General Info for Professional Teachers Considering Taking Up a Full-time Teaching Position with Crossroads

If you have come to this page it’s a safe bet you are looking for a teaching post in Japan. Below you will find some useful information to help you make your decisions about living and working in Japan – specifically, our part of Japan – and, in particular, about the potential benefits of working with our school. Do you think you and Crossroads would make a good combination? It is advised that you read all that is presented here before taking the next step.

The school area includes a reception, an office, four regular classrooms, a teacher’s area, the “Open House” lounge/studio and (sometimes) classroom, two specially designed computer/net-lesson “booths”, kitchen/classroom, bathroom and a roof-top garden (available to students and staff, weather permitting).

Crossroads specializes in training adults in second-language acquisition. We have three venues for conducting classes: In-house lessons, outside Company lessons and Net lessons.

In-House Lessons: Our in-house students are a mixture of "office ladies" and other company employees, housewives, retirees, university students, some high school students, and the occasional child (subject to special consideration).

In-house lessons are conducted in groups of up to 6 or 7 students, in small groups of 2/3 students (semi-private lessons), and in one-to-one (private) lessons. Group classes are held once or twice a week while private student attendance varies. All students are divided into 5 levels and appropriate programs and class materials are chosen according to their levels.

Students studying in group classes at the lower levels start with textbooks and dialogue cards. These materials, especially the textbooks, are phased out in the higher levels where the focus shifts to free (but monitored) conversation and other activities, including situational improvised dialogues (SIDs) and writing assignments − notably, script-writing (which culminates for some groups in three "performance nights" a year of original plays at the school).

Private and semi-private lessons are designed to meet the individual needs of the students and a variety of approaches are therefore necessary.

Other: We also offer our in-house students a Business English course, specialist (ESP) courses and courses designed to prepare our students for proficiency tests such as TOEIC, IELTS, etc. These courses are textbook based and aim to assist our students attain the specific goals they desire in each category.

The Business course has three levels and is designed for a conscientious student to complete in 1.5 years. The ESP classes are specialist courses and the textbook and other materials will be determined by the student's field of interest. The TOEIC course has five levels allowing the student to enter at a level suited to the TOEIC score he/she wishes to attain.

Yet another approach to teaching at Crossroads involves additional skills, talents or expertise that our teachers may possess in such fields as music (instrumental and vocal), theatre and others. The concept, in some ways similar to an ESP course, is designed to channel communication, in the student's chosen second language, through these various disciplines.

Non-classroom teaching hours during the working day are spent (unless travelling to and from an outside job location - see below) in lesson preparation, resources development, teachers' meetings and general assistance to the office staff and management. Teachers should also be available to participate in "Open House" activities (see below) chatting with students over a coffee or tea when not teaching or engaged in other, more pressing work related activities.

The "Open-House" is a space where all in-house and outside company-lesson students are given free access to the school's additional facilities (6 days a week if they wish). Here, free drinks (coffee or tea), a small library, English movies, BBC news on cable, newspapers, magazines, computer activities (including access to the Internet) and informal conversation practice with our teachers (and each other) are available at all times. These are supplementary services we offer free of charge to all our students in addition to their "formal" lessons.

There is a "foreign languages only" policy in the Open House where our students are encouraged to engage in various activities in a natural, non-classroom environment.

Net Lessons: Occasionally Crossroads provides lessons through the Internet. At the school, we are set up with computers and other necessary equipment so as to provide these lessons to our students using Skype or similar programs. Lessons are always private and are designed accordingly (see "private lessons" above).

Company Lessons: Teaching commitments at companies located outside of the school are an important part of our teaching program. We have a number of contracts with companies in our local area to which we send our teachers. These lessons are conducted within our regular working day and transportation, by train and/or taxi, is paid for by the school.

For company lessons, a textbook is used at all levels. We offer our clients a number of programs to choose from: General English, Business English, specialist (ESP) courses and preparation for proficiency test such as TOEIC, IELTS and others.

Other Foreign Languages Taught at Crossroads: French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Korean and Chinese.

Lessons in these languages are usually restricted to private lessons but can be organized in much the same way as our English lessons, if required. We also offer lessons in all these languages in all three categories − In-house, outside Company-lessons and through the Net.

Our Teachers: In addition to our full-time teaching staff, there are many part-time teachers working with Crossroads teaching a variety of languages. In total there are from 10 to 15 "native speaking" teachers working with us in various capacities (full-time, part-time and even located overseas for "net lessons"). We try to keep up a good team-spirit and aim for the same common goals. The general feeling is professional, but not at the expense of enjoying ourselves!

