Job Discussion Forums

omegaone · Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

Hi there was wondering if anyone suggest what to study for the ECC test? I am thinking of going to one of there interview sessions later in the year and wanna be really prepared for the test. Also whats there accomodation setup like compared to Nova and are yah allowed to find your own place once settled in?

thx.

Mamasita516 · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 56 Location: Kansas City, MO

Well, in regards to the test, it wouldn't hurt you to brush up on recognizing parts of speech and commonly misspelled words, but other than that, there is really no studying that you CAN do...trust me, I tried.

Dooly · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Toronto/Nagoya

I have just been hired by ECC - I'm going over to Japan pretty soon. Yeah, the test was pretty hard! They really tried to trick you with stuff like "who or whom?" and other nitpicky things.

As far as accomodation, ECC gives you a choice of finding your own right away, or they will set you up with a housing agent who will find you something.

According to what they told us, you will usually share a place with 1 or 2 other people, and the cost is between 40-60,000 yen or so, depending on which area you go to and how big your place is. Also, I have to pay 1 month agent's fee, and I think a damage deposit is sometimes necessary. You can move out and find your own place after 3-5 months (or in Chubu, after 30 days).

This is just what they've told me, of course, I don't have any real experience with it yet!

Birdog3344 · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 126 Location: Osaka, Japan

Without trying to be facetious perhaps you should start with the difference b/w 'there' and 'their' and the correct spelling of 'accommodation'. Dooly is right on about the housing.

Dooly · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Toronto/Nagoya

Oops, I made the accommodation mistake, too - pretty embarrassing for an English teacher, really. I suck at double letters!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I've taken the test before. It's very thorough.

Mamasita516 · Joined: 05 Jul 2005 Posts: 56 Location: Kansas City, MO

Since we are talking about who/whom...isn't the rule that if you can answer the question of who/whom with a he/she, it is who and if you can answer the question with a him/her, it is whom?

Dooly · Joined: 06 Jan 2006 Posts: 23 Location: Toronto/Nagoya

That rule would work. Whom is the object form and Who is the subject. So if you are asking a question that requires an object answer, you would use Whom:

To whom are you speaking? I am speaking to Joe.

Who is speaking? Joe is speaking.

And when I said nitpicky, I meant that it's not something we usually bother about in conversational English (which is what ECC teaches, I believe) - most people just use "who" regardless. (I'm sure it's good to know the difference in case a student asks, though)