Still having problems AEON

My lesson plan for the upcoming AEON interview. This will be my first real lesson plan I've come up with so any comments or suggestions are very welcome and could help me immensely with my interview! Lesson Plan
(should be a word doc)

I'll also post here my essay that I wrote with with my application that got me the interview. Must have been what they were looking for, I dunno how tough they are with applications although I'm sure they aren't very. Application Essay



Sorry the sound isn't very good on the camera. I may have a mess around with that before I post again.

Nova, ECC, AEON....

Bad bad news, I didn't get the job at ECC :(

I don't think it helped being an hour and forty-five minutes late but the signals went down in Birmingham and my train was stuck.

The worst part was I was stuck in London for 6 hours which meant I had been up since 4am and didn't get back home until 1am and was back at work for 10am.

Well I've rested up and on Sunday 4th November I have an interview with AEON. This should last 2 days. I shall come to London a day early and stay in a hotel.

From what I can see about the interview, I will have to watch a presentation about the company followed by some Q&A. Later I will have to submit my 30min lesson plan and perform 5mins of it, this will be part of the group interview.

I think that should be all for the first day, the second day will consist of another lesson but this time using one of their lesson plans and given 5mins to plan it out and perform it to the interview team who will take on the role of students. This will be tough for a first timer but not impossible.

Finally an interview is conducted in the traditional one to one way. I'm not sure how tough this final interview is but I'll stay prepared.

I have had to write a page on why I want to live and work in Japan which I submitted to get the interview. Since I got the interview they must have liked it.

I should also point out at this time Nova has filed for Bankruptcy and so the beast has finally fallen. I'm along way beyond Nova and missed it by an inch but I must be more careful.

Anyway AEON Nov 4th !

Nova Wont Offer Accommodation

I got an email from Nova today saying I had two choices:

1. Withdraw my application
2. Continue my application

If I chose option 2 I could get the job with Nova but they wouldn't provide me with accommodation. This email seemed to be sent to all candidates and was followed up with a phone call.

I think this was a polite way of saying 'could you please cancel your contract' since there is no way I could go to Japan without accommodation, it simply isn't feasible.

Either way I opted out and asked for my documents to be returned.

ECC interview is this coming Saturday 27th October so I'll let you know how that went and what's involved.

Fingers crossed!

ECC - Beyond Nova?

Finished 100hr TEFL

Going to try ECC School

I have also applied for GEOS so hopefully I wont have to go with Nova. ECC seem to have there head screwed on so hopefully they do.

I'll let you know how the interview goes, if its hard or not.

For the Nova interview all I had to do was turn up go through the presentation and look enthusiastic. They had an easy written test, I don't know if anyone was penalised against any mistakes or anything. I know a few didn't finish. The one on one interview with Nova involved situation questions and quick fire questions where I had to answer the first thing that came in my head or they would move onto the next question after 3 seconds.

Any more news I'll let you know!

September- Days of TEFL

I'm about 70hrs into my TEFL course with i to i (see i to i here). I have a few things left to do but the hefty 20 hour weekend is over. The whole thing has left me very tired, squashing the information down and feeding it into my brain has taken its toll.
The weekend was very good though and very well worth it if...:

A) You only have a small amount of time and
B) You are going to teach a foreign language.

I wouldn't just like to go with a degree even if you have all the patience in the world. The course will set you back £400-500 depending on various offers but well worth it.

I'm not looking forward to the 20hr 'Grammar awreness' course but I'll need it to complete my 100hrs and i also hear it is also worth it.

I have a growing concern with Nova and its financial situation at the moment. Seems the company has only recently been allowed to teach again after a ban has been lifted. Nova has also failed to pay its paper advertising company as well as bonuses for its teachers and managers. With Nova's shares falling by almost 30% i'm worried the company might go under and I'll lose my job and my accomodation, rented with Nova.

Right now i'm just going to sit back and do my TEFL and see how things pan out.

If I finally get to Japan this is where I will doument what I do and see. I will post videos and pictures, maybe some audio too. I don't leave until January so I'll keep you posted as things unravel.

By the end of this month I hope to have completed my TEFL, I collect my degree in November and sort out my visa.

Until something comes up....bye for now

Taylor Anderson didn't make it

Unfortunately the teacher we have all been searching for Taylor Anderson, didn't make it.

Our thoughts are with her friends and family and the many looking for her in ishinomaki.