Teaching ESL as a non-native speaker... Advice?

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

Hi everyone, I will be grateful for some advice.

Where and how a non-native speaker of English could find work teaching English in Taiwan? Are any particular schools less ‘fussy’ about someone being native? Should I apply speculatively to schools who list being a native speaker as a requirement or would that never work?
Obviously I do have a bit of an accent, not a very strong one, and a British person will be able to tell I am not native and say I was from Europe, however people who do not live in an English speaking country, and aren’t too fluent, are not usually able to tell.

About me:
I am not a native speaker of English, however I think I am as close to it as one can get - I hold a degree in English from a university in my home country. Right now I am working towards an LLB (Law) degree in Britain. I will graduate this summer, and then plan to move on to do a TESOL course offered at my current university.
I do not have any teaching experience. I have experience in marketing (PR) in the third sector in my home country. My reasons for relocating to Taiwan are personal: my other half wants to pursue career in engineering there. I am considering all options, I thought teaching would be a possibility, maybe something to start.

2

Unless your other half is a Taiwanese national and you get married, you can’t teach. Period!
You will not be able to get an arc without a passport from a recognised English speaking country.

3

[quote=“bigduke6”]Unless your other half is a Taiwanese national and you get married, you can’t teach. Period!
You will not be able to get an arc without a passport from a recognised English speaking country.[/quote]
This has been discussed here before and it is not entirely true. Be sure that you check if your country of origin is on the government’s list and even then it’s muddy waters.

4

Thanks for the replies so far, would love to hear more comments.
I am a Polish/German national. My other half is British/Italian, and we’re not the marrying types anyway;) (There is no time to wait another year until I can get naturalised as British either…)
These Taiwan prospects do not look great for me so far. I would really hate to become a Taiwan couch potato, watch Trisha/Oprah all day and get fat;)

So let me get this straight. There may be formal obstacles i.e. I am the wrong nationality and I may not be able to get the right paperwork from the government in order to be able to teach? Having read some previous threads, some people seemed to disagree and cited legislation. Others have mentioned encountering teachers from Turkey or Spain, which might mean someone occasionally gets through. “Muddy waters” I suppose.

Assuming the paperwork problem somehow got solved, what about schools themselves? I see “native speaker” requirement almost everywhere, I wonder if there are schools willing to take a more detailed look at a candidate?

And, exploring alternatives, do you have any comments on availability of junior corporate jobs in advertising (strategy, research, knowledge management) or in the legal field for people who don’t speak Mandarin?

5

Well you also will not get a resident visa from your partner. You have to be married as man & woman. Polish & Germanic passport holders are not accepted for Englished teaching. Maybe you could teach german

6

They are, but not for cram schooly, entry-level stuff, which is what she’s looking at as an entry-level EFLer. It’s an incredibly dumb policy, as not only do Polish and German speakers have excellent English, they know how to learn it, as well, which a huge percentage of native speaking teachers don’t. Notice how she wrote she was getting a TESOL cert? Most native speaking teachers don’t bother because Taiwanese people hire unqualified people simply because they have the right passport or are married to a Taiwanese person. I used to work with Polish and German English teachers in university in Britain, and they were great. Rant over.

You should come on a student visa. People on student visas are allowed to work a certain number of hours, after a qualifying period. You won’t make much money, but if you’re coming for personal reasons, it’s not the most important thing, perhaps? Studying Chinese in Taiwan isn’t exactly fun (do a search), but you will be here and doing something useful.

For other work, you need two years’ work experience, and you are just graduating so it’s unlikely you’d get far with that either, unfortunately.

