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Haraksha posted:Money question. I have a friend of a friend who wants someone to look at a college essay. It's 15,000 words. How much would you charge to correct just the grammar and the fluency? USDA Choice posted:Totally unrelated: 15,000 words just to get into a school? Will admissions counselors even read that?
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Apr 20, 2012 15:35
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USDA Choice posted:I would suspect it'll be more than 3 hours. At 30 pages that's 5 minutes a page to do both the reading and revising. In addition you'll want to check your work either page-by-page or at the end. More pages would only increase the pace. I'd call it 5 hours in all, maybe with some stipulation for more if the writing is really crappy. If the writing is already good though I doubt it'd be more taxing than kindergarten.  a lot of kids may put in.
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Apr 20, 2012 15:37
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Sorry, I thought it was just an essay for class, but it's actually her masters dissertation.
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Apr 20, 2012 15:54
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Does anyone have any experience with taking evening classes to learn Mandarin in Taipei? A friend recommended the Taipei Language Institute (http://www.tli.com.tw/). I'm looking for something while I'm there for maybe 3 months. Right now I speak no Mandarin...
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Apr 25, 2012 01:50
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dtb posted:Does anyone have any experience with taking evening classes to learn Mandarin in Taipei? Never done it, sorry. I learned Chinese at ShiDa, a university here in Taipei, which has 3 month long courses for ~600us, 5 days a week, 2 hours a day, in small (under 10 students) classes. It's odd reading "Mandarin" because everyone just calls it Chinese here.
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Apr 25, 2012 04:02
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Has anyone ever heard of a teacher having to buy their own classroom supplies like whiteboard markers?
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Apr 25, 2012 05:06
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dtb posted:Does anyone have any experience with taking evening classes to learn Mandarin in Taipei? Haraksha posted:Has anyone ever heard of a teacher having to buy their own classroom supplies like whiteboard markers? E: on the other hand, I can see teachers wanting to do this themselves if the markers they give you to use smell like assholes(there is a brand...) or just suck. duckfarts fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 06:38
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duckfarts posted:TLI and Shida are both recommended for "no seriously I want to learn Chinese". I ran into a friend at the stationary store. He was buying himself a new whiteboard marker on his break. I couldn't believe it.
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Apr 25, 2012 09:59
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Thx again, everyone
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Apr 25, 2012 13:00
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Haraksha posted:I ran into a friend at the stationary store. He was buying himself a new whiteboard marker on his break. I couldn't believe it. Hess has the ink refill things on hand at all times. I've refilled the same markers for 3 years now, and I got them as a hand me down from a previous teacher.
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Apr 25, 2012 15:18
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For someone whose smartphone is probably going to go kaput in the near future and wants to buy an iPhone 4S with the possibility of using it in Taiwan as well as the US, what should I do? Should I: A.) Buy it in the US through AT&T (currently still under the family Verizon plan) and switch out the SIM card in Taiwan despite having a two-year contract B.) Find a way of shelling out $650+ for an unlocked iPhone to use it without a previous contract or commitment C.) Just wait until I get to Taiwan to possibly buy it cheaper there D.) Get an iPhone 4S through Verizon and add the global component to the bill E.) Some other mystery alternative I don't know about I really want to move to an iPhone 4S (especially after researching it and toying around with my sister's iPhone and seeing how many of its feature solve a lot of the frustrations I've had with my current phone even before it started to really die on me), but none of the alternatives seem particularly good. Thoughts? Teriyaki Koinku fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 15:21
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OrangeGuy posted:For someone whose smartphone is probably going to go kaput in the near future and wants to buy an iPhone 4S with the possibility of using it in Taiwan as well as the US, what should I do? Do phones in the US even come with SIM cards? quote:C.) Just wait until I get to Taiwan to possibly buy it cheaper there WINNER!
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Apr 25, 2012 15:38
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Spanish Matlock posted:WINNER! Haha, kind of what I figured. How much would an iPhone 4S go for typically (expected price ranges) in Taiwan? Can I haggle the price down at all there? Would I be able to take it back to the US with me later and use it there, too?
