Job Discussion Forums

[pelsaert]

A little over a year and a half ago I posted some questions to this board about the visa situation for ESL in Taiwan and the practicality of teaching learning Chinese at the same time.

Retrospectively, the advice I received wasn't helpful. Still, I thought it might be a nice idea to post about what happened.

Typically, I graduated from college with a BA in English and decided to go to abroad and teach, basically for the experience.

On advice (partially from this forum) I didn't secure a job before I arrived, but made sure I got a visa that was convertible to a work visa. The idea was to get a better job than you'd get applying from overseas. However it's actually quite difficult to finalise a job application within time you get on a visitor visa. I had good credentials and I'm presentable - so it was easy to get job offers. However, actually having a school get the ARC paperwork together is another matter. I ended up taking a job with the McDonalds of ESL companies - Kojen - simply because I was concerned that having to do a HK visa run - with the job hunt process dragging on - would strain my savings. I also couldn't enrol at a university without either an ARC or a student visa (I'd elected for the former option).
It's true that with time, luck, or connections you can find a much better job than the typical cram school (Kojen is fairly typical). That said, considering the risk and stress associated with the short time of a visitors visa, plus the extended (and not particularly fun) period without income, it's questionable.
So, I ended up working at Kojen. I was working around 24 hours a week plus a few privates. That ate up quite a lot of my time and provided a salary of about 60k NTD. That's enough in Taiwan that you can buy pretty much anything a reasonable single person would want - and I knew plenty of people who indulged ridiculous hobbies with their ESL salaries. You could also save if so inclined.

I spent quite a lot of my money on my own ridiculous hobby - learning Chinese. I studied at TLI and Shida for around a 15 months in total. I worked hard and now speak Chinese pretty much fluently for day to day purposes, and can read and write to an intermediate level. Despite advice from this forum, I don't think there's anything to stop you learning Chinese while teaching. That said, all the expats I knew professed to be learning Chinese and few did. That said, I took 2-3 hours of class every morning, and did an hour or so of homework every day. It's achievable. Despite a few questionable teachers, Shida and TLI (1-1) are both excellent schools with sound teaching methods and I recommend them.

As for working at Kojen - the place was basically a joke. The curriculum and salary were OK. My salary was fine (580 - 640 NTD / hour, depending). The lessons are structured and repetitive. After a few months, preparation is largely unneccessary - however it was understood I had to come i at least half an hour early. I usually came in early to chat with my colleagues, get dinner etc.

That said, the management at the school I worked for were terrible. Although Kojen usually employs 'foreign' Academic Directors, in an effort to minimise cultural problems, I found the management irrational and vindictive.

I won't go into details - management would often make mistakes and then lie, shifting blame to the teachers. They were also very willing to pander to criticism from even a single parent and 'discipline' a teacher.

One of my TAs was once yelled at by management because she didn't 'warn' the students that a word search puzzle could contain 'diagonals'. It's quite funny - but management actually treated it as a serious issue. Some people lost significant hours (and therefore income) over things like this.
Professional misconduct from management, such as spreading false rumours, gossiping about personal information (such as an illness a colleague understood was confidential) and sexual harrassment were common. One friend of mine had his visa revoked after he offended our manager by complaining about such mistreatment.

Anyway, from my point of view, this wasn't a big deal. I wasn't personally affected by many of those issues, it's easy to find another job, and the visa hurdle isn't insurmountable. Also, an ESL teacher's salary is high enough that you have the leisure of an extended visa run if you want.

I was able to travel extensively in Taiwan, live comfortably off my salary, and learn Chinese. Although Kojen was a horrible business run by incompetent people it wasn't the most significant aspect of my experience in Taiwan. I'm now back home. I suppose my 'travels in the far east' helped me figure out what to do with my life, and I'm now pursuing a comfortable bourgeouis existence without regrets.

[JZer]

[JZer]

[Old Surrender]

How much is tuition for Chinese classes? Ball park estimate.

[JZer]

22,000NT at Shida. I think it is 32,000($1000 US) for three months at Taiwan National University. Chinese Culture University is around 22,000NT for three months.

[prettykimmie]

FIRST THE HESS HORROR STORY, NOW KOJEN

[cormac]

Hardly a horror story since he was able to stay with them for as long as he did. He also didn't go into any details which suggest that while they weren't ideal, they didn't cause him to hate them.