There is no way I would invest time, money, or any sort of resources into some kind of central training center. Why should I help any body out?
In a perfect world, yes. However, they are not truly on the same team, are they? Owners want to make money for themselves and teachers want to make money for themselves. This doesn’t sound like the same team. The real quality of English being taught always takes second place. Any laoban who says otherwise is a liar. Money is the end all and be all. Unfortunately, this is how the level of English being taught usually suffers.
In a perfect world, yes. However, they are not truly on the same team, are they? Owners want to make money for themselves and teachers want to make money for themselves. This doesn’t sound like the same team. The real quality of English being taught always takes second place. Any laoban who says otherwise is a liar. Money is the end all and be all. Unfortunately, this is how the level of English being taught usually suffers.[/quote]
I don’t know about that. There is a middle ground, a balance point, where the way the school teaches and the money it brings in is self-sustaining. The questions to qaulity arise when a school expands. Decisions have to made along the way that may change the status of a school from education based to business based. Money is not the only concern for every school or for every owner. Every owner wants to succeed for sure, but not every owner is willing to sell his/her soul to get it.
I for one, have no problem getting together and brainstorming with other onwers and teachers about business and teaching. We do that here in many threads. What’s the difference if it is done in real life? I’m not saying that you need to get together with your competition down the street. But why not get together with other like minded people?
You do have a point. I can see that. You are not in business to create more competition for yourself. If you were in my town, a fellow foreigner with a buxiban, I wouldn’t spend time helping you out only to take students away from me. I probably wouldn’t send you to forumosa.com either ( 
) - no, really, I wouldn’t. But, if you were in another place with no intentions of heading into the boonies to compete with me - yeah, sure, I’d help you out by networking and chatting. If you are where I live - not a chance. That’s business. Don’t cut your own throat to be a nice guy.
I don’t mind the idea of when you have extra resume’s on your desk that you aren’t going to use, saying to a teacher “hey, I know this guy in Kaoshiung that needs a teacher, I’ll forward your resume to him if you like.” Or, “I know this guy in Kaoshiung that has a fantastic phonics system that you could buy if you are interested” (I’ve done that). Or, “Jeez, you like long Island ice teas - do I know the boss for you” 
That’s what I call useful stuff.
Now if I were an agent / recruiter, thankfully I am not, I’d be into the idea of training teachers for other people.
I do think that there are many foreigners out there that are struggling with the small time aspects of the business. The same could be said for any business owner anywhere.
That being said, I am a big fan of mentoring and replicating leaders. Any leader should reproduce him/herself, but that is easier said than done in Taiwan. I like the Enspyre concept and the other stuff that is going on with Forumosa, I think it will be of great use to many people.
Me, I am in the market for a mentor for myself and always available for those that need a mentor.
The above would be something that a lot of leaders would get something out of. Even those who are already successful may get something from it.
Bassman,
We do a bit of that here in Kaohsiung. if I don’t have an opening then I will pass the applicant to someone I RECOMMEND.
[quote=“Durins Bane”]Bassman,
We do a bit of that here in Kaohsiung. if I don’t have an opening then I will pass the applicant to someone I RECOMMEND.[/quote]
This is actually much closer to what I had in mind. The choice of “database” to describe what I was trying to say was inappropriate.
[quote=“Durins Bane”]Bassman,
We do a bit of that here in Kaohsiung. if I don’t have an opening then I will pass the applicant to someone I RECOMMEND.[/quote]
Have an ice tea on me. 
Need a hug too? 
That’s great though, that you are already doing that down there. More power to you. I’d recommend you any day, if I knew you that is. I don’t blame you for being distant from the idea that is being kicked around. If I were as successful I wouldn’t think about it too much either and wouldn’t want people sucking off me either - time vampires, right.
I don’t think anyone likes time vampires. Hopefully people would get as much out as they put in. I, for one, would knock the whole idea on the head if I thought it would drain me more than feed me.
Seriously though folks, I think what we are looking at is some sort of professional group. There are these kind of groups in almost every profession. Can’t say they’re all good, but hey, sounds like a good excuse for a few drinks, a few laughs, story swapping, etc. We could meet, say, every Sunday, give 10% of our income to the group (thanks D.B - we need a new temple) JUST KIDDING, increase the amount of wine and do away with the wafers. Sind a few songs (ok D.B - no songs 
). You wanna be the “Pastor”?
In New Zealand most of the large language schools belong to a group that sets a code of practice, comes up with plans of attack for common problems, and most importantly - meets for great meals and drinks. Gosh, that’s happy hour. 
Taipei American School does this every so often, less now since it’s fallen to the wayside although they are trying to get it running again. There’s an ECE (early childhood education) group that meets every few months or so to discuss issues that are relevant to educating young children in Taiwan. Past things that have come up have included numeracy, ESL issues, and music and movement. Personally, I would love to see the topic of parent-teacher communication brought up, but whatever. When I first started going to these meetings in 2001, there were both the international kindergartens as well as English kindergartens like Jump Start. The last time I went (almost a year ago), they were back to having only international schools (plus my school which isn’t really an ex-pat school). It’s good to get with other schools out there who have the goal of educating children and be able to discuss and network without seeing each other as competition. I am not sure who you can contact if you would like to learn more about these meetings or if there are any prerequisites into getting in, but if you want to know your best bet would be to perhaps contact the principal of the Lower School.
Even if not, there’s nothing saying that we as individual teachers couldn’t set up meetings and/or workshops ourselves or even just have a chance to meet and talk and perhaps even vent about schools, teaching, and ESL issues.
