English Teacher Qualifications

[GreenCurryorDie]

The more I read about teacher qualifications, the more confused I am.

For one, Global Moderator Scott in the pinned "Qualifications" thread states in September, 2012 that a TESOL/CERTA are NOT needed if one has a degree. I have a BA (Russian Langage) from a school in the USA. (I also have 15 graduate credits in a MA program in TESOL. I only finished half of the MA program, so I'm thinking that this is irrelevent.) I have read that the Certification is needed to get the work permit and teach English.

I want to teach English in Bangkok, preferably in a language school. I'm a 54-year old male, native English speaker, from the USA.

As far as the visa goes, it's either wait for the Thai consulate in Houston, Texas to (hopefully) process a non-immigrant "B" visa, or get a tourist visa on arrival and get extensions as needed until I have that tasty work permit. Without the advertised help from a Certification course school in obtaining the "B" visa, I would prefer the tourist visa route. What problems would this create?

My questions are:

Do I need the Cert course? I have a BA.

Do I need a "Teachers License", and "Thai Culture Course"?

What problems are posed by arrived on a tourist visa?

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!

[Yooyung]

If you have a legitimate BA then you are fine. At present their are tests that need to be taken in an effort to get those with BA's but without postgraduate education quals up to standard... (clears throat sarcastically). If you have a BA you will need to start doing the tests at some point. You can get waivers while you are attempting to pass them as others are doing.

As far as a TEFL is concerned I have looked into this and it seems they are not a requirement but can be desirable for some employers. Basically a BA is enough to get you legal, and a TEFL will be a little bit of icing for the cake. A TEFL has been good for me personally as it has taught me all the rules regarding grammar that we all use naturally without knowing why. its boring stuff but necessary. I winged it over there for a while without a TEFL but wouldnt recommend it, unless you are a grammar nerd....I am not.

You will need to do a culture course...of course unless you dont need to. Things in Thailand are not fixed. I would however prepare for having to do it.

At the end of the day if you have a legitimate BA, do the culture course and start attempting to do the TCT tests you are doing all you can do.

[culicine]

A BA in anything is fine actually. You already have some tesol training so perhaps a TESOL certificate that many teacher do here would not be too useful - however the better ones have observed teaching practice. You want to work in a language centre, so there would be no requirement to get a teacher's licence, as there are required only by schools under the ministry of education.

[aidenai]

teacher's licence, as there are required only by schools under the ministry of education.

It's a little bit different. TCT teacher licenses are only required when working in schools that fall under the Ministry of Education, Office of the Basic Education Commission (K12). Educational institutes falling under other departments of the Minstry of Education such as the The Higher Education Commission don't require them.

[Loaded]

teacher's licence, as there are required only by schools under the ministry of education.

It's a little bit different. TCT teacher licenses are only required when working in schools that fall under the Ministry of Education, Office of the Basic Education Commission (K12). Educational institutes falling under other departments of the Minstry of Education such as the The Higher Education Commission don't require them.

Language schools also fall under a different category and TLs aren't a requirement.