She should demand her sick leave pay too, no? From the original post it sounds like the pay for those days was not going to be deducted from her salary until all that shit hit the fan.
Sorry that you’re having to go through this housecat, and while still having foot troubles, no less. I’m rooting for you, jiayou jiayou
This is what I did. I applied directly to the local government in Taidong, though I still fall under the general MOE umbrella. The MOE actually has a standard pay scale (based upon years in the Taiwanese system – your years as a teacher elsewhere don’t count – and qualifications). The pay is not brilliant, especially not compared to some jobs such as working in an international school, or the packages I’ve seen for the Gulf, but it is tax free and there are extras. A first year teacher (in the Taiwanese system) with a B.A. gets 60,890/month, one with an M.A. gets 67,925NT/month, and one with a Ph.D. gets 70,895NT/month. Additionally, there is a rent allowance of 5,000NT/month (10,000NT/month if you have a spouse living with you). There’s also a flight reimbursement (which my wife also gets) and paid leave. There’s also a certain amount of sick leave and personal leave you can take which won’t affect your pay, though you do need to reschedule the classes or pay someone to sub them. Finally, it’s an eleven month contract (so, technically, we have another month of holidays), and the twelfth month is paid based upon a performance assessment.
The cost of living is generally low, but some things are more expensive than I would have otherwise thought. The school I work at has banana and pineapple plantations surrounding it, a huge garden and mountain views 360 degrees. I also live in a heavily aboriginal area, so it gives a very different take on Taiwanese life. If I could get a bit more money and my wife could get a decent job here, I’d never leave. This is, in more than one way, a world away from my life in Taoyuan before, which really did my head in. It was come here (or somewhere like here) or leave Taiwan because I was that fed up with the big city north. One of my friends came to visit me from Taipei. He couldn’t believe that there is only one convenience store here and hardly any signs or advertisements in English. It’s obviously not for everyone, and the other day, door to door, it took me something like 5-6 hours to visit my friend in Tainan (because I had to change at Taidong, then at Gaoxiong, then wait for a bus that was late), so it is remote.
I’m very appreciated where I work, especially since I actually live in the town, rather than Taidong City (the previous teacher used to commute, but it’s not too far). Maybe it’s not always great having everyone know me, but all the kids know me and say hi in the street and they’re really great kids in the main. Hell, all the kids know my dog and say hi to him too. I have twenty classes per week and I get more or less free control over what and how I teach them. I do some interesting stuff too. Of my twenty classes per week, five are for standard classes at the junior high, two are for elementary classes, four are for special needs kids, six are small classes for up to four advanced students each, and two are “English Club” classes.
That sounds like a sweeet gig!
Indeed!
I went to the MOE today to talk about options for my son in a regular school. I ended up in the wrong area, but it was still interesting and fruitful.
First, everyone was very, very kind and respectful. Super plus!
I told them a bit about my situation, and my son’s as well, and they wanted to talk to me about working for them even before discussing things for my son. Cool! BUT, I am certified to teach jr. high and high school and they are hungry for elementary teachers. If you are one and want or need the information, I’ll be glad to pass it along via PM.
So, that didn’t work out, but they told me there might be some other things in Koahsiung city, or there might be nothing, but it’s worth a shot. I’ll be going there on Monday and will find out.
I also found out where I should have gone and what I’ll need when I get there.
If there is nothing available with Koahsiung city, I will surely be taking the advice posted above and checking out more remote areas. I have no problem with Guy’s job discription or living environment. Hell, I never go anywhere anyway. 
But they also gave me information for a couple of other private schools here, for job leads. One of them was very highly recommended–and is my school’s biggest competitor.
I also got contact information for a person they said I should contact for other government teaching job opportunities.
So, I had a pretty good day.
My school, or former school, aparently has a history of trouble with teachers, too.
