Teaching English in Kindergartens

Legal Legal - Work
,
1

Hello. My name is Paul Carr. I’m a newbie here. I arrived in Taiwan on the 23rd of March. I’m looking for full-time work here. I am a university graduate and have a TEFL certificate. I worked on mainland China for 2 and a half years as an English language teacher. I’m looking for a year long contract job. I’m finding it difficult to find something suitable or maybe it’s just that I’m not looking hard enough.

I have some questions.

  1. I understand it is illegal for foreigners to work in kindergartens. I was however offered a job where I would teach English to young kids aged 3 to 6 in the morning and older kids 6 to 11 in the afternoon. Would this sort of job be illegal? I presume teaching kids aged 3 to 6 is illegal? I’d be grateful for any clarification on this issue. I don’t want to work in an illegal job.

  2. I am in Taipei at the moment. I was offered another part time job in Taipei. The school would however sponsor the ARC and work permit for me. I would work, I think, 3 classes/hours a day, 3 days a week. Each hour is 600 Taiwan dollars. I was wondering what is a living monthly wage in Taipei? How much can I survive on? How much is it to rent an apartment for example?

Thank you.

Paul Carr

2

If you don’t want to work illegally, that rules out kindergarten work.
Also, if an employer is providing you with an ARC, the government requires him to provide a minimum number of hours. I think it might be 14/week. Certainly a lot more than 9. NT$600/hour sounds about right.

3

[quote=“sandman”]If you don’t want to work illegally, that rules out kindergarten work.
Also, if an employer is providing you with an ARC, the government requires him to provide a minimum number of hours. I think it might be 14/week. Certainly a lot more than 9. NT$600/hour sounds about right.[/quote]

Hi sandman,

Thank you for your reply. Does 14 hours a week, NT$600 an hour provide a comfortable wage to live in Taipei? How much is it to rent an apartment?

4

Depends on what you consider comfortable. I pay NT$20k a month for my place and earn a little over NT$100k a month. Its not enough for my taste but its OK I guess.
If you’re willing to share an apartment you could pay a lot less, though. Maybe as low as NT$5,000 - NT$8,000 per month.

5

[quote=“paulcarr”][quote=“sandman”]If you don’t want to work illegally, that rules out kindergarten work.
Also, if an employer is providing you with an ARC, the government requires him to provide a minimum number of hours. I think it might be 14/week. Certainly a lot more than 9. NT$600/hour sounds about right.[/quote]

Hi sandman,

Thank you for your reply. Does 14 hours a week, NT$600 an hour provide a comfortable wage to live in Taipei? How much is it to rent an apartment?[/quote]

I’m not a bald, grumpy Scot but I’ll wade in here:

No, the income you refer to would be a bit low. You could scrape by but you’d soon feel chronically miserable, not being able to go out to pubs or buy stuff, let alone save money.

Rent varies from rooms in a shared place (6-10,000 NT per month) to a place of your own (12,000-25,000 and up). Food is not bad here: Street food and resto meals from 50NT to 300NT and up. My basic rule of thumb is 1000 NTD per day for food transpo and entertainment + rent and utlities + 5,000 for other purchases + any vacation or savings goals. This works out to about 45,000 NT + savings / vacation. Some people are really smart with money and might be able to shave that down to 40,000.

TAX: you’ll be taxed at 20% for the first 6 months, so your income will not be exactly as you expect. BTW, you need the ARC sponsor’s permission and paperwork to legally work at another job.

A nice round figure to shoot for in Taipei is 60,000 a month. That’s comfortable and you can save a bit as well. 45-50,000 of real take home pay is doable. Less than that is not very sustainable.

Good luck!

BTW, better not work in a kindergarten. You could get caught and deported, although the hybrid kindy-buxibans are a bit safer. Final piece of advice: don’t work for a school unless someone you trust says its a good school. Better to have more than one person say it’s OK. There are lots of unscrupulous owners here who will take advantage of a greenhorn.

6

[quote=“paulcarr”][quote=“sandman”]If you don’t want to work illegally, that rules out kindergarten work.
Also, if an employer is providing you with an ARC, the government requires him to provide a minimum number of hours. I think it might be 14/week. Certainly a lot more than 9. NT$600/hour sounds about right.[/quote]

Hi sandman,

Thank you for your reply. Does 14 hours a week, NT$600 an hour provide a comfortable wage to live in Taipei? How much is it to rent an apartment?[/quote]

Students receive a 30K scholarship and live. Taiwanese make 25K and live. It depends on your own expenses and tastes and such.

As Sandman says, it would be better to share an apartment. You wil have someone to show you teh ropes and share the expenses. Housing entails rent, utilities -including garbage bags, maybe building maintenance costs,- maybe pitching in for cable and/or Internet. Plus personal expenses such as national insurance -obligatory after 4 months that kicks in. So factor all these into your calculations so you won’t be too tight if you choose to live by yourself. A furnished studio goes for like 12 or 15K. You can save a bit if you move to the suburbs.

Nowadays jobs are tight and hours short. Remember to inquire if you are required to do office hours or other extra out of class work.

7

What percentage of those Taiwanese making 25K/month would you guess are still living with their parents? A fairly large percentage, I’d wager. I’d also guess that many of the students on scholarships here don’t depend on them exclusively for their survival.

8

Taiwanese middle management only averages $40K/month.

9

And I’m wondering what percentage of those people also are still living with their parents, or benefiting from their parents’ benevolence in the form of say, having bought a home for them to live in.

