Job Discussion Forums

[IamHenry]

Hi,

This is my very first post and would just want to know more about teaching in Taiwan. I just graduated from college (took an extra quarter) and am now in search of what to do. Right now, I am looking to teach English abroad, specifically to Taiwan. I know that the market is bad, but the job economy isn't too much better, so I thought I could expand my options.

I applied to two recruiting programs, but only got into one. The one I got into is more focused on Korea and mainland China, while the one I got rejected from was focused solely on Taiwan (Hess).

I've done only some research about Taiwan and teaching abroad so I know a bit about it, but still not very much.

Because I really want to go to Taiwan (Taipei especially), I would like to ask for some advice on what I should be doing, and some practical steps to getting there. As you can see, I have signed up for Dave's ESL Cafe, as well as Forumosa and Tealit, but have yet to do much in it.

In short, I am asking for some important information I should know about teaching English in Taiwan, some steps I should take to finding teaching jobs, certain requirements I should get ready for, and any other input that may be helpful for a first-timer.

Thanks for reading,
Henry

[surrealia]

I suggest you read some of the articles here:

http://www.geocities.com/allhou/taiwan.htm

These articles are written by experienced teachers who can tell you what to look out for, and what steps you should take when looking for work.

[yamahuh]

[citylightsruralcalm]

In this situation, a search engine like Google is your best choice. Just type in "teaching English in Taiwan", click, find a job post, send your cover letter/resume that portrays you as a people-person, curious, and adaptable. Also, you'll need to purchase your ticket yourself and bring at least 1,500 US $ for your first month - outside Taipei, 2K-3 in Taipei - survival money. That's it, if you got some people skills, a diploma, and half a braincell in your head, you'll be aight.

[BigWally]

[yamahuh]

Well to be honest I find the search function to be pretty much a waste of time myself. I mean try typing in 'Taiwan Average Wage' and see what you get.
2650 matches / 53 pages; at least the first page of which has absolutely nothing to do with the topic from what I can see after a quick scan.

That being said threads that ask vague or poorly considered questions are equally as frustrating. Most people here don't mind helping out but at least show us that you've put some thought into the topic beyond just "Hey, I wonder what teaching in Taiwan is like?".

[BigWally]

Fair enough, I mean I know the search function is less than perfect...BUT...searching for "newbie questions" returns 191 results, and several threads with 20+ posts (ie. a healthy discussion)

I just think that a lot of people are being lazy, and not putting in the effort to find answers for themselves. I spent 1-2 months on this board just reading posts before I made my first post, so I could make educated questions about specific things.

Anyway, I digress. Sorry if this thread is being hijacked.

[yamahuh]

I agree with you Big Wally.

Typing in the correct search keywords narrows the results considerably but sometimes people don't know how to search efficiently i.e me.

[Jared]

[yamahuh]

So far as I know there is no restriction on what kind of diploma you have ... just that you have one in combination with some sort of a Tesl certificate.

Now, I will admit to perhaps jumping the gun with my previous post and so I must apologise.
I am not 100% sure that a college diploma plus tesl certificate is adequate to qualify you for a work permit / ARC but I am sure that an associate diploma (issued by a University) is OK.
I thought a college dip was OK but can't find anything to support my argument right now.
Apologies if I misled anybody.

If you have a Uni degree then the Tesl cert requirement goes out the window but it's not a bad thing to have anyways.