This is an internet based Hess Educational Organization review. Detailed information about Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan is needed by teachers around the world. Hess Educational Organization is a Language Institute in Taiwan and it’s in need of ratings. Ratings and comments will help other teachers learn more about Hess Educational Organization. If someone was interested in teaching in Taiwan, would this school be a good place to start? Is Hess Educational Organization a great place to work or is it in need of improvement?
Name of School: Hess Educational Organization
| City: | Country: |
| Taiwan | |
| Admin Contact: | Admin Contact Email: |
| Type: | Site Admin Notes: |
| Language Institute |
Overall Quick Rating: 
(161 votes, average: 2.33 out of 5)
Loading ...
Ratings are good for teachers who are new to Teaching English as a Foreign Language or teachers who are interested in international travel. Good international teaching jobs can be difficult to find so these school reviews can help you find find success with a great international teaching job that allows you to enjoy international travel to exciting international destinations. TEFL School Reviews should be your first stop after you finish your TEFL certificate course.
Rating a school is simple. You can quickly rate any school overall on a scale of 1 to 5 using our quick rating. If you would like to leave more indepth ratings, then please comment. In your comment, please provide more information about your experiences at Hess Educational Organization.
Please rate Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan on your personal experiences with this Language Institute.
The comments and rating about this Language Institute give you an idea about what others are saying about Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan. Please rate Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan only one time, no matter how good or bad they are. If they really are very good or very bad, leave a comment with specifics.
It’s best not to use these ratings and comments as anything but a rough guide. TEFL School Reviews is not responsible for any actions resulting from use or misuse of this information and the ratings and comments may or may not reflect the opinions of TEFL School Reviews.
We all have a brain and we know that we shouldn’t believe or not not believe something just because it’s on the internet. Use a bit of common sense, anyone can make a rating or a comment. For more information, check out the site disclaimer.
Please submit any specific comments you have about Hess Educational Organization in Taiwan using the form below.
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.
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.
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!
I had an interview with Robbie Austin from Hess and he told me that they couldnt hire me because I dont have an American accent. I had said in my first contact with Hess that that I was Irish, so I wonder why they wasted my time with an application form and pre-interview questionare.
I started out at HESS with all the best intentions, but a few months in to working for them it became very clear that they didn’t care about anything other than making money, they most certainly didn’t care about learning outcome for the children and they made that perfectly clear when they ask you to give students a ‘fair’ grade (e.g. 85+ preferably in the 90′s) even if they don’t deserve it, in other words fake the grade to make it look good to the parents, also they will pass students when they’ve failed a level and outright lie to their parents about their academic performance, therefore fleecing the parents for all their hard earned cash, this most certainly isn’t something I felt comfortable about being part of.
Hess’s teaching materials are very rigid and don’t allow for any deviation in terms of how you teach, also the materials are uninspired and don’t allow the children to see what they’re learning in a greater context, at the end of the Hess curriculum the children I came across could barely read, write or speak English with any fluency, even after about 8 years of ‘learning’ with Hess, for example I did a telephone test with some students who were at the end of the Hess curriculum and they couldn’t understand even simple questions.
Overall I was not impressed with Hess’s conduct towards me, they provided little support, they were quite critical right from the start, they didn’t provide me with any feedback on my teaching for several months and their training was pathetic, also I felt that their follow up TEFL trainings were less about training us and more about getting feedback on their materials and getting our ideas for games etc so that they could correct them and use our ideas to make their materials better, they didn’t care too much about making us better teachers, also their TEFL isn’t worth anything as it isn’t accredited by anyone, it’s just a ploy to get teachers to sign up with them.
I do have to say that I agree about their clever marketing, most of their videos on the web are very cleverly executed to draw you in and make you think they’re a reputable and trustworthy organization, but lets face it, they blatantly flout the law here, they have an incredibly high turnover rate not only for the native speakers but also for Taiwanese staff members too, overall not a great company.
If you see comments on websites like this one where ‘someone’ is bleating on about how good Hess are and how they offer a TEFL, start up loan and about how helpful they are, be aware that they have people whose job it is to write that stuff, you’ll see it on their website and you see it all over the place where their organization is mentioned, it’s to try and keep their image sweet so that they can hire as many teachers as they possibly can because they have such a high turnover, which makes you think that perhaps if they treated their staff better and paid them better then they wouldn’t have such a high turnover.
Also be aware that they’ll expect you to work 40 hours for 20 hours pay and they won’t pay you for national holidays, so be prepared to be very tired and run down and to have very little cash over Chinese New Year, and if you’re sick don’t expect any support, financial or otherwise because they just won’t give a damn.
I would say that if you’re going to come to Taiwan to teach English that Hess might not be the best place to go, I think the best thing to do would be to come over on an extended visa and look for a good job as Hess cannot be trusted, also if you’re not ‘white’ then Hess may not hire you or pass you through their initial training programme, because if they have their teacher quota for that period in time then they’d rather have a ‘white’ face in the classroom and in front of the parents, if you’re from a different ethnic background they’ll most likely wait-list you.
