Why Was Nobody Interested In A Teaching Position?

[BenCrew]

25,000 for a full time teaching position with probably 20+ teaching hours per week is an insult....tho' a backpacker wouldn't say no.

[brimacthai]

Lots of interesting views here.

The students I know about that learn English from Thai teachers really don't learn how to "use the language", this is where first language (English) teachers really benefit the students. I'm not saying anything bad about the Thai teachers that teach English, this is just from my experience.

There are plenty of good jobs in the bush (for the lack of a better term), but many English language teachers want to be located near the beach or holiday areas. With over supply comes reduced prices/pay... pretty standard business maths.

If you want to teach in the Thai schools that's one thing but if you want to earn good money teaching English to Thai students then a good English language teacher can earn more that 90K B a month and not work more than 5 hours a day 5 days a week (actual teaching time).

When I was teaching I was working for two village schools two days a week (my giving back to the community) and the rest of the week teaching in my own school, earning very good money. Yes it was hard work at first and took more than a year to build up the business.

Then you have the background work, lesson plans, course materials building reputation, etc. The thing here is once you have your lesson plans sorted you can use them again and again.

Does an English language teacher have to speak Thai? A little bit helps but the answer is no. We're in the class to teach English. When I walked into the village schools most of the students level of English was: "you", "good morning teacher", "how are you" and maybe a few more. Most of the students have never really spoken to a foreigner so they were very shy. My Thai isn't great but better than some people, but the students and I managed to communicate just fine. Also the use of "realia" was a huge help. 1,000 B for a box of wooden fruit and veggies from (Santoys) was one of the best investments I made and a huge hit with the students!

One thing I did learn was that many Thai students know English, they are just afraid to speak it in fear of making a mistake. I found myself "coaching" the students to have more confidence... what worked best for me was speaking Thai and making a lot of mistakes... it shows the students that it's okay to make mistakes... learning and using English language became fun for them and me!

[pramaprow]

...bi-lingual Thais.

That's rich...

[harrry]

This is why we hire bi-lingual Thais. Farangs are just so inflexible, too much trouble and unable to communicate with the students.

Never mind that few of the bilingual thais can communicate in English at more that 4th grade primary school level in England.

[SlyAnimal]

25,000 is enough to survive on, but you wouldn't be putting much away on savings each month.

Sly, I'm sure you're a nice guy and yr heart's in the right place, but do u really think u can put away enough savings by working in Thailand?

As I said, my current living costs are around 25,000 per month. My salary is 36,000 without teaching any special classes and without my gf working.

If my gf worked and we did private classes after school and on weekends we could make a combined income of around 80,000*+.

That'd allow us to put around 50,000 away into savings each month, which would be ok.

However in saying that, I have investments in NZ so am not too focused on savings at present, as I want to enjoy the freedom of traveling before I have kids (which is why I'm not teaching those special classes and have asked my gf not to work). Once we have children, I'll be focusing on increasing my income to provide for them.

So in answer to your question, yes I believe that it's definitely possible to save money in Thailand.

Although we could save more in NZ, assuming my gf worked. But once we had kids, a single income in NZ wouldn't allow us to save much and I don't want my kids to be raised in daycare.

Thailand allows enough flexibility of employment that I could work full time and still spend 3-4h of the working day (between classes) with my family. And as our Thai income would be primarily driven by my earnings, the opportunity cost of her looking after children isn't as great in Thailand. Which is why we live here, not in NZ, it's a lifestyle choice.

* I say 80,000+, If this wasn't my gf's hometown and if I hadn't been teaching here for 3 years already, then I think a combined income of 80,000 would be quite difficult to earn in an amphur town, as we wouldn't have the contacts etc. in a city it'd be easy to earn that much, or more (I know another Farang guy who reportedly makes a combined income of 150k+, but he's in a city and has been living there for quite a while so has good connections there).

