Visa crackdown: Is this the end of the road for unqualified ESL teachers in Thailand?

[Johnnie99]

Whether or not the schools 'want' unqualified 'teachers', the law is the law.

 

Why devalue those of us with the correct qualifications?

 

Go somewhere else for your easy ride. Thanks.

[GOLDBUGGY]

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They are going to quit teaching ESL.

The future looks to be MSL (Mandarin).

I doubt Thai schools will stop teaching English anytime soon. The business language of ASEAN, and the world, is currently English. There are millions of 'qualified' Filipino English teachers who would love to fill Thailand's need for ESL teachers. By qualified, I mean degreed, many with education degrees in teaching English.

 

Of course, then you have the accreditation of the degree granting institution to question--but that question exists with the many dubiously 'degreed' falang ESL teachers too.

 

In the future, if and when the US drops drastically in global economic strength--like the Brits have already done--Mandarin may indeed take over as the lingua franca of business, in Asia at least.  Mandarin is already taught in most Thai schools.

 

 

"Mandarin is already taught in most Thai schools." really, wow, this is news to me, and I'm sure news to the many Isaan schools I've been to.

 

 

My partner from Suratthani  had to go to uni in Bangkok to get her degree in Mandarin, and now we are being told that it is being taught in schools, goodness me!  how the Thai education has improved in recent years.
 

 

 

Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken language in the world! But it will never replace English as the Business Language anymore then it would replace French, as the Language of Love. Forget About It!

 

As a Thai Student it would be good to learn Mandarin as there is a huge Chinese presents in Thailand. But also you can expect a lot of Trade with China in the future and thus this language would be a huge benefit to have. But business is still spoken in English and even in China. So having English to would be a huge benefit.     

   

[oldsailor35]

To just  be able to have any understanding English conversation with a Thai, is 'worth its weight in gold'   so just to be able to teach conversational English is very important. I do not think that it is necessary to have a uni degree to do this.  A very good example (so i am told.  lololol) is the uneducated Isaan girl who turns up to work in a bar, Usually she learns to speak and understand English quite quickly, and believe me it is not from the English lessons of an English Degree teacher..........Does this not prove a point.   TESL teachers are needed in Thailand. I am not a TESL teacher but a retiree with his eyes and ears open. The Military are doing the kids of Thailand a massive disservice

[chrisinth]

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They have not changed. I have taught at some of the best private and government schools in the past 5 years here. 97% of the English Thai as well as the Philippine teachers are lacking in English skills. Without a native speaker all Thai will suffer. Even a Native English Speaker who lacks a degree can speak clearly and well enough to teach a Thai student. 

 

 

Something I don't get.  Most farangs in Thailand will say that Thais in general do not speak English well.  The vast majority.  Therefore, all these years of having these so-called TEFLers have done nothing to improve the English proficiency of Thais.  Zero.  So removing them should have zero effect. 

 

 

A point that I have also wondered about. Of course it is easy to blame the Thai education system (and I can see the point there), but as a dedicated English teacher to do nothing about it?

 

I do understand the hierarchy in most of the schools, but when peoples dedication is towards their wages rather than their job description, then nothing will change.

 

Note: This is not a direct dig at all teachers, just the ones who complain bitterly but sit back and let the world roll on.

[laurenrebecca]

If there is a great shortage of native speaker TEFL instructors then the void will be filled by ASEAN. There are many, many teachers in Philippines or Myanmar who have excellent English language skills and who find the wage scale in Thailand quite adequate. 

HannahD, you are correct that there are MANY teachers from the Phillipines that would be willing to teach here.

 

Look at it from this angle though. I, myself am American, teaching in a VERY rural school in the north. We have a total of about 20 foreign teachers in the province. 3 at this school - 2 Americans and 1 Filipina. The other American and the Filipina are leaving at the end of this month (1 due to personal reasons, the other due to not having the correct education documents and being unable to obtain them for a teaching license).

 

I do the screening and background checks for all teaching applicants. I have over 20 applications from Filipinos on my desk right now, but cannot hire ANY of them....because of their degree. They all have Bachelor degrees (some even in Education), but I have to verify that Khurusapah (the governing body for teachers in Thailand) will recognize the degree through an online website. NOT ONE of my applicants has a degree that is certified as acceptable to teach in Thailand, yet my Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from the USA, coupled with a TEFL certificate from England, is certified by Khurusapah. 

