Teaching English In Phuket

[Carlaj]

Hi,

My name is Carla

I move to Thailand in a couple of weeks and I'm interested to learn from anyone about what the need for teachers in phuket are? I teach children, private tutoring and also hospitality English.

I do not have a Ba Degree but I have taught before in subjects such as English, drama and dance.

Would really appreciate any help as teaching in Thailand is very new to me.

Carla

[LivinginKata]

Hi,

My name is Carla

I move to Thailand in a couple of weeks and I'm interested to learn from anyone about what the need for teachers in phuket are? I teach children, private tutoring and also hospitality English.

I do not have a Ba Degree but I have taught before in subjects such as English, drama and dance.

Would really appreciate any help as teaching in Thailand is very new to me.

Carla

You might have a tough time finding employment as far too many people arrive here with the same idea. And make sure any prospective employer arranges your work permit. No work permit = immigration cell & deportation.

[huggybear]

Hi,

My name is Carla

I move to Thailand in a couple of weeks and I'm interested to learn from anyone about what the need for teachers in phuket are? I teach children, private tutoring and also hospitality English.

I do not have a Ba Degree but I have taught before in subjects such as English, drama and dance.

Would really appreciate any help as teaching in Thailand is very new to me.

Carla

Hi Carla,

are you saying you do not hold a BA or a TEFL certificate?

You'll have a tough time with only one of those, impossible without either.

[markg]

Hi Carla,

Agree with the two posts above.

Phuket is a really nice place to live and consequently there is a lot of competition for teaching jobs.

With no BA degree, you will not find employment with a mainstream school here in Phuket.

There is a chance that you will find work as a freelancer with one of the Language places like ECC or ELT and such like. You would be, what some may consider, on the very bottom rung of the ladder. You'd have no visa, and no work permit so would be working illegally. They farm you out to 2 or 3 different schools and you get paid for the hours you teach.

The upside is you get money and can stay in Phuket

The downside is..........no holiday pay - and we have 2 months off in March/April/May kinda times. A further nuisance is that you can now only get a 2 week visa stamp when you do a visa run over a land crossing. For phuket, that means about a 10-12 hour return trip to the Ranong/Burma border. Every 2 weeks. Costs about 1200 baht.

Have a look on ajarn.com and filter for jobs in Phuket.

I looked yesterday.

There arent any.

Some of the better schools here have UPPED their requirements. They are initially seeking applicants with a degree in the subject they want to teach. Having no degree or TEFL at all will preclude you from even applying.

You may very well get work in other provinces, particularly Bangkok or 'up country' in the rural areas.

You may also join the raging forums on ajarn.com where people tell you that you can legally work and get a work permit with no degree because they knew a chap who once did.....................

That may be very true, This Is Thailand. But here in Phuket - and i've been teaching here for 5 years now - you just can't do it.

We are just starting to compose our adverts for our recruitment phase, for new teachers to start in mid April.

It will expressly state that only those with the stated qualifications need apply.

I stole those ideas from other advertisers in Phuket by the way, so it's not just us doing that !

Sorry to lay it so coldly on the line, but you're coming to a place that many people desire to live in, and often times the only way of earning a living is by teaching English.

You have to understand that the market is full and competition is high.

Good luck.

[Tine]

hello, i have been teaching in Thailand for two years now. Ihave a degree, tefl and thai culture seminar certificate. I am planning to move to Phuket and teach there in April, but im looking for jobs on ajarn.com and cant find anything. I was wondering if anyone knew how easy it is to get a job there?

[markg]

hello, i have been teaching in Thailand for two years now. Ihave a degree, tefl and thai culture seminar certificate. I am planning to move to Phuket and teach there in April, but im looking for jobs on ajarn.com and cant find anything. I was wondering if anyone knew how easy it is to get a job there?

Just looked on Ajarn myself and there are 4 jobs on there - all at the same school.

How easy is it to get a 'job' here. Depends really.

Some language schools may take you - though you will be very lucky to get a work permit out of them. This means that you can choose to work illegally for them for as long as you can keep getting a visa (at your own peril and expense)

April is a good time to look. The new semester in Thai schools starts in May so they are often starting to look at recruiting new staff during April.

There are a couple of worrying comments in Ajarn's front page about the state of the teaching market in general. The teachers licence requirements are still in a state of flux - so no one really knows if you need a degree in the subject you are teaching, an education degree, or what.

There are lots of Philipinos here who cost less.

Funding for native speakers has been slashed at many government schools.

How easy is it to get a teaching job in Phuket. Not as easy as in the past. There are jobs out there, just not that many anymore.

[Tine]

Thanks very much for your advice. yeah there are some ads on ajarn, but none that were really suitable for me as i really wanted to teach English, and the only one that seemed to be available was kindergarten/primary, and i need an education degree for that. so thats not a possibility. It seems very difficult in Phuket and im definitely not prepared to work without a permit, as it is far too dangerous. I guess i will have to try and see what happens. If i cant then maybe back to the Provinces. Thanks again

[Somtamnication]

Many schools outside of Phuket hire teachers without a degree, and legally. They get a written permission from the local school authority and you are set. Get a TEFL certificate locally, so you are taught the nuances of teaching in Thailand itself.

If you ever do get a degree and return to Phuket, avoid slave schools like Kajonkietsuksa and Thai Hua.

[makavelithedon]

hello, i have been teaching in Thailand for two years now. Ihave a degree, tefl and thai culture seminar certificate. I am planning to move to Phuket and teach there in April, but im looking for jobs on ajarn.com and cant find anything. I was wondering if anyone knew how easy it is to get a job there?

Tine,

If you are looking for a vacancy in an actual school, most are contracted out now to agencies so that's probably why you can't find much advertised. Your best bet would be through one of the locals like ECC etc. I would imagine that it is still very yearly rotational, so you may find an opening in one of those places; a lot of it really is timing and luck to be honest.

If you want something shortish (up to a year) then a language school as mentioned is probably best before the paperwork hassles mount. If you MUST live in Phuket then Kajonkiet or Satree always has vacancies (red flag) but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Phuket is not really the place to be trying for that narrow field of employment if you want to reside long term.

Just as a guide, a friend has been working for an agency/language school in a fixed local school placement for the last 3 years. He is up for interview to work directly at the school come May. He's stuck the language school job and all the hassles for 3 years just for the opening and 3 others have also applied who have similar experience!

Hope it helps and good luck.