Teacher Pay Rate & Moderate Expense Expectation

[pumper]

I must become more organized with bookmarking these threads.

I have seen but did not bookmark & now cannot find the answers to my questions.

Decided a thread title with the most obvious questions, IMHO, a prospective TESOL teacher might have would be helpful. (for me anyway!)

I waded through most of Stickmans dissertation today .. without all my answers.

1. Several of the TESOL schools offer accomadations at their price. What are those rooms like?

2. A post somewhere listed expected pay range for a 4 year degreed & TESOL certified teacher. Stickman's site listed a 30-35K Thb range for newly certified as well as those with several years experience.

Correct?

3. What kind lifestyle can one expect on such.. 30K was a little more than a couple days expenses on vacation.

Somewhere I saw a post listing prospective lifestyle at 50K, 80K .. 120K

?

seems that post indicatred the 80k Thb level was where the good life began.

4. Are the pay scales in the outer regions comparable to Bkk?

Seems Issan or Chaing Mai would offer a quiter life with lower expenses.

I'm a quite grey haired fellow looking for a little adventure in my last chapter.

5. How much for a 'bachalor apartment' w/ A/C & TV near the BTS?

or centrally located In Udon/Ubon/Korat/CM?

6. Are there any opportunities for a bright guy to be offered other than teacher employement after expat contacts are made?

I was all the way to providing credit card info for a TESOL class this PM & decided to seek some reassurances.

thanks guys

lub this forum & all the helpful posters.

If I do make it over this fall ( I will, I will, I will ) rounds are on me! you name the pub(s)

[kenkannif]

1. Several of the TESOL schools offer accomadations at their price.  What are those rooms like?

Can't help with this, although most I'm sure will let you have a look first before paying anything.

2. A post somewhere listed expected pay range for a 4 year degreed & TESOL certified teacher.  Stickman's site listed a 30-35K Thb range for newly certified as well as those with several years experience.

Correct?

Well it can vary IMO and IME from 25K to pretty much whatever. The average I guess would be around 35-40K ish. But then that doesn't always mean you're getting that 12 months of the year.

3. What kind lifestyle can one expect on such.. 30K was a little more than a couple days expenses on vacation.

Somewhere I saw a post listing prospective lifestyle at 50K, 80K .. 120K

?seems that post indicatred the 80k Thb level was where the good life began.

It's all down to the individual I'd say. 40-50K is reasonable and you can live relatively well (depends on what you're used to). I know people earning 35K that seem to do far more than me (I earn a fair bit more) and always have time and money to do things.

I suppose it's the same as in the UK (albeit kind of a different level). Some people like there new car, or a holiday twice a year, or meals out a few times a week etc. It's the same here, I don't go out at all, but I like to have a nice home etc. so that's where my money is.

But to basically answer your questions if you want to party hard and live it LARGE then yeah 40-50K probably won't cut it.

4.  Are the pay scales in the outer regions comparable to Bkk?

Seems Issan or Chaing Mai would offer a quiter life with lower expenses. 

I'm a quite grey haired fellow looking for a little adventure in my last chapter.

Actually Chiang Mai probably pays less than Issan in a lot of cases, and IMO CM is not much cheaper to live in than Bangkok.

5. How much for a 'bachalor apartment' w/ A/C & TV  near the BTS?

or centrally located In Udon/Ubon/Korat/CM?

I'd say around 4-8K (depends where on the BTS) in Bangers. Don't know for elsewhere.

6.  Are there any opportunities for a bright guy to be offered other than teacher employement after expat contacts are made?

Well not really, although a lot of teachers I know have found a different niche, but generally they got it through teaching there first!

All the best though!

[PeaceBlondie]

Kenkaniff's got it nailed down. As for Chiang Mai, the salaries might be 6K lower, the living expenses 6K lower. Then again, it might be 7K/10K, which is better, or it might be 5K/3K, depending upon how long your piece of string is.

Remember, you might never get a work permit in CMai (or elsewhere), so factor in the 60 or 90 day visa runs, and the totally new visa runs to some very friendly country outside Asia.

[Rumpole]

I think it's a bit of myth that living costs are substantially lower outside Bangkok. It basically boils down to having fewer temptations on which to spend your money, in my opinion. Accommodation may be a quite a bit cheaper, but utilities, telephone charges, groceries, booze, cigs, electronics, computer equipment etc. cost more or less the same throughout the country. Eating out can cost less "upcountry", but you will also have fewer choices of venue in most places. As others have said, much depends on personal preferences and lifestyle choices.

The slight differential in living costs outside Bangkok needs to be balanced against the often much lower salaries and reduced earnings potential (by way of private tutoring, moonlighting) etc. There will also be fewer employment opportunities in Nakhon Nowhere, which makes it almost impossible to obtain a more lucrative position and/or escape an exploitative or abusive employer, unless you relocate. In my opinion, teaching in Chiangmai will pay you just about enough to slowly starve to death, unless you either have an alternative source of funds, or are prepared to work all the hours God sends doing two or three jobs.

I wouldn't bank on being able to find alternatives to teaching in Thailand unless you have highly specialized and sought after skills which are not generally available locally. I'm not saying it's impossible - just incredibly difficult. There are a whole range of occupations forbidden to foreigners, and you will be in competition with Thais who are fluent in the language, familiar with the working culture and who will work for considerably less than you may be prepared to get out of bed for. Thais do not like to see foreigners making money on Holy Thai soil and therefore Westerners do not generally prosper.

Edited August 25, 2005 by Rumpole

[sanook2me]

If you have a degree and are TESOL cert finding a contract which pays 40,000+ per month should not be a problem.

If you want to earn extra you can walk into any language centre and they will hire you immediately paying around B400 per hour, with your quals you can go to the better ones such as British Council or Mahidols they pay alot more.

The only people who earn 30-35k per month are newbies or basic Teflers who don't have the right quals or experience.

[Rumpole]

^Not in Chiangmai, or any other city outside Bangkok.

[PeaceBlondie]

Agreeing with Rumpole. In Chiang Mai, my buddy had taught for at least two years full time before earning 25K, and he's fairly well qualified. In the next province, I made 25K (nine months one place, 11.5 months the second place). After two years and 24,000 kilometers of commuting, I stayed in Chiang Mai. Part time work was offered at 200 baht an hour (with a substantial commute); I finally made 300/hour.

Well qualified, degreed and experienced teachers of EFL and social studies at the private day schools in CMai make about 35K.

As Rumpole said, the big difference in expenses is rent. You can easily save 2K to 7K in Chiang Mai over Bangkok. Furthermore, Chiang Mai has smooth sidewalks, where the downtown sidewalks at noon are not crowded with stinky food stalls. .