Hess Educational Organization Taiwan

Dan McDonald on Fri, 22nd Feb 2008 2:22 pm 



It boggles my mind that Hess has such a low score, and no comments. I worked for Hess in Hsinchu for three years. In that time I got a C contract, (double kindergarten), and didn’t work at night. I thought the Si Wei staff was incredibly friendly. Never had any problems with anything, and always had a lot of fun. I thought the Ju Bei kindy staff was super. The school ran like clockwork, and everyone was pretty happy. There is always a lot of work to be done at a Hess kindergarten, and a lot of people probably don’t like to work that much, but if you enjoy your job, there is no better place to be. I also really like that Hess sets you up on the island, has a loan available, and helps with housing. You really couldn’t ask for more help if this is your first teaching gig. Also the whole Taichung/Hsinchu area is run by the same NAM, or foreign manager. She was very accessible, and super friendly, even though the management at both of those schools took a lot of abuse from teachers that just didn’t want to be there.

frmerrin on Mon, 7th Jul 2008 3:37 am 



I worked for Hess for about 4 months. I worked Kindegarten and Night Classes (split shift). I previously had no personal, professional or educational experience to work with children of these ages. First, I really enjoyed teaching the kids, however, the Hess regime is quite strict and structured around having every minute of the kid’s day planned. What does this mean to the teacher? For me, I really had difficulty with what I felt was more of a day-care job then a teaching job. Second, after I arrived I found out that foreigners are not legally sanctioned to teach in Taiwan. We were asked to hide or go to the roof when government officials visited the building. So, there is a risk involved, I never heard of a Hess teacher getting deported, but I left when several local schools were being raided. Apparently, the competition is quite stiff and there are payoffs from schools to the police to ”investigate” competitors. During these raids several teachers were caught and deported. Third, I thought that Hess’ training program was first-rate, the communication was pretty much one-way and there was not alot of support for classroom problems. However, Hess will do everything it can to get you settled. Finally, we were told the first week of training that 85% of us wouldnt be there in a month, I fell into that category due to pretty much what I described here, also there was a bit of only wanting a ‘white face’ in the classroom. I think that if Hess were to be a little more truthful and focus more on retaining teachers by listening to them, and doing things legally then it could be a better school. I especially dont recommend it for older teachers, this experience was more MTV than I care to admit, it was like being stuck in a 24 hour commercial where you were always expected to be the game show host.

jax on Sun, 3rd Aug 2008 11:03 pm 



HESS educational organization - what more can I say than to read the above posts and do your research on the company itself. HESS itself is like any business organization, it might work out for you, it might not work out. Humans are individuals, and companies are individuals. Pretty much like chemicals, when two chemicals react they cause a reaction.

Therefore on the above analysis HESS will either work out for you or they will not. The good points about HESS are that they are a large organization, they have extensive visa processing and documentation handling expertise which makes getting to Taiwan easier for you and also that being a large company you would *imagine* (how can we tell?) that your hours and job contracts are safe. Other good points are that with being a large organization there are opportunities for teachers to go into other things - teacher training, H&R and other roles possibily. If you have seen the corporate literature on their website then you will be more than aware of this. On top of this HESS has many branches, so you can potentially find work all over the island, depending your needs or personal / geographical preference.

The middling points of HESS or the negative points of HESS for me were the following. The HESS TEFL certification which you will earn if you complete a one year contract within the company is not actually recognised by any school or body other than HESS itself. To my knowledge, although I might albeit wrong it is not validated or accredited by an external body and therefore cannot really be deemed to be worth the same value as a CELTA or Trinity TEFL cert or any course recognised by the British Council or other bodies.

If you are thinking of doing ESL seriously it would be worth picking up an ESL course before heading abroad. If anything this equips you better for the classroom as you have some initial training and also can give you a recognised qualification to work with your degree which can be a big aid for job interviews. Also you may find out even from the initial training back in your home country if teaching is even for you…

Other points regarding HESS. There are no flight reimbursements or flight allowances, a training period by which you are assessed and can fail (without actually being observed teaching kids in a classroom). This I find to be a bit bizarre as on a CELTA you are told you are just getting theory / a lot of grammar and also tips on how to perform in front of an audience. Kids are totally different to training with teachers who pretend to be kids. “Nothing teaches like teaching” and therefore expect to only learn when you are with real kids. Can my Kindergarten or “Kindy” really be assed with fellow teacher trainees training to be kids when a real kid aged 2 - 5 is going to be totally different? Of course not. Therefore imagine you can be out of a job before you even get in… most make it through… but… some don’t… either ways though… worth thinking about… #

The HESS teaching methodology and style is also very unique cocktail of teaching ideas. Teaching in HESS is rigid but this might be more of an understatement, teaching here is pretty much like playing Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero… you have to hit the right steps at the right time in a sequential order to impress and also to do the job right by their methodology. That means implementing a unique approach called VARG (Vision, Actions, Rythme and Game) into everything you do. And also utilising a method called “Set-Up - Demo - Do and Wrap” and a five step method in all areas of teaching. HESS require you to say words in certain ways - using hand gestures for every word, and also using C-C-C-C- cake for example to rythmes and hand gestures, even in older classes.

