If you don’t like the country–leave it.
BY ALAIN CHARTRAND
Before I left for my one-week vacation in Shanghai for three weeks in Canada, I made sure I would have the same class and the same co-teacher when I came back.
While I was on vacation, I got an e-mail from my boss in Taiwan, saying they would change my class to a new one, but these kids were two-and-a-half, three years old and much too young. Plus, they put me with a teacher who I couldn’t work with.
When I started at this school last year, all the students were new, meaning they had never been taught English before. They were five and six years old. The first few months were really hard and lots of work, but little by little they became better students. I taught them well and their English level had greatly improved.
My school wanted to take advantage of this and wanted me to do the same thing with the newer students once more. But I like my class and my co-teacher. I did all the hard work already with the crying kids that have never been away from home and the short attentions spans. The new kids don’t know the rules and you can’t even tell them the rules! I did it already, and I don’t want to do it all over again.
After arguing with my school a little bit, I agreed, but only because I knew if I refused, they would cancel my work permit and I wouldn’t be allowed into the country for more than 2 weeks with a landing visa.
They did this to another foreigner friend of mine who was working at the same school. He quickly got another job at a new school and somehow managed to get his ARC transferred without having to leave the country, which is what you would normally have to do.
So, I said I would take the job. This way I would have no problems coming back to Taiwan, and I wouldn’t be in a rush to sell all my furniture and get all my stuff and rent out my apartment.
I could have stayed and worked two jobs at the same time to get my work permit transferred, but this was the perfect opportunity to go and start over. I had friends in Shanghai that could help me get set up, so I packed my bags and moved to China after a year and a half in Taiwan. iT!
Canadian Alain Chartrand is currently working and living in Taiwan. He occasionally writes articles for The Weekly Wanderer.
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