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adogadie
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 82
Location: Taiwan
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 Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: Wells School |
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I have been there for a few months. The one located just south of Changhua city. It's a school for college and adult students. The students pay a large sum, and then they can attend any class they want.
The trouble is with this particular branch is that most of the English teachers are Taiwanese that have lived over seas. I don't have a beef with that. There are a few white teachers from UK, USA, Canada and SA there as well. But the majority of classes are given to the Taiwanese teachers; yet I still don't have a problem with that, but the students and staff seem very cold toward the non-Taiwanese teachers; except for one that is very tall and good looking.
I don't know if it is me, but I wonder if the manager and Taiwanese teachers talk a lot of crap about the foreign teachers, and thus the Taiwanese teachers and students seem to not want to attend the foreigner's classes or they are just being taught not to like us. Maybe I am wrong about all this. But it just feels that way. I have worked for adult schools in Taipei, Taichung and ChangHua several years ago, and I have never felt the way I do now. I always felt good about myself and my students.
My manager, who is Taiwanese seems very cool. He always talks about Korea, and now he is quiting and moving on to a job in Korea.
Any insights about Well Schools? Are they all like this? That is, they put a lot of premium on hiring their own nationals.
Eh, Maybe it just me. I don't know. What do you guys think?  |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:27 am Post subject: |
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Sorry - can't really help you with your situation, I've always found that the Taiwanese teachers have been friendly and accomodating but perhaps they feel slighted because the Foreigners make more money with less schooling / grammar knowledge / workload? I dunno.
However, would love to hear of your experiences working at adult schools in Changhua and Taichung though. A bit of a threadjack I admit but if you feel like sharing contact info or names of some schools I'd be very interested. |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:52 am Post subject: Re: Wells School |
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| adogadie wrote: |
I have been there for a few months. The one located just south of Changhua city. It's a school for college and adult students. The students pay a large sum, and then they can attend any class they want.
The trouble is with this particular branch is that most of the English teachers are Taiwanese that have lived over seas. I don't have a beef with that. There are a few white teachers from UK, USA, Canada and SA there as well. But the majority of classes are given to the Taiwanese teachers; yet I still don't have a problem with that, but the students and staff seem very cold toward the non-Taiwanese teachers; except for one that is very tall and good looking.
I don't know if it is me, but I wonder if the manager and Taiwanese teachers talk a lot of crap about the foreign teachers, and thus the Taiwanese teachers and students seem to not want to attend the foreigner's classes or they are just being taught not to like us. Maybe I am wrong about all this. But it just feels that way. I have worked for adult schools in Taipei, Taichung and ChangHua several years ago, and I have never felt the way I do now. I always felt good about myself and my students.
My manager, who is Taiwanese seems very cool. He always talks about Korea, and now he is quiting and moving on to a job in Korea.
Any insights about Well Schools? Are they all like this? That is, they put a lot of premium on hiring their own nationals.
Eh, Maybe it just me. I don't know. What do you guys think? |
If it's like other adult schools-- and experience tends to tell me it probably is-- then most lower-level classes are being taught by the local teachers. Only higher-level conversation classes are taught by the foreign teachers and the number of students daring to take those classes will be smaller. Taiwanese students also have a preference for teachers who teach with a teacher-centered style, emphasizing grammatical analysis, translation, correction and memorization over fluency. Local teachers are just more within many students' comfort zones. |
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adogadie
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 82
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 5:35 am Post subject: Re: Wells School |
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| TaoyuanSteve wrote: |
If it's like other adult schools-- and experience tends to tell me it probably is-- then most lower-level classes are being taught by the local teachers. Only higher-level conversation classes are taught by the foreign teachers and the number of students daring to take those classes will be smaller. Taiwanese students also have a preference for teachers who teach with a teacher-centered style, emphasizing grammatical analysis, translation, correction and memorization over fluency. Local teachers are just more within many students' comfort zones. |
I think you are right. I guess that I will have to lay off the CLT approach a bit, and go ballistic with some of that grammar translation stuff. Try out the less lazier approach sort of speak. |
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adogadie
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 82
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:58 am Post subject: |
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| yamahuh wrote: |
| However, would love to hear of your experiences working at adult schools in Changhua and Taichung though. A bit of a threadjack I admit but if you feel like sharing contact info or names of some schools I'd be very interested. |
What can I tell ya? A few years ago, I worked for ELSI, but I think they changed into Kojen, and for Anderson in Taipei; Global village in Taichung and for a couple other no-names. Wells School is the first adult school I have worked for since last April; which is located south of ChangHua City. They need another or a few more foreigners. If you are interested dropped me a message. Global village and a couple of other testing centers are located here as well, but I don't know anything about them. |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:05 pm Post subject: |
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| adogadie wrote: |
Wells School is the first adult school I have worked for since last April; which is located south of ChangHua City. They need another or a few more foreigners. If you are interested dropped me a message. |
You're hardly giving them a glowing reference...  but who knows? I'm currently only about 4 months into a contract but I have to drop some potentially unwelcome news on my employer soon. She may take it with a shrug and a with a bit of negotiation we may reach a meaningful compromise or she may react as if I've smacked her upside the head with a 2 X 4. If it's the latter I may be seeking alternative employers sooner than I thought. If so I'll be sure to drop you a PM. |
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adogadie
Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 82
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 8:36 am Post subject: |
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| yamahuh wrote: |
| You're hardly giving them a glowing reference... but who knows? |
Remember, that's just me and my feelings; which are often blue at times. Others that work here seemed to be getting along fine. There's one dude that works there and at a University nearby. There's also a ton of busibans located in a couple areas. Schools like Hess, Joy, David's and others.
The Wells School manager has quit last week for unspecified reasons, though; and I haven't met the new manager, yet. The lovely and attractive secretary is handling everything for me; that is printing out my lesson plans off my USB and with making copies. I always play dumb, so she comes to my aid and helps me out. It's an enjoyable experience to sit and watch her work
Good luck with your bargaining strategies and tactics. If you've got to make a move, and you are ideally located just south of Changhua City near HuaTan, then leave me a pm. |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 9:01 am Post subject: |
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Ahhh - The lovely Taiwanese secretary - how I love to watch them work...
Definitley will drop you a line if it all goes pear shaped.
Cheers! |
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