English Teacher

[Yuliya13]

Im an English teacher with 10 yaers experience in Russia. I have a degree(5 years university) with qualification of Philologist (English and French), my specialization is English and French instructor ans interpreter (english and french). I have NO any TEFL certs. Wanna find a job in formal school in Chiangmai with WP. What about my chances?

[GoonDizzy]

Luckily for you there is now a shortage of ESL teachers. At a school I used to work at we had a Russian with a degree in maths teaching maths. His English was decent. He also worked in the evenings at a Language centre teaching maths. Mind you, he learned to speak Thai and was almost fluent.

My guess is that you will find work fairly easily if you hunt around. it is a little more difficult for non native speakers to find work, but schools are desperate for applicants that can get a work permit easily. Chiang Mai may be tricky as many want to work there and they usually want native speakers. To be honest, the salaries in CM are very low anyway. You're probably going to find it easier to find work in Bangkok. A temporary work permit would be no problem, but you may need a M.Ed within 4 years if you want to stay beyond that. There are a few M.Ed programmes available in Bangkok that can be completed in 18 months (evening and weekend courses). Mind you, if do do have a full teaching licence from Russia, you may qualify for a full Thai teaching licence and not a temporary one.

If CM is the only place you're keen on, check the internet for jobs and travel up there and visit a few schools with your CV in hand. The new term starts in early November, so it may be difficult to get a job before then. Admin departments at many schools usually open a week or two before classes begin.

[Yuliya13]

what do u mean by full teaching lisence from Russia? I thought my diploma is enough...

[zeichen]

"A temporary work permit would be no problem, but you may need a M.Ed within 4 years if you want to stay beyond that."

A total crock. You do need to have a teacher's license which you can get with a Bachelor's in education, a teacher's license in your own country, Tests like Praxis 1,2, Or a M.Ed. There are many different ways to get the license.

A bachelors in any subject though will qualify you for the provisional 2 year license

[lostinisaan]

I have NO any TEFL certs.

You've answered your question already.

Edited August 26, 2014 by lostinisaan

[GoonDizzy]

"A temporary work permit would be no problem, but you may need a M.Ed within 4 years if you want to stay beyond that."

A total crock. You do need to have a teacher's license which you can get with a Bachelor's in education, a teacher's license in your own country, Tests like Praxis 1,2, Or a M.Ed. There are many different ways to get the license.

A bachelors in any subject though will qualify you for the provisional 2 year license

Erm. I did say ''if you have a teacher's licence from your own country''. His degree isn't a B.Ed it seems. There is another route (tests/culture courses) but not many seem to pass that test. And it's not easy to get on a course at the moment.

My point is that he'll be fine for a while (temp licence if no B.Ed/PGCE/M.Ed or Russian TL) and will need to get a post grad (Education based) unless he has a licence from Russia. The culture course/test route is partly down to luck. All this is only relevant if he wants to stay more than 4 years (less if he changes schools). The two year temp licence tends to get renewed once and after that you need to prove 'progression'.

[SlyAnimal]

You shouldn't have too many problems finding a job, although some schools will specifically be looking for Native English Speakers, rather than non native speakers. You should still apply for these jobs anyway though, as you've still got a decent chance since you do have a good teaching background.

What the other posters were referring to, is that with a bachelor degree that's not in Education, we are initially given a provisional/temporary teaching licence (Or waiver as we usually refer to them), which will last for 2 years (provided we don't change schools). After the 2 years, we can apply for a 2nd waiver, which will give us another 2 years of teaching.

After we've had 2x waivers (And you need a new waiver each time you change schools, so basically after 2-4 years, depending on how often you change schools), you can apply for a 3rd waiver but it's not always granted, the Teacher's Council of Thailand (TCT) will look at whether you've made an effort to improve your teaching ability/education via courses & working towards the Thai teacher's licence. 4th waivers aren't granted, and so you need to have your full Thai teacher's licence before your 3rd waiver expires.

Obtaining a Full Thai Teacher's licence requires either:

1 year of teaching experience in Thailand + teaching licence in your home country (or BEdu / DipTeach) + Thai culture course

or

1 year of teaching experience in Thailand + Thai culture course + passing 4x Thai teacher's licence exams.

However the teacher's licence exams are currently suspended, as TCT is apparently considering other methods of assessing teachers' ability to teach.

[Yuliya13]

Thank u for ur answers, and sorry for being silly but I still have a question about "teaching licence in my home country". Judging by my diploma Im an English instructor and translator, isnt it enough? Ive never heard of smth like teaching licence here...

