Job Discussion Forums

[PAULH]

[Kestrel]

My roommate just recently started working for Nova. He's American, and he applied from over here in Kyoto. He had to go to Osaka to interview and for training and all that, but he certainly didn't have to head back Stateside.

Tom

[Mosley]

Not that the world needs another anti-NOVAite-there are already thousands out there-but here's my two cents worth. Wolf, sadly, is right about the arbitrariness and petty personality games that "management" plays with its teachers. I had 3 ATs in my 2 years w/ that outfit, and 2 of them were totally unsuited for any kind of leadership role. One at least had the excuse of being certifiable but the other one was just a biatch, plain & simple. Who got the shaft? The dedicated teacher(that would be me). To the OP, I can't buy the "numbers game" argument; in a big company some people are bound to have bad experiences, yada, yada. First, there are gigantic companies the world over that have employees glad to be working for them. Second, while other eikaiwa "biggies" are hardly benevolent saints, NOVA leads the pack by far in the volume & intensity of complaints. Until that changes, NOVA will epitomize eikaiwa evil.

[Zzonkmiles]

NOVA MM Center: An Update

I am still working at NOVA's MM Center and have done so for about a year and a half now. My opinion of this job has changed since my original post, as my Japanese ability, ideas about my future, and overall stance on Japan has changed. I also know a bit more about the company and have a lot more experience, which further influences my opinion about working here.

Before I get into that, I will tell you that in addition to the three main shifts I mentioned in my first message, there are some other shifts you can work as well. Here are all of the shifts:

Early: 0730-1455
Late: 1510-2240
Night: 2250-0720
Early Split: 1000-1310 AND 1750-2100
Late Split: 1000-1310 AND 2020-2330
Late Early: 1000-1750

Teachers usually clock in no later than about 10 minutes before the first lesson starts. Also, the late early shift is only available on weekends. There are no late split or night shifts on Wednesdays, as the MM Center is closed on Wednesday nights. Because not all shifts are created equal, you also earn shift allowances based on the shifts you work that comprise your regular schedule. These allowances/bonuses are paid in your monthly salary:

Early: No bonus
Late: 5000 yen/month
Night: 13000 yen/month
Early Split: 7500 yen/month
Late Split: 7500 yen/month
Late Early: No bonus

You also earn an extra 10000 yen/month for any shift you work on Sunday. No extra bonuses are provided for working on Japanese holidays, and overtime is generally paid at 125% your normal salary. A teacher who works early shifts Monday through Friday will only make the standard 250,000 yen a month. However, a teacher who works all late shifts, including Sundays, will make 285,000 yen a month. These bonuses are what make NOVA's salaries better than the other major eikaiwas', although the number of working hours might be higher.

NOVA will assign all new teachers a schedule. After your probation period ends (2-3 months after you start), you are able to change your schedule, to include changing your days off. When choosing your schedule, take your sleeping schedule, commuting time, and social life into consideration. If you like partying at night, DO NOT sign up for early shifts. You will lose too much money in lost lessons or penalties for not showing up without informing the center otherwise. Also, keep in mind that different types of students tend to take lessons at different times of day. Chatty housewives commonly take lessons in the morning. High school students commonly take lessons in the late afternoon. Salarymen take lessons in the evening, and may be quite tired (read UNENTHUSIASTIC) after a long day at work. And you can get all sorts of clowns on the night shift, such as drunk students or people who can barely keep their eyes open.

NOVA will also pay you monthly bonuses for any qualifications you may have:

Bachelor of Education degree: 3000 yen/month
TEFL/TESL certification: 3000 yen/month
Teaching certificate/license: 5000 yen/month
Master's degree: 5000 yen/month

These qualification bonuses are quite small and are almost laughable. However, most of the other major eikaiwas do not pay these bonuses at all. Also, these bonuses apply to all NOVA teachers, not just those at the MM Center.

Taking all of these bonuses into consideration, it is possible to make well over 300,000 yen a month working at MM without doing overtime. The MM Center is open 24 hours, 7 days a week, with the exception of Wednesdays, when the center closes at 2240 and reopens Thursday at 0730. For instructors who work the night shift, their days off will always be Wednesday and some other day (usually either Tuesday or Thursday).

Working the night shift is completely voluntary, so you do not have to worry about being forced to teach students at 2 in the morning unless you choose to work this shift. Also, no lessons are taught between 0300 and 0500, so night shift instructors get a two hour lunch break. You are not required to stay in the center during this break. Teachers on early, late early, or late shifts get a 40 minute break, which is the equivalent of one lesson. All teachers have 8 lessons a day. The break will either be after your 3rd, 4th, or 5th lesson (these shifts are casually called 3-5, 4-4, and 5-3 shifts). Usually, teachers prefer to have later breaks because that makes the final lessons on your shift much easier to teach (5-3's are nice; 3-5's are brutal). You have no control over when your break is scheduled, as it depends on the center's needs. There are no lunch breaks on split shifts, obviously, as you just teach 4 lessons and go home.