This is just a random suggestion, but maybe you could contact this alternative school (elementary through high school). They are well-established, the foreign teacher I met there said it was the best place he had ever worked Taiwan, the parents were educated and committed, and the kids seemed happy. It had a very liberal vibe like you might find in say Evanston or Oak Park Illinois.
It is in Yilan. You could live in Fulong or Daxi!
Sorry to hear about your bad news. Too much of this crap in Taiwan. We should get a group of 30+ foreigners down there with banners etc… calls to TVBS etc… Christ, I’d travel down from Taipei…
[quote]If Housecat decides that they aren’t doing their job, she should file a complaint (or threaten to) with the Control Yuan and take her case to court like Loretta did.[/quote]Going to court over this isn’t something I recommend. Bluffing could work, but if it fails, housecat should bite the bullet and move on, in my opinion.
Housecat there are a number of bi lingual schools in Taiwan as well. victoria.org.tw/English/index.html
You might try to find more of them from the MOE. Best of luck.
This is very sweet, but I think that all of us would be in so sort of trouble for demonstrating, or something.
Last night another friend came to my apartment to say that she’d just been fired, too. She also had never been fired before and this was a tough time for her because the school that had her ARC had just gone bust two months ago. She didn’t get paid for two month’s salary what was owed to her and had to go to HK for a new visa and try to find a new job. Oh, she’s also a single mom.
She found a new job. It wasn’t perfect, but the money was good. She’d just decided that she liked it alright after settling in and beginning to relax a bit. But the teacher she replaced at that place had been there many years and was very well loved. The parents were not happy that she wasn’t that teacher, and she just couldn’t please them. So, they let her go yesterday, telling her they still wanted her to teach a kindy class for them–and paid her on the spot for all the other classes through December.
Her story last night just illustrated for me HOW differently this could have–SHOULD have gone. She’s still out a job, but she doesn’t have to decide to either pay rent or eat, and they’ve offered her a excellent recommendation and help to find a new job.
There are better ways to do things, and not everyone is a complete jerk just because he/she can be.
Housecat there are a number of bi lingual schools in Taiwan as well. victoria.org.tw/English/index.html
You might try to find more of them from the MOE. Best of luck.[/quote]
I have an interview with one on Tuesday, but I have a bad impression of bilingual schools, over all. I’m hoping what I see next week changes my mind. Right now I can’t be so choosy, I know, but I’m getting more and more sold on the MOE idea. Just hope they need a higher grades English teacher somewhere!
housecat,
I would think about doing elementary…it would broaden your options, I doubt that the Taiwanese are rabid about it being precisely the “right” certificate, as they are in the States, and I know a lot of people (myself included) who thought they would rather slit their wrists than teach elementary and turned out to really like it. (Well, to be fair, I’m not much for the kids before fourth grade, but still it was a big leap to move there from high school teaching.)
But if you can get a job with the big competitor, I think that would be really amusing on a number of levels. In fact, you might want to spread the world with some of your ex-colleagues if the new gig works out right, and see if you can poach some more of them. 
Actually, Ironlady, since getting this license, I’ve never taught anything BUT elementary. Even last year in the States, it was grades 3-7. The MOE is the only employer I’ve spoken to thus far to ask for the proper grade level certification.
Anyway, if I ever get that ESL/EFL cerdential added to my license, I’ll be K-12. But that’s a long way away from the day you sit in your place wondering if you’re going to make the rent next month!
In my experiences, and those I’ve heard about from friends and former colleagues, working through the MOE is a completely different animal to everything else in Taiwan. The people you deal with, both at the administrative level and as colleagues are, or have been, teachers (the person responsible for the foreign teachers in Taidong County is currently teaching). As long as you do the right thing by them, they do the right thing by you. You may have different training and different ideas about education, but your interests – educating the children, rather than turning a buck – are much more closely aligned. It’s also not so easy to just round up another hungover 23 year old to replace you. Thus, you’re far more likely to be treated with respect and as a professional. Outside of the really serious international schools catering to foreign kids, rather than a business that has slapped the words “international” and “school” in its title (I know of someone who has never even been to university and is here illegally who was, until recently, working in such an establishment, which makes a mockery of the whole thing), the MOE programme is probably your best bet. You might get lucky somewhere else, but it’s a bit of a gamble.