One more point I’d like to make with regards to their initial training, it’s really short and pathetic (you don’t get much useful information) and if you don’t ‘pass’ it then they’ll say tough luck we’re revoking our offer of employment, generally that revocation could be if they don’t like the look of you or for any reason really (and that’s after you’ve paid for your plane ticket).
Do your research and shop around for a job in Taiwan as there are much better prospects than Hess out there.
I’m in Taipei and live 2 minutes from Hess in Minquan E. Rd. I was referred to apply to Hess by two former Hess teachers. I applied for an open teaching position and they liked my resume and credentials. They replied back to me and seemed genuinely interested in setting up an interview and such. However, they asked for a picture of me and when I sent them my picture, suddenly they didn’t want to interview me even though I lived 2 minutes walking distance from them.
I did not make the interview stage even though they said they gave me questionnaires that I answered for them to conduct an interview. They said “due to the number of highly qualified available pool of candidates” that they won’t take me to the next stage. But I saw online and in number of job ads that they were looking to hire immediately and I met all their qualifications and more. So if they have an already qualified pool of candidates why are they continuously posting ads that they need candidates. I LIVE 2 MINUTES FROM HESS!
I later found out, that the main reason I didn’t get accepted by them was because when I sent them my picture, they saw I was not Caucasian. I WASN’T WHITE ENOUGH even though I was a native English speaker and have way above average credentials.
It’s not just Hess either. I found this reality the hard way. Every teaching position I applied for in Taiwan I never sent them a picture of me unless asked. Naturally they would reply in high interest and when they ask for a picture and I send them one, I never hear from them again. I am so frustrated. Even though I’m in Taipei and have the proper credentials (diploma, certification, experience, work ethics, etc) and live near all these jobs I’m applying for, they don’t hire me because I’m NOT FUCKING WHITE. I’m a tanned Asian.
I tried going through some hiring companies in Taiwan to help me find a position. I was thankful enough to run into a Taiwanese American, who was a hiring agent at this company, to help me find a job. She told me the reason why I can’t find a job even though you are qualified is “because I’m not white enough” and that Taiwanese or schools are ashamed to have other Asians (other than Taiwanese/Chinese) that can speak English so well teach! Fuck Hess… I applied Hess 3 times… all turned down and said I can apply again in 6 months… Funny thing is… one of the former Hess teachers that told me to apply and use him as a reference, was Korean American (he looked full Korean) with an American name….. He told me he never really saw anyone with dark skin in Hess. I was more qualified than he was, but he got the job with Hess cause his skin was whiter than mine. Now he teaches some where better cause Hess opened other opportunities cause it looks good on your resume.
FUCK HESS!!!
I started for Hess last July and plan to stay until my contract ends August 15th of this year; at which point I’m going to be working for a different English school in Taiwan.
Hess is a large company and everyone who works for them has a different experience (largely branch dependent). Many of the foreign teachers I know spit blood when talking about Hess; whether they’ve actually worked for them or not. To be honest, for me Hess was a lot like any other job–it had ups and downs.
I absolutely love my kids and co-teachers; I could not have asked for better people to work with. On that note, I disagree that Hess doesn’t care about their students. Every branch is different–and I’ve heard some awful stories from others; but when I think about my own co-workers (foreign teachers, Chinese teachers, management) I cannot think of a single individual who, at the end of the day, didn’t have the kids’ best interests at heart.
My experience at Hess began as a rocky one. I was placed in a tumultuous branch that was known for their foreign teachers pulling midnight “runners” and that had an awful reputation among the local foreign crew. Within about a week I understood why.
While the contract I signed promised me 16 hours a week for the first month, bumped up to 26 after that; I was IMMEDIATELY forced to work 36 hours with split shifts. Keep in mind that’s 36 hours of teaching time. Hess only pays for time they schedule you in the classroom. There is *a lot* of extra work; be it preparing lessons, writing weekly communication books, preparing crafts, writing performances, attending trainings or meetings, the list goes on and on. Bottom line was that I found myself in a country where I didn’t know a soul and didn’t speak a word of the native tongue working anywhere from 10-13 hours a day while getting paid for 6 of that if I was lucky.
To add insult to injury, the branch scheduled events almost every other weekend which were more or less compulsory, and that you may or may not get paid for.
When I voiced my concerns; they fell on deaf ears. I will be honest; a lot of this is inherent in Taiwanese culture, and not exclusively Hess. The Taiwanese as a whole are notoriously hard workers–working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day is not uncommon in this country. Regardless, this did little to soothe my anger/exhaustion when nearly all my friends teaching at other schools were putting in half the time I was and making an equal amount of money.
Things got progressively worse until they came to a climax in December. A co-worker threatened to quit for pretty much the same reasons I described; and I hinted that I would be exploring my options as well if things didn’t change. Fortunately, Hess finally got the message. They hired two new foreign teachers and, 5 months later, I finally got the schedule I had been promised when I first came to Taiwan.
I will admit, I’ve had some complaints since then… but they’ve been largely muted. I come from a long line of teachers (on both sides of the family) so I’m aware that teaching inherently involves unpaid work. As you become more experienced, the time it takes to prepare lessons, etc. goes down. When I’m working a normal 8:30-4 or 8:30-6:30 shift I’m willing to put in 2 hours at lunch to be a better teacher for my kids.
