Taiwan's new TET teacher exchange program

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
21

This is a farce (as usual). What do the newspaper reports mean by “qualified” ? Do they mean teachers who are qualified to teach in government schools in their home jurisdication ? Well, that would be odd, given that English as a Foreign Language is not taught in government schools, and when it is taught to immigrant populations it is not done so on a qualified or unqualified basis. Do they mean “qualified” as in “could get a work permit in Taiwan” ? Who knows ?

So they are going to use their overseas offices to recruit from foreign universities, and applicants must have basic Mandarin Chinese ? Yeah right. So there is this pool of “qualified” teachers who speak Chinese hanging around universities waiting to go to Taiwan ? Please !

And they will receive two weeks’ “training” when they arrive. So these “qualified” teacher still require two weeks’ “training” without which they wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. I wonder what they are going to learn in two weeks from the Taiwanese.

God help them.

If they really wanted people to go to the boonies, they would recruit long termers already in Taiwan who could handle living in the sticks for a suitable hike in earnings.

And one more thing - where did all the communists come from ? Why on earth should a foreign native speaking teacher with up to date training specifically in ELT get paid anything like a local teacher who has been trained in the piss-poor Taiwanese education system ? I cannot think why any non-native speaker (i.e. Taiwanese) should be involved in classroom teaching of English unless his/her English is very very close to native speaker level. It gives me an enormous pain in the arse to have to continually correct incomprehensible pronunciation of basic sounds, and even the letters of the alphabet, after they have been drummed into children by Taiwanese teachers who can’t pronounce them themselves.

The Taiwanese need to decide whether they want to move on from T-shirt slogan Engerish, or whether they want to continue their current Xenophobic jobs-for-the-boys approach to English langauge in Taiwan.

On the other hand, it would do my heart good to see 1000 MA in TEFL graduates come onto the island and turn their noses up at the way the English teaching industry is run here. You can bet your life that the government knows this, and will either steer well clear of anyone with TEFL qualifications, or will sack anyone who objects to the teacher-centred bums-on-seats methodology.

You see, this is a prime example of how little the Taiwanese know about teaching English. They simply have no comprehension that English can be and is taught very succesfully (are far more expensively than they could imagine!) to classes of mixed native-language speakers entirely in the medium of the English language in language centres around the world, from the very basics to people with absolutely no English whatsoever. You cannot fight an ethos which tries to maintain that even in the field of teaching their own bloody language, foreigners are inherently inferior to Chinese !!! :imp: :smiling_imp: :imp:

This story is likely to disappear in a few weeks. Might be dragged out and aired every couple of years or so, but I doubt it. :unamused:

22

Sir Donald Bradman wrote:

[quote]
What good salary? 50K-90K. You can work 25 hrs a week at a kindergarten and make 60K and you won’t be living out in the boonies. You can add hours up to 40 a week and make 100K[/quote]

Most public school teachers teach 22~24 classroom hours per week. You also get substantial paid vacations. Teaching 40 hours a week is simply madness and makes people hate Taiwan. A New Years bonus would make it much more attractive, but somehow I doubt that’s going to be forthcoming. While I’m sure it’s possible to make more money in absolute terms, I personally feel that time spent in a relatively undemanding job in a small Taiwanese town might be more rewarding and healthier than 12 months in a kindergarten in Taipei.

As for benefits, no one said anything about foreign teachers not being eligible for benefits such as health and employment insurance. In Taiwan, public school teachers are a class of civil servant. It’s very formally defined legal status. Since you usuually need to have gone to a teacher’s college in Taiwan to become one, it’s hardly surprising that foreign teachers will not be eligible for this status.

BTW, the University of Marryland and other US universities have a large class of workers without rights and benefits: graduate students.

[quote]
-When and where are the public hearings? Are they going to be in both languages with translation? Will the people in the audience be able to ask questions and will they get clear answers? Is it just a lecture about the program or a real give/take of a discussion? [/quote]

When government agencies issue new sets of regulations, they are required to hold public hearings. As the laws have not been chanegd yet, the hearings have not been scheduled. These are not Q&A sessions but rather an opportunity for the various interest groups to get their two cents in. You better believe the buxiban and public school teacher groups will show. The agencies generally prefer that you submit a formal set of written questions to which they usually respond quite seriously. Of course they will be in Chinese without translations.

As for the “qualified” bit, I’m confident that this is strictly for domestic consumption. The University of Maryland knows perfectly well that it would never be able to hire professional EFL people to work in Taiwan at these salaries. The new teachers will be no more or less qualified than those currently working in Taiwan.

The Chinese requirement is more interesting. I think they are probably planning to hire people who have taken Chinese at university in their home countries. This would be similar to the JET program which recruits from US-based Japanese programs.

23

[quote=“Taipei Times”]According to the ministry’s plan, prospective foreign teachers must be under 45 and come from an English-speaking country with English as their mother tongue.

