Ivy High School

After 4 years on the card at IVY I must admit its pretty hard to complain about the program. Its kind of a 50/50 place. When its good, it's real good, and when its not well you get the point. the Low down is this; The pay is average at best(with very little chance for a raise or rise in the ranks..as there really are no ranks),but this a salary gig which means that all holidays are paid for(including chinese new years and summer vacation). The kids(12 to 20 or 7-12 grades) are freakin awesome( well mannered and behaved, and most have some English skill to start with(which means no apple, apple, banana,banana classes), thus providing an overall good experience. The living situation in Taichung is a tricky one. The city itself is just not that exciting of place, its a much more laid back scene in comparison to Taipei. Ivy is not in the city, its in the mountains, which is a nice looking area, and much more laid back than the city. One can get really nice house or apt for 500 us a month, lower if you choose to have a roommate. Taipei for a good time is only a hour away on the HSR(for about 700nt(25us)) The Chinese staff is really nice, and aims to help whenever they can. As far as teaching goes, well its strictly ESL at about 25 hours a week. The books are good and the testing is pretty easy. All in all i would say its a solid gig, and taichung is a solid city. Not that great, but certainly nowhere near bad.