GEOS (eikaiwa)

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GEOS

Type	Kabushiki kaisha
Founded	Tokushima, Japan (1973)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Tsuneo Kusunoki 楠恒男 President and CEO
Industry	Language instruction
Slogan	世界中で教えているのは、ジオス。
Website	www.geos.co.jp (Japanese)

GEOS is one of the big four [1] private eikaiwa or English conversation teaching companies in Japan.

GEOS, which stands for Global Education Opportunities and Services, was started in 1973 by Tsuneo Kusunoki. The first school was based in Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, also the location of one of the company's main registered offices. The company has regional head offices in Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Fukuoka.

GEOS also has an overseas hiring office in Vancouver. The GEOS group also runs children only schools called "Codomo Schools" (子供校) [Correctly transliterated as "Kodomo", "Codomo" is used in all GEOS company literature] throughout Japan. The adult GEOS Schools have themselves taken on more classes for children. As of February 2007, GEOS had a total of around 500 "Codomo" and adult schools in Japan and over 55 schools [2] in countries outside of Japan.

The main language GEOS teaches in Japan and its overseas schools is English. Other languages taught at GEOS include, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Korean. GEOS also teaches Japanese to foreigners living in Japan at their Kudan Japanese Culture, Research Center and Language Institute in Kudanshita, Tokyo [3]

1 Teachers
2 Training
3 Contract
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Teachers

Similar to most Eikaiwa GEOS teachers are not required by Japanese law to have traditional educational training. Teachers can be hired straight from university with a minimum requirement of a bachelor degree. This allows them to obtain a Japanese work visa. GEOS actively encourages new employees to take part in sales campaigns.

[edit] Training

In terms of mandatory educational training, all GEOS teachers receive two forms of training after successfully passing a three day initial interview. Training is in two parts. First teachers must complete a one month distance learning pack, and then teachers must attend a four day pre-departure training. If a new teacher is hired in North America they will receive pre-departure training before arriving in Japan at the GEOS Training Center in Vancouver. If the teacher is hired in Oceania or Europe they will receive "pre-departure" training in Tokyo upon arrival in Japan. After arriving at their school, new teachers are usually given a three day overlap period with either the departing teacher, their reigonal teacher trainer, or a substitute teacher. New teachers also receive training after 3 and 8 months of work. This is later supplemented with follow-up training sessions conducted by the regional Trainer. There is one native-English-speaking Trainer per regional Head Office in Japan in every region except for the Nishi Kanto and Higashi Kanto regions, where there are two. Trainers roles also involve covering substitute duties for absentee teachers, in cases where substitute teachers are already substitute teaching. Trainers are not required to have any formal training qualifications, but must have a wide variety of experience within the company.

GEOS has a policy of assisting long-term employees with a good sales record to take EFL qualifications such as CELTA. 30% of the fee for the CELTA course is refunded by GEOS if the teacher who has taken it completes a further year of employment after returning to Japan. There is an additional 20% discount available to teachers at the point of payment. GEOS offers preferential treatment to those teachers whose students regularly renew their contracts, and who are more successful in business campaigns. One of the main philosophies of GEOS is that student satisfaction with their teacher is reflected in high student contract renewal rates.

[edit] Contract

As of October 2006, the majority of GEOS teachers started working under a 29.5 hour contract [4]. This change in teaching contract has been a cause of some discussion for teachers, managers and Union representatives alike. The Japanese government law on working hours and social insurance payments clearly states that anyone working under 29.5 hours need not join the (社会保険）Shakai Hoken, Social Insurance Scheme. GEOS provides its own free health insurance, through Marsh Insurance Japan, for employees but does not provide a company pension. GEOS health insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions, dental care or pregnancy. Teachers are able to opt out of the 29.5 hour working contract and sign a 40 hour working contract. When they do this they must also join the Social Insurance Scheme.