If Ironlady says that it’s possible English is your first language I will have to admit that probably it is, especially as the last post seems a lot more native. Really, I’m sorry, but also left wondering why you want to teach English if it isn’t really your thing. Do you plan to teach conversation classes or what exactly?
well well well
Have you dealt with native-speaking high school grads/ college age kids lately? In many cases their “English” levels aren’t exactly going to get them 800 on the TOEFL except that it’s multiple choice.
[Thanks for erasing your original post “Ironlady, come off it” – very honest of you.]
That’s the issue that almost everyone who spends more than a year or two in Taiwan eventually faces. Some go home and do more education; some stay on in Taiwan and resign themselves to English teaching or editing for life; some go into “foreigner-approved” jobs like translation (a limited number as per government tolerance), or do radio broadcasting/voiceovers and so forth; others get full work rights and do…whatever. Hopefully some of those will chime in.
[quote=“ironlady”]FWIW the English doesn’t read as terribly non-native to me, it reads as a 20-something native speaker. “Those young people,” you know.
To answer the poster’s question: post-graduate study will not get you work rights.
You can’t get work rights if you are in a situation where you have to do “visa runs”. You should search for “permanent residency” because that is the only situation – other than the elusive Article 51 work permits, another fruitful search string – which will get you real work rights.
For an Article 51, last I knew you needed minimum 5 years on a valid ARC. Time on a visitor’s visa doesn’t count, and mind you don’t interrupt your 5 years on ARC.
For residence, I think it’s 7 years if you’re not married to a Taiwanese national.
I might ask, though – why are you so convinced that you want to live in Taiwan long-term and work? If you don’t speak Chinese and presumably haven’t been to Taiwan yet, what’s the attraction? Tough getting jobs at home, or is there something more?[/quote]
Ok thanks again ironlady, yes I am 20 something. 
WIth the last bit, I have been to taiwan several times now. I’m currently here and it’s I think my 5th time over the past 2 years. I’ve been coming pretty much every 6 months for the past 2 years, the things we do to try make a long distance relationship last. :help:
But that’s ended now unfortunately but i’ll keep fighting for her.
I have really enjoyed Taiwan, Taipei in particular is my kind of city.
I do hope to return to taiwan in 2-3 years time and live there maybe for the rest of life maybe not but I imagine i’ll be here for quite a while.
Thanks again for your help 
Why the assumptions about someone’s Real life English abilities, based only on their internet posts? Cyberspace is a strange genre, where people are typing posts rapidly, making typing errors left and right and generally not producing their most pollished works (nor should they be). If people want to teach English (or not), one shouldn’t make any assumptions about their ability to do so based on what they write here.
It’s ok 
, though I must admit I was a bit baffled when you started saying I wasn’t a native english speaker, haha. It’s the music, they never speak good english these days… hehe.
Well the thing is i’m not totally sure if english teaching is my thing or not as i’ve not done it yet. One thing i’m sure of is that I like Taipei.
When I first move there I imagine I wll be teaching english to begin with (first 5 or so years; guessing) but in the end I would like to pursue my major.
His writing didn’t strike me as sloppy or careless so much as non-native. It still does pretty much. In response to Ironlady’s question though, no, I haven’t had to deal with 20 somethings lately so maybe I’m way off.
?
To repeat what Bob said, who were you refering to as a pig and why?
I’m sorry, you’re right. Having posted it, I should have left it there.
I posted a message which was cynical about the OP’s bona fides. His English usage and unexplained 5 trips to Taiwan, together with the facts that he actually sent PMs to users called ratbrain and ratlung, or claimed to have done, and that he is unsure, in his final years at uni, whether to change his subject to biochemistry, commerce or at all, made me feel that we were dealing with a Taiwanese student prankster.
The tone and style of the postings have now changed quite fundamentally. I think I know what has happened, but I don’t want to get involved in a debate which cannot be resolved either way. If I’m wrong, I apologize, if I’m right, I don’t especially care… that was why I deleted the post.