 

Sure, we pay the Filipino teachers less, yes they work hard, and in many cases their English is just as fluent as mine....but getting through all the loopholes to get them a temporary teaching license, appropriate Non-B visa and work permit are a HUGE undertaking and a major pain in the @$$.

 

There is going to be a MAJOR shortage of teachers in this country in the next 30 days.

 

For the record, my school does all the paperwork properly...I have a teaching license, Non-B multiple entry visa and a valid work permit. It is a hassle to get all of the documents and have it all done correctly, but nobody at this school is sweating the visa crackdown at all :)

[englishoak]

Are you talking about these "poor schools" who are employing illegal workers who they can pay salaries to them less than usual and take away the opportunity of a Thai national who have the proper degree to teach? Have you any idea how many unemployed Thai qualified teachers out there? There are proper things to do everything, in this case the proper thing to do is for that school to apply for a proper work permit for the foreign teacher if they really needed them. And no, this is not a bad thing but a great thing for Thailand! How many of you British or American nationals here have a thing called "back to back" visas in your countries? Do you think your countries would allow this?

 

For those people who are complaining about how Thai people are not speaking English correctly. Well, do they have to? You have to be aware of that this is Thailand, not England, not USA and most certainly not occupied or colonised by any of those... So if you're too concerned about how to communicate with them, why don't you speak their own language on their own country? Please stop pestering about that this is for their own good, let them decide what's good for them or not.

 

Have you any idea how badly most of the Thai English teachers actually speak English ? clearly not. Written is one thing speaking and learning how to pronounce words so they can be understood is quite another.

 

Your a funny guy, they have decided and its not good for them I can assure you. 

Edited July 17, 2014 by englishoak

[smotherb]

I don't see Mandarin ever competing with English. India will soon be more populous than China and is an English speaking country. Few people in the world will ever benefit from learning Mandarin, but English is set to continue to be the key tongue for most.

 

Obviously Chinese is useful in the Far East, just as Spanish is useful in Latin America, but there are others too: Portuguese in South America, Korean, Japanese etc in the East. Even so, the only language that is going to be consistently useful for the majority is English.

 

While I agree English is the language of business worldwide, it is because in the last 300 plus years the UK, then the US, have dominated world business. Since the Brits have fallen by the global economic wayside, and the Yanks are fast followers, it is not inconceivable another language may surpass English. However, I really doubt it, because English was usurped due to a void in the lingua franca for business transactions. Now that English is used, I see it very difficult to get everyone on-board with another language.  
 

[SoilSpoil]

Interesting times for the foreign teachers here in Thailand as 2 important questions come to mind:

 

1) For those of us having a non-B visa, it will be impossible to change of employer. I believe that within the present system the work permit and non-B will be cancelled within 7 days. With no border run available to the teacher, how is he or she gonna get a new work permit and non-B within a week?

 

2) Most foreign teachers in Thailand are recruited while living here. You come to Thailand on a tourist visa and start applying left and right. With the new rules it seems that there will be a lot of pressure on the teachers. They need a job and work permit and the need it fast! Will the Thai schools recruit in the West and take care of the formalities before arrival here? I doubt it.

 

Please correct me if I am wrong, but these new rules seem to open a can of worms. Even when you are qualified, you are in an extreme hurry to get your paperwork processed. 

[oldsailor35]

Forgive my ignorance, but why all these teachers must stay on tourist visa? Can't they get something like an ED visa and continue teaching while attending Thai language classes twice a week?

I entirely agree. There should be an Education visa for TEFL teachers. There should be certain conditions e.g.   'X' number of hours of teaching each week.Give them a book that the headmaster can stamp and confirm. No monthly stamp = No visa.     Realy simple is'nt it.

[Nai41]

What is "qualified to teach English?" I have a TESOL certificate from an Australian Government teaching institution (12 week course) backed up by over thirty years experience in graphic design (award winning) and marketing with over four years full time tertiary study but no bachelor level as was not relevant in the 70's. I would move permanently to Thailand now but have looked into it and it is just too hard. I have stayed in rural communities where exposure to native English speakers out of school is almost non existent. Constant , regular practice is needed to learn a second language. Maybe there could be a second tier level of native English speakers specifically for conversation and discussion classes who could do this without a bachelor level qualification.

