Job Discussion Forums

[sanpedro72]

Hi, perhaps you all could offer some feedback. I got offered a good package from Korea's GEPIK program (rural public school) and then one from Taiwan at 80%-90% of the total salary. Taiwan school contracts lack many of bonuses offered by Korea (i.e. private accomodation, none of this probationary madness, good holidays, tax-free, and various reimbursements). Is Taiwanese culture, cost of living, etc. good enough to beat that?

Thanks all, Jacob

[enoch83]

well i havent worked in korea, i'm just in taiwan now, but one of my colleagues only lasted 8 months there b/c of the working hours. he said he had to be at work at 7am, work until noon, then have a break until 4pm and work until 8 or 9pm. he said it was terrible b/c he could never enjoy life, just come home from work and unwind and try to get some sleep before he had to work the next day. so if i were you, i'd check out the working hours first. also if u've read about the new red tape on working korea, it sounds like a real headache.
he said the pay was better than taiwan; where he is making 60K/month here, he was making 80-90K there. i would personally take a paycut for a more relaxed life b/c u can still save plenty of money here. as far as contract add=ons, here i got 10 paid days off plus all natinal holidays and even some american holidays (christmas, new years, labor day, independence day). i get health insurance, and monthly bonuses for attendance and performance. the tax here is taken monthly, but u get it back at the end of the year. in the first 6 months u pay 20%, and after that it goes down to 6%. about the probationary stuff, if you're a good teacher, you dont really need to worry about it. u'd probably really have to screw up, have lots of complaints, or be late and stuff to be dumped during a probation period.
taiwan culture is many idiosyncracies. they're extremely superstitious, but very very friendly, and generous. many people have told me though that koreans are xenophobic and dont really care for foreigners especially if they can't speak korean. so if u go there, make sure u learn korean.

[englishmaster]

This is a question that appears frequently on various boards. Having taught several years in both Taiwan and Korea, I can tell you what most people who have also done both think: Korea is best for saving money, while Taiwan is pleasanter.

In my opinion, you might consider doing a couple of years in Korea to get your savings started, then come on down to sunny Taiwan for another couple to have a better life. There is no question that Taiwan has more western restaurants, for example.

That said, you can find agreeable situations in Korea, or exasperating ones in Taiwan. You can also save good money in Taiwan if you're careful (I did). The decision's up to you, but I'd encourage you to try Taiwan if it's an either/or matter.

[pest2]

--If you work at an EPIK job, you wont have long working hours; it will probably be 7-8 office hours per day but only 180 minutes of classes per day (about four 45-minute classes per day for EPIK)... and you wont work Saturday or Sunday. When I worked there, it was even fewer office hours and teaching hours because I commuted to different countryside schools... The pay in Korea, if you included rent, airticket, bonus, and a few other bonuses, worked out to about 3,300$ US per month.

--If you work in a public school in Taiwan, you have to do alot more work and teaching hours; I believe the office hours are about the same. The pay works out to maybe around 2000$ per month. AND in Taiwan, you have to have a teaching cert to even work in a public school...

--cost of living in Taiwan and Korea is about the same. So, you make at least 1000$ a month more in Korea.. simple as that... and you do it by teaching fewer hours...


HOWEVER, Korea is a difficult country in which to live.. especially if you are a single guy or girl.. especially if you dont live in Seoul. The culture is closed and suspicious of you if you are a foreigner. Taiwan is not like this at all and you will have lots of friends and/or find a gf or bf with no problems if you want... I think of it sort of like this: Taiwanese are very friendly, in part, because they treat you just like another Taiwanese person; they dont reserve judgement about you, usually... But then when it comes to learning English, they often dont need to pay for those classes because 1) demand for knowing English in Taiwan lower than in Korea and 2) because Taiwanese are not really xenophobic, they can just go out and befriend a foreigner and learn English that way. Dont believe 2? Just go to the esl99 or tealit website and see that there are 3 or 4 new ads per day for language exchange or friendship. There is nothing remotely like that in Korea... In Korea, it's as if you have cooties or the plague... so they want to pay you to learn English so they dont need to associate with you, otherwise... of course, thats a generalization and not always true.. but generally, it is true!

Anyway, about choosing, depends on your situation. Korea is better for someone with no savings and a wife or gf, Taiwan is good for an already-wealthy, single person.

[lumber Jack]

It is easy to make friends in Korea. The difficulty is finding people that you would wish to be friends with. Koreans are deep in a strange bubble of unreality, and westerners don't dig their chat. The same applies to the Chinese a bit (I don't know Taiwan itself) but to a much lesser degree.

