Emigrating Taiwan for the sake of my children. To stay or go?

Icon · September 25, 2018, 1:40pm

I will be impressed by the educational system here when I can watch the news and not groan in amazement at cases such as this guy who is driving his big 4WD minivan by the sugar came tourist farm and sees a nice house so he stops right there…on the tourist train tracks. He gets off and wanders and leaves the car parked in the middle of the tracks. Lots of signs around but even if he does not see them WHO THE HELL parks his car on the train tracks?!

crusher · September 25, 2018, 1:44pm

jaame:

Hello. Your thoughts and input would be appreciated.

I have been working as an uncertified English teacher here now for nine years.

I have two children, aged eight and four.

My daughter is now in year three of the local primary school in Taoyuan. She loves it there. Previously she studied for four years in the English kindy where I worked.

Basically I’m considering leaving Taiwan for the following reasons.

My daughter is not academic. She can do her work but I feel her personality is not a good fit for the public school system. Kind of like Lyra from The Golden Compass. She’s intelligent but she has more interest in learning what she wants to learn (such as how to climb trees, something I believe kids should learn but the teachers at school do not agree).

Every summer my kids go to stay in the UK with my parents for a couple of months.

They love it, and I want them to grow up British. That kind of means we have to go before my daughter gets to high school. Her spoken English is excellent, but her reading and writing are so so. Even some of my Taiwanese students have much better written English than her.

Reason two is, my work. I have been teaching for nine years as I said. I still earn $650 an hour, which is exactly the same as I earned in 2008. I believe that if I stay here another fourteen years, I will still be earning $650 an hour. At fifty years old, teaching English to kids. That is a terrible thought. I believe that as you get older, you should earn more money for less work, basically. That, I believe, is a cornerstone of Western employment. I am certain that, had I never come here, I would be earning more now, back home, than I am earning here. Plus I would have a pension, thirty five days paid leave, statutory sick pay, etc…

So I have two solid reasons to leave.

Reasons to stay:

I love the weather here.
I love the pace of life.
I love the freedom, especially the lack of demerit points for speeding.
My wife has a great job, which sees her earn more than me, and gives us free flights and a lot of free holidays. Once she quits, they will not take her back, such is their policy. It’s a one way door.
What if we move to the UK and she hates it so we have to come back? My wife will end up teaching English for half her current salary or less.

I want my kids to be British. I want to work into middle age gracefully, not clowning for kids in a dead end job.
I want my daughter to be nurtured at school, not made to feel like she will never make the grade.
I want my son to get into cricket, rugby and football. I want him to feel proud to fly the nest at 18, not stay living at home forever.
I also want to live somewhere hot where I can wear a wife beater and flip flops 250 days a year, and surf in boardies not a wetsuit.

Any thoughts, opinions, or comments gladly received.

What would you do?

Maybe wait to see how Brexit turns out. I think your kids will do better in the UK at around the age when they’d begin junior high school here. Yes, a pension would be great. It is a hard decision there are pluses and minuses but I’d recommend you went to back to the UK.
By the way teaching kids is kind of easy they’re just irritating but there are many worse things like being a road worker or coal miner.

TCKDaddy · April 17, 2019, 10:46pm

Not just that - there are laws that protect children to the point where if a parent were to correct their child, they risk losing their child.

Child protective services anyone? All it takes is a phone call from a “well meaning” non-parent…

jaame · September 27, 2020, 9:27pm

Hello everyone. I am the OP.
I am living happily in the UK with my kids a year and a bit into school - both loving it.
I have a stable job in IT and am looking to get a promotion soon.
My wife is still not here due to reasons beyond our control. It’s not all sweetness and light but I stand behind my decision 100%.

To all those considering the same - you can make it work if you are hardworking, conscientious and dedicated like I am. If you want a cruisy life with an easy $650 an hour, stay in Taiwan is my advice.

To the haters who said it can’t be done or won’t be worth it. Not everyone is as hardworking, conscientious and dedicated as I. One can only judge others by one’s own standards. Negativity is but a reflection of one’s own view of oneself.

Right now I am happy to consider Taiwan to be a great place I used to live, and one day hope to enjoy a holiday there.

CTaitung · September 27, 2020, 10:02pm

Two years on @Nuit.
Any change or biking the backroads of Taiwan still a great lure for you?

afterspivak · September 27, 2020, 10:58pm

Congratulations. Or, perhaps more accurately, self-congratulations.

Guy

RBE · September 28, 2020, 1:59am

The irony is that the OP previously wrote:

I believe that as you get older, you should earn more money for less work, basically. That, I believe, is a cornerstone of Western employment.

Sounds like the belief system of someone who is hardworking, conscientious and dedicated!

Nuit · September 28, 2020, 5:40am

still clinging on to Taiwan life. Kid is back in school, a bilingual junior high, which we’re paying for. Small class sizes, morning in Chinese (maths, language, science) and afternoon schooling all in English with native speakers. This approach seems to be limiting the homework, and so far it’s going Ok. Thanks for asking.

MalcolmReynolds · October 2, 2020, 7:09am

Congratulations to you! I’m in complete awe at your greatness.

tommy525 · October 2, 2020, 7:31am

If you want your kids to grow up Brit they should grow up in Britain.

crusher · October 2, 2020, 8:06am

jaame:

Hello everyone. I am the OP.
I am living happily in the UK with my kids a year and a bit into school - both loving it.
I have a stable job in IT and am looking to get a promotion soon.
My wife is still not here due to reasons beyond our control. It’s not all sweetness and light but I stand behind my decision 100%.

To all those considering the same - you can make it work if you are hardworking, conscientious and dedicated like I am. If you want a cruisy life with an easy $650 an hour, stay in Taiwan is my advice.

To the haters who said it can’t be done or won’t be worth it. Not everyone is as hardworking, conscientious and dedicated as I. One can only judge others by one’s own standards. Negativity is but a reflection of one’s own view of oneself.

Right now I am happy to consider Taiwan to be a great place I used to live, and one day hope to enjoy a holiday there.

Keep going you can make it.

crusher · October 2, 2020, 8:08am

Can you quote please I l am not sure what you were referring to

Deca · October 2, 2020, 8:44am

Good to hear UK is working out. Any concerns about the incompetent pandemic response and the upcoming no-deal Brexit farce?

Gmu · October 2, 2020, 12:30pm

Maybe here students have more homework but maybe its better and no time to be like those people in Uk

Oh see at weekends people like that

eCanada · October 2, 2020, 1:08pm

True story. Before I moved here to teach the UK was trying to recruit teachers at my university. I was surprised why they would need Canadian teachers. Apparently it’s low past and the kids are just rotten. So I’ve heard. I turned it down and came to Taiwan

Gmu · October 2, 2020, 1:41pm

One in four teachers in the UK say they experience physical violence from their pupils at least once a week, and many say poor behaviour is making them want to leave the profession.