This was something I found slightly strange, as when kids reach maybe seven or older is this necessary to do? Also, a good lesson according to Jeremy Harmer (godfather of ESL!!!) would be to make sure it covers the 4 skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking - which HESS have repackaged as VARG) and also to make sure any activity is demoed so students know what they are doing.

However the steps or the patterns are very, very specific here. Teachers act and teach more like clones of each other from the videos and also training I was able to observe and in reality this is completely fine. HESS are the employer and they can do what they wish - they pay your wages so they can ask you to teach how they wish but if you look back to a key area of human psychology most people will see that teachers are humans. Humans are unique. Teachers have different teaching styles.

Speaking to a few teachers or also westerners I have met who either have friends or have worked or do work for HESS at various branches the conclusion was the same. HESS is a good company to work for but the teaching can be rigid and also can feel restrictive at times and this can I imagine somewhere months down into the line of working for them become a bit annoying.

Most people I have heard have said that working for HESS is a good way to begin in Taiwan but many people move on to pick up a better paid or better hour suited job further down the line. The best way of doign Taiwan would probably be a stable hour job and some privates if possible in terms of revenue maximisation.

HESS contract options are an A (probably the best deal) - C (double Kindy and great if you like kids) and B which is a split shift kindy and HLS. The reality looking back now and Im sure many other trainee teachers are thinking is that contract B will be a killer as it’s a split shift. The best deals HESS offer are probably contract A and also C.

HESS will also be a unique experience depending on your branch. The team there mean every experience for each individual will be unique. I’ve heard people have heard either great experiences at some branches or not so good at other branches. Just like any job. The group of people and their attitudes makes up the spices in the melting pot I guess…

One other point… teaching Kindergarten is actually ILLEGAL here… and HESS will tell you this when they come here. It’s a “grey” law in many ways but is it really that grey? Schools here I have heard have been raided and also teachers have been deported but HESS teachers are safe. Probably because they are the biggest school on the island and with that are able to protect their staff. If you read the first post though you will see that HESS kindys have been raided as well, I doubt that it’s not happened before…

As with anything, it’s nicer to know if you are working legally. Work on a day or evening contract with non kindergarten kids and you are fine. TO be honest after looking at most of the young Americans and Canadians here I wonder how many actually want to be a Kindergarten teacher!!!

HESS pretty much is a business. If they like you, your in, if not your out. Decent people? Depends on your branch and manager. They are a business at the end of the day and are out to make money.

Another thing is the western management system is very much American. If you are expecting it to be like continental Europe or elsewhere you will be in for a shock. That means you can’t be “friends” with your co-workers and the degree to which you can be “open” with them is culturally different as well. Any degree of humanism is out of the window, or is getting to know people. Things we can talk about at home are gone, or completely out. As much as I appreciate the US perspective here, have any of them actually been to or lived or spent extended periods of time in other countries? Probably not.

Last day of training for me was exiting HESS’s main building and sitting down on the steps and having a western business man come up to me and talk to me, and guess what - he was Spanish!!!

He understood everything… and explained he felt the same working in Taiwan as he is Spanish but that back home things are done in a Spanish way, even though its an American company with similiar management structure. That says something, in my first week in Taiwan I’ve been out with Germans, Serbians and Spanish as well as Taiwanese.

I never expect Americans or people from remote insular countries geographically very remote to other areas of the world (unlike europe) to theorise or understand other cultures, or Europe or other things as really its the classic debate between objectivism and subjectivity. Can you really know something through just having external information sources you cannot validify and just subjectively analyse it or do you become objective and actually go there and experience for yourself. It has to be with cultures to really understand the first not the latter… in my opinion…

Therefore I think it’s time the Americans and other cultures did what we Europeans do as our birth-right and play “mark polo” with world cultures.

My advice to anyone coming to Taiwan is plan to be here at least a month to pick up the right job, maybe even 6 weeks. Bring enough cash to do this, and also if you are here check out HESS. It could be great for you but it might not be. Also though do check out the other options as well. There are plenty of other options here in Taiwan for native speaking teachers!!!

If Hess isn’t your bag big deal. They seem to be recruiting all of the time, which says a lot about their HR and also about their turnover. Its odd why such a turnover should exist as the culture and how far your money goes here is lot further than back home and you can save cash here as well. It’s a beautiful place and a great country.

My advice… check them out but don’t come here for HESS without expecting to possibly have to consider your other options!!!

Their marketing is clever, but, don’t be fooled by the videos and corporate slant on things. A lot of their customers are experiencing something right now in my training group called “cognitive dissonance”. I have no doubt they are aware of this term and what it means and where that comes in the consumer decision making or buyer process model but hey… if not Wikipedia is at hand!!!

Either ways try HESS it might be your thing and for many of you it will - for others it won’t. Just be aware of all the points and research the company.

And as with anything life is a risk!

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!