Has anyone heard of this school?
I saw an ad they placed on Tealit and gave a call. Seems OK but I haven’t gone to meet them. Can anyone who has worked there share experiences?
Hours? Pay on time? General atmosphere?
I’m not so sure about the salary thing. I wonder if there really honest about the number of hours.
I posted quite a long reply to this post earlier, but for some reason it was lost (admins.?)
I won’t rewrite it now (it’s later and I’m tired and the beer is settling in) but I’ll go over what I thought were the salient points.
I had an interview there and came away with a very negative feeling. That being said, I didn’t take the job so I can’t speak from experience. I hope any current or former employees can fill us in.
The school seemed like a sweatshop for teachers. I was told by the man who interviewd me that teachers undergo a “review” every month and pay is docked if they don’t make the grade. Seems suspicious to me.
I was also told that teachers must attend a two hour meeting every day. I was left wondering what the hell you can speak of for that long.
I met with a couple of teachers and they spent the short time they were with me dissing their fellow staff. It seemed like management had a divide and conquer mentality toward the staff.
But, as I said, I never took the job so I’d also like to hear from staff.
The other feeling that I got was that the management hired only newbies that could be better held in the dark regarding other employment options, their rights and communicating with other teachers, i.e. through Forumosa. Maybe I’m wrong, but can current teachers at that school address this?
Recently I was honoured to be given a tour of this school by the management.
This was different from other tours of schools because they let us enter the classrooms and sit at the back. The owner then showed us that the children could read, write, and understand a wide variety of topics. The were also terrific at spelling. Even a five year old was spelling “pollination” and “nectar”. Later I learnt that the children must memorize the entire text.
This place was run as a school. The children went there to learn. Although the methodology was new to me, the results were of a high standard. I only spent a few hours there. So, I cannot give a complete evaluation. Sadly I did not have the chance to talk with or see any foreign teachers classes as time would not permit.
So, as I am interested in the complete picture and there is a thread here, well, I want to ask, does anyone work there or has worked there? What can you tell us.
It’s a very large school. It takes the third, eight, and 12th floor in a large building, they also have 2 other locations nearby. I hear there is also a 400 person long waiting list to study there.
I am very grateful to the owners and the staff for an opportunity to take a look at the whole school.
From a management point of view the school was impressive.
From the evaluation point of view that was mentioned above, I would like to make one key point. The management does not expect anything from their teachers that they would not be willing to do themselves. That is, if a class is perfoming not so well, then they will teach that class and get the results. One class went from absolute last in test scores to first by a long shot within one month. In this way the management is not all talk and don’t expect their staff to do something impossible. For that I would respect them in that area.
The last thing I remember as I was leaving was wave after wave of buses dropping children off at the school.
So the children are taught to learn these foreign words at 5 years old… yet they don’t know what it is in their native language…
There are always schools who try to teach above the students normal educational standards… Personally I’m not impressed at this type of schooling… it certainly doesn’t help a 5 year old… Do these children ever get to go outside and play and make up their own games?
Does this school have a playground for the kiddies of is this one of those schools that keeps kids trapped on one floor of a building… never to escape the educational gulag?
Who here knew what pollination and nectar were at age 5, and how to spell them? Do they also know ‘anther’ and ‘stigma’? No point being able to spell it if you don’t know what it means. The word is meaningless without a context, and I’m surprised to learn that 5-yr olds are getting sex education.
What’s the point of memorising texts? I’m sure I could memorise Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, but no matter how much I look at it I’ll probably never understand it in anything other than the vaguest terms. So what’s the point in being able to regurgitate it?
Like the TV guy said, does the school encourage independence of action or thought? Being able to create something, even if it’s ‘just’ a game, is worth more than being able to remember the ‘right’ answer.
I could hold a conversation before I could spell ‘pollinate’. Did you talk to any of these kids?
We teach larger words to our esl classes, but each lesson is thematic and we do one lesson for two weeks…so by the end of the two weeks, they know what ocean is, and Pacific, and where it is…etc…
I agree, mindless memorizing is good for the brain in a general way…but good for language learning/ nah
Memorization is good for learning a language. Being able to acutally use it, however, is another idea.
They have cassettes and videos that teach you to memorize new vocabulary so why bother paying thousands of dollars to go to a school that seems to be as interactive as using these things?
