Post your average monthly salary.....

[BobbyL]

My only experience is BKK, however the sad / depressing thing is that most of the salaries mentioned on here were exactly the same sort of thing eight or so years ago when I first looked at moving there. 

 

40K in BKK is hardly anything nowadays yet the majority of TEFL jobs still pay in that region. I am not sure how so many people manage to do it, but fair play to them. 

[Rhys]

Hmmm... the payout is not necessarily the essential endpoint...some work the system well, using it the way some Thai will for their own advantage.  A salary 25 -50 K... just does not mean much when some find and make the work schedule and policy in their own liking..... teach one day all day takes care of the week... Class in the Am class in the pm free in between... Meet class only for when project presentations are due..or by appointment,. as with the PBL process.  Then perks....coworkers, cool, students willing to work, School administration pays on time takes care of immigration and work permit promptly...all rip roy... maids are cool and cute...

[ozmeldo]

13 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

The point is that two people hired to do the same job and one does it better because the other thinks he's worth more, hmmm!

We really need to stop the delusion that Filipinos can do half the job a westerner making 45, 55, 65k is. This is utter nonsense. 98% do not even have the inate ability.

 

They may do a similar or job to some flunky teacher having a go making 30k. They see the mediocrity of many farangs and think they are as good. Yes, they are as mediocre. Yes, there are some decent Filipinos I would pay 35-38k.

 

Let's look at what they simply can't do. They can't write nor teach composition. They know nothing of literature (they don't read). The accent is atrocious, there goes pronunciation and speaking, and listening. Many don't really know grammar. Can they write an error free exam for a grade of a few hundred students? NNES do a poor job of identifying vocab although could work from a predefined list. What you're left with is a teacher with very few skills that are honestly worse than Thais.

 

Finally, they will have graduated from some dire school, possibly even holding dodgy paper. We joke about how bad Thai schools are. Only ONE Filipino university has a QS score! So the universities are utter rubbish. What sort of grads could they possibly turn out?

 

Let's face it, the only reason they are hear is their fluency in English and they work cheap.

 

Why don't they stop accepting the low wages? Up to them. I won't work for anything less than 50k.

 

Why would you work for thirty if you are worth 50?!?!!!

 

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed and it is getting quite tiresome.   Please read the OP.  

 

A clue:

-- It's not about how bad Filipino teachers are.  

 

[Ks45672]

On 8/30/2018 at 11:51 PM, lust said:

Do a better job in what way?

Less likely to come in hungover etc

[Blue bruce]

i dated a teacher who had 22 years experience at the same school. I guess you would call her the vice principal. She made 33,000 baht per month with 22 years service. This was in Petchabun province

[simoh1490]

17 minutes ago, Blue bruce said:

i dated a teacher who had 22 years experience at the same school. I guess you would call her the vice principal. She made 33,000 baht per month with 22 years service. This was in Petchabun province

Thai teachers will also have access to benefits such as housing, cheap loans etc., which helps compensate for the low salary.

[Esso49]

19 minutes ago, Blue bruce said:

i dated a teacher who had 22 years experience at the same school. I guess you would call her the vice principal. She made 33,000 baht per month with 22 years service. This was in Petchabun province

Well if she was 22 years experienced then it seems like she was a ripe age to be principal of vice !! ?

[SoilSpoil]

I tend to look at the workload instead of salary. My job pays me 28k with an average of 8 or 9 teaching periods a week. Sabai, Sabai.

[Ks45672]

17 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

I tend to look at the workload instead of salary. My job pays me 28k with an average of 8 or 9 teaching periods a week. Sabai, Sabai.

Sabai Sabai is fine in your 20's when you can live on beer and sex and be happy (I was) ....... But a decade or two later priorities change, you might want to own a house , wife + kids and a nice car, holidays,investments, early retirement options and enough savings to cover anything medical 

 

28k  is still more than many Thais get paid but they usually don't think too far ahead of the next bowl of rice

 

 

 

 

[SoilSpoil]

9 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

Sabai Sabai is fine in your 20's when you can live on beer and sex and be happy (I was) ....... But a decade or two later priorities change, you might want to own a house , wife + kids and a nice car, holidays,investments, early retirement options and enough savings to cover anything medical 

 

28k  is still more than many Thais get paid but they usually don't think too far ahead of the next bowl of rice

 

 

 

 

If you have a life with house, wife and kids, even 100k isn't enough. A simple house on a small stretch of land will cost at least 2 to 3 million these days. Add another million for a car, several millions for your kids' education and even more millions for your retirement. Being a teacher in Thailand could easily be the worst financial decision you'd ever made.

