Teach English w/o a passport from 1 of 'the 7 countries'?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
41

That’s half the fun of the forum these days. :slight_smile:

I have an Irishmate who has a teaching visa, although he does get fired occasionally because he doesn’t have the right accent. Ireland is not on the official list, but I expect the MoE have not yet caught up with the political realities. (Small island republic overshadowed by a larger neighbour struggles for recognition by Taiwan!!)

An educated cloggie, sorry Netherlander, probably has a more ‘standard’ accent than many native speakers. And a better formal education in the nuances of grammar, but how can the powers that be determine a candidate’s eligibility? Far better to allow some Russian with a Canadian passport, or a Quebecker for that matter, to come in no-questions-asked than to actually come up with some meaningful measure of suitability.

Dankje, I noticed that your OP contained fewer mistakes or questionable thingies than a lot of the stuff you see here. If you can find an employer who actually takes notice of these things then you should be OK. If not then being tall and blonde might be the best attribute to rely on.

(If you’re one of those vivacious black girls I’ve seen in NL then you may be unemployable here, but you can come and sleep on my couch.)

42

[quote=“irishstu”]Not Ireland? :s (serious question)[/quote]Someone posted the rule a little while ago that went like: you can only get a work permit teaching an official language of the country your passport is from. So amazingly, Irishes are allowed to teach English.

43

Interesting. According to wikipedia, English is an official language in a lot of countries.

[quote] Rank Country (= de facto official language) Population[1]
1 India 1,103,600,000
2 United States 300,007,997
3 Pakistan 162,419,946
4 Nigeria 128,771,988
5 Philippines 87,857,473
6 United Kingdom* 60,441,457
7 South Africa 44,344,136
8 Kenya 33,829,590
9 Canada 32,300,000
10 Uganda 27,269,482
11 Ghana 21,029,853
12 Australia* 20,300,000
13 Sri Lanka 20,064,776
14 Cameroon 16,380,005
15 Zimbabwe 12,746,990
16 Malawi 12,158,924
17 Zambia 11,261,795
18 Rwanda 8,440,820
19 Hong Kong [2] 6,898,686
20 Sierra Leone 6,017,643
21 Papua New Guinea 5,545,268
22 Singapore 4,425,720
23 Republic of Ireland 4,130,700
24 New Zealand* 4,108,561
25 Puerto Rico 3,912,054
26 Liberia 3,482,211
27 Jamaica 2,731,832
28 Namibia 2,030,692
29 Lesotho 1,867,035
30 Botswana 1,640,115
31 The Gambia 1,593,256
32 Mauritius 1,230,602
33 Swaziland 1,173,900
34 Trinidad and Tobago 1,088,644
35 Fiji 893,354
36 Guyana 765,283
37 Solomon Islands 538,032
38 Malta 398,534
39 The Bahamas 301,790
40 Belize 279,457
41 Barbados 279,254
42 Vanuatu 205,754
43 Guam 168,564
44 Saint Lucia 166,312
45 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 117,534
46 U.S. Virgin Islands 108,708
47 Micronesia, Federated States of 108,105
48 Kiribati 103,092
49 Jersey 90,812
50 Grenada 89,502
51 Seychelles 81,188
52 Northern Mariana Islands 80,801
53 Isle of Man 75,049
54 Dominica 69,029
55 Antigua and Barbuda 68,722
56 Bermuda 65,365
57 Guernsey 65,228
58 American Samoa 64,869
59 Marshall Islands 59,071
60 Cayman Islands 44,270
61 Saint Kitts and Nevis 38,958
62 Gibraltar 27,884
63 British Virgin Islands 22,643
64 Cook Islands 21,388
65 Turks and Caicos Islands 20,556
66 Palau 20,303
67 Anguilla 13,254
68 Montserrat 9,341
69 Saint Helena 7,460
70 Falkland Islands 2,967
71 Norfolk Island 1,828
72 Christmas Island [3] 1,600
73 Pitcairn Islands 67
[/quote]

44

Interesting. According to wikipedia, English is an official language in a lot of countries.

[/quote][/quote]

And all 73 of them speak more English than Taiwan. That’s true Matthew, but the government has a list of which countries it considers to produce native speakers. You can bet there aren’t any Pakistani work permit holders (Speak out, if I’m wrong). Trying to find a link, but can’t find anything on the list of which countries are considered to be native speakers.

45

I have an ARC to teach English on a Republic of Ireland passport. It was no problem. It’s funny how often it’s left off the list of accepted countries of native speakers, though. :frowning:

www.buxiban.com/Legislationview.asp?cde … itmcde=325 (Ireland not included)
wikitravel.org/en/Taiwan (Ireland included)

46

[quote=“Paddy Joe”]I have an ARC to teach English on a Republic of Ireland passport. It was no problem. It’s funny how often it’s left off the list of accepted countries of native speakers, though. :frowning:

www.buxiban.com/Legislationview.asp?cde … itmcde=325 (Ireland not included)
wikitravel.org/en/Taiwan (Ireland included)[/quote]
I honestly think this is because so many government officials here think Ireland is part of England. Because I know some people from Ireland who are teaching English legally with a work permit. But I’ve never met anyone from other English-speaking countries that are not on the official list teaching legally with a work permit. For example, Jamaica, the Bahamas. Not only is English the officail language, but it’s the only language, unlike Pakistan, etc.

