[quote=“bismarck”]
Looks like I dodged a bullet there. I went for an interview, but they never called me back[/quote]
Heck, Bis, if THAT lot don’t want you, I suggest you brush up a little on your interview techniques. 
This doesn’t necessarily mean he personally made the post.[/quote]Yeah. That’s quite possibly true.
[quote=“jimipresley”][quote=“bismarck”]
Looks like I dodged a bullet there. I went for an interview, but they never called me back[/quote]
Heck, Bis, if THAT lot don’t want you, I suggest you brush up a little on your interview techniques. [/quote]
:ohreally: You really need to read the rest of what I wrote, mate. They did want me, but I declined for several reasons.
bismarck: Your writing is fine, in the main. I don’t recall seeing issues with your writing very often, if at all. Actually, I have to say, Afrikaaners excepted (because it’s not their first language, after all), South Africans do seem to have bloody good English. Maybe it’s just that you’re older than the average poster here (as am I!) and so things were different back then, but for all of South Africa’s problems, at least for non-Afrikaaner whites, education doesn’t seem to be one of them. South Africa seems to be/have been a little more conservative than many other English speaking countries, so you guys probably got an old school education with regard to your English, rather than this modern approach where it doesn’t matter so long as the kids are expressing themselves. I’m sure that’s probably hit South Africa by now, but I suspect it hit the rest of the Commonwealth and the U.S. long before.
[quote=“bismarck”][quote=“enn”]Scorecard: Lost Teacher Report English Village BO AI Elementary School Tainan
Semester 1, 6 Teachers hired–5 Lost, 83% Loss
Semester 2, 6 Teachers hired–4 Lost, 75% Loss
Semester 3, 6 Teachers hired–4 Lost 4 in first month! 75% Loss so far![/quote]
Looks like I dodged a bullet there. I went for an interview, but they never called me back (after promising they would whether I got the position or not). Few weeks later I get a call via the recruiter asking me to sub for a few weeks (until the end of the semester) and then take up a permanent position (one year contract). I felt they weren’t quite honest the first time round, had made me wait and wasted my time before the interview (I waited 2 hours), and so I declined.
I shudder to think what you think about my online writing… 
[/quote]
[color=#FF0000]All school administrators say they’ll call you to let you know one way or the other. Forget it about it; they never call unless they want to hire you.[/color]
We sure used to get hit a lot.
Very true. I guess it was more pride than anything else. First they didn’t call back (probably hired someone else), then when they were in a bind they called me and all of a sudden I was good enough. I just felt, “Fark that!”
I know this is highly non-PC these days, and there was that recent shitstorm over Amy Chua’s book, but I wonder how effective that kind of thing is. We had corporal punishment at my school and we also had some teachers who weren’t fun at all. Even those who didn’t hit us were generally hard bastards and we were, to some extent, shit-scared of them, yet at the same time, we respected them.
That always sucks and usually portends worse things to come if you accept their offer.
Generalize much?
Generalize much?[/quote]
Me? Never.
Regarding my experiences teaching at Ivy League in Yilan City, I think I should chime in, considering that I’ve been working there for over a full eleven months now.
First, the staff at Ivy League has always been extremely helpful to me, both when I am at the school and even when I am not. The counter staff has helped me deal with broken down scooters, empty oil tanks, communicating with my landlord, etc. They, as well as the Taiwanese teachers I work with, have always been extremely generous with their time.
Second, compensation has always been taken care of on time, and I think that the level of that compensation has been adequate, considering that I was one month out of college when I started teaching, and had little relevant experience. Of course, I could say that it’d be nice to get paid more, but everyone would say that about every job, ever. So what’s the point? This is not the correct career choice for someone who wants to be rich. That said, over the course of this year, I have been able to save a considerable amount of my pay each month. I like that.
Third, there seem to be many gripes about treatment from higher-ups at Ivy League. Common sense should prevail here. I’ve been careful to always treat my bosses with kindness and respect, gently requesting certain things, rather than demanding them. To date, we haven’t had any problems.
I should temper all this by saying that this sort of teaching is not for the faint of heart. The number of hours I’ve had weekly has gradually fluctuated all year, starting at 12, peaking at 30, and now settling around 24. This means a lot of days teaching 5-7 hour long classes well into the evening. So just know that the job you’re getting might be more intense and tiring than what you’re envisioning. Yet with more hours comes more money, so there’s always that to console oneself with while scootering home at 9:00 at night. That, and an iPod.
I hope that this serves to balance out some of the extreme things that have been said about this school in the past. As with most situations in life, this place is just whatever you make of it.
uncle sam american school is a horrible school… the worst of the 4 other schools I’ve worked at in taiwan… the management is hoorible the curriculum is horrible
Mate, they all steal/doctor tax and NHI money. Very very very few don’t.
