Alice

France
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Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
Description
Hello ! I'm Alice, 29 years old, from France. I am a patient, polite, respectful and curious girl. I love to learn, to discover new things and to help others. I obtained a one-year holiday visa that started last May. Japan is not new for me but I would love to improve my Japanese and experience local culture more in depth. I graduated from a master in international relations in a British university in 2019. Since then, I have been teaching French online. I have been in Japan twice in the past. Once as an exchange student in Kansai University for a semester in 2016 and once to travel for a month during summer. My Japanese level is intermediate. I can survive in Japan for daily life but I don’t understand TV for example. I don't have a lot of reviews here but I do on my “Couchsurfing” account so feel free to check it if you need.
I have experience working with kids from 3 years old to 17 years old teenagers, caring about 1 year old babies, in content creation (including videos), and as a receptionist in a 4 stars hotel. I am native in French and speak fluent German and English. My Chinese is quite good as well. During my curriculum, I have studied negotiation. In addition, I have lived in Taiwan, Turkey, the UK and in Japan now for over a year so communication and adaptation are probably my main strength.

Thanks for reading my profile and if you have a question, please do not hesitate.
Interests
Water sports
Videography
Mountain
Events & social
Dancing
Culture
Books
Outdoor activities
Sustainability
Charity work
Languages
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Japanese: Intermediate
Chinese (Mandarin): Intermediate
More details about my language interests
This workawayer has indicated that they would be interested in sharing their language(s) or learning a new language. You can contact them directly to discuss this.
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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Charity Work
Some knowledge of:
Eco Projects
Hospitality/Tourism
Able to teach about:
Being an elderly companion
Languages
Teaching
More details about your skills
- Languages : French, English, German, Chinese
- Digital content creations : images and videos
- Teaching ( 4 years experience )
- Hospitality
- Negotiation and conflict management (my major)
Age
30
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  no
- Special dietary requirements
  no

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3 Feb 2025

Left by host (Experience life as a local ...) for Workawayer ()

Thank you for your feedback. First and foremost, I sincerely appreciate your support and kindness. You have been incredibly positive and supportive, which had been a great help.

We are truly sorry to hear about your experience. I regret that we didn’t have the chance to speak before you left, as I would have appreciated the opportunity to clarify… read more

(Good )

1 Feb 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Experience life as a local ...)

I’m only putting 3 stars out of 5 for two reasons : the position description was not accurate and the communication was either bad, either non-existent. First of all, I must precise I have been sent to ‘Hara’ a residential suburb, so my experience here might be different from other locations. I spent 1 months there. Here was my daily schedule… read more (from 2pm to 6pm with kids aged 6 to 11)

2 pm : checking homework and displaying the snacks (Japanese and math they get from school all in Japanese language)
3:30 : snack time. Each kids get to pick up 3 candies of their choice
4:30 : swiping the floor
From 5pm onward : parents pick up their kids
5:30 : cleaning the toilet.
Kids also get about 30 min English session each day.
After they finish their homework, kids can play freely.
In addition to this daily tasks, I have done one morning in a nursery school, introducing France, which was very interesting.
During these 4 weeks, I did teaching for approximately one 1hour because one teacher was absent. I was also helping one 11 years old with her homework for 30 min for about twice a week and correcting kids reading for maybe 20 min a day. Beside this, there was no teaching involved so I’d say it was more a cleaningsupport position than a teaching position.

Now, let me elaborate about the communication and teaching style.

The teaching style : I would assess it as not very efficient and not very logical. This a only my second time in a private English school in Japan so I can only compare to my previous experience. The teaching here is not based on communication and the staff does not speak English to the kids. They follow a grammar and vocabulary style method. For instance, they were learning about jobs such as ‘lawyer, guard, pharmacist’ or past tense while 90% of them could not understand and answers questions such as ‘how are you’ or ‘how old are you’. They focused on passing tests but not on the actual capacity to speak and understand English. An other exercise some students had was to read a very difficult text to make a video. They work on it for a whole month, knowing the text by heart without knowing the meaning of the words. While I was forcing them to ask in English ‘Can you check my homework’, they learnt it but that was more or less it. The rest of the time, I was often left doing nothing which it was a little boring. The kids were also not always easy. The atmosphere between colleagues was just ok. Nobody seemed to have a passion to teach English even though some really liked kids.