An expat’s economics are completely different from a local’s…

10

[quote=“sandman”]If you don’t want to work illegally, that rules out kindergarten work.
Also, if an employer is providing you with an ARC, the government requires him to provide a minimum number of hours. I think it might be 14/week. Certainly a lot more than 9. NT$600/hour sounds about right.[/quote]

Most schools will just lie to the government when they need a teacher and cannot offer 14 hours a week. So, yes many schools will get a foreign teacher a ARC for less than 14 hours a week.

11

That is not true. You do not need the other school’s permission to get a second job. Any legally registered buxiban can apply for a work permit on their own.

12

And I’m wondering what percentage of those people also are still living with their parents, or benefiting from their parents’ benevolence in the form of say, having bought a home for them to live in.

An expat’s economics are completely different from a local’s…[/quote]

True, but my wife and I each earn around that and we do fine together. Sure, we’d like more, and probably will get more as a couple of new projects kick in, but $80K combined is okay. I figure most TW couples in their 30s-40s would be in a similar situation.

And now we’re completely off-topic. :smiley:

For a newbie teacher who wants to get out, have fun, go clubbing etc, then it’s unlikely to be enough.

13

[quote=“cfimages”]True, but my wife and I each earn around that and we do fine together. Sure, we’d like more, and probably will get more as a couple of new projects kick in, but $80K combined is okay. I figure most TW couples in their 30s-40s would be in a similar situation.

And now we’re completely off-topic. :smiley:

For a newbie teacher who wants to get out, have fun, go clubbing etc, then it’s unlikely to be enough.[/quote]
Not really off topic, since the OP was asking about how much money he would need to survive. At the rate of pay and hours of work scheduled, the OP would have a hard time surviving, let alone getting out and having fun.

And I have to apologize, but comparing locals’ economics with expats’ kinda pushes my buttons, as there is no comparison. We don’t live with our parents well into our careers, allowing us to amass a fair savings. Our parents aren’t buying homes for us or transferring the maximum allowed before tax kicks in, into accounts with our names on it to leave as an inheritance. I know not all locals have this cushion to fall back on, but those I’ve met mostly do.

So to the OP, if you need to support yourself, including be able to get home once in a while, and want to live in something larger than a box, shoot for 50K+ per month. (Just a ballpark, depending on your lifestyle.)

14

That is not true. You do not need the other school’s permission to get a second job. Any legally registered buxiban can apply for a work permit on their own.[/quote]

Are you sure? When did that change?

15

That is not true. You do not need the other school’s permission to get a second job. Any legally registered buxiban can apply for a work permit on their own.[/quote]

Are you sure? When did that change?[/quote]
It’s been that way for the 5 years I’ve been here.

16

Hi Folks,

Thank you all for your replies. Forumosa is a fount of good information.

Just to confirm. The minimum number of hours that a school providing an ARC must provide by law is 14 hours a week?

I guess I should aim for a $60K per month job. I presume this is before tax.

I wouldn’t mind living in a shared apartment to bring my costs down. So long as I have my own private room to sleep in.

17

If you are working outside of Taipei you can get your own apartment for 8,000 to 10,000.

I live in Taipei and only pay 8000 for a rooftop apartment.

18

That is not true. You do not need the other school’s permission to get a second job. Any legally registered buxiban can apply for a work permit on their own.[/quote]

Are you sure? When did that change?[/quote]

Considering I have two legal jobs, I am sure! The second school never asked the first school for permission.

19

That is not true. You do not need the other school’s permission to get a second job. Any legally registered buxiban can apply for a work permit on their own.[/quote]

Are you sure? When did that change?[/quote]
It’s been that way for the 5 years I’ve been here.[/quote]
Quite right. The rules regarding work permits et al changed about five years back.

Not sure if it’s 14 or 16, but there is a 14/16 hour minimum. However, as another poster said, they just tell the government you work 14/16 hours a week and you get a work permit. You shouldn’t get in trouble for that. The only thing they come to check for is if you have a work permit and then they usually ask how many hours you work at the school. Just make sure your answer is the same as what your school told the Dept. of Labour.
Also, you don’t need your ARC schools permission for a second (or third) work permit at another school, but your second school does need to contact your ARC school for a document when they apply for your second work permit and to talk about how many hours your first school has gotten your initial work permit for. Why? Because foreign teachers are only permitted to work a maximum of 32 hours a week. So regardless of how many work permits you have, altogether they cannot equal more than 32 hours/week.
Also, even if you work for a chain school like Hess, Giraffe or Sesame Street, you need work permits for each branch you work at. That law came in about two years ago.

Also, almost every teacher I now atm has more than one school. It’s pretty tough to find one school nowadays with enough hours for you. You should shoot for about 25 hours a week. Less than that, it gets tricky financially.

Best of luck.

20

Thanks steelersman and bismarck for your feedback.

If I work at two branches of hess for example, I’d have to have a work permit for each?

Today, this Taiwanese guy rang me. He apparently wanted me to teach him English private one-on-one. I told him that I just arrived in Taiwan and I only had a 90 day landing visa and I told him that I didn’t think I should teach him even in an informal one-on-one session because I’d break the Taiwanese law. He commented that I was very careful about following the rules. Was I wrong here? Am I being too careful? Mind you, until such time as I can find a suitable job or jobs, I could do with some spare cash.

Also, regarding my initial inquiry, why are foreigners not permitted to teach in kindergartens in Taiwan? I was told that there is no such prohibition in South Korea for example. Were there some… unfortunate incidents involving foreigners that caused public outrage in Taiwan?

As I understand it, the process of being legally employed in Taiwan involves first getting the health check. If that goes well, then, I get a entry visa, then I get the work permit and finally I get the ARC. Am I right on the sequence here?

I’m sorry for asking too many questions.

Best Wishes,

Paul Carr