People's Park in Taichung surrounded by office and apartment towers. Many foreigners live in this neighborhood. |
Michael A. Turton |
Schedules | |
There several kinds of English teaching
opportunities.
|
A sign advertises an English school in Taichung. The most common elements in Taiwan signs are depicted here: the handsome foreign male, kids having fun, the great outdoors. |
Adults usually want private classes at hours
convenient
for them, whereas kids are generally taught from 5-9 M-T-W-Th-F
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A dilapidated memorial park in nothern Taichung. |
These have only one area of overlap between the demands of adults and children: evenings, when both adults and kids want taught. Thus, the ideal schedule looks something like this: | |
A wall lines a Taipei sidewalk. |
Large classes can be a severe problem. Here a class of forty contemplates a writing assignment. |
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Schoolkids typical of those found in cram schools. | Such an idealized schedule provides about US$100-200 in income a day, six days a week, if you can stand the workload. Sundays are off. Basically, a kindergarten in the morning and kids in the evening will enable you to pay off your college loans in a year or enjoy a month off in India, China, etc, and still save ten to twelve grand in a year, if you work hard and don't spend your income on nonsense like booze or constantly upgrading your computer. |
Ships unloading in Keelung harbor. |
Remember to lobby hard for more hours and not accept cuts in hours. One extra hour a week will over a year will pay for round trip tickets and several weeks of vacation in Nepal or India. |
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A country lane bordered by bamboos and betel nut trees. | Remember: you're an hourly worker -- no pay for holidays or illness. If there is a typhoon or a sudden holiday, you are out cash. October can be especially devastating to hourly incomes, with several holidays, as is Chinese New Year (some places give two or three weeks off!). Make sure you're liquid. |