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Shih-Chien University Shih-Chien University is advertising for full-time teachers at their English Center and for their Department of Applied Foreihn Languages in Kaohsiung. The school advertised for the same positions a few weeks ago, but the original ad was confusing and unprofessional in appearance. The new ad in the April 22 Taipei Times looks as though they had a graphic artists design the layout. Both positions require a Ph.D. in "TESL/ESL/TEFL/Education/Communication/Business/ or any English-related fields". The ad states that native speakers are preferred. Applicants should send their resume, teaching and research plans (2 pages), 2 letters of reference, and copies of credentials to English Center position                Department of Applied Languages position 70, Ta-chih Street, Taipei 104                        200, University Rd., Nai-men Hsiang, Kaohsiung Hsien, Human Resources Office,                               845 Human Resources Office, Shih-Chien University, Shih-Chih University    or call                  Kaohsiung Campus               or e-mail Ms. Yang 886-2-2538-1111 ext 2040-2          sheen@mail3.kh.usc.edu.tw Following the original posting of the new version of the ad, Shih Chien University has been using a new, larger version of the ad. In fact, one of the ads must have taken up almost 10% of the page. Although today's (April 24) ad was smaller than this, the continued advertising, the new version of the ad, and its various forms seem to indicate they are have a hard time finding people.   9:45:05 PM    comment [[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "commentsCount" hasn't been defined.] ]

Foreign Teachers in Taiwan Public Schools Some of you may have caught today's news about the Ministery of Education's plan to bring foreign English teachers into public schools. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/04/22/203026 http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2003/04/22/1050973806.htm You may have noticed the growing chaos surrounding the program since its announcement in January. First it was a thousand teachers http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/01/07/190049 Now it's only 400. In fact, I have heard rumours from the MOE that not one teacher has been hired so far. Then it was only (dare I say white?) caucasian teachers http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2003/01/21/191786 Despite the fact that it would be illegal to recruit teachers in Canada and the USA based on race. Interestingly, the fact that the program has made no visible progress in terms of recruitment of teachers and development of jobs seems to have escaped the critics. Criticism seems focused instead on the standard of qualification and pay involved in the program. Foreign teachers living in Taiwan have shown great interest in the program based on the high salaries that seem to offered. In fact, only the most qualified of candidates will receive these salaries and the lower level salaries are not competetive for this market. No one knows what will ever materialize out of the MOE's attempt. I doubt that anyone will ever get a job from this. My advice is that a program showing this much confusion should be avoided at all cost. 8:11:18 PM    comment [[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "commentsCount" hasn't been defined.] ]

The Benefits of Teaching at a University in Taiwan A good friend of mine is teaching Korea and asked me to describe the jobs conditions teaching at a university in Taiwan. First, you have to keep in mind that there are two kinds of teaching positions at universities here; staff and faculty. Faculty positions are what we would refer to in Canada as tenured positions. Although we get yearly renewals of our contact, it is extremely hard to dismiss someone offered a faculty position, and in practice is not done for anything short of criminal conduct. Faculty positions are moderated by the Ministry of Education, but I will talk more about this later. Staff positions are anything the school thinks it can make you do. At my school, all of the foreign and most of the local teachers have contracts that are moderated by the MOE. Because we are a private school, our contract differs slightly from the MOE contract. For example, we have to help with the construction of university-wide language examinations, write teaching material, and a number of other minor responsibilities. No one wants the work, of course, but it is not a really big problem. If you want a closer look at our contract, it can be found on the Web at http://www.mcu.edu.tw/department/app-lang/elcenter/english/elc/neut/employ/handbook.htm Some of the highlights of the contract are 11-hour weekly teaching minimum for instructors 6 office hours a week 4-day work week monthly salary of $nt 53,600 + yearly bonus of 1.5 months (1/2 month for first year) monthly salry of $nt 64,000 for Ph.D approximately 4 months of vacation This would be pretty standard for a faculty position in Taiwan. As far as outside teaching is concerned, that's not a problem. University faculty are forbidden from teaching at a bushiban (private cram school), but private classes that you arrange with outside students are no problem as long as they, "maintain the dignity of the school". In fact, my school encourages outside teaching and will even arrange extra classes for interested teachers. Don't get too optomistic about this; there is a lot of work like this available, but you have to look for it.  If you want to know more specific details, I'll try to answer any e-mails sent to me. 11:07:44 AM    comment [[Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "commentsCount" hasn't been defined.] ]

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