Good luck man. I know how difficult it can be for a non white person in Taiwan no matter how qualified and good they are. Taiwan could benefit from so many Filipinos who are great teachers but because of local racism that will probably never happen. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. If you can work out a way of handling this place, then try and make it work. But, always keep your eyes open for better opportunities. Good luck again.
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I think bebetina21 could use her buxiban ownerās desperation at finding a teacher to her advantage. Demand a Taiwanese co-teacher who could help with disciplining the students.
I walk into a class and Iām a white, bigger than average British male. I know itās an instant advantage when gaining respect from a class that other ethnic groups donāt have. Culturally, Iām also more than willing and able to fight my corner when necessary - which I know some other groups are culturally less inclined to do.
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Pretty much joined to tell you how much I relate to this. Iām an Australian Asian, in my third month on a contract, and while the first month was hell, I got good feedback. At the end of the second month all of the negative feedback rolled in and I felt so bad. I feel like Iām going to get the boot soon, because some students failed their GEPT and thatās potentially my fault. My director is very supportive, but Iām pretty anxious as Iām new to the cram school environment and feel exactly as you do. Hereās hoping for us.
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I have been struggling with this a lot, mainly during the first few months of teaching at the cram school I work at. To make matters worse, my director provided zero support and it was clear that she cared more about retaining business and alleviating the parentsā concerns than acknowledging how traumatized I was from the nasty comments of some of my students and their parents. I had one class where the parents of the students were pretty tight-knit and they would rip me apart on LINE. Had few classes pulled from me as a result, and I prefer that more than putting up with the hostility. I have a few more months left in my contract to bang out before I go back to the US (Iām Asian-American, which has warranted A LOT of puzzling looks from parents in my school).
One thing I can tell you is to never lose sight of yourselfādonāt compromise your principles and values to please these kids all the time. A lot of cram school kids are merely forced there by their parents and donāt want to learn, and this is more evident in the older kids. They take out their feelings of resentment on you, but itās not personal at all. I learned this the hard way and itās still hard to tough it out sometimes. If you know youāve done your best and the parents are still not satisfied, all you can do is hold your head high and say thatās the best you could do. Buxiban practices tend to be very unethical and toxic most of the time for teachers.
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The ones who are in danger of getting canned are the ones who donāt care. You give a shit, which lets me know you try hard enough that youāre not in danger of getting fired. More likely the director is trying to use your emotional investment and anxiety about your performance to his advantage to get the most out of you (eg: ālook, students failed GEPTā¦ please try harder, Yuma teacher, this is only warningā = letās see if I can get this newbieās productivity up without paying them more).
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It is even more unfortunate that kids have to be brought up in toxic environments. I would guess unless things have changed kids are around for about six hours a week? Around 24 hours a month plus of their present lives. I wonder if there are any Cram schools out there which are not toxic, perhaps a Green List might be better than a BlackList of schools. I have lived here a long time but only taught about 4 years mostly in the days when the TA would smack their hands with bamboo or bendy plastic. Now it seems it has moved into a more of a high anxiety toxic state, which is also bad for all.
OK so which are the healthy schools, that do not act like āAmericas got Talentā or some sort of nutty religious cult? Which are the good ones ?
Edit
Some of us old timers have young kids or even grandkids here, I get asked a lot which Cram schools do I recommend, but Iām not sure , so.start letting us know the good ones.
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It is easier legally speaking in Taiwan. Those not on the list would be noticed due to their absence. Sometimes, saying nothing means a lot.
Could be an independent school that just hasnāt gained much notice or is just starting out.
Yes, so would not mean they were bad just not having a proven track record. It wouldnāt be a perfect list but one would hope schools getting on the Green List would want to stay on it. (Just an idea in its very infancy)
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The question is: Why would anyone recommend a good school to strangers? Bitching about a bad experience at a school is understandable (although the blame isnāt always one-way), but why praise a school you are working at that is really good?
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Brownie points with the boss?
Bad reviews are more entertaining to read, but people still give good reviews for restaurants and other businesses on sites like Yelp, so itās not that crazy.
Very old greenlist that never took off
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Why would it ever take off?
Anyway, Iām repeating myself now.
Because you wouldnāt want people lining up to shit on your doorstep when you have a good gig.
Why would I recommend my school to any old FOB who could potentially usurp me?
The restaurant analogy is irrelevant. I donāt own the school.
If the company is good, youāre probably not worried about them replacing you (ideally theyād fill a different vacancy). Or you give the good review after you left.
Anyway, I tire of this conversation. Someone make a new green list thread and then weāll see if it stays active or not.
On that note, itās kind of strange the black list thread has kind of died the last few years. Guess people are getting more paranoid about what they dish about their workplaces online.
I also feel like thereās a lot less FOBs on this forum. I poked around it in my first year or two, but I didnāt even bother making an account until this year. If I had been on here and actively engaged when I first got here, my whole life would have been different, because I would have had an entire forum of people telling me just how badly I was being scammed and how little regard the Taiwanese have for foreigners once English class is overā¦
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The Blacklist of Schools thread averages 27 posts a year and so far this year there have been 12 posts. So, there doesnāt seem to be a drop off in posting there. We still get whining on a regular basis.
Can you believe I was arsed to actually count up the posts?
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Cāmon, weāre not all like that. Some get carried away though, yes. I think some enjoy being full of sage wisdom (or the grizzled veteran) a bit too much.
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