Picking a Chain School-need your advice

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
#1

So I’ve been trying to investigate the major chain schools in Taiwan: Hess, Jump Start, Kojen, Kidcastle, and Joy…have I missed any biggies?

I don’t want to spend all my time teaching kindergarteners, so Jump Start is out.

In spite of all the negative things that have been written, Hess still seems to have the best training program and the most structured curriculum.

Now does anyone know anything about Joy or Kidcastle? Good places to work?

Is Hess the only school that processes all paperwork and gets its employees the Arc and working visa before their arrival in Taiwan?

#2

If I had to choose, I would pick Hess. At least they will train you how to be a good teacher.

#3

[quote=“Etheorial”]…the only school that processes all paperwork and gets its employees the Arc and working visa before their arrival in Taiwan?[/quote]As far as I know, no school does that. You have to do that when you get here, because of the medical check and also the people that issue your visa need your passport.

#4

I would advise you to stay away from Kojen. Enough has been written at the various websites to give you ample reasons why. Use the search function.

#5

In some cases, Hess is able to get it all done before an employee leaves for Taiwan. They make it sound like they can always do it (no doubt to make prospective employees feel more secure), but I think their success with getting it all done before arrival is the exception rather than the rule. I worked for Hess years ago (I confess) and I tried to get it all done before leaving for Taiwan. It turned out that the resident visa would not be ready in time, so I entered on a tourist visa. They may be able to do it faster now. I did get my resident visa and ARC much faster than others once I arrived in Taiwan. I actually wish that I had just waited to do the medical check in Taiwan rather than doing it in the States; it was quite expensive.

Hess is alright. There were plenty of things I didn’t like about the company, but I got on well with my coworkers and it was a stable job. Back then, there were a lot of schools that either could not provide ARC’s or the ARC’s they provided were bogus in some way or another. Hess generally tries to stay as legal as possible on ARC’s and I think a lot of people back then put up with the negative aspects of the company because their residency status was stable. I have no idea what the hiring market and ARC situation is like now. I’m sure a lot more companies are able to provide a clean ARC than back then.

#6

Hi,
I teach at Kid Castle right now (although I’m breaking my contract and going home soon. bad girl.) My coworker’s girlfriend works at Hess. Here’s what I know (and think).
Kid Castle kindergarten is run well. But you said you don’t want to teach at a kindergarten. I work at an anchingban, which has only elementary and junior high school students. There is very little training (which was fine for me). My school is very dissorganized though and my schedule is always up for change. The English ability of the students is wretched, which makes it really hard when you have to teach 2-3 pages a night to students who can’t generally can’t string together a sentence to save their lives. You will get the hours though. Which is good. Luckily, they have an excellent support system at the head office for foreign teachers. Unfortunately, my boss in the school is very hard to work for. The pay is also quite bad if you are working full time (but it’s the same at most chain schools).
From what I hear, Hess’ training is second to none. But, you must go to lots of extra curricular training (unpaid). Also, the hours aren’t there. You get just enough to keep your work permit. However, at the end of all this training, you will get a TEFL certificate, which is great. The pay is bad, just like the others.
I would say, after years of being here, my biggest mistake was to sign on with a big chain school.

#7

[quote=“ladybird”]
From what I hear, Hess’ training is second to none. But, you must go to lots of extra curricular training (unpaid). Also, the hours aren’t there. You get just enough to keep your work permit. However, at the end of all this training, you will get a TEFL certificate, which is great. [/quote]

I hate to burst anybody’s bubble, but the training at Hess is not all that great. Yes, it is more than what you might get working for other schools, but it is still limited to the minimum that you need to know to teach with their curriculum and materials. You will not get a firm or broad foundation in TEFL theory or methods from their training. I’d bet money that their “TEFL certificate” is absolutely worthless outside of Taiwan, and it probably doesn’t get much recognition in Taiwan, either. Also remember that much of the Hess methodology (ok, to be fair, much of the teaching methodology in Taiwan) goes against much of what you would learn in any TEFL cert or degree course. Nevertheless, if you’re a newbie to TEFL, the training at Hess would be more useful than no training at all.

As far as hours, it can vary greatly from city to city and branch to branch. I think they put some teachers in smaller cities on salary, whereas teachers in the bigger cities are payed hourly. When I worked for them, I always had as many hours as I wanted. I was not a great teacher at the time but I made an effort, which is more than can be said for most cram school teachers. I think that Hess’s buxiban business (and maybe the overall buxiban business) in Taipei is quite stagnant. Their Taipei kindies and anqinban programs make money, but there isn’t much growth for the buxibans. When I worked for them, the buxibans that really made the money were the ones in Taichung and Gaoxiong since these markets were just getting into full swing.

#8

You forgot one of the biggies-Jordans (although they insist on always leaving the “S” off, making them look like idiots) I worked for a Jordans my first year, and it was OK, although somewhat mindless following their curriculum, which sure could use updating. Overall, I thought they were as good as any other chain, but remember, it’s difficult to generalize. My owner sent me out to a few other Jordans’ schools occasionally, and at one point I refused to go to one. Each school is owned and manged by a different person. They just pay the money to use the Chain’s resources and name.

Yes, overall Kojen and Jumpstart seem to get bad reviews. I don’t know much about Kojen, but I know several people who have worked for Jumpstart, and the main complaint is about the very low pay.