The turnover rate at NOVA is very high among teachers in their first year or so, but is very low for teachers who are in their second or third contract. Some teachers have been working for NOVA for 4 or 5 years. These teachers tend to be "green tags" (trainers), have a Japanese spouse (so they can't leave Japan), or are (unfortunately) "the stereotypical social misfits and losers who can't handle life back in his/her own country."

NOVA has recently redesigned its lower level lessons. MM's lessons and the branch lessons are now the same for the three lowest levels, as they correspond to a new NOVA workbook called "Diplomat." These new lessons are strictly based on communication points. For example, you'll find lessons about exchanging e-mail addresses, apologizing for being late, reporting stolen things, asking where things are around the house, asking permission, ordering food in a restaurant, and even asking how to spell something in English. Grammar is basically not taught in regular lessons anymore, which seems detrimental, as the students are learning all these sentences, but aren't really learning how to construct them. Apparently, NOVA is trying to change their intermediate lessons to fit this mold as well. This new lesson format dumbs down the lessons even more, but it also makes the lessons even easier to teach. Teachers have to find new ways to fill up the 40 minutes of class time, as the new lesson plans are much easier for the students.

Experienced teachers can teach "alternative" lessons, which can be about anything you want, in addition to teaching the regular lessons. Alternative lessons can be a discussion about international relations and their effect on the Iraq war or vice versa, a lesson on the future perfect progressive tense, telling ghost stories, talking about life in your home country, targeted vocabulary lessons, or whatever you want. It is not advised to teach alternative lessons if you are not an experienced instructor because you have to make up the lesson plans spontaneously and it might be too difficult, too easy, too boring, too unfocused, or too whatever for your students.

Working at MM is still generally easy, and it still has its quirky demerits, such as the occasionally unreliable computer, switching computer booths after each lesson, dealing with last minute schedule changes, etc. People who take teaching seriously or are qualified instructors tend to be a bit more dissatisfied with their jobs, as teaching at MM (and probably all eikaiwas) has really been bastardized. These teachers may make recommendations to trainers and Japanese staff about how to improve these lessons, but are often met with a chilly response (DO NOT try to change the system here--keep your creativity to yourself and silently integrate it into your lessons). People who are not serious about teaching or are completely unqualified to do so tend to have an easier time working at MM. They follow the banal lesson plans, have introductions or free conversations that take up 15 minutes of a 40 minute lesson, and do not demonstrate much initiative outside of their lessons with respect to improving the way things are done. These teachers tend to be the veterans who are still purple tags (regular instructors) who have been working for NOVA for 3+ years.

There are three main types of Japanese staff you will interact with: TS (tech support), LS (language support), and CS (customer service). You will have the most interaction with LS. I've found the majority of LS to be very unfriendly and cold or downright snotty. The LS supervisors sit near the MM chief's (a pink tag) desk and don't talk to the teachers at all. A small handful of LS is friendly and personable. The others seem generally annoyed when you come to them with a question or a problem. All of LS becomes quite "friendly," however, when they need overtime. Some of the LS staff dates the teachers or goes out to gaijin bars in packs. Be very careful if you want to date these women because if it goes sour, keep in mind that they have the ability to change your schedule. Oh, and they gossip A LOT.

If you are lucky, you won't have much to do with TS (gray tags). You really only contact TS if you have a computer problem or some in-lesson difficulty (such as a student having audio trouble or another student having a nervous breakdown and crying her eyes out). Good English ability is not required to be a member of TS, so you may sometimes have difficulty getting TS to understand your problem or understanding their suggestions to you. Some of TS dates the teachers as well.

You shouldn't have much to do with CS (blue tags). I've had some friends who worked in CS and they tell me about how strong the gaijin-fever is among some of them. Some of them demonstrate this in very blatant ways. CS interacts directly with the students and is the department that puts lessons on your schedule.

If you want a promotion to become a trainer (a green tag), you have to do a lot of networking and/or sucking up. You also can't generate any student complaints (easier said than done) and have to be a pretty reliable instructor. Some of the green tags are decent and fair people. Some are very stuffy and "by the book." Others are on power trips, seeing how they have never had positions of authority or responsibility before. And some are just plain losers who are not really worthy of your respect. Your green tag is assigned based on how much overlap you have with the shifts you work. At the minimum, you have to work for MM for at least a year before you can be nominated for a promotion. The responsibilities of a green tag/trainer are on the job training for new instructors, observing lessons and providing feedback for regular instructors, serving as the go-to guy for regular instructors on the teaching floor if they have a question, participating in staff development meetings, and teaching the most difficult students.

