Is it possible for me to teach in Taiwan?

[PigBloodCake]

I'm a UK born Chinese citizen currently looking for teaching jobs in Taiwan, interested in teaching younger children based in Tainan or Taichung.

Ideally I was hoping to find a job before arriving in Taiwan I've applied online through quite a few teaching jobs and have had no replies,
I've completed a degree and just recently finished online TEFL course, I can also speak read and write basic Chinese....I seriously don't know what else to.
I do hope the main obstacle its not the fact I'm Chinese by heritage....... as I've heard so many stories about foreign born Chinese being discriminated or undervalued whilst teaching English in Taiwan.....

Maybe I should fly to Taiwan and actually continue the job hunt there, could anyone tell me if doing this would make a difference in the job hunt?


Any advice or information would be much appreciated

Thanks in advance

I'm terribly sorry to say this but do UK people actually write like this (commas as sentence separators)?

I guess American English needs to change

[ktlost]

You mean I've made a mistake in my punctuation? guess i 'll need to work on improving my English
Thanks for letting me know


Anyone will information on teaching in Taiwan would be great.

[globalgourmand]

Can anyone clarify this for me? For a public school job, you must have a BA and be a state-certified teacher? I have a TEFL certificate (only 100 hours and online) and have taken a few other training courses (two online, and my orientation training here in Korea) but I'm pretty sure this is pretty irrelevant and I ought to have a state certification in order to be considered for ANY public school job. Am I understanding this correctly?

[MarchMarch]

Okay, so what I've picked up from reading these posts is that it is preferred to have a BA, but an Associate's together with TESOL certification is acceptable, but maybe not to every school. Is this correct so far?

If the Associate's with a TESOL certification IS acceptable, does anyone know if the pay rate is equal to those with a BA or is it lower?

Another thing - does anyone know how difficult it is to get an interview in Taipei for any kind of English-teaching job, (cram school, private school...etc)?
For example: 1 interview out of 10 applications.

Thank you for any help/advice you can give me!

[noamchomsky]

All depends on what KIND of teaching gig (there are any kinds). Anything I say does not apply to public schools.

Thanks for the replies CraigT and Funkymonkey!

I've graduated with a 3 year degree, I'm not sure how other countries classify it but in UK 3 years is standard for a degree, and yes I do have the UK passport.

Don't tell them it was 3 years. Its a BA yes? Then you are fine. Even in the US some people do AP (advanced placement) go full time in summers, take extra credits, etc. and graduate in less than 4 years. Its not like they will ask for your transcript.

It sounds like searching for teaching posts in Taiwan will be more difficult that I would thought it would be.
I took the TEFL certificate because I was hoping it'll my chances of finding a teaching job over there ....guess it hasn't worked

Seriously do hope to secure a job before landing in Taiwan , but at this rate seems impossible.....

Could anyone tell me how long it took them to find a job? would probably need to give up after a certain time.....

Welcome any opinions or information

Thanks in advance

I do not think you will have any problem finding a job, especially in a private school or an adult school. It took me about a month to find my job, my wife a week, it all depends (I only teach adults, which is harder to do, unless you work for Global village you often need to get 2-3 jobs to make a full income, which I also do).

But there are plenty of people with less qualifications teaching here.

As being Chinese, there are plenty WAYYYYY underqualified Taiwanese ESL teachers who teach adults simply because they studied in the UK for a cpl yrs. They prolly make less money then us whiteys though....

Taiwanese teachers get 200/nt hour. It is VERY difficult for an ABC to get an initial job that pays "white" wages. I think it's best just to lie about experience.

[pook110]

All depends on what KIND of teaching gig (there are any kinds). Anything I say does not apply to public schools.

Thanks for the replies CraigT and Funkymonkey!

I've graduated with a 3 year degree, I'm not sure how other countries classify it but in UK 3 years is standard for a degree, and yes I do have the UK passport.

Don't tell them it was 3 years. Its a BA yes? Then you are fine. Even in the US some people do AP (advanced placement) go full time in summers, take extra credits, etc. and graduate in less than 4 years. Its not like they will ask for your transcript.

It sounds like searching for teaching posts in Taiwan will be more difficult that I would thought it would be.
I took the TEFL certificate because I was hoping it'll my chances of finding a teaching job over there ....guess it hasn't worked

Seriously do hope to secure a job before landing in Taiwan , but at this rate seems impossible.....

Could anyone tell me how long it took them to find a job? would probably need to give up after a certain time.....

Welcome any opinions or information

Thanks in advance

I do not think you will have any problem finding a job, especially in a private school or an adult school. It took me about a month to find my job, my wife a week, it all depends (I only teach adults, which is harder to do, unless you work for Global village you often need to get 2-3 jobs to make a full income, which I also do).

But there are plenty of people with less qualifications teaching here.

As being Chinese, there are plenty WAYYYYY underqualified Taiwanese ESL teachers who teach adults simply because they studied in the UK for a cpl yrs. They prolly make less money then us whiteys though....

I already have an idea of the salary range for teaching in Taiwan and just want an opinion. What kind of salary range would be considered average? and expectation

[tomthorne]

I already have an idea of the salary range for teaching in Taiwan and just want an opinion. What kind of salary range would be considered average? and expectation

600NTD an hour is the rule of thumb average for hourly rate pay. 60,000NTD for monthly salary.

Many people are prepared to work for a lot less these days, though.