Link of the day for 9th November, 2007: the NOVA Saga
so i've been passively following the drama behind the NOVA chain of English schools. why passive? because i have a high command of English and don't need to be concerned of this drama. but it does concern me as a human, how people are suddenly thrown out of the bubble.
i've ALWAYS been skeptical of the "English school boom" in Japan spearheaded by NOVA since the 90's, if my memory serves me correct. they do teach english at junior high and high schools in japan, but does it give results? seems not. does japanese education overall give results? probably not, otherwise "private education" probably would not need to be as popular in japan as it has been, since the 70's?
back to NOVA. i've always thought that they were pretty much the fast food of education, with classrooms nationwide, with the catchphrase "study abroad at a nova class, there's one in front of every station" and it was pretty true.
however, what they were doing was filling every class with foreign visitors with minimal qualification. if you spoke english, not japanese (ie, not looked japanese) and had graduated university, you were pretty much hired. NOVA created their own little bubble community of foreign teachers located nationwide that had very little attachment to local requirements, the context. btw, i'm not saying this is the case for every NOVA teacher, just a bastardization.
what i saw glimpses of were interesting. foreign people complaining about japan and their culture "sucks" in the bars of roppongi, or foreign teachers getting REALLY drunk in the bars of middle of nowhresville japan (i was on your when i saw this) because they did not understand what was happening in the society they were suddenly thrown into. it kind of reminded me of young soldiers sent to war, and turning towards drugs and whatnot, to forget their daily realities.
anyway. articles. links.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20071102a1.html
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=3096
people ask me how i managed to learn english. for me, it was pretty simple. i was curious (even before i went to the uk). i had to (since i moved to the uk as a 7 year old. kids have no choice). i had context (playing football, friends, tv, etc).
is it a big deal? hard to say, since my brain has been hardwired this way since age 7. i do not know of any other through process other than mine. do i know any other languages? apart from the language of love, no. |:-))))))))
"you, NOVA?" ;-)