Students
enjoying their work.Michael A. Turton
|
Students
enjoying their work. |
Michael A. Turton |
| Who to Teach | |
 A typical cram school classroom. Paired desks are the most
common. A
whiteboard
is used which is written on with markers, not chalk. Everything is
generally
dirty and run-down (I've only ever been in one spanking clean
bushiban).
Usually there are no windows and the air is often bad. The
acoustics
are terrible. Throat afflictions are endemic among expat teachers, who
spend 6-8 hours a day holed up in such rooms, talking loudly and
breathing
stale air. Be sure to always be drinking something as you teach. |
Adults or children? Adults pay more, usually. They are often more interesting than children. Adults also provide opportunities for other kinds of work such as translation, editing and so forth. Finally, they offer friendships and romantic opportunities. |
An
English school across from an elementary school. |
Adults, however, have an enormous downside: they are unreliable. |
Students
worshipping at the shrine of broadcasting. |
Adults (and all one-on-one classes) cancel frequently. Unless you can get them in large classes through language centers or continuing education centers, income from teaching adults should be regarded as gravy. Adults cancel so often that in the long run teaching kids generates more revenues even if hourly pay is lower. |
 The
road along the NE coast of Taiwan. |
Another problem with adults is that they rarely make progress. Often teaching adults (and anyone, children or adults, one-on-one) is stultifyingly boring for both parties. |
The
main drag in Tanzi. |
Kids, by contrast...
If you stay long enough you get to watch them progress and grow. |
A
small stream in a factory area outside of Taichung. Of all Taiwan's
assets,
streams are the most neglected. |
But mainly, kids are more lucrative, at least for
newbies.
Most young people teaching in Taiwan teach kids for the bulk of
their
teaching activities.
However, kids demand tons of energy to teach. Some places will not hire adults over 35 to teach kids and you may have great difficulty finding work teaching kids at all if you are over 50. By contrast, adults may not take you seriously until you are a little older. |
 Here is my wife with the rear of Shanting Elementary in
Taliao in the
background.
With the new reform program, English teaching opportunities in local
elementary
schools abound. Beware! Pay is high, but controlling
classes
is often difficult. |
My recommendation is that your schedule be centered around children's classes until you have been here long enough to locate a reliable language center and incorporate a large number of adult hours. |
 My daughter enjoys BBQ in a local night market. |
A new option that has become
available in recent years is a job in a public or private school at the
elementary, junior high or high school level. The pay is steady, the
hours are not bad, and you can develop good contacts for tutoring and
other work. |