markg

Would you guys do this work if let's say, their was a new law stating that No teacher at an International school could get payed more than 70,000 baht a month?

Would you still do it?

I keep telling people - it's not how much you earn, it's how much you can save living the lifestyle you want.

For example, I have a friend in the UK who is a qualified teacher with 4 years experience. He earns 34,000 pounds per year living in London.

Thats about 140k Thai baht per month before tax. Lets say about 110k after tax. He pays nearly 50k a month in rent. That leaves him 60k a month.

Which is not a million miles away from someone earning 70k a month in Thailand at this point.

Personally, I eat out for every meal and have a good drink up once a week, have a nice house with a maid/cleaner coming once a week.

Dial that into your London salary and you're just about spent up for the month.

On your (ficticious) 70k a month Thai salary, you're still streets ahead.

I definitely save more than my UK counterparts here for the same lifestyle I'd say.

Oh, and i don't have to pay to go on holiday.

I live in the place where people pay to go on holiday..........!

There's an old adage along the lines of 'you don't go into education if you want to be rich'.

Education is a calling.

Earning enough to make it comfortable makes it that little bit easier.

I'll never be monetary rich, but I also never count down the days to pay day.

Hope that helps.

If what you're really asking is '<deleted>, that seems like a whole load of work' then you'd be right. It is.

It is a substantial amount of work indeed -much more than your average 40 hour week working in an office. However, that is offset by 'ridiculous' holidays.

I have two things to say to people who begrudge the holidays teachers get.

1. It all averages out over the course of a year. I work a lot longer in an average week than many white collar workers

2. If you like the holidays, become a teacher. All you've gotta do is get a decent degree in a recognised subject from a good university, do a couple more years post-grad work, then start out on the bottom rung of the ladder. After about 10 years, you can consider that you've made it ! Easy really........................

So,I guess that the workload at these 'good' international schools matches that of State schools in the UK?

So,I guess that the workload at these 'good' international schools matches that of State schools in the UK?

Yeah..........pretty much.

Some of the better State schools, and many of the private schools too. The same rules, curriculum and accreditation is used.

I can easily get a crb from the UK. If that is enough.

I don't think you can 'easily' get a CRB check from the UK. The CRB check is done by a UK based employer to find out about a prospective employee. You cannot apply for one yourself.

As an individual, you can get a 'subject access check' which states clearly is NOT a police check, but it kinda is and that is what I used in 2006 when they were asking for them.

There is some recent information here http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/554416-recent-experience-non-b-visa-run-penang/ from 11th May 2012. No mention is made of a police check.

Nor here either http://www.phuketvisa.com/index.php?lay=show&ac=article&Id=538608332

As I've said before, I've never heard a Police check being part of getting a non-B for a Phuket school in the last 5 years. They did have a bit of a strop on immediately after the John Mark Karr incident http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Reich but as is the Thai way, it quickly blew over and was all forgotten about.

The most important document from the Phuket labour office is the 'WP3' form. Once that has been signed and paid for, you're good to go.

Different labour offices use different rules.

I think they maybe realised that it's inconvenient for many people to get to BKK in person to do a Thai police check.

Never heard of it being needed in the last 5 years in Phuket Scott.

I am a peripatetic teacher (part time, traveling to each school for work) at both The Regent's and St. Andrews. I was required to get the police background check. It was free, painless except for the time spent going to and from Bangkok twice.

And herein is why it's a bit rubbish. How does someone who lives in, say. Had Yai, manage to 'nip' up to the police station in Bangkok during working hours............twice?

I got my own police check from my own country about 5 years ago and have never been asked to produce one since, and I've changed schools twice in that time. One hurdle we never found out how to jump over was this; in the USA a 'police check' could consist of one done at County level or by the FBI. The latter takes about 6 weeks minimum I was told. South Africans could only do it in their home country by submitting finger prints, in person, at the South African Embassy in Bangkok - again, very inconvenient for anyone who doesn't live near BKK.

I find it extrememly unlikely that the Police in Bkk have the time or resources to submit a check request to every police department in every country in the world.

Are they really relying on you to submit to them every country you've visited? Rather trusting isn't it? I suspect someone convicted of something in, say, Sierra Leone, might forget to admit they'd ever been there. Their 'police check' would then come up clear.

I've worked at schools who routinely send teachers for Non B visas to Penang or Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Vientienne. None have been asked for a police check in the last 4 or 5 years. All got their visas.

