Dear Matt,

I teach the same class of 12 and 13-year-old students every day. Normally they are enthusiastic and awesome!  But when we have writing class (on Wednesdays) they just sit there and stare at their papers. I can’t seem to get them to write.  What can I do to inspire them?

Thanks for your help!

Sincerely,

Angela

Hi Angela,

Getting students to write can be hard. Students often feel less inhibited when they are speaking because they can make mistakes without fear of repercussion. When they write, their mistakes are there for everyone to see. Fear of making mistakes (and, even worse, being reprimanded) will suck the joy out of even the funnest lesson. So, in order to encourage students to write I often employ two strategies. First, I try to reduce their fear of making mistakes and second, I try to make the topic extra fun for them.

Strategy 1: Reduce the fear of mistakes

In order to do this I give the students some guidelines so that they know very clearly what is expected. If they feel like they know what to do, students will feel more confident I doing it. So, I give a minimum amount that each student must write (six sentences, half a page, whatever works) but never a maximum, so that eager students can enjoy themselves without fear of punishment.

Then, I will review the tense that will most commonly be used with our topic and how the verbs are conjugated using that tense. Next, I will write lists of nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives that are useful for that particular topic. They are not required to use the words. But they may use them if they wish. This way creative students have room to do what they want, and less creative students have enough information to guide them through the assignment.

Finally we will make some example sentences together as a class and I will write them on the whiteboard so that students will have a reference if they forget the tense or sentence structure that they should be using.

Strategy 2: Make it extra fun

In my experience, making writing fun lies in the subject. It’s important that the students are enthusiastic about the subject. I usually ask the class to vote on topics they like: aliens, monsters, tigers, Teacher Matt being eaten by sharks (getting kids to make fun of you is always a sure way to make them excited about the subject).

At the end of the class the earth may have exploded, Johnny’s head may be stuck in the toilet, and you may have been hit by a car, fallen off a cliff, been dismembered by lions, and then pooped on by a passing pterodactyl, but at least you’ll have a stack of papers filled with writing.

The post Ask Matt: How to Encourage Students to Write appeared first on XpatMatt.

Hi Matt,

I just moved to Taiwan to teach English and I’m really nervous. My roommate comes home everyday complaining about the unruly kids that she has to teach.  I’m starting my first teaching job next week and I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to control them. Can you offer me any advice?

Thanks! Love your blog!

Katie

Hi Katie,

There are a few simple things that you can do to keep your classes under control when you start teaching. Although these ideas are simple, they can be difficult to execute because they go against many impulses that a new teacher feels, and they require a lot of self-discipline. However, if you can follow them, your classes will fall into line in the first few weeks (or months, depending on the class), and you will find that things go very smoothly.

1) Be Strict from the Start

New teachers are inexperienced and feel insecure.  Naturally, they want approval of their teaching, so they seek the approval of their students. The easiest way to gain students’ approval is to make friends with them, joke around, and let them have their way.  This is totally natural, and a total disaster for classroom management.

It is infinitely easier to start as an strict teacher and make friends with students afterwards while maintaining discipline, than to let the students walk all over you to make them like you and then try to enforce new rules later on. The standard for all of your classes will be set in the first few days with a class. This is the time to make sure that students know the rules and know that they have to follow them.

2) Be Clear

You cannot expect students to behave if you have not clearly explained what  is and is not acceptable behavior. When you get angry at a student for a reason that they don’t understand (we’ve all done it) it does nothing except confuse the student and frustrate you.

During my first several years of teaching I made a habit of writing the rules on the whiteboard at the beginning of every class and having the students read them with me. When I encountered new behavior that repeatedly caused problems I would add it to the list. This way, if a student broke a rule, I could simply say, “Jimmy. What is rule 3?” Then it would be clear to the student that he had acted in a way that he knew was not acceptable, and could not argue about whether he deserved to be punished. It was clear.

3) Be Consistent

Nobody is on their game all of the time. We all have days when we just don’t want to go through the effort of scolding students and maintaining order. But, it’s important to enforce classroom rules consistently. It is in your best interest to make good behavior a habit for students. This can be a long and difficult process, but in the end, students who are accustomed to being good (because they were not given the opportunity to be bad) are always the easiest to teach.

4) Be Their Friend

In Rule 1 I told you to put discipline before friendship. That is very important when you first meet a class. However, discipline and friendship are not mutually exclusive. Many of the teachers that I liked most were teachers who maintained good classroom discipline, and many of the students that liked me the most were ones that I scolded regularly.

Respect is the basis of any good friendship. If you treat the students with respect, they will treat you with respect in return. This means that when you scold them, it will have that much more of an impact.

Also, it enables you to reason with children and help them to understand why they can’t misbehave. I find it useful with very unruly to explain that I have no choice but to punish them, and that I will always have to do so. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: “Who is my boss you guys?”

