Recently I have come across newbies and wankers coming here and teaching for peanuts. 500 per hour even.
These people are really screwing up the wage scale. 600 NT per hour should be the bare minimum, you could earn this 10 years ago here.
Many of these newbies have no degree, never mind a degree in English, no teaching qualification or even experience. Many come from SA and will work for nothing.
I am happy to report that the government are discussing this latter topic with regulations being discussed where teachers must have a relevant degree and a teaching qualification to work in Taiwan. About time !
The teacher wages haven’t increased. It’s been the same way for years. If you’re currently earning well you shouldn’t care what others are willing to work for.
I am not whining, just making a point.
People are looking for work and finding it difficult competing against the newbies.
A Union isn’t allowed so where can they turn to facing the rip offs that exist.
The criteria will change and hopefully so will the bargaining power.
Beer is a serious matter! Jusy helping my fellow bon viveurs!
Sure, beer is a serious matter, but screeching about a few dollars is pure vomitocity. Have a good time, don’t worry about the small things. We earn at least double what the average Taiwanese earns. Going out and sitting outside the 7-11 drinking cheap beer is pure pukeness. Live a bit.
It will probably happen. If so many applicants show up, then there might be more stringent requirements. LIke what you majored in college and/or teaching certificates and/or experience will start to enter the equation.
Or is it better if the govt keeps out of it and just let free market decide? No, I cant see how that will be good. The standards will go down.
[quote=“WolvesMon”]Recently I have come across newbies and wankers coming here and teaching for peanuts. 500 per hour even.
These people are really screwing up the wage scale. 600 NT per hour should be the bare minimum, you could earn this 10 years ago here.
Many of these newbies have no degree, never mind a degree in English, no teaching qualification or even experience. Many come from SA and will work for nothing.
I am happy to report that the government are discussing this latter topic with regulations being discussed where teachers must have a relevant degree and a teaching qualification to work in Taiwan. About time ![/quote]
It depends a lot on where you’re living and what the schools charge the parents.
Here in Taipei, I’m getting NT$650/hour. My rent is NT$12,000/month.
In Chiayi, I was getting $550/hour, and my rent was NT$5,500/month.
My net income was higher there for the same amount of work.
Are foreigners in Taiwan seriously posting ‘People from X country are coming over here taking our jobs!’ That’s when you know you’ve gone native. :roflmao:
‘An appropriate teaching qualification’? That will ruffle a few feathers when people realise that their teaching qualification ain’t on the list… Really, I can’t see Taiwan voluntarily decimating its crap buxiban industry. People make money from it.
I can see the multitude of buxiban owners polishing up their shiny pink anuses to present to the government even as we speak. And it is they, not you penny-pinching foreign devils, who are the ones who have the government’s ear, no matter how much you choose to kid yourselves otherwise. Let me guess – you’re on “a panel.”
By the way, those Saffas aren’t just taking your jobs – they’s be takin’ yer WIMMINS, too!
[quote=“sandman”]I can see the multitude of buxiban owners polishing up their shiny pink anuses to present to the government even as we speak. And it is they, not you penny-pinching foreign devils, who are the ones who have the government’s ear, no matter how much you choose to kid yourselves otherwise. Let me guess – you’re on “a panel.”
By the way, those Saffas aren’t just taking your jobs – they’s be takin’ yer WIMMINS, too![/quote]
When the issue of pay comes up, for private 1:1 clients anyway, I put it in perspective of total time involved. For the 1 hour meeting there is generally about 1.5 hours travel time (door-to-door/round trip) and maybe .5 hours prep time for a total of 3 hours time commitment. That 1000/contact hour sure looks a lot different broken down to 333/actual committed hour.
Due to the cost of living, obviously if you are residing in Taipei City you should be paid more than say Pingtung, eg. London/ anywhere else. its up to you in a free market.
Its all relative and no good comparing a Taiwanese salary. If they work away they can expect more .
Single teachers can afford to work cheaply.
Consider the facts. ( mine anyway)
You are working away: Keeping two homes. Travel. Mortgage and school fees for the kids.
I need a decent salary as does every fellow I know with a family.
You expect teachers in your respective countries to be qualified, is that so hard to ask?
The school I’m going to teach at requires a bachelor’s degree. Very very liberal requirement but I am not complaining.
