NOVA (Japan) Reviews

Kinds training is about 5 times more than adult lesson training and has a ton of prep material, plus is a hectic room, so no hands on training is not good. The work is intensive and you are under a tight 10 minute to wrap up a lesson, change material, log notes, open up next student info, plan a lesson they aren't doing that day, and get to the room whilst doing any lobby service/talking if needed. Plus no snacking time, little chance to use toilets, shorter than average lunch break (prob 40 minutes here depending on class prep time you want) or get water make for a very draining day if you need those. This can be very exhausting work and will probably drain you more than you expect which is a hurdle at the beginning as a constant thereafter. And yes class prep time is needed because the students will review you and if you do good you get a bonus, if you do bad you're probably not going to hear about it (branch staff must tell you) or if you do it will be without constructive criticism.

Geez where do I start? I think it's easier to make a list 1) This company blatantly doesn't care about its teachers. It's purely focused of hiring as many teachers as they can cause turnover rate is extremely high. It's turn and burn baby. You're easily dispensable. In fact most instructors walk away from the job before they even finish their contract. Seriously it's that bad 2) They impose expensive fees on teachers. Lates, absences, days off? You have to pay Nova. We're human and mistakes do happen. So of course Nova wants to benefit as much as possible. These penalties really hurt the paycheck too. Which brings me to my next point... 3) The pay is garbage. On top of the almost illegal fees and contracts, Nova pays just enough to live. You won't starve, but traveling and saving is not going to happen. They try to spin this as "You earn your pay based on amount of students". But unless you're a REALLY popular teacher or willing to work 6 days a week don't expect to make much 4) Your NOVA experience will highly depend on the Japanese staff you work with. Good staff made nova less painful. But bad staff will make your experience miserable. Unfortunately there's more bad staff than good. I don't blame the staff though. 95% of them are young Japanese girls trained to follow Nova's idiotic rules without thinking for themselves. They're simply robots. But if you’re lucky enough to work with one who is capable of thinking for herself, your nova experience will be....tolerable. 5) Much like the japanese staff the managers (called IM/ISM) are also robots. Often they are overworked and underpaid too like the staff. Yet somehow most of them love the company so much they completely turn a blind eye to the obvious abuses of the company. It's pathetic...I almost feel bad for them. 6) You're teaching a very basic watered down English. The training gives you the bare minimum to "teach". The low level lessons are too easy for most students and don't have enough material last the whole 40 minutes. Often you can finish in 15 minutes and then get stuck awkwardly sitting there with a person you have nothing in common with for another 20 minutes. It sucks 7) The current contracts they offer are barely legal. In fact Nova's contracts are being challenged in court by the Kansai workers bureau! They basically lock instructors into these terrible contracts with no vacation days, no tax help, no pension help, and to top it off severe penalties that i stated in #2. This company would have been sued like crazy if it were in America, Canada, UK etc. But because Japan's labor union is pathetic, parasite companies like this have been allowed to survive. 8) The job will become painfully boring. Japanese people are shy and don't like to express opinions often. Sometimes getting them to speak is like trying to pull teeth. Most students will eventually blend into a bland generic person who has nothing to say about anything relevant. After months of seeing the same students expects conversations like: "it's cold/hot today" "I didn't do anything this weekend" "I went shopping". It can drive you crazy. Towards the end lessons began to feel like I was a zoo animal trapped in a cage. Expected to English for 40 minutes...8 times a day...5 days a week....while nova pays me in peanuts. Okay i'm tired of typing. I could go on but the list would be infinite. Long story short Nova is a bad company. They've already been caught doing illegal and unethical acts in the past and nothing has changed. I knew a teacher who noted every lesson and checked their paycheck to find there was always a mistake to Nova's benefit. I also had big mistake on my paycheck once. Guess who benefited? Well you already know by now.... This job is way too much work for the little pay. Avoid the whole Eikaiwa industry if you can, but especially avoid Nova. Nova is No good