Job Discussion Forums

[rickman]

For those who have worked for NOVA, what words of advice and caution could you give to a new teacher to ensure a smooth and fun ride with this company.

[PAULH]

The Dos and the Don'ts

There are some great reasons to work for Nova, but there are also some really lousy ones. The following list should help you decide whether to take the job.

Do work for Nova if you want a taste of the teaching life without taking a whole bite. You don't need to commit money and time to a degree in education or even basic certification. Nova, like virtually all English schools in Japan, has absolutely no requirements for certificates, experience, or previous training. All you need is a university degree: 4 years for full-time, 2 years for part-time. (I knew a guy who spent $2000 on an ESL certification course before coming to Japan...man, what a waste of money.)

[b]Don't work for Nova if you hate bureaucracy. With over 500 branches and around 7,000 employees in Japan alone, Nova has many tentacles. You'll seldom see your boss, who will probably work in a central school, not yours. That makes the management a little impersonal, especially in the upper echelons. Your hard work may not receive much recognition. Here's an anecdote of what I mean: I knew a Nova teacher who had fallen and broken her arm. She had to take a few days off from work, but during her time off, a Nova staffer called and asked if she wanted to do overtime. They were completely ignorant of her accident! Nova management will seldom know who you really are; often you are just a number to fill a time chart in a computer database.

Do work for Nova if you like smalltalk. You'll take part in a lot of 100% brain-free conversation. Naturally, most of your students won't be able to debate the latest economic figures, new medical research, or conflict in the Middle East. Discussions will center on sports figures, pop stars, and Hollywood movies. It doesn't sound so bad - and it isn't at first - but talking about Brad Pitt's new movie every other lesson gets old fast. And, for very low-level students, you could spend forty minutes just talking about favorite foods. At the end of the day, you'll be thirsting for just about any intellectual stimulation.

Don't work for Nova if you want to go on a vacation any time soon. Nova allows both paid and unpaid time off, but never during the first six months of employment. My family came to visit during the last week of my first six months (it was unavoidable), and none of my requests for time off was approved. Finally, I simply told Nova, well ahead of time, that I could not come to work for two days of my parents' visit. My boss was not happy, of course, and he came to my branch specifically to discuss my violation of Nova policy and to tell me that a half-day's pay would come out of my salary. Take my advice: Don't even think about taking time off in your first six months.

Do work for Nova if you like kids. Nova, like its competitors, is seeing a stronger demand for kids classes. Perhaps the weak economy in Japan makes parents more eager to give their children an advantage in their future careers. Whatever the reason, Nova needs lots of kids teachers, so be prepared to teach English to rug-rats as young as three.

Don't work for Nova if you have claustrophobia. Want a spacious place to work? Try farming, because at Nova your daily view will be the four walls of a tiny cubicle. The teachers' lounges are microscopic, too, with hardly any elbow room for planning lessons. Then again, those lounges can also be a lot of fun. At my branch during break time, the close quarters helped us gossip, make jokes, or relate some horrible (or wonderful) experience in the last lesson. It was kind of a support group just to help each other survive the day.
Picture of Nova teachers room
The teachers' lounge at my branch always hummed with activity during the breaks between lessons.

Do work for Nova if you want to improve your "people skills" I've never been much of a conversationalist. But after just a few months teaching English, I think my speaking ability, especially at the spur of the moment, has improved a lot. I can talk more freely and more clearly, and I'm a better listener. Working at Nova demands an ability to communicate well, and if you weren't a good talker before Nova, you will be after.

Don't work for Nova if you have trouble with punctuality. Nova has a very strict policy on lateness: If you're more than ten minutes late to work, they dock you a half-day's pay. If you're late by less than ten minutes or don't call in sick soon enough, then they dock you a quarter-day. Once upon a time, a teacher at my branch was seven minutes late because her train was delayed, so she gave the staff an enchaku shomeisho (a special card that proves the train was late beyond her control). Nova refused to pay her for the lesson she worked, even though she missed just seven minutes of it.

Do work for Nova if you love hanging out with twentysomethings. Teaching English for Nova is an entry-level position, and as such, you'll find few colleagues over thirty. (The average age is 27, according to official Nova documents.) If you're older - say, forty-plus - you might have trouble fitting in to the callow atmosphere. On the other hand, going to parties after work with a bunch of Generation-X co-workers might be a great way to feel young again!

[nakanoalien2]

Personally, I did not find it particularly difficult to work for this company. I did think that some of the work practices exploited the teachers. Any replies will be subjective of course, but alot of these points are just good business practices.