[Berkshire]

 

If there is a great shortage of native speaker TEFL instructors then the void will be filled by ASEAN. There are many, many teachers in Philippines or Myanmar who have excellent English language skills and who find the wage scale in Thailand quite adequate. 

HannahD, you are correct that there are MANY teachers from the Phillipines that would be willing to teach here.

 

Look at it from this angle though. I, myself am American, teaching in a VERY rural school in the north. We have a total of about 20 foreign teachers in the province. 3 at this school - 2 Americans and 1 Filipina. The other American and the Filipina are leaving at the end of this month (1 due to personal reasons, the other due to not having the correct education documents and being unable to obtain them for a teaching license).

 

I do the screening and background checks for all teaching applicants. I have over 20 applications from Filipinos on my desk right now, but cannot hire ANY of them....because of their degree. They all have Bachelor degrees (some even in Education), but I have to verify that Khurusapah (the governing body for teachers in Thailand) will recognize the degree through an online website. NOT ONE of my applicants has a degree that is certified as acceptable to teach in Thailand, yet my Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from the USA, coupled with a TEFL certificate from England, is certified by Khurusapah. 

 

Sure, we pay the Filipino teachers less, yes they work hard, and in many cases their English is just as fluent as mine....but getting through all the loopholes to get them a temporary teaching license, appropriate Non-B visa and work permit are a HUGE undertaking and a major pain in the @$$.

 

There is going to be a MAJOR shortage of teachers in this country in the next 30 days.

 

For the record, my school does all the paperwork properly...I have a teaching license, Non-B multiple entry visa and a valid work permit. It is a hassle to get all of the documents and have it all done correctly, but nobody at this school is sweating the visa crackdown at all

 

 

Those are some very good points you bring up, Lauren.  Question:  Do you see the upcoming AEC as improving any of the conditions that you outlined above with regards to Filipino teachers? 
 

[TPI]

Last time we heard about cleaning the immigration status of illegal workers, it was about the Cambodian nationals => they went back home but Thais realized they badly needed them => Cambodians came back.

Same story here? No => Thais DON'T NEED English teachers from abroad because millions Thais speak a perfect English and can teach to the children.

 

Really!!

[mc1984]

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Qualified English teachers??? Because a bachelors degree in zoology or computer science makes you a qualified English teacher....... What a joke.

 

If you have a TELF certificate, you are already a more qualified English teacher than some one with a degree in, say, astro-physics. 

Hmmmm......... a few months ago I was on the BTS and trapped listening to (I had no choice as there were talking above everyone else) a group of Americans bragging about how easy it was to teach English in BKK and all the stupid things their students said.....! Everyone of their ignorant, ill informed, grammatically incorrect sentences contained the word "like" between every few words, said with a whiney accent of course. No way would I let those TELF stars near an English language classroom.

I hardly think listening to people talking with their friends, of the same nationality, on the BTS is a good place to judge someone's ability as an English teacher.

 

Being from Scotland, in the classroom I sound nothing like I do when I am conversing with my fellow Scots. Speaking like this doesn't make me a bad teacher, it just means I am Scottish and i use a lot of slang words and deliberate grammar mistakes when I speak with other Scottish people, because it's the way we speak. 

[Ajex21]

 

Last time we heard about cleaning the immigration status of illegal workers, it was about the Cambodian nationals => they went back home but Thais realized they badly needed them => Cambodians came back.
Same story here? No => Thais DON'T NEED English teachers from abroad because millions Thais speak a perfect English and can teach to the children.

 
It's true. My wife and all her sisters speak excellent English. One is fluent in French as well.
 

Well that's your "small family group" out 65 million, your argument is a bit weak, maybe you need to focus on what Thailand needs, not only your happy little family.

[TheSiemReaper]

This is a serious issue for Thailand and one they need to get a handle on quickly. Why?

 

Thailand is currently one of the bottom countries for speaking English out of the 10 ASEAN countries (http://whereisthailand.info/2012/07/english-proficiency/). So what? Well when the borders open Thailand is likely to see an influx of workers from any of the ASEAN countries who can all speak better English. This means that where it matters such as tourism they will get the betters jobs and the Thais will be left standing, wondering what the hell just happened.

