I have to be honest with you. This isn't for most teachers. Most of you won't make close to this teaching in Taiwan. It's going to take a lot of work and long hours to make this much. But it's possible.
So how can you make $NT100,000 a month teaching English in Taiwan?
Here's how.
$NT600 ($20USD) an hour x 8 "teaching" hours a day x 6 days a week = 28,800 x 4 weeks = $NT115,500
The math is simple, but configuring your work life out to make that much is not. Most teachers are going to be in a buxiban working full time making a salary of $NT50-60,000 a month working 25-40 hours a week.
If you are a licensed teacher then you might make $NT60-70,000 working a good 40 hours a week in a public school.
$NT600 an hour is the standard pay in Taiwan. I started on that in my first school and then had a few part time jobs making $NT650-$750 (but only for a few hours). That was in my first year.
In my second year I made $NT650 an hour. So if you get some experience you can probably get more an hour somewhere, but not everywhere. Some schools just have a set pay rate regardless of experience.
So how?
1. Get a "part time job" that gives you an ARC
An ARC (alien registration certificate) legally allows you to teach in Taiwan. Finding a part time job that gives you one of these is not that hard to do in Taiwan. And you want a "part time" job cause you want to be paid by the hour unless for some strange reason you are not paid more.
I had 2 jobs in Taiwan (one in Taichung and the other in Tainan) that gave me one of these for teaching 12-14 in one and about 18 hours a week in another. I also always saw jobs like these on Tealit.com.
The hours need to be stable, in a row and not at an odd time of the day so you can find work that fits that schedule. Now lets assume that you can find a job that gives you a 3 or 4 hours a day 5 days a week.
4 hours a day would be about 80 hours a month and $NT48,000 a month.
You are kinda bound to this school so do your best to keep good relations here.
It's quite likely that you could find a job like this.
2. Find another part time job
Try to find another part time job in the area that will double the hours that you got in you first school.
Option 1: Get a morning job in a kindergarten
You can find morning work teaching in a kindergarten which is said to be illegal, however people do it and the officials don't seem to make a big deal about it. I did it at times and I new lots of other people who did as well.
These can actually be a bit higher paying jobs. You might be able to get $NT650 an hour or more.
Option 2: Get a morning job teaching adults
These can be lower paying like around $NT550 an hour, but they are easier for some people.
3. You probably still need another part time job
It's probably going to take 3 jobs to make this kind of money. So you are going to have to find another job that fits with what you have already.
Ideally you want to look for chunks of classes together and hours that are not spread out in the same school.
Work Saturday
Lots of buxibans are looking for teachers to work Saturdays. In fact if you get hired by a buxiban chances are you might be working Saturday morning. I worked in one that was like that.
And I worked in another where I didn't have to work on Saturdays. But working Saturdays is common in Taiwan and in China. If you really want to make money in Taiwan then you are going to have to work 6 days a week which means you're probably going to work on Saturday.
Get some privates
If you can arrange some private lessons then you can charge more. I tried, but personally found teaching in a classroom with multiple students easier than one on one.
The downs
- Long day
- Tiring
- Difficult to find several jobs that fit together
- You will have no social life or time for other activities
- Introverted?
- Your classes might suck
- Commuting time
- Is it sustainable?
- Prep time?
But wait are you a first time teacher?
If you are then you are probably in for a tough time. Some people can adapt fine, but others including myself have a difficult time. My first year was pretty difficult.
Teaching kids is not easy.
Teaching hours vs. work hours
Did you notice above how I mentioned 8 teaching hours? I didn't mean 8 work hours I meant 8 teaching hours.
Most of the time with a part time job you only get paid for the teaching hour, but they might still expect you to come in early and prepare. Both of the jobs that gave me the ARC were like that.
At $NT600 an hour it's going to take 48 "teaching" hours a week to make $NT115,500 a month.
That's a lot of teaching hours.
In my experience half of that is plenty. You are going to have to consider the drawbacks of this.
Considering the commute between jobs and a little prep you might be looking at 10-12 hour days.
Can you dig it?
If you work a fulltime job you might have 20-25 teaching hours with another 5-15 office hours or so. Office hours are especially common in the big chain schools.
But keep in mind if you work full time...
A full time teacher might only make $NT375 an hour
If you are working a full time job in Taiwan you're probably only going to be making $NT375-500 an hour.
Some fulltime jobs in Taiwan may range anywhere from 25-40 hours a week. So lets say you find a job working 40 hours a week for $NT60,000 a month. That's only $NT375 an hour.
So the point is to increase your hourly wage and you can do that by working part time.
The ups
- Money.
- Freedom. You can quit the other jobs when you want and just keep the one that gives you the ARC.
Is this for you?
This is really only for a certain kind of person. I don't really recommend it, because in my experience working 15-20 hours a week was plenty. That was enough for me. I prefer a more easy going lifestyle.
For this to work, you have to be savvy, high energy and disciplined. Even then you probably won't be able to do this for too long.
But if you so choose now you know how to start.
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