Peppys Kids Club Help

I recently was accepted at both NOVA, and Peppys Kids Club.

I decided to go with Peppys. Has anyone had experience with this company and was I should be looking out for?

hey trevor, I worked for Peppy kids club and it was a great experience. The pay is really good for the hours that you are expected to work. training SUCKED, but it is only 2 weeks, and they pay you for it. the only bummer about Peppy is the traveling, your schools are in 4 different locations so you will have to travel to each one for one week per month...sometimes this means long train rides...keep an open mind and remember to have fun with your co-workers...some really great people work for peppy....GAMBATTE!(good luck)

I see you posted 05/31, you must be the lucky dog that got my job :P

I'd appreciate you letting me know how things go out there as i'm still considering applying again.

it'd be very much appreciated. ttkdriver@hotmail.com

thanks, be well

Having applied to PKC several times I was told via e-mail PKC are freezing employment for the duration of 2004, I firmly beleive they are not telling the truth and just giving me the brush off, a friend of mine has just been hired.

I have the relivent job experience, 16 months at another kids school.

I was recently hired by Peppy's. They are hiring now for positions beginning in January and onwards. When do you start? Maybe we'll be in the same training session...

I have been working for Peppy for three years, I have noticed some really bad points about working here. Communication is bad, I almost never receive my forms on time, I go to schools and the JT expects another teacher or doesnt expect one at all, hotel reservations are often not made, but the worst is yet to come. If a child lies about you, doesnt like your lesson, or arbitrarily says something. . .you have nothing to stand on.One teacher was fired when a child said "sensei made me smell his feet" which was a lie as I was observing the lesson. Another case when a child said the teacher hit them(the verb to hit and touch are the same in Japanese) which turned out to be false after destroying the teachers reputation and self esteem. Also, the JT can write anything about your lesson, including the ones in which she was not present, and it can have severe negative repurcussions, true or not the effect is still the same. Currently I am a teacher in good standing, I am just tired of watching good people getting keelhauled for nothing!

Hey - I am in exactly the same boat! I have been offered a job with Peppy Kids Club and NOVA. I am totally confused and don't know which one to take. Any feedback would be most welcome

go with peppys!!! its amazing. NOVA is a joke and no one here respects the company. i havent met one person who every had anything good to say about it. with peppys you only work 3-4 hours a day. NOVA is 8.

peppys is amazing.

Currently there is a 15 person waiting list to be hired so they have frozen new hires for a while. but every year about 40-50 teachers are replaced so its only short term.

things about kids is true. they wil alsways take JT or students side without question.

Trevor,

Are you working in Japan now? If so, how was training? I start working for Peppy's in January. Any feedback on your experience thus far would be appreciated.

yeah im teaching with peppys right now. Im just outside tokyo, about 15 min by rapid train.

training can be tough, its the most you will work in the entire time you are in japan. its fun and you can party everynight with other co workers. but hours are long. youll work more in the 2 weeks of training then in any other month. probably 3x much! just remember when its finished youll be working only 3 hours a day.

the main thing about training is yes you are paid in full from day one, but usually you have to wait 2 months to get your first paycheck. so bring lots of cash to get you through yer first 2 months. after that it is smooth sailing. about 1500 USD is good. if u cant bring japanese yen, bring USD travellers cheques.

Hey Trevor,

Thanks for the info. How is accomodation both at training and your permanent place?

Could someone tell me advantages and disadvantages between ECC and Peppy's? Besides the age difference. Anyone familiar with both?

A freeze on hiring, what a load of BS, I just read on another forum PKC hired as recently as this month, so who's telling the truth.
MR Jason Wright, I wonder..

Yes. he did say I was on file. Hope you are reading this, i'm sure you are.

It doesn't do PKC any favors.

I work with Minerva aka Zenken All Ltd, I see many kids from 1-12 years old, I had one kid who p....d on the floor, had kids spitting at me etc, the thing is I enjoy this job and I love kids.
This job I do is only part time and want to move on to better things. I am here for the future.

Thanks for listening to me.

Yeah..It depends on the type of person u are really--Some people are ok with peppy but many DISLIKE it. If u don't care u might have an easier time with peppy ;-) I know multiple people who left or wanted to leave within weeks of starting
Dave is notoriously slow in answering emails etc so be warned before hand
Business Trips are fun for some but stressful and unwelcome for others who sometimes are pressured to take a bt even within a couple weeks of landing in Japan ( I had to take 4 trains in four hoursd to get to a school and arrive 30 mins before class--I'd been in J for a few weeks!)
Training I agree is useless and the advice they give can be a little er dumb---My trainer said give a bad, misbehaving kid a ''LOOK'' and they'll stop the behaviour (Yeah anyone who's been around kids in any company knows that's crap ;-))
Discipline can be an issue--Peppy encourages u to never say anything bad about a kid even if that kid is horrendous or abusive
J teachers get the kids for three weeks of the month but honestly alot don't have the greatest English skills themseelves so it makes the job harder when the kids aren't getting alot of English in the classroom when u aren't there (I've been in the room with J teachers--they speak too much J in comparison to E!)
The Japanese teacher and NAtive teacher relationshup can be weird-strained---there can be resentment etc and a few people at retraining last year knew their J teachers didn't like them
I'd agree---The J teachers file reports on u and can be in your classroom with little or no advance warning--I was never allowed to see-evaluate the J teacher do a class!
My kids were bad--disrespectful, mean and violent..Peppy does little about giving you permission to discipline so if u are in an area with bad kids-classes honestly you'll be blamed when if you're a serious-caring teacher who would be so much better with better behaved kids
Head Office--can be slow and say they will pay for something (like a taxi) and than forget about it or will put u off prob hoping you'll forget ;-)
Kids are often not put in classes they should be in--Advancement does not appear to be based on ability! I had a three year old and her seven year old brother in the same class because Mom wanted it that way!
I seem anti-Peppy..Hmmmm ;-) I'll post again some more thoughts as they arise hopefully some good ones pop up ;-)