It seems that International school Teachers do many of the same things as they do in the UK.

Indeed. We are inspected and accredited by the same organisation that inspects and accredits UK schools, so yes, we do exactly the same kind of work.

To Saakura - ask any prospective school who accredits them.

If the answer is just the Thai Ministry of Education, then I'd suggest you forget it. If it's a reputable, independent organisation, like say CfBT then you know that the school is being run to the same standards as in the UK. Their focus is absolutely on the student and that is how it should be !

Ezy Bar (or as I refer to it 'The house of twisted faces')

Brilliant !!!!! Is that the bar that was all red? Red walls and very low red lighting? Next door or next-door-but-one to Happy Days.

The workload in international schools is significantly higher, in my opinion, than in a Thai school.

When i worked in a Thai school, I created and submitted lesson plans, marked books (tick and flick only - no comments), set tests at the end of every term and input the test results in a ledger.

I taught my lessons and went home. I worked from 7.45 to about 4pm Monday to Friday. I think the key-words are that I was responsible for teaching and that's about it.

In the international school I work in now, I work from 7.30 to 5pm Monday to Friday. I catch up with marking and emails in the evenings or at weekends.

In addition to what i did in a Thai school, all teachers have a lot more responsibilities. Arrange assemblies once a week (on a rota), do homeroom and take care of the students' pastoral needs which can be significant, mark students books according to the ATL (Attainment Target Levels) and leave specific comments about how they can improve their level. Record student progress and show evidence about this. It may include photocopying work and filing it under the student's name in a very large filing cabinet for every student I teach. If students are either failing or advancing at a gifted-student rate I have to show how i am using differentiation to meet their needs. I have to make sure every student in my homeroom is doing their homework (subject teachers sign it off in their student diaries) and if they are not, call or email the parents and meet with them to discuss the problem. I have to organise at least 3 field trips per academic year and get parental consent for each of them. If students have a problem or are sick, as a homeroom teacher, I have to deal with this. Many lunchtimes will see some students in lunchtime detention. If i confiscate a mobile phone, I have to get the parents to come in. I probably answer 4 or 5 parental email enquiries per day ranging from 'Jane said Jimmy is bullying her' to 'Jane's aunt just committed suicide, please take it easy on her at school'.

Working at an international school required me to change up at least 2 gears. The workload is MUCH much more. However, the holidays are far far better. If I average out my working week over the course of a year, it's about the same as working in a Thai school.

Things that i like about it are that i speak at native English speaker rate as all lessons are in English. Most of our kids cannot speak Thai, so the lingua franca in the playground is English. The other thing is that i speak quietly. The students absolutely do NOT speak when I am speaking. That never happend in a Thai school.

I enjoy the increased level of responsibility with the students - the buck stops with me.

Tracking students' academic progress and providing evidence takes up an awful lot of time.

Hope that helps you.

I don't know how the Police Clearance is done, but I presume that the police contact the home country and possibly any other country you have lived in for a computer check of criminal activity. Minor offenses don't show up. An arrest warrant will.

Not true. The Thai police cannot do a 'police check' in your home country for mundane matters like this. They do not have access to any other countries' police computers. I know of no country that lets another have access to its computers. For sure, police depts from one country can request information when it's part of a major international criminal investigation but not mundane stuff like this.

The 'police check' will turn up some skeletons, but lets be clear about this, it should not be regarded in anyway as a guarantee of the person having absolutely no criminal record.

When this nonsensical law was brought in, I got a police check myself from the UK as it's my home country. I didn't have to get one from Thailand - a country I've lived in for a number of years, nor did I have to get one from any country I'd visited (and how would anyone know which countries I've visited anyway ! )

Point is, a criminal who has a record in (say) Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India (insert any number of countries here) but has NO record in his home country, will come up clean.

It's a safety net which could weed out some people, but it sure as hell ain't the guarantee some people think it is.

Thats all well and good but when you eventually get into a bar, what about the prices of the beer 120-200 baht on average. might iswell be back in europe...

Sheesh. I don't know where you drink on Bangla.

Are you talking about clubs like Seduction? Yeah, sure, their prices are around the 150b for a bottle of beer. I have no idea how much the prices are for a club in Europe but i doubt it's anything like as low as 150baht.

You can't compare club prices with beer bar prices.

