Some questions about different types of schools and living in Taipei.

I currently work at one of the international schools outside of Taipei. Due to a variety of reasons I doubt I will renew my contract there.

I’m two minds to have a break from international schools as I am constantly exhausted and stressed. I honestly wouldn’t mind working less hours for a bit less pay and getting some sort of life/work balance back. I’d also love to live in Taipei.

I’ve got a Masters degree in teaching, a teaching licence in my home country and 6 years teaching.

I was wondering what are the different types of schools/cram schools?

Are you expected to work 8-5 at many of these schools?

Is there much in the way working for a company/school that would let me teach English to adults?

What is the salary (or hourly rate) range, and are holidays often paid?

For Taipei, if I wanted a 2 bedroom apartment with aircon that wasn’t a complete dive, what would the monthly cost be? I know it will vary greatly depending on the suburb.

To have a comfortable life, how much money would I need a month in Taipei?

Also, how would I go about teaching at a university here? I used to tutor at one. Also, do they do English classes there and how much do they get paid?

I think it would help to know what you think is comfortable. What’s comfortable to me might not be for someone else. What are your spending habits, hobbies, age and if single or have kids.

And to be honest, if you have a post at an actual school. You won’t find many of the same benefits in buxibans.

Fair question. I can live quite comfortably down south on around 75,000 a month. However, that is with living a pretty self-indulgent lifestyle. Eating out at nice places all the time and buying expensive drinks etc. I can quite easily curb that behaviour and save much more money.

I am single, in my early 30’s. I don’t have expensive hobbies.

I just don’t want to share an apartment with someone. I’m over that part of my life.

Quite honestly, every single thing you’re asking has been answered in other topics. Recently, too. Even your question on holiday pay. That stated there’s one question I’d like to answer.

In regards to cram schools, 8-5 is very rare. Most of these schools operate after public schools let out. Which means you’ll begin teaching in the afternoon and end in the evening. More working hours are the hardest thing to obtain at a cram school. Most advertisements that I’ve seen are just for 2-4 hours a day.

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I would say the most amount of hours is 5-6 hours a day. Which is teaching 2 classes after school. Maybe some classes on a weekend if you don’t mind that kind of thing. And you’re going to be much more replaceable. Most places are content with hiring someone that just graduated in any degree from a English speak country (sometimes not even) and pay them 600 or even less. So it’s unlikely you’ll get a steady salary pay. They may even cut hours from you half way through and say between this and that many hours. I would stick with a regular school that will have much better business practices in most cases and take more care of employees and actually have a HR department.

And you can expect a nice and newer and updated small studio apartment in taipei City that’s like 15 ping for 25-30k a month.

Full time pay for a lecturer varies, but usually somewhere between 65 and 70k a month is typical for a new start. Part time pay is terrible - 575 an hour for daytime classes to the students (although you can get block hours of up to 8 hours a day). The evening classes most unis run usually offers around 800 an hour. Again, that varies.

public school is 8-4pm and with a masters you will get 67720 + 5000 housing + 2000 attendance if you are not absent.

Can you tell me a bit more about this. How do people generally apply for these types of jobs? Are they advertised on a specific messaging board?

Thanks buddy

Well I had my CV up on a website called Serious Teachers and that is how I got it.

Recruiting agency’s will set up interviews with the schools.

I work at a public elementary school. I found my job on Tealit. It has a bunch of buxiban and public school ads.

I’ve only been teaching in Taipei for 3 months, but my impression is that buxiban students are generally less enthusiastic. Especially older kids in after school programs. I personally prefer teaching in public schools. My students are pretty great most of the time, and I don’t get railroaded into teaching affluent kids.

I can’t comment too much on the teaching stuff, but I can help with the two above.

In Taipei City, Daan/SongShan/Xinyi/Zhongshan/Datong/Wanhua/Neihu/Shilin districts, you’re looking at 30,000NT+/month, for a two bedroom. Now if you want it to be in a community with a guard, you’re looking at 35,000NT+. These are ball park numbers, but to compare it, I was looking at studios in a few of those districts in a community and they were ranging at around 25,000NT/month. There’s deals out there, but most of the time, they are passed on to a friend or the landlord’s friend. You rarely see a sweet deal pop up on 591.

As for lifestyle, sounds like you can make the adjustment, but make sure it’s one you can adjust. For example, if you’re used to eating western food for all three meals because you prefer it, it’s a bit more expensive to eat western on top of paying more for rent.

I have a pretty expensive hobby and it takes a big chunk of my income, but I off set it by eating cheap and also buying in bulk at Costco to save money over time.

I would look at around 50,000NTD/month. Personally, I think this is enough to live comfortably. If you live in a studio or a make shift one bedroom (樓中樓), it would boil down to going out every once in awhile, spending some money on your hobby, eating out at a 400-600NT/head place once a week and maybe being able to save around a fourth of your pay check, but if you want a 2 bedroom, you probably want to ad 20k to that amount.

It depends a lot on your comfortable level. I lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment with a 24hr community guard, and live in a larger 2 bedroom with a daytime community janitor at 25000NTD. 10-15min to MRT stations, 5-10min to bus stops and U-bike stations. 20-30min to my office. According to my local colleagues, 25000NTD is too pricy.

yes, I introduced those appartments from a colleague who is a friend of a son of a real estate agent, and from the previous landlord who is a friend of the current landlord’s neighbor.

Absolutely true. Really depends on OP’s comfort zone. I based my 30-35k/month guestimate because I was seeing 25,000NTD for a studio with 24hr guard, community area, maybe a pool in Song Shan/Da An/Zhong Shan districts.

I think you can get a lot more for 25,000NTD if you searched some off areas like Xizhi, Nangang, Zhong/Yong He, Banqiao and Sanchong. Nothing wrong with those areas, especially if it’s close to OP’s work place.

Cheers man. I’ve put my CV up there.

Thanks for the heads up.

Thanks for all of the replies.

I don’t necessarily have to have a 2bd apartment. It’s just what I am used to here (where rent is half the price) and 2bd seem to be standard.

In terms of the area I live, what I would like is a place not too far from work or at least accessible by MRT. I drive a scooter and I’m used to a 30 minute drive to work.

I don’t eat western meals everyday and I can definitely do things to curb my expenditure. Mainly just not going out to expensive bars and having cocktails. Going out to nice restaurants a few times a week. That sort of thing.

Ideally what I would love would just to be able to stay here and not be constantly stressed and have a better life work balance. I’ll be applying for international schools here but there are not many around and I would be happy with taking a year off from that, having time to do things like exercise, study chinese and just not be tired all the time. I would happily take a pay cut for that.

That said, it doesn’t seem like teaching English pays all that well and it sounds difficult to make a living on some of the salaries mentioned.

I’m used to dealing with high school students but I would also happily tutor or teach adults/university students in English or help them with their essays that are in my subject field.

Do many people supplement their income with private tutoring? If so, what sort of hourly rate could I get considering I have a masters and have lots of teaching experience? This includes tuition for English literature, essay writing, social studies etc.

Thanks in advance too guys. You’ve all been very helpful.