I spent my first year in Chiayi. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The town itself is filthy. All Taiwanese towns / cities are dirty, but Chiayi is far worse than most. In terms of poor air quality, for example, it is second only to Kaohsiung. In fact, I lived there for 4 months before I knew there were mountains. I simply couldn’t see them for the smog, then one day it rained.
Furthermore, there were few amenities. Public transportation, for example, was virtually non-existant. Apart from the movie theatre, there wasn’t much to do. There was one small gym whose hours were limited. There were only a couple of grocery stores, and only 3 restaurants worth patronizing.
As for schools, there are two with which I have had personal experience: Lincoln American School, and (ta da!) Noble American School. Avoid both like the plague. I’ve also heard bad things about Universe American School from others in the foreign community. One poor girl had a scooter accident, broke her collar bone, and was promptly fired.
Anyways, back to the schools with which I have had personal experience. Noble is running an illegal school with a legal veneer. It is basically a kindergarten, but has a few elementary classes. When the inspectors arrive, be prepared to run all over the school to hide from them.
I was hired to do kindergarten over the summer of 2005 with the promise of an elementary class in September. In the third week of August, having heard nothing further, I went to the office and asked what was happening only to be told they didn’t need me after August. It looked very much like the fuckers weren’t going to say anything until the last day. They simply used me to fill in over the summer.
Lincoln American School was very disorganized. The curriculum was an eclectict collection of commercially produced books as well as stuff they had made up themselves. Neither of which complemented the other. There were 6 teaching hours per day: Three in the afternoon and three in the evening. There was a one hour break between the afternoon class and the evening class. Each class was three hours in length without a break.
The students were just dreadful. The boys were naught but a bunch of little thugs, and some of the girls I taught were sexually inappropriate (eight-year olds exposing themselves to me and making up stories about me kissing them). I complained about the girls’ behaviour many times, but nothing was done until I walked out of the class one night and refused to go back.
There was no support there. Not from the school administration nor from the other teachers. As someone who had never taught, I was simply handed my books and shoved into a classroom with 19 kids. Lincoln was a classic example of a buxiban where the only consideration is money, and education matters not at all.
As for Brighton, I’ve heard nothing about them, so you’re on your own there.
Now let’s talk about apartments. The first thing you have to realize is apartments in Taiwan are smaller than in Canada. As a rule of thumb subtract one bedroom to get an idea of how big it really is. For example, a three bedroom apartment in Taiwan is about the same size as a two bedroom apartment in Canada.
Should you look for a school that provides accommodation? No, not in my opinion. Lincoln provided accommodation. The apartment was ok, but here are some of things you have to consider (all of which I experienced):
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Even though you live there the laoban still looks upon it as his apartment, not your home. As such you can expect him to walk through the door any time of the day or night wiithout warning.
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There may only be enough room for three people in the four bedroom apartment, but that won’t stop the laoban from trying to stick a fourth person in there, even if it’s only for a couple of nights. Your home is his hotel.
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You can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your roommates. Conflict is inevitable.
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Your remuneration will be less when the apartment is included.
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Lose your job, lose your home. Do you really want to look for a new job AND a place to live at the same time?
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You can find a much nicer apartment for much less on your own.
My advice, if your heart is set on Chiayi, go with HESS. You’re a new teacher and they will train you, which is much better than trying to figure things out for yourself, as I did.
There is a fairly large foreign community in Chiayi. When I left last December it was comprised mostly of young Canadians. Opinions on the foreign community vary.
Good luck. Let us know how you get on.