 

When it comes to teaching English, yes Thai's can teach English but that isn't the issue. Knowing what to say and pronouncing it correctly are two different things. Currently Thais have very poor pronunciation and that skill can only be learned from a native English speaker. Communication is the key word here. You don't need to know all the Grammar rules to get your message across but you do need good pronunciation and vocabulary. That's why these unqualified teachers are essential to Thailand.

 

Now personally I don't agree with working illegally on a tourist visa. Illegal is still illegal. It is possible however for these teachers to work here legally. My Nephew teaches English in Chiang Mai and doesn't have a university degree, yet he has a non-b visa and a work permit. How? He works through an agency who arranged everything for him.

 

Of course there is the other side of the coin here, Thais willingness to learn English. I teach at a school in Phuket and I'm alarmed at the attitude of some of my students. They seem to think that they don't need to learn English. Then there's lazy. Have you ever heard someone say that Thai's are lazy? i'll let you answer that one. Ultimately if the Thai's don't pull their socks up they will get left behind when it comes to the ASEAN and world economy.

 

 

Unfortunately this is very bad news for Cambodia; where the tourism sector is brimful of English speaking but low paid workers. Thai's are going to be quickly displaced by them and we're going to be left with all those too lazy/too incompetent to learn.

[oldsailor35]

If we could all pop into the average classroom right now, being a fly on the wall with a foreign English teacher at the helm, I believe we would all be convinced that the first thing that needs to happen is the overall education system and its general policies need to change. There is no learning going on here whatsoever. After that is done, which it never will be, you'd need to get good teachers in here. This will never be done either. Where does this leave us? A monkey could teach English in these Thai classrooms and the results would be about the same. It is their country, let them do what they please with it.  

 

Problem here is that the average Thai does not get to do what he pleases. He is usually told what he can do by the Hi-so rulers and now the army Generals  who are from Hi-so families. This is keeping the lower classes where they belong or believed to belong, by the said Hi-so ruling class.
 

[Bob12345]

 

 

 They have not changed. I have taught at some of the best private and government schools in the past 5 years here. 97% of the English Thai as well as the Philippine teachers are lacking in English skills. Without a native speaker all Thai will suffer. Even a Native English Speaker who lacks a degree can speak clearly and well enough to teach a Thai student. 
 

 
Something I don't get.  Most farangs in Thailand will say that Thais in general do not speak English well.  The vast majority.  Therefore, all these years of having these so-called TEFLers have done nothing to improve the English proficiency of Thais.  Zero.  So removing them should have zero effect. 
 

I have to admit this is the weakest reasoning I have seen in months, so i hope you were being sarcastic.
 
First you incorrectly assume that the fact that Thais, on average, do not speak English well means there has been no improvement. Second you incorrectly assume that what most farangs say is true instead of looking at genuine research testing english skills. Thirdly you incorrectly assume that all Thais have been exposed to TEFLers which is impossible given that the number of TEFLers is limited and they only teach school kids.
 
Again, I sincerely hoping you were joking as it is otherwise almost impossible to make this many mistakes in such a short post in you would use your brain.
 

 
I hope you're not an English teacher because your writing leaves a lot to be desired.  Of course I was being sarcastic.  One of the favorite tactics of the serial Thai-basher is to suggest that Thais are terrible in English.  Even worse than Filipinos....although they always freak-out when I mention Japan and Korea as being even less proficient in English than the average Thai. 
 
But back OT, all I see happening is more English teachers coming from the region once AEC is established.  Thailand will have plenty of qualified English teachers going forward.  Kicking out unqualified TEFLers will have zero impact on Thailand over the long run.
 
 

I am not an english teacher nor a native english speaker. I hope you are neither when seeing how you write.

Back OT: You see english teachers coming when AEC is established. I assume the same will happen. I also see Windows 9 being introduced in the future, but i wont throw away my current version of Windows till it is actually there am tested. Otherwise i am left with ms dos in the meantime.

Maybe thailand can better wait with kicking out english teachers till the replacements from AEC countries actually start arriving...

Sent from my SM-G900F using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Alwyn]

 

They are going to quit teaching ESL.

The future looks to be MSL (Mandarin).

 

You do realize that the only people who think that Mandarin is going to be an international language are stupid white people from the West, don't you? There are more Chinese people currently studying English than there are people in the continental United States. There is one universal language of travel, trade, commerce, telecoms, IT, etc. that language is English. It's a done deal. (Mainly thanks to the 1 billion+ folks of India who all speak some English - English is in fact the official language of India). Even if English were to become an extinct language there is no way on earth that the world would turn to a language with 10,000 characters as a unifying language. It takes Chinese people, on average, until they are 16 years old to become fully literate in 3,000 of those characters.

