Job Discussion Forums

[markholmes]

I taught in Japan for a year and a half and two years in Taiwan. I then moved to the Canada (I'm from the UK) and opened a business. It is now four years since my ESL teaching 'career' ended and I still have itchy feet.

I have been thinking about heading back to school to do a teaching certificate in geography / social studies.

My question for the long termers on this board is, why have you not considered this option? Do you just like teaching ESL? Have you found other outlets and careers paths in Taiwan? Do you not think working at an international school would be a step up from what you are doing now?

I'm interested to know. Although I have had itchy feet for the last four years I have only really considered taking the B. ed in the last few months. It maybe a longhaul for me (two years of study plus two years experience in an accredited school), but if I could end up working the last fifteen years of my working life earning good money with long holidays somewhere in South East Asia (no, I won't be coming back to Taiwan), it might be worth doing.

Your comments are appreciated.

Cheers

[Dr_Zoidberg]

I really don't care about the money, I'm no longer a slave to material acquisition. My current job provides a full-time wage at part-time hours. This gives me the opportunity to further my education as well as pursue all the little projects I've wanted to do for so many years.

I enjoy my stress-free life here.

[Toe Save]

That was my original intent when coming here. Since that time, I've realized I don't want to teach kids.

If I did upgrade my cred, I would most likely go for a Masters degree and then teach at a Uni in Asia (most likely Taiwan). That may or may not be in the cards, because, like Zoidy, I have a full time salary at p/t hours coaching language and confidence skills. And yes, I foresee a likely business plan that could put me over the top, comfort/travel wise.

Where in Canada are you Mark?

[markholmes]

Vancouver

[dangerousapple]

My situation might be slightly different than other lifers here.

I got my B.Ed in Canada, and was an elementary school teacher BEFORE coming to Taiwan. At the time, there was a severe glut of teachers in Saskatchewan, and I was tired of working my way up the sub list. I thought a year in Taiwan would be a nice break, and give me a little extra knowledge about the world.

Well, strangely enough, I found my calling in ESL/EFL teaching. I enjoy teaching kids English here far more than I enjoyed teaching back home (I enjoyed that a lot too though). I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from my job, and have no desire to go back into a regular classroom. In fact, if the time ever does come to head back, I'll be looking into teaching ESL programs there as well.

In a regular school, it can be difficult to assess your students' improvements over a year, as the increases are slow and steady, but it can be startlingly obvious here. I love watching my students move from 0 level to fluency.

As the years went by, I worked my way up into managing several schools, and now run my own school. My focus now is slowly shifting away from teaching the kids to training the teachers...and changing the expectations of the people in my community. The buxiban industry is a mess, and raising the expectations of parents is almost as important as teaching the kids. Of course I hope to make a lot of money, this is my business after all, but you have to put educational principles before profit, or you'll be out of business in a couple of years.

If I ever get any free time, I would like to do some post-grad studies, as there is a huge amount of methodology that I would like to learn. I've been here almost 12 years now, and I guess I'm pretty good at what I do, but I can always do things better.

[KaiFeng]

Well, I never taught kids, which may have been my secret to success. What are the best parts of my Taiwan career, and my motivations to keep on?:

1. Making enough money that, post-tax, I could support my family, pay a $3300/month mortgage and still have money left for books and trading Dead tapes. I cannot overestimate this.

2. Working with professionals in law, pharmaceuticals, business, trade, etc., and learning from them all the time, through conversation and the things we read and wrote. The mental stimulus from this was incessant.

3. Watching my new home grow and adapt to a changing world. Very satisfying.

4. Mastering Chinese to the point where I could do business in it. Also very pleasing professionally and intellectually.

5. Taking charge of my career and doing my own sales and marketing to consciously change into a language consultant. Excellent example for the kids.

6. The feeling of accomplishment from being able to acclimate, marry into the culture, build a network, make a difference for my clients, watch them grow professionally, and still have time to read a lot, and self-teach through my IT certifications. Doesn't get much better.

That's pretty much it.

[123Loto]

Those are some pretty inspiring posts on this thread! I've been in Taiwan for 6 years now which is obviously not as long as these guys but I still see myself going some of the same paths as they have.

Now I'm focussed more on managing and training teachers which has been a whole different ball game compared to teaching itself. I've had a to learn to deal with a much broader range of issues than if I was solely focussed on being in the classroom (which I haven't left totally because i need to keep the sword sharp).

I now have to deal with more stressful problems - professional relationships management is a constant struggle with the teachers and other staff. I've enjoyed learning a great deal about Chinese management and intercultural issues. I've learned a lot in a short space of time and I hope this trend continues.

So while the work remains challenging and stimulating I will too will remain!