Teaching English In Thailand

[greenjade]

• Hello,

Below is a quote from a school that offers a course to become a teacher:

Quote

Can I get a Job Without a TEFL Certificate?

These days, anyone looking for a teaching job without a recognized TEFL certificate is in for a nasty shock. There are still a few countries in which non certified teachers may find employment, but this is becoming rare. Also, non certified teachers can expect much lower rates of pay than those who do hold a TEFL Certificate. Basically, they will only be offered jobs that qualified teachers wouldn't want to take.

How true is this statement? I don't want to spend $ & time attending this course only to find out that it wouldn't make much difference in getting hired! Also, I'm not a native speaker, but is fluent and have many college credits under my belt. Hope someone on this forum could clear this up!

Edited July 7, 2013 by Scott
Links removed

[cgphuket]

Consider the source....

[asiaexpat]

Read one of the teacher (Ajarn) web sites that have job boards. You will find that most job offers require TEFL/CLETA if you do not have a BA in education from an accredited University.

[metisdead]

Topic title edited to remove all caps:

Posting in all capitals or in all bold, and using large or unusual fonts and colors is bad netiquette.

Maybe this is better suited in the Teaching in Thailand forum.

[Issangeorge]

Yes "am". Mistakes like that are one reason native speakers complain about non native speakers. We all make mistakes, but non native speakers make more.

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[Scott]

A TEFL is not needed to teach in Thailand. If you have no experience, then a TEFL will help in the classroom. It is not going to give you much of an advantage in the job search.

[SlyAnimal]

Some schools will say in their advertisements that applicants should have both a bachelor degree and a TEFL certificate or equivalent. But for most schools it isn't a requirement.

However, I would strongly recommend taking a TEFL course, provided that it includes time in the classrooom teaching (A certificate earned just from study online is often not even worth the paper it's printed on). As it will essentially teach you how to teach English, and give you a lot more confidence when teaching. This will help you to retain any job which you get, and make you feel better as a teacher.

As a non native speaker, I believe that there are also some requirements regarding your English score on one of the major exams. Although off the top of my head I can't remember what score is required. But it would be worthwhile looking into this further.

[aidenai]

A TEFL is not needed to teach in Thailand. If you have no experience, then a TEFL will help in the classroom. It is not going to give you much of an advantage in the job search.

I would like to say that a TEFL, TESOL or CELTA certificate is not a requirement by Immigration, Labour, Education or The Teachers' Council of Thailand to get the paper work done to work legally in Thailand. That such certificate isn't needed to teach in Thailand, I don't agree with as it assumes that any foreigner with a degree in any field can deliver English teaching.

[aidenai]

As a non native speaker, I believe that there are also some requirements regarding your English score on one of the major exams. Although off the top of my head I can't remember what score is required. But it would be worthwhile looking into this further.

I guess you're talking about a TOEIC, TOEFL or IELTS score. Some people say it comes from Labour but I haven't seen any official documentation that proves this. What I do know is that The Teachers' Council of Thailand made it a requirement as of April 2012. However, they haven't set a minimum score in their requirements. Some people are talking about a TOEIC score of 600 (equivalent to TOEFL 477-510 or IELTS 4.5-5.0) but I haven't seen any documentation being it a local or nationwide requirement.

Edited July 6, 2013 by aidenai

[Scott]

For the TOEIC, I know of a person who told they had to retake the exam because they had not gotten a score of 600. Whether or not this is the score that particular officer wanted, I don't know. 600 is a fairly low score for someone who is teaching anything in English.

[aidenai]

For the TOEIC, I know of a person who told they had to retake the exam because they had not gotten a score of 600. Whether or not this is the score that particular officer wanted, I don't know. 600 is a fairly low score for someone who is teaching anything in English.

Agree on this one, Scott. The top score for TOEIC is 990, TOEFL Paper is 677 and IELTS is 9.

[sirchai]

For the TOEIC, I know of a person who told they had to retake the exam because they had not gotten a score of 600. Whether or not this is the score that particular officer wanted, I don't know. 600 is a fairly low score for someone who is teaching anything in English.

Even flight attendants have to go for a TOEIC examination these days.Anybody with a score of 600 shouldn't be allowed to teach English.

I'd just done this test without any preparation and scored 880.

This test is just a listening and reading test, nothing serious.-

[zeichen]

TOEIC is primarily focused on business English and jargon. IELTS and TOEFL are more for academic and normal communication. The jargon and idioms on TOEIC tests are daunting and in my experience prove very little in one's ability to grasp grammar or explaining how the language is used and wouldn't be an accurate assessment on one's ability to teach English.

Native speakers should and usually score quite high on TOEIC but even college graduates don't always get perfect scores on TOEFL or IELTS unless they really studied grammar and structure. TOEIC is primarily based on if it sounds right it is right, but TOEFL and IELTS both have questions that might sound accurate in spoken answers are based on what is grammatically correct.