They must have a college degree in a linguistics-related fields, be proficient in basic Mandarin Chinese and have no record of drug abuse. Previous teaching experience is recommended.[/quote]

Hexuan, if you read the Taipei Times article (not the editorial, which is a complete load of rubbish) carefully it does specify the qualifications and they are stricter than those currently required to teach legally at a cram school in Taiwan. Still, I understand your concerns and agree with much of what you are saying.

The last requirement, “proficient in basic Mandarin Chinese” is a big hurdle unless they define being able to say ni hao and xiexie as “basic Chinese”. I also expect that they would recruit all the teachers from overseas, meaning it would be basically impossible to find the required number of teachers.

This is a good idea in theory and should be encouraged. It is jsut fraught with potential problems. I suggest people write to the Minister of Education with some suggestions about how the proposal could be improved.

Dr. Huang Jong-tsun
Minister of Education
address???

Perhaps a letter to the Taipei Times critiquing their editorial might be a good idea too. letters@taipeitimes.com

24

I think it’s precisely because the numbers are too large that recruiting will eventually take place in Taiwan.

25

From the China Times

[quote]

26

OMNiloquacius: Okay, given your info, I will update the list:

marry Taiwanese nationals

921

27

Omni: Yes, “And how many of them will become regular posters on Segue…”

yes , after the 1000 arrive next summer, we can expect lots of new Seguers here. My guesstimate is: 742 will sign on and start posting under such names as “omni 2” and “monkey 8” and Chainsmoker9" and “Teacher’spet” and…

Or maybe they will all start their own forum just for TET people…

28

This is the part of article that I am still laughing about. After two weeks of training they are going to be qualified? But yet they are still not going to be called a teacher. Well two weeks of training shouldn’t qualify them to be a teacher anyway! But why just two weeks? I guess that is how much the government cares how good they are… :unamused: Two weeks of training isn’t going to teach them squat! It takes years of teaching here to understand how to teach in Taiwan. Anyone want to start taking bets how long this program is going to last?

29

I think what they are trying to do is based on the JET program in Japan. In JET foreigners are employed as teaching assistants. They teach some conversation classes, help the Japanese English teachers and facilitate cultural exchange (which is of course two way).

I understand why people have some reservations about this idea (all well expressed in this thread) but I think the idea itself is good. It just needs to be implemented properly.

30

Okay, good for the qualified teachers. So what about the unqualified teachers? Not everyone with a linguistics-related degree has teaching credentials, experience, or coursework. After their two weeks of learning about Taiwan’s culture and their educational “arena”, how are they supposed to be prepared for teaching or even being teaching assistants? Not everyone who studies linguistics has to look at psycholinguistics (which deals with first and second language acquisition) or language teaching methodology. The article already states that prior teaching experience is only recommended and not required.

And as for the “dirty 30” from Maryland, they may well be linguistics students who are already training for ESL pedagogy and might be getting special prep for this job, but what about the other 970 people? And the thousands more that are supposedly coming in the years after them? Besides, most linguists who do take courses in ESL, usually take them in teaching adults, not children. From experience, I know that these courses do not fully prepare a person for teaching at an elementary school level unless you are a flexible person.

Of course they will, because many of the teachers already here wouldn’t fall for a scam like this and who better to scam with promises of a life-changing experience, living in an Asian culture, and making $50,000 a month to teach cute, well-behaved children :unamused: on a sub-tropical island than to pitch it to people who have never heard of Taiwan beyond looking at that “Made in…” stamp. Why does this sound familiarly like, oh, say, a certain organization named after a popular breakfast beverage… :smiling_imp:

31

Wix, I agree that the idea is great I agree, but it won’t be implemented properly…

And according to the newspaper they will be using represenative offices in Taiwan to help find teachers by contacting universities.

Oh and ImanIOU most people have heard of Taiwan but they pronounce it [color=blue]Thailand![/color] :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

32

Milk? Coffee? Orange juice? Am I being dumb? :blush: I don’t get it.
Please enlighten me.

33

Cornflakes ? Alpen ? Weetabix ? Scotts Porage Oats ? Special K ? All Bran ? Am I getting warmer ?

34

Nobody has yet pointed out that the role these poor people are going to play sets them up to utterly fail. They are being brought in, at higher salaries that the local teachers, to work on development of teaching materials, and as assistants to the native teachers.

That is going to go over like a big, lead balloon. Are local teachers going to be thrilled to cooperate with these folks? I think not. They’re already protesting. Can’t say I blame them.

35

Tang??? Is that it? The choice of astronauts AND a well-known Chinese dynasty?

And a rock band?
Tai Yang, Ni Zai Nali…

Ovaltine?

Cocoa?

I would say Tealit, but who drinks tea for breakfast?