Students: “Mr. Wang.” (Mr. Wang is, say, the principal of the school)

Me: “Do you like it when you go to Mr. Wang’s office?

Students: “Noooo!”

Me: “I don’t like it either. Do you know what will happen if Mr. Wang walks past and sees you guys running around and playing games?  He won’t come in and yell at you.  He’ll yell at me. Do you like it when he yells at you?”

Students: “Noooo!”

Me: “Do you think I like it when he yells at me?”

Student: “No.”

Me: “Do you want Mr. Wang to yell at me?”

Around this point in the conversation the students get the picture, and settle down, at least for a while. And you’ve managed to maintain discipline, and let the students know that you will always maintain discipline, without making yourself into the bad guy.

These are the things that I found helped me most to maintain classroom order during my seven years of teaching.

I hope it helps!

Best,
Matt

This post is part of a series called ESL Blog Carnival
– hosted this month at Go Teach Abroad on the topic of Classroom Management

The post Ask Matt: How Should I Discipline Bad Students? appeared first on XpatMatt.

Dear Matt,

How can I best prepare to teach English in Taiwan? I am 23 years old and recently returned from a three week trip to Taiwan to visit my sister who teaches there. Since coming back to America, I have been considering pursuing a degree in order to teach in Taiwan. What kind of degree would best prepare me for teaching English in Taiwan, and what would be the best way for me to start learning Chinese?

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Sincerely,

Jacob

Hi Jacob,

Here are the three most effective things that you can do to make your life easier in Taiwan.

1)   Get a degree in education. Getting a degree in education (i.e. teaching) will greatly improve your chances of finding a good job in Taiwan. Employers here almost always prefer certified teachers to people who simply have a degree. Real teachers also often get paid more.

2)   Get experience. Either work, or volunteer, teaching ESL to international students at your local college or university. The experience will look great on your resume, and help you learn what its like to live in a country where you don’t speak the language.

3)   Study Chinese.  When I say study Chinese, I mean study Chinese A LOT. Chinese is extremely difficult to learn, especially when you are not immersed in it. Studying with books and online is a good start, but half the difficulty of Chinese is learning the sounds. You will need to hear Chinese (Pimsluer Language CD’s help with this) and speak Chinese (a language exchange with an international student will be necessary) on a regular basis.

If you do these three things, then you will be way ahead of the game when you arrive in Taiwan to look for work. In addition to giving you the necessary skills to get by here, the fact that you prepared yourself so thoroughly before coming to Taiwan will show employers that you are serious about working and living in there.

I hope this helps.

Best,

Matt

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Dear Matt,

I would like to know: am I qualified to teach English in Taiwan? I am a British woman with a TESOL certificate (accredited by ACTDEC).  I have been teaching English in Sweden for the last 5 years (mainly upper high school students 15-19 but also younger children and employees of companies). Unfortunately I do not have a degree, just various qualifications from colleges since leaving school (none of them in the field of education).

I have read that a degree is not always necessary to teach English in Taiwan.

Is it schools that demand a degree? Or is it a requirement for a working visa? Am I able to legally teach English in Taiwan with these qualifications?

Susan

Hi Susan,

Your experience and qualifications will certainly help you to find a job teaching English in Taiwan. Unfortunately, it is unclear, in my experience, whether you will be able to teach legally in Taiwan.

Most teachers on working visas have at least a four-year degree from an accredited institution. That is the standard.

However, I have met teachers in Taiwan who were given working visas even though they held a two-year college diploma. Unfortunately, I also know of many teachers with two-year college diplomas who were rejected. This may depend on the type of diploma, or it may depend on the person processing the application. I don’t know why some people were granted visas while others were not.  I’m sorry that I can’t provide a more concrete answer than that.

But, if you really want to teach in Taiwan, and are unable to obtain a visa, you still have some options:

1) Teaching private lessons, or for a school, under the table and doing VISA runs.  This is not as uncommon a practice as you may think. These teachers fill an important need in the market. There is always a demand for private teachers.

2) Getting a student VISA by studying Chinese, which is, in my opinion, a worthwhile pursuit in any case.

3) Purchasing a fake degree.  Although this is an option, it is not recommended as the immigration department is checking degrees more and more thoroughly every year.

4) And, of course, you always have the option of finding yourself a Taiwanese husband J

If you need more information about qualifications for teaching English in Taiwan, you may want to read this, and other articles that I have written, on Transitions Abroad about teaching English in Taiwan.

Best of luck!

Matt

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Dear Matt,

I’m thinking of moving to Taiwan, but I’ve heard there are not as many teaching jobs as there used to be.  Are there still many jobs?  How can I improve my chances of finding one?

Thanks!

