Facing Problems at Work | Teaching English in Taiwan

In this video, I talk about several of the problems I've faced as a public school teacher and how they were resolved by me and the staff. Please let me know what you think and give me a thumbs up!

[@Art_Wine_And_Anarchy]

I followed a group format when I was in the IELTS program, managing 9 classes and about 230 students. I divided each class into groups with a similar headcount as much as possible. All classes had already taken placement testing, and we divided them based on their English level. Within each group, there was a leader, preferably the person with the highest English level. This student was responsible for delivering information from me to the rest of the group and helping the lower-level students. We made sure to distribute students based on their English level so that each group had one person with a higher English level to help the others and to avoid having all of the high English-level students end up in one group. Once all of that was settled, the fun began. I set a little competition. Every day, I kept track of each metric: Attendance, punctuality, preparedness, homework completion, and class participation. At the end of each semester, the group with the highest score got to have a party or go out for drinks with me since they were college kids. There is far more incentive and enthusiasm this way.

[@ryfree]

Dude, I love the system you laid out! Thank you so much for sharing.

[@TravelingTice]

Nice one! Haha love the comment "I'm still wearing a t-shirt but it is cooler" my family back in Europe doesn't understand that 😂😂 but I love this fall weather! You're just not sweating all the time

[@ryfree]

Yes!! Cool but comfortable 😎

[@Diana_Free]

That famous park looks so marvelous. Although, I’m happy to see you made some new friends at the second park you visited :) That meeting looked interesting. It’s good you let them know the problems you were having and that good change came from it. Your students looked happy to be outside 😊

[@ryfree]

I promise to take you to the famous lotus pond if you ever come for a visit. It's definitely a place with a lot of interesting sights that are very Taiwanese. Yes, everything turned out okay. Thank you so much Diana :)

[@Diana_Free]

@@ryfree Oh wow, thank you! I’d love to see that. The one figure was gigantic 🤩 Yeah, it’s nice that some weight has been lifted off your shoulders :)

[@Diana_Free]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and all your loved ones 🦃🤎

[@ryfree]

Thank you@@Diana_Free ! I'm thankful to still have you in my life sis. Wish you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving as well :)

[@Diana_Free]

@@ryfree Awe, your too kind :) I’m grateful to still have you in my life bro! 😀 Thank you so much!

[@AangShihVlog]

Yup small issues are always there but I'm glad you talked to them. I'm sure they'll respect your ideas. And I'm excited about this group you're invited to haha. Local friends are important. Germany's already pretty cold 😂.

[@ryfree]

I think I left the group within a couple hours of shooting the video. They were so noisy and I had way too many notifications 😂. Yeah man, I remember you wearing a light jacket months ago, I'd imagine it's a very different feeling now. Hope you're enjoying REAL seasons.

[@TheRealNirvana]

Great video 🎉

[@ryfree]

Thank you!

[@jputman123]

Do you think, or have you experienced pretty privilege in Taiwan? This is a very real thing for teachers in Korea. Since you would be considered more handsome on the attractiveness scale, do you feel you are treated different because of it.

[@ryfree]

Absolutely. My current school hired me for two reasons: 1) that the teachers at my previous school raved to them about my teaching abilities and 2) that I was good looking. They had another applicant who was apparently a very good teacher but the principal decided to pass on him because of his visible tattoos. My principal and I visited the middle school that he ended up working at and my principal bragged to some of the staff that she secured the more handsome foreigner. So yes, looks matter but I think it's important to keep in mind that beauty will benefit a person across most facets of social life and in every country. The Chinese and Taiwanese are more frank about preferring handsome and beautiful teachers. They're more frank in general when it comes to voicing their opinions on appearance. Another reason I think that looks are a factor here is the nature of our position. Many schools in Taiwan are struggling to enroll students and the role of a foreign teacher is not just to teach English and provide an international experience, but to attract and excite parents to send their kids there. I would imagine this role is more pronounced among schools that are struggling in other (and more important) areas like test scores. All of that said though, I am fairly certain that both public schools that I've worked at would prefer a talented teacher with a good attitude than a more attractive one who sucks.

[@Run_Run_]

Hell of a horn player! Can’t ignore that noise for miles around. Serious set of lungs

[@ryfree]

🤣🤣🤣

[@chowzisiong7800]

Pardon my frankness, but why is it that you seem to receive special/VIP treatment? Do you feel it's some sort of white privilege? If a local teacher complains about his/her desk, for example, would the complaint be dealt with as efficient and effective as your situation?

[@ryfree]

I would say that generally foreigners are given special treatment in Asia and that it can often work to your advantage but there are also drawbacks as well. I don't necessarily think being white had much to do with this specific example but it's no secret that many schools tend to prefer white teachers that are not too old. Of course being an excellent teacher with charm will trump the superficial qualities in a candidate but that's what I've gathered. I'm not sure how a similar situation would be handled if the complaint was made by a local teacher.

[@billhuang8412]

I think you should buy yourself a scooter , I have met Aussie and Canadian before , they all teaching English in Taiwan , they all told me roaming around the rural side of Taiwan with scooter is the thing they enjoyed the most , I hope the government can hire more native speakers to school , you know they are hiring too many fake Taiwanese English teachers , and they can't even communicate with native speakers , what a shame

[@ryfree]

Actually I bought a scooter a few weeks ago and it's been quite a game changer even getting around the city. Definitely looking forward to roaming the rural side of the country soon when I get some time off. Yeah, some local teachers are pretty good while others struggle.