A Review of Alexander Academy in Taipei (both locations)

tempogain · March 29, 2020, 9:17am

I have to say I’m skeptical of the string of lengthy complaints we’ve seen about this school over the years, not only in this thread. Who can say for sure, but it’s odd.

crusher · March 29, 2020, 9:21am

Jersey:

Completely agree with this. I’ve worked in a number of places around the world and this was by far the most shocking. I can perhaps excuse the poor management or lack of communication, but the thing that really got me was how little they cared about the safety of the children.

The most shocking example was a 7 year old student (as of July 2019) was being beaten by her father on a repeated basis and the school was reluctant to do anything. From my recollection, the student came into school covered in bruises and was quite unresponsive and emotional. The local staff/teachers assistant essentially tried to downplay the severity of the situation and encourage the foreign teacher to ‘pay no attention’ to the issue. The idea being that the school would handle it. Their idea of handling it was to pull the student out of class and scream at them for being a disruption.

I believe the foreign teacher both brought the issue up with foreign and Taiwanese management (to which they did nothing) and eventually ended up contacting authorities. At this point the school was forced to react in the best interests of the child. As a result, I believe the father ended up moving out of the home but only because of the actions of the foreign staff.

I applaud the efforts of that staff member, but the whole experience really soured me towards the company. The fact that they would not only protect the father from the authorities but further ‘blame the victim’ for their misbehaviour really showed me their true colours.

Please, reconsider this place if they offer you a job.

How did you know it was the father ?

Jersey · March 29, 2020, 1:10pm

The student would come into school crying talking about her father had “gotten angry” and would “hurt” her before class or school. And she would complain about going home at the end of the day because she was worried about her father picking her up.

cheers_00 · September 7, 2021, 12:10am

Does anyone have any updates on Alexander Academy as of Sept 2021?

J0sh · September 8, 2021, 4:47pm

No, but I recently got a job offer from this place as a part time english teacher. I just graduated highschool this year and did an interview yesterday. The pay is 400nt/hr. Its my first job so I think its pretty decent, but the stuff written above is giving me second thoughts. Haven’t signed the contract yet.

wakethenight · September 8, 2021, 11:11pm

I’m confused…I thought you needed a college diploma to get a work visa…?

BigDave · September 9, 2021, 12:27am

I guess he/she is Taiwanese. 400 sounds good, but if they are like my place, they will be having you do the same as a regular experienced worker. They get you in with words like intern, assistant etc but you will have a lot of responsibilities. That 400 won’t feel so good then.

J0sh · September 9, 2021, 7:57am

Yeah I’m Taiwanese and the job they offered me is a part time teacher around 12 hours a week + 2 hours of prep at 200/hr. I’m not sure about the other obligations included in the job, but thanks for the advice.

BigDave · September 9, 2021, 2:13pm

if you are expected to teach for 12 hours, I would bank on doing at least 6 more depending on how much hwk, helping kids after class, talking to parents you have to do.

If the money still seems ok after thinking about that, go for it. Maybe you won’t have to do much extra.

Your English is excellent so don’t sell yourself short.

J0sh · September 9, 2021, 4:41pm

My english it at a native level but I don’t have teaching experience or any other job experience, so I might as well give it a try.

DrewC · September 9, 2021, 5:29pm

They’re robbing you. Demand more.

J0sh · September 10, 2021, 12:39am

My bad my phrasing is shit its 400 per hour but the prep is 200 per hour.