My Head NST (foreign manager) has been pretty good about hearing concerns and trying to sort things out. I think some of my co-teachers didn’t realize quite how much he did on our behalf because he played the perfect diplomat when dealing with Taiwanese management… but he had my back on several occasions. Things could have been a lot worse if he wasn’t around.
As I mentioned at the start of this long rant, I won’t be renewing my contract with Hess. I’ll be honest, if they could guarantee I’d work the hours in my contract (2 kindys and a treehouse) and *only* those hours; I would have stuck around for another year. I love my kids and have absolutely awesome co-teachers who I will miss dearly.
Unfortunately my branch has continually insisted on scheduling a ridiculous amount of “extra-curriculars,” which 9/10 times fall on a Saturday or a Sunday. To give you an example, for the last 2 months of my contract I’m working 3/4 weekends. I realize that Hess is primarily a business and thus they need to continually recruit to protect their bottom line; but I’m at the point in my life where I’m looking for more free time to pursue my life goals–goals which have fallen by the wayside this year while I’ve been employed by Hess.
I taught at Hess for 10 months and wrote a thoroughly exhaustive blog on the subject. You can read it at http://teachingenglishathessta.....n.blogspot. com
My experience was negative, for the most part, but I also know people who had a very good experience.
I think Jax explained Hess very well in his post, although the stuff on american management is kind of funny. Could you be stereotyping a little bit? Most of Hess’s upper management is not American, in fact I can’t think of one American in Hess main office.
I had a British manager at Hess and though we had our problems I would never say it was because he was British, I think it was more of a personality conflict. I had two American, one Canadian and one Australian co-worker and I would say our relationships were very personal and supportive.
Anyways that’s really off-topic but I thought it was worth mentioning. Again my blog about Hess is incredibly long and detailed about the experiences I had there. I wrote it mostly to give myself a little therapy after my 10 month ordeal.
Anyone looking to work in Taiwan, good luck!!! It’s a wonderful country!
There was a lot of good info posted above, and I am glad to know to avoid Hess but I would like to know who is good. What companies are reputable? It is so easy for companies to make their websites look professional that it is hard to sort the good from the bad.
Has anyone used a recruiter in Tiawan that they respect? Please do tell.
UPDATE: Well, there is light at the end of the tunnel! I used to work for HESS, but I’m now working for a FAR better company here. A company where they communicate effectively and treat you with dignity and respect, and also where they pay WAY more than HESS! To give you an idea, HESS pay a miniscule $560NT per hour to start with, whereas the company I work for now pay $680NT per hour to start with, and they give you all kinds of additional cash bonuses every single month!! e.g. $2000NT attendance bonus!! and performance related bonuses per successful module of $5000NT!!!
DON’T WORK FOR HESS, THERE ARE MUCH BETTER OPTIONS AVAILABLE OUT THERE! SERIOUSLY, SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME AND EFFORT (AND POSSIBLE MISERY TOO)!!
Now that I’m not working for HESS I’m infinitely happier, and financially better off!
I would echo many of the above points, especially the bad points, and especially educational standards and honesty with the parents being sacrificed for a buck. That having been said, a whole other discussion is to what extent parents in this country are actually aware of that and actually want it. That’s a whole weirder head trip in itself. Anyway, the good points paled in comparison. Working for Hess for about five months was an extremely interesting experience, which I couldn’t really put in perspective at the time as I was really in the thick of it. I have since reflected upon it as having been a character building exercise in a rather perverse way, which probably isn’t what most people want because they’re probably somewhat more “normal” than I am.
Like many people, I was pushed to within an inch of my breaking point. Perhaps I was fortunate to get out when I did, or perhaps I just had a different character.
Two of my friends (a couple) were continuously sick from being worked into the ground, to the point where one ended up collapsing and had to pay a visit to hospital. Yet they were still hassling his wife about when he would be back at work. They lasted about six months before they finally reached their breaking points (actually, I’d talked them back from such points on a number of occasions) and left Taiwan. It was their first time out of the States, and it may indeed be their last (at least for living), which is a real shame.
Other friends couldn’t get out of there quickly enough. I’m not in contact, directly or indirectly, with that many people from my training group, but of the dozen or so I do know of, only one thinks Hess was, or has been, a positive experience. Around the time that I quit, six people in total from my area quit over a six week period. That was just from my area.
My story was rather more intense than many. Hess successfully bullied many of my friends into paying contract breaking fees (despite the fact that Hess hadn’t stuck to the contract and/or had blatantly lied during the recruitment process). I stood up to them though and got the Council of Labor Affairs involved. When they threatened to take me to court, I threatened to counter-sue for unpaid hours stipulating that they’d actively lied about such things at all turns. I generally fought a war of attrition, with the end result being that Hess figured out it was more trouble than it was worth to keep fighting and dropped the whole thing after about five months.