[the dakota kid]

I am a current EPIK teacher and I have seen my salary plummet with the current crisis. My take home, after taxes, is about 1500 USD per month. Taiwan appears to be offering a better pay right now. I teach at a vocational school, 600+ students per week, loooooow level learners.

Would a PS in Taiwan be similar or do most students have some grip of the language? And yes, I have a teacher's cert/Ed background, so I should qualify.

Thanks,
tdk

[chopstix]

why wouldn't you check out the NET program in Hong Kong? with no experiecne and a TESL and B.ED you start at over 100,000 NT (Taiwan equivalent). I have 13 weeks paid holidays and am off at 3:45pm. I have lived in Seoul and Taipei. Taipei is WAY better than Seoul- HK is just great period. Money,people,Western,did I mention money

[Harry Houdini]

You need genuine teacher quals to teach in HK. I have taught in Taiwan also, but not in Korea (just visited). One thing you didn't mention is that HK is "go, go,go!!". It's really high pressure, at least for SNETs. I'm hedging my bets that you are a PNET - primary teacher. PNETS have it way easier than SNETS (secondary) - where there is way more work and pressure. You will probably "only" get 8 weeks of holidays too - never heard of anywhere near 13 weeks for an SNET (e.g. I got only three weeks for summer break one year). As an SNET it's basically back to a western working environment - 45-60 hours a week work, and high accountability. Forget leaving at 3.45 (a Harry Potteresque fantasy for a SNET) - try 7.00pm as I did this Thurs and Friday. And PNETs want equal pay. Sheesh!

But the pay is good. With the recent crash of the dollar in my home country I earn twice as much as a secondary teacher back home - way over NT200 000 a month (yeah, reed it and weap - and it doesn't mater if you ca'nt spel to good ). Still, I'm leaving ASAP. I place more value on environment and family than cash. Then add to that career advancement - zero in the NET scheme (who wants to be correcting "my home have two dog" to students who have been studying English for a decade+ for the next 20 years?). So, I'm outa here!

PS. I really miss Taiwan.

[yamahuh]

[yamahuh]

[the dakota kid]

My apologies for not replying to this thread earlier, I need to change my notification settings.

I have applied for the NET program for next year in HK and I have applied for several jobs in TW working in public schools. I might be wrong, but do recruiters handle all jobs in TW at public schools? A word of caution, as a few recruiters are including rent in the salary statements. If the rent is paid, why included in the salary. I understand that it is a "benefit", but it will have no bearing on my take home salary total.

In regards to the NET, are the rumors true that the HK gov is dramatically going to cut the budget for 2009-2011? If so, I doubt they will be taking on new teachers.

Yamahuh, there are better places to teach, in regards to pay. In regards to average pay, it is below 2.5 mill for most EPIK teachers and alot of hoggie emps as well. I teach 20 hours a week and take home 2.2 after ins and pension deductions. I am a level 1, rural province...so this is about as good as it gets around here.

HH, I have genuine credentials, BS Ed, PGDE, 4 years teaching in the US, 1 year in SK, 6 months in Lithuania. I have heard the days are quite long in HK, dunno about TW.

Pest, if you include those items, then you might reach 3300 USD. I do not. Cash in hand is what matters to me. The others might seem like benefits, but I definitely think this is a seller's market, not a buyers. The Won to USD is now about 1500, so the goodtimes are definitely gone.

[yamahuh]

Yeah the exchange rate for those buying Canadian with Taiwanese dollars if pretty attractive right now, wish I could have afforded to wait a bit longer instead of sending home a great big chunk of savings back in September ... who knew??



Recruiters definitley DON'T handle all the public school postings and you would be wise to avoid them if possible. You can apply directly to a school yourself so you really don't need them anyway. We went with one purely because we were travelling around S.E.Asia and trying to look for a job at the same time so enlisting the help of a recruiter to do the leg work for us made sense and he's been pretty decent so far as getting problems sorted out and honoring his promises.

In a public school here you'll be working probably 8 - 4:30 or 5 I'm guessing but I haven't done it so I'm just guesstimating. Buxiban / Cram schools generally operate in the afternoons and evenings but there are some that will offer morning classes as well.
Try to avoid split shifts if at all possible - they'll devour your day.

[the dakota kid]

Yamahuh,

do you know of a website listing the open vacancies at Public schools in Taiwan?

Thanks,
tdk

[yamahuh]

I'm not aware of a specific website for public school vacancies but this site has a lot of listings and you can narrow your search by going 'advanced search'.

www.tealit.com

There's a load of jobs on there but mainly Buxiban / cram school I think.

[surrealia]

Dakota Kid:

This webpage has a number of links to job boards for Taiwan:

http://www.geocities.com/allhou/joblinks.htm

Just scroll down to the section for Taiwan.