The Unbiased Truth About Nova

[Glenski]

Sukkoto,
You have a lot of pent-up feelings, and you also have a hard time staying on track. This thread is about NOVA, but let's keep a little to the side of teaching in Japan just to maintain some semblance, ok?

You don't want to get a degree. That's your prerogative. How you perceive it is also yours. "Privilege"? Well, yeah, don't you think if someone goes the extra mile to get some sort of training/education/related experience, they deserve a privilege over someone who didn't? It doesn't matter why the other person didn't -- be it poverty or choice. You do more, you get more in return. Save the social commentary for another forum, please.

Opening doors ("privilege") also happens by networking -- a very common way that qualified and sometimes unqualified people here get university jobs and high school jobs. It's not what you know, it may be who you know sometimes. No degree needed sometimes there, and it's LIFE, no matter where you go.

It's for anyone who can afford it, or who wants to enslave themselves with years or worse of indentured servitude called debt.

You didn't even read or take to heart what I wrote, did you? There are scholarships and grants out there, which you don't have to pay back, hence no servitude or debt. Get off the soapbox. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. By the way, are you one of those in the poverty group that you said you really meant, or are you just whining for the masses?

you left out comments about what knowledge base is deemed
valuable.

Didn't have to mention them because as has already been mentioned, any degree will get you a work visa here as a teacher. No real "knowledge base" is really required. So, if you want to come to Japan and work, you either have the experience or a degree in poly sci, anthropology, microbiology, quantum physics, or underwater basketweaving. It's all the same to places like NOVA.

(Granted, NOVA and GEOS will give you some sort of general knowledge test at the interview, but that's to begin the weeding out process for the truly uninformed.)

I hear there are a lot of "Asians" doing construction jobs in Japan.

I hope this was meant tongue in cheek, because you otherwise show a total lack of knowledge about the work force in Japan. Nuff said.

Someone asked me why I did not want a degree, so I responded.
That is why I have written such stuff in this string.
Schools are a major institution in which a society recreates itself.
That includes privileges that also existed.
Including class

Again, this is non sequitur for the thread. Besides, the elite classes of people you espouse don't always exist. Do you call someone with a BA in Art History a member of the elite? Or with a degree in paleontology? Or forensic medicine? Or culinary science?

Whenever I criticize school in general, people
always get on my case about this.
They think I am against learning.
Learning, one does not need to attend an institution for this.

Learn all you want. It still won't get you a work visa unless you have the degree or the experience to go along with it. Pretty straightforward. You can criticize all you want, but that is the simple fact. Now, you are just trying to do what so many frustrated degreeless people do in these forums -- find a loophole or other means to get a job here. There aren't that many.

Your view of the world may indeed be "bleak", but that won't get you very far, whether towards a work visa, a teaching job in Japan, or anywhere else in life. People usually don't like complainers.

[Sukotto]

I hear there are a lot of "Asians" doing construction jobs in Japan.

I hope this was meant tongue in cheek, because you otherwise show a total lack of knowledge about the work force in Japan. Nuff said.

By the above, I meant undocumented Asian immigrants, not the fact that Japanese are Asian.



Anyway,
that was some of what i felt in past years about some stuff. Maybe now it is different. Everyone has a right to change their mind. Maybe I should not have been so wordy as to why i did not want a college degree which someone asked me. Or maybe I should have just PM them. sorry. It's just the world is so different from the one I was presented growing up. Perhaps I am still freaking out about this?



As far as Nova & other private English language schools go, I had been under the impression that a lot of adults wanted to improve their language skills and at least practice them. I imagined conversations would not be a small part. So for this a degree in teaching wasn't necessarily needed. Just a degree to show that at least these native English speakers were competent.

I'm not saying I believed there were more adults than children attending these schools. Just that a lot of Japanese adults wanted to practice/improve or keep up their skills. No doubt it might take different skills to deal with different aged people and unless these companies really have mastered some sort of techniques for their employees, things might not be as easy as being a good conversationalist.

So, if requiring only a degree in anything for teaching at these schools, why not no degree? After all, what is a degree but a piece of paper. Especially when it is seen in the light of these schools. Which one could have even a degree in underwater business administration or on the sun basket weaving and still get employed there. The companies had their ways of teaching all worked out. So, did one really need to have superb teaching skills?

It appears from what is in this string that the companies really don't have it all worked out. And maybe a simple college degree in anything isn't enough at all. It merely shows one is able to jump through hoops to a finer tuned degree and makes the companies look professional. Not that degree holders are just hoop jumpers. Other things require fine tuning of skills too. Cleaning, mechanic, teaching...

