subject: Do Schools Provide Training For Teachers Teaching In Taiwan [print this page] Thinking about teaching English in Taiwan and want to know what if any kind of training is provided by schools? Do you need any experience to teach in Taiwan? Do schools train you or help you in anyway? The majority of teaching work in Taiwan requires no experience and training is usually provided no matter where you work. Hoever, the difference lies in how much training is provided and the quality of the training. There is no standard that schools follow and the training you get at one school can vary greatly to another.
If you don't have any experience teaching before don't worry. Schools primarily target university graduates when recruiting new teachers and they know these graduates usually have no experience in teaching. Why do they do this? some might say this is a bad thing, but from the point of view of the school that hires teachers it is good. Simply because it makes it easier for them to "train" teachers to use their materials and teaching style in class. Schools have a specific set system they follow and all teachers they hire need to follow this setup. This only applies for the cram schools throughout Taiwan. If you are looking at working public schools or a university, obviously they would prefer you have some kind of experience coupled with much better teaching qualifications.
How much training a school provides you really does vary. Some of the bigger "chain" schools will provide you with up to several weeks of intensive daily training. This classes can run from 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and last one to two weeks, sometimes longer. It can be tiring but if you have never taught before you'll get to know all the ins and outs of how to teach English at that school and this should put an end to any concerns you have about teaching without enough experience. Some schools won't provide any or only one day of training. This kind of attitude shows you that cram schools aren't too concerned with education and are just happy to have a foreign English speaking person in classes to keep parents happy.
You may also find that your school has follow up training. This, once again, is usually the case at the bigger schools and you'll go off to training workshops once every three to six months. These are usually just for a couple of hours a day and are typically held in the morning so you don't miss evening classes. Not all schools have follow up training but if you are concerned about your lack of experience teaching and want to do the best job you possibly can, then you might want to consider applying for positions where you know the schools offer ongoing training to help you be a better teacher.
None to very little experience is really required to teach English in Taiwan and this shows in the overal quality of training provided to new teachers. This isn't to say that the training is of no use but instead it more or less trains new teachers to follow set system that is used by the English school.