I’ve moved on to do bigger and better things since, and whilst in my own odd way I regard it as having been character building (or at least the part of fighting Hess because while I was working for them, my supervisor, who was from the same country as me no less, did her best to character assassinate me at every turn), I don’t think many would regard it that way. It’s no coincidence that Hess basically can’t recruit from within Taiwan. Anyone who has been here for six months or more has either fled from Hess or heard the horror stories. As such, they primarily target a fairly green crop of recent North American graduates who have the right combinations of naivete and sincerity that make them ideal for chewing up and spitting out.
It’s worth mentioning also that the most Machiavellian, manipulative and generally underhanded people I met at Hess were the Westerners in positions of power who were willing to sell out other foreigners at the drop of a hat. Hess seems to seek out and cultivate such people actively. That’s not to say that every low level supervisor (HNST) at the branch level is like this. Many struggle themselves, but anyone above such a level is intimately aquainted with, and heavily involved in, the antics coming from Head Office. Of course this, in conjunction with other things, leads to a high turnover of staff, but so long as there’s another crop of 22 year old American kids around the corner, it doesn’t matter (and they can pay newbies less too). It actually serves their particular business model better to be like this.
Buyer beware.
I have heard that its better to work for an branch owned by Hess than a franchise branch. Does anyone know if this is true? And those of you that have had “negative” experiences, were you working at Hess owned branches or franchise branches? Does anyone know of outstanding schools in Taipei whether Hess or other named schools?
From the moment I began at a HESS recruitment office back home I have been lied to about the money, the company and the standard of teaching.
At the end of the day it is like starting any other job in a big company, you may have a great school and get on with your management or you may not. However, these are the issues that have caused me to give my notice mid contract:
The starting salary is not on a par with other schools (lie), it is the lowest I have seen.
I was told you can claim all your tax back. This depends when you enter Taiwan – you need to be here working for over 180(ish) days in order to claim back the 20% tax deduction for that year (Jan-Dec). So if you arrive mid year like myself then you loose A LOT of money. This in effect brings your starting salary from $560 NT to $440 every month. Is it really worth working an extremely tiring job with little thanks for $13.5 USD/$15 CAN/£8.5 GBP? No.
The standard of teaching in some branches is very high, and as a consequence those teachers are constantly observed and nit-picked my management which they find stressful. In my branch I have the opposite situation: there is no observation, no training and I have been given no guidance since I started. They simply don’t care. Some of the chinese teachers are not competent and if the kids don’t do there homework nothing is done about it. A lot of the students don’t know much English by the highest levels having gone through the whole HESS curriculum because they are not supported through it. From what I have heard from others here, this is extreme. However, there is a general agreement that the kids do not learn English well at HESS as most teachers are told to mark homework and tests in a positive light so as ‘not to discourage the students’ ie so that their parents keep paying huge amounts of money.
If you want to come here to make tons of money to save home, it is possible but you have to work a lot of hours and be prepared to be exhausted to do so. None of this – go to Taiwan, earn $20 an hour and have lots of fun too – the line that I was constantly spun. My friends who are making and saving lots of money to send home do not have lives, or at least nothing approximating a normal amount of energy to go out and see the place. They sleep whenever they can.
The people who are happy are working contract A (evenings only) and not making so much money but have a great time during their days. Contract C also seems to go down well (all day kindy) but I don’t know one person that is not also required to teach some evenings classes too at least during their first year. A ‘pure’ contract C it seems is not possible until you have worked here a few years.
Contract B, split sched of AM kindy and evening school is a killer. You are also sometimes made to teach afternoon classes too which spreads out your hours so much that it is difficult to do anything else in your day and is very tiring.
They lie about retention too – I started 6 months ago and may towards 50% of my group of 50 at training have left.
There are some great branches with very friendly staff, good managers and I know people here really happy with HESS. They are lucky and I wish there were more brahces like that.
Teaching is tiring anywhere but HESS lure you here on false pretences – earn $20/hr ($15), have fun (be exhausted), lots of money home (difficult on $15), teach English (to a low standard), receive regular pay increases and training (ha!).
If you break your year contract they sue you for $20 000 NT (this is legal though you can fight it by getting your local Labour Bureau involved and dragging HESS to meetings to delay court in order to make the process uneconomical).
Bottom line, there are many many schools that teach English out here, all with their pit falls and good points but at the very least they will pay you more to start and in many you do not even need to mark homework, grade tests and sometimes even plan your lessons.
Come out with HESS if you wish, do the training, find out which branch you are being put in asap and your hours you will be teaching and if you are not 100% happy walk, don’t sign the contract at the end of training and start job hunting. They cannot ask for anything back from you at that point.
The trainers are fantastic. Most of what you are told about HESS is a lie.
Jon B, would you be so kind as to tell me what company that is?
Right now, I’m looking for a morning-time job in central Taipei, i.e., Da-an. Any help would be appreciated.
@Jon B – can you reveal the school you are working at presently that you enjoy so much? I am a new ESL Teacher trying to find my 1st job.
Thanks!
Jon B – how did you find the new school you are at that you like so much? Was it through a recruiter?
I just applied with Reach to Teach yesterday and they seem to have a great reputation. Has anyone else here had any dealings with them?
