Greetings all,

My wife and I plan a return to BKK. I intend to teach English, and am thinking about the best way to proceed. Oxford Seminars got mixed in with my CELTA info, and looks like a good, professional outfit. The Certification course is about US $1,000, and held over three weekends here in the States.

Can any of you grizzled vets offer pearls of wisdom? Will this Certification hold up over there on the front lines? I mean acceptable to language schools - I have no desire to teach in a Thai public school. OS also offers job placement assistance. I feel the best way to proceed is to fly over and then look.

I have a couple of other concerns: mostly, the complexity of the work visa steps (want to complete those steps as efficiently as possible) and my age (51 and dissipating at speed). Me: half a MA in TESOL/Bilingualism which I was unable to complete, and I've been studying Thai off and on for a few years, so can speak elementary Thai. Also studied lots of Japanese, and am wondering if I might be able to squeeze in teaching Beginning Japanese somehow, or if that would make me more competitive to schools, or open more opportunities. Don't have much experience teaching, but did teach a foreign language at one point, and feel I would be a good, effective English teacher for small groups.

My wife and I lived in BKK previously and had a great time, and really look forward to returning.

Thanks much!

Ouch, the silence is deafening. I guess that was NOT a good question. My apologies to the board.

I apologize. I had actually written a lengthy response, but I was having internet problems and it apparently didn't get posted.

I don't know anything about Oxford, but if you have a degree and a celta you are in good shape. If you have a celta and no degree you will likely be OK.

I don't know too much about the usefulness of your Japanese, but Japanese teachers are rather hard to find. Do you have previous teaching experience?

Hopefully a few posters will be along to discuss the visa stuff, which is complicated, but doable. Will your wife teach as well?

I hesitate to reply as a grizzled veteran.

Does 3 weekends cover more than 100 classroom hours?

Does it give each teacher at least 5 hours of supervised teaching of EFL to EFL students?

Does it prepare you to teach to Thais, especially to Young Learners?

Knowing Thai is helpful talking to Thai teachers.

Lack of experience in teaching won't help. Japanese? Maybe if you teach it in fluent Thai.

Age 51 is neither young nor ancient.

I hope this helps; welcome.

I think you don't have a CELTA.

I apologize. I had actually written a lengthy response, but I was having internet problems and it apparently didn't get posted.

I don't know anything about Oxford, but if you have a degree and a celta you are in good shape. If you have a celta and no degree you will likely be OK.

I don't know too much about the usefulness of your Japanese, but Japanese teachers are rather hard to find. Do you have previous teaching experience?

Hopefully a few posters will be along to discuss the visa stuff, which is complicated, but doable. Will your wife teach as well?

Thanks for the reply. I have a BA degree (Russian Language), 1/2 of a MA in TESOL, and no CELTA. After reading lots of threads and getting better feedback from wife, I'm thinking of a Certification course in BKK now -- not the Oxford course in the USA. So I'm kind of looking for a list of Cert course in BKK.

I taught foreign language (not Japanese) to American military stationed in Italy, so I've got a little experience.

You're right the visa stuff is complicated -- it's downright daunting! Guess it weeds out the sensitive, thin-skinned types...

I hesitate to reply as a grizzled veteran.

Does 3 weekends cover more than 100 classroom hours?

Does it give each teacher at least 5 hours of supervised teaching of EFL to EFL students?

Does it prepare you to teach to Thais, especially to Young Learners?

Knowing Thai is helpful talking to Thai teachers.

Lack of experience in teaching won't help. Japanese? Maybe if you teach it in fluent Thai.

Age 51 is neither young nor ancient.

I hope this helps; welcome.

I think you don't have a CELTA.

Hi and thanks,

I've decided better to get Certified in-country. You're correct: I don't have a CELTA, sounded like I did in my original post. I was researcing the CELTA, which sounds like the most professional way to go, but with my BA maybe it would be more economical to just get the Certification. SEE looks great, but we want to stay in Bangkok as opposed to Chiange Mai or say Phuket. I want to teach in a language school or other non-public school setting in Bangkok.

So much good information in this forum! Now I'm looking for a list of Certification options in Bangkok. We plan to be "boots on the ground" in July. Can't find my passport (argh!) and need to sort out the complex visa stuff first. Looks like I need to apply for non-Immigrant "B" at the Thai consulate here in the states, but they need an employer letter along with the application, and I obviously don't have an employer yet... Stress: the silent killer. So, I'll be dividing my time between this great forum and the Visa forum.

I think, but im not 100% sure that the MOE requires at least a 120 hr certification course for working. I knew one person that had a 60 hr. celta that wasnt good enough to teach here. I think thats why all of the tefl courses you see here are 120 hr.s min.

The MOE may have a rule for licensing courses in Thailand, and the limit maybe 120. But there's no MOE minimum requirement for licensing the students/teachers, AFAIK.

Does your wife have a job? If she has an employer, you may be able to come as a dependent of hers. If she doesn't, will she be looking for work as well?

I think, but im not 100% sure that the MOE requires at least a 120 hr certification course for working. I knew one person that had a 60 hr. celta that wasnt good enough to teach here. I think thats why all of the tefl courses you see here are 120 hr.s min.

120 face-to-face training hours and 6 teaching practices is the world standard.

There's no such thing as a 60 hour Celta.

I guess the guy I know with the 60 hr certificate just printed it up then, I did see it and it did look real, but then Im not an expert on all things celta as some are.

The OP was not talking about CELTA. He has none.