Currently I work at a bushiban where I am paid salary and have to be on campus for a total of 45 hours a week, yet I’m only less than 14 hours a week. Is this normal? Are some teaching jobs in Taiwan like this?
The reason I have no hours is because we have so little students, yet the management still insist even with over 31 hours of “office time” I be on campus. I 'm going nuts because I don’t do anything all day, it’s like house arrest.
I’m thinking of getting a new job just because I want to actually work
Find a new job. Although having sauid that, I’m quite sure there will be someone who might know the score that can better answer your query. Personally it sounds bad to me.
Sometimes the ol’sitting around and waiting game is much worse than actually working. If I were you I would be poking around for a new job. While you’r bored at your desk you could be making liberal use of the photocopier copying all the usefull material and worksheets so that when you walk into your next job you are the king shit of turd island with preparedness. Just an idea.
I always copy all of my ideas in triplicate. I’ve got a pretty good box of rainy day and useful tricks to keep the students busy. If I stay at my current job another year I won’t have to do much in terms of prep.
You have a computer, right? Turn it around to face the wall so that it looks like you’re busy working, but in actuality goofing off playing Grand Theft Auto.
Bring a stack of novels with you. I’ve always wanted to slog through War and Peace again, but could never find the time. Well, you have the time! Don’t waste it!
Study Chinese characters. You’ve got 31 hours a week to memorize them. You’ll be reading fluently in a couple of months at that rate.
[quote=“James651”]Currently I work at a buxiban where I am paid salary and have to be on campus for a total of 45 hours a week, yet I’m only less than 14 hours a week. Is this normal? Are some teaching jobs in Taiwan like this?
The reason I have no hours is because we have so little students, yet the management still insist even with over 31 hours of “office time” I be on campus. I 'm going nuts because I don’t do anything all day, it’s like house arrest.
I’m thinking of getting a new job just because I want to actually work[/quote]
No I get paid salary so not hourly. I think I’m gonna get a new job, I don’t want a bad habit of going to work and doing nothing all day, I like jobs where I work and get things done and leave
I am in a similar situation…it is NOT for everyone. Depends completely on your personality, working style, goals in life, etc. whether or not you will see your situation as a windfall or a prison. Personally, I am an active learner, I enjoy teaching (and learn a lot from teaching), and like to feel like I am making a difference at work…so if I were you, I would look for another job and get out of there…it could wear on your self-esteem over time.
[quote=“She”]I am paid for a full 35 hour week but only work about 7 hours. I read and study (distance education) to pass the time.[/quote][/quote] Yeah, ok. There are no full-time foreign teachers in kindergartens anywhere in Taiwan either since they’re teaching illegally. There is only one book for transaction records too. Officially the original poster and SHE will be teaching more than her/his actual teaching hours. That’s possibly why they’re on a salaried position rather than a hourly position.
What I want to know is if the schools are new branchs of a chain school?
If so, it is fairly normal procedure (in the countryside towns anyway) that the teacher(especially if fresh off the boat) is required at the school for office hours.
Like to feel like your making a difference? Doing nothing all day could wear away your self-esteem?
Makes you begin to understand why the majority of Taiwan Police are alcoholic abusers.[/quote]
Just like the foreigners here, eh Mordeth? [/quote]
Hmmm. Well the moral of the story is to find a job where you feel useful…and not like the foreigner clown who shows his face to appease the parents.
How to feel useful? Learn some grammar…learn some Chinese. Some foreigners have been teaching here for years and they still don’t know what’s a verb, noun, adjective…etc. I can translate from Chinese to English…and from English to Chinese better than my Taiwanese co-workers. And that is why I could never work at a kindergarden…number 1, I don’t teach kindy well…and number 2, I hate playing games, singing songs…etc. I’m a teacher…I like to teach.
[quote=“James651”]Currently I work at a buxiban where I am paid salary and have to be on campus for a total of 45 hours a week, yet I’m only less than 14 hours a week. Is this normal? Are some teaching jobs in Taiwan like this?
The reason I have no hours is because we have so little students, yet the management still insist even with over 31 hours of “office time” I be on campus. I 'm going nuts because I don’t do anything all day, it’s like house arrest.[/quote]
Do you have Internet access at work? Can you sneak out, then return to punch out?
Like to feel like your making a difference? Doing nothing all day could wear away your self-esteem?
Makes you begin to understand why the majority of Taiwan Police are alcoholic abusers.[/quote]
Just like the foreigners here, eh Mordeth? [/quote]
Hmmm. Well the moral of the story is to find a job where you feel useful…and not like the foreigner clown who shows his face to appease the parents.
How to feel useful? Learn some grammar…learn some Chinese. Some foreigners have been teaching here for years and they still don’t know what’s a verb, noun, adjective…etc. I can translate from Chinese to English…and from English to Chinese better than my Taiwanese co-workers. And that is why I could never work at a kindergarden…number 1, I don’t teach kindy well…and number 2, I hate playing games, singing songs…etc. I’m a teacher…I like to teach.[/quote]
You just read my mind, I know for me I like to make certain I’m useful and contirbuting a lot because the pay-off is greater in so many ways. But right now, yeah I don’t do shit, I’m on the internet posting here, but it gets tiresome after a while. I try to study Chinese, but I’ve kind’ve been demoralized since Chinese is so hard and I just don’t have the heart to learn it.
Regradless of my rant I came to Taiwan to teach and now I don’t have any
classes(or at least feels like it-11 teaching hours a week now) so I’m not teaching which obviously pisses me off. I want to quit my job, but the whole visa thing is very stressful and my contract is up in August so I might just tough it out.
Visa thing isn’t as difficult as you think. In the past you’d need to transfer over your visa…which would need both parties to agree…etc. Now you can just apply at a job…and get a 2nd working visa…or get it added on to the first…
The point is…you can just apply at a new job…and once the paper work goes through you can just quit at the old one…without them even knowing you were applying somewhere else. That’s more like how it works now.
Officially the original poster and SHE will be teaching more than her/his actual teaching hours. That’s possibly why they’re on a salaried position rather than a hourly position.