The Lowdown on Teaching English in Taiwan
October 14th, 2005 by MarkI’ve been at this for almost 3 years now, and I think I’ve seen a wider range of opportunities than most westerners who come here to teach English. As such, I think it’s only fair that I share what I’ve learned with the current crop of foreigners coming here. That way maybe they won’t have the same bumpy ride I’ve had.
Are you here mostly to make money?
If your main reason for coming to Taiwan was to learn Chinese then obviously you won’t have the same goals as you would if you just finished liberal arts degree and came over here to pay off massive college loans. The same would be true if you came here to get to know your grandparents who didn’t move to immigrate to California with the rest of your family, or if you came because you’re really ugly and can’t get a girlfriend at home. Just kidding about that last one… sort of.
I personally came to Taiwan with the goal of learning Chinese really well, but that is a topic for a different post. And even with that goal, like many others, I ran out of funds and had to become an English teacher. Like many others, I started at
Big Chain Schools
There are a few really dominant bŭxíbāns (補習班), or cram schools, in Taiwan. The biggest bŭxíbān is Hess (何嘉仁). Close behind are Sesame Street (芝麻街), Giraffe (長頸鹿), and Joy (佳音). Most foreigners start out at one of these schools, and more than half leave within the first year. All of these schools are pretty similar.
Curriculum
They all have a decent curriculum despite some occasional English errors. For example, Hess books used to confuse the past participle “gotten” with the past tense form “got”. It would be ok if they were teaching British English, but they claim to be teaching 美語 (American langauge). As a north American, I can say it really sounds weird when kids say things like, “He has already got back from the store.” At Joy, there was a (very common Taiwanese) mistake concerning the meaning of toast. According to their books, once bread is sliced, it’s toast. I also remember another mistake in a book for a GEPT prep class that had some passage about a bird escaping its cage during a birthday and “creating a small chaos”. Obviously this passage was not written by a native English speaker. One thing about the big chains is that they usually correct these kinds of mistakes within a couple of years. The problem is their curriculum designers are almost all Taiwanese people who have majored in English and mistakenly assume that their English is so good that they can write better ESL materials than native speakers could. So, while the curriculum mistakes are found, there’s a steady stream of new Chinglish-ridden materials coming from the main office.
Teaching Methods
This is the real weakness of the big chain schools. Every single one pushes the “100% English” method, which involves having “real foreigners” (with blond hair and everything) speak nothing but English, flapping their arms to communicate the word “chicken”, and giving dramatic renditions of the actions of “crying”, and “sleeping” if necessary. This method of teaching was very popular amongst linguists about 40 years ago. However, due to very poor results, it has long since been dropped by L2 acquisition linguists. Modern research shows that other methods such as Massive Comprehensible Input are much more effective. The key word here, is comprehensible. By denying teachers the option of using the children’s native language to explain things, the children will either require more time to learn the same material, cover it as quickly but with much worse understanding, or worst of all misunderstand it. Naturally, enforcing homework, inspiring the class and pronunciation coaching all suffer as well. At my current school, I frequently give entrance tests to children who have spent 4 hours a week for 4 years at a big chain school. So far only one has ever been able to pass our first semester exam. 90% of the time they are deficient in every section of the exam: grammar, listening comprehension, spelling, phonics, and pronunciation.
Compensation
Most big chains pay about $600 per teaching hour. Usually, if you have 4 hours of paid work in a day, you’ll also have about 30 minutes to an hour of prep work to do, too. Sometimes there are Christmas parties and the such. The biggest schools usually pay for these, but some don’t. If you are interested in finding this sort of job, check out the listings at tealit.com.
Requirements
This is the big advantage to big schools. If you are white, under 40, eligible for a visa and not hideously deformed, all you have to do to get the job is show up for the interview. This isn’t much of an exaggeration. Even if you have no experience at all, and a very tenuous grasp of your own language you’ll have no real problems getting a job. Most schools prefer Americans, but a British accent won’t stop you from getting a job at any of the big schools or even very many of the smaller ones. After all, S. Africans are doing very very well here.
If you are Asian-looking, you will find more difficulties at first. Especially, if you don’t know any Chinese at the beginning. I’ve had several friends in this situation. Take heart, though! Your Asian looks are a tremendous advantage if you want to learn Chinese. And once your Chinese is even so-so, you are very employable not only as a bŭxíbān branch manager, but you’ll also have quite a few opportunities as a programmer, fitness trainer, sales rep or just about anything else you could think of. I have three Asian-looking foreign friends who are bŭxíbān managers, one who manages at California fitness, and two others who have worked their way up at tech companies fairly quickly. Though you will face “reverse” racism as an English teacher, racism will be all in your favor once you make it into management. Also, so-called “ABCs”, or “American-Born Chinese”, are at the top of the social ladder. You will be assumed to be more educated, cooler, etc… than other locals. Some may even resent you for it.
