Queries Re Teaching In Thailand

[MaggieMay]

Hi

I've been browsing through this forum and have a couple of queries.

We (me and my partner) are thinking of returning to Thailand and are looking at the oportunity of teaching.

We have twice spent time in Thailand first in '94 (8mths) and then in '97 for a year (not working just backpacking)

We aren't qualified teachers but in 2002 went to China and taught conversational english as well as listening and writing classes at a Unni just outside of Nanjing for two years. Loved it.

The school was very good to us and even though we have been home for four years we still here from our students. The experience was a huge learning curve for us facing a classroom of eighty chinese students (average age 20) all looking at us as though we knew what we where doing was a little daunting to say the least, as was giving a lecture which was open to all students in the school.

We left only because of a carrot dangled by our kids to come home because of grandkids which we adore but....

Anyway what I was wondering was would there be any chance of teaching jobs in Thailand based on our experience in China? Also I started a TESOL course with ICAL while in China, completed three of the five modules and have decided to dust of the cobwebs and start mod. four.

We are mature!! (other topics re age) but hey whatever!

I'd really appreciate your thoughts

Many thanks

MM

[aussiestyle1983]

Do you have a degree?

If not, you will most likely be teaching illegally here! You could easily get a job, but it would be hard to get legal without the paperwork, especially for new people to the system

[DrFisher]

If your not qualified teachers please don't teach I have a hard enough time trying to read the crap my master students write!

[PeaceBlondie]

Maggie May (did you used to run around with Rod Stewart? just wondering )

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the Teaching Forum.

You say you are not 'qualified teachers,' but that's a vague term. Most professors in universities aren't qualified teachers, either, but they teach, nonetheless.

Please browse through the long thread pinned to the top of our forum, "Questions About Qualifications." If you or your partner have a BA, BS, BBA, etc., that's very important, because it qualifies you for teaching conversational English, although you won't get any offers to be Dean of the Faculty of Education.

All most Everbody whos posted sofar in this topic has made some errors in grammar, spelling, etc. I hope you learned how to correct/mark students' papers while you taught in China.

Good luck. If you're in your 50's or 60's, a few schools won't hire people in that age range, but most will.

[MaggieMay]

There's no BA's or BS's or anything remotely like a degree between us....just life experence!

But no Rod!

Thanks...I'll continue to browse this forum and see what info I can find

MM

[MaggieMay]

One other thing does a TESOL or TEFL certificate count?

[aitch52]

Hi Maggie May

like you I was considering Teaching English as a foreign language, you could try talking to a company called Text and Talk, they are very helpful and if you are any good then they also offer a job placemment scheme when you pass the course, they are based in Bangkok and Pattaya, also Chiang Mai I believe. Don't listen to the stuffed shirts "poof" TESOL,sharp intake of breath etc, my memories of the quality of so called qualified teachers in the sixties are very vivid.

Good luck and I guess you are leading your other half away from home, because you didn't want to be alone , I have found a job in engineering, but T&T are on the back burner should it all go pear shaped

Regards

Chris

Any grammatical errors educators?

[DrFisher]

I'm sorry that post I made was harsh and inappropriate I did not mean it the way it sounded, my English and writing skills are not up to snuff to spite the fact English is my native language. What PeaceBlondie said is correct.

[PeaceBlondie]

Maggie, you should definitely consider or take a TEFL course before starting to teach EFL (although you've taken most of a correspondence course previously). Our sponsor in the teaching forum is SEE, in Chiang Mai. Try to take a 120 hour classroom course that includes hours of supervised practice teaching. It might be fun for the two of you to take the course together.

Your experience counts for a lot. In fact, a few employers would overlook the lack of a TEFL course, assuming you learned it 'on the job.' However, an untrained teacher can go for years without realizing what they're doing wrong, because they just don't know the right way.

[Loaded]

If you're coming to Chiang Mai, pm me and I'll tell you the names of schools that hire degree-less teachers and employ them legally. You'll teach communicative TEFL - speaking and listening. The schools realise a degree in applied physics doesn't really help but a TEFL course does.

As PB said there are many 'ajarn' in universities here who have never received any type of formal teacher training but are 'qualified' to teacher post grad students. TiT.

[PeaceBlondie]

Loaded, thanks for agreeing, but I wasn't just talking about Thailand. IJWTeach and I have often mentioned that back home in North America, outside of the Faculty of Education, almost all university departments are filled with professors who have no credit hours in education courses. My religion professors had 9 years of uni studies, none of which covered education.

[MaggieMay]

Hi

Thanks everyone for your feedback

I don't want to get into any hoohar about 'qualified teachers', but I'd say there's so called professionals across all occupations who've winged it and because they're OK at what they do, they stay.

Oophs... that may not be grammatically right! What about hoohar?...is that allowed?

Cheers

MM