Notes on teaching English in Taiwan.

What's on this page:

Warnings & Rewards Legal work Illegal work Resources

Please note that this information is increasingly becoming out of date; I wrote this page when I was living in Taiwan, and I have been living in the US since 2004. Take everything here with a grain of salt.

I've been talking to some people on-line who've been curious about teaching English in Taiwan. I think I'm in a pretty good position to inform folks about this, so here goes...

First of all, let me say this: Please read all of this information. If you don't have the patience to read all of this, then you don't have the patience to come to Taiwan.

If you've got a college degree but can't find a job in the US, you might want to consider coming to Taiwan to teach English. Taiwan is an island close to China, but quite distinct from it, with about 23 million people living on it. People here are trying to become more international, and for example, there's a good chance that a large part of your computer or cell phone was made in Taiwan. For these reasons, Taiwanese people have very strong motices to learn English.

Taiwan doesn't, however, have a very strong history of English like Hong Kong or Singapore do (largely because it's never been a colony of an English-speaking country, like those two have). Therefore, many people in Taiwan don't have opportunities to express themselves in English, and as a result their skills are often limited. There is therefore a strong demand for English teachers. Further, because there isn't a strong history of English speaking here, even the specialized teachers here may not have had much opportunity to perfect their English skills, so there's a particularly strong demand for native English speakers -- people who grew up in the US, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

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Warnings & Rewards

So, they want you to come here and teach. But don't think it's easy -- it isn't at all. I would only consider coming here if you:

• Can afford the ticket. You must have a return ticket upon getting here, and that can easily cost upwards of US$1000.

• Are very good at dealing with new and strange situations. Taiwanese culture is not so different from Western culture that people are completely alien, but there are many, many small annoyances which can grind on you every day. Chaotic traffic; unfamiliar food; crowding; pollution; lack of privacy -- there can be many factors that annoy Westerners in Taiwan.

• Are willing to not make money for a few months at least. When you get here, you'll have to make a large investment to get on your feet: the ticket, furniture (probably), a deposit on an apartment, etc. etc. -- much like moving to any new place.

• Can deal with poor management. Obviously, few companies anywhere in the world are well-managed, but it can be exacerbated when you add in cross-cultural and linguistic difficulties. It can be difficult for Taiwanese managers to be direct where Westerners want direct communication but indirect where Westerners expect euphemism.

• Can deal with not knowing the language. If you're reading this, I'm assuming that you speak neither Mandarin nor Taiwanese (the two main languages spoken here). So, you should either be patient enough to deal with lots of body language until you learn enough to communicate, or be diligent enough to study one of the local languages. (On a side note, don't worry about studying Chinese. If you study it only for speaking, rather than for reading, it's remarkably easy. For example, Mandarin grammar is a lot easier than English grammar.)

Now, if you're able to deal with this stuff -- I'm emphasizing that because I know a lot of people who thought they could, came to Taiwan and almost immediately freaked out, and even I can't deal with it a lot of times -- you may want to start thinking about coming here to work. If you can deal with all that stuff, you can:

• Make a fair amount of money. Expect at least NT$500 (about US$13) per hour, before taxes; less than that is a ripoff. You can get about 20 hours per week on average, but it varies a lot! So the total you make a month may be between NT$20,000 and NT$60,000. That may not sound like a lot, but don't forget that, if you're careful and don't party too hard, you can save a lot of that. Rent in Taipei runs about NT$6,000 (about US$200) if you're in an apartment with roommates; NT$10,000 can be quite a nice one-bedroom. Transportation, food, etc. are about another $10,000 a month, roughly (depending on how frugal you can be, and how much local stuff you can deal with -- Taiwanese food can be very cheap, but also very weird for Western tastes). All of which means that, if you're frugal, it's easy to save about US$300 a month. Some people save way more than that, too.

• Make a lot of good friends. Some Taiwanese people are pragmatic and manipulative -- just like anywhere. But a lot of Taiwanese people are amazingly considerate and kind, and can be amazing friends.

• See a lot of really interesting stuff. There are some amazingly beautiful sights in Taiwan. You sometimes have to hunt for them, and it helps to get out of Taipei, but they exist.

• Get a lot of great stories. I've got a ton of funny stories about Taiwan, from corrupt cops who advised me to lie to other cops, to astoundingly funny "out of the mouths of babes" English, to a lot of other things.

• Experience a real interesting culture. Taiwan drives me completely nuts sometimes, but it has taught me a lot about humanity and the world.

If this sounds cool to you, and you can deal with all the problems, you may want to start thinking about companies. I'm not going to suggest any, but I will say this: Be Careful! Many companies in Taiwan are fly-by-night operations, and will try to screw you any way they can. Some, though, are respectable or even respectful. Actually, this brings up the next choice...

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Legal work

How should you decide what kind of work to find? Basically, there are two kinds of teaching here: legal and illegal. The differences are this. Legal work:

• Is legal, first of all. Officially, the government of Taiwan can kick you out any time if you're here illegally, and that includes coming in on, say, a study visa and then getting employment. If you're working in Taiwan legally, that means you have a full work permit and Alien Residence Card (ARC).

• Gets you health insurance, which is pretty cool -- that's something I never got in the US! There's national health care here, and it's not bad.

• Is more stable. Companies that are big and well-established can attract more students, more consistently, and that means you can get work more consistently. Though you may be working on wages (hourly pay), if the school is right, your hours should be pretty consistent.

• Usually means more support. Teaching English really is teaching; don't think that just because you can speak English, you know how to teach it. Well-established companies will have experienced teachers who can help you learn how to do it.

• Can mean other benefits, like company parties, company housing, vacations, etc., but don't count on that stuff.

• Doesn't pay as well -- usually about NT$500 (equivalent to about US$13) per hour. And that doesn't count prep time, which is usually unpaid.

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Illegal work

Illegal work, on the other hand:

• Is not legal. I have to emphasize this. It's a serious risk -- people have been thrown out of the country with no money, jailed or worse for working illegally.

• Is often better-paying. It's very possible to find students like doctors or presidents of companies who'll pay NT$1000 per hour or more, which can be very nice. Plus, you won't be paying tax. But it's dangerous.

• Is less stable. Many students will want to study with you privately, but they will often cancel or whatever. Therefore, many private teachers ask their students to pay a deposit on their class hours.

• Is more flexible. When you teach at an established school, you have to match their schedule. But with private students or whatever else, you can usually set your own hours.

• Means you have to prepare everything yourself. That can be seriously exhausting and frustrating, especially when you're just starting. Many people have described fly-by-night schools that literally thrust new teachers into the classroom with zero preparation, which is a harrowing experience at best.

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Resources

Well, I guess that's about it for the main stuff. Here are some other links to look into:

• Taiwan Teacher. This site has some good advice for people starting out, as well as EFL/ESL resources. There are also some very good links there.

• A place which has actual current job listings and stuff like that is Dave's ESL Cafe.

• Michael Turton's (now, as he says, wildly out of date) page about Teaching English in Taiwan.

• A somewhat useful BBS-type webpage is Tealit.com.

• Probably more useful, Forumosa has a lot of noise but there is some truly useful information there as well.

Okay, so maybe you'd like to go to my page about East Asia and Taiwan?

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This page (http://www.jiawen.net/teint.html) designed and ©2000-2004 by Rachel Kronick. Last significantly updated February 1, 2004.