7

This is a slightly modified version of a post I wrote in January of 2012. I don’t have any firsthand knowledge of the information below, but it might be worth checking out if you’re interested:

In joining the World Trade Organization, Taiwan seems to have agreed to allow the following:

[quote][color=#000080]Foreign legal assistant or consultant[/color]:
[color=#000080]assisting Chinese Taipei lawyers or AFLAs [Attorneys of Foreign Legal Affairs–my note, cj][/color] but not conducting litigation or providing other legal services under the assistant/consultant’s own name.[/quote]
wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc … add2_e.doc (an MS Word document should pop up)

Here are the requirements Taiwan seems to have agreed to as to the above position:

wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc … add2_e.doc

Please note that the above does not refer to ROC-licensed domestic attorneys or to Attorneys of Foreign Legal Affairs. It refers only to assistants or consultants.

Here’s what a translation of part of the Attorney Regulation Act (sometimes called the Lawyer Law or the Lawyer Act, maybe the Attorney Act, maybe other names) says:

[quote]Article 20~1:
[color=#000080]An attorney may employ a non-citizen as an assistant or a consultant[/color]. The [color=#000080]regulations[/color] governing the [color=#000080]requirements[/color] for granting approval of such employment and administrative matters connected with such employment shall be established by the [color=#000080]Ministry of Justice in association with the Council of Labor Affairs[/color], the Executive Yuan.[/quote]
law.moj.gov.tw/eng/News/news_det … e=S&id=948

I haven’t been able to find the regulations mentioned in the law, but on the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training website, there is a list of application requirements for a consultant to attorneys (it’s not law or regulation, but it looks real–the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training seems to be connected to the Council of Labor Affairs, and again, it just might be worth checking out). Now, I’m only quoting one part of the requirements; you might want to check the whole thing out:

evta.gov.tw/eng/topicsite/co … DataValue=

Hope this helps, and in any case, I wish you the best of luck in your efforts.

8

You know what other group often has really awesome English speaking abilities? Filipinos. I’ve met more than a few who had perfect English speaking skills.

And you know what else? They work for peanuts.

So be careful what you bitch about.

Also, I noticed several minor errors in the OP’s writing. Does it matter? Well, probably not, considering that most Taiwanese can’t do more than squeak out a few rudimentary phrases despite paying low-quality native speakers a guaranteed minimum of 50% more than what locals earn, and often two to three times as much as an intelligent local graduate can hope to make.

9

‘Be careful’? Absolutely zero skin off my nose if non-native speakers teach English. They do it in my country and it doesn’t affect my ability to work or my earning power. :laughing:

10

A very valid point. Sadly, the market here is driven by not by teacher qualifications, but by images from TV & movies, and the resulting desire for North American twang. As a result, hordes of ill-read and insular North Americans with absolutely no qualifications can readily obtain work, at the expense of other nationalities that have actually well studied the language, as opposed to to having the suppposedly “right” accent.
Sickly style over substance, once again.

11

It’s not about a NA accent, it’s about looking white. As long as you look white you can teach English. The place might not be the best but still.

12

We do not twang. We give full rein to vowel freedom, that’s all. :smiley:

13

And damn proud of it! :America:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair:

[quote]Is hard and soft and hold: The solid shaping with round, symbolize it with the self-confident , hearty heart and persistent attitude in the side, represent the staff’s makings and spirit of enterprises.[/quote] en.ttl.com.tw/about/about.aspx

膺胳麗膝!

14

[quote=“Ermintrude”]
You should come on a student visa. People on student visas are allowed to work a certain number of hours, after a qualifying period. You won’t make much money, but if you’re coming for personal reasons, it’s not the most important thing, perhaps? Studying Chinese in Taiwan isn’t exactly fun (do a search), but you will be here and doing something useful. [/quote]

This is new info. I can understand allowing students to work part time but do they actually issue part time EFL work permits to non-native speakers? I don’t see why they would since they make such a big deal about teachers being native speakers.

15

[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“Ermintrude”]
You should come on a student visa. People on student visas are allowed to work a certain number of hours, after a qualifying period. You won’t make much money, but if you’re coming for personal reasons, it’s not the most important thing, perhaps? Studying Chinese in Taiwan isn’t exactly fun (do a search), but you will be here and doing something useful. [/quote]

This is new info. I can understand allowing students to work part time but do they actually issue part time EFL work permits to non-native speakers? I don’t see why they would since they make such a big deal about teachers being native speakers.[/quote]
Schools make a big deal out of it. The government doesn’t as has been discussed here before.