If you are black… all I can say is that you face an uphill battle. One of my better friends from back home came here after completing a degree in linguistics. Despite being more qualified than I am, he had great difficulties in getting a job. It is possible, but you’ll really have to be the best at what you do and dress well to even get your foot in the door.
Big Chain Kindergartens
In most ways these are about the same as the bŭxíbāns. The only difference is that you will probably have less prep time required of you, and you’ll have to do more special events like Christmas plays, etc…
Teaching Methods
The teaching methods are about the same as those in big chain bŭxíbāns, but usually with more singing, exercises, coloring and such. Actually most of the big chains run kindergartens in addition to their bŭxíbāns. There are a few big chains, like Kid Castle, that just do kindergarten.
Compensation
The pay is sometimes a little bit lower than it is for bŭxíbāns. $550-$600 starting is the norm.
Requirements
Kindergartens can be hard on the voice; make sure you take care of yourself. Also, don’t expect the kids to learn much. Just try to keep it fun for everyone. One other thing is that even at schools that don’t let you speak any Chinese, you’re better off if you can understand a bit. Otherwise you may find out that Chinese sentence the kid in front of you was saying didn’t mean, “what’s that thing?”. It meant, “I’m gonna puke all over you.”
Public High Schools
There is definitely a big variety in the English teaching jobs within the public school system. There isn’t much central planning, or if there is, it’s not effective. In theory only high schools can hire foreigners directly, but in practice many middle schools and a few elementary schools do too. At most schools there is only a very bare-bones curriculum and the teacher is left to his or her own devices. Speaking some Chinese is usually but not always tolerated. Classes usually have a HUGE variance in English proficiency. Some students are also attending bŭxíbāns, or did in the past. Those who haven’t are, naturally enough, way behind.
Compensation
At public schools, there is large variance in not only pay, but also in duties. Many schools require that you stay from 8:30 A.M. until 5:00 PM and grade tests, help the local teachers with their English, or perform other administrative duties. Usually the pay is a salary between $65,000 and $80,000 per month.
The Real Deal
Do you want to make $1.5 million (about $50 thousand USD) or more a year? Do you want to be on a career path that will allow you to open your own school and make half a million a month? Do you want your kids to really learn to speak English really well? If you’re willing to learn some Chinese and stay at the same school for a few years, there’s another kind of school where you can. I’ll describe it in my next article.
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October 18th, 2005 at 3:13 pm
A very informative post. I will add a link to it on my web site.
Just a small point of correction. “got” is the past participle of get. “gotten” is also used in American English, but I think either is perfectly acceptable English.
October 18th, 2005 at 8:23 pm
When I first saw your comment, I had a hard time believing you. To me a sentence like, “I have got six packages this week.” sounds COMPLETELY wrong. It would have to be, “I have gotten six packages this week.”
So, I hopped online and researched it. It looks like “gotten” and “got” have co-existen way back to the time of the King James Bible. And now, American English and British English disagree on the point.
According to A.H. Marckwardt, author of American English (1958): “… most Americans regularly make a very precise distinction between got and gotten. ‘We’ve got ten thousand dollars for laboratory equipment,’ means that the funds are in our possession–we have them. ‘We have gotten ten thousand dollars for laboratory equipment,’ means that we have obtained or acquired this particular sum of money. Few Americans would have the slightest question about the difference in the meaning of these two sentences….”
This situation is much like the one I encountered upon coming to Taiwan and hearing some students say things like “write homework” or “write tests”. To me, as well as all of my friends back home, this sounded like terrible Chinese English. It turns out that Canadians normally talk that way. It’s just that if a Taiwanese kid goes to America and says things like “railway waggons”, “in the bonnet (of a car)”, or “bloody hell”, we’ll understand that he learned British Engilsh. But if he says “write homework” or uses “got” as a past participle, we’ll think it’s Chinglish.
In light of that, I don’t think there’s much of a reason to teach kids to talk in a way that will make 70% of the worlds native English speakers think their grammar sucks.
Still, thanks for the tip. I’ve GOT to update this post, heh heh heh.
-Mark
P.S. You have quite an extensive site for someone who only lived in Taiwan for a year!
