Taiwan? Plastic, computer chips, part of China,
not part of China, cheap t-shirts, pirated goods.
These are distinctive images that the very mention
of Taiwan conjures. Dwarfed by its neighbours, Taiwan
has emerged as a giant in manufacture and industry,
a key player in an international business sphere.
For the forward-thinking Taiwanese, English education
is a key to the future and the island that lies to
the right of China and below Japan is fast becoming
an attractive option for EFL teaching.
Job opportunities
The last ten years has seen rapid growth in Taiwan's
EFL industry. A presence of private language "chain"
schools can now be felt through the capital Taipei
and west coast cities like Taichung, Homei, Tainan
and Hsinchu. Bold, crest emblazoned sloganed schools
offer plenty of opportunities to qualified and newly
qualified teachers. Ian Holden, Director of Saxoncourt
Recruitment, commented that "interest in Taiwan
is growing because it is diverse and culturally rich
country, a bitesize China and there is the bonus of
being able to start in a matter of weeks due the straight
forward visa process".
The standard requirement for teaching in Taiwan is
a university degree. A TEFL qualification is not a
compulsory application requirement by many schools
as they often offer their own pre-service in house
training. Many of the big organisation such as British
owned and managed Shane English Schools, Hess Language
schools, Kids Castle manage their own schools from
city based head offices but also have joint ventures
and franchise schools owned by Taiwanese nationals.
In most cases, teachers are academically supported
by the head offices.
The Taiwanese education system has undergone dramatic
reforms with the government recently introducing native
English speakers into elementary and secondary schools.
The next few years will see increased opportunities
for teaching positions in state education.
Like many other countries in Asia, children are the
main focus. For most private language schools, 70%
of the classes are Younger learners of all age groups
and many of the big organisations have specialist
kindergartens. Parents find the opportunity of sending
their children to a school equipped with native English
teachers very attractive, an area that was quickly
identified by Shane English schools, introducing 100%
native English speaking teachers, in contrast to other
schools who carve up schedules between native speaking
teachers and Chinese teachers.
Teaching and Training
Teachers should expect a great deal of their schedule
to be dominated by children's classes. Promoting learning
through fun, schools aim to create a colourful and
interactive learning environment of games, songs,
and total physical response activities. Specialist
texts and an arsenal of materials and resources are
used to develop reading, writing , listening and speaking
skills. Innovative systems are consistently being
introduced by new schools, ranging from summer schools
to drama clubs to telephone teaching, a scheme masterminded
by Shane English Schools.
As principal Dave Roberts explained " teachers
call students at a designated time and day to monitor
progress with particular regard to listening and speaking
skills. It serves as a fun and interactive method
of developing these skills, instills confidence and
contextualises English outside of the classroom. Branching
out from the main-stream language schools are the
English immersion kindergartens. Kindergartens provide
students with the opportunity to study all day from
Monday to Friday with a native English speaker. The
curriculum is project based and covers science, maths,
cooking, art and crafts and physical education, all
of which are taught through English. Teachers at the
schools become very attached to ‘their' children
and often extend their contracts because of this.
All reputable schools provide a comprehensive training
week for their new teachers. Usually a modular course,
inital training focuses on adapting skills aquired
on TEFL courses to suit younger learners. Training
looks at classroom management, how to create a fun
learning environment and how to engage the interest
of the students past their 5 minute attention spans.
Observations are built into part of this training.
As Taiwan shifts its emphasis from cheap mass production
to manufacturing high quality goods, English language
schools also realise the importance of maintaining
a high quality teaching, offering training at several
stages throughout first, second and third year contracts
and the possibility to upgrade any basic EFL qualifications
to CELTA or DELTA.
Accommodation and Living costs
Most language schools operate an excellent welfare
service for their teachers. Airport pick-ups, orientation
days and assistance with accommodation should be standard.
Shared apartments tend to be the cheapest option with
many apartment buildings offering 3-4 bedrooms. Standards
vary but a clean , respectable sized apartment in
a convenient location is obtainable. Rent varies city
to city. Locations on the west coast have a cheaper
cost of living and teachers could expect to pay NT$6-7000
each in contrast to NT$7-9000 in Taipei. Landlords
require 2-3 months deposit in advance which teachers
should be aware of when calculating set up costs.
Cost of living accross Taiwan is relatively low.
Food and drink in Chinese hangouts and night markets
is unbeatable and national and local transport is
extremely cheap. With the average salary at NT$550
per hour, teachers are afforded a very nice standard
of living . One of the greatest attractions for teaching
in Taiwan is,ironically, its tax system. For the first
183 days tax is paid at a high rate of 20% but then
drops to 10% and is rebated at the end of the tax
year. Language schools assist their teachers in their
application for rebate which, usually averaging at
£1,000 makes a great addition to end of year
savings.
Practicalities
Taiwanese Government have strict regulations allowing
foreigners to work in the country. Individuals travel
to Taiwan on a 60 day visitor visa. A medical, carried
out in Taiwan, is compulsory in order to apply for
the necessary working permit and Alien Residance Card.
Visa support and flights are often arranged by school
or recruitment agency. Teachers should be wary of
small higher paying unlicensed schools, many of which
are unable to support teachers visa.
Why Taiwan?
For those looking for something different, something
seemingly undiscovered, Taiwan is emerging as a number
one choice. A compact island offering national parks
and mountains, exciting neon lit cities and white
sand beaches is all accessible in a few hours north
to south, east to west. Straddling the tropic of cancer
the weather is as diverse as the geography. Taiwan
can offer something for everyone. Taiwan is a nation
that anticipates the future with great precision and
effect and EFL activity mirrors this. With a good
quality of life and plenty of excellent teaching opportunities
teachers often find themselves staying more than a
year. They truly are Made in Taiwan
Bethan Rowlands
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