Job Discussion Forums

[Bubbleboy]

Hi folks, I'm a recent university graduate looking to teach English in either Korea or Taiwan. I realize that I certainly face obstacles as my parents are of East Indian Descent. I was born in Canada, and I am a native speaker with a typical north-american accent.

I was wondering if anyone had any leads or knew of any schools or recruiters who have hired or are accepting Asian-Canadians?

I have applied and given my resume to numerous schools and recruiters but have got no replies or offers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[markholmes]

www.kojenenglish.com Kojen take East Indians (or Indians if you are from Europe). I worked for them. They have their ups and downs, but I think generally have a good reputation. My experience was positive bar one person.

There was a couple of people there of Indian descent. I think they may have restricted the places they could teach, because one of them was in Keelung and she wanted to transfer to Taipei and they wouldn't let her (they weren't unhappy with her and she wasn't unhappy with them, she just wanted to move and the company thought it would be better her staying where she was already accepted).

I hope that didn't sound terrible, she had been there three years so it can't have been that bad.

Good luck.

[gcho]

I'm a Korean-American teaching in Taiwan. Strange you say? I think so too. I actually taught English in Korea my first year of Undergrad. during the summer, so I wanted to try something new.

An opporunity opened up when an alumni came to the University recruiting students who would get their BA in May. I was thrilled. I thought it would be the perfect trial period to figure out if I truly wanted to become a real teacher. I jumped on the opportunity and filled out an application.

I thought it would be really easy finding a job. That's what the agency told me too. But it turns out that Taiwanese people, as do others, think that Caucasian people are prime teachers. Despite my qualifications and experiences, my white counterparts had 5 offers, while I had none. Even though I had no job offers I bought a plane ticket. That's crazy me.

Two weeks before my flight I got an email from the agency saying that a school was interested. The angency told me that the school owner was a forward thinker and didn't really mind that I was Asian. The agency screened the school and even negotiated my salary.

Now, here I am in Taiwan. I am pretty happy with the way things are going. The school treats me well and I'm satisfied. I haven't experienced any negative vibes. In fact, people are extra friendly when I tell them I'm a Korean-American.

If you, or any one else for that matter, wants more information you know what to do..post post post =P


Until then,

gcho

[elsay]

hey gcho which school are you working at?

i'm chinese-canadian and I'm planning to come over in January. I'm also afraid of being rejected for being of asian descent. I am looking into trying to get a job before I go over( i guess the sense of security feels nice)...but I am also thinking about coming over first and then looking since many people say thats the best way. I'm just afraid of not getting anything while i'm over here though!

[gcho]

I'm working at a chain school called Sesame, but I actually do not recommend this chain. Other than my school, which is okay, I've heard some bad things about the Sesame schools. One of the better chain schools is the Hess school.

A lot of people recommend coming to Taiwan first, then looking for a job because that is the better option. In our case, it's a little tricky though. Let me ask you....were you born in Canada, so in turn have true native accent? If you do, then you shouldn't have a lot of difficultly finding a job once you get here. Don't be shocked if some schools say you have an Asian accent and turn you down. It's probably because they want a white face working in their school. With schools that are that biased, you probably don't want to work there anyways. Some schools just want a foreign face, but there are some schools out there that are looking for a quality teacher despite your ethnicty.

Hope I helped. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate.

[TaoyuanSteve]

My SO is a foreign born Chinese. The good news is she has been able to find work here. The bad news is finding work is not as easy for FBCs as it is for caucasians. There is a suspicion among locals that FBCs may be "fake foreigners" or people pretending to be foreign born and educated but actually just locals who know a bit of English. The Foreign English teacher's salary is quite high by local standards, so the potential for some local teachers to claim they are Western Chinese is pretty high IMO. Most locals do not speak English well, if at all, so they have no way of judging the fluency of their childrens' English teacher. Therefore, some look to color of skin as an indicator of English fluency. The side effect of this color preference is the phenomenon of the non-native English speaking white caucasians--from Europe and elsewhere-- holding English teaching positions for which they are not qualified. All this means that the demand for FBCs is significantly lower than for caucasians. There most likely will be jobs you will not be able to obtain due to your racial features. It won't necessarily be the fault of the schools who, if asked, will tell you that in actual fact a native English speaker who understands the local language and culture in the way an FBC does makes more sense from an education point of view. The schools, however, have to cater to parents who demand white teachers and, if they don't get what they want, pull their kids out of the school in favour of a competitor who will give them what they want. That is reality here. That said, there are jobs here for you if you are willing to endure the nonsense and become a little thick skinned.

My advice is to think it over and assess your own ability to cope with realities of being a foreign born Chinese English teacher in Taiwan.

[elsay]

[dvasas]

try www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com

[Ki]

Dvasas,

With Reach to Teach, is the contract with the school or the recruiter? Apparently no percentage is taken out each month so I assume it is the former but I just wanted to make sure.

[SanChong]

With Reach To Teach, the contract is DEFINITELY with the school. They don't take any money from the teacher, whatsoever.
They are more a Human Resource firm (Western style, like back home), than a Recruitment Agency.

[dvasas]