I’m looking at different schools to apply to and I’ve discovered that Hess requires all of its teachers to work Saturday mornings. Is this standard practice in Taiwan, or at least standard amongst the big chains?
Generally, if you teach children, you work Saturdays.
I have some friends who work at Frobel and they dont work Saturdays. I guess it depends! I wont work Saturdays!
A lot of buxibans have Saturday classes. Some don’t. Most are variants on these:
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Kids come to class twice a week for a 2 hour lesson. They are paired Mon/Thu, Tue/Fri, Wed/Sat. They may also come in for anqinban/homework centre at other times.
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Kids come in 4 times a week all afternoon for Grade 1 and 2 (1 afternoon they have whole day school). Grades 3 and up come in every evening for 1-2 hours.
I used to work 8AM-12PM Saturdays. It was pretty good because it kept me saving money (and health) of Fri nights, and got me out of bed on a Saturday and fully woken up and ready to do something by noon (which is rare otherwise). Basically, you can earn yourself 2 or 3K for time which you’d otherwise be spending nursing a hangover.
Brian
I work in a preschool. I don’t work Saturdays 
The only Saturday gigs I’ve known about are the ones paired with a twice a week, Wednesday/Saturday class.
Used to be de rigueur.
Now fewer and fewer people work Saturday mornings. I stopped! Parents have requested it but generally it’s a problem to get kids into class on Saturday mornings these days!
Kenneth
The only Saturdays I work are for the preschoolers’ carnival (games, food, etc for the little ones) and the buxiban’s field day/picnic. They’re so much fun for the teachers that I don’t mind working it.
I teach two two-hour kids classes Sat. a.m. There are only 2 kids in each of the two classes. I like them. They’re serious learners. Also teach a two hour Sat p.m. class to a businessman who is too busy to attend during the week.
I don’t really mind it 'cause I came over here without my husband and haven’t got anything much else to do during the day anyhow. May change it after hubby arrives later this month.
Saturday is the easiest day to teach. The kids usually go to bed so late on Friday that they can barely stay awake during class. Yod don’t have to be so active teaching on a Saturday too.
This is exactly why I hated teaching Saturday and Sunday mornings. The students were tired, I was exhausted, and the classes were mind-numbingly boring.
True for about Grade 4 and up, but if you’re teaching Grade 3 and below, it’s quite the opposite. For once they’re not exhausted after a whole day at school.
Brian
Wuss. Real men teach saturdays, ten hours, and sunday morning too!
And yes, saturday mornings, afternoons, and evenings are completely normal. Think of it as a cultural experience.
Vorkosigan