Job Discussion Forums

[blateson]

In Taiwan, namely Taipei, seemingly you are required to do everything right, not just basic but excel at it. You have to keep good class control and efficiently use discipline, not too much and not too little. You have to have good communication with the children and all of your students. You have to fit in well enough and are under watch. You have to keep up a good or excellerated pace of learning and when children veer off or score poorly on tests, whether within your language school or at their public school, you are held responsible. You have to keep students in line and be a real teacher and you often need to use both penalty systems with punishments as well as reward systems with prizes. And you have to do all of this while avoiding being talked badly about by children so that they don't complain and have their parents put their child in another school or at least make it appear that may happen. It seems you are held accountable, firmly, in every category, and all the while you need to hold a straight face, keep good relations and continue to be well liked.

What is difficult is that you have to do all of these which is a difficult and very stressful balancing act, because some of those factors clearly counteract the others. You also have to do them as though you were a fun, easy going and relaxed person who gets along with the local native staff, who have the power to regularly talk about you in not so nice ways and deteriorate your relationships with others because they dislike something about you, for whatever the simplest reason may be.

You are expected to do these things and then get better and better, such as excel. Really does seem serious, more so than other ESL markets, in which you need to do some things pretty well but can lack in others -- for example you could be a really fun teacher with lots of games and some learning, but low discipline, or have high discipline with class orderliness but not be fun nor well liked by most. In that I really have to say that Taiwan seems the most difficult of all the major ESL fields because all aspects are up for criticism by parents, the students, and school staff; I wish I were wrong. The society as a whole is fairly nice, but not so inside of the schools. I wonder what others have to say.

[Toe Save]

You are pretty much spot on. After about 3 months teaching kids at KoJen, I felt disgusted by the whole thing. In my second year, I made the switch to adults. I look at what I do as a job and nothing more. A job that pays better than I cold manage back home. I try not to care so much anymore. That said, I still bring a certain amount of passion to the classroom, but it is more of an acting job than true zeal. I pass my time, while away the hours and sock away the bucks. Remember that this is about business, not education. Satisfying the customer is the order of the day.

Above all, don't take your work home with you. Pick up a hobby. Socialize with folks of common interest. Fall in love. Download TV shows and movies and escape into them. These are my solutions. YMMV.

Taiwan is Taiwan. It won't change, so either you do, or you don't. It's in your hands. Make the best of it.

Good luck.

[Jamer]

[comenius]

After trying a few times, I decided that I was not cut out for teaching kids. Everyone's different.

It's a pity that there's so much work teaching kids compared to adults, but there ya go. You have to go with what you know you'll do well at.

[blateson]

hey guys, thanks for the replies. actually I should clarify, with kids I'm alright and have a few years experience already -- actually I do pretty good. while sure, we're never perfect teachers and are always watching our own work, i don't think kids are a problem for me.

actually what I was saying is it seems schools here and bosses in Taiwan are really into ribbing you, lording over you. they seem all into putting themselves above you. i find this seemingly vast issue really perplexing and befuddling, it really knocks you off concentration. i've also experienced direct and vicious criticism in situations that were clearly unjustified. I've been thinking that the whole issue of "real teaching" here in Taiwan is misused as an excuse to whip on you the foreign teacher. in any event, regardless of how much all of that is true, I really do find the behavior of co-workers, office staff, and school owners to be unnerving and is why I think Taiwan is certainly the most difficult teaching environment to be in. the workplaces here are really serious, which is fine by me I don't mind hard work, but they also like messing you up with insults, extreme office gossip leading to change in attitude, and the risk of change in attitude. that's the way Taiwan seems to me as of yet, and that's why it seems the most difficult. serious work, poor leadership, management, and instruction, severe criticism leading to poor performance.

[psychedelic]

Hi blateson,
I really appreciate your observations and valid judgements. I personally find many of the school/institute employers in Taiwan quite picky and am very tired of it. TOO PICKY! I read about a Taipei employer that wanted a Western teacher with a Boston accent. Others like you said only want someone in a certain age group or they have to be a female,etc. Others are too lazy and won't take a few minutes to reply to an e-mail. (with the line "It's inconvenient" as has been said to me more than once) It's also about control with some of these employers..just like South Korea. Or, the really strange ones that are only interested in a prospective teacher from their immediate city/town..just ridiculous. Taipei is only 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Taichung city/county!

