Job Discussion Forums

[Shimokitazawa]

[creztor]

Shimo, what pay are your friends getting for that kind of work? Just curious to see how it compares with what modal has reported here for his position.

[Shimokitazawa]

[Taylor]

Dear Readers,

Thank you all for posting.

As for titles, I wouldn't worry about it. If it's a job that pays, take it and do your best.

Just remember that "teaching at a university" and "teaching adults" may or may not be synonymous!

Taylor

[forest1979]

Modal - Do yourself a big favour and contact your future employers to find out whether you will be able to get a MoE teaching certificate, and whether the contract is for staff or faculty.

To me from the hours you have said it seems like a staff contract. I might be wrong but I have never heard of a faculty contract asking for teaching hours, office hours and set admin hours.

As an instructor (on a faculty contract) you should have basic teaching load of about 11 hours a week and a handful (4 or 5 - no more than that) for office hours (which might include having to do admin work). Being asked to contribute another 12 hours for admin purposes is certainly new to me.

Shimokitazawa is spot on. If you are working on a staff contract then you will be under different regulations to other (faculty) employees. You will have more work, less rights, no voice. You will do what you are asked to, you have no right to question. You will do the classes that no one else wants to do. Basically, it will be a tough life.

Did you say that your university is out of town? If so, am i right in presuming its a low tier private university? If I am correct then anticipate now - and start to think about this in terms of how you will teach - a life of large class sizes and disinterested students.

I don't want to put a downer on you but you need to ask some searching questions of your employers and with it yourself. You will on day one have massive culture shock without thinking very carefully about where you are working, and under what conditions. Many taiwanese educational institutions have a university in their name but are anything but a university in practice. Run by families with high end political contacts these 'little empires' are by no means hotbeds of academic excellence. Higher education by name but not by nature.

Contact your employers now and ask questions. If not, your quality of life could be very much comprised.

[forest1979]

Modal - Ask what classes you will get, and how many hours you will have each class per week? Why? I know people working on staff contracts that have 12 hours of teaching which equates to 12 classes for an hour per week (each class having 60+ students in them). Thats 750 students per week to teach.

[Taylor]

Dear Readers,

Once again, Forest is sharing words of wisdom.

I'm also confused about the difference between 'office' and 'administrative' hours.

Generally, the 80/20 principle applies to English classrooms in Taiwan. About 80% of the feedback, attention and learning will come from 20% of the students.

Just have fun.

Some students wouldn't care if Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp or Justin Bieber showed up to teach the class.

Taylor

[forest1979]

Admin work = working on materials, projects, etc., that the department/language center is working on. I.e. doing work for someone else!

Office hours = prep hours for your own classes where you are physically in the department/language center's building, or researching so as to write papers (in the building where you are based).

[forest1979]

Taylor - Teaching English in Taiwan at university level is like a sandwich.

A sandwich consists of a slice of bread, a filling, and another slice of bread.

So, one slice of bread, about 10% of students will listen, work and think you are a good teacher.

The other slice of bread, another 10% of students, will not listen, fall asleep, work as little as possible, and generally see you and the class as an inconvenience to their unmotivated, uninterested state of student being. In other words they will think you are an idiot regardless of what and how you teach.

The remaining 80%, the sandwich filling so to speak, is who you teach to. It's these learners who waver between being interested and disinterested are the ones you try to win over through your class exercises and personality. It's this majority of the class whose evaluation of your teaching each semester will mean whether or not your contract will be renewed. If you can teach to these, and 'capture' them then no one from the uni's central admin offices of the head of language center will never bother you.

[modal_particle]

Forest, have you been screwed over in the past? I appreciate the high level of scrutiny. This department has been more open with details than I am sharing here. I have a course schedule, including hours, class sizes, exactly what the admin is.

I'll be sure to keep an eye out for the other issues. I'm not assuming this is some kind of dream job. I have very little experience and it's a pretty awful market, at least looking at my unemployed classmates. My only other job offer was in Korea with 30 teaching hours/week teaching from 6 am until 11 pm, six days a week. I hope things go well at this university, and I'll update here once I get there. Either way I'm going to give it a shot, and I'm financially secure enough to peace out in the middle of the contract if I need to. I know that is not without consequences.

