Teaching In Asia


The Pros and Cons

Introduction

     Hi, My name is Trent Widdup.  I have been living in Taiwan for more
than nine and half years.  I have been teaching English, working for International
companies, doing buisness, traveling, and having fun.  Life basicly has been 
very good to me I have been able to learn Chinese and have developed many
skills dealing with people.  It was difficult at first but after I kept slugging 
away things worked out for me in the end. 

   The most difficult thing in coming here was getting on the plane.  The 
thought of the unknown, not knowing where I would be or how I would handle
dealing with a different culture in a country that people don't speak my
language.  Then I arrived and what do you know some people do speak English.
People are people and everyone has the same basic desires and needs love, 
security (financial and safety), and a sense of being needed.  There are some
things that I still miss, but eventually all those things are coming here as
wellPizza Hut, Cambells Soup, Kraft Dinner, ESPN, the works.

THE PROS

LANGUAGE
The best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it. Use it everyday practice as much as you can. What better way to learn Chinese than to live here. The problem is that if your working too much it is hard to find time to study and practice.
TRAVEL
Taiwan is centrally located in Asia. You can get reasonably priced airfare to many different locations. The problem is getting the time off from work and finding the time to do it. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" Return fares out of Taipei in New Taiwan dollars
EXPERIENCE
Hey, if like seeing things that you would never expect, viewing a different culture, and being a minority then maybe Taiwan is for you. It is a very fast paced dynamic country.
MONEY
What usually draws people here is the money. In Taiwan if you are willing to work hard and sacrafice your leisure time. You can make a lot of money. Of course, you must be on time, do your preperation work and be a consciences teacher. The rule of thumb is usally this:

THE CONS

TRAFFIC
Taipei is changeing, but in general most teachers here ride scooters or motorcycles. The rules are "There are no rules". The streets are very crowded and everybody drives aggresively. This is all fun and exciting until you go sliding along the pavement with people racing past you. Be careful out there.
POLLUTION
Taiwan is a small island with most of the population and industry concentrated on the western coast. Sure companies may sometimes pay fines if they get caught by the authorities, but this is just the cost of doing buisness. There are places on the island you can go to get away from this, but those black clouds surrounding the cities are not clouds.
LANGUAGE
Many people when they first come here miss their friends back home. The Taiwanese friends they meet may have differen't interests or even if they have the same interests they can not explain themselves. Ordering something and they get the order wrong because they don't understand. Getting lost and you don't understand their directions. The funny thing is you will be surprised at the places that you find English speakers.
CULTURE
China has over 5,000 years of recorded history which can be very interesting. However, people tend to get tired of the stares more pronunced in local areas. Their way of being polite instead of saying "Your private lessons are not working out we don't need you to teach any more" They may say "We are going out of Town for a few weeks we will phone you when we get back to start class." Giving people face. Culture shock affects people differently but Trent's thinking is like this: 
Check out some other people who have homepages and advice on Taiwan.

Links to other sites on the Web

Douglas Ward
Chris Murphy
Hal Houston
Micheal Turton
Doug Gilbert

If you are interested in coming to Taiwan and want to go through
an agent I suggest You get in touch with Judy Espeseth.

Mail to: Judy

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