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Apr 25, 2012 15:46
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OrangeGuy posted:For someone whose smartphone is probably going to go kaput in the near future and wants to buy an iPhone 4S with the possibility of using it in Taiwan as well as the US, what should I do? I am moving to China in a few and just bought a new smartphone, so I've done this research. If you buy it under a contract at AT&T, you'll be obligated to either pay for whatever the contract is (with a smartphone like that you're usually locked at about $100~ a month) or pay a fee for cancelling the contract. This fee is based on how many months you have left on on your contract, and works out to your iPhone costing about 800 dollars while still locked and filled with AT&T's bloatware. The global component for verizon will be gargantuan compared to any service you get in Asia. Again, I'm Taiwan-ignorant, but in the mainland 3G data costs like 10-20USD a month, and texts are like 5. This is very, very cheap. I'm assuming Taiwan isn't much worse. Unlocked phones are much cheaper in Asia and Europe as a whole. If you must have an iPhone it's probably cheaper to go to Taiwan or HK and buy one there. If you buy an unlocked phone you'll either have to pay for international or get a new plan from TMobile or ATT in the US, but not being on contract means you can pick some very cheap data plan and some very affordable unlimited data plan instead of having to go all in on some 100 dollar a month nonsense. edit: Looked around online and it looks like iPhone4S in Taiwan is between like 20000-21000NTD, which is like 680-700ish USD. Ailumao fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 15:51
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Haraksha posted:I ran into a friend at the stationary store. He was buying himself a new whiteboard marker on his break. I couldn't believe it. Kinda exactly what duckfarts said, for me it's just personal preference. When I began working at this school, they gave me a brand new set, but they were a lovely brand, and after a year or so of use, especially with letting kids write with them on the board, the points had been worn down to nothing, and I decided to "treat myself" to a brand new set, which I now do yearly or so. gently caress it, they're like, what, 20nt a piece? I'm sure I could raise a stink about it at work and get them to replace them but I never really thought it was a crazy thing to do, and believe me, I'm usually super sensitive about any time my school tries to dick me over.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:01
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Magna Kaser posted:edit: Looked around online and it looks like iPhone4S in Taiwan is between like 20000-21000NTD, which is like 680-700ish USD.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:18
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TetsuoTW posted:Pretty sure those prices are what I've seen for specifically US iPhone 4S'. Honestly I don't even know if there is a local version yet. Yeah, I double checked and that's about the same price as the ones in the mainland from HK. Moral of story: Apple poo poo is expensive.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:23
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dtb posted:Does anyone have any experience with taking evening classes to learn Mandarin in Taipei? I'm at TLI right now. Generally I think it is pretty good. I'm learning something at least. It is pretty expensive (I've got 3 classes a week) but I would recommend them. I dunno if the one in Taipei are going to be difference though.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:23
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On the subject of markers my school uses some goofy "paint markers". They are nice because they don't really have any particular smell and the paint comes off easy. However, the paint ends up getting everywhere. I don't have to pay for any of it though which is nice though. I think in general I agree with Pocket Chomp though. In that I don't necessarily mind buying some of my own supplies as long they are things that students won't be destroying. I'd rather buy myself a nice pen to grade papers with than whatever cheap poo poo pens the company buys. OrangeGuy posted:Should I: In order: A) What MagnaKaser said. Its too cost prohibited. B) Probably your safest option, but at that price I think you really have to ask yourself whether you want a smart phone. C) As a foreigner with only a 1 year ARC as you are likely to have you will have to have someone put the contract under their name. If you have a girlfriend or a very close Taiwanese friend already, then maybe not a problem. Otherwise your probably SOL. D) See A. E) Just buy a cheap dumb phone for your first year and make do. Its not the end of the world, and that way you won't find yourself committed to some ridiculous contract in the event you don't want to stay (sometimes it happens).
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Apr 25, 2012 16:28
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I just bought a new phone this week actually, the new flagship of HTC, One X. Buying it straight up is 20,900 I think, but I got it through Taiwan Dageda with a contract. 7,500 up front, then a monthly bill of ~1300, which covers all the phone and texting I'd ever need, plus unlimited internet. No hassle due to limited ARC time or anything even, as I've had this account for almost 6 years now. They didn't even check. He's just like "Yep, you've been here forever, just sign the papers and you're good." If my wife wanted to sign up for the same contract and get the same phone, she'd have to spend the 7,500 up from on the phone, and then the entire difference (13,400) as a phone bill 'bank'. For the first 10 months or so she won't pay any phone bills as the deposit depletes itself. This is their way of keeping people from signing contracts and fleeing. I did try to get a 2nd number on my account (which is allowed) for my wife, but they said because it's a new number, even under an old account, so she would still need to pay the whole deal up front.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:38
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There's no contract-free data/phone plans in Taiwan? That's depressing. Maybe I won't go there to do research now!
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Apr 25, 2012 16:44
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No, you can totally get prepaid deals, you just have to buy the phone outright at retail. Contracts get you a pretty sweet deal usually though.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:53
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There's certainly prepaid options that even have data, whenever someone comes here to visit me, I get a prepaid SIM and toss it in my old iPhone. The ones I get are from Taiwan Mobile, and they have 300NT preloaded on them and last for six months (or longer if you top them up). However, the first time around, just the iPhone doing its usual data thing (checking e-mail, getting alerts from FB, etc) was enough to burn through that 300NT credit in like a week or whatever. After that, I made sure to never actually activate the data plans on the prepaid deal. Things may have changed or there may be other options on other carriers, but yeah. It didn't seem too easy to really use data on a prepaid plan for any length of time.
