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The Solo Sensei - findateacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com Newsletter
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Volume #9 May 18, 2002
IN THIS ISSUE
1. NEW Record Control Center
2. FindaTeacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com News
3. Site Upgrades
4. Are your teaching times correct?
5. Log in and WIN
A. Longman's - "Use the Internet in ELT" (3)
B. Macmillan's - "American English Learners Dictionary" (8)
C. Ian Hewitt's - "Edutainment" (2)
6. More Helpful Tips
7. How can we help you?
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1. NEW Record Control Center
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For quick access to all administrative functions in your record we have just completed FindaTeacher.Net's Record Control Center. It brings all the control features and statistics of your record together into one convenient place.
FindaTeacher.Net's Teacher Control Center lets you:
* Check your record's freshness level
* Check/change your record's Status
* See your record as it appears in English or Japanese
* Change your password, email address or photo
* View your record's stats (Total times viewed, Average views/day, Times requested, etc.)
For a first-hand look, login at:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net
The Record Control Center also makes it easier to navigate through your record for viewing and editing. You can now go directly to the information you want to edit without having to click through several pages (as before).
The small question mark links that appear throughout the page help answer some of the questions you might have. Please send any additional questions or comments you have about the Record Control Center to admin@FindaTeacher.Net
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2. FindaTeacher.Net/SenseiSagasu.com News
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Between 40 and 80 teachers' contact information is being sent to students daily via SenseiSagasu.com. We hope you are among them.
Currently, FindaTeacher.Net has 2256 active English teachers and 476 teachers of other languages registered throughout Japan: 33% of records have photos; 55% of teachers have logged in to maintain their record since the last Solo Sensei newsletter; 87% of teachers chosen were those with photos and freshly updated records (refreshed in the past 30 days).
Several teachers are being chosen multiple times daily while some are not being chosen at all.
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3. Site Upgrades
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A. EZlink added
The reminder email to teachers (about their record being 3 months old and not refreshed) now contains a link (EZlink) so you can quickly refresh your record. Logging in is not necessary (but still works). Refreshed records let students and FindaTeacher.Net know that you are still here, still interested in teaching and, most importantly - pulls your record to the top of each list you have chosen to display your record in. This helps you get chosen.
B. "Home Country" changed to "Country of Birth"
Many teachers apparently thought that "Home Country" meant "Country in which your current home is". In other words, teachers obviously not from Japan were selecting "Japan" because they currently live here.
Many Japanese students are looking for native teachers who are not from Japan. Mistakenly choosing "Japan" as a home country could lead to your not getting chosen (unless, of course, you are a Japanese teacher). Is your home country chosen correctly?
Check at:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net
C. Database Adjustments
Our database has been tweaked for speedier student browsing. It is also cleaned automatically and manually on a daily basis.
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4. Are your teaching times correct?
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Do you remember filling in the section called "Times you are available to teach"? Many of us (we are teachers too) filled that in a long time ago and haven't taken a second look at it OR don't look very often. We ask that you review this part of your record on a fairly regular basis to make sure your times accurately reflect your *real* schedule.
If a student complains to us that a teacher's listed teaching times are incorrect, we put that teacher's record on hold (so students can't see it) and send the teacher an email requesting correction. After we verify that the teaching times have been corrected, the record is displayed to students again. This is not a punitive measure, but a way for us to ensure that the database is as accurate as possible. Please try to keep your teaching times accurate. Thanks.
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5. Log in and WIN
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To avoid sending already-owned or unwanted books/prizes to our registered teachers (as might happen by randomly selecting winners) we have changed our "Log in and WIN" contest. From now on, to qualify, send an email to prize@FindaTeacher.Net, include your regular mailing address and name of the prize you are most interested in winning. If you are chosen, we'll then verify that you have logged in recently.
A. 3 teachers will win Longman's "Use the Internet in ELT" by D. Taylor and P. Gray (retail value 4100 yen each). This book helps teachers unleash the potential of the internet as an efficient/effective resource within English Language Teaching. Includes photocopiable tasks, appendix of technical terms, and annotated lists of relevant internet address for EFL teachers.
B. 10 teachers will win MacMillan Language House's American English Learner's Dictionary (retail value 3200 yen). It is an informal-yet-detailed dictionary with 35,000 meanings, 22,000 main entry articles, 72,000 example sentences, over 1000 pages.
C. Japan-based author, Ian Hewitt will give away 2 copies of "Edutainment : How to Teach Language With Fun & Games" (retail value 3200 yen). This is an ideal supplementary teaching tool designed with Japanese students in mind. Photocopiable. Preview (or order) this book through: http://www.EslGames.com/edutainment/
Congratulations to last month's 10 lucky winners!
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6. More Helpful Tips
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1. Please remember that the student side of the site is called SenseiSagasu.com. Students will most likely mention SenseiSagasu.com (not FindaTeacher.Net) when they contact you.
2. We primarily communicate with you via email so please make sure that your mailbox HAS ROOM for more mail and is not at risk of being turned off. Several email providers (Hotmail & Yahoo included) deactivate inactive accounts and often limit space in each user's mailbox. If we get e-mail returned to us from overfull mailboxes, inactive accounts, or certain autoresponders we automatically put the record on "Hold" (so students can't see it).
3. 21% of teachers still only have 1 area selected as their "Teaching areas" and are missing free exposure opportunities. Make sure you are listed in all the areas where you are available to teach (up to 10). For guidelines see:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net/solosensei/volume5.html
4. If you are getting busy and want to slow down the number of calls you are getting, try raising your price. If you want to temporarily stop calls from students, put yourself on "Break"
5. This is rather obvious but...don't select "Teach Children" if you don't teach children.
6. Further tips about improving your record are available at:
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net/archive.html
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7. How can we help you?
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If we can help you in any way, please drop us a line.
Jake Rollins
Solo Sensei, Producer
Teacher Helper
jake@FindaTeacher.Net
http://www.FindaTeacher.Net
http://www.SenseiSagasu.com
*** Made for Teachers by Teachers ***
Copyright 2002 FindaNet, Ltd.
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