Hey guys, I’m a Brit who’s married to a Taiwanese lady and is living here on a JFRV.
I work a few different jobs. Some online work, I also teach music at a couple of music stores.
I’m making do, but the quality of life isn’t amazing due to to limited income and I’m looking at options for some extra part time work.
Unfortunately with teaching music there’s a limit to how many students I can get because I have to teach in English,
as much as my Mandarin is coming along it’s a far cry from being able to teach music to non English speakers at the level I’d want to.
My main professional background is in commercial printing which, again, is only of use here if you can speak Mandarin fluently.
I’d be looking for 10-15 hours a week and am wondering if teaching English is a potential option for me.
My main reservation is the fact that I don’t have a degree which seems to be top of the list of requirements for any teaching position.
I went into work at 17 and have been a full time guy my whole life up until I came to Taiwan.
I’ve done what research I can on the forum and there seems to be statements going both ways, from don’t even bother trying you uneducated goblin to it doesn’t even matter because the JARV
negates the need for an ARC.
Normally in this situation I’d simply just start applying for jobs - I’ve gotten positions in the past that on paper I didn’t qualify for by just because I tried my luck and things went my way.
However if I pursue this route, I’d need to get a TEFL cert so I’m confident in my own ability and I’d have to invest some time into developing my teaching ‘chops’ before applying for jobs.
So obviously I don’t want to invest that time if teaching English is totally out of the question for me.
My understanding is that the degree is needed to get the work permit and visa. That isn’t an issue for you, so you should be able to teach legally as long as a school is willing to hire you.
Having open work rights puts you in the same boat as locals (with very few exceptions) but still doesn’t make all jobs available to you.
To teach at a “school”, you need a teaching license.
To teach at a kindergarten, you need to be a qualified “educare provider”.
To teach at a buxiban, apparently nothing is needed.
I assume universities also have certain requirements (I’ve never checked), but maybe they can arrange for paid guest lecturers from time to time, without the same requirements.
A kindergarten can get in trouble for having English lessons, but music lessons should be kosher. Teaching students that age, in Mandarin, wouldn’t require advanced vocabulary. But if the education department considers you unqualified, it can fine you.
Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it.
Yeah I definitely appreciate that I wont have my pick of the litter in terms of where I could work and that it’ll be tough.
As long as it’s possible for me to get at least something it would be worth my time pursuing. It would be a really great to give me that breathing room until my mandarin is good enough to where I can possibly bump music teaching up to full time, or even do something else entirely.
I spent sometime reading the horror stories on the ‘blacklist of schools’ thread earlier - which would definitely make me think twice if I was pursuing this as a lifelong career.
But as the hours I want are so low I think I’d be able to just lean on the ropes and take whatever rights and lefts come my way. The time I’d be investing into improving my English teaching ability may passively translate into making me a better music teacher too.
