The first Joy School opened in 1981 in Taipei's Hsin-Yi district. The guiding belief of Sam Chen and Peggy Huang, the schools' founders, is that learning English should be an enriching experience for children. They were particularly concerned with the increasing globalization and the need for a common language and envisioned a school that would teach English to children in Taiwan. Today, there are more than 200 schools across the island and 12 schools in China. Most of these schools are franchise or owner-operated. Since 1992, Joy has also opened several highly successful preschools. Graduates of this program now continue studying with the Joy American After School.

Joy Regular Classes students attend class twice a week for a period of 2 hours each session. A Chinese teacher teaches 1 hour of the class and a foreign teacher teaches the other hour. The program uses an in-house textbook series. All students have textbooks, tapes, and activity books containing homework assignments. Teaching guides provide teachers with suggested lesson plans and many ideas for presenting the material. The teachers' responsibility is to make their classes lively and interesting, bringing the language alive for students.