Communication issue : non existent or inaccurate. (Details if you’re interested : After my online interview with the manager, and accepting volunteering, the manager asked me if I could start earlier. I said yes. Then when a few days later I asked about the date and location, she replied she gave the position to somebody else. Then she asked me again for another position, at 5 pm an an evening, I said I was going to give an answer on the next morning. At 10 pm she said found somebody else. Then she asked for a 3rd time, I said yes again.As the manager stated ‘after December’ I thought it meant January. Then I agreed again mentioning January 3 times at least. It turns out, she was expecting me in December. At this point, the lack of seriousness was obvious but as this work away could end up in a working visa I still wanted to give it a try. Then a 4th time I was asked for January. I was offered to stay in Gotemba in a home stay. I accepted again. I was told I would be sent to Gotemba city in a home stay. I realised 5 days before coming while looking at the address sent by the manager that I was actually sent to Hara, a costal suburb which is over one hour away from Gotemba. I realised only after arriving that I was not going to stay in a host family but in a flat with no Japanese. I actually spent 3 weeks on my own. The link I was sent for the location was not working, I had to copy past various part of the address sent to get to a result. 2 weeks later, I was offered to participate in a cultural exchange. The link address was this time working but completely wrong. While the actual spot was 5 min from the train station, the address indicated a spot 40 min away by walking from the train station. As it was suspicious, I asked the manager for co formation and never got an answer.) I was making sure to be as clear and precise as possible but either I got answers with no relation to my question or no answer at all. The previous volunteer I lived one week with told me that nobody had any clue about the work before coming and that the foreigner turnover was high, even in Gotemba. I don’t know if it is true though.

The good thing about the place is that you can learn Japanese while listening to the kids and the teacher.
Conclusion : it is not an English school but a place where they look after kids once school finishes with one English lesson in the schedule. Personally, I would not accept any unpaid position there as the learning potential is very low. It’s a business before all, not a cultural exchange club.

(Neutral )

3 Feb 2025

Left by host (Cultural exchange with warm ...) for Workawayer ()

Alice joined our project during the winter holidays, and we were grateful to have her as part of our team. She was highly responsible—always keeping her commitments. She worked well with other volunteers, building great relationships and collaborating smoothly in all activities. Her cheerful conversations with everyone made the atmosphere lively… read more

(Excellent )

1 Feb 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Cultural exchange with warm ...)

I spent 2 weeks there and I had the luck to stay in a Japanese host family that was a customer to the English café. I loved it. The English Cafe had other foreign volunteers who were very friendly. The highlight was the 3 days camp. You can learn so much about kids culture and school. Japanese kids are pretty much unsupervised and the canteen… read more

(Excellent )

26 Oct 2024

Left by Workawayer () for host (Share family life and explore ...)

Serious and well organised work away. ✨You know your schedule 2 weeks in advance and even days before arriving. 5 hours a day and 5 days a week is strictly respected.
There is always 2 foreign babysitters. You have your own bedroom and you can use the bath. One of the bedroom has a view on the forest. There is great wifi. The dinner is eaten… read more

(Excellent )

10 Sep 2024

Left by host (Share family life and explore ...) for Workawayer ()

We hosted Alice for about four months. She is a warm, kind, clean, tidy, hardworking and truly wonderful woman.
The four months she was there were a calm, peaceful and comfortable time for me.
Also, as a traveler, she is considerate and has a good understanding of our culture and lifestyle. I think it is very important to be considerate of the… read more

(Excellent )

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3 Feb 2025

Left by host (Experience life as a local ...) for Workawayer ()

(Good)

1 Feb 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Experience life as a local ...)

(Neutral)

3 Feb 2025

Left by host (Cultural exchange with warm ...) for Workawayer ()

(Excellent)

1 Feb 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Cultural exchange with warm ...)

(Excellent)

26 Oct 2024

Left by Workawayer () for host (Share family life and explore ...)

(Excellent)

10 Sep 2024

Left by host (Share family life and explore ...) for Workawayer ()

(Excellent)

1 Sep 2023

Left by host for Workawayer ()

Alice was one of our first guests, and she was with us in the early days. She is an active, well-spoken and responsible person, and she did not hesitate to help us during her stay. We were glad that Alice was with us and we hope to meet her again one day. :)

(Excellent)

31 Aug 2023

Left by Workawayer () for host (Talk to customers at our ...)

One of the best workaway I have done.
The job is really easy and you just make friends !
It is great If you want to feel integrated and learn new things.
Isparta is also a very interesting cities and you need to try the hammam !
'Captain' (the manager) is very friendly, responsive and organises events outside of working hours all the time.
Really,… read more

(Excellent)

5 Jul 2020

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help around a beautiful 15th ...)

This work away had nothing to do with cultural exchange.

It is written you have to 25 hours a week. However, according to the owner, many tasks are too easy to be included such as walking the dogs (3 times a day), cleaning his big kitchen (always very messy). Concerning the tree house, although it is said you'll be paid for it, you need to know… read more

(Negative)

5 Dec 2017

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help with horses in the ...)

I've stayed here for 3 weeks and 2 days. My job was to help in the restaurant from 5pm until 10pm. So I had every day free until 5pm. I slept in a bedroom in an other countryside hotel some 4 houses away from the hotel/restaurant/family basement. Although the decoration was not the newest one, I slept very well with good sheets and matress. The… read more

(Good)

8 Oct 2017

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help with construction work, ...)

The organisation is excellent, every morning you get your schedule and you know exactly what you need to do, where and at what time. Besides, the accommodation is really good (not only beautiful): good mattresses, pillows, washing machine with machine powder you can use as much as you want and at any time, more food than you need, always hot water… read more

(Excellent)

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