ELT Two Cents Cafe
pennies
Dollars and Cents
What about a Visa and an ARC?
When Should I Come?
Where Should I Live?
"...then I thought, "Hey, she's a foreigner"
Dust off your diploma and The Carpenters
Should I use an Employment Agency?
What's a good school to start with?
Should I Fear the Classroom?
A Few Practical Classroom Tips
Should I Fear the Traffic?
What about racial or national prejudice?
Private students : the Good and the So-So
Potty Talk
Bits 'n Pieces

Brief Intro

I teach English full-time in a Junior College in a tiny town. I've been in Taiwan two and a half years . My spoken Chinese is good enough for a limited amount of small talk, shopping and asking for directions, but that's about it. I have a Master's degree in Economics. That's very relevant to the fact that I was able to find full-time employment in a college. I'm pretty happy here in Taiwan, as are many other folks from Western countries...

The second year was the worst. It's a "sophomore slump" kind of thing. Your first year you don't really fit in, but everything is new and different and interesting, so it's ok. Your second year you still don't really fit in and nothing is new...but after that you start to understand their life and their point of view more and more (become "acculturated"), and hopefully your spoken Chinese improves, and so your life improves again.

Dollars and Cents

NOTE : A reasonable estimate of today's exchange rate for many countries is in the EFL Info Center section of this web site.

The exchange rate between Taiwan and America has been quite unkind recently to those who wish to convert NT dollars into U.S. dollars. In fact, the same is true throughout Asia these days. Asia's current exchange rate woes are not a problem if you plan to STAY in Taiwan for more than two years or so, but if you're doing a quick one year in-and-out, it may hurt your bottom line... SO you can expect to make about $400 NT per hour (before taxes) in a cram school, which if you use a 33/1 ratio is about $12.12 U.S. per hour.

BUT there's much more. The cram school pay isn't (or shouldn't be) your only source of pay. I very highly recommend that you DO NOT agree to work full-time in a cram school. You should definitely work part-time. The most important benefit of working in a cram school is the WORK VISA, and the accompanying Residency permit. Without the first you can't work here, and w/out the second you can't stay here. Work in a cram school to get the visa, and then after a month or so (you need time to get somewhat settled in) you should try to get private students. The pay for one-on-one private students (in Taipei, at least) is around $500 NT/hour, and it's NOT TAXED (it's just a little secret between you and your students). But there's an even better deal -- if you're good enough or lucky enough to get a GROUP of private students then there's even more money involved. The per-student pay drops dramatically, but you multiply that times the number of students (of course) and you do just fine. The per-student pay in this case is highly negotiable. You should very discreetly ask around (don't ask your boss!) when you get here. However, you should expect it to be AT THE VERY, VERY LEAST about $150 per hour per student. With five or six students in a group you'll do quite well.

If you have debts back home that you're working to pay off, I very highly recommend that you keep your bank account there open, then open a second one in Taiwan. Bring your checkbook with you. No one will take your checks at any time for any reason in Taiwan, but you can mail them to the people who collect your student loans, credit card bills etc. back home

For a brief discussion of Taiwan's highly mutable tax environment, see "When Should I Come?"

What about obtaining a Visa and ARC?

Note: Since I only have experience with the American offices, the following details apply to Americans only. People of other nationalities will have to contact the "pseudo-embassy" for their particular country. Sorry! :) There are a whole host of laws and requirements involved in obtaining visas. Necessary documents include (but aren't limited to) :

      An original diploma showing the highest degree received, authenticated by the TECRO office in the U.S. nearest the school which issued the diploma
      A Resume
      A health certificate issued by a pre-approved public hospital in Taiwan or a hospital approved by TECRO if issued in the United States.

Sometimes they are strictly adhered to; sometimes not. For example, some schools insist on having a TECRO stamp on you original diploma; others just kinda wave their hands in an annoyed fashion. Your best bet by far is to fulfill every requirement as strictly as possible. I suggest that you read the rest of this FAQ for other important information, then return here by following the link at the bottom of this page that says "To Visa Section." Below are the relevant links to let you find out all the details straight from the source, the AIT (American Institute in Taiwan, which is a kind of a psuedo-embassy). The sections you should be interested in are :

When Should I Come?