October 20th, 2005 at 9:40 am
Mark
An excellent website. Thanks for taking the time to put it together and for sharing your experiences and insights.
I agree that we should try and teach a variety of English that is going to be most useful to them in the future. Often, that means that British English speakers (UK,NZ,Aust etc) need to adopt a mid-Atlantic accent. Having said that I would find it very hard to use “gotten” as the past participle of get.
Anyway, thanks once again.
Tom
November 4th, 2005 at 1:38 am
Hi thanks for sharing the information of EFL teaching in Taiwan, it’s really inspiring. I’ve been teaching at Giraffe since this Sept. I’m a Taiwanese and I know how important it is to learn a language in comprehensible ways but found out it’s difficult for me to do that in my class…Most of the time I found myself reciting all the words/sentence patterns by using lots of games which i hope they’re interesting and meaningful. Turn out to be just ‘a game’(mostly i use a hammer to hit the flash cards…I tried to use activities like imformation gap and communicative activities but they’re first graders mostly I worry by doing communicative activities/pair works it would lead the class to a disaster–losing control. My ideal way of teaching is to be more student-centered but it, at the moment, is so teacher-centered…Do you have any comment to this point? Thank you! Duoxie zhijiao! Gangxie nin!
November 16th, 2005 at 2:42 pm
Well, is true that the more successful schools tend to be stricter. Most of the really strict ones don’t take kids until third grade, though.
With kids, you have to be pretty strict. You don’t have to be mean, though. As long as you set clear rules and apply them consistently, you’ll be ok. You’ll probably have to raise your voice occasionally, but the most important thing is to always follow through with whatever punishment your rule says you have to give them. Nagging all the time is hard on the teacher, and doesn’t work that well. But if you take away a “point” or a card or whatever every time they break your rules, they will adjust. Consistency is the most important thing.
After you’ve established really good classroom control, then it’s amazing what you can get the kids to do. I’ve even had a couple of parents ask me to tell their kid to clean their rooms because the kids were so obedient in my class.
I agree with you about student centered activities being good. They work well after the students are independent and motivated. I wouldn’t worry about it right now, though.
Good Luck! Oh, and could you type the Chinese characters for “zhijiao”? I’m afraid I don’t understand that word…
May 8th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed your insights about Taiwan’s education marketplace. As the owner and operator of Chopper’s American Schools, we strive to teach in a more “nontraditional and individualistic” style that has yielded excellent results. I know many of the big chain schools hire “unqualified” kids as teachers and that’s ok.I have never seen so many students spend so much time in school to learn so little! But, I say: “you get what you pay for” and in the end, when my young students hang up their GEPT diplomas on the wall, everyone asks: how did they do that? I love this country and the opportunities to work in a free and democratic “China” as opposed to our communist neigbors and their 700 missiles.
In regard to mistakes of grammar, we are all human and I encourage people to try anything without fear of results. At Chopper’s American Schools: The only wrong answer—–is no answer! Yes, even schools make mistakes and if you look hard and long enough, you’ll find thousands. I’ve been here almost seven years and I’m still searching for something more….maybe another dimension in learning? Keep up your great webpage…Chopper..
October 19th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
[...] Students are drilled intensively on sentence patterns, however they aren’t expected to memorize as much vocabulary, especially at the lower levels, as students at “big chains“. Spelling tests are also extremely infrequent at most HFRBs. Some don’t have any. Joy, Sesame Street, and Hess, on the other hand, have spelling tests every unit, administered by the “Chinese teacher”. [...]
December 8th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
DuoXieZhiJiao 多谢指教- In other words ‘thanks for your advice’ – Zhi(指） is the character for ‘pointing sth. out’ and jiao （教） the verb ‘to teach’. Together meaning ‘advice’.
July 6th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for the great information here.
I’m wondering, what options (outside of big chain schools) are available to someone like me…
-Coming to Taiwan for the first time
-No teaching experience
-BA and Masters degree (in unrelated field)
-Planning to stay for multiple years to live with Taiwanese partner
I’ve got a job offer from Hess but I’m wondering if I should knock them back and do some shopping around once I arrive.
Thanks in advance!
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:29 pm
The pay for teaching English in Taiwan seems to be down. Thats what I hear anyhow. Many schools offer one or two hours in the morning only which messes up the pay quite a bit. Just got a reply from someone looking for a private teacher: 800NTD to 1200NTD doesn’t match his budget. Still there are opportunities to teach privates and company classes for a decent pay. I get my privates from taiwan-taipei.com. They don’t charge for students and schools to see your information. So there is a call now and then that gets me another student. Anyhow I don’t mid to share just post your resume right here.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Nice good to see that no matter how it gets done, english
is being taught dont debate how just thank good its happening. Now can we make it work here?