[recom273]

Puchooay Couldnt agree more, im in the same boat, 30K a month, i dont do the extra hours as my wife earns a little bit more as a Kindergarten nurse / teacher, that extra 5K deficit that the OP is offering makes one hell of a difference. Its also the difference between easily finding a teacher who has thought carefully about the cost of their daily expenditure and posting multiple adverts half-way through the second semester in ( seeming ) desperation.

If salary is the problem, why not go go home where u can earn more ?

I haven't interviewed an NES who can give half the value of a bi-lingual Thai , even though the NES wants twice as much !!

I got the impression you were a well meaning friend of the directors .. Now your using "we" Have you become an agency now ?

You post was a question "Why people arent interested in the position ?", people have given your an honest opinion, and this is how you respond ??

I suggested that if you pay 30K you would receive applications from good, established teachers who are looking to continue their "career" in a more rural setting. I did it, its was the best move i made, but for no less than one thousand baht a day which i think is enough to live a healthy life, keep up with the day to day and save a small ammount every month to enjoy the downtime.

My workload is pretty much the same as Bangkok, but i wake up to a field of cows and dispense with the bustle of public transport, the schools demand the same ammount of effort, English doesnt suddenly get easier in the country, in fact it becomes harder, classes are bigger, concentration time less, parents adopt a more relaxed attituded towards learning, kids seem to miss a higher percentage of lessons and schools seem to bow down to the wishes of the parents more.

This is why we hire bi-lingual Thais. Farangs are just so inflexible, too much trouble and unable to communicate with the students.

Inflexible ? How is that connected to our knowledge of Thai ? Our role is to increase the S's exposure to English by talking as much English as possible. If you want a TT that conducts her lessons in Thai and throw's in mispronounced English word at the end of the sentence .. Go for it ! no ones stopping you, but you posted an advert for a NES .. So what are you after ? I suspect the parents want to see a white face for their money.

Inflexible is refusing to stand to attention in the 8.00 heat on a concrete sun trap and listening to 3 anthems as you have 5 lessons to prepare for the day ahead which no doubt your director would require, "so you can have a chat with the parents" ( in a soft tone with a shallow smile )

A bi-lingual Thai ? Where do you find those ? I have come across 3 in 7 years, ones that have lived abroad and spend every moment possible with me questioning and listening in an effort to improve their already impressive vocab and thinking.

_{Maybe Sly.}

_{I think maybe your values represent a redundant western viewpoint.}

I think your perspective have been polluted by the Thai system .. Thai's are poor ? .. no, instead of spending it on education they would rather spend their money on a better 4WD than the neighbours or keeping up the payments on the financed Scoopy-i. Just 5-7 kids from my class of 45 shovel the equivalent of my daily salary on hotdogs, processed fishball soup and ice cream down their throats, 60% of them carry around a better phone than me ... just to play games and take photos of their friends homework to copy at breaktime.

Catch a wake-up, Education is a business in Thailand, tell that to your "friend" .. i would suggest shes not riding around on a -10K Honda dream, living in a one bed apartment waiting for payday. No, she's a director, shes bought herself into a position as an investment for the future.

I would ask again .. how much do you consider a rural rent on a hospitable abode ? There are lots of Burmese migrant workers living behind my place, paying 3500B a month for a one room, unpainted "Hong Taew" with the metal shutters .. Is this what you are suggesting, maybe bunking in with the local construction community ?

Another .. Forget about the comments about 35K or double in China. Are you or ( you and your friend ) looking to pay an adequate wage to a commited long term educator in an fair exchange of services .. or give money to a fly-by night white monkey show who's going to do nothing but smile and wai ?

Edited December 14, 2013 by recom273

[Scott]

Salary is important to most people. I doubt this thread would exist if it were about a rural area needing a NES and offering 50,000 baht starting pay.

Many schools also provide meals and housing. Our cook was trained by the Khmer Rouge and got her advanced cooking degree from North Korea, but the food is free. The housing varies from the basic one-room with bathroom to very nice 3 bedroom houses (shared with other teachers, usually).