Along with the language aspect of English language schools is that of cultural exchange. So I find it kind of disappointing that some of them forbid teachers and students from interacting outside of class. Still, I can understand their concerns, I guess. Especially if they employ people who come to Japan for only one year and want to get out as soon as they can.


Maybe before I felt guilty for being lucky enough to have been born in one of the rich countries. Afterall, I've found out, our countries are not rich because of luck or pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. Maybe partially luck.
Japanese director Mamoru Oshii was one of my many teachers over the years to this respect, although I did not know who he was until recently. Using his art he reflected a part of reality with these non-fictional lines:

"Blood-drenched economical prosperity created and sustained by those
countless wars. That's what's behind our peace." -ARAKAWA, Patlabor The Movie 2 (1993)

So maybe it is no different living in the US or Japan? We both benefit from empire & live under corporate rule and the truth is hidden in the fictional worlds of pop culture.

Ah, sorry.
Nova.
Perhaps the Japanese government should require these schools to at least require a teaching certificate along with the degree, since a non-citizen cannot work period without a four year degree (or certain types of work visas).

[Glenski]

As far as Nova & other private English language schools go, I had been under the impression that a lot of adults wanted to improve their language skills and at least practice them. I imagined conversations would not be a small part.

I don't think you have a clue what eikaiwa is about. Sorry to be so blunt. Yes, conversational English is an integral part of eikaiwa. Heck, eikaiwa itself means "English conversation". But you don't just sit there and chat. Only in some freestyle courses do you do that. Otherwise, the whole point of eikaiwa is to teach conversational English. There is often a textbook. For adults, this is a reminder of the 6 or more years of English they had to study in school, plus a guideline for what the lesson is about. Teachers should not speak more than 20% of the time, if students are to be given a chance at practicing and making mistakes. Only lazy teachers will sit and gab with students.

So for this [conversations] a degree in teaching wasn't necessarily needed. Just a degree to show that at least these native English speakers were competent.

I can see where this is leading, but more later. For now, the degree is needed for immigration purposes. Sadly, any degree major will do, and with certain visa types, you don't even need a degree. Yes, most eikaiwa teachers are native English speakers. Is that so strange a concept? The government (and probably most employers) prefer people with college educations for whatever reasons they choose. I cannot speak for them, but my best guess is that they want to know people have had the sense of responsibility to complete tertiary education. That's all. To say that any old native English speaker (degreed or not, but you seem to harp on the latter) can teach eikaiwa is incorrect.

I'm not saying I believed there were more adults than children attending these schools. Just that a lot of Japanese adults wanted to practice/improve or keep up their skills. No doubt it might take different skills to deal with different aged people and unless these companies really have mastered some sort of techniques for their employees, things might not be as easy as being a good conversationalist.

Again, being a conversationalist is not the point in teaching. You are not hired to converse with students. You are hired to teach them, and that means speaking as little as possible.

So, if requiring only a degree in anything for teaching at these schools, why not no degree? After all, what is a degree but a piece of paper.

I just explained that, and you seem to be waffling again, and trying to bring the discussion back to a "degree needed vs. not needed" issue. Please get off it!

The companies had their ways of teaching all worked out. So, did one really need to have superb teaching skills?

No, of course not, but your assumption that any non-degreed person is qualified to teach is weak.

It appears from what is in this string that the companies really don't have it all worked out. And maybe a simple college degree in anything isn't enough at all. It merely shows one is able to jump through hoops to a finer tuned degree and makes the companies look professional. Not that degree holders are just hoop jumpers.

Nope, you completely misunderstand the whole situation.

Other things require fine tuning of skills too. Cleaning, mechanic, teaching...

non sequitur

Along with the language aspect of English language schools is that of cultural exchange. So I find it kind of disappointing that some of them forbid teachers and students from interacting outside of class.

They are looking out for two things:

1) They don't want teachers boinking students and taking that baggage back to work, especially if the relationships don't work out.
2) They don't want teachers giving private lessons to students, whether consciously or just by osmosis in their goings-out. Purely financial aspect here.

Nova.
Perhaps the Japanese government should require these schools to at least require a teaching certificate along with the degree, since a non-citizen cannot work period without a four year degree (or certain types of work visas).

A "non-citizen" can work without a 4-year degree in Japan.
spouse visa
dependent visa
student visa
cultural visa
working holiday visa
All of the above permit work without a degree.

Your idea of requiring a teaching certificate has some merit, but it it probably won't work. First, there is no policing of teacher certification here. Second, there are many types of certification, including online with no practicum. Third, I suggest you read this little jewel to see the differences in professionalism between certified teachers and some eikaiwa managers. Eye-opening. Enjoy.
http://www.eltnews.com/features/special/015a.shtml