I’ve checked out their website and they seem pretty professional.
Has anybody worked for Joy English and have any particular advice/opinions concerning the school? I would appreciate any info.
For a newbie sans TEFL, difficult to get a job with them, or comparable to any other chain school?
There is stuff all over the boards about Joy. Try the search function for more details.
My first girlfriend in Taiwan taught for Joy. She loved it. Quality will differ by franchise, but in general, they are a good outfit.
I have two friends who worked for Joy. Nothing adverse. Seemed fine. No worse than any other.
Do you have a four year degree? If so, you don’t need TESOL/TEFL.
You should compare Joy with Hess and Kidcastle before you sign up.
hess.com.tw/
personnel.kidcastle.com/
Joy is comparable in many ways to many of the other chains. One advantage (or disadvantage I suppose, depending on how you look at it) is that Joy holds ongoing training for various books, levels, and problems. Attendance at each of the training courses is optional, so long as you attend some training within the year. From personal experience I can give them the thumbs.
Joy are professional and working conditions are fine, from my experience. But like another poster said, it really all comes down to the individual franchise.
One thing you can always do is to request the e-mail addresses of some of the f.t.'s at the branch you’re thinking about and ask them for the low-down. They should be able to give you a good idea of what to expect.
Good luck,
CK
I have worked for Joy as well. Professional, yes, but at my particular location the boss was a total bitch and had no respect at all for the staff. I imagine that’s why there was a lot of turnover while I was there. And I only lasted a few months anyway because I got sick of it and decided to seek greener pastures. 
As with any franchise, management varies from location to location. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, Steve. Mine was very positive.
CK
I am going to give the Joy where I live the thumbs up, even though they are my main competition.
my wife works fulltime for a joy branch and i part-time at two other branches. yes, agree with other posts, it depends on the owners. I’ve worked for all three in our area and all three are like chalk , cheese and…china! but all have been honest by taiwanese standards and not too hard to bargain with when it came to holidays, raises etc.
cannot be compared to hess as hess is very structuralised and everyone does the same and reports to hq. joy is much more of a franchise with loose guidelines.
pm if u need more info
Joy is split into franchise schools and branch schools. Branch schools can’t take a shit without a mountain of paperwork from HQ. Franchise schools vary more. I’ve worked at Joy - qa branch school. They’re OK. They’ll pay you on time and not muck you about too much.
Has anyone worked at Joy AND at a major rival like Hess or Kidcastle? It would be interesting to see how they compared from an insider’s viewpoint.
Yes, I worked for Joy and Hess…
The Joy Branch I worked for offered me a contract, working from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., two hours for lunch…my salary was fixed…and yet they tried to shortchange me every payday (I only worked there about three months).
The manager of the school, one and a half months into my contract, told me that they could not get me an ARC unless I agreed to work more hours (at night). Of course this was AFTER I made an unscheduled run to HK. I asked her why she had given me a contract she knew she couldn’t honor. Naturally she had no real answer. I agree to work another month - trying to be nice…but when they screwed up my pay again I walked out. Of course they refused to pay me the two weeks they owed me because I BROKE the contract (that they couldn’t honor anyway).
At Hess, it was better. Although I have to say each and every payday I had to tally my hours and make sure they were paying me for all of them (I was working at four different locations!). At least half the time, I found an error but they were quick about fixing it. The unpaid meetings, grading homework, etc, was the primary motivation for me leaving there. Naturally I broke that contract - I found a better job and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. When I told the head foreign teacher, on Friday, that I would work another two weeks to give them time to find someone else she said great. However when I went to work on Monday, she informed me that the Taiwanese manager wanted me out of her school immediately. I turned in all my books, pens, etc. and the secretary deducted their ‘training fee’ (NT$20,000) from what they owed me (she called the other locations to get a total, if I remember correctly) and informed me that I was about 2,000 short of what I owed them. I PAID them and walked out - passing my incoming class.
As for the internal workings, pretty much the same. Lesson plans, etc. I felt Hess was a little more ‘top’ heavy but then I didn’t stay at Joy as long as Hess (and I was only at Hess about 5 months).
Eight months in Taiwan and I “paid” out over NT$50,000 in ‘penalties’ for jobs…great start, huh… 
I got fired from Joy’s Neihu franchise for coming in late. Like 3 minutes late. Oh, and for speaking Chinese in class. One day I came in and there was someone else already teaching my class. The boss, this pregnant lady, said I was fired and I walked out, screaming at her like a spoiled little snot, “This isn’t over.” I really didn’t care, because I already had a full-time job. The next day I faxed her a drawing of a giant penis I had ripped out of some porn mag, with her name scribbled on it, signed, “Love, your secret admirer.”
But actually, I’ve heard very good things about their Taipei city (not suburb) branches and a lot of friends have enjoyed teaching at them.
[quote=“Flicka”]I got fired from Joy’s Neihu franchise for coming in late. Like 3 minutes late. Oh, and for speaking Chinese in class. One day I came in and there was someone else already teaching my class. The boss, this pregnant lady, said I was fired and I walked out, screaming at her like a spoiled little snot, “This isn’t over.” I really didn’t care, because I already had a full-time job. The next day I faxed her a drawing of a giant penis I had ripped out of some porn mag, with her name scribbled on it, signed, “Love, your secret admirer.”
But actually, I’ve heard very good things about their Taipei city (not suburb) branches and a lot of friends have enjoyed teaching at them.[/quote]
Really mature. 
[quote=“Bassman”][quote=“Flicka”]I got fired from Joy’s Neihu franchise for coming in late. Like 3 minutes late. Oh, and for speaking Chinese in class. One day I came in and there was someone else already teaching my class. The boss, this pregnant lady, said I was fired and I walked out, screaming at her like a spoiled little snot, “This isn’t over.” I really didn’t care, because I already had a full-time job. The next day I faxed her a drawing of a giant penis I had ripped out of some porn mag, with her name scribbled on it, signed, “Love, your secret admirer.”
But actually, I’ve heard very good things about their Taipei city (not suburb) branches and a lot of friends have enjoyed teaching at them.[/quote]
Really mature. [/quote]
I did lots of silly things when I was 23. :help:
Funny you should mention that. I’m in with Kid Castle at the moment. I like it much better than the Joy school I worked at. The owner is a very nice woman who treats me with respect, and that is something I didn’t get at Joy from the get-go. I like KC’s curriculum much better as well. Comparatively, it seems much more thought-out than Joy’s. But that’s JMO. That Joy branch is also about 5 minutes away from my Kid Castle. 
