Job Discussion Forums

[maggie00]

Hello there,

I am interested in teaching English in China or Taiwan, but I wonder what my chances are as a non-native speaker both in terms of visa requirements and job prospects.

I am a Dutch national and I have a CELTA certificate and a BA in translation (English and Mandarin Chinese).

I read somewhere that to in order to get a visa for teaching English in either two countries, you have to be a GB, US, CA, AU, NZ or IR passport holder. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Furthermore, what are the job prospects for non-native speakers of English for finding teaching jobs?

Thanks!

[Chris_Crossley]

I would say fairly good, but that depends upon which country you want to go to and which kind of school you want to teach in.

I worked for EF in Wuhan, China, for two years. During this time, we had a French girl teaching English full-time for a year, but she had had the advantages both of living in Edinburgh, Scotland, for six years and of possessing native-speaker fluency in English, not to mention an Edinburgh accent! We also had a Romanian girl come to the school at weekends to teach children exclusively.

However, the public primary school, where I now teach, has a strict policy of employing native speakers from anglophone countries exclusively. The reason for this is that the parents of the children, who are based in the so-called "International Department" of the school, pay extra money for their little darlings to be taught English by native-speakers (as well as to have lessons until 7.00 p.m. every day from Monday to Thursday).

You might therefore find that some schools (in China, at least) will be happy to accept non-native speakers of English, but you may have to shop around to find them. I am unsure, however, as to whether any school would admit openly in their publicity that they accept non-native speakers as teachers, as they want to expose their students to "authentic" native-speaker accents. If you don't have one (like the French girl I mentioned), you may find it difficult to find work, but, as shown by these examples, it is not impossible (in China).

Good luck!

[mike w]

It shouldn't be a big problem. I already employ two French and one Dutch and one Filipino teachers, and some of our other schools also have Russian teachers. If you are fluent, and your native accent isn't too strong, you should be OK.

PM me if you would like some more information,

Good luck.

[kev7161]

We have teachers from all over the world at my school. It's been wonderful getting to know people from these places. I'm not sure if all of them can claim that English is their first language but they seemed to have mastered the language quite well. I think you will find a job - - you may be rejected here and there, but there are schools that don't have that strict "USA-Canada-England-Australia" stance.

[nolefan]

I agree with what the other folks have posted so far. It is very doable in China but I am not sure about Taiwan. I know of plenty non native speakers teaching all over the country in both private and public schools.
Aa a matter of facts, one of the other universities in Tangshan just hired a guy from Belgium to teach their English majors.
Even the EF branch in town has 3 deutch folks on their team

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I know in Taiwan, South Aficans are having a hard time, even though many of them speak native (or near native) English.

Consider that....

[7969]

i was in taiwan last year, and there were plenty of south africans teaching there. admittedly i only met one of them, but spoke to others who worked with them or who hired them. the one problem they might encounter is getting paid at the same hourly rate in taiwan.

[nativespeaker1]

[quote="mike w"]It shouldn't be a big problem. I already employ two French and one Dutch and one Filipino teachers, and some of our other schools also have Russian teachers. If you are fluent, and your native accent isn't too strong, you should be OK.



Possibly because most competent native speakers of English are not willing to tolerate Delter Telfort's abysmal pay and substandard conditions?

[Nauczyciel]

Hi Maggie00,

This subject has been discussed more than once on this forum, so just search it for "non-native" and you'll get a dozen or so results. This visa thing is sheer nonsense. With your EU citizenship, CELTA, and language proficiency you'll find a job in China easily (not sure about Taiwan, but why do you want to live on this small, crowded and polluted island?). I am a Pole with a BA in English from a Polish university, but without any TEFL certificate, which proved to be no obstacle last year when I taught English in the Middle Kingdom. Next year I want to come back there and guess what - I replied to 5 ads last weekend and got 3 serious responses, not from any cowboy schools, but from respectable institutions. Now I have to check them inside out to make sure there'll be no unpleasant surprises and I can start booking tickets for February.

I'm sure you'll be OK. No doubt about that!