Well, I feel like a bit of an ass for asking so much and being able to contribute so little, but any help would be greatly appreciated.
I’d like to teach English in Taiwan after I get my BS both for the experience as a whole and to pay off student loan debts before returning to complete an MS, and then probably going back for good. But there are some things I should get set straight as soon as possible to avoid unpleasant surprises.
I understand that you need a Bachelor’s Degree, which I will have by then. However, I am majoring in Computer Science for my BS. Not very English education-y, and I see that a lot of job offerings prefer you to have a BA. However, I am a paid assistant in my school’s ESL lab. So I already have a fair amount of experience with English as second language education and they all really like the job I do. But I don’t know how much that really elevates you above other applicants. What are some undergraduate elective classes that would be good for me take, and what certificates should I get? TEFL or what else…
Also, how strong should your Chinese be before you go? The grammar and speaking part of Chinese is not so bad. But reading, writing and of course listening is much harder. One of the reasons I wanted to teach English is so I could learn Chinese in the process. I’m still worried about achieving literacy … I imagine that it will take me ten years to have a good command of traditional characters given a reasonable effort. So how will I make it in a country being functionally illiterate for so long?
I have a CS BSc too, and no school has ever batted an eyelid at it. They want it because it’s a legal requirement to get you a work permit, not because they care about your qualifications.
If you have any ESL experience at all, you’re already better qualified than most people when they first come here (including me – I had none at all, and was terrified of children and of speaking in public).
And if you can speak Chinese, you hardly ever need to read it in daily life, except maybe menus.
I mean … do they care about qualifications in general? What are the best choices I can make wrt certs and whatnot, or do those matter?
Ah, cool, so I simply need to give references to my supervisor and coworkers?
[quote=“Brendon”]And if you can speak Chinese, you hardly ever need to read it in daily life, except maybe menus.
You’ll be fine.[/quote]
Alright. I just want to be a good, well-integrated member of the society. It is appreciated. Yesterday, I was sitting with my friend from Jilin in mainland China and an acquaintance who is also from China. They were bullshitting each other and I at one point I said “Ta tai tiao ti” about the acquaintance. She was very surprised to hear this!
I mean … do they care about qualifications in general? What are the best choices I can make wrt certs and whatnot, or do those matter?
Ah, cool, so I simply need to give references to my supervisor and coworkers?
[quote=“Brendon”]And if you can speak Chinese, you hardly ever need to read it in daily life, except maybe menus.
You’ll be fine.[/quote]
Alright. I just want to be a good, well-integrated member of the society. It is appreciated. Yesterday, I was sitting with my friend from Jilin in mainland China and an acquaintance who is also from China. They were bullshitting each other and I at one point I said “Ta tai tiao ti” about the acquaintance. She was very surprised to hear this!
And thank you, btw.[/quote]As Brendon said, you’ll be fine. How can I put it… at entry level at least, it’s not really a very “professional” job situation here. The only paper qualifications you need are a passport from a recognised English-speaking country, and your degree certificate. And that really is enough to get you in the door to most chain schools and many individual cram schools here.
You seem to have quite a serious attitude to your teaching and to learning Chinese and “integrating” here, which will stand you in good stead. Taiwanese people really seem to appreciate that. However, from an earnings point of view this probably won’t make any difference. The average wage for teaching here is fairly standard, and to get much above that requires experience gained here, contacts, and a bit of luck.
Thank you. Understood. I trust the USA is a recognized English-speaking country.
So do mainland Chinese and, as far as I can tell, many of their neighbors to the south.
As long as I can save ~$800 a month, that’s not a problem.
If I may digress a little in this thread, since I don’t want to spam up the forum for every stupid question I have, what would I have to do to get a ‘real’ job? I am training in computer science and electrical engineering, if it helps. Or maybe I’ll simply figure that out when the time is right.
Well, there are threads about this already. And in fact it’s probably better to post in a different thread for a different subject.
But, briefly, to get a work permit in a technical field, you need relevant work experience. That’s supposed to be two years’ experience AFTER graduating for those with a Bachelor’s (one year for a Master’s). There seems to be a certain amount of flexibility in what can count as relevant work experience. Even if the connection is not immediately obvious from previous job titles, if you can show that what you did was helpful or relevant to the job you’re applying for, you’re in with a chance.
EDIT - I notice several people vocally insisting that teaching English in Taiwan is a bad idea. While depreciation of the currency is an understandable concern, I see plenty of job postings for 50k+ NTD a month + benefits with a quick Google search. Do they have a point or are they really just complaining?