[SlyAnimal]

What is your diploma in?

e.g. Was it a 1 year graduate diploma, or similar, in Teaching? Or was it in something else? (E.g. English)

As I assume Russia has a professional organisation for teachers, often called a Teachers' Council, which authorises who is given a licence to teach and who isn't.

The professional organisation or teacher's council, will usually grant a provisional licence once one of the following educational requirements have been fulfilled*:

1/ Completing a Bachelor of Education

2/ Completing a 3-4 year course at a Teacher's college or similar

3/ Completing a Bachelor degree in x field of study + a 1-2 year graduate diploma (or similar)

4/ Completing a Bachelor degree in x field of study + passing a set of examinations

Once a provisional licence has been granted, the teacher will then usually be supervised while teaching over 1-2 years before they are granted a full licence.

* Each country is different, so some of these options may not be applicable in every country (e.g. In NZ option 4 isn't viable, but I think in the USA it is).

"x" isn't necessarily "any" field of study, as many countries have restrictions on what majors are acceptable for teachers.

[Yuliya13]

my diploma is 5 years program

major - philology

specialization - English and French(instructor, translator)

present dip gives the right to professional activities in accordance with the level of education and qualification

[Phatcharanan]

my diploma is 5 years program

major - philology

specialization - English and French(instructor, translator)

present dip gives the right to professional activities in accordance with the level of education and qualification

Do you have a Bakalavr’s or Magistr’s degree? (Diploma means something else in the West)

Did you train as a Primary teacher at a technikum or Secondary at a specific teacher training uni?

Presumably you are already aware that you need a Kandidat Nauk to teach in universities.

If you don't have any of the above then you do not hold a 'home country' teaching accreditation

Edited August 27, 2014 by Phatcharanan

[Yuliya13]

I have Specialist degree( it is more than BA and less than MA)

[Yuliya13]

I was trained as a teacher at university and my dip gives me right to work as an English teacher

[zeichen]

You keep repeating the same thing. What we are asking is do you have a special governmental sheet of paper with a seal on it says that you are a teacher. A teacher's license is from the government and not a school. Without it you have less options.

[Yuliya13]

Yep. It is my University degree (from government with a seal) that tells Im a teacher

[zeichen]

then the answer is no. You don't have a teacher's license. They are separate. You will not qualify for a Thai license unless the degree actually says Bachelor's in Education or that you can prove with your transcripts that your classes were education and would qualify for the same.

[WonnabeBiker]

Hi, I haven't read any responses yet. But a) you don't need such a certificate to work here. Certainly not with your experience and degree. (They do hire folks who barely get a TOEIC score of 500 and can't speak the language without an attrocious accent).

OTOH, Chiang Mai ist the most competitive city IMHO. Many native speakers would love to get the same job, even if it only pays 27,000 B or whatever.

Thailand is large and there are many great regions. Provinces up North and in the South (islands, beaches, coastal towns).

There is a thread about "what to avoid" (mistakes). You can get a direct hire at some school. Get a TOEIC test and when the score is in the high 800s you should be an asset and stand out against the hordes of non-NES who fight for the same jobs.

Good luck!

[SlyAnimal]

then the answer is no. You don't have a teacher's license. They are separate. You will not qualify for a Thai license unless the degree actually says Bachelor's in Education or that you can prove with your transcripts that your classes were education and would qualify for the same.

Although he could still get a provisional license based on having a bachelor degree.

He would just need to jump through the regular hoops in order to get a full license

[zeichen]

That was my point not that he cannot get a job for the short term

[TerryLH]

"Get a TOEIC test and when the score is in the high 800s you should be an asset and stand out against the hordes of non-NES who fight for the same jobs."

If he can get a score in the high 800's (out of 990), he'll have done better than a lot of NES teachers would do if they had to take the test.

[onlycw]

That was my point not that he cannot get a job for the short term

That's wrong! Why wouldn't someone who went to university for 5 years and has been working as a teacher and translator get 2 x 2 years' waivers?!? Lots of people do, even some do work here without a degree. Just saying.

[SlyAnimal]

That was my point not that he cannot get a job for the short term

That's wrong! Why wouldn't someone who went to university for 5 years and has been working as a teacher and translator get 2 x 2 years' waivers?!? Lots of people do, even some do work here without a degree. Just saying.

Read the other posts in the thread again, but read more carefully