Teaching

[davethai]

I am wondering if anyone on this site could offer me some useful advise. I am currently living in Thailand and have a multi entry visa (o), and would like to teach English to Children. Although I am a professional qualified social worker practitioner in the UK with 20 years experience, I am not a professionally qualified teacher. I have a PhD and a basic TEFL certificate (40 hours on line). However, there seems to be some regulations with regards to obtaining a teachers licence - particularly with regards to evidencing a years previous teaching experience before being allowed to take the thai culture course.

Any advise would be helpful concerning the best way forward for me. Many thanks.

[GungaDin]

You want to teach English & you don't know the difference between advise & advice?

Good luck!

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

You are qualified to teach English in a government school, and could even get a job in an international school. First off, none of the new regulations are being enforced at this time and most provinces do not intend to enforce them. Should any regulations be enforced, you can pay 500 baht and get a temporary teacher's license which will give you 2 years to comply with the new regulations.

The first new regulation was to require all teachers with less than 5 years teaching experience in Thailand to take a Thai culture course. The course takes about one or two weekends, and is followed by an exam. The cost is about 6,000 baht. I believe the regulations state that in order to get a teacher's license, the applicant must show completion of the course by March '09.

The second new regulation was to require all teachers lacking a B.Ed. to pass a teacher's licensing exam. The exam is very difficult. It has been offered twice and very few teachers have passed it. There is a 6 month-1 year preparatory course for the exam which runs at a cost of at least 60,000 baht. I believe you must show enrollment in the course or exams no later than May '09.

Summary of Regulations

Bachelor in Education

a. The employee must have at least 1 year teaching experience that

can be proved by the Teacher’s Council, Thailand.

b. The employee must attend Thai Culture and Professional Ethics

Training from the institutes which are approved by the Teacher’s Council, Thailand.

Bachelor in any field

a. The employee must have at least 1 year teaching experience that

can be proved by the Teacher’s Council, Thailand.

b. The employee must either pass the test provided by the

Teacher’s Council, Thailand or getting 15 credits of studying in

Education from the universities which are approved by the

Teacher’s Council, Thailand.

c. The employee must attend Thai Culture and Professional Ethics

Training from the institutes which are approved by the Teacher’s Council, Thailand, of which the employee shall bear the cost.

For employees who have applied and got the letter from the Teacher’s Council, Thailand. (which means the employees have not finished the required steps yet)

The employee will be required to finish the steps as above to get ID card within 2 years from the applying date.

If you have passed all steps

1.Fill in the application form

2.Pay 500.00 Baht

3.Get the receipt and the certify letter

(considered substitution of the ID, can be used to apply/extend visa & work permit)

4.Get the ID (sent to school)

If you have not passed yet

1.Fill in the application form

2.Register for the card and ask for exceptional letter

3.Get the exceptional letter (sent to school, considered in process to get ID, can be used to apply/extend visa & work permit)

4.Finish required step (s) within 2 years

5.Show evidence to Teacher’s Council

6.Pay 500.00 Baht

7. Get the receipt and the certify letter (considered substitution of the ID)

8. Get the ID (sent to school)

The regulations now permit people with no teaching experience to apply for a teacher's license after taking the course. New teachers will be able to obtain a work permit despite not having 1-year's experience. At the end of their first year they will need to have the Teacher License to renew the work permit and extend their non-immigrant B. If they don't have the 1-year's experience, they can't renew the work permit and extend the visa. But if they or their school say they don't have 1-year's experience, in theory they can obtain a new work permit. I'm sure there's a hole there somewhere. Whether immigration will require a teacher's license at the time of applying for a visa extension is uncertain and as stated above, many provinces will not enforce the requirement.

In your case, when you find a job, you will need to convert your "O" visa to a "B" visa. Your employer should take care of all your paperwork. You could work for a language center or agency without obtaining the teacher's license. You could perhaps get a job at an international school, and it would be up to the school to decide whether you should comply with the new regulations. You could get a job at a government school, knowing that outer provinces probably won't require compliance with the new regulations, or take a job in Bangkok, and, if the regulations are enforced, get in line with everyone else trying to comply.

And, if all of this seems confusing and quite hypothetical, it is. No one knows what's going to happen.

[Soutpeel]

a basic TEFL certificate (40 hours on line).

Any advise would be helpful concerning the best way forward for me. Many thanks.

It shows...

[garro]

You want to teach English & you don't know the difference between advise & advice?

Good luck!

Don't be a <deleted>.

To the OP,

I am sure that you can find a way into the system despite your lack of experience. You need a school that can fight your corner and put effort into getting you legit. You won't be the first.

[Slip]

You want to teach English & you don't know the difference between advise & advice?

Good luck!

Don't be a <deleted>.

To the OP,

I am sure that you can find a way into the system despite your lack of experience. You need a school that can fight your corner and put effort into getting you legit. You won't be the first.

Indeed Garro

Ah- the OP made the mistake of posting his question in General. Perhaps a mod will move it to teaching where this guy seeking genuine advice might get slightly better treatment.

EDIT to ask the OP. Where in LOS are you currently living?

[GungaDin]

You want to teach English & you don't know the difference between advise & advice?

Good luck!

Don't be a <deleted>.

To the OP,

I am sure that you can find a way into the system despite your lack of experience. You need a school that can fight your corner and put effort into getting you legit. You won't be the first.

I know who the <deleted> is!

