Chances are you will be “interviewing” for jobs within 48 hours of arrival. If you are presentable, articulate, and have an outgoing personality, you’ll find that there is always plenty of work.
The business card is more of a social tool, and a resource to use when trying to line up private students. People often put things like “English Consultant” on their cards, but I’d be tempted to keep it simple if I were you. Getting cards printed up is cheap and fast in Taiwan. It’s not a big deal at all to get more done up as your circumstances evolve.
Keep in mind that it is technically illegal to work for anyone (including yourself as a private teacher) but the company who sponsors your work permit/residence visa, and chances are they won’t be motivated to set you up with a school sponsored business card until you have a position of responsibility in their system, like Teacher-Trainer, or Acadmeic Director (these positions usually require years of experience/seniority).
So, your business card will be all about your freelance work. You will be surprised how many of your Taiwanese friends and students will seek you out as a private teacher or introduce you to people. The question then becomes, how much private teaching can you handle (I always found it to be VERY tedious), and can you fit the privates into your legal work schedule in such a way that you aren’t spending half of your day rushing all over town.
Two pieces of advice, if you will allow me:
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The Formosa Hostel is generally regarded as the best hostel to use in Taipei, but a lot will depend on who is in residence when you move in. My advice is to get yourself out of the hostel and into an apartment as soon as possible. Hostel life can lead to lots of partying, which can be fun, but if you are keen to really set yourself up for some serious work, and a tennable long-term existence in Taiwan, an apartment is the way to go.
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If you have limited, or no teaching experience - be honest with yourself, and admit that you need help. Help in the way of good teacher trainning, teachable syllabi, abundant supplemental material, and a cooperative culture in the teacher’s room. I guess what I’m trying to say is, do yourself a favor and contract with a big, reputible school to start out (say one or two years), so that you can learn how to be an effective teacher - even if you know full well that the pay that they offer is somewhat less than what’s on offer from a fly-by-night setup. There’s nothing worse than being a poser, who is only selling their native language skills, and hasn’t a clue how to manage a classroom, and really doesn’t understand their own language, espcially from a ESL students point of view. Trust me, there is quite a lot to learn at the begining and it pays to learn it from people who are professionals (and get paid as you go).
I don’t know that much about the kids market, but there are several well organised schools that would be good places to start. Several people who regularly post here are kids specialists so I think, if you asked, you’d probably get some up to date advice about the best kid schools to work for.
Personally, I wouldn’t go the kiddie route if I were you. I respect the work that good kids teachers do, but to me, being at the whim of a bunch of 8 year olds and their Mom’s is kind of degrading for a grown up. (No offense to kids teachers).
If you want to teach adults, and want to get a start with a company that has an excellent teacher trainning system, and tremendous resources, I suggest KoJen English (formerly ELSI, Taiwan). I have serious issues with the management of the chain, but I have to admit for a greenhorn teacher they offer an excellent place to start out. Pay is middle of the spectrum. Use them. Learn the ropes, copy their files, build up your own collection of winner teaching materials, and then in a year or at absolute most two, look into options that are available to you now that you have become a seasoned teacher. http://www.kojenenglish.com/
KoJen is certainly not the only option, so you’ll want to ask around. The key point being finding a reputable school with a solid infrastructure set up for helping native speakers become effective English teachers.
Good luck in Taiwan
See this old thread for some more on teaching privates:
[forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … t=privates](How can I get privates? (students, that is!)