Where can I take TESOL class in Taipei

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
21

According to the person hiring, when he spoke to the government last week, they said to teach at a private school sans APRC, one needs a BA + TESOL/TEFL. He didn’t seem to be 100% clear on this, but was certain of what the government told him. This said, I’ve had a hard time locating this information through the normal channels (labor bureau, visa office, etc). So, I’m not really sure where that leaves me. I’m just not really interested in spending the next 6 months fighting dumb people in the government who don’t know their own laws. I’ve spent most of my time on this island doing that and it’s getting rather exhausting![/quote]

So instead of doing that you want to take advice from internet from people that are unfamiliar with your particular situation that is unusual and you didn’t really describe until pressed on it?

Here’s what you do and what I said pages ago: Ask your school to recommend a TESOL course that satisfies the requirement so if there is a fuckup then it’s not your fuckup. This will probably require your school to ask for further clarification about the requirements since you have not really told us anything as far as requirements.

I apologize for being frustrated but you have been very vague and non specific in this thread.

22

I already asked the school to recommend a program but they have zero idea. The school is clueless and asked me to do the leg work because they have never hired someone with a BA and TESOL but not an APRC. I called both the labor bureau and NIA; I’m pretty sure that beats most of the gibberish on this website in most cases. However, both the labor bureau and NIA in Kaohsiung were not 100% clear either and kept re-directing me to the other office (which is a problem I have faced constantly over the last 6 years); that’s the reason I came here, to see if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing in any capacity at all. I’m not actually sure if the specifics of my case matter- the labor bureau basically said they couldn’t actually tell me anything and said to talk to NIA. NIA, of course, said “We don’t deal with work permits, go back and talk to the Labor Bureau.” The process proceeded like this back and forth, and even after pressing them for information, the information from each worker was totally inconsistent with the last, until I nearly threw the phone out the window and had to try something else.

To top it off, there is only one singular person in the Kaohsiung office that actually deals with white collar workers (everyone in the physical office deals with blue collar workers). He is rarely in the office and almost never answers his cell phone. When I finally reached him, he said he wasn’t either sure because Kaohsiung office doesn’t deal with foreign work permits, only a single office in Taipei does, but this office seems to be averse to answering its phones. So, that has basically left me in the same position I was in before starting the process. I didn’t come here as a first option, I came here as a last option to hopefully at least come up with the right questions to ask.

You seemed to be saying that a TESOL was not even necessary to apply, but every person I talk to (including those from government offices) say something different. There is no consistent information anywhere. Simply asking my employer didn’t work, asking the government didn’t work, and clearly asking forumosa didn’t work. So, back to the drawing board.

23

Here are the commonly known laws:

Public school - you need a teaching certificate
Buxiban - you need a bachelors OR an associates with a TESOL

Private school - I don’t even know what kind of schools you are talking about. Bilingual school in Tainan’s Science Park or something like that? IShou? I thought these required teaching certs or they found ways around that by hiring APRC or JFRV holders. Or hiring teachers employed by an agency (secondary location) but working at the school.

You are going to need to get a hold of the Taipei office since they are the ones that actually handle your work permit from the sounds of it. NIA won’t know anything about this for sure.

I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if you find out that they can’t get you a work permit because they were completely mistaken about this Bachelors + TESOL requirement.

24

Here is the actual law from the Laws and Regulations database for the Ministry of Labor. Regarding teaching a foreign language in a buxiban (which is what Article 46.1.4 of the Employment Services Act mentioned in this regulation refers to, ie. not in public school), the requirements according to the law are:

English: http://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawSearchNo.aspx?PC=N0090031&DF=&SNo=42
Chinese: http://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSearchNo.aspx?PC=N0090031&DF=&SNo=42

The only time a TESOL is required is: "The foreigners mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall have qualification certificates for language teaching [TESOL] if they have not obtained bachelor‘s degrees."

It might help to print these out and show to whomever–with as much face-saving as you can give, of course.

25

I guess that means tomorrow’s mission is going to be calling the Taipei office repeatedly until I get through and someone gives me a “better” answer. Whateverthehell that actually is… Thanks for the help!

26

[quote=“Simajie”]I’m just not really interested in spending the next 6 months fighting dumb people in the government who don’t know their own laws. I’ve spent most of my time on this island doing that and it’s getting rather exhausting!

