A small cram school in a small town. 
 Teaching English in Taiwan
Michael A. Turton
Introduction
Questions to Ask Employers
Can I Teach Illegally in Taiwan?
Protecting Yourself
Can I Teach for a couple of months?
Schedules
Who Shouldn't Come
Visas
When to Come
Your Students
Getting a Job
Other Work and Links
Who to Teach
 
Where to Teach
Email Me
Are They Ripping Me Off?
Return To Home Page
Protecting Yourself
A mountain road through my windshield. Protecting Yourself
The english teaching business is not an ethical business. Taiwanese are sometimes a little short on business ethics to begin with and cram schools are often somewhat shady operations. Consequently, you must protect yourself, especially if you are working illegally.
My wife has scrawled "ticket purchase" on this unimportant area of a copy of my daughter's passport so no one can use it to steal her identity. When you hand people a copy of your passport, ARC, or other ID, write something like: "job application use only" on the copy of the passport, across some area of the passport copy itself (not on the blank paper next to it). Criminals frequently use copies of ID documents to steal identity, and this will spoil it so they can't use it. Additionally, schools (even universities) will put data and pictures of foreigners on their websites, even if the foreigners don't work there, just to attract students.
  • Get receipts for everything to prove that you have worked at the place, for both pay and taxes.

  • Most businesses will not report you to the tax office and get you kicked out of the country (that's generally considered out of bounds, as well as dangerous, since your employer is probably evading taxes) but you never know. I know of two cases in which a school reported teachers to the tax office for illegal teaching at their other jobs, then denied they had ever taught at the school, just to save paying their salaries.

    Possible tax screw: you quit in June, only to get your tax return next year and find your employer has added the income of another employee to yours to reduce that employee's taxes. Instead of paying taxes on 500,000, you pay taxes on 750,000, although you only got 500,000 in income. Hence, be careful how you leave legal jobs; always leave nicely, because a bogus tax filing can cause you a world of pain. Besides, you might be back again....
     

  • Always check your pay, never take it without counting it in front of the people handing it to you (this may be considered insulting, but so be it). Check for those strange deductions.

  •  
  • Using a false name is a common tactic (though I have never done it).

  •  
  • Go easy on the personal information.

  • Never tell anyone where else you work, how much you get paid or any other personal information until you know that they are trustworthy (do not say "It's none of your business." Instead, either lie or be noncommittal "I work on the other side of Taipei," etc.) I am saddened to report that people will collect personal information on you and use it against you. Taiwanese regard all relations within institutions as zero-sum games in which if A rises, it must mean that B is falling. If you rise, some of your Taiwanese coworkers are almost certain to go after you.
     

  • Do not get involved in office politics, since your position will undoubtedly be unaffected regardless of who wins such internecine strife (office politics are the life of Taiwanese businesses; in my darker moments I often wonder if people here open businesses just so that they can have office politics).

  •  
  • Never work for an illegal school. A legal school will display the owner/manager's name and picture in an official document which must be hung in a prominent place. If you don't see it, don't work there. Illegal operations can vanish at any moment, leaving you at best, without pay, and at worse, expelled from Taiwan and forced to pay heavy fines.
  • Avoid showing your passport unless it is demanded at the interview. The less people know about you (at least at first), the better off you are. Additionally, Taiwanese may rip off your personal data and use it for tax or other purposes, even advertizing.

  •  
  • Do not work for a school which is constantly advertising for new teachers in the paper; it is probably a poor place to work.

  •  
  • Work at (at least) two different places. That way, if you get fired, or the manager absconds with the cash, or the place goes bankrupt, etc, you still have income during the time you need to find a new job and get paid. Additionally, you are less vulnerable to the demands of your superiors, since you are not so dependent on them.
Some of my students at Fooyin.  These junior college students, age 16, are in a five-year program which is roughly equal to high school and the first two years of college.  Taiwan's educational system is rigid, bureaucratized and mediocre.  The cheerful faces belie the circumscribed possibilities these young people face as a result of their failure to do well on the national exam.  As with most Taiwanese students, they study hard and behave impeccably, but lack critical thinking skills, curiousity about the world around them and love of learning.  As the nation democratizes the educational system is undergoing reform, so perhaps there is hope.
And, of course....
    • If they don't pay you, leave.
    • If the operation changes hands, leave.
    • If you come in one day and there is a whole new administrative staff in place, leave.
    • If they constantly make "errors" (invariably in management's favor) in your pay, leave.
    • If they are advertising for more teachers without telling you, leave.
    • If they keep telling you that next month you'll get more hours, leave.
    • If word comes down that the mothers are complaining about you, leave. 
    • If you find out your boss is criticizing you, leave.
A cruise ship lights up Keelung's beautiful harbor.
All of the above bode ill for your future or the future of the school. Don't be shy about leaving; you can always find more work (just open the newspaper). Be sure to give proper notice, and not tell the real reason you are leaving. The interior of a small restaurant in Taichung.
Another common tactic is for management to build an especially warm relationship with you. Taiwanese see themselves as  ensconced in networks of patronage and factional alliances, not as autonomous individuals like we do. Part of management closeness is just network building, and you should respond in kind. However, it is also a management tactic to get you to put in unpaid hours at functions like Christmas parties for the kids, or grade homework for nothing, etc.  A sign in a small diner in northern Taichung. Prices in restaurants are fixed, except for seasonal dishes, and rip-offs are extremely unusual. The vast majority of your restaurant experiences will be positive, once you get over the shock of finding out that real Chinese food is nothing like what you are used to in the States.
Never turn these down outright due to the lack of money, instead, plead that you are busy and wait to see if they offer you money (hinting to a co-worker that money is the problem may also bring results). Getting served at a small-town bank.
A friend sent me an example of this problem:

......the extra hours that I will be teaching here are worth 650 NT each. When I tactfully tried to negotiate a better price, mentioning (again, quite delicately) the 800/hour at [school] and 1000/hour at other places, my boss said "yes but it is not only about money. You help me out and I help you out. As family!"  What a father figure! I think I'll ask him for the car keys next weekend. 

A Chinese medicine shoppe.
A river in central Kaohsiung.
Fishing boats parked at the dock in southern Taiwan. Remember, you are here for one and only one purpose: to make money, and the only thing you have to sell is your time. Never do something for nothing. And don't feel ashamed about wanting money either. People in Taiwan understand a strong focus on money. They are making money off you, and you are making money off them (this certainly does not preclude warm relationships with superiors and coworkers, which I have always been fortunate to enjoy-- I am merely setting the order of priorities).
The old gives way to the new: card phones crowd out an old coin phone in front of a 7-11. The old coin-operated phones are gradually disappearing. Also, do not get involved in the family matters of your students. You will see many abused children as well as kids who should be in special education and intervention programs. DO NOTHING! You can do nothing about these injustices. They are widespread and ineradicable by well-meaning foreigners. All you can do is cause trouble for yourself.
A shelf at Cave's Books, a local English bookstore. Finally, be careful around your fellow foreigners. Just because they are a foreigner, doesn't mean that they won't rip you off.

Can bad things happen to you? You bet!

But good things can too....as the pic below shows.....

Good things can happen to you too, as this card from an intensive English class says. Taiwan will be filled with wonderful experiences like this.
Introduction
Questions to Ask Employers
Can I Teach Illegally in Taiwan?
Protecting Yourself
Can I Teach for a couple of months?
Schedules
Who Shouldn't Come
Visas
When to Come
Your Students
Getting a Job
Other Work and Links
Who to Teach
 
Where to Teach
Email Me
Are They Ripping Me Off?
Return To Home Page