Where Did You Teach Before?

[konangrit]

Not a teacher myself and guess that for many people Thailand is their first country teaching. For the people who have taught in other countries though there must be personal reasons to teach here ..... low pay ..... difficult immigration procedures really aren't an incentive.

So, where have you worked before? What were the pros and cons compared to Thailand? Why don't you teach in Japan or South Korea? Quality of life is better than hard cash? Interested to hear from the well traveled English teachers if there are any here

[Rhys]

Taught in China..... and sorry to say.. it is out of control..Some of the autocratic management styles are typical of the SAR management...

Chinese children..due to the one child policy.. are... spoiled....and their attitude toward the western style teacher shows..

Expert permit, resident card..travel arrangement.. are handled much better in China compared to Thailand.

Writing seems to be a strong point with Chinese students, unlike Thai students.

Large classroom are the norm...and the Chinese version of Dear Ajaan are full of stories..

That's the short and curly of it all..

I came to Thailand with a G.O.. and had the wonderful oportunity to live in up country, learn the culture, language, work at the same pay rate, and adapt in the Thai style.. At times, I enjoyed the toughest job I ever loved. That has been the incentive of working in Thailand...but .. it is time to move on...

[mbkudu]

Konangrit, I've never taught anywhere but Thailand so my experience in that respect is limited. I do know teachers who spent time teaching in Japan and Korea. An Aussie friend of mine taught in Thailand for a number of years and then went off to Korea to 'look for the money.' He lasted one year and then had had enough he said. He said life and work there was just too rigid and uninteresting.

He made quite a bit of money though.

[Dr. Jekyll]

I taught in Africa before, to engineers.

And I was very much impressed by their dedicacy, intelligence,...

They wanted to learn, to get out of their misery.

But unfortunately, this is Africa, no money.

If you do not go there with a contract from your own government, the UN, ..., forget about it, you'll get nothing.

[Ijustwannateach]

Has Harry gone off the deep end? Seems like it from member reactions to him... c'mon, Harry, get back on the prozac!

I taught for quite awhile in Japan. The money is ok, but not that good compared to cost of living, and the lifestyle is weird at best and stifling at worst- take a look at Lost In Translation if you want a glimpse of the BEST kinds of expat lifestyle there.

"Steven"

[kenkannif]

MBK,

If I delete a post I will PM you (actually as the rules for deleting posts are too tricky for little old me I'll generally edit out the offending passage or words), so twasn't me mate!

[mbkudu]

MBK,

If I delete a post I will PM you (actually as the rules for deleting posts are too tricky for little old me I'll generally edit out the offending passage or words), so twasn't me mate!

It's cool man. Wasn't anything useful anyway; just a wee rant at a wee man.

[Ijustwannateach]

Harry,

It's an amusing story and it probably DID really happen to someone.

"Steven"

P.S. I like the stories about planes forced down 'cause a drunk sarariman locks himself into the loo and refuses to stop smoking! Must be a bit of a hassle for the other passengers, though...

Getting back on topic?

I actually did do a little teaching in the U.S., but it was more TA stuff in college than a regular teaching gig in a public school.

"Steven"

[kenkannif]

Ajarn,

Harry is kind of well known for erm...err.....borrowing bits and bobs from the 'net! But is there such a thing as an original thought anymore? Isn't everything recycled nowadays (I nick the odd bit of info from the Visa section here!), shouldn't I try to keep the thread on-topic?

But he's a good egg overall and is enthusiastic about starting threads!

[Ajarn]

Ajarn,

Harry is kind of well known for erm...err.....borrowing bits and bobs from the 'net! But is there such a thing as an original thought anymore? Isn't everything recycled nowadays (I nick the odd bit of info from the Visa section here!), shouldn't I try to keep the thread on-topic?

But he's a good egg overall and is enthusiastic about starting threads!

To me, credibiliy comes from honesty. That's my only comment.

[Ijustwannateach]

If anyone HAD taught in Japan, they would've known to call it Nihon, not Nippon!

Thought about teaching in the Philippines, but only know one farang guy there who does and he's in the international school network- not much call for English teaching as they (theoretically) already speak English!

Also have thought about China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam but the governments there are a bit too dodgy for my taste.

"Steven"

[kenkannif]

Sorry Harry I'll try to keep it down in future!

