| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
|
 Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:35 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| stillnosheep on June 13th wrote: |
| phorest wrote: |
| Gotta be in Nagoya! |
Assuming of course that there will still be a Nova in Nagoya by then... |
Note the date!
Last edited by stillnosheep on Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:42 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
|
| Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| stillnosheep on August 21st wrote: |
| drifter13 wrote: |
| I think the company should last for the year I want though. [...] I'm not an expert, but Nova seems to have a lot of things they could sell off (property mostly) to keep them afloat for a few years |
On what basis? Nova's entire business plan depended paying today's debts with the money taken this month in payments for long-term courses to be delivered in the future (whose teachers would be paid from future payments taken for yet more long-term courses to be delivered in the ven more distant future). And now they can't sell these courses and have to refund paynments where requested.
Since which their business plan has collapsed, they have failed to meet loan-repayments to their banks, defaulted on payments to their suppliers, their share price has collapsed by over 50% in a few months (and is still dropping - fast) [and] they have a backlog of over 2 months on repaying the long term course fees that they were ordered to make [...] They have 'postponed' bonus payments to their Japanese staff, have been twice late in paying salaries to the Japanese staff and once to the foreign teachers, who are jumping ship as fast as they can hoping to get out before Nova is unable to meet its monthly salary payments and finally goes belly up.
Oh, and they have very few fixed assets to sell except second hand classroom furniture and some old computers.
With any luck they'll last til mid-September (pay day is the 15th I believe).
So.
Get in, get the visa, get out here, get job-hunting and for gawds sake have a wad of cash to tide you over. |
OK, enough teachers worked without salary to keep them going 'til Oct 25. But nobody got paid for September or October (except the board of course). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
yamanote senbei
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| southofreality wrote: |
Why would you quote yourself giving bad advice?
Whether or not NOVA was concerned with giving quality lessons doesn't change the fact that 'John's' students would have been better off if John had brushed up on his grammar. Or do you really feel that just because a company doesn't give a shyte about the success of its students, it's OK for its teachers not to give a shyte either? |
I quoted myself specifically because I was giving good advice.
Nova didn't care about quality lessons, if they did have lesson related concerns, they were that they cared about consistent lessons. If John were to pull out his grammar text to help make a point clear to a student, he'd likely be busted by management for using non-Nova materials. Nova has cited use of non-Nova materials as being some of the reasons for terminating the employment of several teachers.
Nova's official policy was that only Nova materials should be used during lessons. If students were interested in learning English grammar, they would go almost anywhere other than Nova.
One could argue that Nova wanted low quality lessons, that is, after the demo lesson and the subsequent sale of a big lesson package. The sooner students would quit, the better the bottom line. If Nova cared about quality lessons, wouldn't they invest more in training their teachers rather than rely on teachers' self study?
I could think of a thousand things that would be more useful for him to take to Japan other than a grammar text. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ironopolis
Joined: 01 Apr 2004
Posts: 379
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
| yamanote senbei wrote: |
There was a thread a while back on overtime that I should search for.
|
Indeed you should, because it seemed at the time, that once asked some awkward questions you did a Sahashi and were nowhere to be seen for a quite a while. Particularly your answers to the questions taikibansei asked of you in his first Jan 24th post would have been interesting to hear. Funnily enough, he also hinted at you letting a previous thread "go dead" before posting a response. Surely not?!
Here's the thread, just in case you couldn't find it.
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?p=500197&highlight=#500197
Looking forward to you coming up with some more great advice......on that thread, mind  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Alberta605
Joined: 23 Dec 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
How's it going now JohnofCanada? I'm leaving Japan really soon, and before i finally leave this priceless jewel set in a golden sea I extend my warmest to you for starting what is probably my favorite thread.
The thought of anyone celebrating after being accepted by NOVA is still a source of astonishment to me and probably always will be. But now NOVA is gone and those halcyon days are over. Let us sit by the fire and tell sad tales... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ripslyme
Joined: 29 Jan 2005
Posts: 481
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Alberta605 wrote: |
| Let us sit by the fire and tell sad tales... |
I wonder what happened to the OP too. He was so excited to get picked up by Nova right when the bottom fell out. I hope he's ok. That could have happened (or could still happen, you never know) to anyone who started out teaching in Japan with an English conversation company. If any of you made it out alive, please post here so I can stop worrying about you! 
The company was mismanaged into the ground, but I worked with some decent people in the branches. Also, the students were generally sincere about improving their English. Heck, it's depressing enough to pass by a vacant Nova with the signs still up and the office abandoned. To think that something this bad could happen to so many good people.....  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Miyazaki
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 635
Location: My Father's Yacht
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:21 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Alberta605 wrote: |
| The thought of anyone celebrating after being accepted by NOVA is still a source of astonishment to me and probably always will be... |
I kind of thought that everytime I saw the title of this thread! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
markle
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Posts: 1316
Location: Out of Japan
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Miyazaki wrote: |
| I kind of thought that everytime I saw the title of this thread! |
Says the professor from Westgate....... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Miyazaki
Joined: 12 Jul 2005
Posts: 635
Location: My Father's Yacht
|
| Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| markle wrote: |
| Miyazaki wrote: |
| I kind of thought that everytime I saw the title of this thread! |
Says the professor from Westgate....... |
Why thank you, Markle.
That's, "Professor Miyazaki" now that I teach in a Japanese university. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hoser
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 694
Location: Toronto, Canada
|
| Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm still alive-still enjoying my extended holiday  I think I did alright. I was planning on quitting at the end of the year anyways. I was owed about 700,000 yen ( a good chunk of that for the month of November which we didn't even work) but I'm getting 500,000 from Hello Work and I think the government is going to pay about 570,000 of my owed salary. That and I've been surviving quite well off of my private students who are mostly all former Nova students (no canned corn either!) So I feel that I actually came out ahead on this deal which is something that unfortunately a lot of people can't say. I hate to say it but I actually miss Nova a little. After two and a half years of it I had had my fill but we had some good times there |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
womblingfree
Joined: 04 Mar 2006
Posts: 826
|
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| What's going on with Nova now? My Japanese friend seems convinced they're still open for business. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
|
| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Some schools are still open. A company called G-Communications is running the show. However, the only people I know that worked for NOVA last year are working elsewhere this year. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
