Should I take this contract?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

Hi all,

I’ve taught in Taiwan before but I’m trying to decide between two options at the moment and could use some help.

I’m a fully qualified teacher currently supplying in London, England. I plan on working at an international school in September 2010. At the moment, supply teaching here is really getting me down (long commutes, annoying older kids, terrible weather) and so I sought out a short-term contract in Taiwan. I should also mention that, for personal reasons, I hadn’t planned to be in London at this time of the year. But, eh, life happens.

Dewey has offered me a job in Yilan with a high school. Jan-June deal at 60,000 a month. I’ve been making these pro/con lists for a few days and can’t wrap my head around the move. I don’t care about the money too too much. 60,000 a month in Yilan is probably better than supply teaching pay in London. I searched through here and have read the opinions on Dewey. I get it. But could they really screw me that bad with this thing? Could the high school be far too rural to have good materials? Is the simple fact that they even want someone for only a six month contract a warning sign? Is it worth all the hassle finding an apartment/scooter? (I do speak fair Mandarin btw).

Any advice at all would be great.

Thanks,
GDT

2

[quote=“GDT”]Hi all, I’ve taught in Taiwan before but I’m trying to decide between two options at the moment and could use some help.

I’m a fully qualified teacher currently supplying in London, England. I plan on working at an international school in September 2010. At the moment, supply teaching here is really getting me down (long commutes, annoying older kids, terrible weather) and so I sought out a short-term contract in Taiwan. I should also mention that, for personal reasons, I hadn’t planned to be in London at this time of the year. But, eh, life happens. Dewey has offered me a job in Yilan with a high-school. Jan-June deal at 60,000 a month.

But could they really screw me that bad with this thing? Could the high school be far too rural to have good materials? Is the simple fact that they even want someone for only a six month contract a warning sign? Is it worth all the hassle finding an apartment/scooter? (I do speak fair Mandarin btw).

Any advice at all would be great. Thanks,GDT[/quote]

I thought you needed a years contraact to get an ARC. Also new rules for for foreigners you get taxed at 20% for first six calender months of each financial year. You can apply for it back at the end of the tax year. So your 60K isnt looking so hot.

Alarm Bells are ringing. You did enquire about getting an ARC, Health Insurance and the like didnt you?

3

Hi,

Yup, got the contract that says I’ll have the ARC and health insurance. Maybe they just plan on telling the government I’ll be there a year?

GDT

4

Well I would email your employer and ask how they are going to get you a six month ARC when a 12 month period is required to get an ARC.

I’d say they know you are British and can get long term vistor visa entry and have you do visa runs.

5

Really? With a government run public school they would still do this? Wouldn’t this be very dangerous for the school?

6

Are you sure it’s a public high school and not private?

As far as risk to the school, it seems the immigration police focus more on cram schools. I’ve been in 3 private junior/senior high schools and never had a visit.

And my understanding, too, is that you need a minimum 1-year contract for an ARC.

7

I bet you the government school is not the one applying for your work permit?

And for you too, with being caught means deportation, can include a hefty fine and being banned from working in Taiwan again.

8

Thanks guys. I can’t figure out if it’s public or private, and nowhere does the contract state who’s applying for my work permit, but I think there are enough warning bells here to call the whole thing off.

I appreciate it!
GDT

9

[quote=“GDT”]Thanks guys. I can’t figure out if it’s public or private, and nowhere does the contract state who’s applying for my work permit, but I think there are enough warning bells here to call the whole thing off.

I appreciate it!
GDT[/quote]
Why not ask Dewey these questions before you write it off?

10

As Sandman suggested, I asked Dewey. They said that the school would be “the host for your work permit”.

In regards to the ARC, the statement I received was “As for the length of the contract, there’s no limits on the length of the contract by labor department but there’s a minimum requirement by the immigration for the ARC. You need to have a minimum of 6 month’s contract to get your ARC.”

So…more confusion. What do you folks think?

GDT

11

[quote=“GDT”]As Sandman suggested, I asked Dewey. They said that the school would be “the host for your work permit”.

In regards to the ARC, the statement I received was “As for the length of the contract, there’s no limits on the length of the contract by labor department but there’s a minimum requirement by the immigration for the ARC. You need to have a minimum of 6 month’s contract to get your ARC.” So…more confusion. What do you folks think?

GDT[/quote]

Well it is illegal for the school to “host your ARC” then farm you out to work at other locatiosn as you ARC is not for those locations. Remember your ARC has your legal employment address on there. That will not be a government school.

12

Hi

Are you going to be taxed? My understanding was that public school, qualified teachers were not liable for tax. That might help you distinguish between a public/private school. Could someone else confirm?

You mention you speak reasonable Mandarin. Could you not list your questions in an email, and ask that they be responded to by the person responsible for your employment at the school?

Personally I don’t see a problem with the term ‘host your ARC’. The issue is will the school hosting your ARC be the same as the school you are teaching at. You just need this confirmed.

I’ve had an ARC with a contract for less than a year before, specifically helping a school finish off an academic year, so this is fine.

Throw in some standard questions about class sizes, prep hours teaching hours, ‘homeroom’ responsibilities so you don’t look totally paranoid (and these are all handy to know anyway, and will help you get a feel for the school etc).
I can understand Dewey being protective to ensure that people don’t circumvent them to go direct to the school, but they should be able to arrange this through a forwarded email. If Dewey are being straight-up, they’ll have nothing to hide.

Best of luck,

Kitkat

13

Hi,

Sure, I don’t see a problem with “host your ARC” either.

Kitkat, I’ll throw those questions over and see what happens.

Thanks everyone for helping out!

GDT

14

It is my understanding that you gotta have a resident visa, work permit and ARC to be totally legal working here.

That was your only job on that ARC?

