Job Discussion Forums

[tpacapt]

Hi. I've been offered a job (for the coming school year) teaching high school students for about 65,000 NT in Yilan. That seems pretty good from what I've seen (though it'll require 40 hours a week - 25 teaching hours plus 15 office hours), and the place sounds nice (I've never been to Taiwan, but I'd prefer a smaller city).

Is that liveable in Taiwan? I.e. I prob won't have time to do private tutoring for extra cash. It seems decent from what I've seen advertised, but I thought I'd check here.

[yamahuh]

Very liveable - especially as you'll be paying no tax.
I assume you will be working directly for the high school and not teaching the students through a buxiban / cram school?

Good luck teaching the monsters though...

[tpacapt]

Thanks for your response. Yes, I'd be working directly for a school.

Paying no tax? That's nice to hear. I assumed I would, as I was reading something about the Taiwanese tax system for teachers and you have to be there for 183 days to get a lower rate?

Monsters? Are they that bad? Teenagers are generally a headache, but I've mostly only dealt with European teenagers. I can't imagine they're much worse. No?

[yamahuh]

So you have a B.Ed or equivalent recognized teaching qualification?
As far as I know if you work directly for the secondary school then you pay no tax but having never done it myself I can't tell you how that works. For example I don't know if that means you literally pay no tax i.e you get paid your salary every month with no tax deductions (although I think that's what it is), or if it means that you pay tax every month and get it all back at the end of the year when you file your taxes...

So far as the teenagers go I've only ever taught them here and in China so I cant' compare them to anywhere else, but teenagers are pretty much the same everywhere it seems. In Chinese public schools the classes are huge, here they're not so bad.

If any of my info is wrong I'm sure someone will correct me.

[tpacapt]

Thanks for the information. I'll have to ask. They mentioned something about having to pay part of the National Insurance premium, but nothing about taxes.

Yeah, I've had good teenagers but never a class of all good teenagers. The best I've had is maybe 2/3rds of the class actually being interested. And then if I can get the last third to not actively be disruptive, then I'm happy.

I have a Celta. No B. Ed. though, my B.A. was in history.

[yamahuh]

Hmmm that sounds odd.
So far as I know - in order to teach High School you must have a minimum B.Ed. Most people here have an undergrad degree in something but I would hazard a guess that not many (relatively speaking) are teaching High School.

Perhaps someone else can clarify?