Hello everyone, I am a soon to be college graduate graduating with a Master of Education in May 2024. My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Arts degree for English Language and Literature. I am currently looking for English teaching jobs in Taipei, and I am taking a course to get TEFL certified at the moment. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on some of the schools I am looking at right now- Shane English School, Stanford American Language School, Wanfu English, Neurolink English Academy, Tree House Academy, Wego Private School, Hsinchu International Academy, and the governmentâs Taiwan Foreign Teacher English Program. I am interested in hearing from anyone who has recently worked at one of these schools and/or is in the application process with them about the quality of these places.
While I would prefer somewhere that would let me live in a Taipei apartment, Iâm open to being in areas close to Taipei as long as I can live comfortably in a clean apartment with amenities such as electricity, running water, and wi-fi.
Itâs a bit of a lottery but if you get a decent public school, itâs definitely better in my opinion. The advantage of cram school is that you typically get fewer hours so you can be more flexible with your time.
Public schools will be full time schedule. It also means you only get time off twice a year basically (plus public holidays). You still work through the summer and winter vacation but you can only use annual leave in either of those times. Most schools wonât tolerate you taking time off outside the summer or winter.
A Masters in education doesnât typically qualify someone to teach in their own country, which is a requirement for the government schools. However, there is a supply/demand issue so they will often accept a substitute teaching license, which in some places (Iâm thinking here some states in the US) is easy to get. If you can get a substitute teaching license easily where you are, Iâd suggest that
You donât need a masters in education to work public schools you need a teachers license or a substitute license but I think only American sub licenses are accepted
Yes, that was my point, the masters isnât as helpful as a sub license. Even a PhD in Education from my home country doesnât certify me to teach in my home country!
I didnât know only US sub licenses were accepted, that would be useful info if true (original poster hasnât told us where they are)
I know for a fact us sub licenses are accepted because I got my sub license and then got my full teaching license. For a minute when my license was set to expire, the school was worried they wouldnât be able to resign my contact, but after I showed that my sub license was still active, it was no problem.
You can buy a sub license for the state of Illinois. It has no requirements except having a bachelorâs degree, submitting a background check and paying a fee
I was wrong, you donât need the background check, only to send official transcripts from your bachelors degree and to pay the fee of course. ($50 fee)
Yikes. Most of those schools are cram schools, so be aware that if you care at all about anything youâve learned in the course of getting your masters degree, you will want to curl up in a ball and die before your first class has even started if you work at them. They are not educational institutions, but rather babysitting services. This includes any day schools that are private. Itâs very telling when a school requires teachers to have âone year of cram school teaching or equivalentâ or, even better âa teaching license OR permanent residency through marriage or workâ. Donât go near those schools. They are all jokes and charge parents insane amounts of money for their children to go to them but will pay you pathetically low.
If youâre American and can get a sub license, of the schools youâve listed, the FET program is the least likely to give you unnecessary amounts of hassle and frustration, but you can search for the things Iâve posted to know that I donât think very highly of anything related to English education here. The public schools just canât get away with law breaking the way private ones can. The only reason Iâve stayed as long as I have is that I established my entire adult social life in Taiwan and teaching still pays the bills. But the âWTFâ moments Iâve dealt with are insane compared to what Iâve seen in US schools (maybe I just had the best possible opportunities in the US?). As someone who actually cares about what actually works in the world of education, itâs a constant struggle to put up with the utter stupidity of 99.9% of people in charge.
Whatever you do, when you get your contract, make sure you have absolutely everything, to excess, in your contract. Leave nothing out. How many hours will you be teaching? When is your prep time? What time do you need to arrive? What time can you go home? When are school breaks? Do you have off during school breaks? Make sure thatâs in there! I was at a job where I found out after I booked my flight home for a break that the other teachers planned to come in every day, even though that time off was something I had specifically quadruple checked was in the contract before I signed. So my colleagues were just stupid, but I could have been in a bad spot if my contract wasnât clear. If there is expected desk warming, when?Can you go for walks or go out to buy coffee when youâre not teaching? Are there clubs they expect you to run? If so, what clubs and at what additional pay? Is there funding for the club? If not, how are you supposed to run the club properly? Note that in experimental schools there should be a 1:10 ratio of adults to students (by law). Make sure thereâs something in the contract that reinforces this, as you could well end up with just yourself and a hundred wildly out of control, no idea what discipline is children and be held accountable when they inevitably do something insanely stupid. Also, make sure that you have in your contract the classes youâre going to teach. If youâre an English teacher, are you teaching English or are they going to have you teach PE or art or music or another subject you are in no way qualified to teach? When I say âask every questionâ I do mean ask every question and make sure the answer is clearly written in your contract.
Youâll live and learn, but thatâs about all I can say here. Just search my username and read all my rants to understand moređ. PM me if you have specific questions that you donât think should be posted on a public forum.
Hello, and thank you for the information. Yes, I am an American and based on what everyone has told me- FT seems like my best bet. I was a little concerned about getting a substitute license from Illinois, since thatâs not the state Iâm from. Is it possible for me to get a substitute teaching license from the state I currently reside in instead? I can start to look into that.
Would it be too late to apply for FT? Iâm concerned because I know after Lunar New Year is the best time- Iâve been working on other apps, but I would like to send out the app for this one this weekend since it seems like my best bet. Does anyone have recommendations forâŚany other reputable schools to apply for? The state of English teaching seems rather dire, but I really do want to come over.
You donât need an Illinois-issued drivers license to apply?
And this substitute license allows Americans to teach as a full-time English teacher in public schools in Taiwan? What about other subjects (in English)?
Yeah, it is a crazy loophole, but there are posters on here who have done it:
I figure it is because they canât get enough fully certified teachers for their needs with what they pay, so this way they get a âcertifiedâ teacher without having to raise the pay. 99 times out of 100 it probably doesnât make a difference, anyways.
If someone has a degree in music, probably they can teach music. The government is pushing EMI but again they donât have the capacity because of bureaucratic and human resources issues. It would depend on the school offering other things in English and not having someone else who wants to teach the course, and probably teaching English classes would still be required to fill that void. In this case OP has an English major undergrad, so it doesnât matter
And connections. I took a curious look at the NSTC website today to see if there was anything interesting. I did click on a few language jobs and they all required PhD. Getting the job without a PhD seems possible but difficultâŚ