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I Hated My First Eikaiwa Job
But Loved My ALT Job

by James
(Michigan USA)

Definitely Put in the Time, Buckle Down & Learn Japanese

Definitely Put in the Time, Buckle Down & Learn Japanese

So here is my story. Like most I jumped into the first job I was offered and it was eikaiwa. My manager sucked. He would not accommodate even the slightest request and completely lacked the ability to see things from any perspective other than his own or what he was told to do by his boss. Plus I was stuck out in the boonies. Needless to say, I didn't renew.

I moved on and got a job as an ALT. It was like a slice of heaven! The Japanese staff had a sense of humor were fun to work with or for and made me feel like I was part of the team. They didn't work me like a dog like my prior job.

The city was nicer and had more to offer. Plus the schedule was fixed and I wasn't working at early mornings with kids and nights teaching adults so I could pursue other hobbies. It made life much easier. I made lots of friends and have fond memories.

A parting word of advice for those wanting to take the plunge would be don't put off trying to learn the language. It makes everything well... just harder. When you can speak a bit it opens so many doors.

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But Loved My ALT Job

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Jan 19, 2020
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starstarstarstarstar 		Opening Doors via Knowing Japanese
by: John

Hi James,

Thanks for stopping by and for the comments and contributing to the site.

We have tried to stress this very same thing in other areas of our site in particular on our ESL teacher page of how important knowing Japanese is in avoiding the feelings of isolation which often leads to resentment and other problems in social adjustment - in addition to just developing a little bit of a swashbuckling attitude about things when they don't seem to be working out.

We might add that it not only opens social doors but financial doors as well.

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