When I started, I accepted a job that started at 12,000 baht per month. I had worked for a major business in Thailand before being transferred. I had an accident and working overseas wasn't going to be a possibility for a time, so I took the job. I was told a week later that the salary would actually be 15,000. When I actually got paid it was raised to 18,000. It was a summer term and since they had paid as they said, I returned for the regular term. It was then raised to 25,000, but after 3 months it went to 30,000....I now make over 70,000 with the same organization and have a very nice house provided free.

Several people that I started work with have never managed to break the 40,000 mark. They keep changing jobs (or being forced to change), start over on probation, move on, miss the annual salary raise etc..

[dao16]

If salary is the problem, why not go go home where u can earn more ?

I haven't interviewed an NES who can give half the value of a bi-lingual Thai , even though the NES wants twice as much !!

I love the first part of this "Go home where you can earn more?" I am sure you are not a thai national or NES speaker. Why should NES be giving more money? We can speak the NATIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!! Not half-assed attempts of saying a english word. I have to agree that most, including myself find grammer teaching a pain but we learnt this as a child. Thais teach the grammer we teach the speaking, its that simple.

Well Eddy , are you a teacher ? Are you NES ? If so surely you can earn more in your home country than you can in Thailand?

But that is irrelevant. OP is asking why nobody wants the job. Then answer is that he isn't paying enough. Just saying that people can make more in other countries does not make this less true. Sounds like he needs to find someone else (like this overabundance of bilingual Thais you speak of) or try coughing up some more money.

I am sure there are plenty of people from the Philippines, India, or Burma that would like a job at that pay with a 12-month contract, but the bosses who try to low-ball Westerners into a job also tend to be the same guys who royally *do* over people from SE Asia, so I am sure the salary would instantly drop by 10k....go figure.

[losworld]

I have a friend who has taught in northern Thailand for many years and when I read this kind of story I think of two things screwing the teacher: agencies and corrupt administrators. Now most jobs go through agencies who pocket the "real salary" and pay the teacher less and have even switched from 12 month to 8 or 10 month years. And the administrators - as my friend told me stories about how the school administrators pull up in new Mercedes and this at a public school. It would not surprise me if the agencies give kickbacks to the school administrators who also pocket fees from the parents. For all you know the real salary could be 40k or more paid by the school but by the time it gets to the teacher it is 25-30k?

Edited December 14, 2013 by losworld

[SlyAnimal]

At this time of the year, I would be tempted to accept a lower salary and be employed rather than no salary and being unemployed. But then that is just me.

Although would you relocate to an amphur town in Ubon for 25k?

If I was unemployed at this time of year (And had enough saved to "get by" until May):

I'd take a job nearby (e.g. no relocation) for 25k (Or maybe even less).

I'd probably be willing to relocate to anywhere with a beach for 25k. (But beach towns are often expensive, so not sure if I'd stay long term, but it'd be a nice holiday)

I'd be willing to relocate to a city for 25k (Then look for a higher paying job in that city the following term).

If I had kids, I'd be less likely to relocate, if I was single, I'd be more willing to relocate.

If I had no savings, I'd be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As some posters have said, there's quite a big difference between 30k and 25k, as it's sorta on the edge of what covers the "normal" living costs of a couple. 25k could work if your wife was pulling in 10k+ per month, or might be ok if you had a free house. As then you'd cover your living costs and probably have a little left over for a rainy day, you could then look for some special classes to bring in extra savings.

It'd also work if you had special classes you could teach for extra income, but in the countryside you can't guarantee that you'll be able to get extra classes.

[amse]

I started teaching in Phuket at Kajonkiet in 2002 for 25,000 baht a month and was fortunate to get free housing in the teachers dormitory (very basic Thai style). Got my TEFL at TTT Language school in Chalong, moved up to Bangkok year and half later, started 1st job there at 35,000 baht fulltime, after 5 years in Bangkok was eventually making 50,000 baht a month, specializing in Kindergarten. Any school that offers 25k baht a month for fulltime in 2013 is ripping you off, especially if they require you have an educational degree, I don't care where it's at in Thailand.

