Has anyone heard anything about this particular school??? School is less than 2 years old so I’m having trouble finding any information on it. I’ve had no luck on buxiban, tealit, or forumosa. Any feedback would be nice.
Cheers
Just in case you haven’t visited it, I believe this is the website of the school your post refers to, unless there is more than one Korrnell Academy in Hsinchu County. The English version is here.
Welcome to Forumosa!
This school opened its door last fall. It is a bilingual school aimed at parents who wants their children to have both an english background as well as chinese. Personally, I think that is unrealistic. Unless you don’t want your child to sleep. But heck, that’s ideally what Taiwan parents want. A lot of teacher’s have left Kornell last year. They have pretty high turnovers, but maybe you might be lucky.
I had applied for a job there, done a demo, and got hired on the spot the year they opened their doors. However, the school at that stage was still being built, there were reams of nonsensical documents to sign which depended on having seen and agreeing to other documents which didn’t exist.
I believe they do have a vision, but not the brains to execute it. Although the heads of departments, principals etc all claim to have overseas Masters and Phds, to have worked successfully overseas, etc - the way they approached their jobs shouted: “losers”.
The big wigs lord it over the minnions, and when I cancelled my contract a month before starting teaching, a low ranking minnion was told to e-mail me to find out why. Please note that they have recently advertised in the local “English” newspapers, promising to pay NT$10 000 to anybody who could find a teacher for them, and where the teacher stays on to finish the contract. If you have to pay people, and can’t rely on word of mouth, you know it’s bad.
I know of other teachers who’d baulked at all the nonsense, and left in the night (but after getting paid).
I’m glad I got out of there when I did.
The school is mentioned in this Chinese-language thread on the National Teachers’ Association R.O.C. forums. A post on the thread links to this blog page.
(I posted a link to the NTA thread some time ago in the Temporary Forum.)
Hi, I see this is a very old post, but has anyone had any experience at Korrnell since then. I have been offered a job (after a Skype interview), and would love to hear of otehr peoples experiences with the school.
I am in the same boat as you cjd. I got an offer as well. Did you take the offer?
yup I have accepted the offer! I must say from what I have researched there are mixed feelings about the school, but everyone seems to hate Janice. Although the problems people have had sound like the same type of problems that other teachers have had at different schools, so I’m not sure what to think. The guy I’ve been dealing with, Lee, has been very friendly and helpful so I’m willing to give it a try and see how it goes!
My information is second hand but, I think, worth considering. I know several current and former teachers there and none of them has anything nice to say about the school or its program or has had a remotely happy experience. Their turn-around rate for teachers is absurdly high, and most of the teachers are unqualified-- that is they have to be given an ARC through the bushiban but they work in the elementary school (you have to be a licensed teacher to work legally in an elementary school). While this is not unusual at all for bilingual schools, it is worth mentioning that in my experience schools hire teachers illegally because they either A. know they will be easier to exploit or bully B. don’t want to pay what it costs to recruit legally C. are ambivalent about the quality of their school D. Want teachers that can be replaced quickly E. All of the above.
In short, if you take a job where you are not working legally, you can hardly be surprised when the same school ignores, to your detriment, any other laws that it finds inconvenient.
My advice is that if you are licensed you can do better by applying to an international school or the government programs-- they will also pay more. If you aren’t licensed, you should understand that you are absolutely being hired illegally despite what they tell you. You will be treated poorly because you can be and because they know you will lack legal recourse and are easily replaceable. You should instead look to a bushiban that can employ you legally.
If you are interested in becoming a certified teacher there are several programs available from American universities that have very flexible class schedules (either on line, during summers, or even held in Taiwan), and they will even let you do your student teaching at an approved school in Taiwan
A skype interview really says it all.
Let me give you a first hand account.
I’m at the Korrnell and it’s actually a great place to work. I’ve been in Taiwan for almost 10 years and I can say that 14 months into my employment here I am still very happy. It’s much better than a half dozen other experiences I have had from Taipei to Chung-li. Noone bothers you. You are given space to run your class your way, organize your schedule as you see fit, there is little to no admin work and we are not responsible for Xmas and Grad shows. You can make use of whatever resources the school has without someone looking over your shoulder and everyone is friendly and helpful. You work a long day but 2 hours of prep time is worked into your schedule so you should never have any problem getting anything done.