Well, sounds like Ive League school have either: A. This schools owners have finally learnt how to treat their staff properly or
B. The schools ownership has changed or
C. The current teacher is walking around on egg-shells.
“What you make of it” is just complete B.S if you have bosses that constantly infringe on your employment rights. Don’t be a grovelling weasel.
At the risk of inviting further debate about the authenticity of recent posts defending Ivy League School in Yilan, I would nonetheless like to add a few brief words. I’m no longer affiliated with the school (or even living in Taiwan for that matter), but I did work there for two years, am grateful for the positive experience school directors Kenny and Ann facilitated for me, and don’t want to see their reputations unfairly jeopardized on Forumosa.
To be clear, I have my fair share of criticism for the Taiwanese educational system (over-emphasis on test scores, difficulty fostering creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, learning by rote memorization, disregard for extracurricular activities in favor of additional classes, too much pressure on kids, etc.), but these critiques are all about the system as a whole. As far as teaching in Yilan/Luodong goes, I believe Ivy League is definitely one of the best options. Ann and Kenny have both lived and traveled abroad and are well-aware of the alternatives out there, so while they still have to cater to the demands of their students’ parents, I was quite pleased with the freedom they gave me, in general, to teach my classes as I saw best fit. Additionally, Ivy League, as a mid-sized anqiban/buxiban, is a good compromise between the large corporate chains where teachers frequently report feeling exploited and the small, fly-by-night operations that are constantly going out of business. Despite my two years of work at Ivy League being in the midst of the economic recession, my job was never at risk and the school always seemed well-run and financially stable.
But what I’d really like to say is that Kenny and Ann were not only my bosses during my two years in Taiwan but also good friends whom I felt I could count on to look out for me if I ever needed anything. They routinely took me and the other teachers out to expensive dinners, invited me to their homes to celebrate all the major holidays with their families, and even visited me in the hospital when I was sick. As far as my job went, I was always paid in-full and on time, and, while my class hours did fluctuate at times, Kenny and Ann were always willing to talk to me and try their best to accommodate my requests (whether to teach more or less hours).
Succeeding in a foreign work environment demands open-mindedness, and Taiwan is no exception. If you’re a prospective teacher in the Yilan area, take all these posts (mine included) with a grain of salt, go into your interviews well-prepared and open-minded (evaluating your interviewers as much as they’re evaluating you), and trust your instincts. Working at Ivy League can be a great experience, as many of us have discovered, and I’m hopeful you’ll come to the same conclusion.
The most important is, even if they helped you out, what Ivy League did to Pubba and Mallard was really wrong though.
I know this is highly non-PC these days, and there was that recent shitstorm over Amy Chua’s book, but I wonder how effective that kind of thing is. We had corporal punishment at my school and we also had some teachers who weren’t fun at all. Even those who didn’t hit us were generally hard bastards and we were, to some extent, shit-scared of them, yet at the same time, we respected them.
[/quote]
ya that was the way in most places, where i am from as well. But in the end is abuse (hitting) really worth the slightly better grammar skills? Psychical punishment works, but isnt really needed if the teacher is skilled at what they do. Like all professions, i four good at it you dont need to resort to controversial techniques. hitting sticks and such are still used a lot in Taiwan, especially in country side, and parents even tell schools/cram schools to do it to their kids because they dont study. you dont have to live in taiwan long before you realize they are just doing the quick fix to avoid actually having to spend time teaching the kids…its sad. this is one thing, at least in grade schools, i like more about cities here, this type of treatment is far less commonplace. Our nephews are not even allowed to change their hair colour, make it long, wear shoes with too much colour/black etc…that is right now, today. very strict. and that is governments school, private schools are worse :fume:
As for working in schools, I have only worked for one school that I hated (the owner, not the staff) but i wont post it cause i still live in the area 
Maybe after the interview and the demo I should have prepaid Mr. Scotland to reply? Ouch!
A certain person who runs a franchise of A E (a bird of prey symbol of the USA) offered to interview me for work. He strung me along for more than one month. In late July we met for an interview. Then he invited me to demo 2 weeks ago. The demo was a smashing success! He said he’d decide the following week. That week came and went. I emailed him 10 days ago asking him if he had made a decision. He couldn’t even spare me one word to reply! He could have replied that he wasn’t interested. But no, he decided to give me no notice. Finally he re-advertised.
If I were doing the interviewing, I would simply have said that I wasn’t interested. End of story. Why make it so difficult, dramatic and mysterious?
The guy’s a real porker. Why the fook toy with people? Why not “just say no,” like Nancy Reagan did? I mean, what would it have cost him to notify me? A 5 minute email or a 1 minute text message? Wow! How difficult!
What gives here?
