Need Help Deciding Which Schools In This List Should I Beware Of

I was handed this list from the agency that provided my TEFL certificate. Since they already mislead me BIG, I want to know if any of these are (or should be) black listed. My original idea was to teach in a plublic school (he also said I would be able to teach in an university. Mind you with an MBA only) I keep hearing horror stories about Buxibans and I want to minimize the risks. After all there has to be good ones and my desire to go is still there. Any ideas on what to look for or who to discern the good from the ugly would be appreciated. Thank you.

That is a very short list.

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I would never teach at a school called “Merica”because it’s ‘Murca, not Merica.They need to learn phonetic spelling before they can be true ‘Murcans running the place.

I’ve never heard of Honor Roll. Morrison is VERY Christian (you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and do all things in His Name kind of Christian.) TAS and TES would never hire someone without a real license and experience in a real school. The fact that HES is on the same list as TAS and TES and Morrison says a lot about how much they have any idea about anything (which would be nothing at all, apparently)

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This may get you in trouble should these schools discover you’d like to publicly black list them, no?

Also, this may be a great way to get yourself black listed by all of these schools, if not sued.

Edit - meant a general reply to OP.

I mean, do a little research into each, then gather opinions, I guess

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You can’t be blacklisted as a person. There are laws against that.

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Yes, they’ll know never to hire a Mr elPepin (or was this directed at Mr SuiGeneris?). They’re aliases. How do you expect they’ll get blacklisted?

Morrisons is very religious yes, I think you have to get a reference from a priest or had to a few years back anyway.
I meant Morrison the school not Morrisons supermarket in the UK lol

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Nevermind, I saw a post that looked like it was suggesting the listed institutions should be considered trash (black list). It only takes one of them to believe they’ve suffered defamation, which seems to be a big enough deal around here so as to warrant at least a headsup-don’t-do-that response.

No skin off my nose,

I know someone who interviewed there. The first question they asked was a scenario where “you’re subbing the seventh grade bible studies class and a girl in the room starts crying. When you ask what’s wrong, she tells you that her grandfather had just passed away and some people told her that her grandfather was going to go to Hell because he wasn’t a good Christian. What do you do?”

So yeah, above your qualifications as a teacher are your qualifications as a Christian. It’s not like a lot of Catholic schools in the US where there are occasional staff members who are Russian Orthodox or Jewish or even maybe agnostic. It’s a good place to be if you feel strongly about your faith though…

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You say " It says in the bible that judge others how you will be judged and only God decides who goes to heaven."
Pass?

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You probably need to cite your sources. Which book and passage says that? :crazy_face:

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Nope he gonna buuurn :upside_down_face:

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They are not Catholics, so just say " That is what the Holy Spirit just told me to say; however give me a few minutes and I can find both."
Am I still on the short list ?

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I need to apologize to OP for completely detailing this thread. I’m sorry OP.

Relevance = Morrison is on that list. I wouldn’t blacklist it, just put a little asterisk above it and let you know that they look for a very specific kind of person to work there.

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Yeah , I agree. They are very open about being an Evangelical school. I do not think that is a reason to blacklist them , at least they do not waste people’s time pretending that they are open to non Christian teachers. I think the list should mainly be of schools that are dishonest.

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Most of the schools on this list are chain cram schools. For example, Kojen have over 30 teaching centres. As such, it’s impossible to guarantee that one of their schools will be good as it will depend on the management at that branch.

Other schools on the list, such as TAS and TES, will require a teaching license with several years of teaching experience in public schools in your home country. Public schools also require a teaching license.

I don’t know what your full qualifications are, but if it is a bachelor’s and a TESL then the usual starter job is with a chain cram school such as Kojen, HESS, Shane, Happy Marian, Gloria, Giraffe, Kid Castle. It’s hit and miss whether the school will be good. I started at a Shane branch and had a good teaching experience.

Your MBA will be a positive, but it doesn’t really open many doors on its own. It will help to get adult teaching gigs such as Merica.

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MBA is definitely the wrong kind of Master’s to have if you want to teach higher education EFL; probably would’ve been enough for a uni position a decade ago. Not so much now.

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What you have there appears to be simply a list of schools. Taipei European and Taipei American won’t likely hire you unless you have a teaching certificate. Happy Marian, Jump Start, Kojen, Hess, Cat’s, and others are chain schools so some branches are good and others aren’t. Jump Start pays low, and I haven’t known many people happy at Hess or especially Kojen. Hess is where a lot of people get started and it seems tolerable and usually well managed. Morrison Academy is an international Christian school. I think you’re misusing the word “blacklist” but your best bet is to toss that Excel file, look at job ads, politely talk to whoever is hiring, ask questions but don’t get too weird by asking too many, write a good resume and a nice introduction email and turn your smart brain on when you go for an interview. Look and listen for red flags but accept that no place is going to be perfect.

Also, I haven’t kept up with the recent teacher import rules but if you’re not in Taiwan, check to see if you’re able to get in and/or able to get an ARC based on a work permit.

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I am mentioning the MBA just you can suggest something I hadn’t thought to like BiggusDickus suggested adult schools like Merica.

Well, I’d first ask why you’re following up an MBA with trying to get a EFL teaching gig? That kind of degree usually leads to a different kind of career path. There might be some Business English school that would find an MBA advantageous, but beyond that I don’t think it’ll help much.