Oh yeah, NOVA does not have "students;" it has "customers." And some of these customers are very demanding or anal. These students tend to have special memos from other teachers or from the Japanese staff giving you special instructions. For example, a memo may say "DO NOT talk about the following subjects with this student: family, art, sports, entertainment, Iraq, globalization or politics." Another memo may say "This student gets very frustrated when you tell him that there is only one correct way to say something. Be very careful when you offer corrections to his speech." Students can show up to lessons drunk or may have a belligerent personality in general, but it's still the green tag's responsibility to "teach/entertain" the student. Sometimes regular instructors teach these kinds of students as well. And if the student complains after the lesson, YOU will be the one who is "at fault" even if the student's complaint is unreasonable. Sometimes you will have a terrible mix of students in the same lesson (such as a 70-year old retired woman, a 40-year old salaryman, and a 14-year old junior high school girl), which makes for a very long and awkward 40 minutes. Perhaps the teachers who don't take their jobs seriously are the ones who are happiest at NOVA, which might explain why they've worked here for so long.

The NOVA MM gravy train is becoming a bit less lucrative in other ways as well. For veteran teachers, previously, they did not do so much teaching. They did more testing for students who were trying to "level up" or needed to be reassessed after not taking lessons for at least 3 months. While regular lessons are 40 minutes long, these tests (CATs or 3MOCs) were only 20 minutes. Once the CAT was finished, the teacher had about 15-20 minutes to goof off, go to the bathroom, chat with friends, etc. And this was on top of their standard 10-15 minute break between lessons. So lots of veteran teachers who did 5-7 CATs and only 1 regular lesson a day were on easy street. However, NOVA MM has recently changed its policy and is now requiring veteran CAT instructors to teach TWO CATs per lesson instead of just one. So the veteran teachers are suddenly working twice as hard for the same amount of money. Granted, their jobs are still quite easy, but it is suddenly not nearly as lucrative as it used to be.

My job satisfaction at MM is a bit lower now than it used to be, but this is because my needs have changed. I am no longer new to Japan and I can speak a fair amount of Japanese. I do not need NOVA to help me set up my bank account or phone service or whatever. I do not live in NOVA's accommodation, so I am free to leave my job whenever I want. However, the job market in Japan is very, VERY tight right now and it's not easy to "trade up" here. Higher paying university and vocational school jobs are hard to come by, especially without connections (which are VERY difficult to develop at MM, since you will NEVER see your students in the neighborhood--such contact is illegal because of NOVA's no-contact policy anyway).

To NOVA's credit, I have yet to receive a late or inaccurate paycheck and my NET pay is still higher than most standard eikaiwa teachers' GROSS pay. Shift swaps are easy to come by, thus making it easy to give yourself a 3-day weekend (at the expense of getting a 1-day weekend later on). Oh, and the job is still pretty darn easy. However, I am not a Japan newbie anymore and this job is simply not fulfilling. Plus, the lack of holidays and the absence of sick days can take a toll on your physical health.

I still contend that MM is a much better deal than working at a NOVA branch school or even AEON or GEOS. However, the sheer repetition and daily grind of what you're doing in addition to stagnant wages and tightening working conditions are making the whole "teaching in Japan" deal a lot less attractive. I suppose this complaint is not really NOVA-specific, but rather JAPAN specific. I personally would like to have a job where I can use my brain again and be creative in the classroom. NOVA isn't it, and the other major eikaiwas are probably the same in this regard. So I think it's time to move on. I'm not sure if the next step will be taken in Japan, some other country, or back home. But it is a step that needs to be taken because I do not like running in place like I am now.

Thank you for reading.

Overall grade: C+/B-

[Rorschach]

[Dorman]

Gotta agree with Zzonkmiles and Rorschach, that sums up the MM center pretty well.

[Stosskraft]

mmmm...smell's like a NOVA recruiter to me.

[melirae]

Possibly recruiters but the most honest ones I have ever come by (except for Dorman- I know he's not because I go get drunk with him after work some days ).

Everything ZZonk wrote is totally true (I know because I too work at the MM Center aka the easiest job in the world), so anyone considering the MM Center should take his post as the good and true word. There is no BS anywhere in his post.