Most of the beer bars i go to in my very infrequent Patong visits sell beer for around 80 or 90 baht.

There is one at the top end of Bangla which is called the 70baht beer bar. The clue on prices is in the name.

Anyway, that's not the point of the article. The article said it was trying to clean up Bangla, presumably to make the tourist experience better.

In the wee small hours, the ladyboys are definitely a problem. The police could easily clean that up as prostitution is illegal. But they don't do it. I wonder why not?

Yes, report them to the police - because those high earning, criminal flower sellers really need a night in jail.......................

Better still - fine them, because that will make them think twice about selling flowers....................

Yet again, the REAL issues and problems have not been addressed.

Monkey beach in Phi Phi - as the name suggests, supports a large colony of monkeys. Dunno if it supports bats but if there's food for monkeys, there is presumably food for bats too.

Hi there,

Is it normal to not be paid over the holidays? Not sure if it's 'normal' but I have heard of it. I've heard of schools giving 12 month contracts but only paying a nominal retainer over the holidays. The one's i've heard of do pay around 40k a month, allowing you to save some money for the summer break.

Personally, if you are a qualified teacher, then you are wasting your time looking at schools paying 30k a month and you will be dejected. I say this because i feel that with your experience as a qualified teacher, you will be able to see through the smoke and mirrors charade that pupports to be an 'education system'. It will frustrate you beyond belief.

If you are a qualified teacher and already have some experience in Thailand then you should be setting your sights far higher than run of the mill Thai EFL type schools.

You need to be looking at international schools.

Try to remember this. It's not how much you earn each month, it's how much you can save living the lifestyle you want to, that is important.

A 30k a month job in Isaan where your rent is 3k a month may allow you to save 10k a month.

A 60k a month job in Bangkok where your rent is 20k a month probably won't allow you to save as much as the Isaan gig !!

I have teaching friends back in the UK who earn twice as much as me here in Thailand. However, I save three times as much as them each month. Sure, I don't own a house here, but I do have a maid once a week and I eat out every day. Teachers in the UK tell me they can afford to eat out about once a week.

Work out what is important for you (money isn't everything) and aim as high as you can.

Good luck.

Stainless steel guttering. You've got to be kidding me. It will cost a fortune, weigh an incredible ammount and probably won't actually be 'stainless'.

True stainless steel is not magnetic. I've seen Thai and Chinese manufactured 'stainless steel' that is magnetic.

Personally, I'd just use aluminium.

Click is better than Nuovo in my opinion, for the reasons stated above; build quality, resale value, availability of parts.

Only thing I find is that they are a bit small. If you are a big person, you may look a bit silly on one! (I saw an extremely large man on one. Looked like he had a bit of plastic wedged in his butt cheeks)

I'm a Wave man myself. Wheel diameter is larger than a Click, parts are available anywhere. No, really, anywhere. And I just prefer manual gears over automatic. I also like the convenience of having a basket. I've been riding bikes for 20+ years now and the Wave never ceases to amaze me. Always starts, can do over 100mpg if driven carefully. My current Wave is 5 years old, 66k kilometers, and the only non-consumable part I've replaced is the kick start lever.

New tax and insurance was 500baht for the year. Servicing is of the order of 150 baht every 2 months.

Truly an engineering marvel !

Central shopping centre near Phuket town.

2nd floor, just outside Central department store entrance, they have end of season/end of stock items.

Pair of black pants will set you back 5 or 6oo baht.

There is a changing room and they will also turn them up for you for free.

Primark quality (and Primark UK prices too ! )

Whilst you're waiting for your strides to be turned up, go to Bata for shoes. Pair of black shoes will knock you for 5 to 700 baht.

What sizes are you for pants and shoes? I'll buy them off you for half price.

I went to Burma for 2 weeks just after Aung San Su Kyi was released.

At the time, finding current information about visas was a nightmare and sounded very shady - having to call travel agents in Bkk etc. Even air asia in Phuket didn't know anything about getting a visa. Useless.

I wanted to fly from Phuket, but as i couldn't get decent information about the visa, I decided to fly out of Bkk and sort my own visa out.

Back then, there was hardly anyone in the Burmese consulate in Bkk and i managed to get my visa in one day by paying the 'express fee'. A small bribe of about 500 baht.

That situation may have changed now that Burma is more popular.

I did the usual, well trodden path of Rangoon, Bagan, Inle lake and Mandalay.

