To Asian teachers teaching English in Taiwan

To all the Asian-English teachers here: Hello.
I just want to know how you guys or girls got your
teaching jobs in Taiwan. I’m Chinese and I’m planning to teach in Taiwan. However, I know that
Taiwanese schools are looking for mainly native speakers and I am technically, not one. Even though I am not a native speaker, I am just as fluent as any native speaker since I did grow up in Canada. What schools in Taiwan would hire a guy like me? Can you people tell me? Also, what’s it like for you Asian teachers in your working enviroments? You can email me at iqbokci@hotmail.com or respond here. I would really love some help because I’m totally lost. Btw, I don’t have any teaching certificates and I only hold a 3 year BA in the field of economics.

PS. I hold a Canadian passport.

I quit my teaching job (teaching English), because I found I couldn’t continue that job.
My english is really really really poor…
I don’t even know how could they hire me !?!?!
But what I know is
If you look “foreigner”, then you can probably find a job very easy in Taipei.
If you look “chinese”, then it’s harder. But it still possible.
some schools they would like to hire someone who can speak Chinese as well. So if you can speak Chinese and English, then it will be perfect for them. The only thing is you have to keep trying and trying.
Good luck with that.

No, I look pretty much…Chinese! I hate how they discriminate. Just cause a person does not have white skin doesn’t mean he/she’s not capable of teaching English to their kids. It also doesn’t mean that they can’t speak or write fluent English. Anyway, the worst part for me is that I don’t speak Chinese. I’m of Cantonese decent so that’s not going to work in my favour.
Can you tell me what school you worked for? I like to apply for that school cause it doesn’t look like they discriminate. Btw, I have a Taiwanese friend who teaches English to small children and her English is awlful. I don’t get these schools. One minute, all they want are native speakers (in other words, caucasions) and the next, they hire incompetent Asian English teachers. Hmm…It sounds like I’m contradicting myself.

They want “White” skin “native speaker”, because they wanna the parents to know, that their school is “English” school.
They want “Chinese” speaking english teacher, because they want the student can understand the teacher while they’re teaching English. (The teacher can speak chinese can also explain in chinese to the kids)
Anyway, you can try “Hess”, “Sesame Street” and “Jordan”. I taught there before, if you pass the test, then you can teach there.
Good luck !!

Origionally posted by Old_Kid

quote[quote] They want "White" skin "native speaker", because they wanna the parents to know, that their school is "English" school. [/quote]

So if Denzel Washingron or Michael Jorden came here looking for English teaching work, would they be told "well sorry Denzel, Mike, but well, you know, you see, well, this is an ENGLISH school. You can’t work here.

Cheers Amos.

Sorry, I think I just made a good point, but thought you were talking about black speakers, not ABC’s. Anyway, I think it’s wrong.

It’d be pretty funny if Denzel or Michael Jordan came here! Michael would have trouble getting in and out of the taxis and would have to stoop down to enter many doors and buildings.
But it’s an interesting point that the Taiwanese absolutely adore black actors, athletes and singers, but generally don’t want blacks to teach English to their kids.
If it’s the accent, none of the blacks I’ve ever met here even speak ebonics!!
If it’s the skin colour, which I believe it is, then some of those putrid English tv shows and magazines like Studio Classroom need to take the lead and hire a few blacks and overseas asians to change the overall misconceptions in Taiwan. As they are, it looks like their ‘actors’ have been carved out of cream cheese. There’s an article in April’s Studio Classroom called ‘Free at Last’, about African Americans, which I found a rather ironic piece, considering…

Alien,
You…are…posting…much…too…fast…to…be…talking…about…Stu…di…o…Class…room.

Please slow down and smile more. I’m not having the required diabetic reactions yet.

Terry

quote:
Originally posted by old_kid: They want "White" skin "native speaker", because they wanna the parents to know, that their school is "English" school. They want "Chinese" speaking english teacher, because they want the student can understand the teacher while they're teaching English. (The teacher can speak chinese can also explain in chinese to the kids) Anyway, you can try "Hess", "Sesame Street" and "Jordan". I taught there before, if you pass the test, then you can teach there. Good luck !!