Nothing official but growing up around immigrants and even during my time voluntarily teaching for certain school programs I am more than qualified to teach English. I think children who are learning a language disserve people who have proven themselves effective at conveying the material. English is a highly irregular language, where rules seemingly can be made to be broken.
Thus for such a complex and daunting language it is nice to have someone who knows what they’re doing.
[quote=“Knowle West”]You expect teachers in your respective countries to be qualified, is that so hard to ask?
[/quote]
It depends which country they come from. Asking qualified teachers to move to the other side of the world and work for 50-60000NT is fairly unrealistic and the school is unlikely to have many applicants. That’s about £1000 a month in the UK. I earned about £27 a hour in my main job, with substitute in mainstream teaching earning more and a contracted teacher yet more. The cost of living in Taipei is not hugely different than the north of England, and of course I don’t need an expensive flight and unpaid holiday time to see my family in the UK.
When I was teaching in the UK, I could earn what I earned in Taipei with three hours’ work a day, and I have all sorts of statutory rights and a pleasant working environment where I was not treated poorly.
Anyway, my point is, a qualified teacher from my country isn’t going to come to Taiwan for the money (they lose their pension contributions and habitual residency status), or as a career move (they would be out of the ‘system’ with no training or development), so you only get short termers without much commitment, or people who are here to be with their wives.
[quote]
You expect teachers in your respective countries to be qualified, is that so hard to ask?[/quote]
Are you qualified or do you think your voluntary experience qualifies you? How does that make you different from the majority of English teachers? An unqualified foreigner with a BA is more likely to have accurate English than mthe alternatives that are available for the price, even though their classroom skills are probably non-existent.
On the other side of things, why does the Taiwan buxiban owner care whether I can afford to see my family more than every couple of years? They don’t owe me a living, and it was my choice to piss around in Asia instead of building a career, buying a house and having a family (no regrets!). They will get the best they can for the least they will pay and there’s no business reason to employ qualified foreign teachers. Students prefer Taiwanese teachers for ‘grammar’ and furriners for ‘conversation’, idiotic and misguided though that is.
You were once a newbie. Newbies don’t usually have the luxury of demanding higher levels of pay.
What is considered a relevant degree? I know several great teachers that have studied something besides education, I’m one of them. I studied business and marketing. Does a teaching degree prepare for teaching ESL?
No doubt a teaching degree is an appropriate qualification for teaching in Taiwan, just not the only one. I do agree with cracking down on fake degrees and qualifications.
I can’t speak for Taipei, I’m moving to a village. And comparing TWD to USD or Pounds is very unrealistic. You have to factor in standard of living as well, which you know about more than I do.
For those people it would be unwise to move. If you’re a person in a country where the government has caused massive layoffs and you are contemplating your next move, it isn’t such a bad idea.
I have taught a workshop at the university level for a year.
I have served as a tutor in an official capacity for 2 years.
This is addition to my volunteer experience. Tutoring students, some who don’t speak English that well in Math and Calculus is a rather unpleasant experience if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I am currently a substitute teacher.
Granted this is being unnecessarily nosey. Or perhaps they don’t want people to get homesick, freak out and disappear. It could be either one.
This isn’t hard to understand at all. When I was studying Spanish and German (I’m far from fluent in either, but I can get around on a survival level), it was good having American teachers because they had to learn the language from a grammatical standpoint, and thus could answer questions native speakers could not answer unless they were versed in the language itself or studied it.
As far as my English grammar, I do have a good command of it. Part of that stems from my painful 4 years in high school Spanish class which forced me to rehash much of it. Also, learning German is much easier if you understand English grammar, as in some ways they are remarkably similar. Even knowing how to translate it back and forth helped with grammar comprehension.
Native speakers, while they may not have as well of a grasp on the academic grammar tend to provide better accents, better communication skills that are needed for the vernacular world. They also help you to realize the pretty way of pronouncing the language is not always evident in the world, thus you learn to listen to different intonations, accents, and regional dialects.
Sorry for the long post, but being as good of a post as it was it disserved nothing less than an honest and respectful reply.
One should also put this stagnant wage rate into the contex of inflation. Things cost pretty much exactly what they did 8 years ago, so your 600NT$ per hour then is worth the same as now.
This is not correct, I’d say from a general perspective inflation has gone up around 20% in the last 8 years, just looking at food prices in Taipei. Miniscule compared to almost anywhere in the world, but still significant if the wage rate hasn’t increased in that time.
