All work and no play...
...makes Maggie go slighly more insane than she already is.
Anyway, things have been chaotic at work. April is the big change over for the fiscal year which means the staff is running around trying to get new students to sign up. So, not only is the staff stressed out, there are lots of demo lessons and new people around the branch. Throw in a big change to the kids program - and currently being the kids co-ordinator at our branch, guess who to deal with that - in addition to getting all the files updated for the new year, figuring out who was changing grades and who was moving on to regular lessons. Add a dash of new people, not all of whom were very competent (read: files in all the wrong places, really really stupid questions - and you know I don't usually say there are stupid questions - and a total lack of common sense). Add to *that* one of our excellent experienced instructors (read: a nice person with lots of common sense who is good at her job) was adbruptly transferred (read: a hell of a lot of overtime), a change in branch staff (that would be the Japanese staff), and me being the acting A.T. (see below), its just been one hell of a crazy month - and were only halfway through it!
Wow. Looking back on that, that's a lot of stuff.
Anyway, I applied for the position of A.T. at Ogaki - that is, for "Assistant Trainer", which basically means I will be the supervior for Ogaki school. The AAM (Assistant Area Manager), a really nice and laid back guy from Australia with an endearing habit of using "mate" and "beauty" in every sentence, asked me if I would consider the position - which of course in the corporate world means he begged me to do so. I thought about it, but I had already been considering it for a little while because frankly Ogaki needs someone to be the leader, and to be honest, I was probably the best choice. I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn here, but already everyone was asking me for advice and to make management-type decisions - which not having authority was becoming exteremly difficult. So, I decided to go for it (besides, the extra pay will be nice :) ).
Anyway, I had my promotion observation on Wednesday and it went really really well. The AAM was really impressed, I think, with my teaching style and student focus - even if it meant I deviated from the standard formula. He told me that I was already a top level teacher (which was really gratifying) and with a few minor tweaks he thought I could become a guru; a comment he said that was echoed by our students :D He also told me our branch manager was really keen for me to become AT, that I was his top choice. This was really pleasing to hear as our manager has been with Nova for about 7 years (I think) and so knows what's what when it comes to things.
Now I have an interview with the AAM and the AM (Area Manager) on the 25th, for which I am a little nervous. I've heard that they ask some pretty difficult moral questions, for which the challenge for me, I think, will be to not start off on a philosophical diatribe. Then again, that might be a good thing. If nothing else I am nervous because I have never met our AM - and that this is the situation to do so is a bit nerve-wracking. However, that said, the AAM has a lot of confidence in me because he has already signed me up for the AT training sessions - which will unfortunately cut into my weekends all May because what with our teacher being transferred there is no way they can schedule another day off for me :( At least it's only 4 lessons; nice and short, but still. I've also signed up for training for our advanced courses (Toeic, Tofel and Eiken) and for CAT traning, so I can test students. My poor little brain is really going to be getting a workout in May. Good thing I've started training for it on my DS! Cheers to "Brain Age".
However, I had a good weekend off this weekend - I went to Takato with some Japanese friends to view the Cherry Blossoms there. It was incredible! It is one of the top 3 places to go Cherry Blossom viewing in Japan as there are over 1500 cherry trees in an area smaller that Nose Hill Park. It's amazing! But soooooo crowded. I will post more on that later when I transfer my pictures and get a chance to have someone finally, properly explain to me why the Japanese love cherry blossoms so much.
I also bought some stuff for my apartment - a nice lounge type chair (only without legs for easy floor sitting), and some new dishes (really nice ones from the 100yen shop - that place is fan-freaking-tastic). I decided if I'm going to stay here for a while, which I am, it's about time I stopped living like a poor university student with hand-me-downs. Rather, I shall live like a slightly rich university student :D
Anyway, things have been chaotic at work. April is the big change over for the fiscal year which means the staff is running around trying to get new students to sign up. So, not only is the staff stressed out, there are lots of demo lessons and new people around the branch. Throw in a big change to the kids program - and currently being the kids co-ordinator at our branch, guess who to deal with that - in addition to getting all the files updated for the new year, figuring out who was changing grades and who was moving on to regular lessons. Add a dash of new people, not all of whom were very competent (read: files in all the wrong places, really really stupid questions - and you know I don't usually say there are stupid questions - and a total lack of common sense). Add to *that* one of our excellent experienced instructors (read: a nice person with lots of common sense who is good at her job) was adbruptly transferred (read: a hell of a lot of overtime), a change in branch staff (that would be the Japanese staff), and me being the acting A.T. (see below), its just been one hell of a crazy month - and were only halfway through it!
Wow. Looking back on that, that's a lot of stuff.
Anyway, I applied for the position of A.T. at Ogaki - that is, for "Assistant Trainer", which basically means I will be the supervior for Ogaki school. The AAM (Assistant Area Manager), a really nice and laid back guy from Australia with an endearing habit of using "mate" and "beauty" in every sentence, asked me if I would consider the position - which of course in the corporate world means he begged me to do so. I thought about it, but I had already been considering it for a little while because frankly Ogaki needs someone to be the leader, and to be honest, I was probably the best choice. I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn here, but already everyone was asking me for advice and to make management-type decisions - which not having authority was becoming exteremly difficult. So, I decided to go for it (besides, the extra pay will be nice :) ).
Anyway, I had my promotion observation on Wednesday and it went really really well. The AAM was really impressed, I think, with my teaching style and student focus - even if it meant I deviated from the standard formula. He told me that I was already a top level teacher (which was really gratifying) and with a few minor tweaks he thought I could become a guru; a comment he said that was echoed by our students :D He also told me our branch manager was really keen for me to become AT, that I was his top choice. This was really pleasing to hear as our manager has been with Nova for about 7 years (I think) and so knows what's what when it comes to things.
Now I have an interview with the AAM and the AM (Area Manager) on the 25th, for which I am a little nervous. I've heard that they ask some pretty difficult moral questions, for which the challenge for me, I think, will be to not start off on a philosophical diatribe. Then again, that might be a good thing. If nothing else I am nervous because I have never met our AM - and that this is the situation to do so is a bit nerve-wracking. However, that said, the AAM has a lot of confidence in me because he has already signed me up for the AT training sessions - which will unfortunately cut into my weekends all May because what with our teacher being transferred there is no way they can schedule another day off for me :( At least it's only 4 lessons; nice and short, but still. I've also signed up for training for our advanced courses (Toeic, Tofel and Eiken) and for CAT traning, so I can test students. My poor little brain is really going to be getting a workout in May. Good thing I've started training for it on my DS! Cheers to "Brain Age".
However, I had a good weekend off this weekend - I went to Takato with some Japanese friends to view the Cherry Blossoms there. It was incredible! It is one of the top 3 places to go Cherry Blossom viewing in Japan as there are over 1500 cherry trees in an area smaller that Nose Hill Park. It's amazing! But soooooo crowded. I will post more on that later when I transfer my pictures and get a chance to have someone finally, properly explain to me why the Japanese love cherry blossoms so much.
I also bought some stuff for my apartment - a nice lounge type chair (only without legs for easy floor sitting), and some new dishes (really nice ones from the 100yen shop - that place is fan-freaking-tastic). I decided if I'm going to stay here for a while, which I am, it's about time I stopped living like a poor university student with hand-me-downs. Rather, I shall live like a slightly rich university student :D