I follow the rules at work and don't cause a stir. I may want to stay more than a year and I would like to have that option. To get my "creative teaching" fix, I do a few privates every week at a cram school. It's nice extra income and it's fun to have students in front of me for a few lessons. I'm a big fan of teaching over the computer system though because I have had some students that I don't think I could deal with in person.

[Dorman]

Yeah no BS in his post. I couldn't sum it up better myself.

Melirae...tsk tsk, are you calling me dishonest? I thought the booze dulled your memory? hehe

[Rorschach]

[Mike L.]

[prlester]

how many classes a day at the mm center do you have? All those teachers and still hard to make friends?

[Rorschach]

You are scheduled for 8 teaching periods a day, each lasting 40 minutes. As a new intructor you day will be teaching 8 lessons day in, day out for about 6 months. As you get more training and priority you may get one or two free periods depending on how busy it is. After about 8 months (it used to be a year) you get CAT's. Basically you become a tester for Nova, you put new students in their level according to their spoken ability. 2 months after that you get double CAT's per period (they are supposed to be 20 minutes long each).

Making friends at work is pretty easy, you meet a lot of new people from around the world. That said, it is much like a high school - there are lots of immature people at work who treat the place like a social circle to meet friends and talk about the lastest drinking binge. I noticed that there are a lot cliques and false people at the MM centre who are only interested in themselves. It's good advice to keep your own company and develop a thick skin.

[Zzonkmiles]

NOVA MM Center--The Final Update

I have been working for NOVA's Multimedia Center for almost two full years. Over the past few weeks, it's become apparent that I am now one of the senior regular instructors there. Most of the teachers that I always viewed as being senior to me in terms of how long they've worked at MM have quit. Probably no more than 30% of the teachers still at MM have been working there longer than I have.

There have been a few major changes at MM as of late. The first major change is that NOVA is now offering new contracts based on how many lessons you will teach each week. You can either teach 39, 37, or 34 lessons a week.

If you teach 39 lessons a week, you'll teach 8 lessons 4 days a week and 7 lessons on the 5th day.

If you teach 37 lessons a week, you'll teach 8 lessons 4 days a week and 5 lessons on the 5th day.

If you teach 34 lessons a week, you'll teach 8 lessons 3 days a week and 5 lessons on the 4th and 5th days.

You will retain the same bonuses for working these reduced lessons shifts. If one worker works a 39-lesson week and another worker works a 34-lesson week and both work on the late shift on one particular day as a part of their regular schedule, they will both receive the same 5000 yen shift allowance bonus. Also, you must teach at least 6 lessons a day to receive a break period.

I do not know why NOVA started offering these reduced lesson contracts, but I would imagine it has to do with the fact that NOVA is not as profitable as it once was. Keep in mind that your overall salary will decrease if you take one of the reduced lesson shifts because you'll be teaching fewer lessons each month, and as a NOVA employee, you are paid by how many lessons you actually teach. Also, the 39-lesson a week contract seems suspect, as 40 is a nice round number. I do not know if NOVA is trying to get out of having to provide some special benefit associated with the number of working hours you have each week, but this is something future instructors may wish to check up on their own.

The second major change is the addition of "floor supervisors" on each of the teaching floors. The floor supervisors are all gaijin NOVA staff workers (blue tags) from the LS department, which makes them senior to all of the trainers (green tags). They are supposed to be the people you submit paperwork to, such as shift swap requests, resignation forms, etc. They are also there to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have. However, their role is also supervisory. They will frequently walk around the teaching floor during lessons to look for people who are drinking in their booths, using their mobile phones, writing grafitti on the walls, or distracting other teachers during their lessons. While I can somewhat agree with the "supervisory" responsibilities they have, many teachers have compared these floor supervisors to hall monitors at a high school. The floor supervisors also confer with green tags (the trainers) and have the trainers patrol the floors as well. So things have gotten a bit more strict on the teaching floors and it's a lot harder for you to escape the bureaucratic element of NOVA because you can literally see these floor suprevisors eyeing the floor during the lessons just waiting for someone to break the rules.

The third major change is the ability to request coverage under the national health insurance program. I am still sketchy on the details of this, so I don't want to say anymore and risk providing misinformation. NOVA will not enroll you in this plan automatically; you must get the form from LS and submit it on your own. Curiously, NOVA did not post a notice about this option or inform the teachers about their ability to change their health coverage. So it is incumbent on the instructors to ask about the national plan and submit the forms themselves.

The fourth change is that instructors who currently work the early shift are now allowed to request a late-early shift, which allows you to work from 1000-1740. This shift is not available on weekends. You can only have at most two of these shifts in any week and they tend to allocate these shifts based on your attendance record. Instructors who work late or split shifts cannot shift to this late early shift--it's only available if you work an early shift. There is no salary bonus associated with this shift, but the hours are ideal, as it allows you to sleep in a little bit AND actually have a life once you get off of work, unlike the people on the late shift who finish at 2240.

