Hess Educational Organization (Simplified Chinese: 何嘉仁文教机构; Traditional Chinese: 何嘉仁文教機構; Pinyin: Héjiārén Wénjiào Jīgòu), or Hess for short, is the single largest private provider of English education in the Republic of China (ROC) and has an estimated 60,000 students currently enrolled. Founded in 1983 by Joseph Chu and Karen Hess, it has become a large and successful business with schools across the island.[1] Hess also provides books and resources to other English schools across Asia to teach English as a foreign language (see below), and also has its own chain of Hess bookstores, which was founded in 1990.[2] In addition to the ROC, Hess also has a branch in Singapore and has connections to both mainland China and Japan.
Hess hires native-speaking English teachers (NST's) only from countries where English is the primary language. These include the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.[3] After one year of employment, Hess employees earn a TEFL certificate (however the TEFL certificate is not accredited by any official educational body).[4]
All foreign teachers working for Hess are legally employed to work as Native-Speaking Teachers (NST's) in the ROC, and Hess provides comprehensive document-processing assistance to all its staff. Like most employers in Taiwan, Hess aids new teachers to join the national healthcare program and contributes part of the costs on a monthly basis.
Hess has no relation to the Hess gas station chain in the US.
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Although Hess has a poor reputation among foreign nationals that work for them, this is not the case for all its teachers. People's experiences differ. Some people who work there do not complete their 12 month contract, but there are some teachers who have enjoyed their time with Hess for a number of years. Reviews are available online and can be found by doing a search for the term: "hess review".
The primary level of Hess instruction is the Step Ahead series (also called the "N series," its old name), aimed at Elementary school children. Step Ahead consists of 16 levels lasting 3 months each and is meant to go from third grade to Junior High school level.[5]
For children in grades 1-2, there is the Kid's Club series (or K series for short) that has 8 levels.[5] At the Junior High point, Hess has developed several curricula for further study. Some of these are still undergoing development. Hess has several adult learning courses and is also planning a high school curriculum.[6]
Hess has several key books that comprise their curriculum for students:
Hess writes and produces all of its own curriculum, from books to audio CDs to props and artwork. Authors for Hess curriculum include teaching specialists, design specialists and current and former Hess teachers. Hess has also published supplements to their primary curriculum, including story books for children, English learning CDs and DVDs, and activity books containing a variety of classroom games and projects teachers are supposed to use.
Hess also published secondary curriculum materials available for use at other schools. However, the core books are exclusive to Hess schools. According to Hess, it has published over 1000 different titles, with 800,000 books used by students each year.[7]
There are two primary types of teachers in Hess: Native-Speaking Teachers (NST's) and Chinese Co-Teachers (CT's). There are also French and Japanese speaking teachers for Hess's other language programs. CT's are drawn primarily from Taiwan, with NST's hailing from the foreign countries listed above. CT's and NST's have separate training schedules and requirements.
Within each branch of a Hess school, NST's are directly managed by the Head NST (HNST). HNST's have to have six months of experience at teaching and undergo special management training. CT's are directly managed by a Head CT (HCT). Both the HNST and HCT answer to the school's branch manager. If a Hess Language School has an associated Kindergarten, it may keep the positions of HNST and HCT for the two schools separate, though at some branches the same person could work in both positions.
NST's experience five training sessions at different times: an initial introduction to Hess, one-month training, 3-month training, 6-month training, and 9-month training. Each training session past the first is intended to focus on a different aspect of teaching, designed to help build on the NST's growing experience. After one year, if the NST has completed all the required training sessions, they earn a Hess TEFL, which is generally useless outside the Republic of China. Each training session has its own manual.
In addition to the required sessions, Hess also conducts mandatory extra training for new material, such as when levels 13 - 16 were added to the Step Ahead curriculum.
Most of the native speaking teachers (NSTs) at Hess are recruited from abroad rather than from within Taiwan. This is often accomplished through the internet, an initiative primarily conducted by the Hess Marketing Department. While Americans and Canadians make up more than 50% of Hess teachers, a significant number of the NSTs are white Afrikaner native speakers from South Africa. Afrikaner teachers are encouraged to teach using a North American accent. Teachers from the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand are also encouraged to modify their accents as well.
NSTs who travel to Taiwan for Hess do so at their own expense and are responsible for all of their own start up costs. These costs are usually in the range of three thousand US dollars. This includes an apartment deposit, the first months rent, a scooter, and household appliances.
If you successfully pass initial training, NSTs meet the branch manager where they will be working and begin a one month trial period. During this time, the employer or employee is free to discontinue the contract for any reason they deem valid. Also during this period, the Alien Residence Visa (ARC) is processed. The Taiwan immigration office holds the NSTs passport during this time and changes the visitor visa to an ARC. If the school, or teacher wishes to discontinue the contract, this matter is settled usually at the end of the trial period. Taiwan residence visa requirements state that the holder of a canceled ARC has seven days to leave the country upon termination of employment.
