Teaching English

I have had many jobs in Taiwan, all of them to do with teaching. What, one might well ask, can Americans such as myself DO in Taiwan, apart from teaching English? Answer: not... very... much.

Sure, we can open restaurants or start short-lived English-language newspapers, we can open pubs or work as engineers, but the fact remains that about 99.99999% of us are teaching English in one form or another. This isn't a bad thing, just a reflection of economic and cultural realities.

English, after all, is big business in Taiwan.

So my job history, given where I live, is unsurprising. My first job in Taiwan was teaching English, and I have never left that profession. I actually like teaching English, even if my doing so doesn't exactly make me special.

1. My first job

My first job in Taiwan was teaching for Jump Start English School 柏克萊美語學校 in Taichung 臺中. I taught kindergarten there full-time. My classes were never more than 18 students, and I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing. I worked at this place for four years, and if they had pursued a better business strategy I would probably still be there today.

2. My second job

My second job was teaching part-time in the vocational school 專科學校 not far from Jump Start. This was an easy job, but they never paid me on time. My first class consisted of more than 100 students during a single two-hour class, and yes, that was extremely stressful. Fortunately the number of students dropped after they realized I wasn't Superman.

3. My third job

My third job was working at Canadian-American English School 加美美語學校 in Hsinchu 新竹. This was after I returned from two years of graduate school in Seattle, so by this time I had more than a few ideas about how and what I wanted to teach. This was without a doubt the most disastrous job I've ever had in Taiwan. The students were fast disappearing, the bosses were uncommunicative, and by the time I left the school was about to close - forever.

4. My fourth job

My fourth job was working for the Taitung County Government 臺東縣政府. My wife and I had always wanted to move to the east coast of the island, and working for the County also seemed like a step-up in my career. I was placed in Tung Hai Junior High School 東海國中 in Taitung City 臺東市, where I worked for two years. It was a good job, if a bit repetitive.

5. My fifth job

My fifth job involved teaching classes for both the English Department and the Language Center 語言中心 at Taitung University 臺東大學. There was a lot of preparation involved, but then again my classes were full of very sexy college girls. I was doing this at the same time I was working at the middle school.

6. My sixth and present job.

I still work for the Taitung County Government, though I am presently at Tung Hai Elementary School 東海國小. Financially speaking, it's the best job I've ever had. It's not quite as fun or meaningful as teaching kindergarten full-time, but as anyone who has done this in Taiwan knows, that job carries its own set of risks.  I like it here, and I plan on staying as long as I can.