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Apr 25, 2012 16:56
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As long as I remember to turn the 3G data off when I'm not using it, I can get by for like a month on NT$1000. e: And of course remember to use wifi where possible. sub supau fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Apr 25, 2012 |
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Apr 25, 2012 17:00
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Ah, I misread his post. On that note, I might be coming to Taiwan for like a month or however long I can stay without a visa this fall. How hard would it be for me to find an apartment short-term in Taibei or Gaoxiong?
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Apr 25, 2012 17:05
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How easily can the 4s be unlocked? If it's easy enough, (cursory Google says probably?) and you plan on splitting time between Taiwan and the USA, I'd recommend buying it on contract in whichever place you'll use it more, then get it unlocked. If you can't do it yourself, a random cell phone shack should be able to. When the couple ways I saw online made my computer hang I got my 3g unlocked at a cell phone stand for a few hundred NT, I think maybe 500? You can then put in the sim card of whichever country you're in.
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Apr 25, 2012 17:14
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If you buy it in Taiwan, it will be factory unlocked anyway, even if it's on contract. In the US it's a somewhat more complicated story. (And of course this is disregarding the whole jailbreak/unlock scene which I admittedly don't follow much of anymore)
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Apr 25, 2012 17:27
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Magna Kaser posted:Ah, I misread his post.
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Apr 25, 2012 17:33
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Don't buy it in the US; if you want to buy one straight, it's $700ish here, no locking shenanigans, works anywhere with whatever SIM card you chuck in it. If you plan on being here for 2 years, set up a contract; you'll get it for about $300-400 depending in your model, and you will need to pay about a year's worth of bills in advance, but provided you have the funds, it's not bad(you generally have a $0 bill each month for a pretty long time or maybe a few bucks at worst for international calls or texting). Pick whichever of the 3 medium rate plans (monthly will be around 1300NT or $40-45ish including tetherable unlimited data) fits your needs best because all but the most expensive plan ends up being more or less the same in the end(with the weird sliding discount on the iphone) over the 2 years. Prepaid is really easy to get, but I wouldn't recommend it for data myself. For those that don't need data at all, you can have a monthly plan that's retarded cheap; I had a 200NT monthly plan for the longest time that I hardly went over on.
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Apr 25, 2012 17:39
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duckfarts posted:Don't buy it in the US; if you want to buy one straight, it's $700ish here, no locking shenanigans, works anywhere with whatever SIM card you chuck in it. If you plan on being here for 2 years, set up a contract; you'll get it for about $300-400 depending in your model, and you will need to pay about a year's worth of bills in advance, but provided you have the funds, it's not bad(you generally have a $0 bill each month for a pretty long time or maybe a few bucks at worst for international calls or texting). Pick whichever of the 3 medium rate plans (monthly will be around 1300NT or $40-45ish including tetherable unlimited data) fits your needs best because all but the most expensive plan ends up being more or less the same in the end(with the weird sliding discount on the iphone) over the 2 years. Prepaid is really easy to get, but I wouldn't recommend it for data myself. Yeah, that seems like the best option overall. Just get any fancy electronic luxuries while I am in Taiwan and make do with some duct tape and rubber bands on my current phone until then. Actually, speaking of which, does Verizon even sell straight-up SIM cards or would the better expectation be to just buy a SIM card through AT&T upon return to the US? Again, probably would be in Taiwan for a year at least working anyways and the iPhone 5 would probably be released by the time I actually get over to Taiwan. I appreciate all of the advice! 
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Apr 25, 2012 17:49
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OrangeGuy posted:Yeah, that seems like the best option overall. Just get any fancy electronic luxuries while I am in Taiwan and make do with some duct tape and rubber bands on my current phone until then. A lot of the big US carriers make it super hard to buy SIMs since they want to lock you into a contract. When I was just recently in the US for a couple months I used the T-mobile sim card that's $50 a month pay as you go for unlimited talk/text/data, the data wasn't that fast but at $50 everything unlimited, whatever.