[culicine]

The OP has college credits, so I assume does not have a bachelor degree. If this is the case, that will be far more of an impediment getting decent employment here. If that is the case, I'd be finishing the degree first. A tefl certificate is definately not required by immigration/labour department. However, if one plans to teach english here I'd suggest it is a good idea - a good way to get some supervised teaching experience. But a LOT more will be learned during the first year of teaching and beyond.

[Sebastianred]

A word of advice. Stay away from so called Teaching Agencies. Go, directly to the school to apply.

[Jobes11]

Do you need a BA degree to obtain a work permit in Thailand as a teacher?

[Jobes11]

Also, any reason to stay away from agency's? Or are they just ' no go' areas?

[isawasnake]

The op is wise. Don't take the course. Maximize ROI and teach without giving other people your money. It is a hard enough job as it is, made harder if you give somebody your first months salary. This applies if you are serious or just here for a short time. If you are here for the long haul, people love to see that Thai experience in your resume, so either way DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THE COURSE, and dont let other people who wasted their money, and want to rationalize their way out of it, talk you into it.

[greenjade]

Thanks for ur words, but what is ROI?

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[SlyAnimal]

Do you need a BA degree to obtain a work permit in Thailand as a teacher?

To teach at a primary or secondary school, yes.

To teach at a university of language school, no not necessarily, but it helps.

but what is ROI?

Return on investment

[SkyRider]

 

The OP has college credits, so I assume does not have a bachelor degree. If this is the case, that will be far more of an impediment getting decent employment here. If that is the case, I'd be finishing the degree first. A tefl certificate is definately not required by immigration/labour department. However, if one plans to teach english here I'd suggest it is a good idea - a good way to get some supervised teaching experience. But a LOT more will be learned during the first year of teaching and beyond.

 

I agree that it's a good idea to take a tefl course, especially if you don't have any prior teaching experience. If you don't have any prior teaching experience, then it will help greatly. I would hate to think what it would have been like to enter a class room, without having taken a tefl course first. Without the tefl course, I would have had no idea what to do. For me, taking a tefl course made a huge difference, I learned so much about teaching from that course.

[doontp]

Also, any reason to stay away from agency's? Or are they just ' no go' areas?

Finding a job here is easy. Here's my experience:

I arrived here on Oct 1. I randomly visited six schools over a 2-day period in the Bangkok area. Two offered my a teaching position on the spot. Two called me a week later. Of the four schools, I chose the one with the nicest looking campus and facilities. Schools are easy to spot. Most taxi drivers are knowledgeable of area schools.

[Phatcharanan]

 

The OP has college credits, so I assume does not have a bachelor degree. If this is the case, that will be far more of an impediment getting decent employment here. If that is the case, I'd be finishing the degree first. A tefl certificate is definately not required by immigration/labour department. However, if one plans to teach english here I'd suggest it is a good idea - a good way to get some supervised teaching experience. But a LOT more will be learned during the first year of teaching and beyond.

 

I agree that it's a good idea to take a tefl course, especially if you don't have any prior teaching experience. If you don't have any prior teaching experience, then it will help greatly. I would hate to think what it would have been like to enter a class room, without having taken a tefl course first. Without the tefl course, I would have had no idea what to do. For me, taking a tefl course made a huge difference, I learned so much about teaching from that course.

That's an awful lot of 'tefl's' in that post. ;-)

[guyinthai13]

Requirements and certificates are at the discretion of the employer.

If you have a desperate agency looking to fill a role quickly, then you chance of employment is high.

I know people who have and continue to teach on a tourist visa and without a TEFL, but they possess good basic management skills.

Read this post: *(Link to another forum deleted)* It is current as of now and will give you some insight to your questions.

My advice when applying for positions: Do not send email because you will not get a response. Call the number on the advertisement and be ready to start immediately with all you own material and no assistance.

Good luck!

[Slip]

• Hello,

Below is a quote from a school that offers a course to become a teacher:

Quote

*(Deleted)*

How true is this statement? I don't want to spend $ & time attending this course only to find out that it wouldn't make much difference in getting hired! Also, I'm not a native speaker, but is fluent and have many college credits under my belt. Hope someone on this forum could clear this up!

As CGPhuket said- consider the source. As far as Thailand is concerned this advice is 100% wrong. You do not need a TEFL certification to work in Thailand, it doesn't make you qualified, and having one does not, in my experience, improve your chances of getting a job one iota. In my school (and all the others I know, which is a few) you will not get better pay for being a TEFL holder. Thailand has become all about being a 'proper' teacher place, i.e. one with a B. Ed. or a Bachelors with PGCE level qualification, certainly if you want to work in the school system. If you are happy to work in the private 'language school' environment or through an agency (read a 'temp') it may be more helpful, but even then it is not required by law as has been mentioned.

Having said that you are likely to find the knowledge you gain very helpful when it comes to actually doing the job, so from a personal/ professional point of view it's still definitely worth considering.

[Scott]

A post with an unattributed source has been edited and another post with a link to another forum has been edited.

Please read the rules before posting. Do not post a direct link to a commercial site unless it is a sponsor. If you are going to quote a source, then you must credit the source. If it is a commercial site, it will be deleted unless it is a forum sponsor.