[quote=“ironlady”][quote=“NotLikeYou”]
ANd the last thing is, although it might suffice in Taiwan to be an English teacher without an education degree (any recognised Bachelors degree is good enough) I don’t think it would get me far if I wanted to move back to Australia one day. If I end up majoring in commerce I would like to eventually get a job in this sector in Taiwan then if I return to Australia later in life at least I will have experience as opposed to just being an English teacher and then deciding to return and have no experience in my major that I did x amount of years ago.
[/quote]
That’s the issue that almost everyone who spends more than a year or two in Taiwan eventually faces. Some go home and do more education; some stay on in Taiwan and resign themselves to English teaching or editing for life; some go into “foreigner-approved” jobs like translation (a limited number as per government tolerance), or do radio broadcasting/voiceovers and so forth; others get full work rights and do…whatever. Hopefully some of those will chime in.[/quote]
I guess you stayed? And you teach? THere is a girl i’ve loved for the past 4 years here and if things are right when I move here then i’m sure we will marry, but if she’s already moved on (getting married) then I don’t know. Provided I could get an open work permit or nationality there then my best bet would be to work in an international company for commerce rather then a local one do you agree?
That is all
I’m sorry, you’re right. Having posted it, I should have left it there.
I posted a message which was cynical about the OP’s bona fides. His English usage and unexplained 5 trips to Taiwan, together with the facts that he actually sent PMs to users called ratbrain and ratlung, or claimed to have done, and that he is unsure, in his final years at uni, whether to change his subject to biochemistry, commerce or at all, made me feel that we were dealing with a Taiwanese student prankster.
The tone and style of the postings have now changed quite fundamentally. I think I know what has happened, but I don’t want to get involved in a debate which cannot be resolved either way. If I’m wrong, I apologize, if I’m right, I don’t especially care… that was why I deleted the post.[/quote]
Yes I admit my first few posts were very poor, i’ve had a lot on my mind and wast just typing it as it comes out, many thoughts came out during those posts, i’ve hit a big patch of uncertainty at this moment in time and I aren’t sure what the situation is in Taiwan on many things career wise.
But since this forum is full of people that have lived in Taiwan for many years I came here to find out some information about moving to Taiwan.
I already know I like the place. And for my 5 unexplained trips to Taiwan, well I never explained them because I didn’t feel they were relevant but I have recently said they were because of a long distance relationship.
Overall I guess I just think too much… or so i’m told by my friends.
“The tone and style of the postings have now changed quite fundamentally. I think I know what has happened, but I don’t want to get involved in a debate which cannot be resolved either way.”
Just out of curiousity do you mind telling me what you think has happened? If not then that’s fine.
THat is all.
No, I didn’t stay – well, I stayed quite a while, but now I’m back in the US. And I taught until I racked up my 5 years, then went out on an Article 51 permit to translate and interpret. It’s tricky to manage the Article 51s however since most employers have never heard of them, and the CLA is not consistent in interpreting their own regulations.
Easier in my case though since I’ve been translating since 1987 and my time in Taiwan only improved my professional qualifications in the eyes of my customers in the US. For many careers, that isn’t the case, so you need to be mindful. Personally I finally left Taiwan largely because the feeling of never having secure residency (unless you marry a Taiwanese, and then your residence is only as secure as your marriage, I suppose) or freedom to volunteer or do other things was unnerving. Hard to build your future if you don’t know if you’ll be tossed out or forced to radically change your lifestyle (i.e., go back to teaching which is the only “sure thing” job for a foreigner in Taiwan, pretty much) if the government decides it’s not going to renew your permit.
FWIW, I too thought that the OP was a non-native English user. And, also agree that his later posts were/are more “standard.” Then again, maybe he’s a member of a minority group that doesn’t use standard English - like twentysomethings in your English speaking country of choice. And, I admit that I am still skeptical of the OP’s story and origins. But, that’s neither here nor there, just wanted to chime in.