Thanks again.

[forest1979]

Modal - Unless you have it in writing it is very easy to get screwed by the Taiwan university system in terms of what your job is, what is expected of you, and how long you will work for. This is why I am saying it is imperative for you to know if you will be on a staff or faculty contract because being a staff member can mean you being removed very easy, or working for just a limited time period. Just because people are being open now is no guage that they will be once you arrive and start work.

Have I been screwed over? Sort of because the leaders of university departments don't know the rules, and this is why faculty members will at some point in their career encounter problems (and often not by their own making). Likewise, strangely, with administrative officers in personnel offices at universities. Ask them the same question 3 times and be prepared to have 3 different answers.

I appreciate it that you say it's not a dream job but it's hardly likely to be anyway. Ask questions now because it could ultimately affect your stay in Taiwan.

[Seymour Glass]

I posted elsewhere, but it's worth repeating, if you can write Chinese on that level, then you more than likely can read on that level as well. There are many study centers located behind the Taipei train station that need seasonal translators for study plans and reference letters and you could perhaps land a teaching gig as well. Take your resume and head back there, it's Nan Yang Street.
There are also many translation grad schools in Taipei (Fu Jen in Hsin Chuang, the Normal Unversity and I hear Taiwan University will start a program soon...) that look for native speakers to teach writing courses, though probably not full time, it's a least a start until something else comes up. Of course in Asia, connections are everything, so get your foot in the door, do a good job and things will open up....

[forest1979]

Seymour - You are assuming the OP is conversant with the Chinese language. The OP in his/her first post did not indicate this at all. Quite the opposite in fact. From what I understand he/she's a newbie so part-time translation work - in which a high degree of Chinese language efficiency is necessary - is hardly relevant. At the same time is he/she based in Taipei with quick access to the city center? Don't think so, as word was given earlier in the thread to an out of town campus. Therefore I doubt anyone would want to take on evening classes at a study center or other institution in downtown Taipei followed by a lengthy bus or train journey just to get home. I do agree on one point: guanxi is imperative to get on. Without connections it is difficult to make movement for instance within the Taiwanese university system, especially without a PhD or string of publications (preferably in SSCI listed journals).

[forest1979]

I will say to the OP that there are little tricks that can be applied in order to make contacts and keep the employers sweet. The first is to take part in any extra-curricular events they have. Yes, it can be a bummer to donate time to it but registers are kept of who attends and this can be no bad thing when trying to persuade administrators in the personnel office - sticklers who follow set employment criteria given to them to the Nth degree. Secondly, speak at any conferences held at your place of employment and renowned ones on the island. Most conferences despite using the word 'international' in the title are not international conferences as they do not attract overseas participants. In effect they are low level events blowing themselves up to be something they really are not. Also, talks can be as short as 10 minutes with a bell ringing dead on the 10 minute marker for the next person to speak. These events, as poor as they often are, as a good way to fill up a CV and meet people, which is imperative if someone wants to stay longer term in Taiwan. A word of caution though: many conferences held in Taiwan have almost zero value when applying for work outside of the island. Furthermore the 'research' presented is very ambiguous in nature and often relates solely to classroom activities not someone's picking of teaching theory, etc.

[Seymour Glass]

The OP said he or she spoke and wrote Mandarin on an intermediate level, assuming that would mean being able to read as well those translation jobs are available. In the beginning of course it may take more time to get one or two finished, but after a while you get better and you Chinese improves as well.
The study centers behind the Taipei Train Station on Nan Yang Street want native speaker teachers to conduct test-taking and conversation courses with a bit of explanation in Chinese thrown in, so that might be an alternative for a while. Some offer visas.
The Chinese Culture University city campus is looking for ESL teachers, the main campus in Yangmingshan does not offer extension service classes. There are other courses offered at the city campus as well, but language classes are taught at the center dear Da An Park. The Yuan Ze job was just another alternative....