I took internal flights between most of them as Burmese busses and roads are terrible.

For example, one bus trip costing 20 dollars took 18 hours, whilst the flight cost 80 dollars and took an hour. No brainer for me as i'm not on such a tight budget as some backpackers.

It sure is a great country with some very lovely people in it and i'm glad i went before commercialism over runs it.

Some things i noted in comparison with thailand (where i've lived for 7 years)

Burmese chicks are not that hot or approachable.

Burma isn't really a 'drinking country'. You sure can get nice beer, but there are not many bars as such, and the few that there are tend to close early.

Burmese people are very friendly - making eye contact and smiling at you. That will change when they get sick of tourists of course!

Burmese food in general sucks in my view. How a country that is between India and Thailand can have terrible food is beyond me, but that's what i found.

The roads are terrible as are most of the vehicles upon them.

I never stayed in an inadequate hotel. The one at Bagan had a beautiful pool.

My advice is to not try to pack too much in in too short a time. Travel between places takes longer than you think. The pace of life in Burma is still slow. Adapt and go with the flow !

I'm having a BBQ later. One of my guests is a chef. Is it ok for him to flip burgers on my BBQ at my house, or not?

By the way this thread is going, it would be fine for him to entertain us all to a gourmet meal at HIS house, but not to flip burgers (or mow the lawn/service my motorbike) when at my house.

All a bit silly really.

It's all about risk awareness and common sense. Which is why i said the OP is scary !

For me, getting a months worth of money in cash is more of a risk than getting a couple of grand out of the ATM here and there.

This is quite scary.

Some of the other people I've seen on YouTube and on here were victims of clever skimmers who managed to distract them and get hold of their card for a short period of time.

You're saying that this isn't the case with you? I suspect you're the same as most of us. Reasonably careful etc.

Have you used this card online? Do you pay bills in (say) a restaurant with it? Or do you only use if for ATM withdrawals?

I only use my Thai ATM card for ATM withdrawls, and i check the machine pretty carefully and use the mirrors on the machine to make sure no one is looking over my shoulder. Much more than that, I can't really do. Changing my account to being able to withdraw in person only is not viable as i work during banking hours.

You've not really given much information Simon.

Where do you see this kid being at, say, 21 years of age, and what is your budget.

Wholly Thai schools do not have a great reputation as I'm sure you know, however, they do churn out good Thai citizens, who can then take their places in Thai universities and eventually work in Thailand.

If you have any notion whatsoever of the child working overseas, then forget about a Thai school.

If you can afford it, send the child to an international school, not a bi-lingual school. Sure, he will struggle for one term with the language, but he will soon find his feet. After a year or so, he will be speaking, reading and writing like a native.

Now here's the kicker. At age 16, he could take his GCSE exams. Pass 5 of them and you can go to a Thai university. That's two full years early.

Don't fancy that? Let the boy study A levels for a further two years and then send him to an international university. A university in the UK is a similar price to many Thai universities.

Furthermore, with the world shrinking, UK universities are eying up Asia. Nottingham already has a campus in KL, and the University of Central Lancs is opening a campus in BKK in 2014. More are sure to follow. A student who has followed the Thai system will struggle at a UK university, My last uni regards a Thai Bachelors degree as the equivalent of A levels, for example.

So sit down, do some maths and some long term thinking and make your choice. Don't send a kid to a school just because it's near your house. Send him to the best school you can afford and meets your future needs - and move your house if you have to !

There are loads of reasons 'why', though none of them are justifiable. Here are a few that are of my own opinion.

1. The MOE loves paperwork and the Thai teachers will be doing a lot of paperwork and box ticking that perhaps the EFL department just don't see. So if they're in, so should the highly paid farang staff. !

2. Quite a few Thai teachers are paid so little that they actually have little options for leisure time during holidays, therefore, they may as well stay at school and save money, ergo, so should you.

3. Many Thai teachers live near to their friends and family, so looooong holidays are not really necessary. A trip to a neighbouring country for merely 'travel' is unthinkable.

4. The amount of work to be done will take up all the time allotted to it. That is why, for example, it often takes 3 months to process a Non-B visa into a work permit. Because 3 months are given. They could probably do it in a week.

5. Due to reasons 2 and 3 above, time off is not seen as being a motivator for many Thai staff.

6. If all else fails, then you 'don't understand Thai culture'. !!