Job Discussion Forums

[Gorm]

After much research, I've decided I want to spend my first year teaching English in either China or Taiwan. With no experience and a BMus, it seems like I can't find as good of work in Japan or Korea as I can find in China (considering money+living cost) - not online at least. I figure that I should take a position in either place (China, Taiwan), save some money there and use it to travel to Japan and/or Korea to do interviews the following year (assuming my job won't be too unbearable or a scam).

I have been offered a contract with Joy School in Taipei. Is it a reputable school? After emailing one of the current teachers I found she was working overtime because she had to commute between schools, had a roommate. She said none of that added time was included as overtime and the contract stated it was a single room. Also, the email had grammatical errors (a few very obvious ones - "daffinately", and a few other spellings, which looked curiously Chinese to me, but overall it was mediocre writing - the semantics were just a bit curious). The phone interview went smoothly, but one never knows who you could be dealing with over the phone. What do you guys think? Should I pursue it or let it go? I really don't have the resources to just go there and risk everything. How does one find out if a school is legit? I thought I remember reading somewhere that all legitimate schools (in China) belong to some sort of organization - I can't remember the name of it, but if so, then please let me know.

P.S. - if this doesn't work out, would it be worthwhile to spend 6mo-1yr in an internship position somewhere? I found a few which don't cost anything, though I'm not sure how competitive they are. Would it look good on the r�sum�?

Cheers,

G

[pollitatica]

I am familiar with the name of this school, I think they emailed me. However, I dont have any insight to give you about the reputability of that school, but you could look on some of the TEFL blacklists that are out there. The one thing I can say though, is that if you are just looking for something good to put on your resume - going and teaching abroad for a year might not be the thing for you do. Americorps and other such programs in the United States look fantastic and dont require you to up and move. I imagine that you want the travel experience, etc ... but keep in mind that teaching abroad, especially in a country where you (i'm guessing at this) have no knowledge of the language is going to be a very taxing experience.

I am going to volunteer teach in Latin America for a year. Not because it'll look good on my resume (though those things always do), but because I'm passionate about teaching English and the Latino culture. Good Luck with everything. Hopefully you can find some info about this school.

[Gorm]

Thanks pollitatica. I was a bit wary of it when they sent me the contract yesterday (and the guy was being a bit straight-forward about deciding ASAP, etc) and I just found this on the Joy School website ----

[pollitatica]

well thats interesting. that was on the same website for the school that is trying to get you to sign a contract before you get there? how strange. did you confront them about that?

[Gorm]