So I’m going to be living in Taiwan for a few years with my wife. We’ve already talked about it and she wants to be with her parents for a few more years before we move to the states. Okay no big deal.
Anyways, I love Taiwan as much as the next guy but what I’ve come to realize is I hate teaching. I’m not an outgoing person at all, basically I have to force myself to be all smiley and excited during classes and it’s draining me. Not to mention the managers/co-workers that won’t speak to you face to face if there is an issue, you will only get a message on LINE. I’ve never seen myself as a teacher or wanted to be one but I have to work while I’m here and it’s easy for me to get hired at a cram school so basically I’m stuck.
Has anyone else had/is having this issue? Are there any other jobs you can get here as a foreigner or even online that’s not teaching? Will I just have to suck it up and stop complaining?
Sorry should’ve added that. I have my bachelor’s in business management and a TESOL certificate I got before moving over here. So not a lot to work with lol
A. Open up a restaurant
B. Sign some major league ballplayers
C. Pablo Escobar type ish
D. Actually, no you’re pretty much stuck teaching which is what makes TW the purgatory it is.
good luck
and PS: If your wife insists on living at home w/fam, there’d better be a timetable attached or your gonna end up here for life.
You can get restaurants to hire you or bartend. But if you don’t like socializing I don’t think you’ll like those either. And you’ll be making half of what you can teaching.
Your wife is not a child anymore. She decided to marry you and decide to make a new family with you. Why is so hard for folks to understand this. Both for man and women? Tell her this. She can divorce and move back to her folks. Stand your ground.
You have to respect yourself, otherwise your wife will not respect you neither. If you do not see much options in Taiwan for you, do not move. Simple as this.
Work on yourself and your earning potential first, and in when you want to go there, move.
I have never wanted to teach in Taiwan neither. I mean am not native speaker, am not academical specialized in it. So end up being monkey for kids ? Thanks, not my thing. I came as 22th years old kiddo with 1k euros of savings in my pocket and i made my living online without any previous experience with coding or understanding of gaming market.
Maybe not the first year, but later on my income was above 100k twd/month including with 3-4 months off.
Take cooking, restaurants management, coding intensive courses before you land. Anything, which will give you an opportunity to survive, and live good in Taiwan.
I agree. Where you guys want to live and goals should have been worked out before you get married. If your earning potential is the best in the US, move there. Unless her parents are setting you up with a job, she agreed you are her family now and probably that you both will make your own family. How do you expect to support that family? Men in the 20s and 30s should earn earn earn. If she’s not cool with that, it’s going to be a rough ride.
You presumably have open work rights if you’re in Taiwan on marriage. I would work to develop a “stable” of private student clients. Use that business degree to market yourself as someone who could help people prepare for an MBA in English, or doing business, or whatever. Work out some sort of payment plan where the students pay up front per month and rules for how sessions need to be rescheduled (how much notice for cancellation/reschedule, etc) and charge a good rate.
If you don’t have work rights by marriage, yes, you’re pretty much stuck, but if you have open work rights, you have entrepreneurial options at least. Informal ones would be easier than establishing a formal business.
You could also check out some of the online/radio/podcast English teaching options – the pay isn’t usually much more than teaching buxiban but it’s less irritating since you’re only dealing with adults, though your audience is theoretically kids/teens. There are usually some looking for people (Live ABC seems to have an ad up every two weeks, though what that might mean is anyone’s guess.)
There is also a thriving market in “correcting” (read: ghostwriting, in many cases) letters of recommendation and/or essays for college and grad school entrance. There are companies doing it (though sometimes they have their “high season” and when it’s over you’re likely to be out a job) or you could again develop your own clientele.
Just some thoughts. I can’t speak much to stuff outside language-related areas.
Before I land? I already live here lol. By the way I love living here, her parents are super old and she just wants to be with them for their remaining years which I totally understand.
I decided to get out of teaching a few years back. I started looking for online work. It can be tough to get started, and I continued to teach part time until I had enough steady online work. I now work online full time and make more money than I ever did as a teacher. It takes a few years to develop a client list–and there’s always the problem of having to keep looking for clients (or losing a big contract) but it can be done.
that means you can work in any job. local convenience store might like you, as it would attract customers out of curiosity. then you can chat and offer one–on-one English teaching