There are more and more younger Westeners marrying and settling here, and facing these dilemnas. 

 

That said, Thailand is also the land of opportunity, and with the right partner it is possible to live a familiy live and 'secure' your future. 

 

[Andrew108]

Interesting replies. I think the only way it would work for me in Thailand is if I had a decent day job and supplemented that income by working online. I expect my total earnings to be between 65K and 75K. Anything less than that is a problem.

[stud858]

I've been offered as low as 25k. The going sensible rate I believe is 45k.

But the reasons for teaching in Thailand for most won't be the salary.

And the general feeling I get is that English teachers that are falangs are more hassle for the Thai authorities.

[Andrew108]

25K is ridiculous! After my CELTA I’ll most likely be heading to China.I’m into professional development and I think the market in China is developed enough to reward teachers who are serious about teaching. I love Thailand but can imagine becoming frustrated. 

[theguyfromanotherforum]

36 minutes ago, stud858 said:

I've been offered as low as 25k. The going sensible rate I believe is 45k.

But the reasons for teaching in Thailand for most won't be the salary.

 

 

Really? Than what will it be?

 

I wouldn't  accept 30k a month just to put my suit every day in a scorching heat in Thailand. 

[balo]

54 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

Really? Than what will it be?

Well , he is allowed to stay in Thailand as long as he keep the job , no need to have extra money in the account just to keep the visa status like so many others. 

 

So let's say he earns 25k and his partner also earns money , they rent a cheap place together,  I would say it's possible as long as you stick to Thai food etc. 

 

 

[attrayant]

When I first started in 2013, I was offered 45,000, and told this was 5000 more than most starting teachers because I was going to be teaching the “hard” subjects of science & math.

I had heard that Thailand was one of the worst countries for teachers salaries, so I figured this might be typical and accepted it figuring I’d keep looking and jump ship when something better turned up.

Every year they give a 2000 increase, which means I would be up to 55,000 now. Couple that with the fact that the school is a nice 15 minute walk from home and I negotiated a deal where I can leave when I’m done with all my responsibilities, and it has turned out to be a fairly decent deal. I absolutely hate sitting in traffic, so even an offer of 70,000 wouldn’t tempt me to jump to another school if it meant commuting.

I’ve also negotiated some other perks that help make the job more tolerable, such as no gate duty and no standing in front of the school for 45 minutes of perspiring freely (aka morning address).

I live in the in laws’ house, so I don’t have rent worries. All in all, not a bad deal at all. This is in the uppermost part of Bangkok, in Bang Khen.

[HooHaa]

Rates quoted around 35k were the same in late 90's when I did a 2 year stint at a university. 

 

Private teaching, and extra night classes for adults at the university doubled, sometimes trebled that until I found gainful employment through contacts made. I was mid 20s at the time. 

 

It really does sound like a job with diminishing returns. The 2 months off with base pay was nice though. 

[Andrew108]

Well, I think its not just about low pay. There is also the issue of professional development and being able to move into senior positions.

My definition of skilled work is that you learn new skills, gain more experience, and eventually move up the career ladder. With low-skilled work you're essentially stuck repeating the same tasks throughout your working life with no chance for development.

In Thailand, I would say that ESL teaching is much more like low-skilled work because in most cases there is no clear career progression. And that's the real problem for me.

Also about salaries... If you aren't able to save 30,000 baht a month, then you're going to have trouble later on in life. You need to save this much money every month to cover unexpected health care costs, pension contributions, relocation costs and so on. In Thailand I imagine its quite rare for teachers to save this amount. 

The absolute minimum salary I would accept in Thailand (20% higher in China) would be 45K with accommodation and/or food benefits thrown in. Then I would pick up the extra income I need by doing some p/t teaching. That's for a CELTA qualified C2 level ESL teacher with 5 years of relevant experience. In China, I would expect 14K (about 65K baht) with accommodation thrown in.