47

Hi everybody!

My question is pretty simple: If I’m canadian (from Quebec) but English is not my first language, do you think I still have a chance to find a job as an English teacher in Taiwan? My English is really good, but I don’t think I can say that I’m native-like. I have a BA (4 year program) in TESL and I have taught English at the high school level in Quebec and at the Universtity level in Mexico for a total of 5 years. Now, all I can think about is Taiwan but I’m scared to be refused. What do you think? Anybody from Quebec in my situation out there? And if it’s not possible for me to teach English, do you think I could teach French (my native language)???

Please let me know!!!

48

You should have no problem getting a job teaching English.
You have all the qualifications required by the Taiwanese government - you need to be a national of a country that the Taiwanese government recognizes as English-speaking (Canada, the U.S.A., the U.K., South Africa, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) and you have to have a university degree.
You’re not a native speaker, but lots of the foreign English teachers here aren’t either - even many of the legal ones. At the school I used to work for, all of the foreign teachers were legal, but about half were not actually native speakers of English: we had several American teachers who had been born in Taiwan and whose first language was Chinese or Taiwanese, one Canadian whose first language was French, several South Africans who were native speakers of Afrikaans, and some Americans who were immigrants.

Add to that the fact that most bosses are not good enough at English themselves to tell whether you’re a native speaker or not - and in any case most of them also don’t care, since a blue-eyed, blond-haired European who can’t speak English will bring in more money from the parents than a well-educated African-American with perfect English - just as an example.

49

Hello!

I have been looking here and there but couldn’t find the answer to this one in the boards where I looked.

Is there any place where we can look to see what is regarded by the Ministry of Education as a “native English speaker” in terms of countries? I have heard that it’s only the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, but I would really like the official info. Which countries’ citizenship entails “native English speaker” status? What about India and Singapore? Other countries? This question has recently come up, and I don’t want to speak blindly.

Sorry about the quotation marks. I’m an American. :;):

50

Ireland also, and that’s it. Not India. DEFINITELY not Singapore!

51

Hey Sandman,

Thanks for that clarification, but where did you see this? I mean, it is apparently common knowledge, but where did you find this knowledge? :slight_smile:

52

It is hidden in regulations established by the MOE, so old they seem lost in time. FRom a very interesting research paper:

[quote]The Ministry Of Education (MOE) would only consider teachers whose native
language is English to teach in elementary schools. Teachers from the Philippines
and India are not native English speakers and their mother tongues are other
languages. The MOE so far only considers hiring teachers from the US, Canada,
4
the UK and Australia.[/quote]

http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~gopric/garethlangbar.pdf

53

That’s right, so it is, cos we speak superb English in Norn Iron so we do and that there like. B’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas!

54

That’s right, so it is, cos we speak superb English in Norn Iron so we do and that there like. B’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas, b’taidas![/quote]

and so do we in Mancunia

“Am off down town fer sum mushie peas and a fant-O” Notice the subtle hard “o” sound like you would hear in the name “Oscar” when describing the drink “fanta”.

55

Nay lad, ya donna wan musshi uns theyal gi ya runs. Nah Yorksha pud dhat be reat gud grub

56

My husband wants to come and teach English in Taiwan. He has a CELTA qualification, but is not from a recognized English-speaking country, although his English is native-speaker level because of his family. So a few questions:

  • Can anyone advise whether the CELTA qualification (and his university degree) would be enough to get him a teaching visa?
  • Also, would the CELTA qualification be an advantage in the job market?
  • How much might you expect someone with this combination of qualifications to earn in Taiwan (hourly / daily / annually)?
  • My husband taught English at a language school in South Africa, as well as privately. Would letters of reference from the school be counted positively as experience, or would schools only be interested in experience within Taiwan? Are there any other documents you would recommend that he bring?
  • Do you know whether I and our daughter could stay in Taiwan on the basis of his teaching visa (if he would be eligible for one?)

Many thanks!!!

57

You need to be a passport holder from a recognised country to get a work permit to teach English.

58

Wow - that would really scupper our plan completely! Would the fact that he’s married to me (a Brit) help? Is there any way he could work legally as a teacher without a teaching permit?! His CELTA from South Africa, if it helps…

59

Wow - that would really scupper our plan completely! Would the fact that he’s married to me (a Brit) help? [/quote]

Afraid not. Unless of course he has a British passport.

60

Wow - that would really scupper our plan completely! Would the fact that he’s married to me (a Brit) help? Is there any way he could work legally as a teacher without a teaching permit?! His CELTA from South Africa, if it helps…[/quote]

No, I don’t think so, unless rules have changed recently. They’re really strict about it. Sorry to bring bad news.