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The Solo Sensei - findteacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com Newsletter
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Volume #6 December 20, 2001
IN THIS ISSUE
1. findateacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com News
2. Site Upgrades
3. WIN - Longman's Video/Workbook "True Voices"
4a. Power TIP - Hide From Your Current Employer
4b. OK to Hide. But Remember...
5. "Nothing's changed. Why log in to my record?"
6. More Helpful Tips
7. Complain, please!
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1. findateacher.Net News
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In this, our last Solo Sensei newsletter of 2001, we'd like to thank all of you for your support and participation in getting findateacher.Net off the ground. Your continued comments/suggestions/questions have helped us make the site better for all users.
620 teacher's contact information was distributed in November. Next year, expect even more students visiting SenseiSagasu.com (the student side of the site) as it gets further upgrades, redesigns, and much more robust promotion.
We recently calculated how much power a photo adds to your record. Consider this: of the 620 teachers whose data was distributed to students in November, 78% were teachers with photos in their records. However, only 28% of findateacher.Net's active teacher records include photos. 95% of questions we get from teachers asking why they aren't being contacted by students are from teachers with NO photo.
In sum......Need Students? ====> Add a photo.
If you are one of the many findateacher.Net teachers going on vacation over the holidays, please remember to log in and put your record on "Break". This applies mostly if you will be gone for more than a 10-day period. Just before you come back, you can log in from wherever in the world you happen to be. This will reactivate your record so you won't miss any prospective students.
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2. Site Upgrades
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A. Our recent move to a dedicated server now gives visitors quicker access to all areas of the findateacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com web sites plus allows us to grow for you in ways that were not possible under our former hosting situation.
B. We have added the English version of search page so that you can more easily browse for your own record. You can try it at:
http://findateacher.Net/cgi-bin/tsearchJSE.cgi
C. Behind the scenes (but very important), several database cleaning functions have been built in to help mantain the content quality of the database.
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3. WIN - Longman's Video/Workbook "True Voices"
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This month, 5 of the first 150 teacher who log into their records will be randomly chosen to receive a copy of 1 level of Longman's multimedia set (video/workbook combo) "True Voices". Each level is worth 18,400 yen. To qualify - just log in.
"True Voices" is designed to introduce young and adult students to the true voice of the native speaker of American English using authentic North American scenes.
Congratulations to last month's 5 lucky winners of Longman's "The Practice of English Language Teaching" by Jeremy Harmer. Winners were:
Daniel Bacon (Australia)
Steven Anthony (Canada)
Antoinette McDonnell (Ireland)
Rukmi Dutta (India)
George Tomlinson (USA)
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4a. Power TIP - Hide From Your Current Employer
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A recent email from a prospective teacher asked:
"How safe is your site? I wish to register in order to find new students but (and it's a big BUT) if my current employer finds out that I'm looking for private students then I'm in big trouble."
Our answer:
We tried to design the site with people like you in mind. We used to work at
XXXX (four letter language school) and they'd have fired us on the spot if they found out we were depleting precious teaching energy on students other than theirs. However, since the pay was low, we had to do it to maintain a semi-normal standard of living.
The following are not 100% foolproof but are ways you can keep yourself
relatively safe from being detected by your current employer while using findateacher.Net:
1. Do not upload a picture of yourself. Instead, stick with the default (duck) or upload a picture of something else (anything is OK - within reason).
2. List a nickname, just your initials, a combination of initials and first or last name etc. However, if you do ANY of these, we need to know your real full name AND the name you listed in the database (send us an email letting us know). If we find out later you used a fake name without telling us your real name - it could lead to permanent removal of your record.
Also, please USE A NAME YOU'LL REMEMBER. If you don't, you'll get calls from students asking for your pseudonym and you'll end up telling students they have the wrong number.
3. While you are required to enter your phone number into your record, you do not have to allow it to display to students. By clicking "No" next to "Display this number to students" (when you log in) your number will not display. This will prevent a current employer from tracking you down via your phone number.
4. Sign up for and/or use for an email address/telephone number that your employer doesn't know.
5. Don't include optional information that will reveal your identity.
EXAMPLE 1. If your hobby is fire walking and you have several thick books about fire walking proudly displayed on your current workplace desk - that might be a give-away.
EXAMPLE 2. If you are working in a small town, and are pretty sure you're the only gaijin there who graduated from "Sylvio's Ceramics Institute" - do NOT list that in your educational background. (OR your employer, who most likely has a copy of your resume, may detect something)
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4b. OK to Hide. But Remember.....
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The way findateacher.Net survives as a business (so we can advertise for you and pay administrative costs) is by charging students a small fee for your contact information. 3800 yen is the price for contact information for up to 5 teachers.
So...please keep in mind that ANYONE curious about who is in the findateacher.Net database and who pays 3800 yen (including your current employer, X-boy/girl friend/landlord, etc.) CAN get whichever contact information you provided. So far, in our six months of being open to students, there has been no mention of any problems.
We encourage your creativity when filling in the findateacher.Net application OR editing your record so as to remain undetected from your current employer (or someone else). We also must say that findateacher.Net cannot and will not take responsibility in any way if a teacher is reprimanded for listing themselves with us.
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5. "Nothing's changed. Why log in to my record?"
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The reasons we ask that you "login and update your record" at least once every three months are:
A. (Important for you) It lets students know you are "fresh" by removing the bright red note at the top of your record. This note displays to students after your record is over three months old (not logged in to) and advises them to be a little careful about selecting you.
B. (Important for you) The most recently updated/created/logged into records appear at the top of the search lists (and get the most views by students).
C. (Important for us) It ensures that you are still interested in getting your own students, haven't left the country, been hospitalized, died, etc. - and are still interested in being registered with our service.
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6. More Helpful Tips
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1. In your record, to select more than one hobby, teaching personality, past industry experience (because most of us DO have more than one) hold down the control key (or apple key on Macs) while selecting. This works for any other of the multiple choice scrolling boxes that are in our form (and other on-line forms!)
2. Avoid being permanently deleted by NOT including swears or other inappropriate thoughts in your "Comments" section.
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7. Complain, please!
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Your complaints (and comments) make findateacher.Net better for you so....moan, groan, squeal & whine away. Who else besides findateacher.Net asks you to do that? No one!
* Is this newsletter dull? too long?
* Is the site buggy?
* Does our English sound too American?
Come on....let us have it. We can take it.
Complaint/Comment Hot Line:
gripes@findateacher.Net
See you next year!
Jake Rollins
Solo Sensei, Producer
Teacher Helper
jake@findateacher.Net
http://findateacher.Net
http://www.SenseiSagasu.com
*** Made for Teachers by Teachers ***