Glenski
Just me
- 20 Aug 2003
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When I took the test for ECC, everyone was in the same room. You'd be surprised at how many groans and moans could be heard. Some even outwardly said, "There's nothing wrong with this sentence!" yet they had to find a mistake. Just goes to show that SATs don't mean one is well-versed in English grammar.Quite demanding. You have to jump through so many hoops, and yet the eikaiwa themselves have a pretty bad rep. Especially NOVA. 100 questions shouldn't be that tough, I assume, especially if you'd taken grammar courses in school and had to take the SATs and GREs.
That's not the terminology I meant. I meant knowing what TEFL terminology was, such as the names of certain teaching strategies like TPR. You won't find those in a grammar book.Then again, as a tutor at my institute, I've noticed vast differences in terminology between TEFL textbooks and the classic English Macmillian grammar books I had in school, especially with the tenses. And it is difficult to remember exactly what an adjective clause is, even though we use it constantly.
Well, is it any wonder? NOVA has 5000 teachers on staff, for example. What large corporation in general in the world treats its thousands of employees like family? Anyway, another issue lies with the branch you get placed in. Some are better than others.It seems to me that it is much better to try to get a teaching job at a smaller English school or a cram school. The Big Four supposedly treat you like a number,
And, another point is that tons of people (probably the majority of new teachers) come here fresh out of college having never worked a FT job in their lives, or come with outdated secondhand information about living & working here, or come with lots of personal baggage, or have narrow-minded views of a foreign land such that they impose far too much of their own western culture on Japan. The result? Disappointment, hardship, severe culture shock, complaints. Realize, too, that eikaiwas usually don't care what your major in college was; that is part of the problems, too, but it is probably one that is not going to go away, so it is more a matter of screening out people based on their personalities and potential (which is what they do now anyway).
The aim is long-term. If you want a job in Japan, teaching English is a stepping-stone. (snip)
Just make sure you don't get locked into teaching English forever. It is a means to an end.[/QUOTE]
That depends on a person's goals and training. For those who actually study to become teachers, the above remarks do not apply.