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NOVA going down the tubes

I've surprised quite a few Japanese friends and coworkers when they've asked my opinion about Nova.

I tell them the only good thing about Nova is (or was) their advertising and that they should be very leery of any place that won't let them pay by the month with no contract.

And when salaries start getting paid late, the handwriting is on the wall.
 
I got an e-mail from a good friend of mine, my former flatmate actually, who's working in a very large school near Tokyo. It's a really busy school, or it used to be anyway, the kind of place you'd expect to be least affected by this. He said that most AT's haven't been paid (AT's = branch leaders, 1 or 2 per school to supervise the regular teachers) and that many have quit and walked off the job. Subsequently regular teachers are working the school in kind of skeleton crews and many of the AT duties such as observations, evaluations and teacher upkeep have been abandoned. He said he hasn't been paid this month either.. they usually get paid on the 15th so that's pretty bad.

NOVA isn't communicating with the teachers at all either; the closure of my friend's school is rumored but unconfirmed for the end of the month. Alternative arrangements, nil.

Wow, really sounds like a mess over there. He quoted me almost exactly, he said I got out at the right time.

The thing that bugs me most is that I know how positive an experience it was for me to be in Japan. It almost breaks my heart to know that there are wide-eyed, enthusiastic teachers and Japanophiles out there who made the courageous leap into another country and are probably having the worst time trying to deal with this situation. NOVA offered a lot when they were at the top of the game.. competitive salaries, easy visa acquisition, easy accomodations, but man, how the mighty have fallen. I'm almost compelled to apologize on behalf of my crappy former employer for everyone who's over there suffering at the moment.
 
bakaKanadajin said:
NOVA isn't communicating with the teachers at all either; the closure of my friend's school is rumored but unconfirmed for the end of the month.
Click to expand...

When employees aren't being kept informed on things by management, that is also a good sign that the company is about to go belly-up.
 
Nova Sucks!

Man did you see the story in the Japan times today about Nova may be going out of business? I taught there back in 1995 and they were ripping people off big time with their outdated textbooks. Students couldn't take classes when they wanted to either even though they paid a lot of money up front!
 
Are you guys just hearing about this situation now?
 
How many years have we been saying avoid NOVA? Guess some lessons are just hard to learn.
 
I for one was going to try NOVA once I graduated from college in the States. This is disappointing for me.
 
Faustianideals said:
I for one was going to try NOVA once I graduated from college in the States. This is disappointing for me.
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That makes about as much sense as a kid in 1952 being disappointed that Dr. Salk created a polio vaccine. Consider this a bullet well-dodged.
 
Throughout the years NOVA has definitely had some close calls and there have been signs that their business practices were going to burn them sooner than later. I think people are just surprised that it's actually for real this time, that schools are closing and they may actually fold.
 
Mike Cash said:
That makes about as much sense as a kid in 1952 being disappointed that Dr. Salk created a polio vaccine. Consider this a bullet well-dodged.
Click to expand...
I am disappointed that NOVA turned out this way. I wanted to experience the Japanese culture first-hand, and I'm going to have to find another way to teach English in Japan to do so. Military is out of the question for me. I'm too big of a pussy for it.

Yes, I'm glad I'm not one of the poor soul who are getting the bad end of the deal now, but I'm sure you can now understand why I'm disappointed?
 
For those whose dreams may seem shattered: NOVA is NOT the ONLY outlet for teaching in Japan. There are pleanty of other jobs out there that will get you a visa. Look around.

Personally I say good riddance and I hope this serves as a warning to the other big "rip-off" schools in Japan who care not one iota whether their students learn anything or not. And, I hope because of this that the Japanese will become more selective when choosing a conversation school.
 
Even if Nova gets bought by someone who provides funds to re-float it, the word is already out about its problems. Most definitely the kiss of death for a company.
 
Nova is not the only one you know.