I called both the labor bureau and NIA; I’m pretty sure that beats most of the gibberish on this website in most cases… that’s the reason I came here, to see if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing in any capacity at all… I didn’t come here as a first option, I came here as a last option to hopefully at least come up with the right questions to ask… Simply asking my employer didn’t work, asking the government didn’t work, and clearly asking forumosa didn’t work. So, back to the drawing board… tomorrow’s mission is going to be calling the Taipei office repeatedly until I get through and someone gives me a “better” answer. [/quote]

6 yrs & a lot of “fighting dumb people in the government”?? It’s debatable who’s dumber & spewing gibberish.
Be grateful the school is offering you a job, and there’s a way for BAs to work at state-certified private schools.
All their past applicants had APRCs… you don’t. Whose fault is that? Yours - you didn’t meet salary reqs in year 5.
Most potential long-termers should target the APRC as their prime “cert”, and not do anything to delay its acquisition.

Several job types are APRC preferred/restricted, and higher paid. Each 50/hr = 4K/mo = ~60K/yr.
The price of not doing research = fewer opportunities, less freedom & money, & stuck near the drawing board.

Research would also show that private/public schools & unis are often no golden cakewalk. No job, no huge loss.

Everybody has questions; the worst way to find answers is to ask other people. They might not know or like you; be too busy, unsure, or in a bad mood, etc. Nobody here exists or gets paid to answer questions. This isn’t Forumosa Answers.

And you’re just encouraging your own dependency on others to figure things out. Better to find answers on your own, & increase your own self-sufficiency. Asking is last resort.

Like most newb “askers”, you’re using Forumosa wrong. Instead of asking the present hivemind, search the historical hivemind:

Advanced TEIT title search: “private schools” OR google “Forumosa teaching private school”: Teaching at a private schools 2002.
Amos: “If you’ve got a teaching certificate on top of your BA, let me know. I’m at a private elementary school… the CELTA or TEFL is a must though… a cert from Thailand woujld be ok.” So your TEIT situation, like nearly all others, has historical precedent.

Google “Forumosa government TEFL”: Qualifications!? 2-year advanced diploma + TEFL 2012, 1st hit.
Dan2006: “From what the MOE told me, as long as they see the words 2 + years on it, or anything less than 4 years (bachelors), they will accept it with any TESOL certificate.” A duke adds he got a weekend TEFL cert.

This makes sense: there is no international accrediting body for TESOL/TEFL certs, because SLA understanding is still in its infancy… so standards aren’t yet possible.

Search time: ~10 minutes. You’ve been asking for 6 days, and “plan to call… until someone gives you a ‘better’ answer.”

I’d say Forumosa works much better than you do. Your exhaustion is due to your own laziness.

27

[quote=“cloud13”][quote=“Simajie”]I’m just not really interested in spending the next 6 months fighting dumb people in the government who don’t know their own laws. I’ve spent most of my time on this island doing that and it’s getting rather exhausting!

I called both the labor bureau and NIA; I’m pretty sure that beats most of the gibberish on this website in most cases… that’s the reason I came here, to see if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing in any capacity at all… I didn’t come here as a first option, I came here as a last option to hopefully at least come up with the right questions to ask… Simply asking my employer didn’t work, asking the government didn’t work, and clearly asking forumosa didn’t work. So, back to the drawing board… tomorrow’s mission is going to be calling the Taipei office repeatedly until I get through and someone gives me a “better” answer. [/quote]

6 yrs & a lot of “fighting dumb people in the government”?? It’s debatable who’s dumber & spewing gibberish.
Be grateful the school is offering you a job, and there’s a way for BAs to work at state-certified private schools.
All their past applicants had APRCs… you don’t. Whose fault is that? Yours - you didn’t meet salary reqs in year 5.
Most potential long-termers should target the APRC as their prime “cert”, and not do anything to delay its acquisition.

Several job types are APRC preferred/restricted, and higher paid. Each 50/hr = 4K/mo = ~60K/yr.
The price of not doing research = fewer opportunities, less freedom & money, & stuck near the drawing board.

Research would also show that private/public schools & unis are often no golden cakewalk. No job, no huge loss.

Everybody has questions; the worst way to find answers is to ask other people. They might not know or like you; be too busy, unsure, or in a bad mood, etc. Nobody here exists or gets paid to answer questions. This isn’t Forumosa Answers.

And you’re just encouraging your own dependency on others to figure things out. Better to find answers on your own, & increase your own self-sufficiency. Asking is last resort.