Cram school work is somewhat seasonal, but you never find yourself unemployed or even close to it. You can work as much as you choose to work at all times (regardless of the season), but in the busy season work comes to you, and in the slow season you have to go beat the bushes.. >From a job-seeker's point of view, the best time to come to Taiwan to find a job is just before summer - maybe in late June (but come before July! I mean it!). That's because the summer is the busy busy busy season for cram school teachers and everyone is hiring. Some cram school teachers work fifty or even 60 hrs./week in the summer. The worst time for finding a job is right after Chinese New Year's - perhaps around February.

Another factor in this decision is the tax laws. Taiwan's tax laws for foreigners change every year, but when I arrived two years ago the situation was this: taxes were a whopping 20% for foreigners for the first six months of their residency in Taiwan, and less than half that amount (it was a civilized 6% last time I checked) ever after that..BUT BUT BUT if you live in Taiwan for more than six months in the year of your arrival, the government will refund the difference between the 20% tax rate and the 6% tax rate to you. They have a very precise definition of "six months". I don't recall precisely, but I think it's 182 days. If you're in Taiwan for 183 days or more, you're golden. If not, you're out a lot of pocket money (depending on how long you worked at the 20% rate). Note that if you leave the country for ANY reason for ANY amount of time those days are subtracted from your total. SO either come before July (to qualify for the refund), or come very late in the year (so you don't get soaked for 20% for very long). I recommend early June as the optimum time.

Where Should I Live?

I taught in Taipei my first year here, Tainan my second and now I'm in a tiny little city you've never heard of. I recommend you go to Taipei or Kaohsiung for at least your first year. There are many more employment opportunities there. City life in Taiwan is a little uncomfortable (but that's true for any big city). The traffic is a nightmare unimaginable to anyone who's never seen it. It's not just congested -- it's feral. Life in the small towns is much better but I don't recommend it for anyone who can't speak Chinese. I think it would be a problem of another sort. A long list of reasons why I think it's best to start out in the city:

      Many more people can speak English at least somewhat well, so it's easier for you to communicate.
      Many Taiwanese companies have their international headquarters in Taipei or Kaohsiung, so there's a larger demand for teachers.
      Taipei has an excellent bus system. Yeah, it's kinda complex and convoluted, but once you get the hang of it, it's very convenient.
      Taipei also has an MRT rail system that is slowly but steadily improving.
      The managers of cram schools in the big cities have more experience dealing with us Westerners. Their English is usually better. They usually know what they're about.
      The bookstores have English language books and newspapers. It's hard to imagine how important this can be, until you've lived without them!
      There are many more Westerners for you to make friends with, both casual and close. No, I'm not prejudiced ...but how good is your spoken Chinese these days? Is it good enough for intimate conversation?
      If you're interested in attending church, English services are available in the big cities.

Dust off your diploma and The Carpenters

What should I bring to Taiwan? First, the absolutely necessary: make about a dozen passport-sized photos of yourself looking like a happy, professional kinda guy or gal. These photos are absolutely necessary, as you will be pasting them on dozens of official forms and applications. Take the photo negatives with you, too. Three other must-have items are listed in the Visa and ARC section.

Some extras: Was it Simon, or Garfunkel? Either way, "What a Wonderful World" is one of the old 1970s songs that have been remade recently as pop hits here in Taiwan, and is a great candidate for a guided singalong. The students almost universally love doing this. Other recent hits include: "Lemon Tree," "More Than I Can Say" and "The Rose," but the latter is definitely for advanced students due to its symbolism and infrequently used vocabulary such as "reed". A good song for practicing the past tense is "You Left Me (Just When I Needed You Most)."

Can't remember the words? No problemo. For the lyrics to thousands of songs, just surf on over to:

http://www.lyrics.ch

The hands-down, all-time king of the syrupy seventies songs known and loved by Taiwanese of all ages is "Yesterday Once More" by the Carpenters. Shooby do lang lang.

Should I use an Employment Agency?

I don't know any details about using agencies, since I didn't go that route. I also don't know anyone else who did. To be honest, I think they're pretty unnecessary. It's quite easy to find a "cram school" job in the major cities (Taipei, Kaohsiung, and maybe Taichung and maybe Tainan). Also, of course any agency you employ will want a fee or a cut of your pay. I'd think twice. I suggest you just go to Taiwan and start looking for a job.

