Ive found, for the most part, cheaper prices can be found directly on the airline’s site. Google flights hasn’t impressed me much.
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Airline tickets can be weird. I have found cheaper tickets on Google flights before even when it takes me to the airlines official site. Ive got tickets on united that were cheaper through Google flight link and when I tried to replicate it through united site without Google flights I couldnt even find the flight. But that was for connecting flights
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I’d contact the people at TFETP North Center if I were you. On their website they have laid out the stipends and pay and all, if it deviates from that they’re really making a bad name for the FET program.
For my way out here, I flew DET-LAX and LAX-TPE. I believe they recompensed me for both. I anticipate they have to realize, boneheaded as they sometimes may be, that it’s not always financially possible to find a direct flight lol.
There’s also only a handful of American cities that have direct flights. So unless you’re from new York, Chicago, San Francisco, los Angeles, Honolulu, or Seattle you can’t get a direct flight
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Update for those who are interested. I followed some leads and came up with the name of the guy who authorized my contract from the local Department of Education. Surprisingly, talking to him was surprisingly easy (at first), all I had to do is call the office and ask the operator to transfer me.
I asked him my question and he said he’d look into it and get back to me; then about an hour later, he called me and said he spoke with the secretary of my school and she would talk with me soon. He wouldn’t just answer the question.
Turns out, this was a big no-no in Taiwanese culture. The secretary of my school spoke to me almost in tears and explained how she’d been scolded over the phone for someone daring to call the DoE, and how this might have lost the school the ability to continue to hire foreign teachers in the future, and how she worked so hard… Etc.
After all that, she still hadn’t answered my question. Seems like it’s because the DoE hadn’t answered it over the phone, choosing instead to just scold her. She assumes that I won’t be getting any more rental stipend (and reminded me that I already get paid more than Taiwanese teachers anyway so I should be happy).
So let that be a lesson to everyone! Don’t call representatives of this democratically elected government with questions unless you want to have your job security threatened.
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This is urgghhh.
Flashbacks of working under Taiwanese HR.
Not true. You don’t get a pension for life either nor a permanent contract nor many other benefits
The DoE people can act like right power trippers…
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Tell her you will be phoning again if you don’t.
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I agree you should just keep calling. This is a classic Taiwanese tactic. Try to make you feel guilty so you’ll drop the issue
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Nope. You can tell her that you are expected to teach more classes than the Taiwanese teachers, aren’t getting a pension, don’t get an entire extra month of pay at CNY, etc. Then tell her that a contract is a contract and it’s not acceptable to play games or point out “extra benefits” that FETs get compared to the local teachers as an excuse for not following the contract. Taiwan’s “monthly pay” practices really make life hell for foreign teachers – “you get paid so much more than locals” is b.s. and I’m so tired of hearing it.
Your job security is not threatened unless you get arrested (basically). There wasn’t a time that I worked in the public schools where people didn’t try to use these tactics on me. Every Taiwanese friend I reached out to for help assured me that the admin had already allocated the money I was owed for themselves. I never had enough evidence to prove it, but it was quite apparent funds that were supposed to be for me and the English program were going elsewhere (including to certain ppl’s personal real estate investments) often. There were multiple years where all the FETs in my county got their first paycheck for the school year in mid December. That’s four months of work without pay. One year, I didn’t get my flight reimbursement until March (from my Aug. flight). When this nonsense happened for the third year in a row, on whatever Sept date I was supposed to have received my first paycheck, I told EVERYONE that they have 24 hours to put my paycheck and flight reimbursement in my account or I would stay home until I was paid the wages I was owed. I sent that email to every administrator of the school, the principal, the county FET coordinator, and many people in the MOE. When absolutely everyone that could be pointing fingers at each other is involved in your communication, it says “I don’t care what games you’re trying to play but the ball’s in your court!” They will try to tell you that you’re breaking social norms or making people lose face and other excuses, but the reality is that, if ppl at the bottom aren’t answering your questions, going to the top will solve them. But try to do everything over email or Line, that way you can point to your attempts to communicate, which demonstrates that you were right in doing what you did.
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I’m not entirely sure about this tho
If they do not like you, for some reason, when it comes time to renew the 1yr contract, they can basically just choose not to go for another contract for reasons that can be as clear as a muddy puddle. Doing everything you can to pester the moe on this is the right call, but that don’t mean it won’t muddy the puddle further. I will have my contract renewed, but for reasons I’d rather not go into, a certain disagreement and a poor observation because of high anxiety under pressure meant that I was possibly looking at not getting contract renewed with the basis of the observation despite at least one native teacher vouching for. They obv ought to rate objectively for the observation, but if they don’t like you, and by they I mean the people in the offices responsible for bringing you in (and whatever the hell else they do…), They could totally fuck you over. The people who were on my observation board did include one of the people who didn’t get along with me terribly well but she did rate me fairly imo, but I think the conflict was the bigger root cause that it even came up. The point is that it’d be exactly the people OPs got the potential to create enemies with by doing this could be the ones deciding whether s/he gets another contract.
