Teach English overseas? Degree of difficulty, older and lesbian.

March 13, 2017 11:49 AM

Seriously considering teaching English in Taiwan. My current job is ending, finding jobs when I'm over 50, especially with an employment gap, has been difficult. No experience teaching, but have done a good bit of training adults over the years as part of running library computer systems. I have a passport, have lived overseas but not in 30 years. Have minor, under control health issues. Have done some research, and this doesn't look insane, but would appreciate feedback.

I have a BA, some post graduate study, do not have a lot of experience with children. Tend to get along better with teens but suspect that is a lack of experience with younger children. Could barely manage a CELTA course financially. All my stuff is already in storage. I want/need a job where I can make ends meet (few debts), I learn new things and has some security (changing jobs yearly is ok, wondering if I'll have work next week is not). Gave up my apartment for my last job, so I could be on a plane with a few days notice. Have always wanted to work overseas, but there were always commitments holding me back.

Yes, I did look at other ask.mefi questions and answers. Didn't see any for older, QUILTBAG folks.

posted by QIbHom to Work & Money (11 answers total)

I can't speak for Taiwan, but from what I know of China your age wouldn't be a problem. I believe most schools require a certificate nowadays.

I would probably start by looking at:
EnglishFirst
Wall Street English
Disney English
posted by duoshao at 12:25 PM on March 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can speak to what I've heard about China (not Taiwan), which is that age will not be a problem, and may in fact be a bonus. However, in the cases of the two women who reported that, they both had CELTAs. I would check in with the various TEFL forums and see what comes up (Reddit and Dave's ESL Cafe Taiwan Forum for example.)
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 12:53 PM on March 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Anecdotal evidence being what it is, I met an older Argentinian woman on vacation in Bangkok who said she'd been teaching in Western China and making $3-4k/mo. She was in her mid-fifties (and definitely looked old, mostly owing to very blonde hair that had paled to nearly-white) and spoke excellent English, but with a very heavy accent. As someone who's worked with non-native speakers for the past decade, it took me half an hour of chatting to reliably understand her; if I were an adult English language learner I'd have been really dejected to discover she was my teacher (but it turned out that she was limited to working only with elementary-aged kids because she didn't have a CELTA or other teaching certification).

I don't spend a lot of time there, but you might also have some luck asking this over at Chinese-Forums. I only lurk in one particular forum, but as a site it doesn't seem to be filled with embittered xenophobic trolls the way lots of expats-in-Asia web fora can get..
posted by tapir-whorf at 1:02 PM on March 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I like the idea but to obtain a work permit to teach in Taiwan, you must:

be a college or university graduate – diplomas need to be authenticated by the Taipei Economical and Cultural Office (TECO) in Canada;
have teaching qualifications, such as a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) or TEFL certificate – all transcripts should be provided;
be at least 20 years of age or older;
be a native speaker of the language you will teach;
obtain a medical certificate signed by a doctor – requirements to be confirmed by the employer; and
obtain a certified criminal record check from the RCMP – authenticated by the Taiwanese embassy.

So maybe no to Taiwan, unless this info has changed. But keep looking!
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 1:08 PM on March 13, 2017

I've heard that, given a Bachelor's degree of any kind, an American native-speaker can earn $30K annually teaching English in South Korea, no experience necessary, transportation to/from included; but you have to commit to one or two years, with not much vacation. You'd wind up in an elementary or middle school. However, I've heard nothing about teaching English in Taiwan; only that opportunities are also available on the Chinese mainland, moreso as you move westward. This would include teaching adults, something you might consider given your lack of experience with kids.
posted by Rash at 3:54 PM on March 13, 2017