Like most newb “askers”, you’re using Forumosa wrong. Instead of asking the present hivemind, search the historical hivemind:

Advanced TEIT title search: “private schools” OR google “Forumosa teaching private school”: Teaching at a private schools 2002.
Amos: “If you’ve got a teaching certificate on top of your BA, let me know. I’m at a private elementary school… the CELTA or TEFL is a must though… a cert from Thailand woujld be ok.” So your TEIT situation, like nearly all others, has historical precedent.

Google “Forumosa government TEFL”: Qualifications!? 2-year advanced diploma + TEFL 2012, 1st hit.
Dan2006: “From what the MOE told me, as long as they see the words 2 + years on it, or anything less than 4 years (bachelors), they will accept it with any TESOL certificate.” A duke adds he got a weekend TEFL cert.

This makes sense: there is no international accrediting body for TESOL/TEFL certs, because SLA understanding is still in its infancy… so standards aren’t yet possible.

Search time: ~10 minutes. You’ve been asking for 6 days, and “plan to call… until someone gives you a ‘better’ answer.”

I’d say Forumosa works much better than you do. Your exhaustion is due to your own laziness.[/quote]

… Seriously? I was doing a MA degree, THAT is what disqualified me (and again, did so after the local KHH government gave me bad information about how going back to school would affect my APRC application). Laziness? Yes, doing a research degree entirely in Chinese is the laziest thing anyone has ever done.

And the fact that the government here doesn’t know its own laws, and schools here are constantly ignoring them is obviously my fault. My laziness. Obviously.

Also, all the information you just cited about TESOL certificates, most of the information about APRCs and all of the information about teaching at schools is completely false, according to the government, so yes, a 10 minute google search definitely trumps calls to the government every time. :unamused:

Further, if you’re going to quote me, use my actual quotes.

28

Why did the chicken run across the road? Because it was headless. 忙得像隻無頭蒼蠅.

[quote=“Simajie”]Also, all the information you just cited about… is completely false, according to the government.
Further, if you’re going to quote me, use my actual quotes.[/quote]

I did. Research the 10 posts you egged here; I only quoted 2. You accuse, so cite misquotes. Don’t be… well, lazy.

No need to paste entire posts; I won’t delete. TEIT regulars aren’t backpackers; that’s why they’re here. Vet yourself first; vets later will.

“Most of your time on this island” = 6yrs, from this thread Living Expenses - the Minimum. You were hit by vehicles 6X in 6 yrs (5 as a pedestrian); with that hit rate, most foreigners there would be headless chickens. Yet you take no responsibility, & blame drivers.

Student ARC = restarts the APRC to 0. Work ARC = the APRC salary req only applies for year 5. Either way, your fault.
Happens often in V&R. Many aren’t chicken about taking responsibility for not doing enough research; you blame the government.
If you arrived in TW 6 yrs ago & didn’t know about Forumosa, you… didn’t research enough.
All moot now. I wrote [color=#BF0000]APRC = “cert” = more money/freedom = top priority[/color], for other potential long-termers.

False? You have an MA, so don’t be lazy: just cite “correct info” here for others on your career road. Vets will vet, publicly or privately. Frankly, I’d be skeptical of what the government says to you, due to your past “fighting” & “bad info”, & frustrating a patient Abacus.

Conflicting info & views are common everywhere in life. Others evaluate & decide… or do further research.

I didn’t extrapolate your “laziness” here to your MA or entire life. That’s illogical. You can be lazy about X, and hardworking about Y. Few are just one or the other. But since you cited your MA…

You claim you’re a “China scholar”, with 1yr of anthropological research in Beijing here. (Vet yourself in TW Politics.) You also conclude here: “As far as I’m concerned, Taiwan condemns foreigners to being language deficient, and then condemns them for being language deficient.” Again, you blame Taiwan for foreigners not having adequate Chinese skills.

So test your hypothesis: you worked hard for “an MA research degree entirely in Chinese”. Now you’re working hard asking about TEFL certs, where to roost in Taipei, commutes… and squawking about getting hit annually as a pedestrian, “fighting dumb people in the government”, “schools ignoring laws”… and you’ve taught for 10 yrs, lived here 6 yrs, speak “functionally fluent” Chinese, & have a background in anthropology???

A feast of poultry jokes here. Anyway, boasting is rarely a good idea; it just adds fuel to a roasted position.
You work hard at blaming others for incompetence & irresponsibility - while you’re faultless. And I know you won’t change your head.
So it’s all moot for you. I just wrote this for other potential long-termers: blame less & take more responsibility. Or be like you.

I hope the private school job is worth all this [strike]laziness[/strike] hard work. You’re already blaming them for your certified goose chases.

For future assistance, contact the new union organizer in the thread nearby.