16

[quote=“E04teacherlin”]
Schools make a big deal out of it. The government doesn’t as has been discussed here before.[/quote]

Is it some sort of open work permit?

17

Most people can’t competently field questions about languages at any level, so no matter the OP’s origin, he’ll likely be unprepared to address many students’ grammatical concerns in any structured way. Even when they don’t ask them, instructors’ knowing at least one formal grammar that will cover both languages most consistently, and then using that knowledge to construct exercises that do not require that knowledge to complete them, is pretty important.

18

I didn’t recommend the above post: my fat little sausage fingers poked the wrong button.

I know a lot about grammar but it’s not something I talk about in classes because mostly questions about grammar are just one student talking shit and hence just bad classroom management. Also because if you want avoid that ‘empty vessel’ syndrome where all I am doing is transferring my knowledge to learners rather than developing their autonomy, then standing around answering questions is a good way to babyfy them. They can research grammar in their own time.

I teach university writing. ‘Google it when you get home’ is my answer to 95% of grammar questions. Of course they don’t because the function of the question was social not linguistic anyway. The 5% that indicate poor understanding of what’s happening in class get addressed but not generally as part of a q&a session.

19

[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“E04teacherlin”]
Schools make a big deal out of it. The government doesn’t as has been discussed here before.[/quote]

Is it some sort of open work permit?[/quote]
I meant the government doesn’t make a big deal out of being a native speaker, but as far as I understand it, they are allowed to work anywhere for 14 hours a week. Laughable, but at least a step in the right direction. In Australia it is 20 hours.

20

Guys, take it from a qualified non Native speaker: this is not such a good idea. Not because of us, but because of them, and by them, I mean the ones holding the pan by the handle -Government, buxiban owners, parents, etc.

I mean, it is nice of you to be so open and PC about it. Yes, in real life, many non Natives of various persuasions and capabilities are actually teaching, mostly illegally, some in a fussy area, others with permits for something else, and a few handful on PARCs and marriage visas. That it happens does not mean it should. Why?

Think about how they treat Natives English speakers, even qualified ones. Think about all the hassles, all the under reporting of salaries, all the non payment of taxes, all the murky things that can happen. Multiply it by “I don’t care” to the n power. If someone steps the conventions -7 nations allowed, TESOL, college degree, any of those- little will they care to give you less hours, underreport, send you to teach kindergarten or in another school, etc. They can set you up and lose you, an expensive qualified Native, just because there are so many. Now imagine that on a non Native English speaker, who in their eyes is in a lesser position.

Just because you look down on the quality of instruction here in Taiwan -and yes, there are many questionable schools and most parents care too much about the white face than other qualifications- that doesn’t mean you should encourage it more. Because it doesn’t matter if the non Native has a PHD in Linguistics. Any school that hires him cares 000.000 about that, just a pretty face, a warm body, an income revenue.

To make matters worse, due to the economic crunch, there has been a change in the market. It used to be people hounded you on the street to teach them. Now, there are way too many unemployed people in et West looking for a quick buck here. And Taiwan is no longer a backpackers, passing through and refuel stop. The OP couple surely can be hired, surely there will be a school more than happy to hire them, but heck if they will get paid any 600 an hour, for starters. And they will be at the mercy of any pissed off teacher/parent and one phone call away from deportation.

It would be nice like in the days of old when people came and taught and got their money and left. But that sadly is no more. Too much at stake now.

As for student regulations, you need the schools approval. For that, it is at least 6 months of very good grades. And then they will ask the million dollar question: why do you need to work? It is not like in the States or Canada where such permits are easier to get.

Complain all you want about the regulations regarding teaching. It is their sandbox, their rules. I do prefer the idea of the OP coming to Taiwan to work on something else, white collar, and even get more money, better conditions, and less hassles.