Taiwan Teaching Jobs
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Joshua Said:
Is it better to get a teaching job in Taiwan before or after arriving in Taiwan?We Answered:
The articles on this website should answer your question.Mabel Said:
Has anyone used Asian Consultants International to get a teaching job in Taiwan?We Answered:
Good luck getting a job here now. It is tough. I have teaching experience here, plus a masters degree and it took me 4 months to get a job here. My first time - years ago - it was dead easy. I showed up with nowhere to live, no friends, no chinese, no job and $400 - I had a good job in 3 days and left 7 months later with over $10,000 in my pocket. That simply isn't possible here anymore.More specific to your question - Julie at Asian Consultants will try to help you out if she can - but be aware that obviously they are taking a cut of the pay that the school would have paid to you in exchange for placing you there. ie. The school might have been willing to pay you 700 NT an hour. Instead you'll get 600 NT because the school has to pay ACI.
Dean Said:
What is the best recruiting agency for getting a teaching English job in Taiwan?We Answered:
I had good luck with Footprints Recruiting in Vancouver (Canada). I taught for two years in a junior high in Hualien County and had a blast.1. For some reason, elementary and junior high teachers in Taiwan do not pay ROC income tax.
2. National Health Insurance is provided.
3. Return air fare home for the teacher and one family member is provided (if the family member lives with you--MOE won't pay for someone to visit you).
4. MOE provides a monthly housing stipend of NTD 5K for a single teacher, and NTD 10K for a couple or a family. We rented a three bedroom, two bath house in our town for NTD 7K per month.
The purpose of the program is to provide foreign teachers for rural and isolated areas of Taiwan. Having said that, three of the six foreign teachers in Hualien County worked right in the the city. I worked an hour by train from my home in the city, but on nice days I took my little motorbike.
The pay is around NTD 60K per month up--depending on your academic qualifications and years of teaching experience.
Timothy Said:
does the non native english speaker gets teaching jobs in taiwan?We Answered:
Caro is spot on with his analysis of the English language market in Asia overall, not just in Taiwan. Having a degree and getting the proper teaching visa to work in Taiwan is a start, but being a native English speaker will land you better jobs, better pay, and more incentives. I have friends who are Filipino and teach English, but they are having to work very long hours, pay is so-so, and their benefits such as paid boarding are quite diminished. You also want to make contact with and negotiate your compensation package before departing from your Mother Country. This may also get you a paid trip there and back if you play your cards right. Good luck.Nicole Said:
Applying for teaching jobs in Taiwan; what questions to ask ?We Answered:
This was a contribution to a ESL web site in Thailand; ajarn.com:It's still applicable, even though it's not Taiwan.
Checklist (provided by Steven)
Here are the most crucial bits of information to get. Any waffling or refusal to give a straight answer means unless you're all trussed up and ready to be jerked around like a chicken on a string, you should be outta there:
1. What is the salary? [less than 30K- no way]
2. How many months is the contract? [the correct answer is 12, including pay during school holidays].
3. Do you [CAN you] sponsor me for all paperwork, including teacher's license, work permit, and visa extension? [In the past, a "no" answer meant you had to evaluate your risk. These days, I'd recommend running on a "no." Up to you- the dodgy jobs should pay more to make up for the risk, though].
4. HOW SOON can you get this paperwork processed? [the correct answer is SOON, with a promise to pay reasonable compensation for any visa trips necessary while they dawdle.]
5. If the job is less than 40K a month, you WILL of course pay for all these visa/WP fees, WON'T you.
6. How many hours will I be teaching? [the dodgier the WP and the lower the pay, the fewer this should be- let's say for 40K and no WP it should be about 15-16 max].
7. What kind of insurance is on offer, considering that I am not on the 30B Thai government scheme [try to ask this one with a straight face]. If there is no insurance, naturally you will be paying me more so I can purchase my own private insurance.
Assuming the school passes the bare facts of life stage above, it's time to estimate the bullsh!t level at the school. There will always be some BS- it's inherent in schools, probably. Everybody has his own level of tolerance for such things, and so I can't tell you exactly when you should cut and run- but if your school gives the wrong answer to most of these kinds of questions, you might put them a bit lower on your list:
BS Factors:
1. When are the starting and ending times for work? Are these the REAL starting times, or will I be sitting around drinking coffee while the parents watch their kids doing yoga and singing the dorky school song?
2. About how many events a month are teachers required to attend outside normal working hours [teachers' meetings, parents' meetings, school festivals, seminars, brainwashing sessions, etc.]?
3. Does the school have/provide books [especially native-written books and not that awful Singaporean crap], or is it an unwritten job description that I make/photocopy my own? Will I be getting extra pay for this work?
4. How many management signatures/days distance am I from permission to make my own friggin' copies for my students [especially if you don't have textbooks]? [naturally, you DON'T expect teachers to pay for the copies for their students, DO you.]
5. Does the school have whiteboards or chalkboards, and does the school have markers and chalk for them?
6. Does the school have "special" rules that may seem unusual to outsiders, such as:
a. No fans or ventilation, but airconditioning is not allowed
during select times of the day.
b. Entrances and gates are locked and monitored so that
you, too, will have the feeling that you are in prison.
c. All 20 people in your teachers' room must do all their
paper work on your ONE computer [without printer].
d. Teachers are judged by administration on their
clothing, by their students on how much of a clown
they are, by the parents on how easy they are to
walk all over, and by the tests on how well the
students do. Despite the possibility that one or two
of these may get in the way of three or four of the
others, failure to achieve the desired level in any may
result in immediate dismissal without explanation.
e. That "one old guy" can abuse anyone he likes and get
away with it without being fired, but no one knows
why.
7. Are we required to attend such fine things as "summer camps" in the middle of our holidays in cold, mountain cabins with a bunch of snoring Thai teachers?
8. Is there a discipline policy? What is it? Who will back me up on it when the inevitable snivelling loser of a child goes home crying to his mommy after I prevent him from knifing the guy in the next desk?
9. Of course, all the students pass- it wasn't even a question- but am I allowed to engineer the WAY they pass or there some officially desired result? If so, what is it?
10. Is there a curriculum or am I making that up, too? If there isn't one, who will tell me what I'm supposed to be teaching? If you won't tell me, then will you at least not blame me later for not teaching what I was supposed to?
Finally, on top of this, go for as many goodies as you can. Schools these days are more desperate, and some of them even want to hire real teachers. Aside from the compensations for not having adequate paperwork or asking the teachers to do extra work outside the normal job description of teaching, don't forget to ask for:
1. Resign bonuses
2. Biannual or annual plane tickets to visit home
3. Housing allowances, especially if the school is in an especially expensive area
4. Internet access
5. Raise schedules
"Steven"
I hope this helps, and is not too late!