Program Reviews

My review must be taken as a dual review of the program (Reach to Teach) and the school (Anji Shangshu Private High School). Reach to Teach and their staff were and have been nothing but helpful during the process of applying for the job and getting over here. They are in no way related to the conditions of my every day life here in Anji.

As far as the school is concerned, I'm really incredibly disappointed: the school has provided no help in the way of determining student level and required materials; finding and procuring teaching materials; developing a syllabus; enforcing student discipline, etc... In fact, I asked what methods for disciplining students there are and was told that there are none: this even extends to the point of other teachers having told me about students attempting to physically assault them last year! (an offense for which there is no punishment: the students are kept at the school to keep their parents' money flowing in. Additionally, the students are incredibly unmotivated, poorly behaved and disrespectful, including such behaviour as talking over the teacher at normal, conversational volume during class and unplugging the teacher's aids (e.g. dvd player) to plug in and charge their cellphones. After just 2 months of trying to teach them, I've really reached the end of my rope.

In short: my reviews are as follows: Reach to Teach: 9 out of 10, Anji Shangshu Private High School: 2 out of 10

Reach to Teach is a great service and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to find a teaching job in Taiwan. The staff are super helpful and always willing to lend a hand in any problems that might arise. 10/10

I've been teaching ESL for several years now. I taught in South Korea for two years before making the decision to move to Taiwan. I found both of my teaching positions through Reach To Teach, and my recruiters were excellent. Their correspondence was always on time. I received numerous phone calls and check-ins from both of my recruiters during the job hunting process. They took time to answer my questions and helped me navigate through contracts and visa procedures. The schools that I was placed at were good schools that paid well and took care of me. My favorite part about Reach To Teach is their monthly events. They don't hold a lot of events in South Korea, but the Taiwan events were a lot of fun and I had a support network in place within my first month of moving to Taiwan, and Reach To Teach's support was on-going throughout my time abroad. I have recommended Reach To Teach to a number of friends and co-workers over the years, not only because their services are free, but also because it's a great organization that genuinely seems to care for their teachers.

For anyone interested in moving abroad, I highly recommend Reach to Teach. I have worked with other recruiting agencies in the past, and from my experience, Reach to Teach has offered me the most assistance. I mostly worked with the China Recruitment Department, and was very impressed with the updates and callbacks post-interview. Reach to Teach matched me with the best job through Kid Castle. Kid Castle is an after school academy that relies on the Total Physical Response teaching method. I find this school a very effective program for teaching English, and am so happy with my job situation. From both sides, Reach to Teach and Kid Castle made a great effort to help me, up until I arrived in China. If I had questions, I continued to ask both sides for answers, and both provided the best solutions. I have heard stories of people never hearing from their recruiters after they take a job offer, but I never experienced this with Reach to Teach. I felt they were honest, listened to what I wanted in a job (rather than trying to fill the next available spot in any school), and gave immediate response to e-mails. I know that anyone going through Reach to Teach will find what they need.

Make no mistake, teaching is a very difficult job. You will find your patience tried in ways that you couldn't have imagined in advance, and there are a number of unique challenges facing a foreign teacher.

With that having been said, I haven't regretted taking the plunge yet. I have learned and grown as a person so much since I've gotten here, and Korea is a wonderful place to go for any first-time teachers. Koreans are by and large very friendly, the other foreigners you'll meet will almost certainly be interesting and intelligent people, and teaching is a very rewarding experience.

I can't stress enough how helpful John and the other people at Reach to Teach were during my application process. I kind of doubt I'd have made it all if it weren't for them, to be honest. They were always willing to answer my questions, patiently worked with me through the arduous task of gathering all the documents together, and called me on a moment's notice to talk through something. Getting it all done would have been infinitely harder without them, and I highly recommend them to anyone thinking about teaching in East Asia.

It's been a couple years, but I had an overall great experience. Working with the children was extremely rewarding, but the school never paid me for overtime when they asked me to stay behind to make backdrops and decorations. I think it's a cultural thing, because in the U.S. we always got paid for overtime. Just be careful of that, so that they don't take advantage of your time. The pay was great though, and after my year of teaching I got to go on a huge 2 month trip throughout Asia. I believe we visited 9 countries, and still had money left over! The people I met there were great, and Taiwanese people are incredibly nice, though a little shy, so you need to give them a chance to warm up to you. :)

I'm so happy I went to Korea through Reach To Teach. The entire process was laid out to me in a step by step format. I always felt that I knew what the next step was and my recruiter John always kept me well informed on the required paperwork and estimated times for processing the paperwork.

Life in Korea has been great so far. The people have been very understanding of the fact that I am a foreigner here and have helped me settle into this country. My co-teachers have been amazing as well. They helped me set up a bank account, find an apartment (which is paid for by EPIK) and sign up for a cell phone. After the first few months it really starts to feel like a home.

The orientation was wonderful. Amazing presenters. The only thing I would change was our free time. It's our first time in Korea and we were give NO time to explore. I would take away the 10pm curfew and extend it to midnight, and maybe give us one day off to have the chance to explore a bit.

Other than that, I learned a lot of practical information from the presenters that were chosen.

I am a teacher for a hogwon franchise called Topia. I was placed by Reach to Teach. Throughout the entire process, the staff at Reach to Teach has been incredibly helpful and supportive. I have been very impressed that they continued to stay in touch with me after starting my position.

Overall I am satisfied with my job at Topia. The pay is decent and the housing is super convenient. I can walk to my school and I live adjacent to a main subway line. My coworkers are all very nice and my boss is easy to talk to. I teach elementary and middle school. The elementary kids are awesome, but the middle schoolers can be challenging sometimes.

My only complaint about Topia is that they make it very difficult to take vacation days. Also, they do not have as many holidays as public schools.

Overall I have been having a fantastic experience. I have tried many new foods, got back into hiking and outdoorsy adventures, and have participated in tons of festivals and events in the Seoul area. I have met tons of amazing people from all over the world. I highly recommend using Reach to Teach to find jobs in South Korea.

Reach to teach provided a great service to help me with securing a placement teaching in South Korea. Not only did they help with the front end process but the staff and members are available throughout for support with my time in Korea.