Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

Ooooo, couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of bastards. I hope (specifically) that sack-of-potatoes-lookin' Yvonne Brown, Flemming Lord and their 'uppers' end up eating sh*t out of their hats and getting drummed out of the country. They deserve worse for lying and cheating and making the 'Japan Experience' crappy for thousands of good-hearted people (who all paid their own way to get here only to get totally exploited) over the last several years. They've set the downward-spiraling tone for too long! So happy to see Karma finally catching up with them! As the dust after Nova settles, perhaps the language market in Japan will return to a fair balance of time and experience for money earned. All teachers who do private lessons: Don't sell us all short for less than 3,000 yen per hour!

Yeah, good luck getting 3000 yen per hour when 4000 ex-Nova teachers saturate the market. Still rooting for the company's downfall?

i sincerely hope the company can find a way through this mess. in the case of the poster above, there are those entangled herein who deserve hope and much more for their endeavours and committment to not only the students, but also the staff in their branches. the human cost is unquantifiable, sure the upper echelons are certainly responsible for mismanagement at best, and in an ideal world i would like to see some kind of justice brought to bear upon them, but before such i want the human face of nova to be given its due - for teachers, branch staff and students to be treated as a human resource and not a material one. the lies and deceipts are just too much to forgive.

i'm also married, have two children and have spent the last nine years with nova during which time i've seen the notion of common decency become progressively marginalised within the system. i don't play games - the thing that kept me there so long was a genuine rapport with those i dealt with on a daily basis, a circumstance that existed despite the the 'grand scheme of things', and the reason i would say companies such as nova have been able to capitalise thus far. but such 'leeching' has a limit and we are now coming face to face with it, in recent months i'd become increasingly ashamed of my employer and sought a way to prise myself from the unpleasant trough of its existence. happily i could do so and now feel a huge weight lifted from me. alas i know my steps will not aid those still embroiled in this fiasco, and i feel a genuine regret at leaving behind some very close associates - students, teachers and staff alike, but i've got a family to consider (not to mention my own dignity) and must act accordingly. since 'escaping' i've slept better than i have in a long time, but to those still dependent on nova i sincerely hope you will be treated with due consideration and given what is your right. in short, and melodramatic as it may sound, my thoughts are with you - i for one am not rejoicing at this loss.

best of luck.

Unfortunately, after reading all of the comments listed on this site, I am sad to say that it appears my dreams of teaching english in Japan have just been astoundingly shattered in a matter of a couple of minutes. I have not yet worked for NOVA but I am due to leave Australia in early November to begin my teaching position with them. It is extremely bizarre to hear so many individuals conflicting opinions about the company. I had absolutely no idea that NOVA has been in so much trouble both financially and, what appears to be, morally for such a prolonged period of time. The people I know that have previously worked for the company have had nothing but praise for it and I guess I am now at a crossroads trying to decide who to believe. I guess I will just have to take solace in the fact that whether or not NOVA does go bust there will always be people who will want to learn English.

first of all people who work for nova are not teachers, yappin away about politics and teaching b46 or e 35 over and over again does not qualify you as a teacher, nova is well paid unskilled work, youll be better off suckin it up and getting new skills or going home and face the realities of what real work is.

typo
what was your major?
BTW Nova is whatever you make of it. If you are a teacher then the materials are there for you. If you're not a teacher then your complaints date back to the 80s. If you are not satisfied maybe there is something else you could be doing. If you love teaching regardless of what materials are used its quite possible to use anything to suit the students needs. i apologize for for my last entry. i have been teaching for 8 years. i am a teacher. its not the text but your imagination and what you bring to it make it worthwhile to the students. i hope you can enjoy students faces light up when they get something they didn't get before because of your explanation. my last response was rushed and stressed. please accept my apology. try adding your own flavor to the lesson. pinpoint whats really being focused on and apply it other social arenas. the lessons are not restricted to what is on the page. you might find it much more rewarding if you personalize it and make it interesting for you and the student. good luck.

Just to give you a heads up...some of the Nova 'teachers/instructors' actually are teachers. I was one of them...I was a 'real' teacher back home and went to Japan for a change of pace, and because I love to travel. Mind you, I had the common sense to get out of the company about 5 months after I got in about 2 years ago. But yeah...screw off, some of us are and were 'real teachers. Yes, the majority of teachers are pretty much unskilled workers, but that makes training those 'teachers' so much easier for the company. And it also makes them that much more naive.
I feel bad for all of the instructors who are stuck in Japan now. I hope to hell no one else is getting ready to jump on their flights for Japan to start work for Nova.