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Apr 25, 2012 19:28
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From what I remember, ordering smart phones direct in the us should be unlocked? Get a smart phone, it's 2012 and there are also many helpful apps and dictionaries. Don't t 9 type unless you like to text with the phone in your pocket. Since it's summer time wait for the new iPhone 5 and buy five, then sell them in Taiwan for a profit. Hong Kong finally cleared the seven month waiting list (all our phones gets sold to barbarian main Landers)
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Apr 26, 2012 05:22
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caberham posted:From what I remember, ordering smart phones direct in the us should be unlocked? Get a smart phone, it's 2012 and there are also many helpful apps and dictionaries. Don't t 9 type unless you like to text with the phone in your pocket. Wait, do you mean ordering directly from Taiwan or from a factory that produces them?  Also, yeah, definitely given the time that it will take to get the money and buy the iPhone, let alone getting over to Taiwan still, I want to wait until the iPhone 5 is out to buy a new smartphone. I already have a Droid X, but it's basically falling apart on me (can't connect to the internet via Wi-Fi or 3G, hangs a lot, boots up and then hangs and then restarts again, can't receive MMS messages like before, etc.). You don't have to tell me twice about wanting and getting use out of a new smartphone anyways, I use it for lists, apps, maps, pictures, video, internet, etc. already and would be willing to actually shell out the dough for an iPhone 5. It's incredibly productive for my life. Plus, being able to schedule my appointments (much more) easily on my phone and seamlessly between my phone and my laptop as I've seen done with the iPhone 4S would be a godsend. [/statingtheobvious] Teriyaki Koinku fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Apr 26, 2012 |
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Apr 26, 2012 17:49
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And there's always the WACKY and INSANE option of buying an android, as unlocked droid phones newer than the iPhone4S (Galaxy Note, Galaxy Nexus, HTC's newer stuff) only cost like 400-500 unlocked and can be obtained much more easily!
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Apr 27, 2012 03:07
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But then you would have an android phone.
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Apr 27, 2012 04:48
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thegoat posted:But then you would have an android phone. My new HTC One X is amazing. I can throw whatever files I want on it, wherever I want on it, without having to run some stupid program that limits me as to what I can do. Plus, billions of free apps on Google Play. And now it's got Google Drive hooked up to it, which makes it amazinger. Edit: Normally 20,000nt (like 670us), only 7,500nt (250us) with a year long contract.
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Apr 27, 2012 05:12
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Ravendas posted:My new HTC One X is amazing. I can throw whatever files I want on it, wherever I want on it, without having to run some stupid program that limits me as to what I can do. What's your data/minutes/text plan and how much do you pay monthly for it?
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Apr 27, 2012 06:14
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Text/minutes? Not sure, didn't care really because I hardly call and have never gotten charged for extra texts. The standard 'goto' was the 699 plan for it. 600 for unlimited data, 1299 together a month. They had a list of plans and payments for the phone, and that kinda seemed like the sweetspot of unlimited everything for a decent price. Edit: Here's the plans in English. I guess I got the first one http://english.taiwanmobile.com/english/product/postpaidService.html Oh, anyone get the new internet upgrade in Taipei? 100/10 fiber? I was looking, and it's 220nt more a month than my 12/2 I currently have. I already download at speeds of 1.4megs/sec, so I was wondering if it really is an 8x boost, and what they had to swap out to get it set up. http://www.cht.com.tw/en/personal/fttx.html Ravendas fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Apr 28, 2012 |
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Apr 28, 2012 02:34
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I know CELTA/TESOL/TEFL training is not necessary to get hired in Taiwan, but I do want to prepare myself before I arrive so I'm not completely winging it. This is the only TESOL/TEFL program I know of in my area anyways: Link. Is this even a credible course, given how short it is (CELTA programs seem to be six weeks long and the closest CELTA training center is in Chicago). Plus, distance learning TEFL certification is supposed to be useless anyways. Is there anything I should read? Should I apply through HESS for formal training? Or am I really okay in just going to Taiwan and applying for jobs? [EDIT]: It seems like the University of Cincinnati offers a Master's of Education with an online TESOL component. What is the point, especially since that program is like 2 years long? Teriyaki Koinku fucked around with this message at 03:03 on Apr 28, 2012 |
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Apr 28, 2012 02:54
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Everybody wings it. It's expected. Being white means 2/3 of your job is done. Your main job is to keep the kids happy, and get them learning enough English so that their parents can see "My kid likes it, my kid speaks English" and continue giving money to your school. You don't need anything beyond a bachelors degree, anything else is either gravy or ignored. My original training at my first school was just following the current teacher around and watch him teach. His training? Watch the previous teacher for awhile, etc etc etc. Each school will have their own little training programs, but aside from getting you comfortable in Taiwan and trying to keep you from fleeing, they don't really teach a whole lot of teaching skills. "Hess formal training" lasts a week or so, and seems to be half team building exercises so you get a base of friends to fall back on so you don't flip out and flee as readily, and half going over the Hess specific curriculum.
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Apr 28, 2012 03:44
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