 

I think the poster was commenting about the notion that the Chinese are seemingly wanting to take over Thailand (wanting visa-free travel and offering to get involved helping the Junta etc) and was not saying that Mandarin is going to be THE language of the World. Even if he was, it doesn't make him a "stupid white person from the west" does it? Where on earth did you get "Even if English were to become an extinct language"  from his post? The poster made a crack the Mandarin might be the language being taught and you made a massive leap of illogic and waffled on about English becoming extinct!! 

[streetlite]

A good teacher is born, not made.

Education is the tool for their craft.

Edited July 17, 2014 by metisdead
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[oldsailor35]

Are you talking about these "poor schools" who are employing illegal workers who they can pay salaries to them less than usual and take away the opportunity of a Thai national who have the proper degree to teach? Have you any idea how many unemployed Thai qualified teachers out there? There are proper things to do everything, in this case the proper thing to do is for that school to apply for a proper work permit for the foreign teacher if they really needed them. And no, this is not a bad thing but a great thing for Thailand! How many of you British or American nationals here have a thing called "back to back" visas in your countries? Do you think your countries would allow this?

 

For those people who are complaining about how Thai people are not speaking English correctly. Well, do they have to? You have to be aware of that this is Thailand, not England, not USA and most certainly not occupied or colonised by any of those... So if you're too concerned about how to communicate with them, why don't you speak their own language on their own country? Please stop pestering about that this is for their own good, let them decide what's good for them or not.

"Let them decide what is good for them or not"................But they just cannot, this has been taken away by the military, who are from Hi-so Thai families, the so called 'ruling class' 

Something that you obviously, do not understand.

Edited July 17, 2014 by oldsailor35

[thaigold]

With regard to English skills I have met many young Chinese people here on vacation who speak English better than many Americans. In Vietnam, the speaking of English is quite common and clear. In Thailand, is is rare Thai who is conversational in English, and when spoken is almost incomprehensible. Some say the underlying problem is cultural. Both China and Vietnam are Confucian societies - leaning and achievement  are societal goals.

In Thailand, it's sabai-sabai / think too much is bad / serious is worse yet. English in Thailand is a tool for the upper classes. I wish the Kingdom good fortune in this English endeavor - it's going to need it.

[RaysFan]

I'm still not understanding the argument that you should have a degree to teach English to Thai children. It really blows my mind. I dont see how a degree in political science, art history, or business is going to help you become a better, more qualified ESL teacher. Someone with a degree is a better singer of Old McDonald has a Farm than someone without a degree?

[RaysFan]

What is better.... Thailand filled with native English speaking teachers without degrees teaching VERY BASIC English, or Thailand filled with Filipinos and Indians with degrees teaching basic English?

[starkey_rich]

 

Last time we heard about cleaning the immigration status of illegal workers, it was about the Cambodian nationals => they went back home but Thais realized they badly needed them => Cambodians came back.

Same story here? No => Thais DON'T NEED English teachers from abroad because millions Thais speak a perfect English and can teach to the children.

 

It's true. My wife and all her sisters speak excellent English. One is fluent in French as well.

 

 

Who taught them Enlish?

And are they teachers?
 

[NoshowJones]

The need for teachers who can teach some basic English is huge, special in the rural areas. Those areas do not have the funds to pay for a qualified teacher, some schools do not have the funds at all. So they depend on those non-qualified teachers who come to teach for less. Or as I do, for free. Most of the teachers simply like to stay in Thailand and get some pocket money, which is hardly enough to cover the costs.

 

Thailand assumed that non-qualified teachers are not good enough to teach, this is nonsense of course. Native teachers are qualified, but there are over 200 English dialects. Often I hear better English with non-native speakers, than with native ones. It's about the pronouncement and not about the grammar, Thai teachers are good at grammar, they do not need any farang to teach this.

 

It will be a huge set back for the Thai educational system, when they forbid those good non-qualified teachers to teach poor Thai students.

This is a very good post, I have three years experience as a teacher here, and it is very true that Thai teachers are very good at teaching grammar. As Navara says, it is about the pronounciation, and that is far more important than the grammar.