Also, I have read a couple times that the Hess TEFL Cert is not accredited and pretty much useless outside of Taiwan…is there any way to validate this claim?
Since the economic downturn, HESS has been ridding itself of its most experienced (and therefore highest paid) teachers. After several years service, they begin with the shaking of heads and tut-tutting about classroom performance and attitude, even though the teaching quality hasn’t changed. HESS likes to employ western douchebags to serve as their lapdogs to deliver the bad news, as they aren’t good with confrontation. It’s a business pure and simple.
those of you who have posted here…can any of you email me?
i’m currently looking into going to taiwan to teach but am now afraid because:
1. i’m an ABT (american born taiwanese) so therefore I AM NOT WHITE
2. i have a stable great paying job in the windy city
3. there’s no way i am working and not getting paid.
MUCH THANKS!
Hi guys,
I have an interview with HESS next week and I am curious as to what other companies are out there. I definitely want to be careful and avoid the bad schools, but as for now HESS is one of my only options. I’m very glad I came across this website because it has allowed me to get many different viewpoints. Any suggestions on how I should proceed???
I’ve been with Hess for 2.5 years but I will be leaving soon. As with any job there are good and bad parts, and I will share both here.
First, the good:
Hess is a great way to start teaching in Taiwan, especially if you’ve never taught before or have never been to Taiwan or lived abroad before. They really ease the transition for new arrivals. It’s nice not to have to worry about documents and the health card when you’re just trying to worry about teaching your first classes. I also had lots of assistance finding accommodation and getting settled here, both from management and coworkers.
I have nothing but good things to say about the staff and coworkers I’ve worked with here. My HNST is very understanding and compassionate, hardworking and fair. She has a tough job and handles it very professionally. The Chinese and foreign staff I’ve worked with all care a lot about teaching and seeing the students succeed.
It’s nice to have the classes all follow the same format as your preparation time will eventually go down from an hour per class to about five minutes.
Arranging time off is so easy as you don’t have to find your own sub teacher. As long as your request is approved (which I’ve never had trouble with) management will find a sub within the company for you. Very convenient!!!
Now, the bad:
Unpaid hours. You are paid for your actual in-class teaching hours only. While it’s expected that preparation time for teachers shouldn’t be paid, it’s the other incursions into your free time that may start to get annoying. The training sessions after the initial and 1-month, for me, were more of a hassle than a help. Teaching itself is the best way to learn. Even after you’ve completed the certificate, each year there is still other training you must attend. This training seemed to be more about harvesting ideas from current teachers for the company’s own benefit (or due to the trainers’ own lack of ideas?) than about actually teaching us new approaches. Besides this, grading homework and tests can actually take a significant chunk of time out of your life, depending on the classes you have. A low-level low-number class might take you 5 or 10 minutes, while a lazy, careless high-level class regularly takes me an HOUR to grade each time. Expect to spend 5 hours or more per week grading. There are also communication book comments for each student on a regular basis, performance script creation (yes you have to write and choreograph a play by yourself for your class), extra rehearsal time, and extra-curricular activities at your school from time to time that you might be paid half-wage for. For advanced classes there are also telephone tests that you have to do after class. You are paid for these but they definitely can eat into your free time. Finally, and this could vary by area, you will be expected to work on Saturdays. This was the breaking point for me. While not every teacher has this schedule, I simply can’t deal with working Saturday morning and afternoon until 3:30pm every single week and only having Sunday off. And no, there is no room for negotiation on this, even for more senior teachers. Apparently there is not much incentive to hang onto teachers, perhaps because a newbie can still perform the same basic robotic functions but costs much less than an experienced guy who’s had regular raises? Also requesting Saturdays off too often is frowned upon. So don’t expect to have a weekend. Ever.
It’s INEFFECTIVE. The Treehouse system isn’t too bad, but the evening Language School (Step Ahead, Kids Club, Honors) system is, for most children, a miserable failure. If you care about your students’ progress and actually expect to see great results, you’re in for a surprise. In fairness to Hess though, this probably applies to ALL cram schools in Taiwan where the kids only come once or twice a week for a couple hours.
First, homework is NOT allowed to be graded fairly. Where a student really only deserves about 30%, because of very skewed grading standards they might receive between 75% and 85%. When a student clearly does not grasp the material and doesn’t have a good grasp (or any grasp) of the material, they will still be allowed to continue to the next level. If they were to fail lots of children, the company would look like a failure and the parents would complain, so the grades are forcibly enhanced and the kids get pushed through. Of course by not understanding the basics, they will have an even harder time with the next level and continue on this downward spiral with no end.
In fairness to Hess, part of this problem lies with the parents. Many Taiwanese parents think dropping their kids off and dropping cash is enough. They won’t make sure the kids finish their homework (the only English practice they have outside the class), or won’t let their kids repeat a level *even when recommended by the teachers*.
As examples of the incompetence of Hess students, consider the following:
I needed to do a telephone test with one student. This student had been studying for four and a half years at Hess. He had to go to the bathroom right when I called him but he couldn’t express it clearly. He told me, “Wait. I am poo-poo.” I kid you not, those were his exact words. He is not the worst student in that class either, but actually in the middle. FYI, we teach the phrase “go to the bathroom” in Level 1, during the first three months.
