Three year degree from accredited school OK without a TEFL?

Hey all.

I recently applied for a part time teaching position. I have a 3 year diploma from a Canadian college.
It appears that all Taiwan’s government knows of is an associates degree (2 years) and a bachelors degree (4 years), and so they stopped my application.

My diploma is a 3 year one, so they are insisting that I get a TESOL certificate.

I don’t want to shell out a lot of money for a good one, because I only intend to teach part time to support my Chinese studies.

The government told me today that they will accept “any” TESOL certificate, and that there is no blacklist.

I am suspicious, because the government here has said other things to me in the past that were not true, and caused me to spend money and added to my frustration.

Online, there seems to be a lot of online TESOL courses, and some can be had for cheap.

Does anyone here have any experience with this? Is there a difference between the 40 hour courses and the 60 and 100 hour ones, specifically in regards to what the government prefers?
And do they care if the degree is from the College of Dildo, Newfoundland? :smiley:

Thanks.

I did ITTT. It worked well and wasn’t too pricy. I learned a lot!

Did you take your TESOL course in Taiwan?

I have been looking at www.globaltesol.com.tw

It runs about 35,000NTD or so for their 40 hour course.

Hi everyone, I have a friend that wants to come here and has a 3 year Canadian degree from an accredited school but does not have a TEFL. Is this ok? If so (or not) can you please point me to a proper link? Been searching for a bit and I must be having a stupid egg day. If this is a repeat (probably is), then my apologies. Thanks!

I am not familiar with whether the Canadian university system is any different than the US system, but my understanding of the requirement is that you need a minimum of a Bachelors degree or an Associates degree + TEFL/TESL cert to get a work permit for teaching English in Taiwan. I don’t know what a 3-year degree is relative to a BA/BS or AA/AS.

There have been lots of threads discussing it, but I don’t have time to search either. Just looking at the thread titles on the first couple pages of Teaching in Taiwan, there were two:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=92430
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=48511

Your friend can always contact the TECO office nearest him/her and ask, or if in Taiwan there is a toll free number for foreigners for all kinds of information.

There’s also this thread which suggests your answer is “yes.” Could anyone confirm it?

I think if the degree is a “bachelors degree” (BA) and, as you say, it comes from a recognized school, it should be acceptable. If it is called Associate’s degree or other, then your friend may need a tesl, or may have difficulty getting it accepted at all.

3 year college degree + TESOL cert = OK
3 year college degree w/out TESOL = no work permit.

As long as it’s a Bachelor’s it should be ok. All B. degrees in Australia are 3 year and there are plenty of Australian teachers with work permits.

[quote=“dan2006”]3 year college degree + TESOL cert = OK
3 year college degree w/out TESOL = no work permit.[/quote]
I believe cfimages is correct. What kind of degree you earned is more important than how long you took to earn it.

Hey everyone!

I’m the friend…thanks for all your help. It is a 3 year bacehlor’s degree from a Canadian university so it seems that I should be okay without a TEFL?

[quote=“NMV”]Hey everyone!

I’m the friend…thanks for all your help. It is a 3 year bacehlor’s degree from a Canadian university so it seems that I should be okay without a TEFL?[/quote]

You are fine with a bachelor’s degree. No need for a further TEFL qualification.

Is there any official page you could point to that would say that? I’d hate for her to come all the way here and have to work illegally because of a misunderstanding.

[quote=“NMV”]Hey everyone!

I’m the friend…thanks for all your help. It is a 3 year bacehlor’s degree from a Canadian university so it seems that I should be okay without a TEFL?[/quote]
The reason the Australian holders of such degrees are able to work legally, and the Canadian holders of such degrees as well, is because the Taiwanese authorities don’t realize these are three-year degrees. In Taiwan, a Bachelor’s degree is four years, so the assumption is that our Bachelor degrees are also four years. So just don’t mention anywhere that the degree is a three-year degree, or else they will assume it is like an Associate degree from the States and demand a TEFL certificate as well. If it says “Bachelor degree” they will accept it.

She should contact the Taiwan Economic and Cultural office nearest her for a definitive answer.

[quote=“bababa”][quote=“NMV”]Hey everyone!

I’m the friend…thanks for all your help. It is a 3 year bacehlor’s degree from a Canadian university so it seems that I should be okay without a TEFL?[/quote]
The reason the Australian holders of such degrees are able to work legally, and the Canadian holders of such degrees as well, is because the Taiwanese authorities don’t realize these are three-year degrees. In Taiwan, a Bachelor’s degree is four years, so the assumption is that our Bachelor degrees are also four years. So just don’t mention anywhere that the degree is a three-year degree, or else they will assume it is like an Associate degree from the States and demand a TEFL certificate as well. If it says “Bachelor degree” they will accept it.[/quote]

Really? I always thought the four year part was just wording to stop Associate degree holders trying. I thought the Bachelor part was what’s important not so much the time. I’d never actually heard of an Associates degree before coming here and still don’t really know what it is.

I don’t think it’s quite right to suggest that Taiwanese don’t realize that some degrees are 3-year and others are 4-year. You’d be surprised how much even random Taiwanese know about foreign universities, their programs and how they rate globally. Random people will ask where I did my degree and, when I tell them, they recognize it right away. “Oh yes. I know that university. Many Taiwanese choose to study there. It has a good reputation.” Trust me, the authorities are very familiar with most universities and programs from our home countries. They definitely know that some programs are 4 years in length and others are 3. The issue is going to be the recognition of the school. If it is a publicly-run university, its acceptance by Taiwanese authorities is virtually guaranteed. If it is a private institution, especially a distance/correspondence school, as Craigtpe suggests, a visit to TECO is in order.

[quote=“CraigTPE”][quote=“dan2006”]3 year college degree + TESOL cert = OK
3 year college degree w/out TESOL = no work permit.[/quote]
I believe cfimages is correct. What kind of degree you earned is more important than how long you took to earn it.[/quote]

Actually,I battled this out with the ministry there already. I tried to appeal and failed.

They look at the amount of years. If it says 3 years on your certificate, they want a TESOL certificate. I argued with many departments over this and everyone agreed.

But like others suggested above, if the certificate doesn’t state the length of time, you should be OK.

You would take the word of random strangers on an Internet forum over that of the government authorities?

[quote=“bababa”][quote=“NMV”]Hey everyone!

I’m the friend…thanks for all your help. It is a 3 year bacehlor’s degree from a Canadian university so it seems that I should be okay without a TEFL?[/quote]
The reason the Australian holders of such degrees are able to work legally, and the Canadian holders of such degrees as well, is because the Taiwanese authorities don’t realize these are three-year degrees. In Taiwan, a Bachelor’s degree is four years, so the assumption is that our Bachelor degrees are also four years. So just don’t mention anywhere that the degree is a three-year degree, or else they will assume it is like an Associate degree from the States and demand a TEFL certificate as well. If it says “Bachelor degree” they will accept it.[/quote]

The government here of course recognizes that degress from Australia and the UK can be 3 or 4 year degrees. You need a recognized degree from overseas. Australian degrees are recognized here. It’s got nothing to do with requiring 4 years of university studies to get one.