 

In language schools, you get Western English teachers with far too much emphasis on grammar instead of pronounciation, and boring the students. Teaching grammar over here is necessary, but it is being overdone.

 

Is it really necessary to teach about transitive and intransitive verbs, or abstract nouns, or even past tense simple and past tense perfect? No wonder a lot of these young students in language schools drop out.

 

If a Thai person is talking fluent English to you with good pronounciation, are you going to bother if some of the grammar is wrong? If you understand what they are saying to you, surely that is the main thing.

[NoshowJones]

Qualified or not to teach English, I would argue that just the exposure alone to a native English speaker, for most Thai students, is beneficial.  Just to help them hear the English words spoken correctly, and to help them not be so shy around foreigners is a big step forward.  I have worked around Thai English teachers who speak English well, but mispronounce many words.  In my experience around Thai kids is that they have a decent English vocabulary, but they don't now how to form sentences.  English sentences are nearly in reverse of Thai sentences as far as organization of words.  The Thai English curriculum focuses so much on grammar that the students are confused and are shy about using the wrong verb or tense.  So they choose to not speak at all.  Just listening to a native English person speak will help them a lot. 

I could not agree more.

[FarangFB]

 

Forgive my ignorance, but why all these teachers must stay on tourist visa? Can't they get something like an ED visa and continue teaching while attending Thai language classes twice a week?

 

You can not get a work permit on either a tourist visa or a no-ED visa.

 

 

But as I understood from the thread, the teachers are concerned because the border run has been banned.

 

So I assume they were working on tourist visa. How does that differ from working while holding an ED visa? Since they're already working without a permit, why would a simple crackdown on tourist visa make them leave while they have the option to get ED visa?

[NoshowJones]

If there is a great shortage of native speaker TEFL instructors then the void will be filled by ASEAN. There are many, many teachers in Philippines or Myanmar who have excellent English language skills and who find the wage scale in Thailand quite adequate. 

This is definitely true of the teachers from the Philippines, I have worked with them.

[Thai at Heart]

At the end of it, it is just part of trying to make some checks of the quality on who is teaching.

This will blow up very fast, probably because some stupid pooyais has no idea what he has just done by implementing these rules.

What this pooyai also doesn't probably know is the sheer scale of unqualified teachers in the country. What he also doesn't know is that the level of required qualification to teach little somchai spoken English in nakorn nowhere is too high.

What this pooyai also doesn't know is that it is illegal to even volunteer to help with English. So, you see what started 20 years ago as a simple requirement to put some level of qualification onto teachers with no relation to need or reality, has snowballed into the mess today.

Yes to teach formal English language to 12 year olds ,there should be a requisite level. To teach spoken English in junior school there doesn't need to be. To volunteer to do this, should be allowed without a apecial visa. Onwards and forwards.

But its going to cause huge problems for many

[asiacanuck]

I am a certified teacher (B.Sc. in Chemistry, Dip. Ed., MA in Ed.Admin) recently retired to Thailand after three decades of teaching Mathematics and Chemistry in Canada, Scotland and China. As far as I am concerned, I am unqualified to teach ESL and really have little interest in doing so. Just because a person can speak English does not make him/her an English teacher. However, I have met many great ESL teachers with and without university degrees. Any native English speaker who has gone through a valid TEFL course, or equivalent, is more than qualified to teach ESL from my experience. Whether they are good teachers or not is another question. But I have met many certified teachers with post-graduate degrees that should not be in the classroom. It would be a shame to see a large number of enthusiastic ESL teachers forced to leave the country for inadequate qualifications. For the salaries and working conditions that I have only read about, I cannot see Thailand being able to recruit good teachers with the educational backgrounds they are looking for.  In talking to dozens of ESL teachers I have met over the years, I can't remember Thailand ever being discussed as a worthwhile place to work. And that was before all these recent changes.

 

China, as only one example, is a wonderful destination for any ESL teachers that are looking for alternative places to live and work. The money is better, students are eager to learn, and the provided housing is generally pretty good. Public and private schools are always on the lookout for energetic, young, experienced ESL teachers. Although many do require a Bachelors degree, it is still possible to find schools that do not. Some will even pay for your ESL training if you show up and are hired. Although six years in China were enough, they were definitely some of the best years of my thirty-year career.