Job Discussion Forums

[luckycharm4me]

Hi,

I have a question for anyone who is currently teaching in Taiwan.
I have MFA and BA from U.S. I am considering going to TW to teach ESL.
I have taught computer graphic for about 7 yrs in a small college in California.

Question #1

I have looked at many job board ( i.e craigslist.com ), most of them
indicated that TESL certification is optional. My question is that does
it matter whether I acquire the certification prior seeking such position?

Question #2

If I have such certification would it pay better? higher starting rate?

Question #3

I was born in TW, but I was raised in the states. I am able to speak English without "accent ". Would they consider me to be "native" English speaker? I also heard that if you have "western face", you would get pay better. Is there any truth in that?
I do speak Chinese and Taiwanese, would this be a disadvantage when
it comes to seeking ESL position since now there is a stress on total immersion. Would I be better off if I pretend I am not fluent in Chinese?

Question #4

Currently there is no standard on TESL certification. What is the most
"popular'' or "reliable" certification process? Which is widely acceptable in TW? Which would be the most economical? Any pointers?

Question #5

I don't really care to works with kids. What is teaching the professional ( adults ) in TW like? Are they more difficult than teaching kids?

Question #6

Would there be any sort of office politic in teaching ESL? If you have
good feedback from students, would you need to care about the
office personal?

Thanks a Million......


W

[babar6789]

TESOL certificates are worthless in Taiwan and won't affect your salary, whether kids or adults.

Regarding your ethnicity. I had a Taiwanese/American friend who was racially abused at work and generally treated like crap because of her ethnicity. She was really thick skinned/naive though and managed to survive her contract but wasn't offered a second year. That was with a certain buxiban. I also know a Maylaysian/ NZ girl who was hounded out of her job at the same company.

I don't recommend teaching adults in Taiwan, at least not in Taichung. The company I worked for had an unstructured curriculum and a high workload. I couldn't handle teaching 7 classes a day from scratch but I know others were ok with it. Might be easier to get a job with adults though.

[Mr. White]

[housecat]

[quote="Mr. White"][quote="babar6789"]TESOL certificates are worthless in Taiwan and won't affect your salary, whether kids or adults. [/quote]

I thought the British Council and Shane English School both require a TEFL qualification. Both teach adults and kids.

From what I know, both of these schools are for teachers that really want to teach and who want to be left alone on the classroom to get on with their job. The British Council is non-profit and salaries are said to be good.[/quote]

I don't know about the British Council, but Shane is just another cram school chain, as far as I know. There may be a couple of chains out there now that are requiring a TESOL, but there are many hundreds of jobs out there that don't require them.

To the O.P., all the "ABC" teacher's I met in Taiwan complained of having a difficult time with the locals if they couldn't speak Mandarine. Guess you will not have that problem, but you do have a little trouble with native English, just judging by your post. And I don't mean to be judgemental! That will really not be the problem if you find a boss, and there are many, who doesn't speak English at all. However, usually those bosses only want to hire the white big noses.

The second thing most Taiwanese Americans I met complained about was trouble getting hired, or being paid less than their white American counterparts.

Hope this post is helpful to you. You sound like you're really overqualified for the Taiwanese ESL market. Why don't you look at finding a job at a Taiwanese unversity. You'd be teaching adults, you might get to teach computer-whatever-you-said-you-were-teachingn in the States, and it might be easier to get hired. You might even make better money. Usually, uni jobs pay about the same as buxiban, but you work fewer hours--and they MIGHT be less likley to try to pay you less for your local look.

[markholmes]

Kojen (www.kojenenglish.com) has ABCs, CBCs working for them. They didn't get paid less.

[Mr. White]

[housecat]

[quote="Mr. White"][quote="housecat"] You sound like you're really overqualified for the Taiwanese ESL market. Why don't you look at finding a job at a Taiwanese unversity. [/quote]
So let me get this straight. The OP seems to lack native speaker ability, makes no mention of ever teaching English before and has no formal ESL training. Yet somehow you think the OP is��.wait for it��OVERQUALIFIED for the Taiwanese ESL market.

Please explain, as right now I am thinking that is one of the stupidest things I have read in a while.[/quote]

The OP says he's educated at an MA level and has been teaching uni courses. According to the Taiwanese government's requirements, he's overqualidied for most jobs. Not that he would not be hired, just that he has more education and teaching experience than the Taiwanese governmnet requires, and indeed more than education and teaching experience than most foreigners have when they first venture into Taiwan.

Yes, I do realize that none of that means that he can teach. Most foreign teachers in Taiwan can't teach, especially when they first arrive. I'm not passing judgement in any form about any aspect of this post. Just stating facts. Also, he has uni experience, so I thought he might consider staying in a more adult environment. Teaching kids can be very fun and rewarding, but it's not for everyone.

I'm sure you're a fine teacher. Maybe you're even qualified to teach. But if you've been in Taiwan for very long, you should be aware that what passes for teaching in most buxibans really could be accomplished by a trained chimp. The OP, even with problematic English, sounded like he had more going for him that aiming at the bottom of the barrel.

[enoch83]

i agree, i think he's probably overqualified for most normal ESL jobs. teaching experience doesnt matter much here. i got hired at a company that usually only takes teachers with at least one year exp IN taiwan, and i had no experience, just a good interview. if he can speak fluent mandarin/taiwanese, he could probably get a "real" job, or do translation work or something with more pay. TEFL certs arent usually required, just a degree.