15

Yep. It was the only job. Thinking back I suspect that we signed a six month contract, on the understanding that I wouldn’t be there past the end of the semester. I knew people at the place already and was comfortable that they wouldn’t mess me around. At the point I left we signed a cancel contract agreement.
For the OP, six months would only take him up to the end of June/July. At which point it’s summer vacation anyway, so I can’t see the advantage to trying to hold him beyond the end of term. If they were to ask him to do anything illegal, such as work a summer school at a different address, then he can simply decline, and report them to the labour bureau, and use the breathing space that allows to find another job.

16

Read through other threads to find out about my opinions on Dewey. Never say it’s not about the money to a Taiwanese person, especially at Dewey. That’s like painting a huge target on yourself.

If your Chinese is decent and you’re a qualified teacher, you could probably do better than work for Dewey.

Several people I work with have received ARCs for six month contracts.

Elementary and junior high school teachers in the public system don’t pay tax. I believe teachers in the public senior high school system do, as do those in the private system, though I’m not entirely sure.

17

The reply I got for my latest questions was this:

“Each classroom, you’ll have about 25~30 students per class. Each class will be divided into two group so two teachers will share a same class in different room. The school will have books ready for you and you have to do the lesson plans.
You are there to teach English only so you do not have homeroom responsibilities. You need to make up tests, homework and grade them for it.”

The hours are from 8-5 at 25 classes a week. That doesn’t sound bad at all does it?

Thanks folks,
GDT

18

Do they mean the 25-30 students will be divided between you and another teacher, or that you will have 25-30 each?

Don’t expect the books to be good. They’ll most likely be arbitrarily chosen and bear no relevance to the students in terms of age level, ability level, etc. Also, expect little to no real support or organisation from the Taiwanese staff.

You should probably find out just what all of the preparation, test writing, grading, etc. will involve. It could be a lot more than you figure.

It seems like a standard Dewey/public school contract at 25 classes per week. The hours, 8-5 are probably quite restrictive in that you’ll almost certainly be required to spend all nine hours per day on-site and have one or two hours per month of personal leave (making it extremely inconvenient to do anything that needs to be done during business hours) at most before you start getting docked. Look at other special events and training you may be required to attend also.

Also, look at the holiday and sick leave provisions. Especially look at paid vs unpaid holidays/personal time and national holidays. Dewey has just added something to the contracts here that even if you take paid sick leave (three days per semester) and provide a doctor’s note, you’ll still get penalised for your attendance bonus.

While I am on the topic of penalties, look carefully at how much they’ll charge you if you miss a class, but how much they’ll pay you (if at all) if they make you work overtime. That should tell you a lot.

What will your other perks be? Probably something like a 3,000NT/month rental allowance, a 2,000NT/month attendance bonus, and a contract completion bonus somewhere in the vicinity of one month’s pay, though getting that far may be a marathon effort. The renewal bonus is pathetic, and yearly increases in pay are on a par with inflation. There’s no airfare reimbursement, right, and you have to pay for all of your documents to be processed, medical tests, etc., yes?

In the end though, look at the pay:

There are 21.4 working days in a month. (30 x 5/7)

60,000NT/21.4 = 2804NT/day

If you work it out per teaching lesson (average of five per day), it comes out at 561NT/hour.

If you work it out based upon a nine hour day, it comes out at 312NT/hour; or for an eight hour day (if lunch isn’t included), it comes out at 351NT/hour.

At the per-lesson rate, it’s still piss poor. At the hourly rate, it’s downright criminal. You could get 600NT/hour at almost any buxiban in Taiwan, barring other employers you should avoid like the plague, such as Hess. Working for a buxiban, you wouldn’t be tied into spending all day on-site though and at many of the slacker ones, you wouldn’t have to do the prep and so on.

Dewey is trying to seriously screw you when you sign the contract. Imagine how they’re going to try to screw you once you’ve already committed to it and you’ve spent money setting yourself up here.

As a qualified teacher, you could do a lot better, though don’t expect any teaching gig here to really involve serious teaching. Contact some other agencies or go direct to schools if you must work in a “real” school, otherwise be kind of mercenary about what you want to get out of being in Taiwan and why you would come here and choose your job carefully and accordingly.

19

Hey guy in Taiwan,

Well your points are valid regarding being able to getting a better job under most circumstances. But there’s a bit of a twist: I’m more or less between contracts now. I’m supply teaching in some rough areas areas of London and the school year is still 9 months away. I’m in this situation for personal reasons I’d rather not bring up here. Reasons that don’t have anything to do with my career.

So what we’ve got is two situations. The one: the stress of inner-city kids, an hour commute each way on London transport, the expense of London, the English weather, and the randomness of the day which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. The other day I was called into a school and left the house at 6:50am, in rain, and utter darkness. Got home at 5:30, in rain, and utter darkness. Hmmmmm.

On the other hand, calm peaceful Yilan, what seems like a good school, relatively good money considering living expenses, scooter, and a short-term contract. In July I’m off to relax in Thailand before beginning a proper teaching job in September.

You can find faults/strengths with both sides. I definitely do! That’s why I’m on here: to get other opinions.

GDT

20

GDT: Believe me, I sympahise with you regarding teaching in London. I did that. It was horrible, for all of the reasons you stated, and gave me a bad impression of the U.K. in general. If I had my time again, I’d definitely live (and teach) outside London. I could see the U.K. being a lot more enjoyable that way.

That said, be careful not to jump out of the fire and into the frying pan. Whilst this job may look like a dream job compared to your current job, it’s amazing how quickly you can forget one situation and come to despise the new. The teaching itself here wouldn’t be bad, and would indeed seem like a walk in the park compared to teaching/lion taming London kids, but the management, and Dewey especially, could really get to you. I’ll send you a pm this weekend with more about all of this.