It’s so stereotypical to say the Scots are frugal, but I’m getting the impression that this jerk is a stereotypical cartoon. He’s so fookin’ tight that he can’t even expend the energy to make a phone call, text a message or send an email.
I don’t even think that the MacGregor Clan is that fookin’ tight. This guy could be listed in Guinness as the most frugal of all the Scotsmen! This guy’s so fookin’ tight that he squeaks when he walks!
Maybe after the interview and the demo I should have prepaid him to reply? Ouch
English Village teachers must be certified in their home country, although sometimes only a sub cert is required!
I read somewhere–and fortunately I don’t wish to remember where–that EV teachers don’t have to be certified from the home country and my retort is that they do have to be certified. I’ve got more experience in this specific area to know more than others might. But the local authorities make some rather quirky decisions at times.
Once when one of the teachers was deported for shop lifting, the bosses hired someone who turned out to be an excellent teacher. Yes, I’m stating my opinion. I can truthfully say that I never ever saw him doing absolutely nothing. He volunteered for extra classes before school, at lunch time and after school. The rest of us did volunteer a little, but nothing compared to the work that he was contributing for free. Furthermore, he was constantly developing the most fascinating units I’ve ever seen.
Our oral language/reading course at the time had been developed by Taiwanese and I liked it very much because it followed present-day theory for teaching listening, speaking, reading and a small amount of writing. Also, it allowed me to branch off into many directions or not, depending how creative I felt.
This person took every unit in the book and extended each of them up one level. So X lesson had a body of vocabulary words and specific sentence patterns into which the vocabulary was to be plugged. Fine, no news there! Well, he took the vocabulary and the sentence patterns and built games matching the content in ways that the authors of the texts hadn’t thought of.
To the casual reader it may not sound like a big deal, but I know intelligent creativity when I see it. I wanted to recommend to him that he could contact the company in Taipei to see if they would be interested in his work. I’ve seen so many ads from Taipei looking for text book writers, so he might have been able to benefit from his creativity. But he finished his contract and returned to LA.
The point of this narrative is this. Why do I use the qualifier quirky? Well, when the bosses hired him, the office manager had his resume on her screen. She let me look at it and I noticed something that the bosses may or may not have noticed. Yes, indeed, he had a valid teacher license from California, BUT it states very clearly that it’s only a substitute teacher’s license.
I nearly cracked a rib laughing, but that’s how quirky they can be!
A E (a bird of prey, symbol of the USA) is looking for a teacher again, and again, and again. I can’t imagine why. Forewarned is forearmed.
What’s the story about this gentleman?
This gentleman’s expectations must be through the roof. They must reach the pinnacle of the Himalayas! He invited this writer to give a half hour lesson to first and second graders last Wednesday. I delivered a funny-but useful-lesson on clothing.
I used large picture flashcards and their corresponding word flashcards. The 30 minutes went quickly. Students’ names were already on the left hand side of the white board, which made it easier for me to identify each student and to introduce myself to him/her. I was able to use the names correctly throughout the 30 minutes.
The students responded well and were able to answer the sentence pattern questions:
What am I wearing? You are wearing _________, _________, _________.
What is s/he wearing? S/he is wearing __________, __________, _________.
I elicited all students to answer the questions using the clothing vocabulary. The students were a diverse group, which is normal. Some were way ahead of the lesson and ditto on the converse, but what teacher can group students and configure the lesson to suit all students’ needs during a 30 minute teaching demo?
Naturally–of course–BIEN SUR–we had a sticky ball contest to end the lesson! Como no? I called the boys on the left side of the classroom the Ducks and the girls on the right side of the classroom offered to name themselves the Hens. Great!
Goal of game: hit a clothing picture flashcard and say the word. What could be more useful and more fun!?! The hens won.
Early on, one child was just a little too active yet still in his seat, so the said gentleman grabbed the boy and shook him really firmly–something I haven’t seen for years.
I didn’t consider the boy’s activeness to be any type of misbehavior in any way possible and besides, I saw no need to grab him the way the gentleman did!
Anyway, to sum up this strange experience, the gentleman has tastes and expectations that are far and above my 5 foot 4 ability to accomodate.
P.S. If he uses the line, “I’ll decide next week,” then that means HELL NO! AND DON’T BOTHER ME AGAIN. Forewarned is forearmed.
[quote=“Battery9”]I have heard of a lot of people complaining about schools. their deposits being taken, deposits being ASKED in the first place.
I have been lucky. My schools have been great.
Do you guys have stories to share? I would love to hear if anyone else worked at Julia American School in Szwei Road. Teachers having to put out fires, NT$ 10 000 deposits…being fired for having an opinion…
So far I have 3 people whose lives were almost ruined by that school![/quote]
Funny, “Julia American School”, you yanks opened or named the school, now you are backfiring… crap, I must be tired.
Just enjoy the sunshine island.
Cheers.