I saw a post on here about a job contract and working during school holidays and got curious about the amount of holidays in a typical public school in Taiwan.
In France I teach in a state school and although salary isn’t good at all I get really good holidays: Halloween - 2 weeks, Christmas - 2 weeks, Mid-term - 2 weeks, Spring - 2 weeks, in the Summer about 7 weeks. I get a 12 month salary so nothing is deducted here or being given only a 10 month salary etc.
How is your school job for holidays? Would be great to get some examples of your holidays throughout year and how long you have off for summer and whether or not you can be called upon for summer camp/extra classes and/or have to do office hours during the school holidays.
I was interested in teaching in Taiwan but it seems a lot less attractive (to me at least) if I would have to do office hours during holidays and/or be ‘on call’ so to speak (meaning I couldn’t go somewhere on holidays in case I’m called in to work).
In my school in France I don’t have to do office hours, in fact if my timetable works well I can technically be finished one school day at 12:30 and can go whenever I choose to. Alternatively if my first lesson doesn’t start until 1pm I don’t need to be in until that time. I understand in most other countries you need to be in all day in school. However, EFL salaries in France suck and there are so many deductions on your paycheck so I don’t see France as something long-term.
Public school teachers get two weeks off for chinese new year and about a month, more or less, during the summer. Add an odd one or two day holiday scattered in between. Not great working conditions given that they like to turn off the AC unless it reaches a certain degree. Seems you have a better gig in France.
The only comparison for a teaching job here that affords loads of vacation time, and a lack of office hours (or “desk warming” as it’s affectionally referred to), is working at a university here. You at least need a masters though (and for the really good ones, a PhD).
All other teaching gigs, cram school, public and private schools, you’re shit outta luck.
Respectfully disagree! I have worked at universities in Taiwan with just a university bachelor’s degree. In fact, I know of a few who have done so. So perhaps universities are more lenient about hiring only qualified teachers as I am certainly not one!
How about holidays for Christmas/Western NY? Only a few days or so? My friend works in a public school in HK and more or less gets the same holidays as me minus the 2 weeks in Halloween.
I’m not expecting the same holidays in Taiwan as I know holidays are good in France and most probably not common in Asia, but like I say salary isn’t that good after all the deductions, so it’s not something I want to do long-term. I was just curious how big the difference was. From what you say it only sounds like about 8 weeks a school year or would it be more?
So, how about being on call?
Just for the record I have an MA in TESOL and am a certified licensed teacher from the UK. I have worked in a university before, but for just 1 year.
Actually I don’t mind desk warming because even though classes could finish one day for me at 3:30 many times I stay until 7pm and do some work (combined with browsing the net, as my laptop is very small so it’s more comfortable in my classroom).
You should apply with universities then. Fyi, at my Uni we get 4 months off (1 month over Chinese New Year, and 3 months for summer), and I only work 16 hours a week. Many people work even less. I got the job with a masters. You can too. Hiring season for the fall semester is now. They generally don’t advertise on sites like tealit. Instead make a list of Taiwanese unis and then check their websites to see if they have any notice about hiring full-time instructors (don’t bother with part-time, as that won’t land you a work permit or ARC).
If you’re not into unis, you could also try international schools. The work environment and perks are generally a bit better than normal high schools or middle schools (at least that’s what I hear. Don’t have firsthand experience).
KPJF, from what I have experienced, you typically get one month off a year and it is unpaid. Your end of contract bonus, which is one month’s salary will cover you for that month.
You will also get 10 paid vacation days which you can take during the year when you don’t have class.
The rest of the time, if there are no kids and no classes you are still required to show up to work, sit at your desk and … I actually haven’t worked out what you need to do because you don’t receive the curriculum to plan lessons until about a week or two before classes begin again. Lol.
I teach a variety of English oriented classes, including cross-cultural communication, business English, public relations, TOEFL listening, oral communication skills, English literature, reading & writing, etc (over the various semesters I’ve been employed, not all now).
Well, they call it Vacances de la Toussaint (All Saints’ Day holidays). In the school I’m in it’s always been 2 weeks off which actually breaks up the first part of the year nicely: only 6-7 weeks in and there’s a holiday, then when we come back another 7 weeks later there’s Christmas holiday.
So you’re only off on 1 January? If 31st is a Monday you’re in school as normal? I can understand as they have their own NY (CNY). I wonder why my friend in HK gets Christmas holidays too then (maybe coming from the British colony?)
Thanks. I was looking mainly at school jobs as that’s what most of my experience has been. But, I liked my year at a French uni – easy timetable, even better holidays than my school job, no behavioural problems etc. So, I guess that could be an option! Also international schools could be an option but for the ‘‘real’’ ones I’d need to teach something other than TEFL. I do have a teaching license in Spanish and French but only taught EFL after so assumed no decent international school would be interested unless they offer EFL
Ah I see. So the bonus is really the 12th month and not really a bonus at all, lol.
I guess that’s good then. So you could take that to have 5 weeks off or so instead of the month.
Haha, if they started introducing that in France the teachers would strike for God knows how long! Currently there is a 3 month on/off rail strike here.
Well you only see the holidays I get not the salary, haha. The teaching jobs in Taiwan I saw before (74,000 NTD) are about the same as what I get here but with much much bigger deductions in France. And naturally things in France cost a lot lot more than in Taiwan.
TOEFL is incredibly boring. Texts about stalactites and drainage systems
TOEFL is probably my least favorite class to teach. Don’t have it this semester though. If they try to assign it to me again, I’ll probably protest.
Best class would be Cross-Cultural Communication, or English Literature. I have an interest in both subjects, and they’re a lot of fun to plan and teach.
Not surprised, haha. I didn’t mind the part where the student has a problem and students have to summarise the problem/solution and give their opinion but some of those listenings with some university professor waffling on for 7 minutes were hard to pay attention to!
Cross-Cultural Communication? Could you explain more about this? In my school actually we do cultural classes: for 1 year it’s UK, another USA and another Australia/NZ etc. I do AUS/NZ and I find it fun to create whatever I want on these 2 countries. A lot of work creating absolutely everything from scratch but I enjoy teaching it.
