Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

Trying to figure out where a good place to go with a NNS husband could be. We want to get out of Peru and South America and are looking at Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Many people have recommended Taiwan, Japan and Korea. So my question is, what do you think of Taiwan as a place to settle down in and raise a family? Is it doable? Financially, we're used to scrimping and saving. And hopefully will be making some property investments to help support us as well.

Any thought?

[BigWally]

If you're not Taiwanese, or married to a Taiwanese it is almost impossible to own property, or a business here. Unless you take on a business partner, which I have heard endless horror stories about.

What do you plan on doing for a living? Can you speak Chinese or Taiwanese? Can you speak English? The job market is pretty reliant on being able to speak at least one of these languages fluently, if you cant, then you may want to consider elsewhere.

[naturegirl321]

[TaoyuanSteve]

I'm trying to sort out what "NNS" means. Does it mean non-native speaker of English?

Settle down and raise a family? Most foreigners who have families here are either expats on packages, who can send their kid to high priced international schools, or have local spouses and the children are eurasians who speak Mandarin fluently. Schooling will be an issue for families that do not fit either category. The first issue will be language. If the child is not already fluent in Chinese up to par with the grade being entered, forget about local schools. Then there the issues of being the only fully ethnic caucasian in a Chinese school. It would be hell. Finally, the education system here is inferior. There are reasons why overseas study is so popular with anybody who can afford it. You would be left with home schooling as the only realistic option.

Maybe owning property here will not be one of your goals, but it is possible. Just don't ask for credit, though, for anything.

You may be able to get a spousal visa for your hubby if you come here. I know it's possible, but I've only ever seen it done in the cases of expats on packages. Not sure how willing a school here will be to do the extra work to secure a visa for a spouse.

Think seriously about whether or not Taiwan is a place to settle down in. The only foreigners who typically do that are married to Taiwanese.

Edit: I see you also ask about pay and quality of life. This would depend on how much your hubby is able to earn. While it may be possible to scrape by onone teachers salary, you have to ask why you would choose to do this in a foreign country. If scraping by is accpetable, why not return to the states with your hubby (at least he'll be able to work legally)?

[naturegirl321]

NNS is non-native speaker of English

Having our kids go to international schools isn't really top of the list. We'd rather have them go to a regular school, learn the language and interact with the locals.

We don't want to go to the States for rvarious reasons, safety, living in a bubble. WE want to go to a country which is neither his nor mine.

[Jamer]

Not trying to promote raising families in America....But one of the biggest things I noticed teaching in Taiwan was how grateful I am to be raised and educated in the USA. I mean I almost cried a bit when I asked my kids whether or not they play sports or pay attention to them, and the TW kids had no idea what I was talking about. Conversely, in a slightly different subject, I noticed that when the children played they got into fights often and they proved very difficult to resolve, yet if they played sports and learned the essence of teamwork and cooperation, I'm certain the fighting would have been lessened....Moreover, having to sit in a classroom 12 hours a day, doing non-critically thinking repitious exercises in an ultra competive education setting would have easily sent me to suicide rather than busting my butt, critically thinking in a supportive atmosphere 7-8 hours a day.


For me, I can't say whether I would raise a child in USA but I would not desire to do it in TW

[TaoyuanSteve]

[naturegirl321]

[naturegirl321]

[dangerousapple]

You cannot enroll a child into the public education system here unless you have Taiwan household registration, which is not something a family made up of two foreigners can do.

[naturegirl321]

Guess that takes Taiwan off the list.

[TaoyuanSteve]

[naturegirl321]

[Jamer]

[naturegirl321]

My husband wants to go to Finland. Never seen an EFL job posting for there though