We are English instructors for Nova, one of Japan's largest corporate English instruction schools with over 800 branches throughout the nation. We teach people of all ages (2-80 so far) in three types of classes:

Classroom: A structured class of 1 to 4 students using a workbook. The students are of the same level, and the lessons revolve around a single topic (i.e. ordering food, talking about last weekend).

Voice: A free conversation class for students of any level. Subjects range from sentence structure to Minnesota.

Kids: Basic English lessons for kids involving games, songs, repetition, and lots of energy. With three age groups (roughly 3-6, 6-9, 9-12), there can be up to eight kids in a class. There is also a very young group of 2 and 3 years olds called "Chibiko".

Classes are generally as fun as you make them. If you're upbeat, ready to have fun, and ready to roll up your sleeves, it can be a lot of fun. If your energy is low, however, you'll probably have some boring classes and a poor day. Because of this we are reminded often that it's still... a job: a full schedule, screaming kids, focusing on student abilities and needs, explaining satire or the word "until", etc. Like any job, it has its ups and downs, but ultimately it enables us to live in Japan, which is the whole point!

We've met some great people (other instructors) from the US, Canada, Australia, England and more! We've also gotten to know a lot of Japanese students in class. We learn about everything: Japanese culture, local restaurants, their opinions, where to visit, and so on. In a strange way, it's more than any foreigner could ever get by merely visiting Japan. We're very happy with Nova and all that it's provided us so far!

For more info about Nova, go to teachinjapan.com.

This is a typical Nova teaching area consisting of 6 classrooms with glass dividers. Each room holds one instructor and up to four students.

It's typical to have classes in every "room" at the same time although the noise level can get a little out of control.

Here's a fun group just waiting for their teacher! These rooms are only used for structured workbook classes and can get pretty crowed when there's five adults in a little room like this.Classes are 40 minutes each and revolve around one topic.

A "Voice" room for free conversation classes. The room includes decent couches, a small table, a world map, and a dry-erase board. Conversations can go anywhere, and it's up to the instructor to keep things lively, introduce new vocab, correct grammar, and, of course, talk less than the students.

A typical kids classroom. It's generally a 10'x10' room with padded carpet and simple English vocabulary on the walls. With what happens in these rooms you'd think the walls should be padded!

Kids classes can be full of cute, smart kids or crazy, hyper monsters! In any case, it breaks up our day and gives us plenty to talk about after work.

In the teacher room we have student files, teaching resources, and teacher workbooks for all levels. There are total of 7 levels we teach starting with "Hello, how are you?" all the way to debating the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest.

This is the Omihachiman teacher room (Joe's branch) and it can get pretty crowded when we are fully staffed with 9 teachers on Saturdays and Sundays. Favorite places to plan lessons include the microwave and the sink.

Here is Sachi and Toshiko, two Japanese staff at Joe's branch. The staff do everything from scheduling classes to helping us set up internet at our apartment! Many things, especially in the first few months, would not be possible without their help.

Here's Tiff with Nova's mascot "Nova Usagi" (Bunny) who has the ears of a rabbit for listening and the beak of a bird for speaking (English).

On our first day of work it was over 90 degrees.

Biking a mile or two in our nice clothes didn't help.

Another great thing is meeting all the other teachers from all over the world. Tanya from Mississippi (3 from the left) cooked us all a great meal of pork, vegetables and mashed potatoes at her apartment.

A huge Nova group at WaraWara. Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Japanese had great food and sang some rockin' karaoke.