Job Discussion Forums

[PETERKM]

Hello everyone,
I have Eastern European passport, and fluent English without noticeable accent.
I also have SELTA and teaching experience but NO degree.
I want to come and teach in Taiwan.

I've two questions I hope to get answers for.

1. Will I have problems with my passport, which is in Cyrillic?
2. What do I tell to an employer if he asks about that?

[wombat]

The fact that you are neither a Native speaker of English (as determined by the governments list of approved countries), nor have a degree, means that you are inelligible for legal employment as an English teacher here in Taiwan. Although this means that there is no way that you could be employed legally, you could always get illegal work. Bear in mind though that you would be competing against true native English speakers without degrees, or degree holders from other non-native English speaking countries. You would really need a rather sparkling personality to be able to convince a potential employer that they should hire you over the other job seekers out there. As a result of all of this, I suspect that the only positions that may be offered to you are the ones that nobody else wants.

You might be better off considering another occupation here in Taiwan, or looking for teaching opportunities in countries that don't have these employment criteria.

[TaoyuanSteve]

I agree with the above.

You will not be able to obtain legal employment as an English teacher because you do meet the criteria: native speaker of English from a country where English is the national language. Also, you indicate you are not a holder of a BA degree. The lack of the degree, as already mentioned, could be worked around (somewhat) if you you were a native speaker from one of the approved countries. In that case, some employers would still want to hire you, but you'd have to pay for language courses and use 'student' as your excuse for being in the country. However, in your particular case, you have too many strikes against you. You'd find getting work to be very difficult and you'd be reduced to trying to string together part time hours to make it here. It likely isn't worth it for you to come here.

[Waldorf Salad]

Peter,

Finding work as a non-native speaker is no problem at all. Working legally without the right passport and a degree is going to be very difficult, although nothing is impossible in Taiwan. I've known quite a lot of non-native speakers throughout the years who worked as much as they wanted. More important is your appearance. If you're white, you'll have a job in no time (and even if you're not white you can find something, I know of two Philippinos teaching English here). Few schools will ask for your passport anyway. You could lie about it and tell them you're from a native speaking country, but I don't think that's necessary. 95% of the schools in Taiwan are 'Mickey Mouse schools' that couldn't care less where you are from (especially here in the south). They just want a white face to keep the parents happy. Forget about working for the bigger chains like ELSI and Hess. They usually only do things legally. But there are tons of smaller schools that need a teacher for 6 hours or 10 hours or whatever. You'll find work there very quickly.

[wood]

[Waldorf Salad]

[TaoyuanSteve]

[Waldorf Salad]

You said getting work will be very difficult. That's nonsense. Getting work will be a piece of cake. Whether the original poster is willing to travel to different schools and accept the disadvantages of working illegally or not is up to him. I assume he is old and wise enough to decide what he wants to do. I'm only saying that I've known people from Holland, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, India, Brazil, the Philippines and Thailand who happily taught English here. I have to say that I prefer my current situation with work visa and stable hours, but doing it the other way is really no big deal.

[TaoyuanSteve]

[Waldorf Salad]

[PETERKM]

GREAT!
Thank you people this was very useful.
Yes, I am actually white.
I also understand my ineligibility for a legal employment.
For an Eastern European the term 'stable lifestyle' is a bit vague anyway.
Yes Steve, I agree we are all different.
Your input it�s greatly appreciated.

How often will I need to extend my tourist visa ones in Taiwan and do I really need to pay for Chinese lessons to be able to do it?

Cheers

[Waldorf Salad]

You can either fly to HK every two months and get a new tourist visa or sign up for Chinese classes and stay for six months.
What are your plans? Do you want to stay in Taiwan for a long time?

[PETERKM]

I intend to stay for at least 6 months.
I�ll be arriving at the beginning of February because I was told that this is when the second term starts.
What�s better money wise: HK every two months or Chinese classes?Would you recommend Kaohsiung? Which school employs not natives?
I met a guy here in London who said Kaohsiung was busy and polluted.
This doesn�t bother me much.

Cheers

[Waldorf Salad]