Old_Kid, do you know any online examples of these so call English tests for poetential English teachers? I want to see what they’re like. I haven’t heard of the tests before, but I have been getting a few schools, including Hess, whom are interested in my services. And the good part about it is that they know I’m Cantonese!

Amos, I wasn’t really referring to blacks or ABC’s or CBC’s. I was more or less referring to Asians whom grew up in western English speaking countries. Many friends of mine and myself are all fluent English speakers, but we were all born in other parts of the planet, not in Canada. The main difference is that we all came to Canada when we were little kids, like ages 6, 7, 8, or 9. From my observations of my friends, the ones whom came to Canada at the age of 10 and above aren’t really capable of speaking fluent English. It’s probably because their mindsets have already been stuck in another language for too long and hence, not capable of ever speaking fluent English. Anyway, you guys used Denzel and MJ as examples, I’m going to use Russel Wong and Lucy Liu then. I wonder if they could get English teaching jobs in Taiwan? And I don’t think they’re ABC’s either. More likely, I think they’re like me.

My friend, a HKese with excellent English came over here and taught English for a couple fo years. She always found it tough, but was able to find jobs and pay as a ‘foreigner teacher’, illegally in kindergartens and buxibans. She lied to them (on my probably misplaced advice) at one place and told them she was English born Chinese, and couldn’t speak Mandarin. This just added to her hassles. In short, can be done, but not so easy.

bri

Hi Jason,
As everyone has been saying, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE to get a job here teaching English. But, if you were WHITE and could speak English, you would have NO PROBLEMS getting a job teaching English here.
I, too, am Chinese (CBC) with a degree in Elementary Education (B.Ed). If you apply from overseas, you OFTEN need to send a picture of yourself - and many schools, despite my experience teaching ESL and my qualifications, did not respond (I think we can easily assume why!). The bigger chain schools like HESS, KOJEN, etc. do not care WHAT nationality you are - they just care if you have a degree (and seem to be a decent teacher).
Your chances with a smaller school are slimmer, but possible.
Basically, it is not impossible to get a job, but you may just need to look a little more than other “WHITE” foreigners. It is really awful how people discriminate against you…

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Good luck!

quote:
Originally posted by Jason: I'm going to use Russel Wong and Lucy Liu then. I wonder if they could get English teaching jobs in Taiwan?

Hell, if Lucy Liu’s the teacher, I’LL be taking damn English classes! Ooh baby!

quote:
Originally posted by sandman:

Hell, if Lucy Liu’s the teacher, I’LL be taking damn English classes! Ooh baby!


Well, I’ll be taking it if it was Christie Chung!

quote:
Originally posted by sypanda: Hi Jason, As everyone has been saying, it's not IMPOSSIBLE to get a job here teaching English. But, if you were WHITE and could speak English, you would have NO PROBLEMS getting a job teaching English here. I, too, am Chinese (CBC) with a degree in Elementary Education (B.Ed). If you apply from overseas, you OFTEN need to send a picture of yourself - and many schools, despite my experience teaching ESL and my qualifications, did not respond (I think we can easily assume why!). The bigger chain schools like HESS, KOJEN, etc. do not care WHAT nationality you are - they just care if you have a degree (and seem to be a decent teacher). Your chances with a smaller school are slimmer, but possible. Basically, it is not impossible to get a job, but you may just need to look a little more than other "WHITE" foreigners. It is really awful how people discriminate against you...

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Good luck!


