Teaching English in China and Columbia

By Lemas Mitchell

The school is VERY expensive. Something like three times the market level price for similar bushibans. And you know that if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Fundamentally, it is the same thing as all the other bushibans out there: A place designed to extract money from unsuspecting Chinese people who want an easy answer to learning English. And, of course, it is staffed by people who are not really qualified to give the customers what they want-- as if anyone could come close to taking a student who does not want to talk from "zero" to "fluent" in three months!
So the sales department of this place tells the customers everything that they want to hear to get their money, and then sends them to the school where their expectations are promptly met with reality. And that is the fact that they have been ripped off. This puts the consultants in a very difficult position, their being left to honor an obligation that the sales
department has dishonestly made.
Also: At the price level of the school, there are few people who can afford it, so you tend to see the same people over and over again. Even having worked in another places and spending much less time with students was difficult. In those cases, we spent no more than 6 hours per week together, and it was still difficult to find things to talk about. (That's part of the educational system here--it seems to produce lots of un-opinionated individuals, completely oblivious to their surroundings.)
In Columbia, one could spend up to 20 hours per week with certain students. It could be difficult to spend even that much time with people from places who are educated in such a way that they can talk about *something.* But that is definitely not true for the Chinese here in Taiwan. One thing for sure, though-- They do get quite pissed off when the company changes its policy. And that is almost a weekly occurrence. They seem to be trying to help the students forget that they are not making any progress toward the promised "miracle" by cluttering the teaching landscape with inconsequentials.
The working hours are too long. 25 hours of teaching per week is QUITE sufficient to teach people who are not really interested in seriously learning. At Columbia, the work week was something like 43 hours/week. And this is for NT$50,000/ month.
The owner (a self absorbed Ph.D. from UCLA) is quite a dishonest man. When he decided to cancel my contract, he told me that he was going to take three days pay because I did not fill out the files. I stopped by the police station with my bankbook and badge to prove that I had worked for him. The policeman called him on his personal phone, and brought him there. He denied having employed me, at which point I whipped out my evidence and showed it to the officer. The owner was VERY angry and embarrassed. After everything was said and done, he ended up having to pay me for my time AND the police (quan shi money) to forget that he was paying lots of workers under the table without work permits. Nor was he paying taxes or social health insurance. Oops. After this, he told me to leave Taichung because he did not want anyone to know that I had worked for him, and that if I didn't there would "be trouble," because I was the "foreigner in this country." He also told me that I should go into acting if I could do the "Chris Tucker neck-thing." (Wonder what he was getting at? Most people around here seem to think that I look like Michael Jordan, since they are always calling me by his name).
It's funny that all this could have been avoided if he had done business the honest way and paid me my money instead of the Chinese way (which is to say dishonestly, short-sightedly, and with the payment of lots of bribes). After we finished our "business," he took my bankbook because he did not want any "proof" of the transaction. (I guess you can't go to the bank and get a copy of the statement.)
Incidentally, most of the money goes to pay nice looking secretaries and office assistants who (over) staff the front desks and do nothing obviously useful to those that don't have ESP. And of course, the place has to LOOK nice. Columbia is recommendable in the event that you are a balding/ pot-bellied Caucasian. In that case, the women will have their ankles behind their ears before you can even get into the classroom to sit down. (I've seen it. Take my word for it.)
This is yet another semester of my life-course on "Why there is no free lunch." In conclusion, I would *strongly* advise other black American people to not waste their time in Taiwan. For what it is, the ESL field/romantic situation is FAR better in Japan.

lpm100@yahoo.com
 

Disclaimer: teach-abroad.net does not represent or endorse the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information displayed.