Job Discussion Forums

[atiff]

Hi everyone,

Everyone else tells their tale - why not me? Apologies that this is quite long, but I've been here a while and done a lot with my time....

I'm a New Zealander who came to Taiwan in late May 2003 (a rather interesting time to come - height of SARS, so the 270-seat plane only had 35 passengers!). Unlike many others, I didn't come to teach for a school. I met my wife way back in the early 90's at University in New Zealand and had a few trips over to visit her family before we finally made the big move "back home" (for her) / "away" (for me).

Actually, in all honesty, I was quite apprehensive about coming to live in Taiwan as it was my first time living long-term away from New Zealand. Holidays are all good and well, but you don't experience the same kinds of culture shock as when you live there.

Anyway, the first job I had in Taiwan was actually working at National Taiwan University (I have an MSc in laser physics) but I gave that away after about four months as I had basically lost my urge to do research for a career. Therefore, I applied for the only other job I could easily find in Taiwan - teaching.

I found Hess by browsing the Web. I had never heard of them before coming to Taiwan. Everything seemed good, so I applied and was accepted for interview. Being in Taiwan, I actually went to their office to do it in person (not necessary, but it certainly didn't hurt my cause!), and was accepted for employment. Being a bit nervous about teaching very young children, I only accepted a buxiban contract (20 hours a week) - I didn't feel I was capable or ready to teach kindergarten.

I trained in November 2003 in an intake of 40 new teachers. As I wasn't coming in from outside the country, I didn't need any transport assistance. I did take up their offer of hotel accommodation with the rest of the trainees during training, as it was logistically easier for them and me, and let me get to know everyone better. I was a little older than many in the group, being 30 at the time, but everyone got along really well and I made some good friends during that time.

Training was eight days, with one day off (this has since expanded to nine days with one day off). I found the trainers (at the time, three New Zealanders and a South African - one of the New Zealanders is still a Hess trainer) to be a great group, and I really enjoyed my time at training. The days were long, 8am bus pickup and 7:00-7:30 pm drop-off at the hotel, but the material was well covered, and I felt that I needed it - my previous teaching experience only consisted of tutoring many undergrad physics students at university, and lecturing classes in undergrad and graduate level physics! But I found I had a knack for teaching and just followed the basic steps provided by the trainers. I knew, from past experience, that you learn a lot more by doing something than studying it, so considered everything as preparation for the main event - teaching actual classes.

During training, one of the trainees left. He was a person I didn't know too well. Apparently teaching didn't suit him - we all know Taiwan and teaching isn't for everyone. He stayed one more night in the hotel, at Hess' expense, and left for home the next day. It had some effect on the training group as a whole - it was kind of like losing a part of our whole. But the rest of us went on.

Eventually, training ended and we moved off to our branches. I was teaching in Danshui - a bit of a haul from where I was living in Beitou, but I'd told them I was happy with anything near an MRT station, so I was not too worried. Anyway, previously I'd been traveling from Beitou to NTU (Gongguan MRT) - about 1 hour - so it wasn't a big difference.

During the day off from training, I'd taken the time to go out and meet with my Head Teacher, a South African by the name of Alex. He and his wife both worked at the branch. We got along well, and when I got to the branch everything was well laid on - all my materials, schedule, etc, even a "teacher's box" with markers and stickers and stuff that they gave me as a gift. The only down side was that the teacher I was replacing had not quite finished his contract, so I would need to wait a week until I could start teaching. Alex was very apologetic about this, as it was quite an unusual situation and new teachers can start teaching almost immediately, but I wasn't worried (with my wife working, I wasn't desperate for the income). Instead of the usual two or three branch class observations, I ended up watching about seven or eight - but it was good as it allowed me to see the leaving teacher with the kids and left me get to know more about them before I started.

Once I started actually teaching, it was great. I had struggles with many things like classroom management and learning the finer points of grammar (it took me three months to figure out what a "be" verb was!) but the kids were great.

After one month of teaching, our training group went back to a follow-up training and it addressed many of the issues that we had been struggling with. At three months, six months and nine months we had more group training. Aside from the material, training was a great chance to catch up with the others from the group who we hadn't seen in a while. The only depressing thing was that each time there were one or two more who had chosen to leave, quit, whatever, and our group was slowly shrinking. Also, the teachers in Taichung and Kaohsiung were trained there, so my last training in Taipei was only a group of 20-odd people. Some people's attitudes were not so great either - everyone had a different experience and it sometimes brought you down to talk to them about their situation. Well, life is like a box of chocolates.... (FYI, there are still five from my training group of 40 still working for Hess).

