I plan on going to Taiwan soon after I earn my BA in June 2005. My primary goal is to study Chinese, and my secondary goal is to teach English. Here’re my plans:
Plan A
Get a language scholarship from the MOE. Get accepted to a university language center that waives my tuition in exchange for tutoring English at the uni. Live frugally. Learn lots.
Plan B
Teach English fulltime and study Chinese on the side. Send money home to mum. Live frugally. Learn a bit.
I still have many months to refine these plans, but I want to be prepared and keep my options open. I may stay for a year or more, giving time for one of the above plans to shift into the other. I want to do it all legally.Trying to sort out getting a visa has me baffled.
Can I get a work permit and work visa for the summer months and then shift to a student visa for the fall?
Can I shift from a student visa to a work visa?
Can I arrive in Taiwan and then find a job teaching English with the aim to stay longterm and without ever having to do a visa run?
Are the rules on getting a visa likely to change before I arrive 6 months from now?
[quote=“CaliBorn”]I plan on going to Taiwan soon after I earn my BA in June 2005. My primary goal is to study Chinese, and my secondary goal is to teach English. Here’re my plans:
Plan A
Get a language scholarship from the MOE. Get accepted to a university language center that waives my tuition in exchange for tutoring English at the uni. Live frugally. Learn lots.
Plan B
Teach English fulltime and study Chinese on the side. Send money home to mum. Live frugally. Learn a bit.
I still have many months to refine these plans, but I want to be prepared and keep my options open. I may stay for a year or more, giving time for one of the above plans to shift into the other. I want to do it all legally.Trying to sort out getting a visa has me baffled.
Can I get a work permit and work visa for the summer months and then shift to a student visa for the fall?
Can I shift from a student visa to a work visa?
Can I arrive in Taiwan and then find a job teaching English with the aim to stay longterm and without ever having to do a visa run?
Are the rules on getting a visa likely to change before I arrive 6 months from now?
Am I posting this in the right forum?
Any help will be appreciated. [/quote]
Plan A… Teaching at Uni requires a masters or PHD.
Plan B… yes, get your job & ARC, learn Chinese.
Search the forums for visa and work permit issues. The rules, they are always a changing lol
Plan A
Get a language scholarship from the MOE. Get accepted to a university language center that waives my tuition in exchange for tutoring English at the uni. Live frugally. Learn lots.
[/quote]
Plan A… Teaching at Uni requires a masters or PHD.
[/quote]
…yes, teaching proper. But I did see a program at National Tsing Hua University that offered a chance to tutor english to foreign grads and undergrads who are enrolled in their Chinese study program. It wasn’t a salaried position.
Plan 5: Work your a** off, save money and then just study Mandarin, every day, all day.
Plan 7: Get a Scholarship (should be easy enough) and live off it or add like 4 to 6 hours a week teaching. Works fine.
You need to decide if you’re coming here to make money or to learn Mandarin.
If it’s for Mandarin, don’t choose Taipei; go to Ilan or some of the smaller cities where the cost of living is low and people would speak to you in Taiwanese Mandarin – which is a lot better then them using English.
Plan 5.7u: go to the Mainland and learn mainland Mandarin at dirt cheap quality schools.
I think plan B might suit you better than you think. Get a job that offer 20-25 hour a week. Be selective. Find a job that also offers an apartment or subsidized housing. This will save you money and trouble. Make sure you are getting the ARC and Visa throught the school. Time your arrive for July. That’s when most buxibans start their new school year. Be selective. Stay out of Taipei. As wonderful a city as it is, it is expensive. Schools outside of Taipei also offer more perks. Stay away from the chain schools unless you know somebody who works at the same school in the same city. Be selective. There are a lot of schools out there.
If you work 20-25 hours you will have plenty of time to take private lessons.
Go to the open markets and small stores and actually try to talk to people. You will learn a lot just by trying to deal with people.
If you still feel you want to be a student it is not that difficult to change your visa. As long as the school you work for offers you an ARC you will not have to make a visa run. Keep your eye on the forum. There are a lot of people who will keep making suggestions and giving adivce.
