I'm in Hong Kong and I charge 800 HKD (about 100 US) per hour. Most weeks I take home around 10k (around 1300 US), but that drops off pretty sharply in the summer when most of my students go away for holidays.

It's a good gig if you know the right people and you can get the kids to like you.

@Phyrro,

I'm sort of in the same boat: I turned 30 this year and I'm looking to transition into full-time secondary school teaching (in my case, coming from the world of higher education). I'm also living abroad and not able to blow a lot of cash on this transition.

You might want to consider getting the 5-year Massachusetts preliminary certification. That's what I did and it's worked out so far.

The MA prelim route might be good for you because (a) it's cheap; (b) you can complete all of the requirements from abroad; (c) the process is pretty quick (took me about two months from start to finish); and (d) it can get you a teaching job right away (or at least it did for me). Then you have 5 years to figure out the best way to get more permanent status and, if you choose Teach Now or Teacher Ready or whatever, you can do the practicum in the school you're working at.

The license requires only a BA and, in my case, two tests. I was able to take these tests at my local Pearson centre in Hong Kong and pass with zero studying. The tests were about $120 each and the license application was another $125, for a total of around $365.

Might be worth looking into!

@PsyGuy

Makes sense, especially the idea of transferring the burdensome aspects of securing a visa to the applicant. And I agree with your point that school administrators are smart and could get around any cert requirements if they wanted to.

Not to harp on this, but I'm still not entirely convinced that possession of certs is not officially necessary for working in a 'proper' school. I've been looking at other posts for all sorts of schools (public, private, and international), and they all have a sentence that says something to this effect:

"Applicants need to have permanent residence status, or need to hold teaching certification from the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, NZ, or RSA if an ARC [visa] is needed."

The way this is written seems to suggest that certification is necessary only for the purposes of visa sponsorship. That's the only reason I can think of for why they would require certs only for applicants who need sponsorship and not for those who don't have to deal with visas.

Other institutions (buxibans, learning centers, language institutes, etc) don't seem to have this requirement, which makes me think there may be a separate set of criteria for employment as a teacher in a 'real' school.

Either way, I have the MA certs all taken care of and I'm good to go. Thanks again for the insight.

@PsyGuy

Interesting. The principal I dealt with genuinely seemed to be under the impression that a license was required. Maybe that's an internal policy she didn't want to violate and not, as I had assumed, a government requirement. I guess I misunderstood.

A lot of job postings from Taiwan for less established schools or public schools specify that visa sponsorship is available only for licensed teachers, which led me to believe that some form of certification was a government requirement.

@PsyGuy,

Thanks for the clarification. Definitely going to to the Missouri route should the time come to upgrade from MA Preliminary.

@helloiswill

Have you actually used a substitute license to get a Taiwanese visa? I've heard conflicting (mostly second-hand) reports.

@PsyGuy (and anyone else), I have a few more questions:

Would the Missouri doctoral route qualify me for QTS? What about the MA Preliminary?

I've heard you say that the MA Preliminary is effectively a lifetime cert if you never teach in Massachusetts. The website suggests that the the cert is valid only for five years and is non-renewable.

Thanks!

Thanks, PsyGuy. I've benefitted from your comments to other posts and I'm grateful to hear from you.

After looking into NJ CE and MA Preliminary, I ended up going with MA because it's cheaper (two MTELS around 125 each plus a 100 application fee, for a total of around 350) than the NJ CE (Praxis for around 150, online 24-hour course for 285, and application free of 190, plus old SAT scores, for a total approaching 700). MA is also faster (1-2 weeks processing time vs 6-8 weeks for NJ).

Also, I was able to complete all of the application requirements from Hong Kong, taking the MTELs at the Pearson professional center. I believe this would have been possible for NJ CE as well (Praxis at Pearson and the 24 hour course online via the Relay School of Education).

Missouri sounds like it would have been a better option. The MEGA website links to Pearson for scheduling, so I probably could've taken that test in Hong Kong too. I'll probably end up getting this cert after the MA preliminary expires.

Do you know if the Missouri doctoral route cert can lead to QTS?

Follow up for the benefit of future searches: processing time for the MA preliminary certificate is 1-2 weeks. For the New Jersey Certificate of Eligibility it's 6-8 weeks.

TL;DR: I need to get some form of US certification that (a) fulfills (even minimally) the state certification requirements for a Taiwanese visa; (b) can be issued within two months; and (c) I can complete from Hong Kong.

Hello,

Through a friend I got the principal of a pretty well-established, international school in Taiwan to look at my CV. Word came back that she'd be interested in hiring me to teach literature in their secondary division, but she says she can't now because the Taiwanese government will issue visas to foreign teachers only if they have certification in their home state/country. And I have no certification.

A few questions then:

- What exactly counts as a state-certified 'teaching license' for the purposes of securing a Taiwanese visa (or in general)? Would this include a substitute license or an initial/preliminary license?

- Can anyone offer advice on the quickest certification program that would meet the visa requirements, even minimally? I'd be grateful for ballpark estimates of how long it takes for certification to be issued after all the requirements have been met and all paperwork submitted.

- Are there any programs that meet these two conditions (sufficient for a visa and available quickly) that I can complete entirely online?

The options I'm aware of are NJ EC and MA Preliminary license, as I can take all of the required tests and EC's online course in Hong Kong. Would these work? I looked into UT APT, but the Hong Kong police force doesn't offer fingerprinting service, so I'm not sure how I would be able to facilitate the background check.

My background: I just finished my PhD in English literature, which is how I got to know the friend (a fully certified teacher) who works at the school in Taiwan. I have lots of experience teaching at the university level and informal experience tutoring international school kids in Hong Kong. I doubt any of this experience would help me get a license.

My plan is to get the quickest certification possible so that I can take this job and then spend next year completing a program like Teach Now or Teacher Ready (or any other program that leads to a more recognized and complete certification). Does this sound reasonable?

Thanks!