As for the post about work permits etc, that is par for the course here. Every school does it so it’s not as though this is some greesy policy that only applies here. Show up on time and regularly and be friendly and this is one great place to work. Get in a pissy headspace and look for things to complain about as many others before me here have done and you’ll hate it. And as for Janice, we never see her here and when we do she has nothing to say to us.
The Elementary School is much different to the Kindergarten. The teachers are mostly certified and they are squeezed much more. Job satisfaction tends to be lower there as does turnover. However, often times certified teachers sign from overseas and come here thinking teaching here is the same as home and when it’s not they have trouble adjusting. I personally know of 4 teachers who left in the last year because they couldn’t deal with the changes needed to teach successfully here. They do have several midterms per semester, lots of admin work including regular correcting, they have less freedom in their schedules and as there is not an organized disciplinary system so problems with students can be difficult to solve. However, this is no different than any other school I’ve been at before.
A final note. In my experience the opinions of a lot of teachers who come here are suspect. Many have not adjusted their attitudes and expectations to suit the country their in, they look to complain and many have not had enough work experience prior to moving here to be taken seriously. For every horror story I’ve heard about a school I probably have 5 about boozing, drug addicted, lazy, and unprofessional teachers who make it easy to think less of us as a whole.
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Well you can’t get a work permit to work in a Kindergarten. So unless you are a permanent resident or citizen then those foreigner teachers are working illegaly at the kindergarten.
Glad you are happy there and I would not be surprised if some people never adjusted to living in Taiwan. I worked at a school in Chiayi for a year that refused to employ any foreigner under 35 as they had so many previous problems with the same issues you brought up.
“Well you can’t get a work permit to work in a Kindergarten. So unless you are a permanent resident or citizen then those foreigner teachers are working illegaly at the kindergarten.”
Yup, par for the course in Taiwan.
“Glad you are happy there and I would not be surprised if some people never adjusted to living in Taiwan. I worked at a school in Jiayi for a year that refused to employ any foreigner under 35 as they had so many previous problems with the same issues you brought up.”
Part of me doesn’t blame them.
Any updates on this school? Thanks.
This would be quite the opposite of the way many schools here in Taiwan operate. Interesting 
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Hi all,
I was wondering if there are any members here who (preferably currently) work at KORRNELL ACADEMY in JHUBEI city/Hsinchu county or who have worked there in the past. I’ve recently received an offer from them that was accompanied by their contract. The contract is very specific and nitpicky to say the very least. Additionally, it would appear that the school requires me to pay for my own ARC and airfare.
Anyways, my questions for those who work/have worked there are:
What’s the culture of the school and staff?
How professional is the staff and work environment?
What was your least favorite thing about working there?
What was your favorite thing about working there?
Would you recommend the school? Why or why not?
Thanks in advance people!!
Please,
STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL…
the owner is as EVIL as they come.
I would never wish this place on my worst enemy.
that is my opinion.
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Anything more concrete Pro?
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I know that there was an English teacher protesting this school for unfair treatment, not paying salary, unfair deductions, etc. He set up infront of the school in 2008 to let all the parents know how bad the school was.
Then he was arrested and thrown in jail for “molesting one of the children”.
one example of their rules is if you are late they doc your pay, even 1 minute.
The school has 2 campuses in Ju Bei.
They have a shuttle bus that teachers can ride between campuses ( 20NT charge every time )
once the bus broke down, then all the teachers on that bus were late, and lost money on thier check.
in 2008 there was a teacher who had been here a month, who had signed a contract with them.
He was so afraid of the school, he snuck out at midnight with all his stuff and crashed at my place.
3 days later he flew back to USA leaving all his stuff with me, never to return.
He told me they promised him 60,000 + a month, but his first check was for under 40K
anyways, part was for his rent, but i have never met someone who came to Taiwan and left like that.
in fact Hsnichu is a great place with many amazing schools to work at. Don’t get mixed up with them.
That school should be on the black list of schools, maybe it already is, i’m not sure.