The New Village (Kobe)

[Connexions]

Here is an analysis of a business in Kobe, Japan. We have had various complaints regarding this business and we present a summary below:

(1) At interview Mr. Miller seemed calm and professional, but it is with regret that after having worked there for 2 months I feel compelled to write to you with concern regarding the professional conduct of Mr. Miller…Mr. Miller’s business, which he holds out to be a learning venue, is a genuinely cheap and shabby little place and a vehicle for his intolerable ego.

(2) The gap between the physical reality of Mr. Miller’s business and his over zealotry is the widest I have ever seen anywhere and at any time. I have found Mr. Miller to be least able of any I have encountered in terms of his daily conduct. Further his business certainly doesn’t resemble any place of learning that I could imagine.

(3) His remarkable personality issues do lend themselves to a lively lesson as he bizarrely dances around in his ill equipped, and cheaply furbished rooms. I was shocked to see him throw himself off his chair and onto the floor on one occasion while I observed how he would like his lessons to be conducted. The carpets are stained and noise travels around the small space often making teaching impossible. His administrative procedure is meaningless and badly designed. Mr. Miller does concede that it is all work in progress, however he has been in business for more than 6 years and still has less than 100 students. One could almost believe that his business is nothing more than a playground for his rampant ego. Resultantly, he is an elementally rude and arrogant individual who has absolutely no respect for those unfortunate enough to work in close proximity. It is actually very difficult to express his unsuitability to assess others.

(4)... doesn’t appropriately plan for lessons, preferring instead to go in with a hastily typed primer. He declares that his business is for those ‘who can think on their feet’. His business is an unhealthy cult of personality which unconvincingly pretends to be a constructive learning centre. His style completely defies the student centred lesson they should be given. There is no structure, no textbooks and no clear direction. Further his clearly ailing experiment creates unique and insoluble planning issues for anyone that tries to deliver a meaningful lesson. In summary these are as follows: he allows students to arrive for lessons without any pre-booking, so it is impossible to know how many students are coming. In addition students can arrive up to 15 minutes late so even when the lesson has begun the dynamic can change completely. The necessity to give students learning tasks while not having a central text means that many lessons are insufficiently resourced as a result of this complete lack of forewarning. Further, should planning take place prior to a lesson it is often completely wasted as students simply don’t come, and there is no way of knowing if this will happen. So few students regularly attend that lessons are often empty, however if they do come unexpectedly you are required to rush around photocopying materials during lesson – something that is strictly prohibited there.

(5)...there are prolonged periods of inactivity that Mr. Miller seems to think should be filled with a range of tasks that he has posted on the notice board, lesson planning not being among them. Unfortunately, this means that lesson planning or even something as fundamentally necessary as relaxing are very grey areas and are areas which he often exploits to his own ends. Another issue of concern is that students are absent from the school for months at a time and allowed to return at the same level they left without any level checking. Naturally when they return to take a challenging lesson at their former level they are unable to contribute at all.

(6) He is an interesting character but his demeanour is in general extremely problematical on an inter-personal level.

[rosensei]

This is all bullshit.

I work at The New Village and Its a great school. The owners are great, the place is great, and the students are great.

All the above points are petty and sometimes false. This seems to be a personal vendetta against the owner.

If he didnt like you dude, get over it. It probably means the students didnt like you either, which is why you had so much free time.

Anyway, there are people queuing up to work there, including two friends of mine, so your post is meaningless and only serves to damage the reputation of the school.

let me just make a couple of points

1. the students can cancel at any time without penalty. The fact that they stay is indicative that they enjoy the school. There are more than 100 of them. There are no carpets, only an immaculately clean wooden floor.
2. They dont have to book and can turn up late up to 15 minutes. This is convenient for the student, and challenging for the teacher, but I have been able to deal with it fine, and so do the other teachers. At the end of the day, no school can guarantee numbers in a class, and if you cant deal with that, youre in the wrong profession (which I suspect)
3. The students know which teacher will take which lesson two weeks in advance. THerefore if youre not getting many students, or getting lots of free lessons, it is indicative that you are not popular with the students. I have rarely had a free lesson, and most of my lessons have had at least 4 students in them. Any free time you have can be used to plan future lessons, create new materials, mark the student journals or simply hang out with the students in the square.
4. Brian is a great guy, and is a well known and respected member of the ex-pat community in Kobe. Who are YOU?

And finally you have not recieved various complaints about the school. You have received ONE complaint about various issues. Work on that.

Other teachers have had a good experience there, so until you confirm these vague and spurious allegations you shouldnt blacklist a great school, and someones livelihood.

Ro Ralleigh (teacher at The New Village)

[Connexions]

Hello, we thank you for your reply which was robust and posted in the best spirit of open dialogue.

We know of several separate complaints about the New Village and have represented them accurately.
We cannot expand, embelish or seek to analyse the remarks made by those who have contacted us.