36

call me crazy, call me a pre-newbie, call me insane…

but from what i can tell of this new program, i think it appeals to a different kind of young person than your typical teacher in taiwan today.

now, when i tell people i’m going (yes, i know, i’m not even there yet…less than a month i’ll be there), the first question they ask is, what program are you going through? these are people who are familiar with JET, with the Peace Corps, with Americorps, with similar programs for recent college grads who:

  1. are still trying to figure out what they hope to do with their education,
    or 2) trying to have a worthwhile experience in a foreign country giving back to society or enriching themselves BEFORE they go to pursue their desired career, such as going to law school, grad school or med school or to get an MBA or entering the workforce

i tell them immediately, i’m not going through a program, i’m going to get a job once i get there, i’m hopping on a plane and seeing where fate leaves me.

and they immediately say, dude you’re crazy, good luck man, you’ve got moxy for real.

and for those who have taken the nestea plunge into taiwan, the world should admire your bravery. but most i’d say desire something a bit more structured in their trip around the world. they’re the ones who get a job with a cram school and get flied over and then get screwed once they get there. and this is not to say that this new program won’t screw the newbies.

but this program has a market: young grads with an interest in a new kind of experience who don’t want to live abroad indefinitely, who want to do TET for a year and come back to go to law school or start their careers. they’re the ones who aren’t interested in teaching English for the money, but for the memories and personal growth. yeah they’ll get screwed on their salary, but that’s not what they’re about in the first place.

there are a LOT of juniors and seniors right now who are exploring these kind of options. i know for sure they’d be a slew of applicants from the school i graduated rrom. and even with the Chinese requirement, I doubt that a program like this, a few years down the line, will have any problem filling positions.

37

[quote=“hexuan”]Why on earth should a foreign native speaking teacher with up to date training specifically in ELT get paid anything like a local teacher who has been trained in the piss-poor Taiwanese education system ? I cannot think why any non-native speaker should be involved in classroom teaching of Englsih unless his or her English is very very close to native speaker level. It gives me an enormous pain in the arse to have to continually correct incomprehensible pronunciation of basic sounds, and even the letters of the alphabet, after they have been drummed into children by Taiwanese teachers who can’t pronounce them themselves.

The Taiwanese need to decide whether they want to move on from T-shirt slogan Engerish, or whether they want to continue their current Xenophobic jobs-for-the-boys approach to English langauge in Taiwan.[/quote]

Whoa there, Hexuan.

First off, Taiwan does have a well-trained pool of new local English teachers. They were selected from the top 3 percent or so of those who passed tests in both written and spoken English. All are college grads, in many cases with graduate degrees from foreign universities, who went through years of training in English, teaching, and modern EFL pedagogy (I saw the material myself) – and at their own expense, too. As graduates of these extensive training programs, they are, other than not being native speakers of English, far more qualified than most foreign English teachers in Taiwan.

The Ministry of Education – which assigned basically just one person to handle these incoming teachers, most of whom are now in their second year of work at elementary schools around Taiwan – hasn’t had a good record of treating these people with much care or respect, allowing all too often for other teachers of just about anything to take the jobs that were supposed to go to those trained for English teaching. The DPP administration is not blameless in this, but neither is the KMT, which mismanaged the same group of incoming teachers when it was in power.

Yes, the government knows this. But that’s part of the reason for this approach. People who know what they’re doing are trying to get things changed. But there are others – even within the community of foreign teachers, many of whom are not trained in anything other than how to play teacher – who are resisting the introduction of modern teaching methods, and the program is somewhat muddled as a result. But good things can still come from this if we’re lucky and those in the foreign and local communities who understand the problems work to improve the situation.

38

Oops. I stand corrected.

39

I think embryopoet has a point about the type of person this kind of program would appeal to and would be directed toward. It seems that with appropriate management and planning, it could be as successful as the JET program, which has it’s own problems, surely, but still has a pretty good reputation among foreign participants. (TET, JET… that can’t be too coincidental, can it?)

Unfortunately, the chances are high that the people running it are only in it for the face of being in charge of a showcase program and/or that they have severe restrictions placed upon them which make it impossible to be effective.

Still, if they can set the TET participants up with a decent place to live and reasonable class assignments, the pay really isn’t the big issue, as embryopoet noted. Whether or not such programs actually improve language learning is a whole other issue, though it certainly improves international PR if the participants have good experiences. After all, those new grads will go home after a year and go to law school or business school, and Taiwan will be near and dear to their hearts…

I would expect, though, that there would be a larger percent of participants would be Taiwanese-Americans as opposed to Japanese-Americans in JET, at least if the program recruited in SF or LA. Anyone know of Japanese-Americans experience with JET?

40

Why TET? Isn’t ROCKET better. The slogan could be ‘Why take a Jet when you can take a Rocket?’ (ROC Kids English Teaching).

brian