Cliff

Dear Cliff,

When I first arrived in Tainan six years ago I would be approached on the street and in restaurants by people who needed teachers.  When I went to an interview, I would be interviewing the school, rather than the school interviewing me.  Teachers were in very high demand. Schools would accept anybody.

Now, due to changes in the English teaching industry and an increase of the number of Westerners looking for teaching jobs (many driven here by the recent global recession), the job market is more competitive.  You may have to interview with several schools before finding a job.  If you come at the wrong time of year,  you may have a lot of trouble finding one at all.

That being said, any person who plans properly and is willing to pound the pavement for a few weeks should be able to land a good job. To ensure that you find a job, it is important to plan your move to Taiwan properly.  There are several things you can do to improve your chances of finding a job.

1) Find a Friend
Do you know anyone in Taiwan.  If so, ask them if they know about any jobs.  Most teaching jobs tend to be found by word of mouth.

2) Come at the Right Time
Teachers tend to sign contracts at the beginning of the semester, as this is when schools prefer that they start. Most contracts are one year long, and end the same time they started.  This is when most teachers leave their jobs to travel or move home.  So, the best time to look for a job is the end of the semester so that you can replace a teacher who will be leaving. The overall best time to look for work is the end of August, before the fall semester.  Just before Chinese New Year (usually around the end of January) and the end of June are also good times.

3) Go Where the Jobs Are
The other thing you can do to improve your chances is move to the South.  Taipei and Taichung have traditionally had larger foreign communities, and attract more teachers, making the teaching market more competitive there. Kaohsiung still seems to have a lot of teaching positions, and is a large and comfortable city.  The market in Tainan is also fairly good. Personally, I prefer to live in the South anyways.  There are usually fewer earthquakes and typhoons, and the weather is much better.

Schools in smaller towns are also usually good places to look for jobs. Few teachers are eager to move to them, as most prefer to live in a larger center with a larger expat community.

4) Know Where to Look
Many schools look for teachers on these websites:

The Tainan Bulletin

Kaohsiung Living

Tealit

5) Know What Not to Do
If you respond to teaching job ads online, chances are you will be contacted by an agent or recruiter.  Although some agent/recruiters are good, they have a reputation for being overwhelmingly greedy and dishonest.  They are referred to locally as ‘snakeheads’.  Unless somebody has personally recommended an agent to you, then I would strongly suggest that you avoid dealing with them.  Many people have lost their VISAs, lost pay, and been screwed over in every manner imaginable by agents.

If you would like to read the tale of one infamous agent, go to the Kaohsiung Living bulletin board listed above, and search for the name ‘Selwyn’.   You will find numerous posts warning people about this agent who operates in Kaohsiung. There are some unbelievable stories about him!

The post Ask Matt: How Do I Find a Teaching Job in Taiwan? appeared first on XpatMatt.

I just landed a job at a language school in Taiwan, teaching both kindergarten and elementary age kids.  I found the job through IACC.

I have a few questions:

First, I noticed that you said do not deal with recruiters as many of them have shady business practices.  I have heard this before, but so far IACC has been very helpful.

Second, do you think NTD $50,000 per month + 5000 rent subsidy is too low a salary?

Kindest Regards,

Mel

Dear Mel,

I have said before that, as a general rule, you should not use a recruiter of any kind to find a job.  Despite this, I’m sure that some agencies are not all bad.  However, it is generally believed among teachers that most agencies are trying to make money at the expense of the teacher.

Agencies make money because they can hire people abroad who do not know the going rate, and pay them less.  You should never teach English in Taiwan (except in very rare cases) for less than NT$600 per hour.  From the looks of the job you have been offered the salary is low.

The web page you sent me says there 25 teaching hours per week.

25 X 4 = 100 hours per month.

NT$50,000 + NT$5000 housing bonus = NT$55,000.

NT$55,000 / 100 hours = NT$550 per hour.

Personally, I would never accept this job.  But, even though the pay is a little bit low, it may not be too bad of a job.  Some people would argue that if the school gives you block hours each day (all of your working hours in a row, rather than at different times of day) and that you are not spending your time running to different branches of the school in different parts of the city, then it’s not a bad deal.

But, you should notice that your working hours are listed on the website as being 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, which is a lot more than five hours per day.

You should be warned that some schools and agencies will offer certain terms to entice a person into work, but will change the conditions of employment once the school has arrived.  They will use the new teachers ignorance about Taiwan, their ability to find a new job, and their ability to get a work visa and ARC, to pressure the teacher into accepting their terms.

Protect yourself at the front end. Hold the school to the terms you’ve agreed to.  If they don’t, then leave.  If they are dishonest at the front end, they will remain dishonest during your employment.

Don’t let them scare you into accepting conditions that are less than fair.  You can leave and you can find a different job and a work permit on your own.

Best,

Matt

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