Hi everyone, this is my first post. I have been a long time lurker and finally decided to join in on the discussion. I am an American Born Chinese male that just graduated with a bachelor’s in business from the University of California.
How selective are the major chain schools considering the fact that I am an ABC? The city I would like to teach in would be Taipei. I’m sure it will be very easy for an American that is White since this is what the majority of the parents want. If you know anyone that is teaching in Taiwan as an ABC or if you are an ABC teaching in Taiwan right now, please give me some advice or share your story.
I am considering Hess and Kojen since I did some searching and found out these schools were very ABC friendly and are decent schools for a recent graduate with no real teaching experience.
What other schools would you recommend that are ABC friendly? How long can I expect to hear back from these companies if they are interested? I plan to apply to positions that start in June. Thanks in advance.
Put it this way: My buddy came back to Taiwan after what? 15 years in the states. He started working for a public school in the downtown core of Taipei making no more than 60K a month living on the school grounds with a bloody curfew, saved his cash and worked like a dog while making contacts. Less that a year later, he found some investors (children’s parents)and openned his own school just around the corner from Carnegies Pub. He has since bought out his investors, owns the school and is making a killing. All the while having a good time with his life. Trudge through it. You should have a few advantages that whites don’t - your family and the inner workings and language. This of course depends on if you have your head screwed on straight.
Hess is happy to hire ABCs. I suspect Kojen is fine with that, too.
Smaller schools should be the only place where you may find a little reverse-racism. Many are likely going to ignore what you look like and hire you based on credentials and such but I’m sure some will have the unfair and often incorrect assumption that white people look better as English teachers to customers.
The place I’m working at right now is a relatively small, privately owned school. All of the ‘co-teachers’ there are ABCs and all of ‘head-teachers’ are white - I don’t agree with the system right now but I’m not about to complain and lose my job.
I’ve had the same worries a year ago when I was looking for work. I came to Taiwan without securing a job and just searched the internet and canvased around. I only got call backs from the ads I applied via the internet. I also got a lot of “we only hire foriegners”.
This being said I got a job within a week with a franchised chain school at competitive pay. Personally, I think being an ABC is a challenge, but you’ll get work, just hang in there. Plus, I rather get turned down by a school who values skin care over qualifications.
Keep in mind too that most school discriminate since many of the owners and staff don’t speak english, or not very well. A lot of the smaller schools can’t tell how well you speak, and need appearance as proof.
Thanks everyone. All of your replies have been very helpful and encouraging. Are there other schools I should consider besides Hess and Kojen? Thanks in advance.
Good luck, and let me know what you find. I just got rejected by Hess! ABC, no exp, looking in Taipei. Kinda sucks we have to deal with this in the States and here. A bit jacked if you ask me.
Note: I have no way of knowing if it was the ABC thing that didn’t get me placed at Hess (could easily have been something else on my app), but that’s the reason I’ve been given at nearly every other school I’ve called or emailed.
I doubt you were rejected from Hess for being an ABC. It would more likely be due to waning demand for teachers across the board. When I left there was a glut of teachers meanwhile classes were closing. You could try Kojen. I never heard back from Kojen despite an ABC friend recommending me there, but I did hear from Hess. With these schools you need to be open to working anywhere in Taiwan. Keep in mind too that that they offer some of the most grueling teaching gigs in Taiwan. Hess served my purposes though.
I doubt you were rejected from Hess for being an ABC. It would more likely be due to waning demand for teachers across the board. When I left there was a glut of teachers meanwhile classes were closing. You could try Kojen. I never heard back from Kojen despite an ABC friend recommending me there, but I did hear from Hess. With these schools you need to be open to working anywhere in Taiwan. Keep in mind too that that they offer some of the most grueling teaching gigs in Taiwan. Hess served my purposes though.[/quote]
yeah i think you’re right, i realized that after i wrote my post and added that note. i shoulda made it more clear i was commenting on taipei in general, and not hess. oh well. the crappy thing is my chinese is not the greatest, so i can’t just work for relatives or something. i’ve finally gotten in touch with recruiters in my field however, so hopefully that pans out.
ps- does anyone know if this is the same outside of taipei?? if i don’t find anything here, i will have to decide if i want to try teaching in taichung, kaohsiung, etc…or just head home.
I have seen many many schools hire ABC’s. Furthermore, some schools might actually prefer hiring ABC because of a native Taiwanese or Chinese ability, especially if the schools have specialized English courses such as GEPT preparation classes, or even neighborhood buxiban managers who have little English ability. This is not to say there are schools out there that may want to maintain an image, but it’s far from what I would call racism, especially as it exists in the USA or other countries. I have worked with and have known ABC/CBC’s to work at the following schools: Hess, Kojen, TLI, ELITE, LTTC, various private primary education schools and universities.
yeah i dunno, getting rejected by hess was pretty much it for me. even my friend who works there was surprised: “but…evvvvverybody gets accepted at hess!!”
however, i’m very thankful now that i had no luck finding anything teaching or writing. funny how things work out…nothing’s set yet, but if everything goes smoothly i’ll now be working in a similar position to what i had in the states, but in a much more lucrative industry. pretty decent pay as well.