Job Discussion Forums

mikokozak · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 17 Location: Toronto

Hello,

I am trying to figure out where to go to teach in Asia starting this fall. I have pretty much narrowed things down to Japan and Taiwan. Both of these places seem appealing to me for various reasons. Although the number one reason for doing this is the experience of living and teaching abroad, I am concerned with the financial aspect.

Can anybody concretely tell me where my prospects at making money are better; Japan or Taiwan?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Nick Kozak
www.nickkozak.com

Girl Scout · Joined: 13 Jan 2005 Posts: 525 Location: Inbetween worlds

Don't come to Asia with the attitude of what will they give. There is a lot of crap that comes with each job in Asia. Nobody is going to pay you to just show up in a class room. You have to have something to offer the school you work for.

That said, in Taiwan the average job pays 55-60,000/month. You do the conversion. You won't make a lot of money in the first three months. There are just a lot of minor expenses. After that most people should be able to save and send home appx. $1500/month or more. Your biggest expense would be housing. In order to make life easier in Taiwan a job that supplies housing or has a housing subsidy is a benefit.

I have never been to Japan. You will have to wait for other people to answer.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Answers from Japan

kyoko · Joined: 07 Apr 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Chongqing, China

My cousin is currently teaching in Japan and she is making MAD CA$h

Keep in mind that living there will be expensive if you want to go out alot. She also had her BA.
I wouldn't go out there without any sort of title on your name.
They may hire you but the pay will be much worse.
Also, her classes are huge. HUGE, like 300 and such

my advice would be get outta china, but i am bias perhaps.. being here...

3!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

kyoko,
It might help the OP if you could more clearly define "mad cash" and the circumstances that your cousin is in. Teaching 300 people at once is unheard of anywhere. I suspect your cousin teaches in a high school or similar institution where the total grade numbers that many, but where individual classes are about a tenth of that size.

Either that, or your figure 300 is a typo.

tedkarma · Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2005 7:06 am Post subject:

I taught a reading class in Taiwan once with 100 students. But also had a Chinese "co-teacher" - and Glenski is right - three hundred - and some one is either exaggerating or misunderstanding what's going on.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

[quote="Spinoza"]

GambateBingBangBOOM · Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 2021 Location: Japan

I'm on the JET programme and send home a lot of money (I mean a large percentage of what I earn) every month (between a third and almost half, depending on how much stuff I need to buy that month). And I don't do private lessons on the side to supplement my income either (against the contract, although many JETs do do this, one or two have been caught and canned over it).

However, I don't do the drinking thing every night (in fact I very rarely do it at all, other than buying a bottle and heading off to a friend's place).

If someone needs 500K a month to save anything, then they need to learn how to budget their spending.

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

tedkarma · Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2005 10:38 pm Post subject:

It was a few years back - but I saved about US$800-1200 per month in Taiwan, and that was with working at least a couple private classes per week. I have to admit though - that I rented a quite decent apartment in a good part of Taipei - but then again - I split the costs of the apartment with my wife.

Japan though - is quite an interesting place too - but I still like the energy and dynamism of a developing country.

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

I'm sorry Spinoza but if you think that you need to make at least 500k yen a month to be able to save anything then you must have serious bugdeting problems or else you just miscalculated on your conversion.

I'll be making close to 300k when I get off probation and at that rate I should be able to save close to $1500-$1600 CDN a month. That's a HELL of a lot more than I was able to save living in Toronto, if I was able to save anything at all. In fact I think very few people in Canada are able to sock away $1600 a month in the bank unless they are super rich.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan