Job Discussion Forums

[elliot_spencer]

Hey, I was wondering if someone could help me. I am a UK citizen married to a Taiwanese. My wife and I have been living in the UK for the past 6 years, and her mother is not well. So, later this year, we are deciding to make the move to Taipei FOREVER! ha-ha

I myself have been working for a langauge school teaching ESOL here in England for the past 10 years (I am 30) and that's how I met my wife. Through research and despite what people say, I'd really like to work for HESS. I know they're not perfect, but then again, who is. They can however offer my security which I need above all as I have a wife and prob her family to support. Therefore, I was wondering, in advance, If I came over at 30 and worked for HESS, always did a good job (I love teaching, and always give it 110%) is it possible to work for them untill retirement? Or, does there come a point when you get to 40 and they don't renew your contract? Is it also heard of people with permission to stay in Taiwan getting contracts longer than a year.

[markholmes]

If you stayed at Hess for thirty years I think even Hess would be concerned about your fragile mental state and have you declared certifiably insane.

I am not knocking Hess, I think they are a reasonable first job in Taiwan, but unless you plan to move up the promotional ladder there you will almost certainly want to move on to better and more financially lucrative jobs within a couple of years.

There was comment here a while back about someone not having their contract renewed after a few years there, but I haven't heard any other stories about this.

Once you have landed here and worked for a chain school for a year or two you will understand what I mean. I don't think there is a company in the world that offers financial security for life anymore. I don't believe Hess is any more or less secure than any other chain school.

The main thing is they offer you the soft landing that I think you are looking for, but if you want to support a wife and family who will have to move on sooner or later.

You may also want to check out www.kojenenglish.com (perhaps that may need .tw on the end too). Somebody might dispute this, but I think they may be a better option than Hess.

[elliot_spencer]

Thanks Mark,

Well, Can I say, I am aware of myself as I person, and please take it from me, I want to teach kids untill I drop dead. I have been teaching for the past 12 years, 7 years as a kindergarten and the rest in ESOL. I am a born teacher and it's my life, I did not get the teaching bug while at university nor as a way to see the world!

I disagree with your comment (sorry) but, there are people all over the world teaching kindergarten and primary kids till they're 65 and even working an nursary schools, I am sure people do it where you;re from too! So, why would doing it in taiwan be any different! I mean, it's teaching kids of the same age, but, they just speak another language.

Would u not agree?

Thanks

[Taylor]

Hello Elliot,

Thanks for posting!

After teaching for a chain school for a few years, you'll probably begin to consider opening your own school.

Best wishes!

Taylor
Kaohsiung

[markholmes]

Sorry, I think you misunderstood me. I loved teaching kindy and I think there is nothing wrong with teaching preschool / kindergarten until you drop dead, you just probably won't want to do it for that long at Hess.

I wasn't questioning your stamina for teaching little ones, I was questioning the work environment in which you want to do it.

[Dr_Zoidberg]

[markholmes]

[elliot_spencer]

Dr_Zoidberg wrote:

elliot_spencer wrote: ... there are people all over the world teaching kindergarten and primary kids till they're 65 and even working an nursary schools, I am sure people do it where you;re from too! So, why would doing it in taiwan be any different! Western teaching strives to build and expand upon previously acquired information. Chinese teaching aims for forced memorization of large sums of data without any understanding. Well, in the UK, we follow government guiidelends and all my teacher mates teach the same S**T year in year out! You may also wish to consider that in Taiwan you get no sick days, no pension, no benefits of any kind, and Aristotle is the head of your teachers' union.

Well, is this not the same in TEFL schools world-wide apart from those back home etc? I heard Europe, Japan and Thailand all have this problem?

[elliot_spencer]

[quote]Western teaching strives to build and expand upon previously acquired information. Chinese teaching aims for forced memorization of large sums of data without any understanding. [/quote]

Well, in the UK, we follow government guiidelends and all my teacher mates teach the same S**T year in year out!

[elliot_spencer]

[quote="markholmes"]

Quote:

Markholmes is being tongue-in-cheek, of course, with his quip that you would be certifiably insane after thirty years. His point, and I agree, is that your enquiry shouldn't be Can I teach English in Taiwan for thirty years?, but rather Why would I want to?

Of course it was tongue in cheek. Elliot, your question is somewhat irrelevant, because once you have been in Taiwan for six months you will realise that you will want to move on eventually. You are 30 years old and you have plenty of time to find your feet and move on to more lucrative opportunities (I am still refering to teaching opportunities), you may even open your own school.

I sense nervousness in your posts. Don't worry, get your job Hess (or Kojen) and take it from there. I have known a couple of people who have lived in Taiwan for 20 years plus. Believe me the last thing they were thinking about was getting a job with a chain school.[/quote]

My wife is Taiwanese, wheter I like it or not, I am staying!

[clark.w.griswald]

If you stayed at Hess for such a long period of time I think that you would find that you would probably spend less time in the classroom and more time on other things as time progressed. Training, recruitment, curriculum development are all things that spring to mind for someone who has a deal of experience with the school.

Or as Taylor says you could go out and start up your own school. Things are competitive but there is a market.

[atiff]

Hi all,

Just for the record, there are a few foreign staff at Hess that have been here more than 10 years and, as Clark says, most are in positions other that "front-line" teaching. However, our longest-serving foreign staff member has been here over 15 years, and is still teaching a full load of regular classes without "other things".

My point: you could stay here a long time and follow the path of your choosing.

[Serious_Fun]

[elliot_spencer]

atiff wrote:

Hi all, Just for the record, there are a few foreign staff at Hess that have been here more than 10 years and, as Clark says, most are in positions other that "front-line" teaching. However, our longest-serving foreign staff member has been here over 15 years, and is still teaching a full load of regular classes without "other things". My point: you could stay here a long time and follow the path of your choosing.

Does Hess discriminate against teachers age though? Is there a possibilty Hess won't renew a contract as the teacher is ageing despite them being fantastic at thier job?

[atiff]

Tough question and I say that mainly because "discrimination" can mean different things to different people.

We follow the law in Taiwan, and I don't believe in age being an issue. But we do consider the role of the job, which is English teacher, representative of Western culture, and "face" for the school in terms of image and advertising. Some of these roles require specific things such as energy level, good attitude, ability to work with well with colleagues of other cultures (not just Taiwanese colleagues, but different Western cultures as well), etc, etc. We then pick what we feel are the best of our applicants to fill our positions.

I can also say, we definitely don't refuse to renew teachers' contracts based on age. It's not "30, you're out!" (or 35, or 40, or...). So I don't think there is any cause for concern there.

FYI, I was 31 when hired at a teacher by Hess, and with a Physics degree no less! I think if I can be accepted based on these things which some might consider to be "not in my favor", there's hope for everyone