[tyler2208]

i think it would take a lot more than 25,000 baht p/m to tempt most sane people to live (let alone work) in isaan.

[gvan]

This is why we hire bi-lingual Thais. Farangs are just so inflexible, too much trouble and unable to communicate with the students.

Hiring the bi-lingual Thais is a wonderful solution.......unless you really want them to speak English.

[AjarnMartin]

I cannot believe the comment that if I want to have a home and a car that I should stay in my home country. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. If all of my Thai colleagues drive cars, then why do I have to drive a motorcycle? the comments about living like a Thai, what do you actually mean living like a farmer? Middle class Thais make a lot more than 25k to support a family. Teachers should be middle class and not less.

A family man with ability and qualifications who can provide more for students than a pronunciation monkey, deserves enough to live and not just survive. I have roots in the community and want my children to have a good education and have a future.

For backpackers looking to extend their holiday, students on a gap year, retirees who have a pension, income isn't a priority but for most professional educators trying to build a family and enjoy life, 25k for a full time job is just not enough.

When native speakers are getting paid less as teachers than many Thai teachers, it is time to move on. My wife earns about 28k a month and only has 12 teaching hours. Granted she has a crazy amount of meetings and paperwork that I would hate to do.

Bundoi: "If so surely you can earn more in your home country than you can in Thailand?"

Well qualified teachers have the option of working in International schools which can actually pay more and allow for greater savings than back in the west.

Bundoi: "This is why we hire bi-lingual Thais. Farangs are just so inflexible, too much trouble and unable to communicate with the students."

"I have interviewed many aspiring teachers. My experience is that Thais are the best teachers of English for Thai students"

First of all, I don't necessarily believe that you are in any position where you actually hire educators, but even if you are, what qualified you for that position? Do you have a Masters in Education or at the least TESOL? Or are you just another person who left their job and life in the west for some idylic life in a foreign country.

Your comments about Thais being the best teachers of English clearly shows your ignorance on what is needed in the classroom.

If you have read anything about the current system in Thailand, you will know that many schools in Thailand are having serious trouble with Thai teachers. First of all there was a test done a few years back where 80% of Thai teachers failed their subject tests. Second, recently directors and administrators are quite upset because recent grads are only learning theory because their teachers are only academics and have not spent much time in the classroom with young learners.

Now specifically to English being taught. Translating and communicating in Thai with students isn't helping them progress past lower level to intermediate ability. Bilingual teachers are typically those that can barely communicate or explain English rules or meaning in English. IF one is to build an active vocabulary, they need to understand the language through the language. If a student is just translating every word, then the native language interferes even more than normal. For very beginners, translation-lecture method is useful and can make the classroom easier to manage for the less motivated students. However, to get a higher communicative and comprehensive ability.

I will agree that those westerners that are looking for work and accepting low wages typically aren't the best teachers, but that is the problem. Thai teachers typically don't have a clue how to create an inteligent classroom that allows inquiry based learning. I would be surprised if most teachers could come up with 5 different strategies to teach/aproach the same material.

Even most barely qualified foreigners here so proud of their TEFL certificate at best learn about varrying their lessons a little to compensate for multiple intelligences. However even then they do little more than scatter their lessons with a few different activities thinking that will make them more student centered.

If Thai education is going to make it comparable with the rest of ASEAN, it needs to demand more from its teachers and pay them more,

Khun Zeichen

A clear and succinct appraisal of the situation would be my humble opinion. As a teacher with Masters' Degree Qualifications, who has been working in Thailand for the past six years, admittedly teaching at the older spectrum of education, I find that generally, Thai English teachers have difficulty stringing a sentence together without many grammatical errors.

This is why, of course, that Thailand is going to be at the bottom of English language proficiency tables within the forthcoming AEC if the OP and others continue to see Thai education standards through rose-tinted spectacles.

[Friendly Stranger]

Well naturally it does depend on where you are: 25k won't go far in Bkk, but there are plenty of rural areas where it's more than enough to live comfortably.