“Oral tests” are done as follows:
1) Students see the exact questions that are on the test in writing. (oral??)
2) The teacher goes through all the questions in class (i.e. gives all the answers to them).
3) The students practice this for a while.
4) The teacher administers the oral test itself, in which if you deviate slightly from the practiced patterns and try to actually *test* comprehension and production, some kids will completely break down. This is because they don’t really understand but are simple memorizing answers provided to them during review by you, the teacher. I have even had children give me perfect answers, but answering question #7 when I asked question #3. Oh also, each question is out of 3 points and you are highly suggested by management to give no lower than 2.5 on each. This means a kid who literally says nothing or simply parrots an answer back will still receive 25/30 or more. A very effective assessment technique indeed…
Part of the reason for this poor performance and lack of understanding is that the students are not forced to think for themselves. When grading homework, teachers have to WRITE IN the correct answers for everything. It would be more effective to simply circle mistakes and let the students figure out why it’s wrong or come to the teacher later for help. Instead, they simple trace over the teacher’s red pen writing and learn absolutely nothing about why that was a mistake in the first place, thus perpetuating the cycle. Also, writing in answers takes A LOT more time for teachers to do. So, everybody loses.
Another thing that is ineffective is the way grammar is taught. The Hess Patterns books only teach by question and answer patterns. That’s it!!! Ex:
Can you ride a bike?
Yes, I can ride a bike.
Who likes to eat cake?
Nina likes to eat cake.
The problem with this is, the students end up speaking very unnaturally if at all. They can respond to a question from the teacher (only if they’re smart, and if the question exactly matches one they’ve studied in Patterns), but can’t produce original sentences very well at all. There is one lesson’s homework which demonstrated this very well. Most of the questions are simple, spit back the pattern questions, something like this:
Can you play the piano? >> Yes, I can play the piano.
Can you draw your sister? >> Yes, I can draw my sister.
Then the last question said:
What other things can you draw?
Because our Patterns book had never covered this “other things” witchery, the students were perplexed. Yes, we’d studied “other” and yes, we’d covered “things”, but… when they can’t just parrot back a pattern, they’re clueless.
There are also “creative writing” days which are simply following a rigid formula and where everyone ends up with almost the same essay. If the children are really allowed to create their own unique sentences, you get to see just how well the Hess system has worked for them, even in their fourth year of study:
“A hero
Bob is a polite guard, he enjoy helping people in hospital. One afternoon, the man was too helpful to move shouted at the man angrily and made him apologize to the student. Every thought he is a hero.”
**It should be noted that Treehouse afternoon class students are actually pretty competent and can hold conversations without relying on these parroting techniques. So that’s highly recommended if you actually want to see results. The evening classes leave much to be desired.**
I have many other problems with the way the grammar is presented to the students but unfortunately absolutely no flexibility in teaching them my way as I have to follow the Hess formula and Hess curriculum to a T. Hess trains teachers to accommodate for students’ varying needs, but unfortunately forgets to accommodate for its own teachers’ varying styles.
==========
In closing, I don’t regret my time spent with Hess as it was a great introduction into Taiwan, and I’ve learned a lot about what good teaching is as well as what it isn’t! If you just want to come and experience Taiwan for a short time, maybe make some cash, Hess is for you. If you care about being effective and seeing results from your teaching, or want to have a little freedom, skip Hess.. or start with Hess but expect to move on after your first contract.
Good luck!
Everyone is saying that they have found a far better company to work for than HESS, but nobody is mentioning the names of these companies. Could someone please tell me the names of these good companies?? That would be greatly appreciated.
Hess is serious about what they do. A lot of times we expect our airfare and accommodation to be taken care of first, because we are the ones who lose out, but what about Hess? An organization should not be paying for vacations if things don’t turn out as planned for the potential employee/ employer. Being such a large organization in Taiwan, it is understandable that its competitors strive to build a strong foundation for their business as well.
At the end of the day, we all hold our own experience, different from others. Its important to research the school, but do remember its also based on how we interact/ fit in with the school/ people as well.
So to sum up the reasons not to work at Hess are the following:
1. They cover up illegality of working Kindergartens by calling it “a grey area:.
(there is no additional pay for advanced degrees or certifications)
2. Experience does not count
3. You are misled into believing you will be hired in your own country when in reality you are hired in Taiwan and the organization can fire you during their training periods; wherein you waste a plane ticket;
4. No airfare reimbursement
5. Contracts not honored
6. Bottom line counts over students welfare
7. Racism rampant
8. Romper Room type teaching methodolgy
9. High turner and attriction rates, lack of humane relationships
10. General tackyness
Hess sucks. They made me believe that I had a spot in one of their training sessions in May in Taipei – so I got my visa, bought the plane tickets, and LESS THAN 24 HOURS BEFORE MY FLIGHT I was told that there wasn’t any space left for me.