Not sure that schools in Thailand commonly offer these kinds of salaries

(of course some do). But anyhow..., because of the professional development issue I'll be throwing myself into the Chinese market.

[Ks45672]

On 9/10/2018 at 8:18 PM, Andrew108 said:

25K is ridiculous! After my CELTA I’ll most likely be heading to China.I’m into professional development and I think the market in China is developed enough to reward teachers who are serious about teaching. I love Thailand but can imagine becoming frustrated. 

Good luck

[j8k]

But the parents of the pupils don't want Filipino teachers. They want blue-eyed Canadian chicks. 

 

Doesn't matter how cheap Filipinos are - they will always be cheap. That's the way of the world. 

[Ks45672]

40 minutes ago, j8k said:

But the parents of the pupils don't want Filipino teachers. They want blue-eyed Canadian chicks. 

 

Doesn't matter how cheap Filipinos are - they will always be cheap. That's the way of the world. 

Ive lived in Toronto, ontario, (waterloo - kitchener area so loads of bars and universitys etc )  and id take a girl from the Philippines  probably 9/10 even if they were the same weight which they usually aren't..... ???? 

 

 

[certacito]

On 10/20/2018 at 2:55 PM, Andrew108 said:

In Thailand, I would say that ESL teaching

CELTA qualified and yet you don't know that Thailand is an EFL environment, not an ESL one. Big difference.

[Andrew108]

22 hours ago, certacito said:

CELTA qualified and yet you don't know that Thailand is an EFL environment, not an ESL one. Big difference.

True. I made a mistake. 

[ozmeldo]

On 10/22/2018 at 11:28 AM, certacito said:

CELTA qualified and yet you don't know that Thailand is an EFL environment, not an ESL one. Big difference.

I would argue that a full EP program is ESL or EAL. Although taken on the whole a very small part of the English being taught in Thailand.

 

CELTA pretty worthless for this country in public schools IMO. Language centers are reserved for the degree-less hence the need for such paper anyway

 

[DavisH]

On 9/6/2018 at 8:36 AM, SoilSpoil said:

If you have a life with house, wife and kids, even 100k isn't enough. A simple house on a small stretch of land will cost at least 2 to 3 million these days. Add another million for a car, several millions for your kids' education and even more millions for your retirement. Being a teacher in Thailand could easily be the worst financial decision you'd ever made.

There are more and more younger Westeners marrying and settling here, and facing these dilemnas. 

 

That said, Thailand is also the land of opportunity, and with the right partner it is possible to live a familiy live and 'secure' your future. 

 

I won't state total family income, but our spending amounts to 90K a month on average. This includes everything, but our car are paid for. Have one child in a private, but don't pay a lot for that. We don't splash out but don't live frugally either. This is on the outskirts of BKK. Definitely, funds for retirement should be a concern for all - I won't be getting any Aussie pension unless I go back now and work until retirement. Anyone in this position needs to build a nest egg of sorts if they will stay here until retirement. Fortunately, my wife will get a good pension, and I'm covered under her government health insurance.  Health insurance (or lack of it) is a big one for many foreigners here.

[certacito]

1 hour ago, ozmeldo said:

I would argue that a full EP program is ESL or EAL

 

How does an EP program change Thailand into an native English speaking country? Are you sure you know what ESL means?

[DavisH]

On 10/20/2018 at 10:04 PM, j8k said:

But the parents of the pupils don't want Filipino teachers. They want blue-eyed Canadian chicks. 

 

Doesn't matter how cheap Filipinos are - they will always be cheap. That's the way of the world. 

Don't bet on that. There are several reasons why Philipino teachers may be preferred:

1) They are more likely to have teaching qualifications

2) Many, I've found, work hard.

3) They complain a lot less. 

4) They work for lower pay.

5) They are less likely to break their contract....

 

Note, I'm a native speaker, and this is my observation over the last 17 years in the same school. These reasons are why we have about 7 white faces in my school. The remainder are non-native speakers.

 

The western qualified (as in having a teaching licence) teachers want salaries north of 60K these days (I would), and don't want to work for the low salaries offered by most schools. This is the way it is now.