Well my time with peppys has really been all ups and very little downs, so i agree it depends on the type of person, and area and kids. my bosses are great and head office has always been there to help.


im not saying its all gravy, trains can suck and the other day i had a 10 hour day (only 3 hours of teaching) but cuz of the train times it took forever and a day to get to and from the school.

training accomedations were amazing. i was in a hotel which costs the company $90 USD a night while i was only charges $10 a night. the regular placew people say is great to.

my apartment is perfect. very clean and new. but this is becuase i was the first person to move to this apartment. other teachers i know have gotten run down ones.

im not saying peppys is the end all, but great place to work and much better then other major companies.

fuck i sound like a company man, i need to go wash this shit off my face, brown nosing to much.... but truely this is how i feel.

Training accomodation is in a hotel?? Wow, I'm impressed already..I thought it'd be like a student dorm. Did you have to share rooms? Free complimentary breakfast?..hehehe kidding. I'll find out in November. Cheers.

I don't think any Eikaiwa is perfect. There's bound to be problems at every one. I've heard it depends on which branch you are placed. I mean, I've heard people who enjoyed their time at Nova because they were placed at a great branch (although the company itself generally has a bad rep.) I'm going to go in this with an open mind. I have to admit I'm still glad I'm going with Peppy's rather than the "big 4."

Some more random thoughts...

At retraining we really wanted to circualte a petition to end the use of the koncho (Spelling?) *Shudder* And we really wanted rules against sexual touching--the kids tocu a girl's crotch, boobs and butt too often and it makes u uncomfortable but Peppy wants the little darlings happy enough to come back so u pay put up with inappropriate behaviour! Sure you're never seen a boob that size--Doesn't mean you have to touch it ;-)

I'd agree that alot depends on where you are placed..U might be blessed to land in a spot with great co-workers and great kids--U'll love your experience and want to stay forever ;-) Or you might be dropped in a Prefecture where everything isn't as pleasant.
They once had a District lEader now there is more red tape in the form of a Performance Advisor (What are we trained circus animals? ;-)) and Area Manager (Who might be in charge of two prefectures and may have no time for u)
They restructured earlier this year because Head Office was probably getting overwhelmed by the demands etc of all the teaching staff so they decenteralized power a bit (Or tried to) but it wasn't very successful
Peppy wanted to challenge Aeon etc but maybe overestimated the market and competition and some of the additional 500 schools they wanted to open don't have enough interest to proceed--thus less people need to be hired I think the Children's School actually is NOT a successful (Money making) division of Chouh Publishing so maybe more cuts are in the future
U can ask for a transfer after one year---Rare thing to move tho! Where u land is most likely where you'll be forced to stay
Retraining in November was interesting---It's really cool to meet the other teachers! Many people used it as a party-fest and went out every night to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones ;-) We were given bathroom agreements--protocol on how to bring and care for a little one who can't proceed to the bathroom by themselves! Chris said that you ''Don't have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable..'' but technically you're really encouraged to accompany little ones to the bathroom and aid in any way--this of course uncomfortable for some people and in particular men can be of accused of unproffessional and inappropriate behaviour so anyone going with Peppy please be careful! IT's true that language barriers or kids who don't like u can make up a story etc and u may find yourself in trouble!
Good things about Peppy? Hmmmmm...The HO is in Hongo and there's a great little Do! Bakery right outside the station ;-)I had great Native Speakers in my Prefecture-=--I just never saw them LOL. I saw them once every two weekds in Mr.Donut for a meeting. We were always thrilled to see each other as we were in a spread out prefecture and it cost alot to go visit so we all rarely did ;-)
For those going soon please make sure Peppy has your accurate arrval date--I had a friends come and was left at the Airport with no one to greet her! She called HO but it was after hours--had someone not come back to HO for a missed item she'd have been homless at Nagoya Airport after her arrival LOL--This is never good! ;-)
Anyone have any other q's ask away...

Has anyone worked for Peppy's in the Nagoya area? If so, what was your experience like?

I am working for Peppy at the moment. A lot of their policies and such are kind of annoying but the great thing is that if you go to work, do a half ass hungover job you will be ok. You only ever see someone in an authority position maybe once a month at the staff meeting. Training is HELL!!! commuting is a pain in the ass but you only work like 4 hours once you are at the school. Its great because you can devote your mornings or Sundays and Mondays to private tutoring. Our training apartment in Hongo was good. Our apartment in our area is great. Go with Peppy over Nova anyday. Let me put it this way....I have time to get pretty hammered about a couple times a week, work for Peppy, go to the gym almost every day, and privately tutor 4 students a week.