Kid Castle vs. Kojen

Kid Castle vs. Kojen

I’ve just got back to England and finally have five minutes to relax.  This is the first time I have added to the blog in over a month.  I have recently moved to Kid Castle from Kojen and have been working Kindergarten in the morning and cram school in the afternoon and evening.  It is a profitable endeavour and it is manageable, if there is not too much travel time.  Personally, I decided to leave the kindergarten because I had to travel half way across Taipei during lunch, so my only free time was eating on the bus.  Also, it is very hard to find the time to improve your Chinese working so many hours.  Given the location and right set of priorities, I think it is good idea if you want to save a bit of money.

As I have finally some time to step and look at things, I am going to compare my experiences of Kid Castle and Kojen.  I’ve never been to kindergarten in Kojen, so I will focus on the cram school side.

Kindergarten - The sarge is in charge!

In my opinion the main difference I have found is the freedom given to the teacher.  From my perspective I am given much more freedom and responsibility at Kid Castle than I ever was at Kojen.  At Kojen each lesson was given almost the same layout and the exact same things had to be completed each lesson.  I was not given the freedom to get ahead or, if needs be, catch up if my lesson took an unexpected turn.  I could not spend more time to help the kids understand better, go off track and have some fun with the kids, or speed up if the kids got it.  This is not all negative, if you have a bad day (or are feeling lazy), each lesson is very easy to plan and you do not have to plan too far in advance.  At Kid Castle you are given the freedom to get as far ahead (or behind) as you see fit or think is best for your class.  Although, as the syllabus is planned out, you often have to plan certain lessons quite far advance.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as it helps you keep on top of where you are and where you need to go.  You also have special themes (such as Halloween, Christmas, or everyday things like going to a hotel or a medical check up) you have to do fairly often at Kid Castle, which are not planned for in the schedule, so you need to add this into your plan for the term.  Just before my holiday, I made a mistake with worksheets and had to do a lot of catching up.  This was kind of stressful, but it was nice to be given the respect of my boss to manage my own workload.  Don’t get me wrong sometimes the extra freedom can be daunting and you can’t see the woods from the trees and it took time to adapt (I still am) to added freedom responsibility, but most of the time it is a refreshing change of pace.  It also gives you the feeling that you are a real teacher and not just a face to make the parents happy.

Kid Castle - Halloween

I do not know if this is the way all Kojen branches work, but another difference I have noticed is there is great deal more support offered by Kid Castle.  The branch managers and supervisors genuinely care and want to help you, both on a personal and professional level.  My manager at Kojen said I had not been in Taiwan long enough to deserve a holiday and then took away hours I had been promised, whereas Kid Castle tried really hard to accommodate this holiday.  This caring side is not ideal if you do not like talking with your boss, but is preferable in my opinion; it took me a while to adapt to open conversation with my boss after being largely ignored by my boss for 12 months.  I wasn’t even told when my classes were ending and was given seven days notice before my ARC (visa) was cancelled.  I was slightly concerned about sounding like an idiot to my boss, some people might find this strange, but to the rest of you, you can talk to your superiors about things; they often don’t think it is a stupid question and if it is they’re glad to fill you in.  It is nice to have people care about your well-being and happiness, it makes you feel like part of the family and part of the team.

Kojen Branch

Another difference is the amount of time you will see your kids.  At Kid Castle you are likely to have one or more classes that you see most days, whereas at Kojen you will only see your classes once a week.  Over the week I will teach some classes for 5 hours, but others only one hour.  All Kojen classes are two hour classes with Kid Castle working in one hour blocks, but these blocks are flexible and you can teach one class for up to three hours in a day.  Due to this flexibility, at Kid Castle, you can end up with some strange working hours (once the hours are decided they will stay the same for a significant length of time).  For example, one day I will only have one hour teaching and next I will five and a half teaching.  With the two hour blocks, your days are often more regimented with, debatably, consistently more worthwhile hours; teaching one hour in a day can be frustrating (although sometimes a relieve after teaching kindergarten in the morning).

Kojen Classroom

The final difference I’ll mention today is paperwork.  Kid Castle aren’t happy if you’re not writing a report.  You see you students more often, so you have to write a weekly report on them, which seems to come round more and more quickly.  Whereas, Kojen only ask for an end-of-term report, which Kid Castle also require.  I don’t have homework to grade at Kid Castle, but have loads of worksheets to grade, so that balances out nicely between to the two.  It feels like I had less marking at Kojen, but maybe that’s due to less lesson planning and other paperwork. 

Paperwork at Kid Castle

One small footnote would be: at Kojen you need to think of telephone teaching questions every lesson, while at Kid Castle you need to conduct a telephone test two/three times a term.

Overall, I believe there is different mentally towards the foreign teacher.  At Kid Castle, I am expected, and given the freedom, to create fun interesting lessons and be creative, so this is what I aspire to do.  At Kojen, I was expected to make sure I complete x, y and z and play a game, so this is what I did.  I feel I have improved a lot as a teacher since moving, as I am required to think about my job more.  This is not to say I don’t miss the cosy job where I can turn up and be on auto-pilot. 

Saturday morning at Kojen

If you have to choose between the two, it is all about priorities.  How much free time do you want?  How much do you want to push yourself?  Do you want to progress?  Do you want to learn Chinese?  Do you want to see Taiwan?

These answers will also lie in different branches.  I am happy with my move, but there are several things I cannot do due to my change in job.  Although, I don’t work weekends now.

I hope my ramblings will help anyone out there and don’t be afraid to ask a question.  More often than not I’m lost, so I may have been in your position.

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