What Majors/minors to consider for teaching English in Taiwan?

Based on experience of close friends, I can confirm that teaching English in Taiwan doesn't really have strict requirements for what type of degree you need. However, certain qualifications can make you more attractive depending on the type of teaching you want to do.

Two types of teaching:

1. In Schools

2. For a tutoring company

If you want to do #1, getting a major in education and minor in English/Chinese is a great strategy because it's right on the money for what they're looking for. The more "traditional" schools will value the skills you gain in the science of education. That said, if you do any major with extensive writing (philosophy, pre-law for example) you will still be fine -- especially if you can demonstrate prior teaching/tutoring experience through ECs.

If you want to do #2, companies will screen for what Taiwanese families consider to be "prestigious" or "impressive." Therefore, it helps a lot to come from a top-ranked US university (no matter your major). If you have other qualifications like a perfect SAT or ACT Verbal score, that will help as well. Finally, even though this shouldn't really matter, family friends have let me know that for #2, there is a perceived higher quality in a tutor's instruction level if they seem like they are not originally from Taiwan. Just improves the "authentic" factor in their eyes... shrug

Given this, my general recommendation is that if you want to teach English in Taiwan, you don't need to directly prepare for it. So, if you have a 2nd dream job, you should actually work towards that, since in the process you'll actually be gaining the proper qualifications for teaching English in foreign countries anyway. Example: my cousin studied to become a doctor, decided that she didn't want to go to med school right away, and spent 2-3 years teaching in Taiwan instead. She loved it so much that now she teaches full time; if she ended up not liking teaching, then she easily could've went back to the med school track. Win-win!

I think it's amazing that you want to help others learn such a global language. Hope this helps!

TEFL teachers applying for jobs in Taiwan should expect to have the following documents available:

Bachelor's/Associate's Degree.

Valid Passport.

College/university transcripts.

Passport photos.

TEFL Certification.

International resume/CV and cover letter.

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