Check out our newsletters (pdf, in English) on this site for another "snap-shot" of some of our activities.

Overall, a Crossroads teacher will be very flexible and adaptable, sociable, patient, a good listener, responsible and motivated. Oh, and yes, you'll need to be a dependable team-player too! But, most importantly, our teachers must be committed, career-minded professionals whose primary concern is their students' progress.

Teachers at Crossroads will feel comfortable teaching business English, and will not mind travelling to outside locations when necessary.

A background, with some degree of recognition/training, in the areas mentioned above (theatre, music, etc) will also fit in with our activities here.

You will need to be a university graduate and have some experience teaching TESL/TEFL, preferably outside of your native country.

We prefer people who can make a long-term commitment, so please do not apply if you are looking for a summer job! The minimum contract is for 1 year and we prefer people who are able to commit to a longer period.

Although it is not necessary to be able to speak Japanese for this job, a genuine interest in Japan and Japanese culture will help new arrivals in the adjustment process considerably.

The job is five (5) days a week (40 hours), from 1p.m. to 10p.m. − an alternative schedule (mainly on Saturdays) might be from 9am to 6pm (all schedule formats include a 1 hour dinner break). The maximum classroom teaching load is up to 100 contact hours per month (25 hours per week on average). Various options for overtime are available. Teachers also attend regular staff meetings as well as four or five events during the year, organized by the school, and are expected to participle in Open House activities when appropriate (see above).

The Deal: The full-time teacher's basic salary starts at 3,000,000 yen per year, i.e., 250,000 yen per month.

Teachers may also be offered overtime classes at rates of up to an additional 3,000 yen / hour beyond the basic salary.

250,000 yen (+) per month is generally considered to be adequate enough for supporting a very comfortable lifestyle for a single person in Matsuyama − reputed to have the second lowest cost-of−living index in Japan for a prefectural capital.

Holidays: The school is closed for approximately three (3) one-week periods in the year. These holidays include national holidays and paid school holidays. Additional national holidays throughout the year as well as two regular days per week are also days off.

Accommodation, insurance and taxation: Full-time teachers are provided with a furnished apartment (phone, phone-line, washing machine, air-con, bedding, fridge and other basic furniture) within a short walk or bike ride of the school. Crossroads pays the deposit/key money for the apartment while the teacher pays bills and rent. Rent is usually 55,000-65,000 yen per month. Basic utility bills are around 10,000 yen, but can vary greatly depending on the teacher.

Insurance: Crossroads pays full national health-insurance coverage for all our full-time staff.

Taxes: Japanese national tax in the first year is about 6,500 yen per month. City and Prefecture taxes do not apply in the first year but are added to the tax load from the second year, bringing the total to about 17,000 or 18,000 yen per month.

Matsuyama is the largest city on the island of Shikoku, the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is the capital of Ehime Prefecture. The population of the city is around 500,000. It is clean, safe and convenient.

The cost of living in Matsuyama is significantly less than in the bigger centres such as Tokyo, Osaka, etc. and you can expect to save money from your salary and lose very little time in commuting to and from work.

There are shops, bars, restaurants, the city centre and the historic Matsuyama Castle within walking distance of the school and the apartments we arrange for our teachers.

The nightlife, cinemas, hotels, an open-air swimming pool, parks and the Prefectural Art Museum are available in the city centre. A bike or short train or tram/streetcar ride will take you to Dogo Onsen, the beach, the mountains, and other places of interest.

The islands of the Inland Sea are a short ferry ride away and there are many beautiful, natural places to explore on Shikoku. Hiroshima is a 90 min fast ferry ride across the Inland Sea and is also linked by a series of bridges to the Matsuyama region of Shikoku. Osaka is around 40 minutes air-time away and Tokyo is about 1hr 20 mins away by plane. There are direct flights from Matsuyama to other major cities in Japan as well as to Shanghai and Seoul.

For further information on Matsuyama City, follow this link: http://www.city.matsuyama.ehime.jp (You can switch to the English page once you log on.)

Please note that, as we encourage teaching staff to remain with us long-term, we do not recruit regularly. However, positions do become available and if, after a study of the information presented here, you consider yourself an ideal candidate for a position with Crossroads, please send a complete CV (with a recent photo, letters of reference, etc) to:

crltd@crossroadsco.com, att: Joshua Battain (Director)

Please also note that if your initial application meets with success, you will need to have a follow-up interview, either in person at the school, or via the internet and Skype.