So now I’m in Taipei in the middle of the semester, naturally struggling to find a job that can provide me with an ARC before my visa expires, and Hess has the nerve to email me and ask me to apply for their training session in July/August. Seriously? And how do I go about supporting myself while I once again wait for Hess to pick sorry old me? Or what about the fact that I won’t be here because my visa expires before then?
Hess is good if you have a strong North American accent, have a very Caucasian, non-threatening appearance, don’t mind working for less than what is the standard rate for ESL teachers in Taiwan, and generally don’t mind being messed around with.
A lot of you here complaining about Hess, yet not one single person was able to suggest a better alternative company.
I have noticed another poster with the same issue.
I think it is only fair if you complain you really need to offer an alternative solution otherwise it looks like you have a hidden agenda to discredit Hess.
HESS branch in New Tapei CIty, Banciao, Han-shen East Road is not a good place to work and send your kids. The administrative staff in not friendly and not straight forward in doing business and treating customers/students. They also are not transparent in telling you the truth.
At this time, the rating for Hess on this site is around 45% (Sept. 2011). On my rating site, it’s around 63%. After doing the research, I find the two sites are not far off the mark. Hess branches are hit and miss. Some offer good opportunity and provide job security, some have high turnover rates. My site offers not just a star rating, but an actual survey that provided us with more detailed information. However, I think this is a great site too.
What appears to be happening is that everyone who gets into Hess gets in with a great start. The concepts and training provided at Hess’s main office is exceptional. But these ideas are not often realized at the branch levels. And the main office staff is somewhat powerless to do anything about that.
When you look at the ratings, take into consideration that people who complain are usually motivated by something, whereas people who have something good to say rarely say it. Bad news travels at a rate of 11:4, according to the marketing textbooks. That’s almost three times as fast as good news. What any successful business needs to do is manage their signal-to-noise ratio.
Hess has a good image on the exterior and most Taiwanese people think it must be a fantastic place to work. Little do they know how many teachers there are at Hess that are not thrilled about things. One student I interviewed said, “We were in SA3 and at break time the teacher walked out and never came back. No one ever told us why!” Little chance is there for teachers to have a voice about their working experience in Taiwan. That’s why we set up our site and we welcome you to take a look around. We only hope that Taiwanese people will consider the working experiences of the teachers and make a decision based on social responsibility, not just great looking marketing campaigns.
As far as a better place to work goes, there are plenty. This year Hess raised the starting pay for teachers by NT$20, the first raise in several years, yet they are still struggling to fill classrooms. If you have no background in teaching, I’d agree it’s a great place to start. But any teacher with reasonable ability after one year in Taiwan can land a job making $600-$650/hr. Many have switched after a year and easily gotten $650/hr. And many of those people I’ve talked to say that they liked their second school much better than Hess.
So the challenge is, Hess, fix your problems at the branch level, if you can. Keep your talent pool and make it grown, instead of tossing out people with great potential every year. Instead of evaluating teachers based on politics and how much they can suck up to a branch manager, evaluate their actual ability in the classroom. The schools I’m talking about here in Taiwan that are better than Hess do just that. They don’t play the politics game with employees. They actually value employees. They know how to manage employees and bring the best out of them. As a result, the teachers teach well and create value in the business. This value brings the students back year after year. Hess, don’t burn your bridges.
Accepting an offer of employment from Hess Language School to teach English in Taiwan; the offer of employment makes you feel rather secure about putting up all that money and travelling to Taiwan for Hess’s training programme, but it is very important to bear in mind that you only have a prospect of gaining employment with Hess at the end of training.
The offer of employment is dependant on successfully passing training. Hess training is, in my view, more akin to a selection process, a nine day job interview, coupled with assessments and testing throughout. To actually be employed by Hess, as an English language teacher in Taiwan, you must successfully pass this.
Training is, in my view, conducted very rapidly, one could speculate, to minimise costs. A major problem for trainees, in my view, is that assessed practical demonstrations are given with only very limited and arguably inadequate amounts of time for adequate preparation. Demonstrations must be carried out in accordance with the Hess curriculum and Hess teaching style, which the trainers go through rapidly. There are also daily tests and a final exam at the end of training to contend with.
If you are not adept at public speaking you will most likely struggle with training, as you will be required to use Hess teaching methods to teach from the Hess curriculum, in front of assessors and your classmates. This will happen throughout training.
I am aware of a trainee who was told by Hess’s Head Trainer that his demonstrations were average, after only his third ever attempt at one in his life, and that as a consequence he would not be offered a contract with Hess; this was despite Hess being fully aware that he had never before taught English when they made him the offer of employment in the first place. In this persons case he had travelled from the other side of the world to take up Hess’s offer of employment. If your scores are, likewise, rather average you can expect to be similarly removed from training, and refused a position with Hess.
If you wish to teach English in Taiwan, and you are looking for employment before you get there, I recommend finding another alternative. I would additionally recommend that if you do decide to go, be prepared to find work once you get there. Also, check out this website it may help: tealit (dot) com.
Hi All,
Jumpstart are a pretty good school to work for. Paid holidays, decent salary ($60,000+ per month, $1992USD, 1246GBP), pretty good curriculum and decent people.
