Solo Sensei - Volume #10

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The Solo Sensei - findateacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com Newsletter
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Volume #10 July 28, 2002

IN THIS ISSUE
1. FindaTeacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com News
2. Site Upgrades
3. Unexpectedly Contacted by A School/Matching Service?
4. Teaching in 2 Time Blocks?
5. Refresh and WIN
A. Longman's - "Grammar Games and Activities" (4 sets)
B. Ian Hewitt's - "Word Up" Game (1)
6. More Helpful Tips
7. What's On Your Mind?

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1. FindaTeacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com News
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Since the last Solo Sensei Newsletter, 2134 teachers' contact information has been requested and distributed. We hope you were among them. Again...several teachers have had their data requested multiple times while other are not being chosen at all (primarily due to no photo and/or not being refreshed). Remember, 86% of teachers chosen are those with photos and records refreshed within 30 days.

Thanks for the many "Thanks" we are getting from teachers and students who are satisfied and doing well with the findateacher.Net / SenseiSagasu.com introduction system. We appreciate your participating and keeping your records fresh and looking good. We are continually taking steps to ensure that the findateacher.Net database stays as clean and fresh as possible.

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2. Site Upgrades
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A. Bad Email Guard Added
Due to recent space limits enforced by hotmail and other free webmail services, we are noticing an increase in returned emails due to full mailboxes.

To keep the findateacher.Net database free of nonfunctioning email addresses, we have added a bad email guard. Now, anytime an email is returned to us for whatever reason (full mailbox, inactive account, invalid account, etc.) that teacher's record is automatically put on "hold" (so it does not display to students). We then attempt to contact that teacher by phone to request a valid email address OR to inform them that their mailbox is full. However, due to limited staff and time to call, this may result in lengthy or unwanted downtime for that record, so please try to make sure your email account is in working order.

B. "Native Language" added
In our last issue, we mentioned that the field "Home Country" had been changed to "Country of Birth" as a way to help students identify a teacher's native language. Well...this month we got our act together and decided to add "Native Language". No more beating around the bush; that should solve that problem. When you get a minute, please log in and add your native language to your record. Students will be looking for it.

Log in at: http://www.FindaTeacher.Net

Then, click "Edit Page 1".

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3. Unexpectedly Contacted by A School/Matching Service?
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If you are contacted by a school or matching service you have never signed up with or heard of, there is a good chance that they got your information from SenseiSagasu.com (the student searchable side of findateacher.Net)

Schools and matching services are aware that SenseiSagasu.com / findateacher.Net offers the largest live language teacher database in Japan (perhaps the only one?) so they use our database too. They pay a premium to use our service and it is not surprising that they do not mention that they found your name via SenseiSagasu.com / findateacher.Net (as they are not in business to promote us).

Schools and matching services occasionally contact teachers with offers different from what the teacher has written in their record. For example, one school was asking teachers to teach different hours than what the teachers had posted in their records. However, they agreed to pay the hourly price the teachers had posted in their record and understood that the teachers might decline their offer.

Other times, if the name of the person who requests your contact information is different from the person who actually contacts you, it may be because they were referred by a friend who got your info from SenseiSagasu.com. Sharing teacher contact information is common among students.

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4. Do You Teach in 2 Time Blocks?
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Several teachers have written in to request a better way to display that they teach in 2 different blocks of time during the day. The current findateacher.Net set up only allows teachers to add only general times "From X o'clock TO Y o'clock".

An updated schedule will be added soon, but until then feel free to write additional information in the "Comments" section. For example, one teacher has 8 am to 8 pm selected in his record BUT he also has a note in his comments section that he takes a break from 2-5 each weekday afternoon.

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5. Refresh and WIN
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A. 4 teachers will win Longman's "Grammar Games and Activities" by Peter Watcyn-Jones (retail value 9,600 yen). This 2 book set includes 120 photocopiable activities for teaching and revising Grammar. Can be used for a wide range of learner levels in pairs, small group or larger classes.

B. Ian Hewitt (Japan-based author) will give away 1 copy of his quiz-style board game "Word Up" (retail value 3200 yen). Specifically designed for ESL/EFL learners, these games may be used as teaching aids in class or at home. Three editions are currently available with 4480 questions. Preview (or order) this game at: http://www.EslGames.com/wordup/

To qualify for the prizes above, refresh your record in the findateacher.Net database (by logging in and clicking "Refresh") then email us at prize@FindaTeacher.Net. Include your regular mailing address and name of the prize you are most interested in winning.

Congratulations to last month's 15 lucky winners!

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6. More Helpful Tips
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1. If you still have only 1 place selected, you are limiting yourself. 18% of teachers still have only one area selected as their "Teaching areas" and are missing free exposure opportunities. Make sure you are listed in all the areas where you would like to display your record in (up to 10). Remember that students *will* travel (reasonable distances) for a teacher they like. For guidelines see:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net/solosensei/volume5.html

2. If you are leaving the country and are unable to find a teacher to take over your classes, please let your students know about the many available teachers at SenseiSagasu.com / findateacher.Net. OR if a student asks you if you can teach them Icelandic but you can't for some reason, please tell them to check for a nearby teacher at SenseiSagasu.com

3. If you are registered in an area heavily populated by teachers who teach the same language (for example English teachers in Tokyo-to:Tokyo:Shibuya-ku) the best way to get yourself chosen by students is to keep your record refreshed often. Some teachers do this daily. This may seem a bit much but it works.

To refresh your record so it is placed at the top of each list you are listed in, log into the Record Control Center at:
http://www.findateacher.Net. Then click "Refresh"

4. Try to choose a photo you like and stick with it for a while. You see...photos are manually processed and take a while to complete. Repeatedly processing a photo that is almost identical to the previous one is no fun.

5. Further tips for getting students to check out your record are at:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net/archive.html

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7. What's on Your Mind?
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If we can help you in any way, please drop us a line.

Copyright 2002 FindaNet, Ltd.