However, we do know for an absolute fact that The New Village is currently under review by the Kobe Labor Department. The facts of that investigation are stated below:

Mr Brian Miller dismissed an employee in early June 2006 claiming that that person had damaged the reputation of the school due to allegations of inappropriate language. The employee completely refutes this as a most disgraceful untruth. We understand that The New Village has not justified/proved this behavior in any way shape or form. Further, Mr Miller refused to pay the individual in question for work provided in good faith and under contract. This is a clear contravention of Japanese Labor Law - thus the investigation by the Labor standards inspector. Mr Miller has sought to prevent such an investigation by threatening the employee with a smear campaign should the employee contact the Labor Department. At that recent inspection Mr Miller's wife claimed that the individual in question wasn't dismissed, and refused to pay the statutory dismissal allowance (but did agree to pay outstanding wages). The employee has overwhelming evidence to the contrary taken directly from numerous moderately offensive emails sent by Mr Brian Miller after the date of dismissal.

Rosensei, it may well be that Mr Miller has learnt his lesson and is now the model manager. If so, we commend the inspection process and wish you many happy days at The New Village. We would however highlight the importance of exercising caution when working at small language schools. Anybody can affix a sign to a suite near a transport node and claim that they are 'education professionals' - this is often not the case.

[Scotty]

what exactly happened and to whom?

[brian miller]

Just to clear the air regarding connexions post. First of all, connexions writes as if he is a third party to this issue, when in fact, he is the employee he writes about. Thus, giving the illusion of objectivity. The ex-employee's name is Ian Clark, who quit The New Village without 2 weeks notice as stated in his employment contract and required by law.

Several days later, he sexually offended a student in the class. The student does not, for obvious reasons, want the details of the incident to become public, so I will not offer them here. The Japanese Labour Board, on the other hand is aware of the details.

Clark has been paid outstanding wages for hours worked and simply wants to get more money, which he didn't earn. He argues that I was wrong to send him home the day I learned of the sexually inappropriate behaviour.

I just returned from a Labour Board Enquiry into the matter and they do not find that unlawful dismissal took place. Interstingly, Clark did not see fit to attend the meeting himself, though he was requested to do so by the Japanese Labour Board.

As anyone who reads the posts by connexions (aka Clark) can easily see, his objective is simply to attempt to discredit my company, which has been in operation for over 6 years and has employed numerous teachers without incident. The Japanese Labour Board obviously sees through him and dismisses his accusations, as anyone who reads this thread ought to.

Sincerely,

Brian Miller
Director
The New Village
Kobe, Japan
www.thewnewvillage.co.jp

[Connexions]

Dear Brian Miller

We have contacted the individual in question, even though we will not confirm the name due to defamation issues, and here is the response:

1. After several arguments with you while in your employ he knows that your allegations are untrue and merely a malicious response to those arguments and an attempt to avoid paying outstanding wages;
2. After you accused him of making inappropriate remarks, without any evidence at all, you began to pontificate about dismissing him in various offensively worded emails;
3. When you disovered that your stance on dismissal would result in the necessity to pay more money you attempted to avoid this by then saying you didn't dismiss him.

We have seen your emails and in our opinion there is no doubt that you did dismiss him without providing any evidence of cause - and the conclusion reached by the Labour Department is probably a result of the Japanese system rather than any general logic. The Labour Dept is also an initial process which must be exhausted before action in the Summary Court may be taken. Indeed we have been shown an email from a solicitor in Kobe who called the Labour Departments decision 'strange', and your emails 'clear statement of intention'.

As we have full access to all the emails in your comunications with him (and various other complainants) we must state CLEARLY that your behaviour appears have been malicious and unlawful throughout with the clear aim of avoiding paying the money legally owed to your employee(s).

It would seem that the person you refer to is now going to take you to court for unlawful dismissal and make enquiries with regards to defamation on the grounds of your completely fabricated accusations. We are of the opinion that this behavior is that of a wrongly accused person. He is also a qualified UK teacher, a holder of an MA in Education and a published author on gender equality in schools.

As you are currently the subject of a criminal investigation we would request that you now discontinue posting in this thread and that you take this matter up directly with your former employees - which it seems will become unavoidable in the near future.

[brian miller]

There is no such organization as Connexions in Japan or anywhere else that would take an interest in Clark's so-called case. A simple google search 'connexions Japan' does not turn up any such organization. Who are 'they'? What do 'they' do? Where are 'they' located? Why are 'they' championing Clark? Clearly the poster is Clark himself. Why is he hiding behind a pseudonym? Because he is a coward. Notice how he attacks the Japanese system when it rules against him.

Employment law issues are not criminal matters, but civil matters. If Clark wants to go to civil court, he can try. The New Village is not afraid to face him anywhere anytime. But, will he show up? I doubt it. Cowards avoid situations where their cowardice might be exposed. Instead Clark will sit at home and dream up new lies and slander to give himself a sense of self-worth. He's still referring to himself as the author of a published paper on gender equality - which is actually a rambling non-sensical diatribe on the pros and cons of single gender education that comes to no conclusions - as if this makes it impossible for him to say anything sexually offensive in a classroom.

