Thinking of teaching English in Thailand.

[Potential Teacher]

Hi, I just sent you a PM with details to avoid the negative attacks on this forum, I don't understand why people stay here if they are so negative about everything including their own lives....Thailand is great, you'l love it at won't want to go back to SA in short plus you WILL get a teaching position guaranteed - teaching conversation English is certainly not rocket science. Buy your plane ticket and just come, that's all there is to it.

Will you pick up the pieces, when what appears o be a decent kid is left battered, penniless and in dire straights?

Why not look at the reality? Such people do not last long in Thailand. The kinder and more decent, the shorter the shelf life too. Why should he come to Thailand to be exploited by unscrupulous "schools" and foreigners looking to recruit more suckers to work boiler rooms or offer time shares? As mentioned previously, let him come and visit and see if he likes the place. Let him go and visit potential employers and see what crapping into a hole in the ground is like, how unbearable living in a room with no insect screens and no AC is.

That sounds like hell. That sounds like the most rural of areas in South Africa.

Well the choice is becoming more and more clear. I'd rather do this the right way.

The Op must suffer from a serious headache by now. Time to put it all in a nutshell:

- Well qualified native english teachers can earn good money in Thailand and even more so in the rest of S/E Asia. Reflecting your situation, you are likely to end up in the deepest-Isaan (in the sticks) earning around 20'00 Bht/Month. This is likely to cover your basic monthly expenses. Car, decent health insurance, occasional entertainment that a person of your age needs and deserves: Forget it!

Also to consider: There was a time when (Farang)- Teachers even in the sticks, were addressed with "Adjan". A title commanding respect if not admiration. These days even Thais in rural areas have discovered, that many a Farang -Teacher in the sticks, (after having blown his retirement-funds), strictly remains here on a survival-trip.

The question remains: Why would you want to teach in Thailand and nowhere else? Was there (by any chance), a TV-show running in SA, describing the Thai-Ladies as "easygoing and always with a spark in their eyes and a smile on the face"? This could not possibly be your main-motivation to teach in Thailand..........or could it?

Cheers.

Thai girls are not alluring me to Thailand, I'm not even sure what they are like or what they like, I've not really given it much thought either. My main priority would have been to save up money, yet it doesn't seem like I'll be even earning enough to keep my sanity. The 'agency' painted it all in a nice little picture, but that was no more than a facade.

To give a bit of an ending to this thread, because it seems that is the direction it is headed in with all that I have learned;

1) I would love the experience of a new country, I have nothing really keeping me in South Africa. Yet I can't expect to show up unqualified and have the perfect life.

2) I truly would want to be an asset to the country, SA has a lot of under qualified foreigners taking advantage of Black Economical Empowerment. It would be shrewd of me to do the same (and I'd end up in a so-called armpit of Thailand).

So all in all, it's not really a viable option for me.

Thank you all for the knowledge and information you have shared with me. It really pointed me in the right direction and you stopped me from throwing 90k + baht out of the window.

Edited September 5, 2013 by Potential Teacher

[chonabot]

*sigh*

Whatever happened to the spirit of adventure?

[Potential Teacher]

*sigh*

Whatever happened to the spirit of adventure?

I wish it was that simple, if I do live in a 'armpit of Thailand' I am pretty sure it will suck out any spirit I have.

I'm checking out Ajarn and Thailand Teaching, but it really doesn't seem like a viable idea.

I'd hate to come across as crass, but 'Spirit of Adventure' is not going to put food on the table.

[chonabot]

*sigh*

Whatever happened to the spirit of adventure?

I wish it was that simple, if I do live in a 'armpit of Thailand' I am pretty sure it will suck out any spirit I have.

I'm checking out Ajarn and Thailand Teaching, but it really doesn't seem like a viable idea.

I'd hate to come across as crass, but 'Spirit of Adventure' is not going to put food on the table.

It's all relative

The armpit of Thailand is going to be a quiet enough place, but you will experience a wonderful culture.

I lived in SA (Kempton), UK, Canada, Malaysia, SIngapore and Thailand and I would take that 'armpit' as a fun place to live and work for a year, any day of the week.

Forget about the course, save your money, and see if you can get a teaching job in a temple or somewhere with less stringent requirements.

