The responsiblities of Taiwan teachers

[miltownkid]

@Mark0938

What does your mum say about your situ?

You know what, I never thought to ask her . Next time I call (always soon) I’ll do just that and get her take on it. I do know that a big part of each year was what book she was going to use. She’d always talk about how much the “old school” (read old) methods of doing stuff sucked and she had to twist all kinds of arms to get to use the books she wanted to (at her most recent school). So I know the book she used was alwyas important.

There are other aspects of the complete teaching package that are missing here (for many reasons). Teacher can’t really talk to parents about their child (seems that schools actually don’t like this idea). Teachers don’t get to input much into what is going to taught (which makes sense for many reasons).

I see a different future for English (language in general really) teaching. The amount of time people spend to get to the (usually) atrocious level they have is outlandish (not just here, in countries all over the world). I believe with the proper method of teaching a person can reach very high levels of language acquisition very quickly. So I would like to see changes in schools. But with the way things are going, if schools stay the way they are and I continue to evolve I think there is much money to be made teaching English (and teaching it well).

P.S. I am quickly turning into a language nut and it eminates from everything I do. My apologies.

[Loretta]

50 Guanxi points and a cream pie to that kid.

[Lord_Lucan]

It is a bit of a shame to see parents concentrating on irrelevant issues at the expense of their kids’ education, but as it is a buyer’s market, and parents think they know better than the teachers, English will continue to be taught in a second-rate manner to the majority of students.

Even if we want to be “real teachers” there are so many obstacles in our way fatigue sets in and we acquiesce when faced with pleasing the parents / management or losing our jobs.

[Tomas]

I teach test (TOEFL, TOEIC, GEPT) preparation to adults. I prepare all of my lessons myself, which means that for a new, eight session class, I have to put in around 80 hours of prep time (8 hours of prep for each of eight, three-hour sessions). I do a lesson outline for the students in Word, which is printed into a lecture notes text, and then prepare a Powerpoint presentation that I use with a projector in class.

Given this system, my hourly pay is high. Otherwise, I wouldn’t do it. By the time I’ve taught the class three or four times, I’ve recovered my investment to a degree I’m comfortable with.

If I was making an average hourly wage (NT$600 to 800), I’d put in about 3-4 hours of prep for each unit (provided I can teach it in at least three or four cycles), and prepare for about a half hour before each session (creating a supplemental handout or two).

One must strike a balance between time and money, or end up hating the job and feeling used.

I think it’s also wise to always at least appear to comply with management requests. It really works to your benefit if the boss likes you.

Jumping to another school isn’t easy, because of the visa hassles involved. I’d recommend to new teachers that they spend a lot of time finding the right school.

[ckvw]

It’s easy to feel a bit defensive when a newbie sees how things work at most schools and wants to change it all. I’m sure many of us have the same feelings but haven’t “changed the face of English language teaching and learning” in Taiwan yet. Mostly, we find a school that lets us teach our students in a way that we feel is more or less satisfactory. Some end up writing a curriculum or books for their school - which can be whole other struggle between what managers want and what you think is useful. A few do go on to open their own schools - now you’re into business not just education. A few write their own book independently and try to publish it - now you’ve got to work with editors who may have different notions, after all it needs to be marketable. Some go back to school to get an advanced degree in ESL in order to expand their knowledge and/or to earn more “legitimacy” - either way, those credentials don’t earn you much here in concrete terms, though may get you a position at a college (still not considered a “real” teacher by the rest of the local staff). Let’s face it. Professional ESL teachers and other adult education teachers at home generally aren’t “real” teachers either. I’m not trying to discourage you miltownkid. Like anywhere, it takes a lot of motivation and persistence to make things happen. It’s great to hear from other teachers who really want to make a difference.

In regard to having a plan… Maoman, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to stay on as an English teacher. But it does make returning home more and more difficult. Not only do you get used to a different lifestyle and way of doing things, but your home social and professional networks start to dissolve. It can be lonely returning after several yaers and it can be hard to market yourself for anything besides English teaching. Most applications ask for recent references and your most recent jobs. They have no way of knowing if what you tell them about your time in Taiwan is true or not. So if you want to return to the US and build a career there, I don’t recommend staying in Taiwan long. Otherwise, you’re years behind your comtemporaries and competing with new college grads for entry-level positions. Miltownkid, I don’t remember what your plan is. Whatever it is, good luck with it!

[maoman]

@ckvw

In regard to having a plan… Maoman, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to stay on as an English teacher.

Who said anything about staying on as an English teacher? I’m just staying. Period.

