This is what I was thinking. I have no way of knowing what quality these classes are but I do know the quality of the free materials online. My daughter learned a TON of English from everything offered for free on YouTube. The quality and presentation is amazing and free. Schools here specialize in in-classroom learning. These online offerings already have online mastered.
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I’m about 50% down on my salary. My cram school has decided on one hour online classes instead of the normal two. I’m also wondering how many students we could possibly lose in the future. Many of the parents took alot of convincing to go online, some of them may well just decide that cram school is surplus to requirements. They worry about how much time their kids are spending in front of a computer screen and also the school has no way of tracking everyone’s movements at weekends etc.
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Anyone care to guess when things will open up again?
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Why does the school need to know this about it’s students ?
early autumn is unlikely but late fall is quite possible, I would guess early winter, and no later than Spring Festival, barring vaccine-resistant variants
I hope I’m wrong and we’re back to normal in August with the local vaccines and Audrey’s digital registration, but that seems too much like wishful thinking…
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I’m now transitioning to ALL online classes. I’m pretty busy compared to other teachers alike in my program. (I’m also FET in a public schools program)
I work with 3 different public schools, and I teach 15 online courses now, including 2 ever-dreadful youtube live classes. Kind of a grind (preparing PPT and materials because of the nature of online teaching), but I’m glad to have my job.
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That was a question some of the parents asked my boss just before we had to close. One of my colleagues was fired more or less because she went to Taipei on the Friday night just before this outbreak. Then everyone started asking where everyone else had been etc etc. And how does or is the school supposed to know that?
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You can’t be fired for that. Lawsuit time.
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What was wrong with going to Taipei before the pandemic? Strange indeed.
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The teacher was leaving at the end of last month, so she went to Taipei to get her accommodation sorted out but my boss was desperately telling her not to go. The whole incident caused a major row. They were going to close the school but at the last minute u turned and let my colleague go . The next day (Tuesday) the school had to close anyway. Paranoia springs to mind.
Typical over reaction.
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Yeah, my friend teaches 39 hours a week and says online classes take at least 30 minutes of prep each. But like you say, some extra work is better than no work at all.
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Is it though? If you end up doing 50 plus hour weeks and running yourself into the ground? Does your friend have to go to school to teach the classes? That increases the risk of covid.
I know people need money, but jumping through fire and putting yourself at risk just because the boss wants to keep the dollars coming in is not something people should just do without weighing up the costs.
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No, he does it from home.
You’d rather get nothing than work 10 extra hours and still get 150K? I wonder how many feel the same.
Not everyone is doing 10 extra hours and getting paid 150k. In fact I would say that your friend is the only one. Although it is 10 hours extra a week and you told me his monthly salary, so it is 40 plus hours extra a month.
Most are doing more work for the same or less pay.
And no I wouldn’t work 200 plus hours a month for 150k. An extra 30 odd k but I wouldn’t spend time with the kids. No way.
Ridiculous comment to be fair. You are using your one friend as an example and I was replying to your comment that working more is always better than not working.
Not getting paid more for the extra work. His normal hour pay is 900+/hr I think.
And having work is always better than no work unless you’re independently wealthy. 
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Oops I edited while you were replying.
Are certain your friend doesn’t have a banana in his pocket?
Obviously each case is different, but it goes without saying ‘boss culture’ in TW will generally not contribute to an increased feeling of happiness or well being when it comes to remote work, teaching or otherwise.
It’s good general advice for sure. Nobody should ever sacrifice their well being for work, if they have any kind of choice.
If there is little choice, there is still always the choice of ignoring the constant drone of bosses and just pushing ahead with doing work on your own terms (assuming you’re responsible and hardworking), keeping in mind that again, generally speaking, bosses now probably can’t be choosers.
I’ve seen work take its toll on so many people in TW, even if they’re not totally breaking down from it, you can see it when their work lurks over them, and constantly affects their stress levels and general mindset.
Easier said than done to try and separate your mind at work from mind at play, but ultimately it’s important to constantly self-remind to do it, to maintain perspective, to take care of yourself first because most employers in TW view you as an afterthought.
Down the road, the last regret you want to have is that you developed some health/mental health issues caring about a job where management likely doesn’t give a toss about you.
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Exactly. Bosses in general don’t care about you. A bad job/ manager will ruin your health and it probably won’t improve your wealth all that much. The bad bosses normally pay the worst in my experience.
It is all individual though because some people can lower their standards depending on work conditions. Others can’t. So they just become stressed and resentful.
Mental and physical health is most important.
I know, I know, people need to eat. But if you are on this forum, from Europe or America, you always have other options. Always. If you are Taiwanese, you have options.
Personally, I am going to go into my savings. I don’t want to, but an extra few grand won’t matter much if I have a nervous breakdown.
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