Category Archives: Nova

Golly gosh, not Geos too??!

Posted on 28/10/2009 by alexcase

Two years after the demise of Nova, by far the biggest chain of Eikaiwa (English conversation) schools in Japan, rumours are that one of the remaining big three, Geos, is also showing signs of strain with late payment of wages, … Continue reading →

Posted in Eikaiwa, Geos, Let's Japan, Nova, Teaching English in Japan | 4 Comments

How teaching English can save your life Quote of the Day

Posted on 09/03/2008 by alexcase

“I will practice my English with you, if you will do me the honor” “You keep alive just to practice your English?” Ken Watanabe and Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai, enacting a scene set 130 years before Nova teachers … Continue reading →

Posted in History of English teaching in Japan, Let's Japan, Nova, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL blogs | Leave a comment

2007- A year in Eikaiwa

Posted on 06/01/2008 by alexcase

2007 was yet another year in which the world of TEFL made its way into the consciousness of the general public for all the wrong reasons (a crack down on teachers in Korea, English teaching sex offenders etc. etc), and … Continue reading →

Posted in ALT, Gaba, Interac, Nova, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching in Japanese universities, Teaching Japanese primary school children, TEFL | 6 Comments

Not new news on Nova,…

Posted on 10/11/2007 by alexcase

…but nicely summarized.  I take it all back about Time magazine. It may not be the Economist or L’Express, or even El Pais Sunday magazine, but they have managed the article about Nova from a publication outside Japan with least … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL exams, Nova, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL, TOEIC | 4 Comments

Is a good teacher really a good investment?

Posted on 08/11/2007 by alexcase

Amongst the doom and gloom that is the Lets Japan blog since the collapse of Nova became fact and there became nothing left to speculate about, comes possibly the only glimmer of hope that doesn’t involve thousands of refugee teachers … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL, TESOL | 4 Comments

What can we all learn from Nova?

Posted on 31/10/2007 by alexcase

Although Nova (not long ago the dominant presence in conversation schools in Japan) might still manage to save itself, I can imagine there are many teachers who are now wishing they were no longer working or had never worked for … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan | 4 Comments

The very newest news on Nova- SuperNOVA turns into a black hole

Posted on 26/10/2007 by alexcase

Anyone who has been following the death throes of the pink bunny surely know by now that Nova has gone belly up, but I think I will be ahead of everyone else with this news report: The Education Ministry has … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova, Teaching English in Japan | 4 Comments

Stranded Australians

Posted on 21/10/2007 by alexcase

The Australian press continue to give more coverage to the collapsing Nova story than even newspapers in Japan. I confidently predict that the next publication to cover the story will be the London Evening Standard, worried that the oversupply of … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, TESOL | Leave a comment

No no, no no no no no, no no no no no, there's no Nova*

Posted on 16/10/2007 by alexcase

About the only good news in the fading away of Nova (the MacDonalds of English conversation Eikaiwa schools in Japan) is that the Japanese press seem to be working themselves up to a wolf-like group decision that Mr Monkeybridge (Sahashi-san), … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova, TEFL | Leave a comment

Even newer new Nova news

Posted on 13/10/2007 by alexcase

As if in a deliberate attempt to prove the straight talking Aussie stereotype, Australian Foreign Affairs minister Alexander Downer has decided he knows what we were all wondering about, that Nova is about to go down the toilet. Well, having … Continue reading →

Posted in Nova | Leave a comment