The fifth change is that the kids lessons have been redesigned. Now the NOVA kids who take lessons at the branch and at MM will be learning the same material. The kids lessons now follow a specific script and have added a few new games. There is a lot less flexibility in terms of how you can manage your time during those 40 minutes, and the 15 minute warmup consisting of feelings, weather, etc., are gone. Some of the new games are pretty good, such as Uncover and Reading Racer. Some of the other ones are a nightmare, such as Rope Bridge. You have to do all of these activities with every kid, which is also tough because not all the kids will respond to each activity with enthusiasm. And the entire 40 minutes are spent drilling one particular structure or one particular set of vocabulary, so the students might become bored. Overall, these lessons are an improvement over the previous kids lessons, although not being able to play othello and tic tac toe so liberally kinda takes some of the fun out of the lessons, as most of the kids liked these games.

NOVA has been getting a lot of bad press recently because of the health insurance fiasco and may have to pay a hefty fine because of it. The no-socialization/no-contact policy was also featured in the news recently. Contract renewal bonuses have also gotten a lot smaller. Throw in the new reduced lesson contracts and the lower starting salaries for new teachers and you have, what appears to me at least, a sinking ship. NOVA has more than 500 branches and may have been a bit too ambitious in its expansion. I predict that some of these branches will close down or that there will be even more pressure on local managers to produce increased sales. This could very well be a sign of the times that English education and the market for English teachers in Japan are changing.

This is my final update about working at the MM Center. I will be leaving NOVA soon, as I got a much better job at a senmon gakko next door in Hyogo. Unlike NOVA, this new job is a legit teaching job where I will be entirely responsible for the curriculum and will also be the only foreigner at the school, which means my Japanese will probably get really good really fast, unlike working at the English-only bubble that is NOVA. In other words, I will have to actually work for my money for a change. I put in two years of dues at NOVA and I don't regret it. NOVA is a good place to get started in Japan. They will arrange your visa, arrange your accommodation (that you can move out of), and pay you on time. If you show up for work and don't generate any complaints, this job is easy money. But if you screw up, the bureaucracy will come down on you hard. If you only plan on staying in Japan for a year or so, then you really don't need to worry so much about changing jobs. NOVA (or AEON, GEOS, etc.) should be sufficient for your needs. But for those of you who anticipate staying in Japan longer (at least 2 years), my advice is to sign up for as much of the training as you possibly can and use that to pad your resume. Signing up for kids training is particularly useful, seeing that most schools in Japan want their instructors to teach children sometimes. Use NOVA to get your general teaching experience and use it to sustain yourself while you study Japanese. Once you put in your 12, 18, or 24 months of service, you'll be much better armed to find a better job. Once you've milked NOVA for all its training, it's time to bail.

If you do not aspire to become a trainer (green tag) or a NOVA staffer (blue tag), DO NOT, I repeat--DO NOT stay at NOVA for longer than two years. If you are not a yes-man or a company-man, DO NOT, I repeat--DO NOT stay at NOVA for longer than two years. Seriously, you will lose your mind if you stay at that job too long. I think most NOVA teachers quit between 8 months and 2 years. The ones who have been working at NOVA longer than that tend to be trainers, staffers, or people who are avoiding something back home. And the bitterness among them (especially the regular instructors/purple tags) is intense. The MM job itself is quite easy compared to branches because of the computers, and the salary is better because of the allowances and shift bonuses you can receive. I think NOVA MM pays more than any other major eikaiwa, although recently the base salaries have become 30,000 yen/month lower. (This does not affect current teachers, but new ones will be starting off at about 220,000 yen/month for the same amount of responsibilities.)

NOVA MM is not a terrible place to work. But if you are going to be in Japan for a while, make sure you have a plan because unless you want to make a career out of that place, you'd best get out after you've taken advantage of all the training the company provides. I am no longer a newbie in Japan anymore, so NOVA has outlived its purpose and is no longer useful to me. It is now time for me to take the next step, and the dues I paid at NOVA allowed me to do it.

Note to moderator: Please feel free to turn this thread into a stickie, as I think it has a lot of useful information.

[Gordon]

Zzonkmiles,
Excellent post and thread. I think this is the best thread on Dave's on a particular branch of a school (and a big branch it is). You stated the terms very fairly in my opinion. Anyone considering working at Nova MM should read this and I second turning this into a stickie. Although I have no interest in ever working for Nova, I found your posts very interesting and informative. Well done on getting a new job too.