1)Background
a.Ian
b.23 years old
c.African-American
d.from North Carolina
e.Took Japanese classes 2 years in high school, 4 years in college.
f.BA Mathematics & Japanese, minor in Economics, University of Vermont class of 2013
g.Did not study abroad in college, but this is my second time traveling to Japan. I’ve been in the country since August 2013.
2)Job
a.I work for iTTTi Japan – Peppy Kids Club (ペッピキッズクラブ株式会社). The company headquarters is in Nagoya, and my placement area is Kitakyushu. In your placement area you teach at 3-4 eikaiwa schools in your area/region and it is primarily a children’s English Conversation school. So mostly I teach children from 3-15 years old. There are occasional high school students, but the majority of students are 4 to 12 years old.
b.I found the job online and heard from friends who are currently also employed with the country to apply.
3)The interview/application process:
a.Fill out a quick application of interest online.
b.One of the offices will contact you. Since this is Vermont the closest office is in Toronto (The other North American offices are on the west coast). They will explain the job in more detail and send you more application materials such as questionnaires, reference letters information and etc.
c.Then they will tell you that you may have to come to Toronto for an interview. (I’m not sure though, I did not have to go for the interview. She let me just send her my answers/information by email. But it depends on them.)
d.After the interview/paperwork is finished. They will let you know fairly quickly if the Japanese office has approved your profile/application for hiring.
e.Then you will go to Toronto to fill out Visa and company paperwork if you are hired.
f.(The total application for me only took about a week and a half. So it was a lot faster than JET, and they have rolling applications so you can apply at any time.)
4)Placement/Moving
a.You can choose your location preferences and they’ll try to meet them. I surprisingly got the location I asked for (I requested Kitakyushu/Fukuoka and Nara.) There are locations all over Japan, besides Okinawa-Prefecture and inner city Tokyo. So you can request anywhere.
b.They don’t pay for any of the moving expenses like other companies. You have to pay your own way to Japan. They recommend having around $2000-2500 when you arrive in Japan to last you until your first payday.
5)Working conditions
a.Working for Peppy Kids Club is a relaxing job. I typically work from Tuesday to Saturday, and I work for about 3 to 4 hours a day. Since Peppy Kids Club is an eikaiwa for children, they come to the classes as an after school program (similar to Juku). So I usually teach from 5pm-9pm and I’m finished. So it’s great for people who don’t like waking up early.
b.You typically will get to your classrooms by train, and the commutes range in length. My schools are typically around 20 minutes to 1 hour on the train.
c.The main thing with the company is don’t be late. The first two months (I just finished) you have to arrive to your classroom 1-hour before your first class, and call the head office.
d.Overall it’s really easy to be honest. You have training the first two weeks in either Nagoya, or Osaka and Kyoto, and you learn the curriculum and teaching skills. Working with children is usually fun and they encourage fun, and educational lessons. As the Foreign teacher there is an emphasis in making your lessons enjoyable so that children will find English fun so that they will love English. The students have a Japanese teacher for 3 weeks and the Native teacher for 1 week per-month.
6)With this company you work alone in the classroom. When you teach it is only you and the children. We greet the parents and there are parent observations twice a year, where the Japanese teacher is also present. Overall I haven’t had much one-on-one time with working directly with Japanese Co-Workers though. While teaching/working with the children as Native Teachers we aren’t supposed to use any Japanese in the classrooms so it becomes difficult sometimes explaining things to them (Sometimes I use Japanese, but the goal is to keep it to a minimum) Also the children speak to you in Japanese and sometimes you don’t understand what they are saying to you.
7)If you are going to teach in Japan
a.Always be on time
b.There are some double standards for Japanese workers vs. foreign workers. (I haven’t had any personal problems but they exist.)
c.Study Japanese as much as you can, but you may still understand very little when you arrive because of various dialects and not being accustomed to hearing Japanese at all times.
d.Cost of living in Japan is relatively low (depends on where you live). For example my rent is only about $380 a month. Though, Japanese apartment are much smaller than in the United States.
e.The children you teach will range a lot in ability. They are also very touchy and will want to climb on you a lot because you are different (non-Japanese).
8)Advise
a.I think working for Peppy Kids Club after graduation as an opportunity to travel, and have a first job after graduation is a great opportunity. The workload is low, and offers you the opportunity to pick up many other hobbies or interests while in Japan. It also gives you the opportunity to actually fully teach alone, as opposed to just speaking for the Japanese teacher.