Pros
- Visa sponsorship - Flexible to helping new teachers get settled. - The pay is relatively high for an eikaiwa, especially in the saturated market of the Kanto area. - 10 days of initial training for spring start teachers (paid) and weekly training meetings for first year staff members (not paid). - Truly amazing coworkers. - The dress code is relaxed. Keep in mind that teachers are still expected to dress modestly (not much skin showing), but jeans/leggings and a t-shirt for typical class days is generally acceptable. - Active classes. This can be a pro or a con, depending on the person, but I found it to be helpful since I’m not good at sitting still. - Holidays. You do technically get 2 weeks in the summer and about 2 weeks in the winter, plus Golden Week. - Tu-Sat week. Most teachers have a Tuesday – Saturday week, although some rare cases get a Mon-Fri week. I put this in pros because I’m not a party person and it’s actually nice to have a weekday to do things like doctor appointments, post office runs, etc…and most tourist attractions aren’t as busy on Mondays. - Preplanned curriculum. This can also be a pro or a con, but the curriculum is flexible enough to allow for personal style while still providing structure for the required material. Great for people with minimal teaching experience, plus it’s nice to have all classes on the same page every week. It does make planning a bit easier. - The manuals and support are solid. A lot of schools “offer” training, but it is by no means comprehensive. At MLS, they DO teach you have to deliver their material solidly. It’s good for folks who don’t have teaching experience. - Paid transportation. They do pay for you to get to-from work. If you’re a substitute, however, commute time is never factored into your hours, even if it’s 2 hours one way. - Max of 27 teaching hours (in theory). - Demo lesson bonus. You can pocket the extra cash charged for demos (although sometimes the charge is waived at your expense). - High turnover leaves room for promotion.
Cons
- Burnout. It is so easy to get burned out, especially if you’re a sub or if you have a particularly heavy schedule. The classes require energy and a happy demeanor, but top that with lots of kids with behavior problems…it’s a recipe for daily exhaustion. - Full time work for part-time hours. While you’re paid for your teaching hours, there’s a lot of extra work involved. Things like preparing for classes, doing your daily light cleaning, and special events aren’t paid. The salary is well enough, but it can be frustrating over a prolonged period of time. - Six day weeks. Oh sure, management will downplay the crap out of this for the first few months or so, but you can expect to work back the majority of your paid vacations. Some people prefer this so they can take a longer vacation, but keep in mind that you’ll probably work back at least 5 if not 6 of your 10 days off in the summer by working longer-than-normal weeks. - Summer school. I debated on whether or not to put this in pros or cons, but I think it’s a con for most people. You’re stuck with the kids from 10 am to 4 pm with no break for four days a week. It’s not so bad if they’re older, but the younger class is pretty brutal on adult mental stimulation. Saturdays are demo days (so no, you don’t get that fifth day off unless you’re so far into the overtime threshold that they fear you could legally retaliate and they need to balance hours). Upside is that it’s not a particularly rigorous curriculum and a lot of teachers use the TV (not available in all studios) for about 30 mins or so to get a break. - Demo lessons. They get a feature in both pros and cons. They’re not a pain to do, but the sales staff often push too hard and sign kids up for classes they aren’t ready for. Sometimes it’s difficult to address serious behavior problems (screaming, not listening, tearing materials off the walls) during a demo because mom and dad are watching and you’re not sure what would be acceptable. Worse, you’ll often do demos in a studio that you’re not familiar with and there’s nothing like not being able to find the materials 15 mins before your demo starts. Occasionally, I had sales staff try to get me to do material other than what was predetermined for the demo…which gets confusing when they try to tell you how to do your job DURING the demo lesson. - Surprise demos and schedule changes! You’re supposed to be informed in advance, but I know I found out the day of more than once. I got one with only 30 mins of notice once. - Shoddy emergency equipment. Oftentimes, it’s broken, missing batteries, or just not easy to find. The first aid kit is laughable (usually just one box of bandaids). Neither teachers nor assistants have CPR training, which is concerning since there are classes where students eat. - No overtime pay. They’ll give you a variety of reasons to avoid it. Unless they very specifically say you’ll be paid extra for agreeing to do something (like Monday classes), you will not be paid overtime. - No flexible holidays. They might say they consider their teachers human, but they’ll expect any holidays outside of their set holidays to be as short as possible. - No healthcare assistance, no pension, no unemployment. They schedule you for 27 hours so that the school doesn’t have to pay their portion (which isn't even legal according to what I know of Japanese law), but you WILL be working full time. If you have a Japanese spouse or intend to work in Japan for the long haul, this might not be your ideal company. - No sick days. Despite working with kids, management doesn’t seem to understand that teachers can get sick. You will be called more than once to “make sure” you’re still sick. - Sick kids are allowed in class. In Japan, most daycares, preschools, and public schools require any child that is deemed as contagious or with a fever to be sent home. Not at an MLS studio! They’ll be spreading their germs to all the other kids in the class because management doesn’t want to tell a parent “no”. Hand Foot & Mouth, the flu, colds, and the like will be common in your classes. And don't forget, you're not allowed to get sick yourself! - Outdated curriculum. They really need to update their materials, or re-laminate some at the very least, but don’t have the funding. - Unmaintained studios. Most of the studios have a mold problem and many of the AC units haven’t been cleaned in years. Current staff brings this up often, but it gets brushed off by management. Some staff suspect that it has a negative impact on their health. The carpets are never professionally cleaned, despite body fluids (spit, snot, tears, blood, urine, feces, etc) being spilled on them. - Minimal bonuses. They’re insanely strict on attendance, so don’t expect it unless you never took a day off. The performance bonus also expects a superhuman level of ability. - Minimal raises. They have just enough of a raise to say they give one and I hear they’re capped out now for new hires. - They monitor their reviews. When they’re trying to get potential employees to sign the contract, they make it sound like the employees were complainers that could never be satisfied…but don’t be fooled.