Even though there are many obstacles in the way of cooperation among foreign teachers, I suppose we could at least come to some agreement regarding what we wll tollerate and what we won’t. My biggest problems have been the fact that some teachers are expected to do work on a regular basis without any remuneration and the way some “agents” exploit the people who work for them. By coming to some kind of generally accepted understanding of what we will or will not tollerate, one could have more bargaining power. At the moment though, if one were to refuse to do telephone teaching (a sisyphean task in my view) without remuneration, there would almost certainly be people out there who would be willing to do it. If one knew that at least 90% of other teachers would also refuse to do it, one would feel more secure in standing up for ones rights.
If the Cosa Nostra can have a law of their own, why can’t a group of legitimate or at least semi-legitimate teachers come up with some kind of charter.
Problem is that every boss out there knows that a “newbie” without internet savy will say ok to just about anything. When they finally know better, well, ship the next one on over. That is one of the biggest parts of the problem. That and 90% of the teaching population changes every six months.
Would most bosses really care?
It’s a good idea, and your heart is in the right place.
Wouldn’t a better thing be to have a network of schools agree to a common charter regarding what is best and fair to teachers and the schools. Uphold it and make it a standard. That, IMO, would be far easier to do than having a group of teachers with a big long wish list. That being said, can I have a pony included in my next contract? 
Quick questions: What is telephone teaching?
Telephone teaching: When you call kids’ homes to review what’s been taught.
A time consuming and seemingly pointless practice widely used by buxibans. I’ve been so lucky that I have rarely been asked to do it. It’s a sore point with teachers as it often represents a large chunk of unpaid work.
2005 Mar 08
Earlier Kenneth asked a very good question: “Why should we foreigners get paid twice as well as local teachers?”
Acknowledging that foreigners can differ greatly in (1) speaking and (2) teaching ability, assume that the foreigner is a native speaker and a competent teacher. He should be more efficient, because he need not stop to think of a word or phrase.
He brings cultural familiarity and standard expressions to the party.
Next many foreigners must meet certain scheduled payments back home, like debt payments, rental payments for storage of personal property, premium payments on insurance policies, and possibly other obligations as well. Prices back home for all these items are in the local currency and being able to cover the costs takes extra money.
Also foreigners are less adept at maneuvering in the local economy and are charged more. Finally, the foreigner might want to be able to return to his home country–Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, or US with some savings in his pocket.
In those countries costs of living are higher and so is pay. What many Taiwan schools like to promote is that a foreigner gets the chance to see the local culture, to learn Chinese, painting, martial arts, etc. If sincere about those inducements they can hardly scrooge to foreigners, though many do.
Truth is few foreigners came here solely for idealism, like spreading the English language. Teaching English only finances their being here as they do other things. Language schools pay foreigners to teach English, not to come here for a good time, so teaching language should come first. Yet having relied on local culture as a large part of encouraging foreigners here to teach, too many schools think they can expect foreigners to work 40 hour-weeks. Any foreigner worth his salt can always work 40 or more hours weekly back home, making a lot more money than here, and enjoying all the comforts of home with old friends.
The 40-hour week is definitely a non-starter for any foreigner. He can get that back home anytime.
[US of male pronoun here is a convention only. Women are meant too. Continual, awkward use of the phrase “He or she.” seems verbal hiccoughs at best and overly self-conscious and tiresome at worst.]
Max
In response to the last, I’d say there isn’t any justification for the wage gap between local and foreign teachers. The innate work value is the same, as far as I can tell. Market demand and supply set the wages as they do in most professions. We are from other countries and are therefore in shorter supply. We need incentives and pay that amounts to something in western currency in order to get us to come here, whereas local teachers whom can speak some amount of English are already here and plentiful, relatively speaking. We definitely have advantages over locals in the teaching of our native tongues, but locals have advantages when it comes to explaining difficult concepts in Chinese and managing the classroom. But you’re right, though, some of the wage difference can be made up for by lower prices and living expenses that locals often enjoy due to their guanxi. Local teachers also often get sizeable year end bonuses as well. But, ultimately, the wage difference is a reflection of economic reality, rather than value of work.
All well and good, if the wage was equal to the educational benefit. But who’s kidding who here? The majority of buxibans are in it for the profit. As long as the parents don’t complain, the system won’t change a damn. As long as the kids keep coming back, don’t even breath a fresh breath.
What keeps parents complacent, even forgiving? White faces. That’s it, that’s all. Complete buffoons are in the classroom providing entertainment more than education and faring quite well. Then there are those that attempt to put some content in their craft and are shunned by kids then parents then directors.
This is a business folks. Foreigners (Westerners), especially Caucasians are what the market demands, ergo, we command greater remuneration.
It’s not rocket science. It’s clown school.
[quote=“TS”]Telephone teaching: When you call kids’ homes to review what’s been taught.
A time consuming and seemingly pointless practice widely used by buxibans. I’ve been so lucky that I have rarely been asked to do it. It’s a sore point with teachers as it often represents a large chunk of unpaid work.[/quote]
WTF? Are you kidding? And what is the schools’ rationale for not paying you for this service?
I hire University students majoring in English to do the telephone calling.
I don’t care who you hire. It’s the first two words of your post that are the salient ones.
Sometimes you are paid for this servce, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes it’s calculated into salaries etc. Other times, it’s not. Other times, bosses hire English capable locals specifically for the purpose of doing the telephone teaching. I’ve been lucky, like I said. I’ve rarely had to do telephone teaching. Others, apparently, haven’t fared so well.
i’;ve never heard of this, is this something new or only done with young children’s class in the primary grades?