I am not advocating working illegally but not all educational establishments require a Teachers license.

When I was 21 I took a similar punt on spending a year in a different culture and it certainly changed my whole persepctive on life.

Edited September 5, 2013 by chonabot

[Soutpeel]

I lived in SA (Kempton),

Living in Kempton Park, would make anyone want to leave and see the world..

[Scott]

PotentialTeacher, there were a number of posters who were posting commercial links, not just you.

Second, if you are interested in teaching for a year or so, it's a good idea to get a TEFL. It's an uphill struggle if you are a complete newbie to teaching and some teachers do not cut the mustard.

Finally, if you do not have a degree, you will most likely end up working less-than-legally, and I say that because there are a very large number of people who do so. Language schools seldom get a work permit for teachers. I would suggest that you take a look at one of the larger urban areas -- there are schools in the outlying districts that will employ you as a teacher. Instead of the usual expected salary of 35,000 ++ for starting you can expect 30,000. Housing may be available. (You may get lucky and find something that pays more, as well).

Depending on what you can swing, you may have to do visa runs and extend your visa at your own cost, but it is doable.

Living and working in the 'sticks' may be fine for some people, but the sense of isolation and culture shock will take its toll. You know yourself better than anyone, so you can decide how much isolation you can take. The idea that somehow the countryside is idyllic can be quite misleading. I've been to a few villages where that is simply not the case, motorcycles racing around and folks drinking themselves into oblivion. The quieter ones are quite nice, but for lack of a better term, exceptionally boring.

A cultural experience has to be put into a context. Simply living in a village with people you cannot communicate with provides you with an experience that will not be as beneficial as one where there are similar-minded people to yourself that can talk, discuss and explain the culture around you.

To give you an example, one of our newer teachers went on an outing for a Buddhist holiday with the students. They circumambulate the temple three times as a part of the ritual. His reaction was "Why do they keep walking around, can't they find the door?" (Extreme, yes, but true).

Thailand has a very rich and deep culture, but it takes at least as much interpretation and explanation as the foreign language you will be trying to teach.

[Baerboxer]

If you are thinking of becoming a teacher because you want to pursue it as a professional career, which includes becoming appropriately qualified and continually learning, then great. Get qualified in your own country first then you can look at other options.

If you are thinking Thailand would be a great fun sun girl party place to be, and that teaching English is a good way to earn some easy money to fund it, then forget it and do yourself and potential students a favour.

Too many people think they speak good enough English to teach it - without any in depth subject knowledge or teaching experience or motivation to learn,

[sing89]

I guess its far for the learners to get a teacher which is equipped with the right tools to impart, to inspire and to educate them properly.

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[zeichen]

I wouldn't leave my home country to work in Thailand without a degree. YOu have such limited options for jobs and the pay will most likely be quite low. You don't want to get stuck in Thailand and end up on "Banged up Abroad"

If you are determined regardless of advice you get from these forums, try and do some volunteer teaching in community centers where you live. I would suggest being a substitute teacher but without a degree that will be unlikely.

Getting a CELTA or equivalent might help you some especially since you really have no education or anything to offer other than being a native speaker. At the very least get some books on EFL teaching and perhaps Michael Swan's grammar book.

To the poster who wrote this"

A professor works in a University.

A teacher teaches in a school."

HAHAHA

First of all not all that work/teach in universities are professors. In Thailand most are just lecturers. Professor is a title that is earned through research and publications. MOst full professors in Thailand are not in the Humanities. There are very few full professors in humanities in the entire country. I know in CM there isn't one single full professor in English. Many have assistant or associate titles though.

Second, the title Ajarn is also used for Primary and Secondary Priniciples, Master chef's, and trainers in general.

So if you are going to derail a thread, might as well be accurate in your troll.

[johntren]

Left field but ... Thought about Taiwan ? I worked there 100%legally on a basic TEFL and could work all the hours God sent, picking up lots of loaded private students along the way.

There is a huge reservoir of highly motived students there and it led to me landing a well-paid government job.

Study mandarin while you're there and open many more doors than would result from learning Thai.

Anyway don't forget the most important advice if all: DARE !

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