[PeaceBlondie]

Hello, Dr. DaveThai (may I just call you Dave? ). Welcome to the Teaching in Thailand forum. A few of our regular teacher-posters such as zapadeedoodah have already given you good advice, and a few have corrected your errors. I found more errors, but I am no pedant unless a pedant erroneously tries to out-pedanticise me. Or tries to de-pants me.

It would be deliriously wonderful if you could get a job at an international school, but perhaps your doctorate is not in the right field. You could get a job teaching children, and be out in left field. Good luck. I am not sure that you need to change from an O visa to a B visa, but I am often mistaken for Peter Pan.

[harrry]

dave,

this is not to say that you are unqualified but it may give you an option at reasonable cost to dip your feet in the water and possibly get a feeling for what is around.

Chiang Mai University http://teflcmu.com/ has a short volunteering course as well as their 120hr and the 0nline 60hr TEFL which I am doing currently. Unlike most volunteering I think it would be legal as they will help get an ED visa and it seems to be considered training.

I would like to try it but I think my health problems would rule it out.

[Mario2008]

You don't change a visa, what you do is apply for an extension of stay. That can be different from the reason you were given your visa. You can have a non-O visa based on marriage and ask for an extesion of stay based on work. No problem with that.

Note that also on a non-O visa you can apply for a workpermit.

[PeaceBlondie]

The course cited in harry's post above is apparently the same as the TESOL course also listed above as one of our sponsors. Really, though, with a Ph.D. and an online course, does Dave need much more?

[Super Hans]

What do you actually *practically* need to do to teach? What if I pitched up in Bangkok tomorrow, with a non-specific degree in one hand and a non-immigrant O visa in the other - would I be able to find teaching work quite easily? Is it essential to do a TEFL course? If so, is it better to do it in the UK or Thailand?

[harrry]

What I was quoting was the Volunteering course.....I do not think any of the sponsors have that PeaceBlondie. You will see the link to it on the right hand side of the page.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, harry. If I get PM's from a sponsor I will do what needs to be done. They know who I am (howdy, y'all).

SuperHans, the government licensing authorities do not require a TEFL certificate However, men with names like Igor, Ixytoxl, Hans and Francisco sometimes find it helpful to take the course.

[Slip]

DT (If I can be even more presumptious than PB-lol). Come and do a one week 'getting to know you' in my school- I guarantee you'll be gainfully employed before the week is up. Unless you have 2 heads.

But I guess if anyone wants to brush up on any skills they should check out some of the sponsor links- yes?

[Super Hans]

Thanks, harry. If I get PM's from a sponsor I will do what needs to be done. They know who I am (howdy, y'all).

SuperHans, the government licensing authorities do not require a TEFL certificate However, men with names like Igor, Ixytoxl, Hans and Francisco sometimes find it helpful to take the course.

And those of us with 'real' names that are good old fashioned English ones?

[harrry]

What I had thought the OP may value was an opportunity to get some live teaching and also some first hand experience of working with kids to see if it is what he wants to do.

With his qualifications he of course would be able to work in many capacities, either abroad earning quite sufficient money to visit Thailand as much as he wished having access to more money than the OP would probably earn teaching English or, if he wished, to work in Thailand teaching in his field at one of the many Thai Universities that use English which probably would be more rewarding socially and financially.

As work permits are normally needed for volunteer work, but in the case I mentioned which was being promoted as a course by one of the more respected Universities in Thailand I would feel it unlikely that the poster would have any immigration ramifications because of the institutions status. The volunteer course I was talking about did not seem to require that the TEFL certificates had to be done through them.

Of course if he wants to do a TEFL certificate he should check out a sponsor.

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

- I guarantee you'll be gainfully employed before the week is up. Unless you have 2 heads.

I guess that disqualifies me.

[PeaceBlondie]

I saw nothing in the original post about doing volunteer work. Could Dr. Dave come back and clarify if he wishes to be paid?

[Slip]

- I guarantee you'll be gainfully employed before the week is up. Unless you have 2 heads.

I guess that disqualifies me.

[davethai]

I would like to thank all those who offered some positive and useful feedback. As to the others, I am sincerely sorry if the grammatical inaccuracies and spelling offended you, so for fun have a look at this.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and you awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Dyslexia rules.... KO

[joeycano]

ges, we speaka and right english perfectle. Dr dave's skills are neeeded bery much here ins thailand.

[Martian]

Does everyone know the difference between effect and affect? How about there, their and they're?

Quite often you see these words wrongly used on posts and public forums. I think that effect vs. affect truly is a misunderstanding of the word usage whereas there, their and they're are more attributable to trying to type quickly and not proofreading close enough. I find myself doing the latter once in a while although I really try to pay attention so.....don't be quick to criticize what is seemingly a grammar error when it can actually be a typo error where the mind is saying type one thing and the fingers type another!

Regards,

Martian

[PeaceBlondie]

I found that well-educated, pedantic IRS tax auditors had trouble distinguishing between effect and affect when writing formal letters to US Congressmen. I try to use affect as a verb, effect as a noun. My good, modern, British dictionary lists affect only as a transitive verb, and only has one formal example of effect being used as a verb, and effect is almost always a noun. But most folks do not know that, and I do not blame them if they make such a mistake, even in the classroom (below matayom 4, anyway). Try to get the average native speaker to distinguish between distinguished, extinguished, and languished.

[Ijustwannateach]

Interestingly, "to effect" can mean 'to cause,' as in:

"The poor response to the disaster effected many changes in emergency-readiness policy."

Naturally, the verb is not the most common use of the word.

I'm guessing from the capitalisation of the noun 'Children' in the OP that our dear doctor Dave is a Herr Doktor Professor or something like that.

"S"