Job Discussion Forums

Dude Love Japan · Joined: 29 Nov 2006 Posts: 111

-I'm a 33 year-old Canadian male with a B.A. in English and CELTA living in Korea. I've been to Tw 5 times (once for 2 months) and love it. I want to teach learners 16 and over and Kojen will interview me if I go to Taipei. What do you know about them? All I know is big chain, long hours but also pays more than average, seems pretty organized and educational.
-On another note, I'm interested in IELTS examining work in Tw. Is much expected in the winter/spring? Thanks on all counts.

TwinStarLA · Joined: 30 Jul 2007 Posts: 30

I worked for KOJEN for a couple of years and had an overall good experience. They always paid on time, though I don't think they pay a higher salary to foreign teachers than most of the other schools around. Some of the Kojen branches have lots of teenage and adult classes, while others have almost completely children's classes, so make sure you get put at a location that has what you're looking for. If possible, check out a couple of the different branches and decide where you would like to be. Otherwise they might put you at some boon dock school far from the MRT. As far as I know Kojen doesn't offer IELTS classes, but perhaps that has changed. Kojen isn't perfect, but you could do an awful lot worse. As I said, I rather enjoyed my time there. Good luck and happy teaching.

Dr_Zoidberg · Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:51 am Post subject:

I can't imagine anyone making a living in Taipei teaching only 16 year-olds and up. If they're offering you enough hours for a living wage in Taipei, you can rest assured they're going to throw the entire gamut at you - from pre-school to adult.

KaiFeng · Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:40 pm Post subject:

I was in Taiwan for a couple of weeks just this month (and loved it), during which time I spoke with Kojen's manager of recruitment. She indicated that there was a general market trend towards teaching children, what with parents being more willing to invest in their children's education than their own (when it came to spending their own money that is). Surprisingly, she had little to say about the corporate scene.

She also indicated a growing trend in distance, network-based training, though I remain skeptical of this (I'm a 40-hour-a-week IT professional and Microsoft Certified Trainer).

Kojen pays on time, and will not expose you to the mindgames you see in many other schools mentoned in these forums.

markholmes · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Posts: 661 Location: Wengehua

I worked for Kojen in 2002/2003 (a while ago). They were a reasonably straght up company. We certainly had less complaints about them than some of the Hess teachers we met at that time.

Some people did only adults at that time, but many of the hours you would work were in the summer (students wanting classes in the holidays, when you could start and 7am and finish at 10pm (literally without a proper break). The hours the rest of the year were considerably less.