Sept. 30
I'm in 3 different schools. I'm teaching one day, in a town called Wu-Chi 2 hours north of here. Another day is an hour and a half south of here and I have 4 classes. Two other days are at a kindergarden down the street.

Kindergarden is nearly impossible. I'm more a cultural entertainer than anything. But early access to a new language can't be a bad thing. Problem is that they are too young to understand that I don't speak their language... therefore, they also don't get that they must try to understand me a little harder than their other teachers. When I speak and they don't get it... their attention just drifts away.
The older kids present their own difficulties since about 75% of them attend private schools and are therefore bored to tears by the materials I am teaching. I want to gear my leassons toward the less fortunate students though, the rich kids don't need the help. It makes controling the class difficult.

On Mondays I work 8 hrs in the office to make up my time. It's nice that I have some diversity but I think it will become exhausing. No matter, I'm enjoying the work.

lies lies lies...

Oct 26 - Group mail

Last weekend I went to the beach and it was fantastic. The industrial, businesslike attitude of Taiwan was really getting me down, but my time on the beach really chilled me out. It's a little town called Kenting on the southern tip. A surfer town. It's great. This weekend there is a big Halloween party in Tai Chung about 40 minutes away. We are all preparing our costumes. It should be great fun. Teaching is going well, not much to report there though.

Oct. 26 - email to one friend

The truth is... I hate it here. I have a pretty sweet setup. A big condo, great roomates, a scooter - which is in the shop at the moment but whatever. The thing is, everything we were promised was a lie... pretty much. Not so much a lie, but more a list of what the boss hoped we would get and not what we would get. He didn't get the public school contracts as planned, and as a concequence, three of us are teaching kindergarden... ie: high-paid babysitters: what can 3-year olds possibly learn in a language they've never heard before in 40 minutes??? One of my roomates got totally screwed because she didn't have a degree - she was told she wouldn't need it. The work situation I guess I can deal with. It's just that there is no soul to this place... it's cold and industrial. I find myself even missing London.

Privates

Private lessons (shhhhhh, it's a secret) are something that many of us choose to do to pad our wallets a bit. Parents will pay a lot for private English lessons for their kids... I'm not sure if it's about learning English though.

I had 3 students that pretty much lasted the whole time I was here:
Jason a grade 3 student, who knew "hello" when I met him, can now read... that makes me feel pretty good, if I do say so.
Cameo is in grade 6 and was scared to open her mouth to utter anything in English. Now she won't shut up about Sakura and Digimon.
Candy is a gem, mostly because she's almost at a native speaker's level of English. I teach her creative writing and reading, and help her with her grammar. She helped me realize that it's not teaching I dislike, but teaching beginners.

As I said, most of us do privates. The way you get privates is, you walk around being white. People will approach you on the streets, on trains and jump out in front of your scooter to get you to teach their kids. If you say to someone that you are too busy and your schedule is full, they say "so you will find another teacher for me" and call you daily until you do. Never mind refusing to give your number, it's not done. And anyway, they'll find you. (not too many white neighbourhoods in Er-shui)

I was lucky enough to have Candy's mother take me under her wing and find me most of my private work. Though these are not always so dependable (last minute cancellations and terminations) you can usually live off the money you make doing privates, and send your salary home. A sweet deal if it works out for you. Privates are my favorite thing about Taiwan. I'm not keen on the 3 year old I have to entertain for an hour - but most work out really nicely.