I'm sure this is so old that you'll never see it, however, I resent this blanketed stereotype. I may not be a traditional teacher, but I'm teaching these students what they want to learn, what they are paying for. They know what the criteria is going in, Nova may have tricked them out of their money but they know they are coming in to learn conversational English. Usually they visit the trifecta (geos, nova, aeon) before settling with Nova. Yeah, a lot of the "teachers" are twats, but so are a lot of humans in general, the thing you have to remember is that there are a lot of us, we're not all twats.

mic check: you have no idea what you are talking about, why are you even bothering? I'm so sick of this notion of "real work"; i.e. "I don't have an education therefore I work harder than everyone else".

Eikaiwa is for losers...Im so sick of Eikaiwa drones coming on these boards and trying to justify their existence. GET OFF THESE BLOGS NOW YOU EIKAIWA MUPPETS. Leave this blog to people with real jobs.

Eikaiwa Muppet - Loser. END OF.

Who cares how old any argument is. The point still remains entirely valid and true, and that is, from any perspective (employee or customer), eikaiwa is for LOSERS, sorry assed LOSERS, big time, oh yeah, BIG TIME LOSERVILLE.

You know it, I know it, we all know it.

So, got back to your stupid glass cubicle, and enjoy your stupid little lessons, and shut the hell up.

END OF

Dude, where have you been? End of, as in, like dude, case closed, like EL FINITO, like, no argument to be had, like dude, totally finalized, totally.

What planet you from Dude? Seriously.

Eikaiwa is for LOSERS, as in it is so totally LOSERVILLE, so, like, get out of here, where have you been dude?

Dude, eikaiwa is for losers, end of.

Dude, make fun all you like, but like, I'm telling you, the Japanese demand is for American English dude, yeah, American English, so dude, take a chill pill and get with the flow. Yo, dude, I know, it sux big time, like way big time dude, but that's the market.

I say old boy !! I think that is awfully arrogant of you to suppose that the Japanese are only interested in your bastardised version of the Queens English . You chaps don't even know the difference between an adjective and an adverb . Q " How's your coffee uncle Sam? " A " It's REAL good "

Not even the Queen speaks the Queen's English anymore.

And there's no such thing as British English, and there never was. There is Oxford English, but it only exists in textbooks and the minds of a few arrogant, but unskilled English teachers. There is Scottish, Glasgow Scottish, Geordie, Yorkshire, Manchester, Lancashire, Scouse, Scouse Welsh, North Welsh, South Welsh, Bristol (Aaaaarrrrr), Brummie, Nottingham, West Country, East Anglian, London, and London Cockney, among many others, and these all have further geographical and generational variations too.

So, by the same token, what the F*** is American English? I'm betting it doesn't actually exist either

Have a nice day, Sirrrrrr

It is a known fact that the Japanese preference is for their English to be dished up in a Standard Mid West American Accent (SMWAA). If given a choice of English on the menu, they will, with a 99% rate of consitency, order the Standard Mid West American Accent package.

It is a total fact.

English, New Zealanders, and Australians find this most annoying, because the Japanese preference rubs in their faces their economic insignificance (their brand of English simply isn't recognized as being the lingua franca, and can barely be understood).

Unfortunately for the male native speakers of inferior English (anything that is not SMWAA), Japanese women are also more sexually attracted to male SMWAA speakers.

As a balding middle aged man, I concur that my use of SMWAA (Standard Mid West American Accent) has bought to me considerable pleasurable benefits, during my 12 years as a professional Eikaiwa teacher in Japan. Originally from Ireland, the gradual adoption of SMWAA as being the English I deliver and serve during my classes resulted in increased customer satisfaction, and additionally increased my satisfaction, both inside and outside of the classroom (in particularly, outside of the classroom). I now have reached such a high level of SMWAA fluency, I actually pass off as being American, to Americans. I have found that the use of SMWAA more than compensates for my hair loss. No need for those expensive hair transplants. My confidence has never been higher, thanks to SMWAA.

Thanks for the handy information on SMWAA. Do you have any informaton where I can purchase the SMWAA package you refer to? My private lesson students are few and far between, and the ones that I have retained, are broadly dissatisfied. And yeah, I really need to get laid. Bring in on. It aint easy being fat and bald.

Any pointers you might have, to hook me up to a SMWAA package would be deeply appreciated.

Needful