The Hess branch assists the NST with finding an apartment. It is possible for the NST to take a loan of 30,000 Taiwan dollars (about 900 US) from the school if they are willing to allow the school to hold their passport until this is paid back, despite the fact that this practice is illegal since passports are the property of the issuing government.[8] Many branches pay the first months salary every two weeks, rather than monthly as is the norm for established Hess teachers.
For new NSTs, there are a substantial amount of unpaid hours spent with class preparation, documentation and grading in addition to the teaching hours, because teachers are reimbursed by the hours actually taught only. Three types of documentation must be filled in order for pay to be received: a class book that must be signed, a homework folder, and a sheet which must be filled in with the specific number of hours taught per class level. In addition, there is a timecard which validates that the instructor has shown up at least twenty minutes before the beginning of every class (for the purposes of class preparation).
The minimum hourly salary for North American native speakers is usually 560 Taiwan dollars an hour (or about $18.75 USD per teaching hour. Hours range from about 18 to 24 a week at the Language Schools, or more if the NST also teaches kindergarten. Due to recent changes in Taiwanese tax law regarding foreign workers, foreigners must pay 18% tax for the first six months of every tax year and 6% thereafter. This new law is only applicable if the worker's contract ends before six months into the year, otherwise it is not. Regardless, Hess retains 18% in the first six months of every year for all foreign workers, despite the time frame of their contract, and sometimes more than the first six months, depending on the teachers date of arrival. Some of this is refunded by the government one year later.
The offer of employment from Hess 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 candidates 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 more akin to a selection process, or a nine day job interview, coupled with assessments and testing throughout. To actually be employed by Hess, as an English language teacher in Taiwan, a candidate must successfully pass this.
Training is conducted very rapidly, one could speculate, to minimise costs. A major problem for trainees 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.
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, 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.
Initial training is held in Taipei at Hess's main training facility. Initial training is primarily held four times a year to coincide with the three month terms that Hess schools cycle through: one in March, one in June, one in August, and the last in November. It is at these times that the largest groups of new hirings are brought together into a single "class" of trainees. Sometimes the groups are split in two if there are many new employees (for example, one group starting training in early August while another begins in mid-August). This is not a constant rule, however: in between the three month cycles, there can be smaller groups of hired NSTs are given initial trainings that are much briefer, sometimes being as short as 4 days.
Training will introduce individuals of various backgrounds to the materials that Hess teaches and to the teaching style that NSTs are expected to use. These styles include the four and five step methods, student-centered learning, and the use of activities and games to heighten student energy. All attendees are trained in both the language school curriculum as well as Hess Kindergarten (see below).
Every NST (and all other Hess Taiwanese staff) receives a "Personal Development Journal" at their initial training. The journal is used to keep a record of the training they received as well as any activities they may have participated in.
Hess operates Kindergarten schools in the ROC, giving students instruction primarily in English and Chinese, but also French and Japanese. The teaching philosophy of Hess Kindergarten focuses on whole-child development, and whole language learning. Prior to August 2005, the curriculum was the Rainbow Kids series, consisting of 6 levels or three years of material. As of August 2005 it has been updated and graduated as the Rainbow Adventures series. The Rainbow Adventures series is considered to be more challenging and therefore more suitable in a crowded market.
It must be stressed that teaching English to children under 6 years old is illegal when the teacher is an alien resident of the ROC. Hess has gotten around this restriction by registering English teachers' work permits at schools where they do not actually teach. Because the teachers are not formally employed expressly to teach kindergarten (their official status is roughly equivalent to a guest lecturer), Hess is able to employ foreigners to teach in their kindergartens with less legal trouble than in some other schools. Nonetheless, in most cases, Hess will have these "guest lecturers" exit through the back door when government inspectors arrive. Many experienced Hess teachers look favorably upon kindergarten contracts, as the hours are greater and steadier than at the language school, leave room for time in the evenings, and require less unpaid grading and overall documentation than at the Hess language school.
Every year, Hess conducts a Speech and Writing Competition for interested students across the ROC. Typically, around 2,000 students enroll in this competition each year.[9]
Hess sponsors trips around the world for students to visit English speaking countries and become immersed in an English-speaking environment. These trips are in addition to the normal Hess curriculum.
The most common of these is the "Camp Confidence" summer camp that is held at the Hess school in Singapore. Each year, around 360 students (and several NSTs and CTs, acting as camp leaders) take part in these week-long camps, usually held in the summer months of July and August.
Hess has also has study abroad programs in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and these can last up to 4 weeks. Hess also hosts trips to France and Japan for students engaged in learning French and Japanese.[10]