Cram School Teaching Vs Public School Teaching in Taiwan

via Living In Taiwan

I have worked at both of these kinds of schools in the last few years, and this is what I think about them. For those of you who aren’t aware, these are the two main kinds of schools that you can get hired to as a foreign ESL teacher in Taiwan. I will be talking about elementary school teaching, not high school, university, or other types of adult teaching jobs that are also available. With a Master’s, you can teach in universities as lecturers, outside of Taipei City (but in New Taipei City). You need a Phd to teach at universities in Taipei.

English Accents As Viewed By Young Taiwanese ESL Learners

-So which teachers are Canadian? asks Student A.
-T. Range, T. K, and T. R., answers Student E.
-How about T. Br?
-He’s American, as is T. J., I interject.
-How about T. Be?
-He’s from England.
-What’s the difference between them all?
-It’s the way that they all say “out”. Canadians will say it this way. The English say it this way and Americans say it this way.
(Student E demonstrates to Student A, quite hilariously while I listen in. This whole conversation took place in Mandarin.)

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Pencilgate

As I left the school for a well deserved break, it was about 12:30 and I had yet to eat lunch, I came up the teaching director of the school shouting at someone in her office. While this might seem a common occurrence at most school, it isn’t at ours. I have never seen the TD shouting at anyone. The school is a family-owned affair. The TD’s sister is the manager, the grandmother and great-aunt also work there and all of the kids go to this school.

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