Even before I left England for Japan my brothers warned me about Nova, so I expected the worst. However, my first impressions of the company were good. They took the time to pick me up from the airport and escort me to my impressive, expensive apartment. It was three days later at orientation when the alarm bells started to ring.
Oddly enough, Agent 13-57 arrived as he departed. Well, maybe a couple of imperceptible moments later. But you've got to admit that that's a pretty good trick, and in the Big Sky, quite a bit better than breaking even.
During my initial hiring process in Canada before joining Geos and coming to Japan, one of the interviewers asked me what I wanted to do in Japan. I answered honestly, "I want to learn about Japan. I'd like to learn the language but also other things, like the literature as well."
"Well, that might be OK sometimes, but please remember your priority is to teach English."
"Oh, yeah, of course. What I meant was in my free time and on weekends and whatnot. Of course in class it has to be me teaching them." "That might be OK, sometimes..." Yumiko said and we left it at that.
When I first came to Japan, I had to stay in a hotel because the teacher I was replacing hadn't yet moved on. After a week, it was finally time to move into my digs.
Some of my co-workers offered to help me move in. On our way to the apartment, someone said that Dan (the previous teacher) had a big goodbye party at the apartment the night before. At the mention of the party, people smiled quietly to themselves.
Thinking of teaching English in Hokkaido in Japan's most livable city, Sapporo? How about historic Hakodate or scenic Asahikawa with its large national park? Well, whatever you do, make sure that you make EC your absolute last choice for employment in Hokkaido.
Don't be confused by the name: ECC: legitimate English school using professional materials
EC: a complete joke run by lunatic slave-masters that use so-called original lessons which are actually complete garbage.
Long cheap travel, humiliation and bloody mattresses; I've reached the zenith of education! Got Napster? Then "I'm Your Late Night Evening Prostitute" by Tom Waits goes well here.
I had been in Japan for 18 months when GEOS scheduled its next training seminar. The training was to be held in the head office in Osaki on Sunday and Monday so that none of our classes would be canceled.
I was happy to learn that some of my friends from recruitment and hiring days would also be at the same training as I.
Training started at about 10:00 in the am with a quick get to know you activity. Everything at GEOS had to be some kind of convoluted "learning exercise" Today's fun and merriment would begin with a rousing memory game.
Sept. 1992, Geos hiring office, Vancouver, corner of Howe and Nelson, 3:38pm.
"Thank you very much, Junko and Kyoko. I hope you enjoyed the lesson. Enjoy your stay in Vancouver." I walked out of the room.
I had just given my demonstration lesson to a couple of Japanese high school students doing home stays in Vancouver at the Geos hiring office and I was walking back to the interview office. The students were now filling in questionnaires about my lesson and the video tape of the demo was being critiqued by the hiring staff.
TOZA used to be a mid-sized eikaiwa until it went bankrupt in 1998. The TOZA situation built up slowly over a period of a few months. I didn't know it at the time, but all of the teachers at TOZA hadn't been paid their complete salaries in 4 months. They had received 20%, 30% depending on how bad their situation was; usually just enough to pay the rent at the gaijin house. They hired me in February of 1998 and nobody told me that they hadn't been paid since Christmas. I was surprised that nobody told me. Their response was," If we told you, would you have worked here?"
