Are the Hours at Kojen that bad?

[hidrigin]

Right now I have a job offer from Kojen that I want to take but the one thing that's scaring me is no guarantee of hours. It's in Taipei and I'm not interested in teaching Kindergarten due to legal reasons. How many hours will I likely get? Is it really that bad hours wise?

[bababa]

It varies a great deal. Usually in summer you will have enough hours. However, I met lots of new teachers who arrived expecting to be working full-time and earning at least 50,000NT who were given only two or four hours of teaching a week. Obviously, you can't survive on that. Either bring savings with you so you can survive at first, or get a job somewhere else.
Some people who did have a bit saved up were able to use the free time to look for private teaching jobs or other supplementary jobs (usually kindies), and were happy to work a few hours at Kojen, get their ARC and work permit through them, and spend most of their time working elsewhere.
Some quit.
Some became favorites of the boss and got more and more hours.
I'd say if you are not white you probably won't be one of these lucky ones who get lots of hours quickly.

[Wynsen]

I work at one of the branches and I honestly think it really depends on your attitude and professionalism. I'm not perfect and hours are in short supply. However, I show up and come to work on time. I'm dependable as far as attendance is concerned. I don't whine. I don't gossip. I make mistakes and try to correct them ASAP regardless of what my feelings are towards such "mistakes". I'm currently holding 20 hours because of the summer classes and some teachers leaving. I've held at the minimum 15 hours since I started working here. I hold the most hours of any foreign teacher (5 FTs total). I've probably gotten more complaints than any other FTs too. Whether it's because the director likes me, pities me, or perhaps he's got no other choice, I don't really care. I make enough to save a little bit and keeps me demotivated in searching for another school. I am ABC.

However, if you're sent to a school with a total db for a director, and get 4 hours or something, quit. The worst they will do is take 2 weeks pay. And on 4 hours... well. Anyways, what I'm saying is there's really nothing to fear. Worst case you go wait in line to do ARC paperwork again.

[headhonchoII]

How can you get an Arc with below legal minimum hours?
Man it sucks these days for teachers if even the big chains like Kojen can't give you enough work.

[Abacus]

How can you get an Arc with below legal minimum hours?
Man it sucks these days for teachers if even the big chains like Kojen can't give you enough work.

Kojen in Taipei might be a little different but when they talk about getting 2-4 hrs/wk it is at the beginning of the contract (1-2 months though) during what they call training. Their standard policy was to hire a new teacher if there were 8-10 hrs/wk available at one branch and then try to fill the remaining hours at a second branch or wait for a teacher leave. Due to their awful class scheduling this left you with a lot of 2 hr teaching days since it was impossible to teach a 5-7 and 7-9 class at two different branches.

What is awful about their class scheduling (from a teacher's POV)? Classes are held twice/wk but you only teach one of the classes while your co-teacher teaches the other. So to get 20 hrs/wk you need 10 different classes to work out perfectly in your schedule. Or you need to work Saturdays or a 2-4pm class if your branch offers it. For the first two months I worked Saturdays and still only had 10 hrs/wk. Next 6 months = 14-16 hrs/wk. Last 4 months = 20-22 hrs/wk.

I found their curriculum to be very good overall although it was a little rushed and very homework/test intensive. They like to play games but they are very interested on making progress also. Overall I was very impressed by how well the kids did at the advanced levels. All of my co-teachers were very good since they were hired and payed better than other schools where they aren't more than glorified HW graders. The downside was a mountain of homework to grade, relatively low hours and working Saturdays.