Work, Work, Work

Hey, Hey!

Jake and I have completed our second week of work and thought it might be time to clue many of your in on what exactly we are doing over here in Japan.

We are working for a company called NOVA, which has been nicknamed by many employees as NOVAction. Seeing as how this is the first job that Jake and I have had that gives you paid vacation time, we can’t really join in on that particular complaint. I doubt that any of the recent NOVA news has made it to the US, but our company has been under the spotlight over here for quite sometime. They apparently have had a few too many problems with ripping off their students and have expanded so quickly that money is now very tight. Rumors are flying around like crazy insinuating we will never see our October paychecks and will be out of a job in a few weeks. We surely hope that is not the case!

On the brighter side, we love our jobs. We teach a variety of students from very, very beginning English speakers to students who can carry on English conversations with only minor errors. Each lesson lasts 40 minutes and has no more than 4 students. In one lesson we might be teaching how to politely criticize, and in our next lesson we might be teaching something as basic as naming foods (“It’s a hamburger”). We also teach Voice Lessons where students come just to practice their English skills. Any skill level can come and as many students that fit into the room are welcome. It’s our job to come up with up a topic for them to discuss for 40 minutes. Voice lessons are nice break from our normal lessons as we can essentially BS with the students for the entire lesson- a skill Jake and I both share.

The craziest part of our job is definitely our Kids’ Classes. There are four levels classes- Chibiko (2-3 years), Kinders (4-6 years), Juniors (6-9 years) and Seniors (9-12 years). We essentially fend for ourselves for 40 minutes while up to eight Japanese children hurl themselves off furniture and run circles around us. Apparently while they do this we are suppose to be teaching them English, but that hasn’t quite happened yet. Contrary to what many people told us before we arrived in Japan, Japanese children do not respect their teachers more than American children. Schooling does not become serious for them until they are 12 years old so before that age, they are evidently free to cause ruckus. Wahoo, lucky us. J

I hope that answers some of your questions about what we do all day. This is definitely going to be quite the experience for us both.

Love ya guys!