...but then I thought, "Hey, she's a foreigner"

Some social and shopping gotchas...Everyone has heard of the Chinese idea of "losing face". There are probably dozens of small social amenities which the average newcomer is unaware of, but the curtain of grace is almost always dropped over our faux pas. After all, we're foreigners, so we can't be expected to know all these things. There's really only one Golden Rule of Social Behavior that you must, must know:

Try very hard not to show your anger, frustration or irritation. You will lose face if you do.

Let me explain. Most Chinese are taught from an early age that showing anger or displeasure is unsightly and impolite. Sure, Chinese people get angry. Sure, they show it sometimes (especially taxi drivers and gangsters). Since Chinese folks often try to hide their anger, a low level of anger, irritation or frustration will often be accompanied by a blank face. Moderate levels may provoke a clearly visible frown. The point of all this is that a Westerner does not usually feel that frowning is impolite, and even showing displeasure (with slow service at McDonald's, for example) is perfectly ok. Chinese folks aren't used to this. Chinese people often significantly overestimate the level of anger or frustration that a Westerner is trying to express. If you show an American's expression of light-to-moderate irritation, a Chinese person will often mentally multiply your feelings of displeasure by a large factor - and they will often think it's directed at them, personally, instead of just a "having a bad day" thing. For these reasons, try very hard not to express those feelings. Remember this one rule, and all else will be forgiven.

One potential pitfall -- it's a Chinese religious custom to "bai bai" on the first and middle days of each lunar calendar month. This involves lighting incense and saying prayers to appease some ghosts, spirits or perhaps even ancestors -- I'm not really exactly sure which. Another extremely common practice is making offerings to these same spirits. Offerings include such things as fruits, meats, sodas, and other food goods. Usually these are set out on a table in front of a shop, KTV etc. They will also usually have incense burning on the same table. Here's the gotcha --- DO NOT TOUCH!!! I know, to the unwary newcomer those may look like some kind of special sale tables, especially if the table is outside of something like a convenience store. Do not touch. They are for religious purposes. I'm not sure whether people would get really angry if you fondled their offerings to the spirits (my best guess -- older people might; younger ones might not -- but that's a guess). In any case, there is no reason to find out. Better safe than sorry.

Whenever you go shopping, there will be a "foreigner's surcharge," similar to the way service stations in America jack up the price when someone who obviously isn't knowledgeable about cars says, "Oh, the thingamabob is making a funny noise. Can you fix it?" The only two remedies for this are : either learn to speak Chinese, or take a Chinese friend along with you when you go.

Should I Fear the Classroom?

I can answer this question in seven easy words: "No, no, no, no, no and no." Everything is in your favor.

First, this is the culture of Confucius. Respect for authority is still a widely-held cultural value. Sadly, Western influence appears to be eroding the importance of this value, but it is still quite influential. What's more, teachers are a special case of the above. Teachers are given MUCH more respect in Chinese society than what I grew up with in the States. I'm just a Junior College teacher, and I can almost walk on water. Real Ph.D. - type professors are untouchable demigods who float on a plane of existence somewhat above that of ordinary mortals. ;)

Second, Westerners (especially Americans) are generally held in very high esteem by Taiwanese. You get a starter's kit of "face" (as in, "gain face, lose face") just by virtue of your nationality.

I'm really working on the assumption that you, like 99.99% of all Westerners here, will start out in a "cram school." Cram school students are usually pretty motivated and cooperative. This makes your job easier. For example, adults are often there because they rightly see being bilingual as a means of "getting ahead" in the job market. This group of students are typically laying out their own hard-earned cash for a chance to converse with a Westerner. Teenagers are almost always there because their parents are forcing them to come - but believe it or not, they are still motivated and cooperative. This is partly because of the respect for authority mentioned above, partly because they see talking to foreigners as being interesting and fun, and partly because those precocious Taiwanese students are often much more worried about their academic future than are their counterparts across the ocean. The only group of students I've had "motivation" problems with are adults who have been required by their employer to take English classes. These are sometimes less than highly-motivated students.

So in conclusion, just appear nicely-dressed and pleasantly self-confident. In fact, try to appear pleasantly self-confident at all times in the classroom, especially when you make a mistake. :) Trust me, everything will be ok.

A Few Practical Classroom Tips

Someone once said that every skill has the same set of skill levels: unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent, and unconsciouly competent. This is surely true for teaching English in Taiwan. The longer you teach, the more you learn about teaching, and one day you look back at your early days and think, "Wow, did I really do it that way?"

