Joy in Taichung was anything but a joy, worst work experince so far

Joy is a franchise cram school so I can't say that every school is the same but given the very bad experience I had at a school in Taichung, I cannot recommend them.

I worked for a Joy school in Taichung that was run by two people Tony and Rachel but at the rate some people seem to change their English names who knows what they are called today. Neither Tony or Rachel were what I would say are fluent in English. I learned what matters the most in creating an English school is do you have enough money to open a school.

I was lied to from day one. They lied about my pay, how they thought I was doing, my hours. I'll try to be succinct. First, I was forced to call in sick and missed one day of work in the first few weeks because I got terrible food poisoning and was in the hospital. I actually only missed one day of work even though I was anything but recovered. The acted like everything was fine. For missing one day of work I was penalized 20% of my first months pay. Zero understanding that food in Taiwan made me sick. This was bad enough and I should have just quit right there.

They frequently told me I was doing great and they were very happy with my work. Over the course of the next few weeks I often saw them interviewing other foreigners while I was teaching. I didn't think much of this at first until just by chance I recognized one of the people they interviewed in an internet café. I found out that Tony had told this guy that I was going to go back home in a few weeks and they needed a replacement for me. Wow! About this time I realized just how deceptive Tony and Rachel had been.

The school did not teach very high quality classes by any standard. The books had many mistakes and shockingly when I pointed out some of them, my English was called into question. Really? Its like they were offended that I had pointed out some mistakes. They actually wanted me to teach the incorrect English in their books.

These folks were the least professional managers I have ever had to deal with. Like a Taiwanese friend said it is "shameful" I was treated so bad.

Thankfully I was able to quit and find another school that treated me much better.

There are a few other things you should know about teaching in Taiwan that these websites don't seem to tell very often.

First, the Chinese teachers may act like your friends and hopefully you will make some good ones but in reality most seemed to hold a resentment towards me because I made more money than them and they felt they were better teachers. Thoughts like having to spend a lot of money on a plane ticket to get there never seem to cross their minds.

Second, you are mostly there because you are a foreign face and that is what the parents want to see.

Third, At the chain franchise cram schools any previous teaching knowledge or experience you have may be completely disregarded. Even if you actually want to really "teach" I found that I was usually unable to really do so. I would say that in many of the classes the kids were little more than memorizing parrots. They had no real understanding of the language. If you don't care, great take your pay check and be happy. If you want to really teach then be very choosy about where you work.

Ask good questions in the interviews and most importantly make sure you talk to some former teachers. Best of luck.