Blacklist of schools

Felish, is it a common thing for colored people to experience such? Apparently Taiwan is generally tame, would you say this is the only experience (speaking as a colored myself)

Hey Zeb, can you elaborate? Iā€™m looking at jobs right now and was really interested in Tunghai until I started hearing some feedback from a neighborā€™s kid today.

This is a rant and I donā€™t care about grammar I just need to get these thoughts out as quick as possible.

TPS English School in Da-an. A very odd experience from the beginning and highly unprofessional.

The Woman who runs it emailed me and asked when I was free but proceeded to face time me at a random time when she knew I was not free and was out getting lunch with my friends. I answered the call outside and had a polite chat with her which she said was unprofessional because I was outside.

I was asked to do an interview a week later. When I arrived the three women in the room were all staring at me in a very odd way which was kind of bizarre, we went into a small classroom and sat on some baby chairs and the woman asked if Iā€™d brought my resumeā€¦ I had already sent the resume and gone over it with her when she face timed me earlier in the week.

While I was speaking to the woman one of the assistants came into the toilet which was pretty much connected to the classroom and proceeded to quite loudly relief herself which was quite odd considering the context. The manager knew what was happening and seemed to enjoy how uncomfortable the whole thing was? Iā€™ve been in Taiwan for a while and know people are more open here and generally a bit less conservative about this kind of thing but this was extremely weird considering the situation.

Also to mention the managers English was very broken.

So then she decided I would do a demo out of the blue. She literally stands up and walks directly into the next building and bursts into a classroom where a nice young woman was teaching what seemed like a great class and rudely told her to get out of the classroom as I would be doing a demo. She then hands me a bunch of cards with animals on them and tells me to teach the kids. At this point Iā€™ve already decided that there is no way this is going to happen but figure thereā€™s no point making a big scene and walking out so I did a little demo which she said wasnā€™t interesting enough as the kids are too ā€œstupidā€ to pay attention for more than a few seconds, the kids were in the room at this point listening to this.

Anyway, she gave some bullshit talk at the end about when I would be able to start and I told her I would have a think and that was that.

She was a very unpleasant women and her employers seemed pretty intermediated by her.

Another school to avoid is Neurolink Dali.

The local teachers were nice but the western Teachers were borderline psychotic and had some pretty questionable views on Taiwanese people which I found quite hard to deal with. The first encounter I had with the senior teacher was him sat face down in the 711 outside the school in silence by himself.

I then met him inside the school and he was straight up aggressive towards me and refused to introduce himself which created somewhat of a tense vibe in the small teacherā€™s room.

I asked how one of the teachers enjoyed working at the school to which she responded in an extremely negative way and went on to tell me how predatory the teachers were within the school.

It seemed some kind of war had started between the local teachers and foreign teachers and the vibe in the school was very nasty.

The kids I did encounter seemed great though.

It seemed the school was quite poorly run and the western teachers were basically getting overworked but were extremely jaded themselves and instead of helping each other out they were turning on each other, and any new teachers they got sent despite the fact they desperately needed new teachers.

I met teachers from another Neurolink school and they all seemed like very nice people.

Iā€™ve been concerned for some of the foreigners I have met here, a lot of alone time in an unfamiliar place and a heavy work schedule with a boss who wants to exploit you can leave people feeling very worn down, also most people cannot speak Chinese which does not help with the isolation.

People seem to end up hating Taiwan or the Taiwanese people as a whole which is just insanely ignorant.

Taiwan is a great place but if you go anywhere near a cram school you will have some interesting experiences.

Also, stay away from the recruiter called Bryan Wu.

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This is very normal here, so I have discovered
Clearly you donā€™t understand Taiwanese culture

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If youā€™re a normal foreigner (without an open work permit or work permit exemption), doing a demo is fine, but only for the staff/managers. If there are real students, itā€™s illegal, and if caught you would face a fine and deportation.

I think thereā€™s a whole thread about him somewhere.

First let me say that I am not advocating the poster do something illegal, but presenting a different perspective. While what you say is true, @yyy, many schools put real students in mock lessons. Itā€™s common practice. Even my uni did it when I applied for a job there. So this rule is rarely enforced by buxibans and schools. If you got busted during your one-time mock lesson thatā€™d be incredibly bad luck and timing. The poster could explain the danger of this situation and hope they understand. On the other hand, if you decline to do one based on that principle, the school might shrug and say ā€œokay, next applicant then.ā€

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This cannot be stated enough times. One of the worst scammers out there. Heā€™s infamous, and he pops up everywhere that jobs are posted or recruiters fish for FOBs, including all the ELT Facebook groups.

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Itā€™s a cram school in Taiwan.
Do you think they care if you get deported?

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I knew this as soon as I saw his profile and googled his name.
Iā€™m just hoping I can help someone else out there who he will likely email so they donā€™t waste their time.

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Iā€™d say at least 50 percent of the cram school jobs here will require a demo.
I even saw jobs advertised online and in that advertisement it openly sayā€™s a demo will be included.
People break the law every day in these schools and as long as the police donā€™t kick the door down during the lesson nobody cares.
Which is extremely unlikely by the way.

Do you mean if you are in the country on a visitors visa, or on a work ARC for a different company? or both.

Both would technically be illegal.

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They will cop a hefty fine. It used to be 180k, IIRC.

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When I taught I never had a penalty either but I always gave a month notice

Most schools will take you to a room at the far end of the school so that if the police do come they will be able to do some kind of announcement from the front desk.
The demo will also be like 5 minutes so i think they are fairly relaxed about taking the risk.

Of course.

Clearly you seem like the kind of guy who has nothing going on his life.
Your view on the Taiwanese must be very limited indeed if you think this is a defining factor of their culture.

Be careful with G-Jun in Taichung also.

I did a 30 min demo and thought it was completely legal :rofl:
Good thing I didnā€™t know, the added nerves would of sucked.

The first encounter I had with the senior teacher was him sat face down in the 711 outside the school in silence by himself.

Are you sure you meant the Neurolink School in Dali? I am the Senior Teacher and there isnā€™t a 7-11 near the school.

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