Shaun Bettinson
Native Speaking Teacher

I arrived in Taiwan in November 2004 without a job, a place to live or any real contacts. I had done my research and was prepared to battle it out on my own. A couple of weeks before leaving I had applied to Hess but wouldn't find out if I was successful until after I had arrived in Taiwan. I was going to go anyway and decided to see what would happen about everything. About a week after I arrived, I got a call from Hess to offer me a position working in Taichung. I had only been in Taiwan a week and what they offered sounded a great deal better than slugging it out on my own. In fact, as soon as I accepted it was more or less easy street from then on. I didn't have to worry about anything and compared to the other people who were in my initial training group, I think I had had the rougher experience on arrival.

Hess set me up with a job, a place to live, training and a group of friends experiencing the same things. Some of them have become life-long friends as well. Hess even paid for me to stay in a decent hotel for a few days while I got myself fixed up with an apartment in Taichung. My colleagues at my branch were very accommodating and friendly and all too eager to help me out with anything I needed both inside of work and outside, too.

I just work in the Hess Language School (HLS) as kindergarten doesn't particularly appeal to me. I value my mornings as time for myself and I have been using the morning time to take Chinese classes, relax, go to coffee shops, read, or whatever I feel like. I really like my schedule and the flexibility it gives you to do other things during the day. I fear the day I may have to return to a 9-5 job!!

After a year I was asked to be a Head NST by my area manager and the role has given me some new challenges and is something else besides just teaching. I think the experience of working as a manager in a multicultural environment will be very useful to take away with me despite the extra stress it can bring!

Overall my experience has been very positive. I love the kids I teach and feel very happy in what I am doing. Sometimes, when I am having a lot of fun in class and things are going well it beggars belief that I am being paid to do the job. There are times though when paperwork can become heavy, the kids are having a day to misbehave and wind you up and you feel like screaming! I have yet to meet a teacher who hasn't experienced this, so when you do just know we are all in the same boat.

My favourite thing about Taiwan is the quality of life you can have here compared to back home. I can comfortably afford a place to stay, to run a scooter, have a good social life, save money and even have some left over for vacations, too. How you spend your money is up to you. Being honest though, you won't see any real comfort with money until you have been here at least 6 months because of setup costs and a higher tax bracket during the first 6 months of working here.

If I was to give advice to any prospective teachers at Hess it would be this. Be serious about what you are doing because despite what you may have heard, being a teacher is a very responsible position. Also, Taiwan is a different culture to what you are used to at home, so come here with an open mind, a sense of adventure and patience. The rewards are truly great and you will never forget your experience here!

Good luck!

Shaun