Happy Marian are also not too bad, but not great either (but nowhere near as bad as Hess). They will start you at about $650NT ($21USD, 13GBP) per hour.
American Eagle is a pretty good place to work too. Much more professional than Hess and similar wages to Jumpstart.
If you’re prepared to work morning to night (and be super, super tired) you could be earning quite a large sum of money, maybe $75 – 80,000NTD per month. This would most likely require you to work two jobs. A kindergarten job in the day and an evening job. I did this, worked kindergarten 9am until 3:30pm and then an evening job from 4:30 to 8:30PM. I was earning about $80,000NTD per month ($2656USD, 1662GBP).
Jumpstart is the best school I’ve come across here though. You’re not likely to get much better pay elsewhere, and it’s extremely hard to find somewhere with paid holidays. They also provide ample free food for you, that is actually healthy and tasty!
Additionally, Jumpstart don’t shove a Chinese teacher down your throat, the Chinese teacher has minimal involvement in the class and is there to assist you when asked. In fact the Chinese teacher won’t be in the class most of the time. They also DON’T hire Chinese teachers with bad, bitchy, unhelpful attitudes (like Hess do). All the Chinese staff at Jumpstart are great and it’s a pleasure working with them.
Well done I’m so glad I typed the following:”Problem with Hess ESL” into Google search and found this site. Thank you very much! Simply from an ethical perspective who would want to work for a racist organisation like HESS! Thank you for being honest and those that just want to make it sound kind of OK i think that you have missed the point….the lies the racism the under paid worker, the lack of respect for the ingenuity of teachers who have skills etc etc etc! No paid holidays, pay for your own plane fare possibly be kicked out before starting after flying to Taiwan. Boy if you need a holiday that badly! Go to the local rubbish tip and admire the trash and be glad that you didnt become a part of the Hess problem!
I really felt quite lied to when I was hired by Hess. I was actually in Taipei studying so I was able to attend my interview in person, so it wasn’t like I was hired off Skype half-way across the world and they had never seen me in person. After the interview I went back home for a while then returned.
When I had to apply for my Visa I was encouraged to get a tourist one. This seemed quite strange, so I emailed them and asked if I needed to tell them about my job. They emailed back saying “No, just tell them you’re going for a holiday.”
I only found out on the first day or training, after flying half-way around the world, that if I didn’t do well I would be sent back home. They also wouldn’t tell you were you would be working until the third day of training. So I could have been sent to Xinchu or the middle of no-where. I also discovered my job was illegal and I might have to hide if inspectors came. They gave me contract A, but when my HNST called my contract had suddenly been switched with another new employee and I was working contract B. Not that contracts really mean anything, it changes constantly.
They make it seem impossible to change your contract or location after you’ve been hired, but I saw the make some phone calls and change people around at the drop of a hat.
I felt after completing the training that HESS really wasn’t for me, but with no alternative jobs lined up, and lack or finances, I had to sign the contract.
I really feel that HESS traps you into working for them. Most people spend a lot of money getting to Taiwan and putting down a deposit on an apartment. There is also an optional $30,000 loan you can chose to take out as well. It’s not easy to suddenly pack up and leave. The volume of lies they also tell you is ridiculous, you can’t trust most of what they tell you. I think it’s becoming harder to get employees, so they’re willing to tell you anything in order to make you sign the contract.
The job itself was OK, I had done worse. Some teacher were cold but the students were nice, and other teachers were helpful but the students were terrible. I ultimately decided I needed to get another job after constantly coming to work sick because there was no paid sick leave. Holidays and overtime are also unpaid. You’re paid for time spent inside the classroom, but once you leave everything else in unpaid. They also encourage you to do a lot of preparation and grading that you won’t receive any money for.
I have friends who really enjoyed their time at HESS, but it’s really hit and miss. If you end up in a good situation it can be quite fun, but if not it can be Hell. It’s not worth the risk.
I don’t think it’s a company that you want to work for unless you have no better options. I didn’t enjoy my time there, but on the positive side I learnt a lot about children and teaching. And it also gave me the experience to find a better job. I also learnt how careful you have to be about employers and contracts.
I taught in Taiwan for over 10 years and worked at different Hess Language schools as well as many other schools on the island.
There is no management- it used to hire illegals exclusively until they were busted by Ministry of Foreign Affairs then all the staff were fired unpaid. The attitude to the children is as a commodity that just are there to make money from and their welfare is ignored. Staff are the same they are just there to make money for the founders Karen and Joe. Some schools are franchised out and these are even worse. The syllabus is rote learning rubbish geared at what the Taiwanese call Test English( reading and writting)
When I was there tax was taken and pocketed by the company from wages and we could not claim anything back off teh government nor get sick or holiday pay- although LA Bao a welfare tax is deducted now but it is the minimum.
It is a racist company never hires black employess or recruits very very few as evidenced in the local press DO NOT WORK FOR HESS THERE ARE BETTER SCHOOLS THE PAY IS THE WORST THE LOCATIONS FAR AWAY FROM THE CITY
Better schools than Hess in Taiwan
Lado
Global Village
ELSI
Do any ABCs out there have anything to say about working at Hess?