PS I think there will very likely be a downward pressure on NES wages for a long-time given supply and demand from 2015. Personally I think this is a good thing for Thai schools in general: I really don't see that the value delivered by an NES teacher is worth the differential in most cases.

Not a teacher, but I do live in a rural area. I rent a modest home, I have my comforts, but I don't spend extravigantly, and rarely drink. I could not live reasonably on 25k - on that money, I'd be living like a starving (western) college student. When I was a student, I've certainly had enough noodle-pack dinners, crowded apartments, and empty pockets to last a lifetime, would not wish for that again. Some things are cheaper out in the country, but not by much, and you get what you pay for. 25k is just unimaginable - unless its for 2 days a week or less, then it sounds great.

I'm genuinely surprised and very interested in your response; and I honestly would be interested in a breakdown or at least a summary of your outgoings (naturally preserving privacy etc); I live on far less than that and believe me I don't scrimp. Ok I don't rent, but rural rents are almost nothing compared to Bkk anyway. I hope this doesn't sound confrontational, it's not intended to be.

Sorry to be off topic, but I too am intrigued. I've lived in BKK on less than 30K with ease and I don't see the fuss as I eat well, get entertained, travel where I want and set my own hours. If you have dependants and waste money then you have a point.

[fxe1200]

Why not admit? Most teachers here in Thailand have zero academic training in teaching. They do not know, what didactics, the principles of teaching, methodology are. And they have to deal with classes with 50 pupils or so, where one can only recite the contents of the curriculum. Thai pupils are being taught to memorize, and if they feel like, they might do it; but they are not taught to develop an independent thinking, they are i.e. not guided to find an individual approach to solve a problem, and so on. Hiring foreigners to "teach" English will not solve the current problem. And with the stance, that even state schools are being managed like businesses, there will not be a chance to have smaller classes, but may be a new Mercedes for the headmaster.

Edited December 14, 2013 by fxe1200

[dighambara]

If a job pays less than 30k, the only way that I would take it is if it were part time with less than 15 contact hours in straight blocks.

I can just do private lessons and workshops less than 10 hours a week and still earn more than 20k.

It is sad that jobs are paying less now than they were back in 2000.

Considering the fact that they've to get the money from the parents, who aren't wealthy, understandable. Honestly speaking, an ideal start for somebody who wants to settle down here, or having a wife from this area.

As far as I recall, you're working in China right now. My post was meant to give somebody a helping hand.

I certainly know how it is to turn each baht around twice to make it until the end of the month. But I know why I'm doing it and for whom.

Unfortunately, the kids give me more than money can buy.-

I am required a 65,000 Baht a month income, but because I am a retire, I cannot work so cannot even apply for citizenship.

Contrary to popular belief, citizenship is not lost if a person gains others. It is quite possible to be a citizen of many countries and hold many passports.

To me, 30k sounds like a pauper's income, but you are allowed to apply to become a citizen.

[NoshowJones]

25K as a salary for a teacher is terrible regardless of where you are in Thailand. Petrol, cooking gas, housing and food prices have increased and will continue to all over the country. Does the school offer housing allowence, relocation help, visa payments, health/accident insurance or does the applicant also have to foot the bill for all of these also? If they do, it's not a good deal. Thats my thoughts, when I first came here in 2005 I got 35k a month, after 3 months half my airfare repaid, 3,000 a month housing allowence. Money back for visa runs, including food and hotel room for the night and travel costs. Free insurance not the general social security. 10 days sick per school year, 10 days business a year and 10 pays personal. And all this for 20-21 hours a week. No schools match this now, they are squeezing as much money as they can out of the foreign teacher.

The kids do make it sometimes feel like it does not matter about the salary but when you need to pay those bills it does matter at the end of the day.

Money back for visa runs??? You must be working without a work permit. When I was teaching I had a WP, and certainly never had to do visa runs.

[squarethecircle]

Answer to the original question: because the pay is crap, people aren't going to put up with those conditions for that pay. Raise it up to 30,000 or a bit over that and you'll attract a body; to get an actual professional you'd have to go a lot higher than 30,000, unless of course you can find one of the many western professionals retired in Issan.

