Former FT in China
- 2016-08-28
Hey Anonymous,
I would strongly suggest putting this review up on Dave's ESL Cafe. I've just received an offer from the school and the contract aligns with what has been mentioned here, as well as MANY other disturbing requirements. I'm glad these reviews have been posted to help potential teachers, but I think it needs to be broadcasted more on different ESL sites. This school is definitely scamming children, parents, and teachers.
Yep, as you say, it needs to be broadcast more on different ESL sites.
Anonymous will need to have his application to join Dave Starling's venerable and exclusive greasy spoon vetted first. Then he must never dare to say negative stuff about any of Dave's advertising patrons in case Dave decides to banish him/her!
Leslie, why don't you join Dave's website as a poster? You can post the negative stuff on behalf of Anonymous. If you are a female, you might just get away with doing so!
Leslie
- 2016-08-28
Hey Anonymous,
I would strongly suggest putting this review up on Dave's ESL Cafe. I've just received an offer from the school and the contract aligns with what has been mentioned here, as well as MANY other disturbing requirements. I'm glad these reviews have been posted to help potential teachers, but I think it needs to be broadcasted more on different ESL sites. This school is definitely scamming children, parents, and teachers.
Anonymous
- 2014-02-20
What these guys are saying is absolutly true!! I would never recommend this school to anyone. Like David said at first everything will be great. The manager is so friendly and she wants to help you with this or that, but after a few weeks you will definitely regret coming to this school. Its not good to burn bridges but if you can find something better then definitely take it.
This school is very money hungry and theres no communication between the schools and teachers. I would suggest to brush up on your japanese laws because you might be surprised with what this school is trying to get away with.
What the other guy said is accurate as well, about the pay deduction if you are 1 minute late. It doesnt matter if you dont have a class for another 2.5 hours, you were 1 minute late so they can take money from you. You must also have your visa before you can legally start working. If the government finds out that you are working without your proper visa they will kick you out of this country. Also if you have a specialties in humanities/international service visa you can only work like 25-29 hours but the way this company goes around that is making your other hours that you are working non-teaching hours so technically you are only working up to 29 hours, the other hours are prep time so you arent technically paid for that. (I am sure other schools do that as well, just something to think about)
If you somehow do decide to risk it and work for this company then I would suggest you get all the details about what exactly you would be doing and get your exact working schedule before you sign anything if possible.
They mainly hire from abroad because of their bad reputation within japan and they know, just like other bad schools, there is a plethora of people who would love the opportunity to come to japan who may not know to research japanese laws and who may not know that a company shouldn`t treat their employees a certain way.
There are other with the same, worse, or maybe even better experiences here. Everyone is different. Take any information you get with a grain of salt but just know if you read information and you see a pattern it may be something to consider. This school has a high turnover rate for a reason. They are losing students every year for a reason.
David Church
- 2014-01-10
It has been awhile since replied to John's post. Since then, I have created a Do Not Work for American School, Nagoya, Japan Facebook page. If you are a former employee of this school, please add a testimonial to this page.
Thanks, David
David Church
- 2013-04-18
Everything this person states above is true and then some. I recently lived in Japan and was hired by the school. At first, everything seemed fine but within a matter of weeks, the truth started to reveal itself.
I was hired along with 2 other teachers who had the sanity to leave within a few months. Our contracts stated they were required to give a 3 month notice to quit but Japanese law only dictates 2 weeks. They both gave two weeks and then during a meeting, in front of both of them, the Manager slammed them and threw them under the bus in front of the entire staff. She also did NOT pay them their final paychecks.
They do not appreciate ANY of the hard work you do - especially when you go above and beyond. I made a movie with my kindergarten class that required hours and hours of editing OUTSIDE of school. When I finally played the movie for the kids and parents for graduation, they cried and were overjoyed. The manager however, told me I must give her a copy of the movie in order for her to SELL it to the parents. I informed her that she could have all the video I shot with the school camera, but since the final product was a result of my work 'off the clock', that she would either have to pay me for my time or allow me to give the DVD to the children for free. She reluctantly allowed me to give it to them. The next week, she pulled me out of our weekly meeting to inform me that ALL THE TEACHERS that were currently working, didn't like the way I taught. I asked again to clarify her statement and she said again that everyone was unhappy with me. I asked her a third time and she continued to say the same thing. I knew this was false because I was very good friends with the majority of the teachers there. When I returned to the meeting, I stopped it and informed them what she had said and wanted some feedback about how I could be a better teacher. NONE of them said anything. They sat their with their mouths open...most of them saying they never said anything like that to her. She then, out of embarrassment said 'I never told you all the teachers were unhappy with you, Mr. Church', and I reiterated that she had told me 3 times they had.
I could go on and on about how she screwed me over in ways like that and others. When I finally decided to leave, I gave a 3 months notice as per our contract. She informed me that she would not honor it and that I would be leaving not only earlier, but she would be taking away my class (the one I had been prepping for all year long) and giving me a much more difficult class (as punishment). In the end, she cheated me out of over 2,000 dollars.
I went to the Labor Office, but unfortunately they told me that morally she was very wrong, but legally, she had covered her bases in the contract.
Do NOT trust Hitomi Ishizuka or her husband Dan Lewis. This is NOT a place you want to find yourself. If you have any other questions, please email me. pcvdlc@yahoo.com
In Response To: An English School Owner`s Experience in Japan Link (Kevin Burns) on the "Travel in Japan" board
While its true that some owners/managers of English schools care about the teachers and the students, they are in the minority in Japan, and are hard to find.
I agree that its important to have a BLACLIST of bad schools for teachers and parents to be aware of.
I was also promised everything by American School and AEIS when I went for an interview and viewed their web page.
It looked so professional and they seemed so caring but it fact it was a carefully planned interview that I later learned was used on all applicants.
They turned out to be liars and cheats and would do anything to take money from workers and parents.
They have no curriculum, no qualifications and will abuse teachers and their rights because they know that the teachers will leave after one year and they have a plethora of applicants waiting at the door.
The truth is schools like American school and AIES are typical of private juyku's and English schools through out Japan. American school is owned and run but a husband and wife. He is American and she is Japanese, but you dont know this till later.
They have both kept their family names and act innocent but in fact they play one person of against the other, so they never resolve any issues.
They continually fine you $1,000 yen for clocking in 1 minute late for work, but refuse to pay you overtime when you are forced to stay and work ten and fifteen minutes late every evening because they have the final class ending right on the hour.
They cheat in English exams by changing students answering sheets so that parents believe their children are achieving great results. They refuse to abide by Japanese law by refusing to enroll workers in health insurance and retirement pension.
When a parent wishes to take their child out of school they threaten to sue them.
And if you speak to a parent without the owners permission they fine you 10% of your pay.
The contracts of American school and AIES are written to support only them but they are full of illegal rules and cannot be enforced in a court of law.
For example. If you have to take time off work and they have to get another teacher at the school to do over time to cover your classes, they pay them 2,500 yen and hour but take 3,500 yen an hour from your pay.
Is this a supportive caring school? No they are corrupt and people need to know about them
That is why in the last 3 years on 2 teachers have finished their contracts with each school.
Should the public and potential teachers be warned about this school of course?
Why?
To stop the abuse of these types of school in Japan and allow professionally run schools to operate and succeed in teaching English and to treat workers as human beings and not a source of disposable income to abuse and then get rid of them.