Don't:
-Be late at all. There are monetary penalties for this. Some will have you believe that this is a kind of standard Japanese practice and that Japanese are not late, in general. BULL. I have the worst time trying to get my staff (all Japanese) in at 9AM. Regardless, get there on time, it's a good practice anywhere in the world.

-Hit on your students.

-Make lots of loud noises and flailing gestures. It's a cultural thing.

-Don't get overtly angry and yell at students.

-Be lazy and do "free talk" as a lesson plan regularly. The students have "Voice Room" for that. Yes there will be times when students just want a chat and there will be times when you are completely worn out.

-Be so strict about being a "real teacher" that your lessons are no fun. Think: Edu-tainment. Have some fun while teaching at least a bit.

-Worry about breaking your contract. Also, don't believe the hype about being able to get another job in Japan if you break your contract - they don't own you.

-Feel bad if you need to call out sick. Even if you are told it is frowned upon or whatnot.

Do:

-Try to give a quality lesson every time. People are paying for this and for the most part students do want to learn. How much they want to learn in each lesson and how much they are willing to do homework is another story.

-Leave on good terms. If you are having a bad time, give your mandatory 30 days notice, bear it, get out and don't look back.

-Realize what the Nova business model is (similar to other Big 4) and make peace with it.

-Find some good teachers at your school and get tips from them.

-Be friendly to your staff. They are usually pretty cool anyway.

-Be professional.

[/b]

[Wolf]

I just want to make a couple of smart alecky comments first.

I know people with only high school diplomas working for NOVA part time. One such guy I knew was later given a full time contract (NOVA forged a degree for the guy).

When I hear "Japan" and "tentalces" in the same sentence I think of . . . uh . . . never mind....

DO:

-Use NOVA to get your foot in the door. Japan is a slippery place to get a foothold in - moreso nowadays so I hear. NOVA gets you a visa, a regular salry, and a chance to live in Japan so that you can attend interviews face to face with other schools in Japan.

- Follow most of their rules. NOVA actually isn't lying when they say that Japan's business world is more rigid than what many of us might expect. I'm thinking of things like filling in the comment sheets, dress code, being late, etc. If you absolutely must break a rule (fall in love with a student, etc) be really descrete - and DO be ready to face the music for your actions. Bottom line is pick your battles.

- Sign up for TOEIC/TOFEL, kids (if you're up to it), business, or whatever other course your school might be offering; if you have an interest. Doing seven standard lessons out of that bookplus voice every day is not something human beings were designed to do. This will give your job a bit of variety.

- If you get a smaller school, try to spend at least part of your week in a mid sized school, or a day a week in a larger school. Smaller schools are usually more stress free, but you'll be teaching the same couple of students all the time. A day or two a week somewhere else will give you a new person to teach. Remember, the NOVA lesson system was designed for schools with a lot of students, a lot of teacher and a high turnover of both - therefore ensuring that any given teacher probably won't teach any given student very often. In a school with two teachers and seventy students, the flaws show through - fast.

- For one year or less: keep the apartment if you're not staying in Japan longer than the year, unless you can't stand it for personal reasons. Getting an apartment is expensive. Mind you, NOVA rips you off (usually you'll be charged double to triple what you'd ought to pay - even when you factor in utilities), but getting an apartment in Japan is complicated and expensive (hence the ripoff as they have a "captive market," so to speak.) If you'll be gone soon, it won't be worth the expense. If you plan to stick around, it'll be worth it in the long run.

-Congradulations on getting in. Now get out. My father worked at his job for 20 years - the same place. Ditto my mother. Go ahead. Show me a NOVA instructor who has been there since 1983 - not promoted to head office - I mean still teaching. Such a person does not exist, and for good reason. Equivicate all you want. If your 22-25, and fresh out of uni NOVA will not be your career. NOVA administration has admitted publicly that they desire a high teacher turnover. A year - perhaps two - can be fine. But after getting some experience teaching, you can go onto better things. The bottom line means that if you come to Japan for a few years - you'll go through at least two major moves and major job changes. Home - NOVA - other company and Home - NOVA apartment - other home.

DON'T

-Be a casaNOVA. If you date every student on the roster, they'll give you the boot, like as not.

-Neglect your out - of - work life. Okay, so you work at their schools and live in their apartments. But Japan believe it or not is a free country more or less - go out and experience it! Don't just go out drinking with your workmates every night. Get involved in things that interest you - martial arts, calligraphy, Japanese lessons, hiking, sports clubs, writing groups, whatever! Big cities have English langauge lists of stuff that's going on. Also try to make Japanese friends. Odds are they'll want to help you experience Japan.

