Job Discussion Forums

[JZer]

Hello everyone. I just wanted to say hello because this is my first post on this message board. I plan on going to Taiwan and staying there for a while so I hope that we will have great discussions over the next few years.

As for my questions, I know that this is a little early (I will be coming to Taiwan January 2006) but I am a planner and this is really what I want to do. I was in Taiwan last summer and worked at ALV summer camp. I am also planning to return to Taiwan this summer as well.

My first question is how hard is it to get a job? I mean even if one is an idiot. I am not stating that I am an idiot but I wanted to use this as a starting point. I have a Master�s degree and from reading the discussions, I think that it is important to note that I am white.

My second question is whether 40 contact hours a week is too many? I was thinking maybe 4 hours a day in a kindergarten and 4 hours teaching adults. I have already read enough to know that coming to Taiwan and looking for a job after arriving is the best thing to do. This is no problem for me because I have a Taiwanese friend who lives in Taipei. Furthermore I have read most of the post from recruiters on Dave�s ESL caf� and usually they want someone who will teach 5 hours and have to spend an extra 3 hours a day at work. I think $1500 US for 40 hours a week is not very good so I am planning on working two part time jobs with an hourly pay rate. If everyone could provide me with some advice I would greatly appreciate it.

[Aristotle]

[JZer]

What about arriving in February?

[matchstick_man]

What a load of nonsense. Before Chinese New Year is like any other time for looking for jobs but be warned you are unlikely to start working before Chinese New Year. You're highly likely to find people wanting subs during this period. I returned before a week before Chinese New Year last year and found a job within three days.

[JZer]

What about 40 contact hours a week? Anyone have any advice on that? Furthermore Aristotle, thanks for the advice!!!!

[Rice Paddy Daddy]

20 - 25 hours per week for language school work.

You can teach extra hours on the side to bring that up.

40 hours would be waaay too much unless you had some sort of financial objective you were trying to meet over a certain period of time.

Tired teachers aren't good teachers - 40 contacts hours a week would drive most people mental after a short while.

[TaoyuanSteve]

I agree 40 teaching hours is too much to maintain over the long term. It may be somewhat better if you divided it into adults and kids as you suggested you might, however, around 30 hours or so is much more sustainable.

[JZer]

Yes as Rice Paddy Daddy suggested, I do have a financial objective. I would like to earn $3000 US a month. I do not see any other way to make this much money unless I work 40 contact hours a month. If I could earn this much working 30 hours a month I would only work 30 but that does not seem possible.

Secondly, since everyone believes that 40 hours is a lot. Could someone please tell me if Kindergarten teaching requires a lot of prep work? Or do you just show up and play games with the kids?

[junkmail]

[clark.w.griswald]

I agree that 40 hours is a lot. Even jobs that require 30 hours a week make me wince!

Generally speaking, the jobs that offer such large blocks of hours offer monthly salaries. You may only teach four or five hours a day, but are required to remain at the school doing administrative work and the like. If you are chasing the dollars then I don't think that this is the sort of job for you.

Hourly paid jobs are generally accepted as being the best payers. Find a good school with lots of classes or a couple of schools with lots of classes combined, and pick up some privates in your off hours.

To be basically earning bucks for 30-40 hours a week this way, you would need to have a kindy job from about 9-3 (bear in mind the legal issues here) and a buxiban job or two on the afternoons from about 4-9pm (again watch out for the legal issues of working at more than one employer).

Keep your weekends free for privates and relaxation.

A schedule like this should enable you to pull in about NTD550-650 an hour for teaching, and up to NTD800 an hour for privates.

[JZer]

junkmail, I was not applying that I would teach 40 hours of Kindergarten. I was just asking some experienced people if teaching these children requires prep work. Anyway, I still appreciate your input.

Secondly what does everyone thing about teaching Kindergarten in the morning from 8-12 or 9-12 and then a buxiban from 4-8PM. I have seen Kindergarten jobs listed that want people to work these shifts. I mean two separate jobs that are paid hourly. I know that some people would not want this split shift but at least it would give me time to rest and I would still have weekends free. I do not mind it so much. Anyways if I worked at a Kindergarten from 8-12 and then a buxiban 4-8PM, I would earn $3000 a month.

Junkmail, I am also interested in knowing about how one would make $3000 in Korea. It seems that most jobs pay about $2000 US a month and from everything I have read, it seems that it is risky to do privates. I know that if I wanted to make $3000 in Taiwan I would be also working illegally but it seems like this is the Taiwanese way and that it is not such a big deal. I mean I worked at ALV summer camp and some weeks they have 100 illegal workers. I did not even realize that it was illegal until I arrived.


Finally I do not want everyone to think that I am just after the money. I plan on teaching for a long time. I would just like to make an investment in order to produce a second income and then I will move to a poorer country that I find more interesting.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Get here. Get working. Then see what is available and workable for you. Right now, it's all just figures you're throwing around. You may be able to get jobs doing kindies in the morning and crams at night, many do; but that is an extremely tiring combination.

[JZer]

TaoyuanSteve -I know that these are just figures. I am just using the figures to show what is possibly available and what I hope to do.



TaoyuanSteve, I am also interested to know what you did before you came to Taiwan. Furthermore I imagine that the normal Taiwanese teachers whom teach in High Schools teach more than 25 contact hours a week. In my high school we had 8 periods and the teachers usually taught 7 periods and had one prep period. I think that the periods were about one hour long. I am not 100 percent sure right now but even if they were only 45 minutes that really does not change things since I think that in many cram schools the class lengths are also 45 minutes. This totals up to 35 contact hours a week.

[TaoyuanSteve]

Why the interest? You don't know me. However, if you must know, I taught adult immigrants to Canada, children's Summer and Winter camps and private classes for a number of years before coming. I also did short stints at almost any kind of job under the sun.

I repeat what I said: get here, get working, then assess how realistic it is for you to work 40 teaching hours a week. I'm not necessarily saying it's not do-able for those who truly want to. On the other hand, I know most opt for less. I agree with what another person said about hours. I did warehouse work for a while. In that job I could happily do forty plus hours a week. In teaching, I find 30 hours per week is the most I want to be doing and, even then, a bit less is preferable. Teaching makes you tired in a different sort of way. Planning doesn't factor into the equation. If you are going to do kindies, you'll find managing them to be very taxing. Also, in English teaching, your voice starts to get real sore and may give out if you're teaching too many hours. It's pretty unanimous so far. 40 hours isn't sustainable for most.

[JZer]

I understand what you mean by your voice starting to hurt. I did ESL summer camp last summer, I think the hours were about 9AM-5PM but after yelling at the kids all day my voice would become weaker.

I also see that it is unanimous that most people think that 40 teaching hours is too much.

Is there any other way that I could earn $3000 a month? Could I combine 20 teaching others with some other type of work? Proofreading or something?