Anyway, after plugging away at the branch for a while, things started to happen. In June 2004 I was phoned by someone from Main Office. Apparently, there was a Hess summer camp going on near Guandu in north Taipei and one of the six teachers had dropped out. One of my friends from training, who was going to the camp, had recommended me to go. So after a quick chat to find out what was going on (somehow I'd missed the prior announcements) and clearing it with my Head Teacher (who was very supportive), I got involved as a music teacher at the camp. Now, music was not my specialty, but fortunately the point of the camp was to keep the kids speaking English 24/7 for a week and so after a bit of work I came up with a "junk music instrument" project for the camp that seemed to fit the bill.

The camp ended up being a super experience. I put a fair bit of work into it, which was unpaid, but in the end it reaped the rewards. The camp was 90 kids, teams of 15, and they cycled around the six teachers' projects throughout the week. Each teacher had "their" team that they did all the "free activities" (like treasure hunts and games and stuff) with, and my group was awesome. By the end of the second day, a core group of three guys was leading the others round and getting stuck in doing anything - I just needed to guide them here and there and try to keep up! That experience probably remains my #1 for anything that has happened in Taiwan for me.

That started the ball rolling for my Hess career, too. About a month later, I got an email from the Director of Hess' English Human Resources Department, who said "We need to talk about training opportunities". At first, I didn't know if he was saying I should be a trainer, or needed more training! Fortunately, it turned out to be the former, and two months later (the 12th month of my time at Hess) I started working with some of the trainers who had trained me - I felt very honored and humbled that they had so much faith in me. I still believe that this was a result of the effort I had put into working at the summer camp. It probably didn't hurt that I had used to work tutoring and lecturing at the university back home - the skills I picked up there dealing with, and relating to, 20-somethings stood me good stead as time went on.

I moved away from teaching and focused on training almost exclusively. There were a few times when I wished I hadn't left my kids - most especially when the teacher who replaced me at the branch turned out to be a dud, and had to be fired for poor teaching quality (too late, as half the kids had left the class by then). I felt really bad about that, especially as I was one of those who trained her. The probably rates as one of the lowest points for me.

Anyway, time went on. I found I enjoyed being a trainer probably even more than being a teacher. For one, it was easier to handle the people you were teaching! It was really great to know that I was helping people start out on their Taiwan experience and that, as part of the training team, we were helping the kids by trying to help everyone be the best teachers they could be. I still rate training new teachers as one of the most enjoyable parts of my job today.

I've moved on further since then. I've been to Singapore on summer camps for Hess, made curriculum training DVDs, been laughed at by more kids than I can remember, helped a student to the finals of Hess' Speech and Writing competition (out of about 2000 entrants, she got 7th overall!), hosted and judged at competitions, co-hosted our Chinese New Year annual banquet, and met a lot of great people along the way.

Working for Hess continues to be superb for me. I've never taught for another school, but don't feel any need to change. Has it been all smooth sailing? Of course not. Is Hess for everyone? Of course not. But you get out what you put in, and I feel Hess has provided me with so many opportunities that I'll be here for some time to come.

[kuberkat]

Thank you for a point of view to balance things. I wonder if you will have as many views as Harritthespy, who was clocking 1 063 views last time I checked.

Now I am no psychoanalyst, but from what you have written and the way you have written it, it seems that you are one of those people who sees the doughnut. Dunno why, but all too many ELT expats I run into in Taiwan and elsewhere simply see the hole. When it comes to Hess, there is a whole lot of doughnut. And there is a whole lot of hole. You have to see the doughnut to make things happen. More power to you.

[atiff]

[*_*]

that was interesting to read, I just recently got an offer to teach for hess and I'm really excited!

I've seen some of the other topics about hess and I was apprehensive for a while, but seeing as how I'm a positive/optimistic person, I'm sure the good will outweigh the bad for me

[Northwood]

This concerns me, but I write in good faith.

I'm happy that you have found stability and future prospects with Hess, but the fact you are a trainer of teachers (with such little experience of teaching English to non native speakers, and probably with a very limited knowledge of teaching methodology) suggests that Hess needs you more than you need Hess.

What you can offer in training will be good enough for completely new teachers, but your ability to guide their development and hold their complete respect beyond 12 months would, I suggest, be fairly limited. For a start, you are compromised by the fact you have so few hours as an English teacher. Forget your lecturing positions - your specialist area of knowledge it is unrelated to the job you are now doing.

You are at a critical age for developing your own career - so, what are they offering you in the long term?

Respect for your post.

Northwood.

[Aristotle]

As alarming as this may sound there have been an increasing number of positive or neutral reports about Hess Language Schools the last few years.
The fact that they are one of the very few educational institutions in Taiwan that do a criminal background check before hiring teachers, speaks well of them as well.
Be advised that few if any experienced teachers on Taiwan will recommend working for Hess or any other chain school, however I don't think there has ever been a chain school that has tried to act in such a professional manner before.
Good luck!
A.