That said, OP, if you’re with TFETP and time comes to renew, you can ask them to place you elsewhere but do bear in mind that could be in a totally different place. Just tell the lady that look, TFETP promised this much on the site. It’s not a competition with the native teachers. This is what I was told I’d get, and until I get it I will be in contact with the MoE. I’m sorry about any issues it might make for you – that isn’t the intent. If that motivates get to help out, great, if not well you’re in contact with Moe.
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I know of one good teacher who is of a certain color who was told, “We have no issue with your performance but would like to try a fresh face next year…” Luckily this teacher got a new school under the program immediately who appreciates him/her.
It is (mostly) secure if you are one who mostly keeps to oneself and is so passive as to not quarrel with any local teachers.
I however did have to move schools because my previous school didn’t receive the funding. However, that wasn’t my fault and my school gave me an awesome reference and even called around to find me one nearby that was looking for a teacher. So even then… there are so many public schools in need of teachers that changing is an option.
I have heard of a stupid rule with the Pingtung government where foreign public school teachers are forced to switch school every year/3 years (not sure which). - I don’t see the logic in that
Update to the situation. It was clarified to me that since my contract is through Taipei City and not the national MoE, my rental stipend is indeed only 5k per month and my airfaire reimbursal is also lower. Strange that Taipei City of all places is being so cheap; their economy must be doing badly (lol).
As of today, I still haven’t actually received any of the stipends I’m contractually entitled to. I cornered the secretary at my school and was told the following reasons:
Rent: because my wife is Taiwanese and her parents own property, the accountants have been pushing back on the necessity of a rental stipend. Fortunately according to the secretary they’ve backed down and I should be receiving a lump sum for the whole year soon.
Flight: I already live in Taiwan so “I didn’t need to fly here”, so the accountants have rejected my flight reimbursement. I pushed back on that and the secretary said she would continue the fight for me (we’ll see).
Also related to the flight, the accountants (who seem to be the bad guys in this story, at least as told by the secretary) have already informed me through the secretary that I won’t be getting a flight next year, as ‘home’ for me is Taipei. I pointed out that my contract disagrees with that decision and was told that yes but really the reason is blah blah Taiwanese teachers don’t get paid to go visit their parents blah blah. I stood my ground and was told that probably the school doesn’t have enough money to both hire me next year and pay for a flight, which is a threat if I’ve ever heard one.
Man. Why can’t we just do what the contract says? Why is this so hard?
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TiT
Most of us have learned this the hard way.
A contract that is signed annually is pretty bullshitty as well.
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Alternatively, perhaps the school has too many accountants and should be cutting back on those? 
Maybe you should have asked if they’re saying then that the school is facing financial difficulties. The veiled threat is obviously bullshit - the cost of one return flight shouldn’t be that much in the context of running a school. They just don’t want to pay it.
The only “financial difficulty” a public school in Taipei is going to be facing will be sufficient funds for specific people to line their own pockets with.
You taking (40k*2)x2 in flight reimbursement and an additional 5k/month for your rent would have been someones anticipated mortgage payment for a few months. Keep pushing back if it matters to you.
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You’re going to have to play hardball, if you are in a financial position to do so. It’s nothing to do with the accountants. Threaten to walk, or suck up the loss. The secretary has no say in the matter, they are only doing what they are told.
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Had a big argument with the secretary yesterday, and I was able to record it too. She offered me $13k of her own money if I stopped pursuing the airplane ticket reimbursal, and told me (not implied, straight up told) that if we’re gonna stick to the contract word-for-word then she’s sure I wasn’t qualified for this job when I was hired and we’ll need to conclude our working relationship.
She also begged me not to call the Ministry of Education over this. It’s pretty clear what I should do if I want to keep pushing… on the other hand, I would certainly lose my job. Don’t know if it’s worth it. In the meantime, I told my principal what’s up. He had no idea about any of this and said he’d look into it.
As a side note, I discovered that my official title isn’t “Foreign Teacher”! It’s “Employee of the Executive Yuan and Subordinated Agency”… very specific, I know.
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That tells me it is causing her problems
That sounds like a good thing
I suggest calling and emailing. Have something in writing
Your principal knew.
It’s up to you how hard you want to push it.
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