I have a friend who just started teaching in Macau at 58. This was easier for her because while it is legally possible to teach close to 60 in many Asian countries, many were not willing to give her a visa as she approached the mandatory retirement age-- Macau had no such restriction (China is kind of odd about retirement age. They do require 1-2 years of experience, but as you describe your former job wonder if it can be spun that way? TEFL would help.
posted by frumiousb at 4:37 PM on March 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: A CELTA or Trinity Certificate will be the gateway to teaching jobs at the British Council, which is a very LGBT-friendly employer, has a global standard non-discriminatory interview setup, offers a mix of kids, teens and adult students and has very good healthcare options for teachers. They work in many countries, not just Asia. There are quite a few teaching jobs just being advertised now on their jobs page here: https://jobs.britishcouncil.org/
posted by mdonley at 6:43 PM on March 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

(And you don't have to be or become British to work for the British Council, either.)
posted by mdonley at 6:44 PM on March 13, 2017

Best answer: I live in Taiwan and am well acquainted with the English teaching scene here.

Teaching in Taiwan has become a complete career dead-end. The hourly wage is roughly the same or even slightly lower than it was in the late 90's. If you work for the same school for ten years, you'll only receive the most nominal of raises. Moreover, with the ongoing demographic crunch and more-stagnant-than-America economic growth, it's getting increasingly difficult to find full-time hours anywhere. More and more people are scrambling to put together a patchwork schedule of a few teaching hours in one school, a few in another school 45 minutes away, etc.

There seems to be a much bigger demand for teachers in mainland China, but then you'd have to live in mainland China. I last lived there in 2003, but I've met several others who've fled there and come to Taiwan because they couldn't handle the quality of life issues (visa hassles, pollution, censorship, etc.)

That being said, you don't need anything more than a BA to be employed legally at a buxiban i.e. an after-school cram school. Almost the entire demand for foreign teachers is at the elementary-early junior high school level and there is definitely age discrimination going on at that level. Yes, you need a teacher's certificate to teach at public schools, but they pay even less per hour worked than the cram schools.
posted by alidarbac at 8:16 PM on March 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you all. alidarbac, that is exactly what I was looking for. I'd been thinking of Taiwan because what I'd been reading made it sound like it wasn't oversaturated like Japan and South Korea. Looks like those days are over.

My objection to China is the Great Firewall. I have computer skills, but preparing to work around such a thing isn't a good start.

I'd seen the British Council web page, but didn't know they were QUILTBAG friendly. That is very useful.

Off to do more research, thanks all. Thinking of doing the CELTA in the Czech Republic. Sounds like I really need to do that first.
posted by QIbHom at 9:08 AM on March 14, 2017

FYI, I've traveled in China under the Great Firewall, and realistically everyone knows how to circumvent it. In my case, I bought a $12/mo VPN subscription that was advertised as specifically good for China (though the VPN I usually use also seemed to work, even though I'd read that it might have problems in China). Using a VPN is incredibly simple: you read reviews, subscribe to a service, then install their software. They'll all have apps you can use with your mobile phone, too. Open the software, put in your username and password, hit "connect," and go browse Facebook or use Gmail. The Great Firewall functions more as a reminder of state censorship for the middle and upper middle classes (and anyone else who has a phone or computer and the money to purchase a VPN subscription), but it's easy to get around. Even Netflix, which typically blocks VPN connections now, is totally savvy to users connecting from within China via VPN somehow, so you can watch the same streaming shows you watch at home.

Which is to say that there are many good reasons to avoid China (although I love it and have vague schemes to spend a couple years there myself), but the Great Firewall is not a huge one. Also, it's an old book but if you're interested in reading some great narrative nonfiction about teaching English in China, Peter Hessler's River Town, about his two years at a teacher's college in rural Szechuan with the Peace Corps in the mid-nineties, is excellently told.

(Also: have you thought of the Peace Corps? You may be too old for a lot of the facilitated programs, like EPIK in Korea, or the JET Programme in Japan, but the Peace Corps isn't shy about age and provides excellent language training.)
posted by tapir-whorf at 11:12 AM on March 14, 2017