[SanChong]

[kuberkat]

Northwood wrote:

[DirtGuy]

atiff,

You have obviously been around the Hess organization for a while and have seen lots of people come and go. Can you give us any idea of the type of people who succeed with Hess and the type(s) that do not? Is there any way to characterize those who fit in with their program and those who do not?

Thanks.

DirtGuy

[SanChong]

Some very interesting posts by both Northwood and Kuberkat.

I'd say the question for a TEFLer comes down to this:

How do you want to live your life? If you care about having a "career" and working towards a standard retirement, then going home might be a good idea. I agree that a lot of people can get "stuck" in Taiwan and wake up in their mid 30's wondering what they are doing with their lives.

However, there is a VERY different view on this as well. I might say: Who cares about having a "standard career". I think people teaching abroad should be a LOT more proud of what we do with our lives and where we are going. We actually do have the opportunity to make a difference everyday and change lives.

I worked in as Corporate a job as possible in NY. I'm a CPA who worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for 4 years. I was making $100K USD per year. I was also working 80 hour weeks and was incredibly uninterested in the work I was doing. Working in front of a laptop with Excel spreadsheets is NOT very inspiring work.

So, I've been in both worlds. I've seen where I could go in a standard career. I've also now seen the world of TEFL. I know what I prefer. I prefer having a job that allows me time to go out, read, think and spend time with people I care about. I'm still only 27, but I feel strongly that I won't want to go back to that Corporate world. I know a lot of people complain about their jobs and wonder what they will do with their lives. I'd say this: The grass is NOT always greener. My old colleagues back home might be buying houses and have a lot of money in the bank. However, many of them are also depressed, overworked, on Prozac and generally unhappy with their lives.

No matter what, we are incredibly lucky to have been born Native English speakers in a Western country, with a University degree. We hit the jackpot of life and, I for one, am pretty damn thankful.

As for the original poster: I applaud Andrew's ability to enjoy his job and feel content with making a difference in a lot of teacher's and student's lives. Sounds like that is enough career development for him.

[mongrelcat]

yes youre right about how lucky we are being English speaking

its true

we can pretty much get a job wherever in the world we want (except the really nice places like Switzerland and Denmark etc.)

im glad you reminded me of this...sometimes i bitch and complain too much and i really needed that reminder today.

[kuberkat]

SanChong wrote:

[kuberkat]

SanChong wrote:

[kuberkat]

oops. repetition, repetition, repetition. i obviously meant it.

[timmyjames1976]

Interesting post.....

Can HESS be good, maybe.....they offer a soft landing into Taiwan and teaching Taiwanese children, but from my experience in the company, that is about all they offer. The summer camps, as described by a co-worker, are basically 16 hour days of baby sitting. She was actually told, "If you want a break, go sit on the toilet for 5 minutes."

Training? It is ok, and a few of the trainers do seem to be stand up individuals, including the poster of this thread. The training overall is a bit ridiculous, as most of it is either useless, or just doesn't work in the classroom. That sure was a cool game you just showed us, but how will that possibly work in a class with 25 students and desks you can't move out of the way? Also, most of the initial training is geared toward kindy, and when I say most, I mean close to %70-%75 of it. New HESS Teachers - be prepeared to be talked to like a 5-year-old during the entire stint of your initial training.

I could write for hours about this topic, but who has that kind of time? Especially when you work for HESS. They do keep you busy. With a lot of your time going to grading homework, creating and practicing performances and either going on, or talking your way out of dozens of extra unpaid activities that you are expected to attend.

I will break in down into a short list of pros and cons here in a minute, but I just want to state one more thing. The original poster does seem to be an ok guy, but his view of HESS is obviously bias, so it should be taken with a grain of salt. He is not a teacher. He is inside the company now in the Human Resources department, or EHRD. A "company man" will always speak highly of their employer.

I am not a company man, and I am on my way out of HESS. My views may be bias as well. A 2 or 3 year HESS teacher who does nothing but teach may be the best type of person to get a non-biased view.

Now to the pros and cons:

Pros - training, help with ARC and paper work, plenty of hours if you work kindy, maybe some advancment options...but this seems to be a bit of an innner circle


Cons - low pay, lots of unpaid time, lack of managment, complete disregard for the idea that every story has two sides (if their is an argument or misundstanding between an NST or CT, guess what? You are wrong) <---- This is from what I have witnessed happen to others many times....general lack of support although support is one of the big selling factors used to hire new teachers, many more...



Is HESS an ok start, maybe....

Would I stay with them longer? No.

Would I recommend them to a friend? No.