I see that Almas John has responded, but I hope I can add my own knowledge and experience to what he has already contributed…
Most schools offer daytime hours with the younger children (kindergarten and preschool) in the mornings and older children (elementary school and older) in the afternoons and evenings. Since first and second graders tend to have only one full day of classes a week, sometimes you can get a class teaching those age groups, but generally, the older kids come in after 3pm when their Chinese school lets out.
It depends on how prepared you want to be to teach. Just because a school doesn’t require it doesn’t mean that you won’t use it.
[quote]Are the chains (eg. Hess) any good ? I wondered if they’d be a good place to start ?[/quote]Chain schools can be good if you have no teaching experience because they are supposed to have good teacher training (especially ones that have been around for a long time and have very developed curricula like Hess); however, if you are not hard pressed for time and money, sometimes it pays to shop around for smaller schools.
[quote]What’s the best way to find jobs ? I’m guessing a bit of everything - door-to-door school visits, newspapers, the internet, ex pat hang-outs ?[/quote]The way I found my job was by googling every major website that listed jobs in Taiwan, sending my resume to ones that met my minimum requirements as far as salary, pay, benefits, and location went and prepared to interview with who ever responded back. It saves the legwork and trying to guess which schools are hiring or not knowing what they are offering before you spend time applying and interviewing.
It’s what worked for me.
[quote]Can I afford to be choosy, given that I will be based in Tainan ?[/quote]I cannot answer for the job market in Tainan.
[quote]I love kids, but are foreigners still permitted to teach kindergarten ?[/quote]As far as I know, foreigners are not permitted to teach in kindergartens. That being said, paraphrasing the words of the Ministry of Education: yes-maybe-no, but it depends on the mood of who ever is supposed to be enforcing this. In other words… Go for it if that’s what you like.
[quote]And the main question…how much can I expect to get paid (I have an English degree and TESOL cert) ?[/quote]The average preschool teacher with ECE training in the US makes $19,610 a year. The average salary for someone teaching the same age group in Taiwan with no ECE training is NT$60,000/month or about $21,200 a year (without considering the fact that Taiwan has a significantly lower cost of living than many major US cities). It is quite possible to get more than $60,000, although I’m not sure about in smaller cities, but do keep this fact in mind when taking your salary in perspective.
[quote] My bf (a white collar ex pat worker) was shocked (not in a good way) when I told him about some of the advertised salaries I’d seen.[/quote]After reading what I’ve said about salaries here compared to those of people who have undergone training specifically for early childhood education, you can tell your white-collar boyfriend to stick it in his ear.
Cheers,
ImaniOU