[123Loto]

Blateson,

For me, one of the reasons I am still in Taiwan after nearly six years is that I have made it a mission to become the teacher you outlined in your first post. That is, have all of my systems set up so that I am playing loads of games, the kids are engaged at multiple levels, there's high energy in the classroom,, I know tha grammar and the best way to get the kids to know it and that I can see the big picture i.e. I know how to take student from ABCs right through to decently fluent after a few years.

So maybe that's one way of looking at it. I take it from your posts that you don't mind working hard and you are taking some pride in your work. That's great! It'll mean you succeed where many others don't! Personally, I kind of prefer the higher standards required of TEFL teachers in Taiwan (if indeed there is a higher standard?) I prefer it this way because it pushes me to improve my teaching as far as I can and that's a big reason for me being here - to become the best teacher I can.

Don't forget though, if you become the teacher you want to be, all of your employers will see the value in having you around and the pressure from them may come off. You hold a lot of power with your quality teaching building relationships with the parents through their children.

Good luck, and keep up the great work!

[englishmaster]

While this country is better than either the mainland or Korea, the demands placed on foreign teachers for the mostly pro forma work they do are absurd given the inability of Taiwanese students. It really doesn't matter what textbook or method you use, whether you try to discipline the gerbils or not or how much of a sense of humor you display in class.
It all falls down because the students have no mental capacity or initiative to invent their own expressions and say them in class, no matter how many vocabulary items they memorize or answer correctly on a paper multiple-choice test. I gave up trying to inculcate any intellectual curiosity in them ages ago, and just do my token job. Everything here is just for appearance, anyway, and they'll never change. It's very obvious why their civilizations can never do more than limited copying of western technology and institutions they never could have invented.

[craigzy]

[Toe Save]

[flapjack]

Blateson,
I have been teaching here for 5 years and i feel your pain because its my pain, too.
I totally agree with everything you are saying and would like to add my own little twist on it.(for kids classes)

The kids will complain to mommy(sometimes by cell phone during a break) the mommies will jump on the management(good management will sheild you, poor management will let you take the brunt of the complaint) but sooner or later management usually turns on you (pressure and control) next thing you know the kids know they have you by the short and curlies and they call the shots. This vicious cycle destroys the teachers ability to maintain control of the classroom and the parents wonder why. Duh.

This problem will never change because of the "We pay the Money, mentality" which they learned from Americans(but take it too far, especially concerning the education of their children)

If I owned my own school I would listen to the complaints, tell the teacher a scaled down version of what is going on and tell them not to sweat it. If I were to see unjust complaints too often from a parent I would just ask them to take their kid to another school. I have heard that some schools in "JOY" english schools are that way, or maybe its just one JOY english school, wish I knew which one it was.

My second year here I wrote a nice little song on guitar for my students called, "Do you want fries with THAT" Face it, english teaching is a high pressure service job here, they use up people like disposable lighters then toss them out.

I also agree with the gossip "train" idea you mentioned. Once the train starts rolling you can be in for some pretty tough times.

here's a nice quote that may help you through some rough times,
"Life is COMIC for those who THINK and TRAGIC for those who FEEL."
My advice would be to teach in Thailand if you are single. Unless you dont mind just spending your time being in the same boat you are in now.

Can't really blame it on the Taiwanese people, they are who they are, its their country and their culture. Most of all dont take it personally, If Jesus or Buddha were teaching the classes for their kids, they would surely be crucified on a daily basis.

Take care of yourself, this is a good place to work things out so just let it go and hope that you will feel better.

[Taylor]

Dear Readers,

I've been in Kaohsiung for most of the past 12 years. Averaging 30+ hours per week, I have accumulated appx. 15,000 hours in the classroom with Taiwanese of all ages.

In general, I really like about half of the people I've met. As for the other half, I just don't 'connect' with them.

It's way past midnight here now, so I will stop here.

Any comments?

Taylor

[BigWally]

[dangerousapple]

[flapjack]

Good for you. I have a feeling your school will be very successful.
Best wishes