[rct99q]

Is the job still available? Currently work in the Foreign Language department of a large International School making less than 25,000 on 22hrs/wk. Possibly looking for a change. Housing included or no?

[advancebooking]

Guys, what I'm really having difficulty understanding is...

if you want a salary that pays a mortgage (on a house you can own), and a nice car, and a holiday in the sun once or twice a year and health care and pensions whose provisions you can understand...etc etc... why are you working in Thailand or SE Asia?

just stay home... I mean back home.

Essentially bundol has hit a relevant point above. The fact that salaries are reducing means that the quality of teaching will reduce even more in this country. Having just spent 2 months in Indonesia where an uneducated indo can speak better than a uni educated thai person, I think this country will never improve until it sorts out its education system.

[Balance]

I first came to Thailand a few years ago and was invited by a senior English teacher (friend of my wife) at a public school to come to her classroom as a NES and interact with the students (15-17 years old). There were about 15 students in the class. I must say that I was very surprised at the fact that with the exception of two students, none of them could understand a simple English sentence the first time it was spoken and could not respond. One of the two students who stood out were learning English from working in 4 star "Farang" hotel and TALKING with English speakers. The other student had a sister with a UK husband.

After the second visit to the classroom, it became clear that the students were afraid to speak. I was told that this is due to fear of losing face. But, it still did not answer the question as to their ability to speak English. I might add that the teacher, who had a Masters Degree in teaching English could not speak English beyond the most rudimentry level. The other thing I noticed was that, with two or three exceptions, the students had no motivation to learn English. That is to say, they saw to tangible benefit for the required effort. A poll of what they were going to do after graduation ran the spectrum of haviang no idea to the very specific. Several wanted to enter the police force. They were also not aware that in many jobs, speaking English meant higher salaries.

I became convinced that the Thai eduation leaders have missed the basic principle of teaching a foreigh language: you have to speak the language with a native speaker. I took two years of French in high school and another year in collage, but I did not learn to speak the language until I spent 4 months working in in a small village in SW France. This also explains why wealthy Thais send their children to the UK or the USA for several years of school: They come back speaking English almost at the same level as a NES. But of course, they will not work for 25K THB either.

Technology can help. I was speaking with a young American at the Immigration office who got a job teaching at a goverment school in Lampang for 35,000 THB. He had over 15 years experience with TEASL in several Asian countries. He noted that the school had a language lab with all of the required equipment, but it had never been "turned on." Part of his job was to get the lab up and running so that the students could use it. It may be that language labs could provide a very cost effective solution for those who will not be sent abroad for school.

[NoshowJones]

Apologies for the font glitches. Let me reiterate and elaborate - I have interviewed many aspiring teachers. My experience is that Thais are the best teachers of English for Thai students. If there are any farangs out there who can speak even Patom 1 level, please let me know ;-)

What do you mean Prathom 1 level? I know what Prathom 1 is having taught Prathoms 5 and 6. Your third sentence is wrong. Any Farang from a NES country will speak Prathom 1 level, but that does not mean they will be good English teachers. For TV members not involved with Thai schools, Prathom 1 is the same as Primary 1 in the UK.

[NoshowJones]

If salary is the problem, why not go go home where u can earn more ?

I haven't interviewed an NES who can give half the value of a bi-lingual Thai , even though the NES wants twice as much !!

Apparently you don't have much experience in your field. I do know Thais who teach "English" in Isaan. The trouble is that they learned "English" from Thais all through school and even in uni. They are quite good at writing and translating and they know spelling and grammar...

But they can't pronounce the English words correctly so they teach it all wrong to their students. No one is learning to speak English. Worse, they do most of their speaking in the class room in Thai.

Are you an NES? If so, how did you learn English? How and at what stage of your life did you become fluent in English? You were fluent in English before you went to school and learned grammar, etc. Your early life was a total immersion in English.

The only way those kids will become fluent in English is if the class is taught in English by an NES.

