I’ve felt like writing this about my afternoon school a couple of times, but never did. I assume threads like this exist, but none come to mind and I’m not searching for one.
Today I came in. Looked out of it. They asked me what’s wrong, said I’m sick, then they asked me if I wanted to go home to rest and make-up the classes on Friday.
Last time I got paid I thought they shorted me 2,000. I called to ask if they could check their books (I really didn’t know.) When I went to work the next week they just gave it to me (even after I was asking them to check, they said it was too long ago and to just keep it.)
This school is also really good about giving me a day off when I’m busy and things like that. Part of it is the nature of the program. The foreign teacher teaches for 1 hour and the Chinese teacher teaches (Englsih) for one hour. If I don’t come in, the Chinese teacher will teach both hours. But part of it is them being really good to me. They also give me hours and take them away to my request.
I don’t know if all Joy’s are like this, but the one I work at is.
Wow. Just pulled up their website and that too has some nice information for a newbie.
[Joy’s Website] (I wish cans of Taiwan beer were 22NT 
)
I worked at a great Joy school in Taishan for 3 years. I loved it there, but I have also heard horror stories about some Joy schools…(especially the one in Shi-jr) it all depends on your boss.
Indeed. I think Joys might all be franchise schools. Most of them anyway.
My school is like yours. They love me - if I’m sick, it’s no problem to have a day off. If there’s a holiday on, say, a Tuesday, they let me have Monday off as well (unpaid) which gives me a 4 day weekend. When students have midterms/finals at their regualr schools, we don’t have classes, so I get the days off.
I have a similar program to you - I teach one hour, the Chinese teacher teches the other hour (except for my GEPT class, which I teach the whole 2 hours without a CT).
I’m at a Giraffe school, but it’s independantly owned. My boss pays Giraffe a set amount each year for rights to use the name, but how we teach is up to us. I work closely with my boss’s brother, who’s the head English teacher, to develop better methods of teaching than what Giraffe provides.
My boss also pays for my cable TV and ADSL connection. Life is good.
It all depends on the boss hey?
I didn’t get paid much at my old Joy school, but my boss was AMAZING. He lives in Shi-jr, my school was in Taishan. I called him one night at 9.30 on the way back from work, and I spotted a puppy sitting on a scooter that has been on this bridge for 3 days…
I called my boss to ask him to call the police at Hsimen to go and check if the dog is tied or there by choice…and an hour later he calls me out of breath saying he decided to check for himself! He was chasing this dog on the bridge at 10 at night, found out where it lives, took it food etc…and he was still an hour away from his home. (the place the dog was was a 30 min drive in the opposite direction)
He ROCKS!! If anyone ever moves to Hsingchuang or Taishan…look up Joyschool in Tailing road… I only had to give 40 mins notice if I was sick…and he’d be like…ok, take as much time as you need!!!
(of course I first had to proove myself…didn’t just call in sick on the 2nd day i was there!)
Oh and I had no hair and facial piercings at the time…
I am going to Taiwan with my Girlfriend who is Taiwanese. We are both graduating college this summer and will be going to Taiwan for a few years maybe before possibly coming back for grad school.
I’m going to have to teach english to have a living unless I can get graphic design jobs through my girlfriend. Its really nice to hear that at least a few of you are happy with your jobs. I’m sure there are more but people often don’t bother posting about good experiences.
Thanks!
I too had a great experience at my school. They weren’t perfect, but they were extremely honest, generous and caring. Looking back, I probably could have been a more appreciative and caring employee. When I left the school, they gave me more money than they should have and just told me to keep it. The school was a Kid Castle. Of course, they are mostly a chain school, so every branch is different.
I really think this is the experience of most teachers in Taiwan.
It’s a great place to teach and live for a few years.
It tends to be the same few people that complain over and over again.