Having now discovered the majority of jobs listed on Tealit are technically illegal (kindergartens, “pre-elementary school”), does anyone knows if there’s a possibility to find a legal position that is essentially part-time, something at or just over the minimum 14 hours required to apply for a work permit and ARC.
Also to make things that much more difficult…I have 0 experience with teaching, however I believe I meet the minimum requirements to become a teacher (Over 20 years old, British passport, 3-year degree, clean criminal record).
I’ve been staying in Taiwan for some time living off savings, spending my time working on my Chinese and other things. I’d now like to find a teaching job to spare myself the visa runs, feel more secure when it comes to my health, and also to start working towards the five years required to apply for an APRC as I’d like to be here long term.
If it’s highly doubtful that a sub-20 hour work week is achievable with everything above board legally speaking, does anyone have any tips for looking at full-time job postings online to see if they’re above board? Anything to look out for? As I said I’m hopefully here for the long haul so I do not want to jeopardize my future here, no matter how small the risk.
no reply from English teachers yet, so there may be not so much ways to find a job except for tealit or words from friends.
The majority may be kindergartens, but not all. So, maybe you need to apply to those few ones on the list.
I think most jobs of regular schools are ok. If they have kindergarten, you may want to make sure you will not be asked to teach at kinder. Just before starting new semester, they often make a last minute call. The chance of a first year teacher might not be small.
In your position I would apply with the chain schools that only require a bachelor’s or associates plus TEFL qual. - HESS, Giraffe, Gloria etc. Once you get a job just turn down extra teaching hours. To be honest you’re unlikely to get much more than 20 a week anyway to start with, unless they send you out to a successful school. If they do then you can turn down the extra hours, which might annoy the school owner (particularly if it’s a franchisee).
Question: why do you want or need a teaching position that is less than 20 hours? Why can’t you work more than that? Being more flexible would certainly help your options, especially since you have no teaching experience.
Thanks for your reply! do these big chains always send you to a randomly chosen school or city or do you have a say in which area you would like to be? I wasn’t sure if this was only something they do with people that applied in their own country before coming to Taiwan.
I definitely have to stay in Taipei/New Taipei so that’s what deters me from these, plus all the horror stories you hear about them don’t help. I’d appreciate the training I’ve heard some of these provide, but not all the unpaid hours and multiple events they make their teachers do.
It’s really just a matter of wanting more free time to focus on my own studies and spending time with my girlfriend, her hours are bad enough that I don’t see her all that much as it is.
Also as I’m a first time teacher I would like to test the waters a bit, if I found I liked it then I would ask for more hours or in the second year find a job with more hours. If I hated it, then 14-16 hours a week while painful, it’s not going to kill me and will be good character building.
If you use my link I will be happy to give you tips and help with the interview process.
Best of luck, we were all noobs once.
Of course any other NA native speakers of English are welcome to apply. (No, Mexican nationals are not eligible, o matter how good your English is or how long you’ve lived in the US, sorry!)
Considering that OP is in Taiwan, does not have an APRC, and (wisely) wants to avoid kindergarten for legal reasons, that advice doesn’t match the disclaimer you made before about open work rights.
I’m not sure. I would guess that if you are already in Taiwan you can choose a preferred area to work in - but you’d need to ask them directly. I seem to recall HESS giving new starts a choice of three locations, but those were people applying from outside Taiwan.
