Go with Henry: Eastern Taiwan - Yilan mountains and beaches

Friday, 17 December 2004

Eastern Taiwan - Yilan mountains and beaches

English Teacher in Taiwan

Yilan county

September 2003 – December 2004

Background

In June of 2003, I accepted my first ever TEFL teaching job in Taipei, Taiwan with Jump Start English. They picked me up at the airport in a black 500 class Mercedes and took me to a hotel, where I slept most of the day due to jet lag. It was summer in Taiwan, meaning hot, humid and sticky.

I started my TEFL career by doing a summer camp in Taipei. When I started a month later with regular classes, the school wanted us to teach diphthongs and inflected endings, complicated Grammar concepts, to 3 and 4-year-olds. Needless to say, it did not go so well and I decided to move on to another school.

I found a language centre, called Koala Educational Institute, in Luodong, a couple of hours away from Taipei by train, on the East coast of Taiwan. I relocated to Luodong in October of 2003 and taught ESL to Primary school children and Kindergarten kids early mornings and evenings.

During the day, I either took my scooter, or my bicycle, and explored Luodong. I had a 50 cc Honda scooter, with which I travelled everywhere, even Ilan mountains and to Taipei, taking pics along the coastal drive.

I made good friends with Chris from New Zealand, Elma from South Africa and Sandy from Romania, and we travelled all across the East Coast on our times off, sometimes by train, other times with our scooters.

I changed teaching jobs at the end of the cycling tour and worked for Cathy’s American school as an ESL teacher for High school kids, where I stayed until December of 2004 before accepting a TEFL position in Zhongshan on the mainland.

Taiwan is indeed one of the highlights of my TEFL career across many countries. It is ‘little America’ on a tropical island, with all the modern amenities, yet with a natural beauty that was ripe for exploration. I particularly enjoyed my scooter rides and all my visits to natural hot springs.

With my scooter - Ascending Yilan mountain

About Taiwan

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbours include China (officially the People's Republic of China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.

Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and also possesses the largest economy of any state outside of the UN. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy.

It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare, public education, economic freedom, and human development.

The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree (Wikipedia).