Spot on Neversure.

[SOTIRIOS]

....the answer to 'what happened to the teaching profession salaries'is in the initial post....read it over carefully again.....

(...it also explains why the quality of education has gone down or not improved....)

Edited December 14, 2013 by SOTIRIOS

[Scott]

Is the job still available? Currently work in the Foreign Language department of a large International School making less than 25,000 on 22hrs/wk. Possibly looking for a change. Housing included or no?

You should probably send a PM to the OP to find out if it is still available.

Also a rather nasty, inflammatory post has been removed.

[recom273]

Apologies for the font glitches. Let me reiterate and elaborate - I have interviewed many aspiring teachers. My experience is that Thais are the best teachers of English for Thai students. If there are any farangs out there who can speak even Patom 1 level, please let me know ;-)

What do you mean Prathom 1 level? I know what Prathom 1 is having taught Prathoms 5 and 6. Your third sentence is wrong. Any Farang from a NES country will speak Prathom 1 level, but that does not mean they will be good English teachers. For TV members not involved with Thai schools, Prathom 1 is the same as Primary 1 in the UK.

The OP is suggesting we, as NES instructors have an Thai education to P1 .. lol

I was forced to spend time in my P1 bilingual school homeroom when not teaching, so i bought a textbook, sat at the back and played along with the P1 TT .. geez, those guys push the kids hard.

It makes what we teach look like a walk in the park, at 5 years old they STUDIED Thai for at least 1 hour a day + homework. Its nothing like P1 in the UK where we learn numbers and alphabet through play, these kids learn grammar rules and spelling through rigid word construction rules. The kids are expected to be able to write after A3, my missus teaches kids to write age 3 at Kindergarten. There was still an element of copying from the board, but its certainly not rote and it certainly wasnt FUN like an ESL lesson is supposed to be, there were no fun pictures or games. Also, I wasnt repremanded (physically or verbally ) when i made a mistake.

ETS: Despite, moments where they totally hated the old boot, so much they would be dragged down the corridor by their parents, but the parents and kids had so much respect and love for the teacher who was about to retire and she got RESULTS. It's a real eye opener, how TT's behave, the ( fortunate ) double standards we comply with and how much of a different world we revolve in.

Edited December 14, 2013 by recom273

[DGIE]

Apologies for the font glitches. Let me reiterate and elaborate - I have interviewed many aspiring teachers. My experience is that Thais are the best teachers of English for Thai students. If there are any farangs out there who can speak even Patom 1 level, please let me know ;-)

If Thai teacher speaks Thai to her/his students, the students will not speak English.

Thai students have been learning English from their Thai teachers.

Try to talk to them if they can answer you in English.

When a teacher cannot speak Thai, he/she find ways so that her students understand her/him. Soon the students can speak broken English. Although broken, we can understand what they want to say.

But your 25K offer will still be grabbed by (desperate) Filipinos. But you can choose from them.

Only the place maybe the problem.

[NeverSure]

Am I the only one here who thinks there just might be an "agent" in the mix here who is trying to find someone to work for less than he charges the school?

He's all over the place about preferring "bilingual Thais" and so on, but it always comes down to money, firm at $25k. Why, even if the school won't pay more, will he not agree that it isn't very much money? Why instead suggest people go back to their home countries?

I could go on with clues I think I get but sorry, but I'm not into this.

[DGIE]

The salary is very low. Eleven years ago I taught at a school in Bangkok and my salary was 35,000 baht and I was paid a substantial bonus at the end of the contract. The school also provided me with a few private students as well. Actually teaching was only twenty hours a week however I had to be at the school from 7.30 am - 4.00 pm.

You may be a quality teacher that's why your school paid you that amount. (I received 37-39,000 Baht a month for 3 hours a day work. 1 day has 4 hours but I am not saying I am also a quality one. I don't want to carry my own chair).

But many agencies (hiring teachers) give lower than 25,000 Baht here in Bangkok. The average pay is 300 Baht per hour.

Edited December 14, 2013 by DGIE