Education In Taiwan (Part 4-2)

Part 4 How To Work As a Taiwanese English Teacher (analysis)

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Part 1 Problems With Public Schools: teachers

Part 2 Why Can't We All Be Home-schooled

Part 3 Experimental Schools Won't Fit Us

How normal is this job, you wondered?

"Being a teacher is no regular job", something we might have heard here and there and yes, you might say that we only say this because we're teachers and everyone could say the same with their jobs. However, it's true. Education plays a more important role than other fields.

Being a teacher isn't a normal job because of the relationship among labor, client and "investor". We work on the front line with children (client), study what's better from them but if that contradicts with the prospects of the parents (investor), the case might be terminated and the hard work would be lost. If only this were just work, we wouldn't have to care so much.

With this in mind, we could easily see that teaching English to children "as Taiwanese" isn't ideal, not to mention the low pay and high hours. Teaching adults isn't easier as your students either don't have time, money or neither. Therefore, if you wish to teach English in Taiwan, think twice, or consider Andy's path.

Andy's plan is as simple as this:

(morning) English in school

(afternoon) Colearning

(night) Free The Language

Obviously, you cannot just choose randomly. What you do has to be related to your passion, hobby and/or interest. That's the only way it'll work.

"OMG, you really filled up all your time. Isn't it tiring?", this is a common misunderstanding and people ask about it all the time. Well, rest assure as I break it down little by little.

Let's start with Colearning since this is the so-called "full-time job". In order to find the best way for you to work/have a teaching career, first you have to find a main job (income source). Given that not every full-time job is 12-6, you should still aim for a job that doesn't require too much overtime. A standard 9-5 would suffice and you'd have plenty of time to take on a part time job after dinner.

To work on projects at schools without the whole licensing process, you'd need a connection from the inside. Perhaps it's someone who's already working in school or cram schools that are connected to schools because it's a somewhat closed-up system. They recruit inward and then out. If unfortunately that you don't have anyone to back up, then be on the lookout on job banks and individual school postings. This is a long process so be patient. Think about it as just something extra because you already have a primary job.

A third job, if you should be so lucky, instead of taking the same kind of cases, you could do something experimental and revolutionary because it increases your chance of success. The reason people work hard is because they only see a small picture (of themselves). One of the key features we must possess in this era is have a strong network of people. We're not saying working hard isn't important but that's the minimum requirement. We need to work smart. Meet more people and build your connection.

Finally, to answer the question of time... to be honest, Andy works less hours having three jobs than when he used to have one and makes about the same. To have a balanced life with work and health, every job you take, you need to consider commuting and rest period which is something that the modern-day us constantly neglecting.

Commuting is also a crucial factor. As the schedule above goes, all Andy's work is within a 30-minute range of distance:

-morning class--> back and forth = 10 minutes

-Colearning--> 20 minutes from home

-from Colearning to Free The Language- 10 minutes

-from FTL to home- 15 minutes

As for the distribution of hours:

-(morning) 6 class hours a week is divided into 2 hours (8:40~10:10) a day which gives about another 1 hour just to chill or collect information (like logging on to YouTube).

-(afternoon) 6*4+2= 26 hours a week and occasionally a stay over with kids or Saturday trip has never been considered "working overtime".

-(night) 2*5=10 hours a week "if all hours are reserved". That means it's a flexible timetable.

What about the pay? if you ignore everything that's just been mentioned and still only think about money, today's the day that all answers' are revealed!

-part timing in school is about 250NTD an hour (5K~8K)

-each student in Colearning pays 8000NTD a month (40K)

-each session with FTL is 500-600NTD an hour(5K~??K)

An age-old saying people don't want to believe in.

Although the pay is shown here, we strongly suggest that you don't just count the hours by wage. EVERYTHING needs to be based on your passion, hobby and/or interest. It's true. When you start putting this thought in your program, you'll find that you never need to chase after money; money just comes. You'll get what you deserve.

Hope this helps.

p.s. this is an incomplete mindset if we don't include "desires"

#selfreflect