Taiwan Teaching Part 2: The Job

If you decide to teach English in Taiwan, there are two types of jobs:

1.  International & Graduate Level teaching positions

2.  Cram Schools (bushiban) teaching positions

I taught in the latter.  Pei-Chia Lan, an award winning researcher at National Taiwan University, wrote an wonderful article that explains the differences between these two jobs, which I will highlight below, since the distinctions are important to understand as you think about your status in Taiwanese society and your status as an English educator.

To begin, international and graduate level teaching positions in Taiwan are harder to come by; often, one has to have an advanced degree to get these jobs, and they come with additional perks not offered by cram schools.  For instance, if you are so lucky to get a job at an international school or a graduate school the airfare, moving expenses, accommodations, and a salaried position are all to be expected parts of compensation. 

In contrast, if you teach at a cram school, you will most likely pay your own air fare, rent your own apartment (or be put up in a cramped dorm like my friends at Gloria English School), and be paid hourly or by the classes taught.  Which is not so bad if you ask me.  I worked from 4-9 PM every weeknight and from 9 AM-1 PM on Saturday; it was an ideal schedule for a recent college graduate, accustomed to late nights and sleeping in.  And the pay was not bad.  It was roughly $20 an hour, but my living expenses were next to nothing.  I maybe spent $10 a day on food, gas, and miscellaneous expenses, which meant that I pocketed the vast majority of money I earned.  

In regards to what you will be teaching, again there is a marked difference between international/graduate school teachers and cram school teachers; moreover, there is a difference between whom you teach.  International school teachers often teach at distinguished schools with curriculum you would see in a traditional American, Canadian, Australian, or British school.  Like in traditional western countries, international schools hold school during regular hours: 8-3ish.  During those hours, typical K-12 students take typical Math, English class, Social-Studies class, and Science curriculum.  And offten, it's the Taiwanese businessmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians, and dignitaries that send their children to these schools. 

Graduate school teachers are much like graduate school professors in Western countries.  It's something of a dignified position, where one has an advanced degree, wears leather patches on the elbows, and teaches learn-ed students finished with K-12 education. 

In contrast to the aforementioned teachers, cram school English teachers aren't typically as highly skilled.  I, for example, did not have an education degree when I moved to Taiwan to become a teacher; in fact, I had zero formal teacher training to speak of.  This seemed to be the case with most of the teachers I met at Gloria English School too, and Pei-Chia Lan notes that most cram school teachers are:

" ‘...young, single, marginally employed holders of liberal arts degrees’."

Indeed, all that is legally required to become an English teacher at a cram school is a bachelors degree.  Consequently, the cadre and depth of instruction at those schools is arguably inferior and altogether simpler than the kind of English instruction found at international and graduate schools.  For instance, at Gloria English school, the students came to us after having already been in regular Taiwanese school during regular school hours, and we were instructed to make the learning 'fun'.  That said, Gloria provided us with adequate training to do the job well, and I don't feel like I gave my students an shoddy English education.  It was just different than that of an international school.  

As a cram school teacher, we followed a pretty basic lesson routine and rarely deviated from it.  Each class period we completed a couple pages from a workbook that Gloria provided, then we played games with the kids.  An example of the kind of games cram school teachers play with students can be found on this website Taiwanenglish.com.  From experience, let me just say that they are altogether silly games that usually involve throwing a sticky ball at a white board, rolling an oversize dice, or miming animal movements.  

And there you have it.  In a nutshell, that explains the job.  Check out Jimmie Collins blog Texan in Taiwan if you want to read a more day-to-day in-the-life-of a cram school teacher.  Or if you have any specific questions about the job, feel free to e-mail me. 

In the final post about teaching English in Taiwan, I will give you some critical tips about navigating society as an English teacher in Taiwan.  If you only read one of my Taiwan posts, read the last one.  Most of the information I have provided thus far you can easily find on tealit.com, daveseslcafe, or a number of other sites.

However, my final post will be packed with information that you would otherwise have to pay for or talk to a very wise Taiwanese expat for.  This information is relevant for current cram school, international school, and graduate school English teachers in Taiwan as well as those interested in such jobs.  I wish someone would have told me these things before I went there, which is why I'll be sharing them with you. 

In other words, don't miss it.