I taught at this school the year before Sarah and I just had one of my old students send me the link to this. This was almost exactly how our year went and I thought I would give my experience as well.

I was hired to teach physical education, english and social science at CICT campus in Taoyuan city (on contract) and have an "apartment style" living provided.

I arrived to the campus actually being located in Longtan Township and was put into an uncleaned dormitory room from a previous school 20 years prior to CICT. My girlfriend, who was also one of the teachers, and I were told a curriculum was going to be provided. This did not happen but instead we were given half our textbooks, no teacher editions except for English, and told to make them a curriculum. School starts a few weeks later and I was given physics/earth sciences, writing, and presentations class to teach while dropping PE. This was all done without notice, no "is this ok with you?" I think to myself "Whatever, ill help them out, its a new school, things are just getting smoothed out." This type of communication that carried on through the entire year.

We had weekly meetings where the teachers gave their concerns about the classes, school, food, and students and all the problems that were accompanied with them but never produced any results. Several times in these meetings, the staff would speak to each other in Chinese when they are very capable of English, leaving us sitting and wondering what was going on. After 2 or 3 months, these meetings eventually stopped without notice. A superintendent was supposed to be brought in to help with communication and getting things done without waiting for the chairman (allan lo) but he never showed up after one day to introduce himself to the staff. As a result a teacher quit who was fed up with all the above listed problems and more.

The big event for me was when Allan Lo handed out contracts stating we were getting tailored suits as a gift but if we quit we were to pay for them (fair enough) however if we didnt sign the contract, turning down the "gift", we would be fined. All the teachers declined and he walked out of the weekly meeting as a result and slammed the door. When I had a personal meeting with him afterwards to discuss it and everything else, he called me a stupid American for turning down a gift. The only reasoned i stayed at this school was for my students, they saw the fake-ness of the school and worried about their preparation for college.

The last thing i will say is that everything about this school is fake and done to the cheapest of qualities, yet it costs more than my university tuition.

If you interview with the school, ask why 4 out of 5 teachers left and no teachers stayed from the previous year to that. (In fact, ask the school for the emails of all the previous teachers, saying youd like to hear what they have to say) just to see their response. Im willing to bet theyd only give 2 names. Take a good look at the town in which the city is. Its beautful but no social life for a foreigner and no easy transportation unless you buy a motorbike. Feel free to email me for any specific questions and you can also go to http://forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=33960&p=1699514&hilit=cict#p1699514 to see other reviews of the school