It's amusing to read some of these replies... I take myself and my craft seriously. I've been self-employed and owner/operator of my own language school for a couple years now. And I am very successful at it. In fact, I have turned away students and new contracts now for the last six months simply because there aren't enough hours in the day for me anymore.
Anybody can call themselves an "English teacher" but the ones who willingly dedicate their time and patience to commit themselves to helping a student progress are few and far between. NOVA dropped the ball on that one. Like most of the major eikawa, it was all about the signups. Getting them into the system was/is their only real priority. Student care and aggressively helping students to achieve the goals they set out for themselves fell along the wayside.
Oh well, more business for me I suppose should I choose to take it up lol. If I told you the number of current eikawa branch school managers and teachers I teach atm (NOVA, AEON, GEOS, ECC, etc.) as my own students you'd all be surprised... Guess it just shows that even the company employees don't have faith in their own system anymore.
Expect to see more entrepreneurs like myself stepping up to fill in the void. I don't do contracts with students, I let them pay me monthly on the same day every month or they can opt for a pay-as-you-go rate per lesson/class. There are no extra fees or additional charges tacked on. EVER. There is no penalty for makeups or having to cancel a class (with reasonable notice). And there are no stipulations or penalties about deciding to leave should the student feel dissatisfied with their progress/instruction for whatever reason. In other words, I do everything NOVA doesn't.
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