Job Discussion Forums

[Rooster_2006]

They give you polo shirts, and jeans are fine. Our branches tended to wear polo shirts on weekdays but totally casual clothes on Saturdays. They weren't super anal on the dress code.

[markcmc]

[123Loto]

The fact remains that experienced teachers at Hess can and do make $1,500,000TWD a year. Some make more.

[markcmc]

[Rooster_2006]

My HNST actually told us how much he'd made the previous year. Or at least he "alluded" to it.

He said he'd joined the "millionaire's club" last year -- people who break 1,000,000 NTD per year. HOWEVER, he also does translations on the side, so that 1,000,000 NTD was not 100% from his HNST salary.

HNSTs max out their pay in the low 700s, so I highly doubt 1,500,000 NTD a year is possible for an HNST with no side gigs.

Besides, there's more to life than money. If I had been in Taiwan so long to become an HNST, I'd probably have moved on long ago to a public school or university. I wouldn't still be working at a buxiban.

[123Loto]

Most of a HNST's pay is still derived largely from their teaching:

Say, 40 hours per week x $750 per hour = $30,000 x 48 weeks = $1440000 + $30,000 re-signing bonus, + $10,000 for return rate bonus, + $8000 for kindy clock in bonus, +$50,000 for HNST pay = $1,538,000 per year

obviously that's a pretty thick workload, and you need to be very motivated to make sure your teaching quality doesn't get hammered but it's reasonably common

but as you say - there's more to life than money!!!

[Taylor]

Dear Readers,

I've never met anyone who can teach EFL 40 hours per week--without burning out after 3 months or so.

Considering the weather in Taiwan, holidays, sick kids and so on, earning that much money in TWO years is a lot more reasonable.

Taylor
10 years in Kaohsiung

[123Loto]

Hi Taylor,

It's not for everyone - but I know several teachers (including myself) who do it and have been doing it for years. One way to go is to teach about 37-38 hours per week normally, and then bump it up on occasion by doing some subbing.

And again, you need to be pretty motivated to make sure your teaching quality doesn't drop.

Perhaps more people head down to sunny Kaohsiung for a more relaxed lifestyle? Just a thought...

By the way, the schedule I'm describing would include 2 classes on a Saturday, and 6:30pm finishes every day of the week except for one, which would be 8:30pm.

Furthermore, you'd need to teach kindergarten, which some people prefer not to do.

123Loto
9 years in Taipei

[Clowwwn]

For those of you who supplement your income with private lessons, how did you find people to tutor? I'll be doing language school in the evenings, and wouldn't mind doing private tutoring or language exchange to pick up some Mandarin.

[Rooster_2006]

[zipper]

[creztor]

You could try a few of the websites that have listings of tutors and students can get in touch with you. However, as Rooster pointed out, most people on these sites and the average Joe you bump into on the street is looking to pay 300 - 400NT per hour. I guess he means around 600NT and hour as the going rate and while there are people who will pay that and much more, the problem is actually finding them. I've been told many times that I should drop my hourly rate down and I just haven't because any less than 600 is wrong in my books. I once met a woman who wanted me to tutor her two children, she was unable to speak English and she was looking to pay 200NT an hour or thereabouts. There are a lot of these people around who are unaware of what foreign teachers earn and they assume you will work for 200 - 300NT per hour. You'll need guanxi to find the high paying ones, something I don't have.

[Rooster_2006]

[yamahuh]

[creztor]

HNST = Head Native English Speaker Teacher?

Guys that manage the teachers at branches and act as the middleman between management and foreign teachers. I could be wwwwrong though