Teaching in Taiwan and Discrimination/Racism

Sorry I forgot that part. How you would get a work permit to teach a subject other than a language is a good question. Did she explain it to you?

(We have discussed the passport thing before. I agree it’s stupid.)

In Taiwan you can teach (of course with a work permit) other subjects that are not English if you’re qualified. You need to have a degree in the related field you intend to teach. On the other hand, if you intend to teach English, all you need is a passport of an English speaking country. (White person preferably).

That’s not what they told the Cordon Bleu people a year or two ago. They said foreigners working in buxibans can’t teach anything other than languages, because of Art. 46 Par. 1 Subpar. 4 of the Employment Service Act. Then they added culinary arts under Subpar. 1 (in a separate list defining “specialized or technical work” iirc).

According to @Toe_Save it’s now possible to get a permit to teach various kinds of performing arts. I assume that’s under either Subpar. 1 or Subpar. 6.

The proposed “employment gold card” would remove the “language only” restriction, but only for foreigners who qualify for the card.

If TeachME/TutorME is a normal buxiban, I don’t see how it would get around this legally. If it’s a special buxiban (i.e. not subject to the Supplementary Education Act), I’m interested in knowing how that works.

I don’t know if it’s a buxiban, It’s more like a “consulting center”. I wouldn’t know what’s the difference in legal terms between them. But they do work with children also with adults, help them with school work, and teach many subjects and languages.

That’s a buxiban, unless they’re using a loophole. To find out whether or not they’re registered, you just need the Chinese name or the address.

www.bsb.tp.edu.tw

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No, not to teach performing arts: to work as a performing artist.

Oh. Well, hooray gold card!

I’m not sure that the local TECO was involved. I just sent my paperwork, and copies of whatever documents that they requested and they handled it.

Edit : not for teaching English. Maybe they have different rules for teaching English versus other jobs.

Isn’t there a specific visa for those intending to travel to Taiwan for employment? That would have to be handled by the TECO.

That one is to come to Taiwan to look for work when you don’t have a job. I already had a job / job offer before I came here. So they handled the work permit before I arrived.

So what visa did you enter on? Exempt entry?

Visa exempt, then convert to visitor visa, then apply for ARC.

If the OP did not have a teaching certificate, I can’t see how he could have expected to be hired to teach a non-English subject, and if he comes from a Central American country, he can’t have been hired to teach English either.

Also, how in the world do loans to go to Taiwan and live for a month or so tot up to $7K? US dollars, I’m assuming?

http://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/ezworken/home.jsp?pageno=201508100020

Idk, I’m not a lawyer. but I do know that I can be hired to teach Math because of my degree. That link shows that I could even legally teach in a high school or university. Also, the 7k was a consequence, meaning after all of it happened, not to live in Taiwan for a month.

IDK either, but the title of that section seems pretty clear: “Approved teacher teaching courses on foreign languages at a public or registered private primary or high schools”. Foreign languages. I wonder if that was part of the issue. Buxibans have been known to, um, stretch the rules, usually without regard for the teacher because another one will get off the next plane so who cares. :frowning:

I’ve never heard of a case where a (garden-variety, not APRC or JFRV) foreigner could do a job that (the government decided) could be done by a Taiwanese without some special stuff going on – and there are lots of jobs that are designated by the government as being for Taiwanese nationals. I didn’t research this, to be clear, but I’d be really surprised if a foreigner could be hired as a math teacher without a Ph.D and outside a university. Maybe the fact that they were teaching math in English was the key – but then I’ll bet the teacher would have had to qualify as an English teacher, and that couldn’t happen if your passport is Central American.

And still waiting to hear why it cost $7,000 to come to Taiwan for a short time…

It’s costs 7000 cos flights from Central America are expensive, he needed money to live and get set up in a new country and he might not be earning right away. 7000 is not outlandish. If I was to move overseas I’s want over a million NTD at least for my family to be able to tide over and deal with setup expenses.

C03. Approved teacher teaching courses on foreign languages at a public or registered private primary or high schools

Foreign Employee Qualification

Foreigners to work as a teacher teaching courses on
foreign languages at a public or registered private high school should qualify for the following requirements:

  1. Acquire formal degrees in colleges or universities
    either in this country or overseas that are recognized by the authority concerned at the central government level
  1. Acquire the teaching qualification for the subjects they will be teaching.

※Foreigners related laws and regulations refers to the Article 41 in the “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act.”

Whether “on” really means “on” or “in” doesn’t matter in this case, because a buxiban is not a “public or registered private primary or high school”. They sometimes translate it as “cram school” or even “cram class”. A more literal translation would be “supplementary study class”, but it means an institution in which supplementary teaching occurs. The exact definition is left to each city/county government’s education department.

If you read through the WDA’s site you can find information on teaching in buxibans. I just noticed they’ve reworded some of the answers, like this one.

http://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/ezworken/home.jsp?pageno=201508100053&acttype=view&dataserno=201611010178

Question:How to determine the official language of the country where passport carried by the foreign language teacher?

Update Date:105-11-01 [i.e. 1 Nov 2016]

In regard to determining the official language of the country of the foreigner’s passport, it will be in accordance with the determination of “Country and Region” in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. If there is a note stating that said language is a “common language,” “universal language,” or “popular language,” then it is not the official language.

There was some confusion about whether or not Dutch citizens (etc.) were allowed to teach English. Maybe they noticed people ranting here and decided to clear it up.

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I sent them an email asking them once; they’ve probably gotten others.

I had been working at “TeachME” for a while. I finally got out and am teaching at another school. DO NOT WORK HERE. Please listen because often a better picture is painted in the interview than what will actually happen at the school. STAY AWAY!!!

I decided to do a little research. There are at least two business enterprises located in Taipei using the name “TeachME”.

First, there’s the one linked to above:

Then there’s this one:

Different addresses, different phone numbers (one has a landline, the other a cell), no legal names, but suspiciously similar styling of the English name in the logo (“ME” not “Me”).

On both sites, the address is given in English, even in the Chinese version. (Why would you do that, unless you were trying to avoid having your address turn up in search engine results? Or is it just one of those trendy things, like I’m too cool to write my address in Chinese?)

The Tianmu enterprise (the one identified above as an allegedly foul buxiban that has been operating for several years) was officially founded in mid-2015 and is currently named 教教我國際教育顧問有限公司附設臺北市私立教教我文理短期補習班. The company that owns the buxiban (i.e. the first part of the name) was officially registered in early 2016, so presumably the buxiban was initially founded under a different name.

The other enterprise, located in Xinyi District, appears to be for online teaching only. The company registered at that address (not mentioned on the website) is called 就是字股份有限公司 and also (on its website) calls itself “TeachMe Taiwan LLC” (no capital E in the fine print).

Both enterprises are welcome to present their sides of the story here. :slight_smile:


We should probably note that some Caribbean countries would qualify.