-Be afraid to ask for what you want. Want a transfer to a different branch? Different apartment? Different city? These things are all technically possible. They've got request forms for all these. Make yourself happy - the worst thing that'll happen is they might say no.

-Go out of your way to alienate management. My AAM called me up one day and threatened to fire me and evict me from my apartment after I had been in the country for less than two months (and could not afford even to go home) over something that I did not do. But, if this doesn't happen, don't bring it upon yourself if you can help it. If your AAM is a jerk, don't tell him to his face (or gripe about him any other teacher.) If your Head Teacher pressures you about a bunch of shift swaps you don't want to do, politely but firmly refuse. Don't blow up and yell at him. Volunteer to to overtime once in a while if you can. Yes, that's kissing butt. But if they have a reason to pass you by when it's time to make a phone call like the one I got to blame somebody for a problem (regardless of guilt), then you've saved yourself a lot of hassle.

and finally

-Don't let my nasty attitude put you off. For all of Japan's problems, my job at NOVA was by far the worst part of my experience there. Come over, dwell on the pleasant things, keep your head down, and just move on to a different job if you want to stay on.

[kamome]

Not much to add to those long essays above but here goes....

DO look for better jobs once you're settled in.

DON'T constantly complain if you find you don't like your job-it just annoys your colleagues.

DON'T stay in the office on your lunchbreak-it makes the day drag even more.

DO be discreet if you date your students.

DO find some other non-NOVA friends. Otherwise ( and if you live with other teachers too ) your life will be NOVA NOVA NOVA.......

DON'T expect NOVA management to be reasonable human beings.

DON'T live in Tokyo-it's an overpriced dump.

DO transfer with NOVA if you don't like your branch/co-workers/living arrangements-it's easily done.

DO take this and every other post on internet forums with a pinch of salt.

DO give NOVA a chance. It's bearable for a year maybe.......

DON'T stay at NOVA more than 2 years-you'll go nuts.

DON'T worry!!!!

[rickman]

Thank you for the comments.

[Vince]

As another poster said, jump on any opportunity to teach a specialized course. I taught EIKEN, a Japanese EFL proficiency test, for my last few months at NOVA, and it looked good on my resume when I moved on.

If you do take on a specialized course, have a meeting with the school manager to make sure you're on the same page. One of my pet peeves was students walking into a 40-minute EIKEN prep lesson for the first time and saying that their test was the next day. I told the staff to get students to come sooner, but I don't think the staff put much effort into it. Depending on the mix of staff at your school, they'll either cooperate or patronize you and do whatever they want.

Regardless of how pent up or frustrated your students might be, don't encourage or allow them to share their problems with you. I've had students start telling me about their extramarital affairs, about their twisted fantasies, etc. Don't be afraid to draw the line. And don't ever tell a student or staff member anything in confidence, because it'll get around.

[foster]

DO...
-Avoid the party crowd. It makes the whole stay feel like high school.
-Make friends outside of center.
-Get out of Nova accomodation.
-Bring a good book to read should you have a free lesson...or in some cases, many free lessons.
-Mark your lunches clearly before putting them in the fridge...things can go missing.
-Bring slippers....they are cracking down on the shoe wearers.
-Sign up for short courses, business, TOEIC, etc...anything to break the monotony.


DON'T....
-Get on the wrong side of the head teacher. He is a nasty piece of work if he doesn't like you. Some of the AT's are nice, but don't put much stock in their promise to help you.
-Expect LS staff (language services) to help you much. They say they will, but really, rarely do.
-Associate only with MM center people...get out, meet new friends, Japanese people...anything!!
-Be late...major penalties.
-Stay on the 15th floor if you have a free lesson...they may rope you into cleaning duties or teaching for someone who didn't call in.
-Leave the center if you have a free. Again, they will take money off you and write you up.
-Get roped into overtime or helping out of guilt...they won't remember you helped them in the future should you need their help for anything
-Let it get to you...it is just a job and should not be the whole focus of your time in Japan.

[Vince]

I forgot one thing. Keep in mind that, regardles of the rhetoric, NOVA isn't a professional experience. They aren't extending you a professional opportunity; you're not even expected to work there more than a year or so. By all means be professional for the sake of your dignity and staying above it all, but don't let them talk to you about IBM executive professionalism while offering you McDonalds pay.