Recruiting English Teachers In Isaan

[bigd987]

Me and my wife own and manage a Tutor School in Northern Isaan, (Between Udon Thani and Khon Kaen), i.e. out in the sticks. The staff consists of my wife, Thai but fluent in english, a filipina who works part time and myself who only spends brief times there. We have been trying to recruit Native Speakers to cover our busy times, Holidays and School Breaks. We have plently of demand considering the location, to far for locals to commute to Udon of KK. The issue is enticing Native Speakers to come to this area considering its remote location and lack of entertainment venues, no real night life to speak of. Any ideas, other then big bonuses of course.

[stevo2]

The school where I work has been advertising for teachers. They pay 30000 a month for 12 months. Only 18 periods a week. All visa fees and WP fees paid for. Annual increments on successful completion of contract.

I dont think money is an issue.

In my experience the majority of Issan teachers are those that live here with their wives.

Shame really that people still assume that Issan is an out in the sticks place with nothing to do and nowhere to go. After all, dedicated teachers should not need nightlife for 5 days a week. Maybe just a quiet place to have a few beers. School tomorrow!!!!

There are also plenty of large towns to go to at the weekend.

For the money being offered it really does offer a good place to live. Even if only for a year or so.

Problem is that if you go onto the Bangkok or Pattaya forums or onto a famous teaching forum they all seem to think we are here knee high in buffalo <deleted>.

More fool them.

[Somtamnication]

LOL. True.

I want to leave Phuket after 10 years. I would need to supplement my income with private teaching. And have a 6 year old in a mini ep program. Any schools like that out there, OP?

[mike123ca]

Not having to pay rent here in Ubon, I still find living off of 30,000 a month a bit tight.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

To the OP, how do you handle the issue of work permits for any farang teachers you might recruit?

[bigd987]

.

The last couple of Farang teachers we had were teaching in local schools that handled the work permit issues. Unfortunately, the schools in the area of had no success in their recruiting drive this last year. My wife actually volunteers to teach a few hours a day in her old public as a favor(Wears her Tutor School shirt of course as advertising). We have not gone down that road of sponsoring a staff member on our own due to the difficulties of us just being a Tutor school, i.e. no certificates or degrees awarded.. This has kept us on the up and up with the local schools, we have 3 part time public school teachers who teach math, science and Thai Language. The Filipina teacher we have is great, and I wish the government would allow more in to fill the void in these rural areas. The best person to fit the bill would be a retired or semi retired Farang in the area married to local, but this has been very difficult to accomplish. The good one’s not interested, and the bad ones to interested.

Here is the FB account for the school

The-Clever-Tutoring-School

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Clever-Tutoring-school/204107039650732

[bigd987]

That is the good and bad of our location, great for business due to lack of competition, bad in the fact of limited pool of applicants compared to metro areas.

[thunder30101]

You are asking alot for a decent teacher to come to your school, no full time hours, no visa work permit or health insurance, hmmm whats the reason to come there when I can work at any other school (even in rural areas) with all of these things provided to me ? My suggestion is to drop the thai and phillipino and your wife then use that money to hire a native speaker full time to make it worthwhile to them and the students . Work permits are only valid for the place of employment issued to will you get caught ? prob not but if you do thats the end of you and the teacher in thailand.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts have been deleted. The OP is asking a fairly straightforward question. He's not asking for opinions about visa and Work Permit issues. These are covered in great deal in other threads.

Stick to the topic. Further inflammatory, baiting and off-topic posts will earn a formal warning and suspension of posting ability.

[siampolee]

In reply to Stevo2 , and not saying that's it 's your school that is the school in question

A friend of mine who like us has a house in Surin applied to a school in Surin city who had and still have difficulty in filling posts, he has some 18 years experience in Thailand and a number of years internationally prior to that plus U.K. teaching experience and a genuine M.ED

He was refused on three occasions, his crime is that he is approaching 67, he looks about fifty and is fit, money is not important to him as he has pensions yet he enjoys teaching, health first class and not a drinker married and stable.

Why do these schools who find difficulties in recruiting staff ignore this talented person one wonders ?

Indeed as the Thai saying goes, ''The school is dying to spite the graveyard.''

Edited June 29, 2012 by Scott
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[stevo2]

In reply to Stevo2 , and not saying that's it 's your school that is the school in question

A friend of mine who like us has a house in Surin applied to a school in Surin city who had and still have difficulty in filling posts, he has some 18 years experience in Thailand and a number of years internationally prior to that plus U.K. teaching experience and a genuine M.ED

He was refused on three occasions, his crime is that he is approaching 67, he looks about fifty and is fit, money is not important to him as he has pensions yet he enjoys teaching, health first class and not a drinker married and stable.

Why do these schools who find difficulties in recruiting staff ignore this talented person one wonders ?

Indeed as the Thai saying goes, ''The school is dying to spite the graveyard.''

I think it is more a point of the authorities turning him down than the school. The school where I work have be advised by the Labour office about age restrictions.

I do, however, agree with you. The schools could at least give the guy a two month probationary contract or something.

[Estrada]

Very difficult to find really good native English speakers. At least they want paying B30,000 per month which is the minimum going rate it seems, but you only want part time at peak periods. If I was you I would ask around the village in your area and stop to talk with any English speaking Foreigners in the nearest town. I know there are many living out in the sticks that may like to teach part-time. I know some Phillipenos teaching in Surin, they got their jobs through the web site "Ajarn".

[exyalie]

Actually, this sounds ideal for someone in my situation: Recent graduate of an American ivy league school (Columbia) with an MA in teaching english to speakers of other languages, but no substantive experience teaching on the resume...

