JPHiP Forum

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: ShoujoHino on October 26, 2007, 09:14:04 AM

Title: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: ShoujoHino on October 26, 2007, 09:14:04 AM
They are a corrupt company, treat their teachers like sh*t from what I've heard, and their methods are not effective.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200710260289.html
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: shadowstar on October 26, 2007, 09:49:32 AM
And I was hoping to apply there in the future too.

Guess it'll be JET for me, or a place that's as good.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: sousora on October 26, 2007, 01:09:33 PM
I work at Nova, let's try not to be too happy about 7000 or so impending unemployments...
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Guchi_Jnr on October 26, 2007, 03:22:43 PM
As much as I'm anti-NOVA, I feel sorry for the way this shit went down..

@Tara, hope you and your NOVA friends find some work here, if you're planning to stick around.. And what will happen to the teachers that live in NOVA apartments?? They must be pretty damn stressed right about now..

@arian, with a lot less people applying for NOVA, expect a lot more now applying for the JET program..

@ShoujoHino, NOVA teachers weren't treated like shit (well I wasn't in the 18mths I worked there, and none of the people I worked with were either), but we were all treated like numbers... And I also wouldn't say the teaching method was ineffective.. Yeah, it was the McDonald's of English Schools, but just like the patrons at McDonald's do eat, NOVA students did learn..   
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: shadowstar on October 26, 2007, 04:03:21 PM
@arian, with a lot less people applying for NOVA, expect a lot more now applying for the JET program..

I won't be making plans for Japan for a few years at the very least anyways, maybe another place will pop up by then, haha.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Sexykago on October 26, 2007, 05:38:04 PM
I also heard that they were awful. Nothing but terrible things about them. That they were the worst of English teaching in Japan.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: THUNDERDUCK on October 28, 2007, 11:41:51 AM
Hope things work out for you Tara.  I did read that Rakuten may try to bail them out.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: ShoujoHino on October 29, 2007, 04:38:50 AM
They are the English school equivalent to Starfucks coffee.
If you want to work in Japan there are many private English schools, English programs at private and public schools that pay more and treat you better than NOVA, and teach you how to actually help people learn to communicate in English, and give you adequate breaks and hours, instead of working you like a slave making you teach 8 lessons a day straight through.
The staffing company I was signed with paid me 3000Y an hour with room for raises, and I had to make my own materials and lesson plans instead of blindly following whatever was in the textbook.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Mugen on October 29, 2007, 04:56:50 AM
^wanna refer me to ur employer in the near future?  :)
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: reyfer on November 08, 2007, 05:00:05 PM
Firm set to take over NOVA will re-hire all teachers, other staff
A company that is set to take over NOVA Corp. will re-employ all the foreign instructors and Japanese employees at the failed English conversation school, the chairman of the company has told the Mainichi. (http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071108p2a00m0na011000c.html)
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Guchi_Jnr on November 08, 2007, 06:08:57 PM
^ Never rely on Mainichi for news.. They pick and choose what parts of news stories to post, in an effort to make it sound good, and this is no different..

Quote from:  The Japan Time
Nova Corp.'s court-appointed administrators plan to sell 30 of the failed language school chain's 670 branches to G.communication grp. and liquidate the rest, making tuition refunds very unlikely.

Nagoya-based G.communication, which also runs cram schools and restaurants, said the takeover would happen immediately with an eye to resuming lessons and eventually running as many as 200 of the bankrupt Osaka-based chain's schools. It reportedly plans to accept paid-up Nova students and offer them classes at a discounted price.

As for the at least ¥4 billion in salaries owed to Nova's 7,000 employees, including some 4,000 foreign teachers, some of whom haven't been paid since August, Nova has said it will pay part of the money owed by using government money. But how much each teacher will get and when are causes of concern, said Koji Yamahara of the Osaka-based General Union, which represents some Nova workers.

"The unpaid salaries will come from public funds. But there is a maximum payout limit and it will take at least six months for Nova staff to get even a portion of their back wages," he said. "Many staff members are now hurting financially. They should receive immediate payment of what they are owed."  (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20071108a1.html)

There is no way can they hire all teachers & staff, since 7,000 were employed in 670 branches, and they want to re-open 30~200.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: ShoujoHino on November 10, 2007, 06:35:40 AM
I found both my employers on GaijinPot.
IES - International Educational Systems
Friends English School.

I warn you, unless they're hurting for people they're a little more selective than NOVA. i.e. they hire people who are actually experienced in education and or languages.
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Mugen on November 12, 2007, 08:57:46 PM
are they only looking for caucasians? cuz im asian but im also semi fluent in japanese and taking night school for TESL right now
Title: Re: NOVA language school chain DIES!!!! YES!!!
Post by: Masabi on November 13, 2007, 11:10:14 AM
I heard some pretty bad things about them, but they might have been rumors.
Title: Firm reneges on promised jobs for Nova teachers
Post by: Guchi_Jnr on December 26, 2007, 04:31:02 AM
Firm reneges on promised jobs for Nova teachers
Former Nova Corp. teachers got much sadder tidings than they had hoped for on Christmas Eve, and much of the bad news came long distance.
G.education Co., which took over some of the failed language school chain's business, will hire fewer former Nova teachers than it had earlier said and may even slash its ranks in the future, the Nagoya-based firm announced Monday in a press statement.
G.education, a part of G.communication Co., is facing an uphill battle in reopening classes at former Nova schools.
G.education had earlier pledged to hire all foreign and Japanese staff who had been left in the lurch with Nova's failure, if they wanted to work at the company. But Monday's statement effectively retracted this offer. (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071226a1.html)

Like that was a surprise..NOT!!