New Teaching Position

On Friday I went to Future Heir Bilingual Elementary School in Taichung and did a teaching demo for the principal and others. I signed a contract for next year NTD $10,000 increase in my salary or about US $340 per month. Not bad. I also substituted a class while I was there - 3rd grade - 40 minutes for NTD $500. I'll be teaching social studies, math, science (if the I teach grades 1 or 2) and English. Grammar is taught by the Chinese homeroom teacher. The Chinese homeroom teacher and I share the classroom.

The students are high-level English speakers and most seemed fluent. Most spoke better English than some students in the US. I read a chapter from Narnia to the third grade. They understood. The class size range from 13 to a maximum of 18.

I'll be living in Annie's apartment in Taichung. She will live there part-time too. It's about a 15 minute walk from the school. There is a gym and a pool nearby. The inside of our apartment is nice but the location is noisy with traffic. It'll be okay for a year or two.

Perhaps a new blog - Life in Taiwan, Chapter Two; Taichung, will be appropriate.