Bodo
Sorry, I didn’t read through the whole thread. I think there are some opportunities for bio-tech. Mm,not sure about commerce. if you want to do post-graduate study just do a google search for universities that have international programs. There is a university near me that has an international graduate program in bioscience (Chang Gung University), and i think there is one foreigner in that program. ha. Bigger schools are more likely to have more, maybe Academia Sinica has more. However, if you want to work in the bioindustry, they are most likely to snatch up PhD’s and post-docs. If you are not sure what you want to do, maybe you should try to do some kind of internship in Australia before you come over here. Why go through all the visa trouble for a job that you are not even sure about liking.
Academia Sinica: sinica.edu.tw/~tigp/
National Taiwan Normal University: ocf.ntnu.edu.tw/intocf/english/programs.html
Chang Gung: cgu.edu.tw/eng_introduce/eng_introduce.htm
and more:
internationaleducationmedia. … sities.htm
I should also add that if you are looking for info from non-english teachers, maybe post in a different forum because I never look in here…since i don’t teach english…haha
The hours involved in teaching are not really comparable to a normal job. The hours stated in most job ads are the hours you spend in the classroom teaching. There is also marking, preparation and administration (often unpaid) that is also part of the job. The exact amount of extra work can vary quite a bit from job to job though.
25 hours of teaching per week would be roughly equivalent to working a 40 hour per week job. It is possible to teach 40 hours a week but it will involve long hours and is not something you could really do sustainably.
dude, u can totally find jobs outside of teaching english if U R qualified for em.
I taught english legit for da ARC, and moonlighted (actually worked during da day) as a computer engineer during da day. With Biotech I;m not sure, perhaps TW gov is expanding into dat industry wid some companies but not sure. If you have the qualifications u can definitely work here, however u will need passable Chinese ( U can learn at some really cheap Chinese skulez near Taipei Main Station).
If U have a bachelors U need 2 yrs prior work experience for a legit ARC on your non-english job, 1 yr if u have a Masters and no work experience if you have a PhD. I left Taiwan after 1.5 yrs but keep going back for my gf…hopefully no more, gonna make her leave da island for once, you should try dat…
Actually, double check that, maybe with a Masters you no longer need any work experience either…they are always changing the rules, but you get the picture. If you find a company that’ll higher you (u need good qualificatioins, dont worry about the visa).
Check 104.com.tw, have a chinese reader help you there, its do-able, especially if U R willing to work for low-wages, (outside of Englihs teaching, the wages suk) i.e. 50% of an english teacher’s salary…
Here’s my chiming-in:
I came to Taiwan as a self-employed representative of my own UK company (which you can read about here: forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?t=43055). My bread and butter income comes from a mixture of import/export, consultancy contracts and music production/engineering.
However, I’ve never been particularly enamoured by the business lifestyle and saw it as a way out of childhood poverty. To cut a long story short, I’m selling off a lot of the business to study medicine and eventually practise here in Taiwan.
There are ways to do all manner of interesting things in Taiwan if you approach the problem creatively, know your place and have a very long fuse.
As ironlady mentions, the one thing that keeps me on my toes is the constant threat of deportation or visa cancellation. When my current three year ARC expires, I am at the mercy of my local government police bureau. Regulations and laws are so vague that I often wonder if my early morning crap is a legal activity on my visa. I fully intend to apply for citizenship after the requisite five years, but the threat of my all-important first extension being denied hangs over me like Damocles’ sword. Besides, at the end of my medical training I doubt I will have a pot to piddle in and will not be able to pass the asset requirements.
From what you have said, perhaps postgrad study is your best bet. I forget what exactly the Ministry of Education has to say on the matter, but you are allowed to work legally up to a number of hours each week once you have studied for a certain length of time.
[quote=“ironlady”]
That’s the issue that almost everyone who spends more than a year or two in Taiwan eventually faces. Some go home and do more education; some stay on in Taiwan and resign themselves to English teaching or editing for life; some go into “foreigner-approved” jobs like translation (a limited number as per government tolerance), or do radio broadcasting/voiceovers and so forth; others get full work rights and do…whatever. Hopefully some of those will chime in.[/quote]