July 24th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
goodness (sorry)
August 18th, 2007 at 8:32 am
It is really sad to hear about the opportunities for people of color. I have read this over and over. It is funny to think that in Communist China a African American would be more welcome then “free” China. Oh well.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
There is a ton of Bad attitude in Taiwan amongst the people who are in charge of hiring. This goes for Taiwanese and foreigners alike. The recruiters are a really lousy bunch of meddlers too. The fact is, being a really great teacher with a master’s degree won’t get you anywhere in this country. It’s all image and attitude. These people are slimey, ignorant, sinister and deceitful.
If you are a qualified teacher, don’t waste your talent in Taiwan. It’s miserable. They won’t respect you, or appreciate anything you can do
November 27th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Indeed it’s sad to be a victim of social stereotyping. You are right, it’s all about image and attitude. I’m Asian
with a license to teach in my home country, ongoing MA Degree on English and 4 years experience of teaching Koreans (I’m not Korean). My interviews with buxiban’s crash when they know where I’m from, (normally it’s the first question they ask) and you get this discriminatory look with the dismissal goodbye and we will call you, thanks and bye. Frustrated with the system, a schoolmate of mine (we came from the same country) but already teaching English here referred me to her agent. True enough I got the job under the pretense that I’m ABC or CBC. I have been teaching for 5 months now with three different schools every week, each school had no idea that I’m none of the above. So far, the feedback on my teaching skills from these schools is heart fattening, but I’m not totally
elated because I lied and deep within me wants to tell the general public that it’s not just about looks (blond hair, white skin, accent, etc) but the love for teaching (dedication) combined with experience and education, that makes
a good qualified teacher teaching anything from English, Science, and Math, and in this case teaching English.
I’m not promoting agents, because the downsides of that are, they (agent) get a slice of your salary, and no contract (from school or agent). You are at their disposal.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:06 am
[...] found me through this web page somehow and if so, why didn’t she didn’t read any of the stuff I’ve written about teaching and put on the front [...]
January 21st, 2009 at 6:17 am
Is this really true about getting a job and being black. Sigh….. well I guess I won’t look for a job while in school. I’m really discouraged about this. I’ve been to Taipei before but not for a very long time and I”m planning to move there in November and go to school. Thanks for the info
Kris
March 15th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Hello-
Wow. I have enjoyed reading all of this information. I am considering teaching English in Taiwan. I have never been, but I have been to the mainland. I want to teach and continue to study Chinese. I have some experience tutouring English (small classes). I am in the process of getting my TEFL certification. I am also graduating college in May. Translation: I have no experience beides internships and summer jobs and finding a job sucks
One of the recruters I applied with said that the mainland changed the visa requirements for teaching. You must have two years wrok experience. So I thouhght Taiwan would be a good alternative to the mainland. Not so much after reading the blogs. I would love to teach students and have them actually learn English. I do not want to babysit. Also I am black and these blogs don’t make me think that a large chain is looking for me. So my questions:
1. If I applied to a large chain which one is best? Is this better than public schools?
2. Should I stick with the recruiting process (I’ve heard good things about them : Reach to Teach)?
3. Should I pick another country like Korea or maybe work not so legally in the mainland?
4. Any advice would be great. Basically HELP
April 7th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Hello,
First, thanks for al the information.
I have read a lot that you have to be a native American or Brit. Though I am Dutch, as you might have noticed at my english writing and grammer qualities.
More over, I am just 16 years old…
But I am orientating for a job in the future as I am going to pick my next educating soon.
So that is why I am on the webpage, I want to be an English Teacher in Taiwan.
Am already doing a chinese school to work at my manderin and after I finished this school I want to go studie an HBO English Teacher. No idea what that is called in English…
But will this be a problem for me to get a job as a teacher?
I want to teach childer between 12 and 16 year. How do these childern behave in class? Are they annoying, having a big mouth, that is how they are here in holland. But as I have seen in soaps they are all well behaved. But I know soaps do not represent the reality…
What I understood about your information was that some become teacher to learn chinese, stay for a short time and go back home. But I think I would Like to become a teacher and stay there untill I die. Is this also an option or aren’t you allow to stay there for ever?
I really hope you can help me, and could you please anwser my questions? If so could you e-mail me at: Linoon_yonny@hotmail.com
Thanks a lot already!
Dyonne