Although I was actually trying to stick up with you....now on with the thread!

[alaina]

I taught middle and high school in a few places in the US. Public school has a million rules and I broke up more fights than I can count. (Can't even expel a kid who brings a gun to school!) AND my paycheck was pathetic with No Car, a Studio apartment and not much else. Funny that there is a teacher shortage here.

There is no shortage of people with degrees or B ed's. The attrition rate is 25% for teachers within their first three years.

Private school can be better as far as the students go, and many of the laws don't apply. Teachers generally put in more hours, mostly voluntarily though. But the politics are surreal and the pay is worse, e.g. Studio apartment and borrowing money!

My former colleagues initally thought my idea to come to LOS was crazy. Now as I say my goodbyes and show them my soon to be apartment, I have to try really hard not to laugh at them!

And if I hate it, I am still sending postcards saying things are wonderful

[Buki]

If anyone HAD taught in Japan, they would've known to call it Nihon, not Nippon!

Thought about teaching in the Philippines, but only know one farang guy there who does and he's in the international school network- not much call for English teaching as they (theoretically) already speak English!

Also have thought about China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam but the governments there are a bit too dodgy for my taste.

"Steven"

I think there are plenty of Job openings for native speakers in the Philippines, but not in the private schools and public schools. The Language centers that caters mostly to Koreans and Japanese are plenty and is a huge business, and all of them are looking for native speakers. The pay is the same as here ($1000 up).

But Thailand still has the biggest TEFL market in Asia. No doubt about it.

I taught ESL back in my home country. This is my first teaching job abroad.

Edited September 14, 2006 by Buki

[PeaceBlondie]

Since one poster decided to revive this topic, and it was full of garbage, I decided to take out the garbage. Carry on, please.

I never taught public school before coming to Thailand, but I had a lot of instructor experience.

[DragonQuest]

I never taught anywhere but thailand, but just curious to know how a 1 or 2 years teaching expierience in thailand would look like on a resume to potential employers abroad?

[Ijustwannateach]

I think as long as it's clear you were doing TEFL, other countries with TEFL communities would be happy to see you (assuming you meet their qualifications standards). Of course, if you weren't already a Fully Licensed Godlike Teacher back home, that won't change your chances of getting real school jobs there. An acquaintance who is the director of a school in Hong Kong has previously encouraged me to apply there if I get tired of teaching in Thailand, and I'd be pretty sure Japan would take me back...

"Steven"

[bogaty]

I bailed 9 months into my 12 month contract as an English monkey at a private language school in Ulsan, Korea. Absolute hel_l, it was.

I followed that up with an excellent year long stint teaching English at a technical college in Glogow, Poland. Great fun, good students, nice town, good boss and I only taught on weekends. Salary was the only negative.

I taught in the suburbs of Tokyo for 3 years as a sister city exchange. Pretty slack work as all the classes were taught with a Japanese teacher doing most of the heavy lifting. Soul draining though.

After that, I was a beach bum for 3 months on Saipan island. I taught a couple of Japanese guys who ran a dive shop English in the evenings in exchange for a couch to sleep on and free air refills. I couldnt get a US visa though and got kicked off the island after my tourist visa expired.

I went back to Canada and worked at an international language school for a year before deciding the pay and benefits vs cost of living were better overseas. I contacted my old boss in Japan and got hooked up with a teaching gig at a private high school. Again, the job is pretty slack, get a tonne of vacation time and the salary's reasonable but the education system is such a farce that it's soul crushing. Can't believe it's coming up on 6 years that I've been here.

I've been trying to move to Thailand for the last 2 years but little things like tsunamis and coup d'etats always seem to happen whenever I come down for 2 weeks in order to do some job hunting.

Everyone says I should just move and begin the job hunt once I'm there but I'm the type of guy who needs all my ducks in a row before committing to something.

[Briggsy]

Ireland - Mostly students from Spain and Italy doing a month stint in Ireland, 5 days a week at a language school. Also plenty of Japanese students. The vast majority were charming and well-educated. Oh, and a group of secondary school students from Korea who were very bookwork oriented.

Cambodia (1997) - Not such a clever idea in retrospective. Quite crazy times. There's a book about it. The students were more conscientious than Thais and seemed to make more progress.