Today marks approximately two years since I arrived in Japan as somewhat young hopeful looking for her next adventure. I stepped off the plane in Nagoya and gave one
year of my life to my ex-employer - Peppy Kids Club (PKC). And I must say it was definitely an experience, but rather than
write about my time teaching there immediately after I left
them, I decided that I would give it a year and give myself a chance to reflect
on everything so that I could give them a fair evaluation as
well as answer the typical questions that people generally have when they start
applying for teaching work in Japan. But PKC were my window into teaching and I
will always be grateful to them for giving me that opportunity.
Unlike most
conversational schools, when I was there (and I think it's universally known),
PKC working days are shorter. It was
not uncommon for me to teach no more than three to four hours. At one point, I
taught five hours straight and at another I taught only one hour. Hours will
fluctuate and I quite liked that aspect of it. What might be considered a
little inconvenient is that dependent on your supervisor, you mightn't receive
your schedule until the end of the
month. This wasn't really a problem for me as it was never completely last
minute but in other places, I'd heard differently so it just depended
really.
Pay
was pretty good in my opinion. Maybe it was because it was my first year and I
didn't have the city tax or inflated health insurance that I'm now paying but I
was happy with what I was on. I didn't have to worry about rent because it
automatically came out of my salary every month; I kept my bills low and I
still had money to travel to different places in Japan, do my shopping and have
a good time with friends. I also saved a lot (which came in handy so much
towards the end of the year). I have heard it said however that it's not a
sufficient salary if you have a family but then I'm not a mother. I reckon
single parents would struggle on it but a duel income would quickly sort that
out.
The holidays were okay for me. It's no
London where everyone's entitled to at least 20 days off but I was given five
flexible days and five fixed days off (during the turn of new year). I also got a bit of
time off during Golden Week and Obon which meant I could do a bit of
travelling. It all depends on the calendar year though but I got six days off
during Golden Week and I believe three plus the weekend for Obon. I could not
complain.
My co-Japanese teachers were lovely. I never had any problems with them and I even
hung out with some on occasion. I met some really nice kids as well; I often loved it when I met those kids who were
really keen on English. You could see it in their eyes. But naturally there
were also kids that were very bad. Larger classes - especially younger kids -
were sometimes difficult for me to control, especially if they were high
energy. And some kids were also very rude and because we weren't really allowed
to fully discipline them, we had to find creative ways of dealing with
difficult behaviour.
I look back and
realise that the reason I had so many friends
in Hiroshima was because I got friendly with my team members. I'm still friends
with some of them to this day and while others have moved on, I'll always
remember the times I had with them. Unfortunately, from the get-go, I quickly
learned that there was sort of a divide in my team. We were quite a big group
so obviously some people are going to prefer some people over others. I guess I
went in thinking that as foreigners in Japan, we'd all find some common ground
but I also had to remember that as with all people, we are very different.
Training was excellent. It was two weeks long and I learnt so much. I
picked up so many games and I even use a couple of them to this day. It was
very thorough and I gained some in class experience even before I started
teaching on my own. But because it was so intense, I lost a lot of sleep. There
will be homework; you will need to prep, and if you're anal and a bit of a
perfectionist (like I was), you will lose weight at the same time. But when you conquer it,
it'll be worth it believe me. You should feel somewhat prepared (although I was
still very nervous) when teaching your first set of lessons.
People often
mention that commutes can be a
killer. And they can be. You get multiple schools so you're often travelling to
different locations but I didn't mind some of the journeys. I got to see
different parts of Hiroshima (and I was paid for it). If you have to commute
more than two hours, you also got to stay in a hotel but I was unlucky. One of
my commutes was just under two hours so this one quickly started to grate on me
- especially in the winter when it was biting cold or even snowing. I would get
home late and while Japan is
relatively safe, who really wants to be commuting home at midnight.
Again, this is all
just from my perspective; everything I experienced, but as the JET crowd say -
every situation is different. Some people really enjoyed (or might still be
enjoying their experiences) while other might have hated it. But I think this
is with all jobs everywhere really. Where you're placed might come into play as
well. I think I was lucky. I was placed in a city and I absolutely fell in love
with Hiroshima. (I would go back in a heartbeat).
Overall, for me
however, I think PKC has an even list of pros and cons. They really helped me
get started in Japan. I've heard that with some other organisations, you're
required to start up on your own and obviously with limited Japanese, this can
be difficult; PKC alleviate this burden. I've also heard it said by others
however that PKC is a "one-year" thing and I think that somewhat applied
to me. I really enjoy teaching and while I don't mind kids, I've also realised
in my latest job, that I rather enjoy teaching adults so a role where I teach
both is more ideal for me.
I think however
that as an entry-level English teaching job however, if you're deciding to
teach English in Japan, Peppy Kids Club is a rather decent opportunity.
Therefore, if you're thinking of applying, I wish you all the best.
