Hess Educational Organization
| Named after | Karen Hess |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1983 |
| Founder | Joseph Chu, Karen Hess |
| Founded at | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Purpose | English as a Foreign Language instruction |
|
Region
|
Taiwan, Singapore, China, South Korea, Japan |
|
Membership
|
60,000 (students) |
|
Official language
|
English, Chinese |
HESS International Educational Group (Traditional Chinese: 何嘉仁國際文教團隊; Pinyin: Héjiārén Wénjiào Jīgòu) is the single largest private provider of English education in Taiwan. Hess has an estimated 60,000 students enrolled. Founded in 1983 by Joseph Chu and Karen Hess, it has become a large business, with schools across the island. Hess also provides books and resources to other English schools across Asia to teach English as a foreign language, and has a chain of bookstores, which was founded in 1990. In addition to the ROC, Hess also has branches in Singapore, China, and South Korea as well as connections to Japan.
Hess hires native-speaking English teachers from countries where English is the primary language. As per Taiwan government law, these include the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. After one year of employment and completion of the full training program, Hess employees earn a TEFL certificate, but it is not affiliated with any outside official educational body.
All foreign teachers working for Hess are legally employed to work as Native-Speaking Teachers (NSTs) in the ROC, and Hess offers 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.
The primary curriculum of Hess instruction is their EFL series (formerly called "Step Ahead series"), aimed at elementary school children. The EFL curriculum consists of 8 levels lasting six months each and is aimed at students from third grade to junior high school level.
For children in grades 1-2, there is the Kids World series (or "K series" for short), which has eight levels. At the junior high level, Hess has developed several curricula for further study. Hess has several adult learning courses through its International Studies Institute.
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Wikipedia