Anyone know anything about this school? A friend in Kaohsiung is trying to get me to apply there for next year, but she doesn’t work there and I’ve never heard anything about it. She says she has a friend who works there and loves it. I’m going to try to talk to her friend but haven’t yet.
Bump 48 views and no one knows anything about this place?
Surprisingly a lot of the private high schools have little or no info on the web about their working conditions. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
never heard of it, you can always do the application procedure and if judge the qualityy by the wayy they handle the process. I left one job interview last month because they had lost my resume and wanted me to fill it out again. …
you can also ask them if the current foreign teacher would be willing to email you information about working in the school - I did that once, but as a warning, its no guarantee. In my case, the teacher told me the school was great because he liked my resume so much he wanted me to join the school to help him out and raise the professionalism!!! (everyone has their own invested interests!)
On a certain Web site that rates international schools there’s a comment from an ex-teacher that this particular school is “in no way international”. I don’t know if that’s correct but I’d ask what the school believes its qualifications are.
The area itself is set far enough away from Kaohsiung City that you get some nice country air if that means anything to you.
GDT
Found this post from 11 years ago and wondering if anyone got any updates about I-Shou international school? we are looking into enrolling our kids (still in the US) there and I would appreciate any information about the environment there.
Hi, Curly, welcome. This is just more 11 year old news, but I did do the interview and was offered a job as an English Teacher there. It’s a bit far from the city, but that means it’s a lovely area (or was). They offered me a middling salary. It was above average and good for the area, but not the best salary I’ve ever been offered. I ended up turning them down, and then wondering if I’d made a mistake. They did have a lovely campus and they claimed to have any resource available. But for that middling decent salary, they expected two jobs worth of effort. I would have had many students and many extra duties as well. I really would have spent all day on campus trying to do everything they asked. Regular lesson plans and teaching, sponsoring a club, taking on tutoring. I can’t remember, but there was something else. I was a single parent raising a school age boy who’d recently been in hospital and I just felt like it was too much work. Otherwise, it would have been a busy, but likely fulfilling job. They did seem to have strong academic standards for the area. (I’m a fully qualified and licensed teacher.) I have no idea if any of this is still so, but if I were in the area now and had the money, I’d be looking into them. The Catholic school is to be avoided at any cost. There are a few others, Korean or Japanese, I think, Maybe more these days. None truly what’d I’d call international, but I guess they try. Good Luck.
KAS (American School) is more international and overall better students from the students I know that went to both,
1 Like
We heard from KAS that there is a waiting list for 2020-2021 school year and we may not make the cut before school starts. If anyone got any insider tip about getting in to KAS, please do share!
Thank you for your reply. We heard back from the Catholic international school that they have spots but it’s really a bit of a hike (about 1 hour drive) from where we plan to live in Kaoshiung. Our first pick is Morrison and then KAS and then I-Shou. But with such limited availability, I might have to take whatever is available so at least there is a place for the kids to go into before school starts. I’ve found some good information/review about all of these schools so I am going to spend more time to research all of them again.
Honestly, the Catholic school should be avoided. I taught there and my own son studied there for half a year. All he learned was how to cheat! He was in third grade. I ended up putting him into public school mid year (he is a dual citizen, so this was possible for us). You may have that option, but if your kids are above second, I would not because the Taiwanese grade three language curriculum is very heavy with written characters–as well as beginning algebra and geometry concepts in math. If possible, I’d consider homeschooling until a spot is open in a better school. You will have to be in cooperation with the local education authorities, but they CAN make arrangements for this, although it’s not often done.
If you search these boards there is a lengthy thread about my experiences working for them. I’m not offering my personal experiences here because they’re not as relevant as the poor environment and low quality education your children are going to experience at the Catholic school, but you can easily find it. And yes, it’s been a handful of years since then, but I wasn’t the first teacher with similar experiences. In fact, when I was getting the requisite fingerprints from the local police for my then work permit, they found out the name of the school and asked me all kinds of questions about how I was being treated (I’d just been hired and wasn’t yet working) because the entire faculty had quit en-mass the year before!
And, last thing, they have a reputation of calling the local education authorities and reporting to them, and to the local police, that you’re not complying with local laws when you withdraw your student to transfer him/her to a different school. They did this to me when I put my son into local school and bragged about it in legal arbitration proceedings, but it backfired on them because my son never missed a day of school before being enrolled in the public school and the dept of Ed was already aware. They were fined and warned, again, to stop.
3 Likes
Good detailed information. Thanks.
Thank you for your information.