Teaching Position(English) For Positions of Assistant Language Teachers (ALT) at Junior High Schools and Elementary Schools For Positions for Preschool Teachers
The ESL position involves teaching conversation-based English to students.
OES provides a wide range of lessons Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM with the greater portion of lessons being taught in the early evening hours.
In-school classes range from children to adult classes. About half of our children's classes are elementary-aged children but we do have some junior high and high school classes, as well as daycare. The majority of adult classes are at basic level, but we do have intermediate and advanced classes. Although we use text books, our curriculum is not strictly structured and is less academic than English classes at regular schools. Our aim is to teach conversational English in a fun and interesting manner. Games and activites as well as book work are the key to a great class and happy students. The average class time is 50 to 70 minutes. In-school classes are generally divided up according to the student's English speaking ability and age and class size averages around five students.
We do have a wide variety of company classes. These are usually taught in the evening hours. These classes are usually 90-120 minutes with usually 5-10 students per class. Again these classes are not strictly structured but as these classes are taught within a specific timeframe, teaching from and completing a textbook is mandatory. Games and activities are of course encouraged and an excellent addition to studying the grammar in the books and welcomed by students.
ESL teachers are usually asked to work a total of 25 hours a week, however, we reserve the right to ask the teacher to teach an additional 5 hours if needed. These extra hours are considered over time hours.
In addition, there are two mandatory OES parties a year, a Christmas party and a summer party. Unfortunately these are held on a Sunday and the teacher will be bound by contract to attend these parties. However, they are, in fact, parties and so it is quite a comfortable fun atmosphere. Most teachers find these parties a great way to interact with students in a non-class setting.
Japan has individual national holidays throughout the year however, not all of these holidays are given to the teachers. Some are actual workdays and all the teachers will be asked to work. OES has a yearly schedule plan and so the teacher and students know well in advance which national holidays are actual days off. However the teacher is given a certain amount of extra holidays in lieu of this which are negotiated with OES depending on the availability of teachers able to cover these classes during another's period of absence. They of course must be requested for and approved by OES. Most teachers take advantage of this generosity, and do take extra time off, as Japan is an excellent and cheap avenue for travel.
Aside from these individual holidays, there are three week-long holidays in the year as well, which are given to teachers. These are Golden Week in May, Obon holiday in August and New Year holiday at the end of December.
OES has one main office and various branch offices as well as many company classes. Therefore, most of our teachers are required to drive. OES has a small fleet of cars available for this purpose. As a bonus, teachers are able to use these cars for personal use as well, however this must be limited to outside school business hours. The teacher must pay according to the amount of mileage they use, however, many teachers still take advantage of this offer.
To say that the schedule is five days a week may seem a bit preposterous, but not in Japan. Some schools expect their teachers to work six days a week, and even occasionally seven. Others will give their teachers separate days off in the week or two days together but in the middle of the week. At OES, you will have a two day weekend, either Saturday/Sunday, or Sunday/Monday. You may be asked to work on Saturdays, but after a certain period this can be changed depending upon the availability of a replacement. However, many teachers enjoy working on a Saturday, as it allows them to do things on a Monday when there are less people around.
Many of our classes are located away from the school, so the teacher will be expected to drive to these classes (vehicles are provided by OES). We therefore require all our teachers to be able to drive a car. Naturally, you will have plenty of opportunity to accustom yourself to the different driving conditions in Japan.
We ask that you come to Japan with an international driver's licence, which may be purchased in your home country, so that you may begin driving as soon as possible. This international drivers license however, is only valid for one year. Japanese law requires those living in Japan for more than one year to get an official Japanese licence.
If you are here on a working holiday or spouse visa and would like to work, Ota English School is more than willing to provide you with a few hours a week. We generally need people in the evenings and we occasionally have company classes far from Ota, in such places as Isesaki, Ashikaga, Sano, Kumagaya, Honjo, Maebashi, Takasaki, Tatebayashi and many other places. If you are living in one of these cities or are planning to, it would be a good idea to drop us your name and phone number so that we can contact you when work becomes available in your area.