@ckvw

But it does make returning home more and more difficult. Not only do you get used to a different lifestyle and way of doing things, but your home social and professional networks start to dissolve.

Aha - this is the crux of the matter - where’s home? I return home to my wife every night. My social and professional networks are in Taiwan and other parts of Asia. If I go to North America too long, I’m afraid these networks will start to crumble. My inlaws live here. I am already used to a “different lifestyle”, and going back to a North American one would surely be dull. If you’re here as a “tourist teacher”, then I guess what you say applies. However, if you live here, you don’t necessarily have to have a plan, anymore than if you were living back home. Which is to say it might focus your energies a bit, but it isn’t essential to being here.

Home is where the heart is.

[miltownkid]

@ckvw

I’m not trying to discourage you miltownkid. Like anywhere, it takes a lot of motivation and persistence to make things happen. It’s great to hear from other teachers who really want to make a difference.

My movtivation isn’t changing the way schools teach. I’ll continue to try to do the best I can with the material they give me and with the skills I’ve acquired. I think there’s a lot I could do teaching privates, or small groups in a very professionel manner. I’ll be working on a system that can help teen to adult language learners learn faster. The methods employed by schools just can’t get the job done (because of the size of classes, material, etc.) That’s what I’m thinking now anyway, I’m sure it will change again.

@ckvw

Miltownkid, I don’t remember what your plan is. Whatever it is, good luck with it!

I’ll just continue to educate myself and market myself really well. When (if) I go back “home” I’ll either do more schoolin’, get back into computer work (repair, networking, etc.), (try to) start a business in something or be a teacher .

[brian]

I have been thinking about my earlier reply to your initial post and think that I may have missed the point somewhat.

I recall that I went through a stage whereby I tried to self evaluate what I was really achieving in teaching English to kids that didn

[Durins_Bane]

[quote=“brian”]As a result I have become far more serious in my teaching and the results have been positive. I still play around in the class and play the odd game or two, but my classes now include a game as a bonus if we have time, rather than the previous situation where English learning was peripheral to the games that we were playing in class. The students seem to have just as much fun as they do in the classes with those teachers that play games for about 45 out of the 50 minute class time (not a criticism of these teachers!), but I find the classes personally more rewarding as I can see that my students are actually learning something from me. Whilst I don

[ckvw]

Hey, Maoman, you’re so right. If Taiwan is your home country now, then there’s no need to concern yourself with returning to your country of origin. As you mentioned, leaving means threatening important social, professional, and personal ties.

If, however, a person IS planning on returning to their home country, they might want to take into account some of the potential drawbacks of an extended stay abroad. It’s easy to get caught up in the challenge of being a good teacher and lose track of other future goals. I didn’t know miltownkid’s plans (if any), so that’s why I brought it up.

[miltownkid]

Update: a (pretty) Happy ending .
Drat not being able to sleep :x .

First I’d like to say thanks for all of those nice replies I originally got.

I did ask my mom about it a few weeks ago. I didn’t get any kind of lecture, but the 2 things that stuck in my mind were “I do a lot more prep work then the 1 hour a day I’m supposed to get paid for.” and “There are a lot of really good curriculums for kindergarten (I alwast mis-spell that) aged kids, why doesn’t the school have one?”

Well, I ended up having a talk with my bosses and I told them I would not write in the communication books everyday, not write a weekly lesson plan unless it wased based off of a working curriculum and asked for a raise (well, I was going to. We never got to that point ). I think we both agreed that the school was not a match for me, so my last day was the end of July.

A day before I was going to leave for Bali I got a phone call while workingat school. It was one of my bosses asking me if I wanted to work at another one of their locations. I was a little :shock: ed, but told her I’d like to discuss it in person before making any decisions. She wanted me to decide right then and there (they really needed a teacher), but I wasn’t ready to. So I went to Bali and never got a chance to talk to anyone.

When I returned I called her to see if the teacher situation was still bad and she said yes and asked me to come in and talk. I came in talked, asked all the questions I had, made sure I knew exactly what was going to be expected of me this time around and left (she gave me a few days to decide, says she had teaching waiting but they were waiting for my answer. I really don’t believe it though). Called the next day and said yes, signed a contract and started working the day after that (that was last week).

I switched from working in a full emmersion program to a bi-lingual one (now I have 7 different groups of kids that I teach 4 different subjects to. It sounds harder, but it’s not). Same company (so I already know then ins and outs), different boss and closer to my house.

All in all I’m happy with the outcome and hope this next run is better then the last (the last one was already pretty good). They keep telling me my skill with the kids made up for my crap job of doing paper work (which I’m working on making better).

How’s that for an early morning story?