I am compiling an index of posts in Teaching for the archives. One entry will be for Newbies, and another for Resources.
I have already come across Mike Turton’s site, and have a few others.
I would be grateful if members could post here any sites they know of about teaching that are specific to Taiwan, and that would be (a) useful to newbies; and (b) contain resources useful to teachers in Taiwan.
I’ll recommend my own: ESFIT - English Speaking Foreigners In Taiwan. Not much now but I’m in the process of data mining and compiling data every possible data resource that will help a new comer to the island. The focus will be on writing up my own articles. So far my free ISP list is probably the biggest asset in the forum. And my review-a-school forum should help people know what they’re getting into.
onestopenglish.com has lots of useful resources for English teachers including lesson plans and activities. efl4u.com has free English teaching worksheets online.
I think contract penalties are legal, but it is not legal to withold the money from the salary. The school must sue to recover the money. I have seen contracts where the English says “withold” and the Chinese says “peichang” - “compensate”.
I do not know the exact law however. Illumination on this point would be useful.