You're right the military is not the answer! And there are other schools besides Nova. There's Berlitz, ECC, Aeon, Geos, and NAGA. Someone will fill that void once Nova is taken out. And everything will be okay until the next scandalous Language school pops up. The bottom line is that every Language school is a scam. Japanese can speak English they just don't have enough experience using it. I taught English on and off in Japan since '87 and most of the students are very good but they are just forgetful because they don't use it because of the "now" thinking of people from Japan.
 
TOKYO64 said:
The bottom line is that every Language school is a scam.
Click to expand...

Well.. thats a little harsh. There are some questionable business practices out there but I think NOVA was the quintessential example, the rest don't have the same reputation do they? (As far as contracts and payments go). Every discussion I've read here seems to pinpoint NOVA as the main offender regarding this. As for eikaiwas being a rip-off in principle, I agree and disagree. Sure the Japanese possess the tools to learn effective English on their own and its just a lazyness and convenience factor that drives some of them to eikaiwas, but hey, the same thinking causes us to use drive-thru burger joints instead of getting out and walking up to the counter. The only difference I can see is that the Japanese actually work the long hours that necessitate that level of flexibility.
 

No, because I've worked there. Trust me; even if they weren't floundering you dodged a bullet.
 
The difference is that when you use the drive-thru, you still get your burger. These conversation schools are all hype and no results.
And it's not merely a matter of laziness. Japanese people have been entirely brainwashed into believing that they need these schools to learn English. That the fastest way to learn English is to sit in a classroom with a foreigner and other Japanese people and have superficial conversations guided by a textbook. So they shell out exorbitant amounts of money and earnestly attend these classes instead of doing what they should be doing - just experiencing the language in its raw form by reading books and watching movies.
To me, language schools are little more than multimillion dollar drug pushers.

Here's a very good editorial on the fraud of the English-teaching industry:
http://www.english-learning.co.uk/geifr.html

I think it's beautiful that NOVA went so far beyond the usual unscrupulousness that their company is actually collapsing. Hopefully other schools are next.
 

well for starters,you can say the same thing about any highschool language course in the states.

I've taught myself quite a bit about kinesiology on my own just from reading. You don't need a school to learn, but if people want to go to one, that'stheir business.
 
I would say the same thing about most high school foreign language courses in the United States. But at least they're only wasting the students' time, and not their money (public schools, that is).

Of course, nearly any subject can be learned without a teacher, but languages in particular must be understood implicity, not analytically, in order to be used properly. Other disciplines lend themselves much more easily to classroom learning.

If people want to waste money attending an eikaiwa school that is indeed their prerogative, but the main people to be criticized are the ones who extort these people for money and don't let them know any better.

 
Because you're not getting what you consider a rightful chance at taking a piece of the "culture" for nothing.

Learn Japanese to prove to yourself an authentic experience is possible, stash away a little cash and the possibilities for legitimate study at a language school are practically limitless. At least that's how I'm planning to deal with these post-NOVA blues...
 
I can see and appreciate the point of view that eikaiwas aren't always a necessary part of the learning experience. And I wouldn't argue that some Japanese have been led to believe that eikaiwas are more useful than they are.

But I tend not to think the Japanese are brainwashed when it comes to this, I'm sure they join these things with a fair understanding of the idea that book work needs application. I do agree with you that a certain proportion of the Japanese are led to believe eikaiwas are the ONLY way to learn, but I don't think this is indicative of the general trend and for some eikaiwas are the best way to practice English with native speakers because multicultural networking is difficult outside Tokyo and Osaka.
Alot of the cons and pitfalls the author talks about in that article aren't limited to eikaiwas either. He believes intensive observation, self-study, and a need for active curiosity and interest are crucial to learning. There is no reason why these elements cannot be integrated in an eikaiwa environment. Again, I think some people do believe that more credits = better English, but I do give the Japanese credit because many of my students were there just to listen to and interact with me, mimick me as best as they could, studied religiously at home, attended open voice rooms so they could observe others; it was clear that they were taking a wholistic and active approach to their own personal learning experience.
 
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