’t mean the company won’t pull it on you, and unless you start making a fuss you would never know or get what is rightfully due to you.

Lastly there are some slightly less ugly but still painfully bullshit things like not being given a full copy of your contract when you arrive and having to ask for it so you can check everything. Essentially having to do all this yourself, find out what is legal and what isn’t and having to ‘fight’ for it. I didn’t move to the other side of the world and decided to do something new to do this - and I shouldn’t have to, especially not with what’s ‘promised’ to you when you sign up.

There is more to add to this, but I this is the bulk of what I’ve found to be really ugly about becoming an English conversation school teacher so far. I ain’t about to quit and if anything this has only made me want to get my dues even more, as Eric B. and Rakim said I’m gonna get ‘paid in full’. I’m going to play it safe though because a lot rides on me not losing the job (including housing) and I enjoy it. But I want what’s rightfully mine and I don’t want to put up with this kind of BS. I didn’t in my previous jobs, and I’m not about to do it now.

I don’t want this to sound like a moaning rant (though it partly is) and I wouldn’t want to put anyone off doing this either - it is a good experience and as anyone will tell you it’s a great, and easy, way into the country for a foreigner. However you need to know that it also comes with a fair amount of BS and so don’t put up with it and make a stand. I know it’s the right thing to do, but now I’m about to find out whether or not it’s going to end my days as a teacher sooner than I thought.

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written by Laurent