Okay, I just got a call from the labor board that my arbitration meeting will be Monday next at 3:30 at the labor bureau office here in Kaohsiung. I need to find an interpreter and a “mediation committee” for myself. They are saying that if I don’t have those things, they’ll provide one for me, but “Tony” would be the interpreter and he just told me that he can’t (doesn’t know how to) tell me what a “mediation committee” is supposed to do for me. Besides how qualified he already has shown himself to be, obviously, I need someone else.
I’m guessing that a “mediation committee” is to act as a pseudo lawyer kind of thing? Is it one person or a “committee?” Any help or advice at this point?
I’ll be in court next Monday afternoon. Hopefully someone else can help you out.
Good luck!
Hold on just a minnit here…do I need to spend my Skype minutes calling Tony’s boss again and explaining why Tony is not going to be your interpreter? I thought all that was settled???
Call Wenzao, figure out who is the teacher in the interpreting program for English<>Chinese, and see who you can get to come out. Even a serious student (well, maybe not the average undergrad, but most programs have one or two who are ubertalented) would be miles better than Tony the Pony.
[quote=“ironlady”]Hold on just a minnit here…do I need to spend my Skype minutes calling Tony’s boss again and explaining why Tony is not going to be your interpreter? I thought all that was settled???
Call Wenzao, figure out who is the teacher in the interpreting program for English<>Chinese, and see who you can get to come out. Even a serious student (well, maybe not the average undergrad, but most programs have one or two who are ubertalented) would be miles better than Tony the Pony.[/quote]
Is any of this even worth it since, by law, the school only owes her a few thousand NT at best? I’d pay it just to avoid wasting more time on this, if it were me.
Yes it’s totally worth it because as long as Housecat is in arbitration, her work permit cancellation is (or should be) suspended. This buys her enough time to sort out getting a new job offer so she can start to process her work permit, avoiding the need to do a visa run (if that is applicable).
Plus, her school is totally in the wrong. Their behaviour is outrageous, and they deserve to be taken to task. Anyway the amount of time/money HC will have to spend is minimal, so anything she does get out of it is worthwhile. A few thousand NT means alot when you’re not sure where your next paycheck is coming from, or when…
But that total muppet Tony should be kept well and truly out of it, if Ironlady can manage to make that quite clear to them. His behaviour so far beggers belief.
[quote=“kitkat”]Yes it’s totally worth it because as long as Housecat is in arbitration, her work permit cancellation is (or should be) suspended. This buys her enough time to sort out getting a new job offer so she can start to process her work permit, avoiding the need to do a visa run (if that is applicable).[/quote]Labor disputes are unrelated to immigration policies. Even criminal charges will not affect your residency status. Many are forced to overstay a visa because the court will not allow them to leave the country. Filing a complaint because you were fired will certainly not earn you a visa extension.
[quote] A few thousand NT means alot when you’re not sure where your next paycheck is coming from, or when…[/quote]That’s one good reason to spend time looking for work instead.
[quote]But that total muppet Tony should be kept well and truly out of it, if Ironlady can manage to make that quite clear to them. His behaviour so far beggers belief.[/quote]Which translates into a massive waste of time, energy and effort.
HC, I just found this thread. I would follow through on the process you have started, but GIT’s “work on the East Side” really got my attention. From Hualien south, it’s a different world, much more laid back and … SUNNY. What adventures you and kitten could have, and Taidong still has good air service to Sungshan.
Wouldn’t your elementary school hours in AR qualify you for the K-5 certificate? Here, teachers certified at one level can TA into a different level and recertify based on the TA hours.