Looking for a good school in Jiayi

I’m from montreal, Canada and really want to go teach english in Taiwan. Does anyone know any good schools who are honest, won’t overwork you, decent pay, and legal? Preferably in Chiayi or closeby. I already have offers from Noble American Children’s School and Hess, and Brighton. Does anyone know of Brighton? Noble sent me this very official looking contract detailing everything. Only thing is that they want me to teach 4 year old children! I heard that this is illegal now.

Is it better to go with a school where airfare and accomadation is paid? Is 50000 N.T./month considered too low? That’s what Brighton is offering me. They say it’s because I’m not certified and have no experience. However, many other schools are offering me higher pay even though I have no exp. It’s very hard to decide on a good school when you’re halfway around the world, especially with all these horror stories I’m hearing! If anyone can give me advice, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!!

Don’t know about Brighton, but Noble has a very high turnover of staff. I’ve got a friend who works at Hess, and it seems to be okay.

NT$50,000 a month is not necessarily too low - it would depend on how many hours you are working.

Why do you want to live in Chiayi? :astonished:

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):

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • You can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your roommates. Conflict is inevitable.

  • Your remuneration will be less when the apartment is included.

  • 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?

  • 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.

Hey, thanks for the heads up on those schools! I am now interested in a school called Maple English village. Anyone ever heard of it? It sounds legal, the kids are aged 7-13, and the pay is 580NT/month. Not much training involved though. I have no teaching experience…will it be really difficult for me to get by w/o much training?

Another thing that concerns me is typhoons and sunamis. Do you guys know how dangerous it is or which parts of Taiwan are dangerous? Maple is in a town called Lukang, Changhwa County and is close to the west coast.

I also got offers from Todd’s English School, Gloria, Gabriel, Genius and some agencies (Eagle Corporation, Asian Consultants International, East Gateway, and Dewey. Anyone know if these are reputable, legal schools? I gotta make a decision fast cuz the school season is already underway and I have to leave asap!!! Aaaahhh!

I live in Jiayi. TSC is correct. It is boring and dirty down here and the food sucks.

I don’t know anything about those schools.

As far as typhoons go, Jiayi is probably the safest place on the island because the mountains (Alishan and Yushan) to the east usually weaken them a lot.

I’ve visited Lukang a couple of times before. It’s pretty damn boring as well. Nice Matzu temples though.

Where you move depends on what you want. Taipei is you want to have a great time at bars pubs. A small town if you want a quiet secluded life.

I am thinking about mving to Pingtung for the sole purpose that Kenting is a short drive away.

[quote=“arowe”]Another thing that concerns me is typhoons and sunamis. Do you guys know how dangerous it is or which parts of Taiwan are dangerous? Maple is in a town called Lukang, Zhanghua County and is close to the west coast.[/quote]Lo bo to’s right about Lukang. Nice enough for a day trip but could get dull very quickly as a place to live. Not terribly convenient for public transport either.

[quote=“Lo Bo To”]As far as typhoons go, Jiayi is probably the safest place on the island because the mountains (Alishan and Yushan) to the east usually weaken them a lot.[/quote]Taichung City is generally pretty safe as well. We’ve got Lishan and Hehuanshan to the east, but it’s the whole central mountain range that takes the brunt of the typhoons.

[quote=“arowe”]…and some agencies (Eagle Corporation, Asian Consultants International, East Gateway, and Dewey.[/quote]I’ve heard good things about Dewey but I don’t know about the others.

Dewey is on the up and up, but the same can’t be said for some of the schools that use them, so caveat emptor.

I would recommend you come to Taichung. It’s a nice city with lots of things to see and do. Not as much as Taipei, but certainly more than Chiayi. Lukang is nothing to write home about, you’d be better off in Chiayi. Even Chunghua is a boring, dirty little hole; and if you’re going to be in Chunghua you might as well just cross the river and be in Taichung.

Check out the jobs listings at tealit.com, there are a lot of schools in Taichung looking for teachers right now.

Being a rookie, a reasonable wage for you would be around 50 000 for 100 teaching hours. Don’t accept anything less.

[quote=“Taichung Social Club”
Being a rookie, a reasonable wage for you would be around 50 000 for 100 teaching hours. Don’t accept anything less.[/quote]

Is that the going rate for rookies nowadays?

I would push for 60 for that many hours.

Gloria in Toayuan is legal and should be the biggest local chain English buxiban.
They offer a week training (mostly class observations and a few workshops) for new teachers and their goal for native English speaking teachers is to “entertain” students. Doing a good job in educating is preferred but if you can’t, having fun with students is the priority. The wage with Gloria starts with NT$580 per hour and you will get a raise aound NT$20/hour annually. There is little unpaid work for foreigners in Gloria. Correcting students’ diaries in advanced levels (which can be a nightmare) and finishing an oral test after the class time is over are the only two things that I can recall at the moment.
Gloria is good (easy) for those who want to work for money without much effort since they ask you to follow their mode that has lasted for 26 years as much as possible.

I’m narrowing down my schools slowly. Has anyone heard of Renaissance? Is it reputable, on the up and up? I also got offered another job in Kaoshiung City. This was through an agency called ACI (Asian Consultant International), and the agent goes on about how it’s a dream job, but of course she is supposed to pitch me right? She hasn’t told me the name of the school yet which I find strange. Does anyone know how Kaoshiung City is? Gloria is the other school that I’m thinking of.

Does ACI have anything to do with Jerry Wong or Andy Wong? If so, run. These two are nothing more than a couple of con men. Deal with them at your peril.

I think of it being very much like Taipei without public transit, but with 3 times the pollution. Poorest air quality in Taiwan.