-Chinese Proverb
(1) Dress For Success:
A friend of mine once said you can tell who the tourists are in Hong Kong by how badly they dress. Asians place a lot of importance on how you dress. Now Taiwan is not nearly as formal as Korea or Japan and you can see people wandering around in soup stainded singlets but they still prefer a teacher to dress as you might expect them to in the West. In other words wear dress pants and a collared shirt. I might wear cargo pants and a t-shirt off work but different social settings call for different attire. Expand your wardrobe, take a look in some fashion mags. It doesn't have to be a suit if you don't want (although Armani has some very nice stuff), theres lots of non suit formal fashion wear.
Its amazing to see the difference in how they treat you if you dress formally esp if you wear a suit (although not in summer!). It gives you respect and influence which makes your job easier. Try out the difference for yourself. I would estimate that it increases you chances at job interviews by 20-30%. Now I would estimate that a CELTA or TESOL cert would give no more than a 30% edge. Which is cheaper?
(2) Understand Taiwans Confucian Culture:
Taiwan can be deceptively casual, it seems like a fairly laid back subtropical island type scene. Esp if you have just come from Korea or Japan you might think the Confucian hierachial thing doesn't really apply here. After all there isn't all the bowing and so on going on. Really though their Confucian ethic is just a bit different than in Japan/Korea and nearly as strong. They emphasis different aspects of his teachings. So while they may appear casual they still respect their elders at work and in the family and the elders/bosses can be very bossy/controlling. Questioning your boss esp directly or in front of others is generally not a good idea (the whole concept of causing them to lose face). If they are overly bossy (normal) its best to do what they say (within reason) even if it seems silly (all to often). This is what they expect of their Chinese workers and family (often the same thing) and to a fair extent this is what they will expect of you. This may offend your Western egalitarian sensibilities but try not to take offence. Learn to bend like a reed in the wind. If you work at a large chain school with other foreign teachers they will be more used to Westerners ways and more tolerant but even then if you act like a Chinese it will work in your favor.
Another important thing to be aware of is the Confucian ideal of avoiding conflict and confrontation (clearly not emphasised in Korean Confucianism!) unless they're your boss in which case they may be less restrainesd. The Chinese are very delicate in their social relations, its a good idea to smile a lot, be friendly and diplomatic. They are very understated. For them a slightly negative response has a much stronger meaning for them than you may have intended. Aslightly raised voice like a shout etc. They are raised to behave very well, have strong morals (of a Confucian sort) and have good character. They tend to be very harmonious in their social relations. I'm amazed when going out with Chinese friends at their social restraint and harmony. Often this might be to a tea drinking cafe. There they might laugh away for hours playing cards, drinking tea, eating etc. They have a great time. My other Western friends would need to drink some beer to get on so famously. Things that they indulge in like hitting on other guys girlfriends, being paranoid about appearing cool, talking too much, showing off or whatever etc the Chinese are much less prone to. This would appear to be a direct result of the lack of moral education thats common in the West these days. But I'm drifting off the subject. The point is to try and practice some restraint, harmony and diplomacy, smile a lot, as opposed to being overbearing, arrogant, showing your anger etc and it will work in your favor.
(3) Become A Better Teacher
In Taiwan unlike Japan/Korea you are actually expected to teach. For the Chinese this seems to be mainly keeping the kids quiet which is the most important thing. Actual language acquisition or the kids having an enjoyable time is secondary although usually still important. They often have an "assistant teacher" whos sole purpose is to help you keep them quiet at least in theory. Unfortunately some of them don't help much at all so it can be up to you. Some kindies (preschool level) will encourage you to physically discipline the kids although generally not the bushibans (elemenatry age and above) where the kids are older and the schools are more dependant on being popular. I find with kindie just shouting where necessary plus getting them to stand in a corner facing the wall is sufficient punishment. On the incentive side you can just give them ticks beside their name on the board. You don't even have to give them anything for their ticks, they will still compete to acquire them as long as tehy arn't too young. With elementary and middle school kids again I just shout or get them to face the wall. If they are really bad you can get them to do extra writing or the "horse" stance (legs wide apart, knees bent). If they refuse you can tell the boss. Of course you need to have the managments support to enforce discipline. Having said all that your ability to actively teach will play a significant part in how well you can keep them quiet. This depends in part on your personality. Hopefully its not like a limp lettuce leaf. You will also need to build up a repertoire of songs (like Old McDonald for the young ones and adult music for the older ones), games (see Daves Cafe for an extensive collection of educational games) and other activities. Theres lots of great lesson plan sites which are worth checking out, just do an internet search. For a fuller exploration of teaching tips see How NOT To Do 20 Hours/wk Lesson Preparation! and Teaching And Discipline Tips.
(4) Learn Chinese
Obviously learning Chinese can help you in many ways. It will help you get along with your boss and co-workers esp if they don't speak much English (common esp at the smaller schools). It will help you communicate with the children. The kindie kids speak little English and it will help you control them a lot. Even with the older kids pulling a dictionary out every 10 seconds isn't very practical. Another thing is they are very fond of insulting you once they realise you don't understand what they are sayling and you will lose their respect very fast. One thing to be careful of though is not to let them know at a job interview how good your Chinese is. They almost universally have a "no Chinese" policy in the language schools (a flawed idea, in Korea where English is also taught bilingually their English is much better and they do signifiantly better in international tests). I've seen people lose out in the interview because their Chinese was too good.
(5) Other Tidbits
Punctuality: For the Taiwanese being on time does not mean walking through the door on the dot. It means thats the time when you should be actively working so try and get at least 5 minutes before your scheduled starting time. Also of course you should prepare before classes. This is very important to them. About 5-10 mins of prep per class is usually okay. See the link above on how to avoid hours of prep.
A caution: Try to avoid asking for advances if you can help it. Why? Even if they really like you if they realise you're desperate thay may reduce your pay, make you do more hours for the same salary etc. For the Chinese money comes first. They have little respect for economic migrants from other countries like the Phillipines and Vietnam and treat them like serfs. You don't want to get lumped into the same category. And thats if they like you. If they don't like you may find theres little in the way of (Christain) ethics or legal recourse to stop them from being as nasty as they want.
Some reading that you might like to check out:
Culture Shock by Chris and Ling li Bates
The Analects Of Confucious translation and notes by Simon Leys -essential to get a real understanding of where they are coming from.
Lords Of The Rim by Sterling Seagrave - a real eye opener into the history and nature of the Chinese esp the overseas Chinese (which includes the Taiwanese) also known as the Jews of the East. They are among the best traditional business men in the world if not the best (of course America is the leading innovater in business these days). They don't have the same reading interests though where in Israel books like "Fermats Last Theorem", "Singapore: Secrets Of The City State", "Catherine The Great" and books on cognitive psychology make up their top ten non fiction best seller list! (at 3/2001).
A History Of Taiwan by Hung Chien-Chao - good for a broad background and if you want to get a handle on the unification/independance arguments.