Hi Sypanda,

Yeah I know. I heard that some Russians pass themselves off as Americans in Taiwan and actually got English teaching jobs. Do the Taiwanese actually think that Russians have better English speaking/writing abilites than CBCs or ABCs? Do they also think that a native English speaker will automatically be better in both written and spoken English than Asians whom have grown up in English speaking countries? I’ve seen many messages in here and other types of forums all over the internet where native speakers had tremendous spelling and grammatical errors.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me now cause I’m not looking for work in Taiwan anymore. It’ll be too hard for me to get a job in Taiwan, not only because of the discrimination, but also because of the Taiwanese government. They have made it very difficult for me with their visa regulations. Now, I’m heading off to Hong Kong instead. Well, I hope H.K. can utilize and appreciate my talents more than the Taiwanese would.

Hey Jason,
I’m sorry to hear that you have been “turned-off” from giving Taiwan a try. (It’s not impossible to find a job - I’m here!) (BTW, it’s not so much that they think the “WHITE” foreigners have better English (although I believe they DO think that!), it’s just the APPEARANCE of having a foreigner!)

Anyways…GOOD LUCK in HK. (Honestly - I think you will see this kind of discrimination in any Asian country!)

If you do change your mind about coming to Taiwan and have any questions, feel free to email me!

Take it easy!

hihi!! just wondering if anyone can help clarify my oNe big query regarding obtaining a teaching visa in tw… i’m singaporean born chinese with English as my 1st lang as long as i can remember… sO does not holding a ‘western’ passport disqualify me from applying for a visa to teach English in tw?? i’ve had my schooling from highschool -> uni in uk n aussie if it matters?? thanx in advance!!

I work at Kojen. They hire both both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers.

The foreign teachers at my branch include people from Australia, England, Canada, and the US. We even have a foreign teacher who is of Indian (or, at least, southeast Asian) ancestory. From his accent, I would venture a guess he was not born and raised in a “western” country. With the exception of this guy, we are all white.

The Chinese teachers are from all over, as well. We have some native Taiwanese, as well as, Filipino, Indonesian, etc… teachers. All of them speak fluent Mandarin, in addition to fairly fluent English. I don’t know what their pay is, compared to the foreign teachers. However, none of them seem unhappy. In fact, we had one who just left to go to Canada to get his Masters in ESL because of his experience teaching there.

From what I understand it is harder being of Chinese ancestory, but not impossible. And, I would think your Canadian passport would be a plus.

Jonathan

I listened to a guy on BBC Radio 4 yesterday talking about African unity. He was clearly from Africa somewhere and his speech was heavily accented, but his speech was flowing, logical, and eloquent. Because he is black (I presume) and from Africa he would not get a job in Taiwan teaching English, but an equally heavily accented American, Englishman, or Irishman would. I have encountered Americans, Englishmen, and even Irishmen (where I’m from) that I could barely understand.

If it is a question of accents, that is something that can be overcome perhaps with time, but if it is a question of having a white face in the classroom that is damaging to both white and non-white workers for obvious reasons. Perhaps things have got better since I was teaching, but the pecking order used to be:

Best

  1. American Blonde Woman
  2. American Brunette Woman
  3. Blonde Woman
  4. Woman
  5. American Male
  6. British Male
  7. Male (NZ,AUS,SA)
    Worst

(American meaning North American)

I was in category 6 and just about managed to keep my timetable full. Mind you, in the early 90s a donkey with a foreign passport could have kept his timetable full.

quote:
Originally posted by hexuan: Perhaps things have got better since I was teaching, but the pecking order used to be: Best 1. American Blonde Woman 2. American Brunette Woman 3. Blonde Woman 4. Woman 5. American Male 6. British Male 7. Male (NZ,AUS,SA) Worst
You're only talking about teaching kids, though, right?
quote:
Originally posted by hexuan:

the pecking order used to be:

Best

  1. American Blonde Woman
  2. American Brunette Woman
  3. Blonde Woman
  4. Woman


So, there you go. Get yourself a blonde wig, take on Marilyn Monroe’s voice, and charm yourself into a job teaching English in Taiwan.
If you’re a man, no worries, lotsa guys look great in heels. Besides, men in drag are so much more feminine than real American women. And you’d have no trouble finding frilly frocks in Taiwan…