Would you consider "newbies"? I know I am not alone in desiring a position like this, so I believe there are many extremely well qualified (and credentialed) people out their who would leap for a chance like this!

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

[NoshowJones]

In reply to Stevo2 , and not saying that's it 's your school that is the school in question

A friend of mine who like us has a house in Surin applied to a school in Surin city who had and still have difficulty in filling posts, he has some 18 years experience in Thailand and a number of years internationally prior to that plus U.K. teaching experience and a genuine M.ED

He was refused on three occasions, his crime is that he is approaching 67, he looks about fifty and is fit, money is not important to him as he has pensions yet he enjoys teaching, health first class and not a drinker married and stable.

Why do these schools who find difficulties in recruiting staff ignore this talented person one wonders ?

Indeed as the Thai saying goes, ''The school is dying to spite the graveyard.''

Siampolee, You have just described me, exactly to a tee. This is a very ageist country, a drinking, smoking, bar hopping blue eyed blonde is always more preferred.

[NoshowJones]

In reply to Stevo2 , and not saying that's it 's your school that is the school in question

A friend of mine who like us has a house in Surin applied to a school in Surin city who had and still have difficulty in filling posts, he has some 18 years experience in Thailand and a number of years internationally prior to that plus U.K. teaching experience and a genuine M.ED

He was refused on three occasions, his crime is that he is approaching 67, he looks about fifty and is fit, money is not important to him as he has pensions yet he enjoys teaching, health first class and not a drinker married and stable.

Why do these schools who find difficulties in recruiting staff ignore this talented person one wonders ?

Indeed as the Thai saying goes, ''The school is dying to spite the graveyard.''

I think it is more a point of the authorities turning him down than the school. The school where I work have be advised by the Labour office about age restrictions.

I do, however, agree with you. The schools could at least give the guy a two month probationary contract or something.

There are no wage restrictions for work permits, I have had two.

[Scott]

I have removed a second off-topic, inflammatory, baiting post. If your not interested in the job and have nothing to contribute do not post.

[thunder30101]

Yes there are no age restrictions for working as a teacher here but also no discrimination laws either to stop it. I have many retired friends here who have tried to teach volunteer or part time but it didnt take them long to figure out they didnt like being treated like a rug. Most teachers I know here put up with it for the b visa and party money until they move on to greener pastures. I cant really blame them having taught here for 4 years I am done myself trying to make a difference in a system that just doesnt care.

[meand]

"I dont think money is an issue."

Huh?!

[stevo2]

"I dont think money is an issue."

Huh?!

Don't really know what you mean by that. I was mearly trying to point out that there is some other reason why "farang" teachers don't wish to come here.

Looking at a few of the teacher jobs web sites and looking at a few recruitment agency websites, the job that the school where I work are advertising was offering a salary on a par with the high cost of living places. Something that I was sure would make the job more attractive.

What would one prefer......30000 a month in Issan or 30000 in Bangkok, Chon Buri or Rayong?

[angsta]

Issan is pretty coll and 35k a month is not uncommon. However I appreciate living close to a beach would be much more appealing to most.

So where is this school exactly?

[HarryLime]

The essentials for most teachers are 1) work permit, 2) at least 30,000 per month, 3) around 20 teaching hours per week. Air con classroom and wifi are also nice.

I used to live in UT and have visited KK many times. I'd like to live and teach in a small city within easy bus ride of those two large cities. If your town has a 7-11 and a modern apartment building with wifi or good LAN connection, it would probably work for me.

My current contract is up in September. Send me a PM.

[bigd987]

The essentials for most teachers are 1) work permit, 2) at least 30,000 per month, 3) around 20 teaching hours per week. Air con classroom and wifi are also nice.

I used to live in UT and have visited KK many times. I'd like to live and teach in a small city within easy bus ride of those two large cities. If your town has a 7-11 and a modern apartment building with wifi or good LAN connection, it would probably work for me.

My current contract is up in September. Send me a PM.

The school has lots of students, but mainly beginners with basic english skills. I found the real money is in private lessons, or small groups such as college bound High School Students or Business owners. My wife is hiring a Manager next month so she can get back to her primary role of teaching, to hard to teach while taking phone calls and accepting applications. But we are still in need of other native Speakers,

To answer some of your questions, yes there is a 7/11 in town(Not sure if it is 24HR, never up that late) The LAN we use in the school is pretty good and there is a Coffee Shop that has WIFI along with a couple of internet cafes. As for Apartments or living arrangements, there are some apartments along the main road in town along with homes for rent, our neighbor rented out his house to the last farang teacher at the public school. The school itself is 3 classrooms along with the office which are all aircond and right across the street from the towns primary school.

This is the town and you can google map it to get a good idea of location;

Si Bun Rueang Nong Bua Lam Phu

Facebook:

http://www.facebook....204107039650732

Dave

[Somtamnication]

Would have been nicer to post the link yourself.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1C1_____enTH368TH369&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1648&bih=785&q=google+maps+Si+Bun+Rueang+Nong+Bua+Lam+Phu&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x3123d2372415d00b:0x30469cfc8de6380,Si+Bun+Rueang,+Nong+Bua+Lam+Phu,+Thailand&gl=uk&sa=X&ei=6goCUMTWIIKyrAeAkeCZBg&ved=0CAUQ8gEwAA

[darraghg06]

Hi, I am a native english speaker with tefl qualifactions and a HND. I am coming to thailand in august with thoughts of staying for a few years and would be interested in what you are talking about

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[Scott]

It might be a good idea to send a PM to the OP if you think you are interested.

[cypriotaussie]

Hi, can you give a bit more info thanks

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