I am emigrating from the UK to Taiwan in the next 6 months and I am browsing job vacancies in TEFL teaching. in the past 7 or so years, I have an FdA, BA & MA in English as well as a CELTA certificate. I have also taught on a voluntary internship in Thailand, volunteered teaching in Beijing and taught full-time in Poland. Finally, I have had two years teaching experience in the UK in higher education teaching second-language learners the English language. I also have a CertHe in Chinese Studies! not that it means much at all in the TEFL industry. I am not QTS qualified and will not be able to obtain it before leaving (though I have tried extremely in the past 12 months or so to a find a viable route into it.)
In Taiwan, I know that teaching positions are commonly TWD$600 - TWD$700 per hour. Sometimes the salaries can be monthly from around TWD$40,000 - TWD$70,000 per month.
I am definitely not at entry-level salary grade given the information above, but I know I am not at the highest grade either. So I am unsure how to sell myself when it comes to an interview with a recruiter or a direct school at the interview stage. At an initial estimate, Iâd say I would be between TWD$50,000 - TWD$60,000, but I obviously need guidance on this estimate.
I am not just going to Taiwan for a holiday for some âonce in a lifetime chance of teaching experienceâ. I will be going for the long-run and never plan on living in the UK again, so I want to make sure I get this as accurate as possible. If location matters, I am looking at either Taipei or Taichung initially (or wherever the Judo scene is in Taiwan !).
For the first few years in Taiwan, I am considering saving to study a PGCert in Education studies or a DELTA online, and alongside one of these, I will be studying a level 7 diploma in education management (internationally recognised). So I hope that in time, my salary will increase with in-house experience, more qualifications and performing well in my job role. But as a starting point, I want to make sure I am starting with the most realistic and accurate salary according to my present qualifications and experience given in my first paragraph.
If anyone has experience with negotiating Taiwanese salaries in the TEFL industry, Iâd be grateful for some advice.
Much higher. That is for people who are backpackers with no degree or a useless degree and no teaching license.
Woah! very low!!!
That typically doesnât work out in Taiwan. Once on a low salary⊠always on one until you switch jobs. (even then if they find out you were paid low⊠they will do the same.)
Iâd say 80,000+ for full time elementary/high school jobs
50-60K for cram school jobs
I can imagine I will live quite comfortably on 60,000 until the internshipâs end, and then find a possible higher-paying job at another school/company. But the internship route is mainly to have help with visas, flights, accommodation hunting mainly as the support will be helpful rather than doing it all alone.
Depends how you live. Just donât expect much, especially in the city.
Flights can be had for cheap from the UK (30,000 ntd return) and working visas are really painless to get even without experience.
As a UK citizen you can get 3 months (extendable to 6) before having to either switch to a working visa or doing a visa run. - even a kindergarten or buxiban can sponsor you easily for a visa. Itâs only a few hundred NTD for them.
Donât come here just for a low paid internship. Do your PGCE in the UK and get it over with before coming. Once youâre already settled here⊠it will become fairly difficult to go back to complete the practicals
I canât do a PGCE. I need my maths qualification and I have dyscalculia. I have had tutors in the past and tried to pass it, but I cannot. the government is strict on this and no other qualification can be substituted. In Brexitlandâs eyes, I have to have maths skills to specialise and teach the English language. One of the many reasons why I want out of here.
The math on the PGCE test is basic math that is specifically needed for a full time teacher. So I do suggest trying harder with that as those skills will be important. - You need those skills to effectively manage your class, create lesson plans, manage time etcâŠ
Another option could be to complete an education degree in Taiwan. All schools here (including public) accept that in lieu of a teachers license and you donât have to do the equivalent exam as a foreigner in Taiwan.
I have basic maths skills, but GCSE Maths in the UK is not basic. In GCSE Maths, you must be competent in Algebra, probability trees and scatter graph data. This is not basic.
I never thought about doing an Education degree in Taiwan die to the costs.
Youâd almost certainly get a scholarship plus stipend if you applied to study for a masterâs in applied linguistics in a Taiwanese university. Youâd then also be able to teach part time twenty hours a week. You should be able to pull in a bare minimum of 60k a month.
Thatâs a non issue as a foreigner in Taiwan. They want their universities to be more international and will give almost any foreigner a scholarship with a stipend
Sorry but that wasnât my experience. I graduated just last year from an international program in Taipei, and of my 14 fellow international students, only one was getting a scholarship or stipend of any kind.
Yes, I do, I have TOCFL level 5. But that didnât matter, no scholarships were even available to us; itâs not that they existed and we just didnât qualify. The only one we could apply for was a tuition reduction, but all of us (except the one I mentioned before who is from a MOFA country) were rejected on grounds of the university not having enough money.
My Mandarin level is approximately at HSK 3 level. I know this is not TOCFL as when I studied my CertHe in Chinese Studies, only mainland Mandarin was availableâŠdidnât stop me from learning traditional characters in my own time though! and I immediately dropped the Beijinger âaaarrrrrrrâ in my kouyu. But I am a bit of a Polyglot. So if there are any intensive TOCFL courses Iâd be happy to study. Teaching Mandarin as a foreign language is something Iâm open to in the distant future.
Does linguistics come with Taiwanese teacher status afterwards? My biggest motivation if I was to study in Taiwan would be to achieve this. Though I am very fond of Linguistics.
!).