But all that aside, I have some reasonably good news. The first piece of good news is that the bu xi ban will almost certainly provide you some level of guidance in selecting and presenting teaching materials. The level of guidance varies from friendly mentor-like direction and tutelage to Gestapo-like insistence that you never swerve or deviate from the True Path of Teaching, as they define it. (Just as an aside, TPR or "Total Physical Response" schools are famous for taking the Gestapo stance.) In any case, you probably won't be abandoned like an orphan in the storm.

Your most important tool is the appearance (whether real or not) of friendly, cheerful self-confidence and competence. Dress nicely; maintain friendly (but not too friendly   smiley eye contact; speak clearly and probably slowly, etc.

My standard list of classroom tips would almost double the length of this page. I'd really like to avoid doing that, so I hope you'll permit me to do this instead : just use this mailto link to email me, and I'll send you the whole shebang. They're not quite the Gospel, but at the very least they're worth considering.

Should I Fear the Traffic?

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Taiwan's streets are like a DeathRace 2000 video game, but the impacts are real. You get more and more used to it as time goes on, but you never really get totally acclimated. Hyper-cautiousness is a survival trait on Taiwan's city streets. If you drive a scooter or motorcycle, buy a helmet and wear it religiously. Always look BOTH ways before crossing a street, EVEN a one-way street. Look before stepping across narrow alleys. Watch the side roads as you pass them - people often jump out onto main roads without looking or slowing. For the same reason, don't drive on the far right edge of a road - but don't drive too far left, either! Don't rely on the traffic lights to tell you when it's safe to cross a street - people often ignore them. Look every direction first. Look before you turn -- even if your turn signal is on. People will try to "squeeze past" you in those few seconds between the time you turn on your signal and you actually execute a turn. Look before you change lanes...Get the picture?

What's a good school to start with?

I very highly recommend ELSI Language School as an excellent cram school. They have a commitment to teacher training (a MUST for for anyone with no hands-on experience, and quite useful and interesting for all you TESOL folks). If you go to ELSI, they'll help you very much with lesson plans -- they have teacher trainers who are extremely helpful. In my opinion, they are the best managed, best run cram school in Taiwan. There are branches in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taichung, but not elsewhere. Be just a little wary of cram schools where the manager is also the owner. MOST but not all of these are run by folks whose nose is firmly glued to the bottom line of income; they will be more intolerant of mistakes. My wife works in such a cram school and her boss is wonderful, but this is the exception. If it's possible at all, try to get alone with some of the employees where the boss can't hear you. Ask them if they like where they're working...

Private students : the Good and the So-So

Expect to teach children. Let me repeat that. You will teach children. You can also teach adults or teenagers, but children are unavoidable. In fact, many cram schools focus solely on children; no cram school teaches only adults (well...there are a few specialized ones like TOEFL cram schools...but they hire Chinese teachers, not foreigners). Teaching adults can be quite fun if their English level is high. Teaching children is always tiring but sometimes fun.

Also, teaching children is really where the job security for private classes lies. Adult private students almost always quit after 3 to 6 months, but children are usually forever (if you can teach at least passably well), because their parents force them to go.

The survival skill for teaching private students is : find out quickly what skill they're looking for (grammar? conversation?) and what their level of motivation and commitment is. The first part is easy - if they don't tell you, then just ask. The second part isn't something you can ask about; you have to actually observe them in action...Do they want homework? Do they concentrate on what you're teaching? It's important to know how motivated they are because you want to adjust your behavior accordingly. Push the students who wish to be pushed, don't push those who don't. Some generalizations : housewives have private English teachers for two very different reasons: either they're bored and they want it as kind of a recreation time with all their friends, or because they plan to emigrate. The first group usually doesn't want to be pushed; the second group does. Professional men also generally have two different motivations : either they want to get ahead in the business world, or they want to be able to tell all their friends that they have a private class with a Westerner. Generally the first category is made up of middle-management types, and the second category is upper-upper-management. Guess which kind of student wants to be pushed, and which wants to "shoot the breeze"... You should also feel quite happy if you are able to find nurses to be your students. They tend to be very loyal and faithful students, if you can prove to them that your instruction will help them improve their English. They are also dedicated students who are very serious about learning... These generalizations may give you a "heads up," but above all, OBSERVE THEM FOR YOURSELF...


Copyright (c) 1998 Timothy M. Nall. All rights reserved.
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