Hi there, this website was recommended to me by a teacher in Taiwan.
I plan to fly to Taiwan on a 90-day no-visa stay, for tourism. I’ve been told this prevents paperwork problems when I want a visa extension to seek work.
I’ve been looking for jobs on 104 and tealit, and I’ve had offers, doing interviews etc.
One school in Taipei wants me to sign a contract for NT$54k/month, but it’s so low for Taipei where I assume cost of living is quite high.
I’ve had better offers, but they’re naturally less pushy for me to sign quickly, and would prefer to meet in person first.
So, my plan is to travel to the schools first, before signing with a school.
I hope people could offer me advice. I’d probably need to keep suitcases in a hotel room as i seek jobs.
What are affordable hotels in Taipei and Tainan? Are they sage to leave my luggage in?
How does public transport work, what’s an affordable way to travel to various cities?
I’d be flying in from HK, so maybe I’d get a hotel in Tainan. I worry I might get scammed or run into trouble, coz I only speak a few hundred words Chinese, maybe not enough.
Anyway, that’s my story, I hope people there can answer my burning questions or offer advice I need. Thanks for reading!
You only want to teach in Taipei? If so, you won’t be saving much money if at all on a beginners’ salary, given the capital’s high costs everywhere. Maybe consider Taichung, Tainan, or Kaohsiung.
Most if not all hotels will allow you to leave your luggage there for a few days. Obviously, you don’t leave any valuables. You’ll even see some of them with a special room where the suitcases are with owners names on them. Shouldn’t be an issue.
Cheapest way to travel between cities is either by bus (you can easily find city-to-city buses near any city’s train station) or by TRA. HSR is not what you want to take to save money.
Affordable hotels in Tainan or Taipei? Some others may chime in, but I’m guessing you can even find prices yourself via Internet.
Tainan is AAA baseball. Taipei is the show. Use Google earth to find where the Elementary and Jr. High schools are. Take a taxi or walk to those areas after 15:30 any weekday. Most cram schools are around those schools. Go door to door handing out your resume and showing your face. Don’t sign anything until you’ve done a week of this. After 21:30, hang around the 7/11 or FamilyMarts in those areas. Don’t be seen drinking beer there, yet. Your face is your resume. The area cram school foreigners will be stopping by to pick up their after work medicine. They likely won’t talk to you, but you can try. Invaluable information can be gained by plying foreigners with beer.
Edit:
Get yourself comfortable with some kind of fun vocabulary game that you can insert into any situation/school. You might be asked to do a demo class on the spot. Happy kids in boring classrooms are your goal. Don’t do demos as they are illegal .
Great advice all round. Especially the “flyering”: I may visit schools unannounced. Hanging around 7/11s in the hope to meet local teachers seems a bit cringe tbh.
I have heard that the 7/11 is very important in Taiwan, like a post office. One school in Penghu said you can pay all your utilities there etc.
Demos are illegal? That sure complicates things!
I’ll have some form of presentation ready. I won’t call it a demo.
The risk to you is that you won’t have a work permit yet. That risk, however, is extremely small. You should expect that the school will ask you to do a demo. If you aren’t comfortable giving one then I think it will make things difficult for you during your job search. I would say, don’t let them record it.
Lol, reinforcing negative stereotypes about laowai is fun.
On that topic, I taught in Mainland for several years. Back in 2015 before it took a turn for the worse. I’m hoping the Taiwanese locals are a bit less horrible. Are the children better behaved?
Anyone able to compare?
I read about the traffic stuff already. I’m more worried about negative interactions, people making trouble, etc.