The student he offended called his comments 'disgusting' and sincerely worried about ever seeing Clark's smirking face again. So he was sent home and asked to stay there. The Labor Board found Clark to be a pontificating blowhard who refused to listen and flew off the handle when anyone questioned him. Clark tried to hide an e-mail he sent to my school in which he clearly admits that no termination took place. Then denied writing it and then when he was finally confronted with irrefutable proof that he indeed wrote it, denied that he meant what it clearly said.

Ignore any posts by connexions, or whatever pseudonyms Clark creates for himself here or on other forums (On Time, Horatio, etc.) And if you are an employer who happens to have the opportunity to meet with Clark, do not be fooled by his resume, as I unfortunately was.

unanonymously yours,

Brian Miller
The New Village
Kobe Japan

[Connexions]

Brian Miller

Our registered office address is:

The Connexions Program
China Office, Connexions
Zhen Nan Road, Shanghai City 201802, PRC

You may write to Zhoaling Fang (Academic Affairs). We do have a website address however, it is in Chinese, and you would find it if you looked properly.

Feel free to write to us and we will promptly reply. We believe that it is important that you cease to bring us into your legal disputes with any single individual - your behavior may begin to effect our reputation.

We are not 'championing' anyone - indeed it was you who mentioned specific names - something which surprised us very much. We take our responsibilities to our former and existing program participants very seriously and are very happy to offer them advice and support on issues that we feel are appropriate. Indeed, we have a close and warm relationship with some members of our program and they do offer to work with us in a capacity related to their area of expertise As we have said we have no significant doubts that your behaviour has been inappropriate - as it surely continues to be in this thread.

Perhaps you have paranoia or anger management issues. In any case we feel your interventions to have been self-defeating, and the surprise is that you do not seem to think that is so.

We suggest that if you cannot prove something then you should not write it.

The Connexions Program
China Office, Connexions
Zhen Nan Road, Shanghai City 201802, PRC

[brian miller]

I took Clark's advice and more carefully checked out Connexions on the net. It is indeed a real business. But, look what I found at The Connexions Program - Throughout China

----
The Connexions Program - Throughout China

The Connexions Program is pleased to invite you to apply for the following position(s). The information below isnt exhaustive and further and full information is available (ianclark01@gmail.com).

Look at the e-mail address!

I wonder, then, who is writing in the name of connexions on this thread?
Why doesn't he or she sign their posts?
Why wasn't an e-mail address for Miss Fang or a web link to their (only Chinese) website provided?

By the way, contrary to what Clark said in his last post, Connexions does have an English Web site

Connexions

Looks like a nice outfit.

Someone writing from China would know about the English site, don't you think?

If anyone is still in any doubt that Ian Clark is the voice of Connexions on this thread, that ought to do it. Hmmmmm. Maybe Miss Fang should be notified what is being said on behalf of their organization by their Japanese recruiting officer. Do you really think a professional in Human Resources in China would add emotionally charged language like the following?

"Perhaps you have paranoia or anger management issues."
or
"Mr. Miller’s business, which he holds out to be a learning venue, is a genuinely cheap and shabby little place and a vehicle for his intolerable ego."

I mean come on! It doesn't make sense! No one, other than Clark himself, would use such language to describe a person they haven't met and a business they have never seen.

Why would a Chinese ESL recruiting firm get involved in a Japanese labor dispute anyway?

It just doesn't ring true.

Clark is obviously over his head and ought to pack it in. A libel or slander suit wouldn't be too difficult to prove now I think.

Still,

Brian Miller
Director
The New Village
Kobe, Japan

[Connexions]

Brian Miller

My name is Jane Fang, the person you seem to think you should contact regarding this matter. I have written all the emails regarding your school based on the available evidence. Please feel free to contact me as you suggest (address provided) or at eslconnexions@gmail.com.

We have already said that we have recieved complaints from previous program participants regarding your school, of which the person you name is one. We have also said that we do have a close working relationship with a wide number of former participants. We asked Mr Clark to assist us - and we admire his work. He is simply doing his job in bringing you to our attention - and we do not provide him any special favor in this regard because we should bring these matters to the public forum. We have checked into his side of the story thoroughly and believe that he states the truth regarding your school and your subsequent actions - indeed it is you that wrote the emails so there's a sense in which you are either calling yourself a liar or insensible to reality when you protest. As for a libel suit - for something to be libellous it needs to be untrue.

We are not sure what you are attempting to suggest- surely you cannot be surprised that he complained about you? You have clearly behaved unlawfully a number of times and certainly continue to do so by naming him in a public forum. Naturally you are entitled to defend yourself, and ultimately it is for the public to decide if you are honorable or not.

Perhaps you continue to spam this thread because you realise that you have no legal defences in these matters and this is your vent?

Jane Fang
The Connexions Program
Shanghai (Head Office)