I taught at the Principal school in Tuchung back in 2007 through 2009. Overall, I had a really great time and I think any complaints I had step from the fact that teaching just wasn't for me.
The school itself was good. Tuchung is located in Taipei county and about 45 minutes by subway to central Taipei. There's not a lot going on in the area and I was probably one of the few foreigners that lived in my neighborhood.
I mainly taught kindergarten students in the morning, and then had a couple elementary students in the afternoon. The young kids are a lot of fun to teach, and honestly, some days I felt more like a glorified babysitter than a teacher. Each class is only 30 minutes long with regularly 10 minute breaks for kids run off too much energy.
I had a Chinese teacher in every class who helped out if I ran into any problems, but for the most part I was left to run the class however I liked. All my co-teachers were very nice and I enjoyed working with them.
My main complaint was the management staff who were not very supportive and made it very clear that we were part of a business to make money, not a school. The principle of our ENGLISH school didn't even speak English. Teaching in a Chinese work culture was frustrating at times, but part of adapting to a new culture while living abroad.
I made $NT550 / hour and roughly $NT48,000 a month. This was a little lower than some other teachers in Taiwan I talked too, but I was also only working 4 days a week. A lot of teachers at other schools had to work on Saturdays. I liked my schedule and the amount of money I made easily supported myself.
Living in Taiwan was great! I met a lot of great people and really enjoyed myself. Looking back it was a great period in my life and one that I wish I could still be living. Ce la vie!
Have fun and good luck =)
Andrew