As I recall, the school’s main selling point was their connections to New Zealand. They send students there every year for further study, in fact the school’s symbol is a kiwi bird. I wonder if this poster has any vested interests in this? hmm, just wondering…
[quote=“Bassman”]Recently I was honoured to be given a tour of this school by the management.
This was different from other tours of schools because they let us enter the classrooms and sit at the back. The owner then showed us that the children could read, write, and understand a wide variety of topics. The were also terrific at spelling. Even a five year old was spelling “pollination” and “nectar”. Later I learnt that the children must memorize the entire text.
This place was run as a school. The children went there to learn. Although the methodology was new to me, the results were of a high standard. I only spent a few hours there. So, I cannot give a complete evaluation. Sadly I did not have the chance to talk with or see any foreign teachers classes as time would not permit.
So, as I am interested in the complete picture and there is a thread here, well, I want to ask, does anyone work there or has worked there? What can you tell us.
It’s a very large school. It takes the third, eight, and 12th floor in a large building, they also have 2 other locations nearby. I hear there is also a 400 person long waiting list to study there.
I am very grateful to the owners and the staff for an opportunity to take a look at the whole school.
From a management point of view the school was impressive.
From the evaluation point of view that was mentioned above, I would like to make one key point. The management does not expect anything from their teachers that they would not be willing to do themselves. That is, if a class is perfoming not so well, then they will teach that class and get the results. One class went from absolute last in test scores to first by a long shot within one month. In this way the management is not all talk and don’t expect their staff to do something impossible. For that I would respect them in that area.
The last thing I remember as I was leaving was wave after wave of buses dropping children off at the school.[/quote]
[quote=“ziggy stardust”]As I recall, the school’s main selling point was their connections to New Zealand. They send students there every year for further study, in fact the school’s symbol is a kiwi bird. I wonder if this poster has any vested interests in this? hmm, just wondering…
[/quote]
The poster, me, is too poor to have any vested interests in this school. Although it does sound suspicious doesn’t it!!! I got a tour because of some people I know have “guanxi” with them. So, I wouldn’t like to comment too much.
The aim of my original post is to find someone objective that has experience with this school and find how this works with foreign staff. You know, getting down to more nuts and bolts without asking too much.
In answer to some of the other questions…
I thought the same thing. But, they could hold a conversation. Actually, even in their snack time they were chatting away with each other in English, not Chinese.
A buxiban would not need a playground, nor should it have one in the traditional sense of the word.
The kindergarten was lacking that one thing, a playground, to be more specific, an outdoor playground.
Please understand that my comments do not mean that I support the school in any way at all. Their style and my style are very different and I would never try to go over to that side and style of doing things. Although, some of the good points that have made them successful, well, I can use that.
It would be pretty unfair of me to base an assessment of a school on a few hours and watching a few classes. I won’t do that because I wouldn’t like anyone to do that to me either.
I wonder if these kids know what vowels are?
Classic :bravo:
One of our Chinese teachers actually attended this school a few years ago. I asked her about it and she fell to the floor in the fetal position. Well,not so bad, but she said it was a “severe” school to attend, and that just mentioning it to her brought back bad memories.
As much as I want my kids to improve and become outstanding readers, I couldn’t ever justify brutal teaching methods. And wave after wave of buses bringing in more kids make me want to work ever harder to do things better.
[quote=“jdsmith”]One of our Chinese teachers actually attended this school a few years ago. I asked her about it and she fell to the floor in the fetal position. Well,not so bad, but she said it was a “severe” school to attend, and that just mentioning it to her brought back bad memories.
As much as I want my kids to improve and become outstanding readers, I couldn’t ever justify brutal teaching methods. And wave after wave of buses bringing in more kids make me want to work ever harder to do things better.[/quote]
Any more information about the “dark side” or is it too painful to ask?
Our health plan does not cover therapy as far as I know. 
I can get details tomorrow.
[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/hardcore-foreign-run-buxibans/22287/18 distant cousin perhaps?[/url]
And just to ad that Hsinchuang is about 30 mins to 1 hour from Taipei Main station…It’s not central Taipei. I just spent 3 years commuting for 2 hours a day to Taishan…I often saw their little vans riding around.
Satellite TV: I want one of those shirts. Maybe 7, for every day of the week.
I only do laundry once a week. 
I worked here for a while. Moved to the other side of the city so had to leave… 