Prospects for a Filipina english teacher?

[Alk]

My fiance and I are moving to Thailand (Phuket/Chiang Mai) early next year. I will not force her to work, but she probably will want to.

She has a 4-year Bachelor's degree in English, and is just completing 2 very successful years of teaching at an ESL school in the Philippines. She did have to pass regular tests, but she did not need TEFL certification.

My questions are first, does she need the TEFL certification to teach in Thailand? Second, I heard in the past that Filipinos are paid less than other English speakers..is that true, and if so how much lower would her salary be? Third, what are the prospects of an attractive, energetic, and highly organized Filipina gaining employment in Thailand?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Scott]

She does not need a TEFL. She most likely will be paid less.

If her degree is not in education, then she will have to apply for a provisional teacher's license and she will have to take a TOEIC exam (English proficiency).

She should have no trouble in finding work, however.

[jspill]

About 20k Baht even with experience as compared to 30k Baht for a caucasian teacher who's never stepped into a classroom.

Filter Craigslist Thailand jobs for the word 'Filipino' - you'll see jobs for 22k, 15k, 19k, 20k, etc.some with free accommodation.

http://bangkok.craigslist.co.th/search/jjj?query=filipino

Should be relatively easy to find work, just be wary of low salaries and Thais turning their nose up at the Filipino accent, which is common.

Edited November 18, 2015 by jspill

[tomwct]

The Thai Government states a Qualified Foreign English Teacher are from England, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Filipino Teachers are hired, but they usually get a salary 50% of a qualified English Teacher! Salaries in Thailand are very low compared to Thailand's neighbors, so outside Bangkok expect

a salary of 15,000 THB a month! A little more in Bangkok!

[samsensam]

good luck. the filipinas have a great work ethic i'm sure she will benefit the english learners here.

[Alk]

Thanks to all for your replies. They are about what I expected.

She was teacher of the year in her school with 130 faculty members, and could teach rings around me or almost anyone else I know, but i understand how racism works.

Any Filipina with a 4-year degree who is fluent in English can have her pick of dozens of call center jobs paying 17,000-22,000p in the Philippines. She will make more with bonuses and as she gets experience. That equates to about 15,000B, so there may not be a benefit of her working in Thailand as opposed to in her home country once visa costs and travel expenses are added to the equation.

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

Edited November 18, 2015 by Alk

[Johnniey]

In my 3 decades teaching in Thailand, Filipinas are not wanted even if they are qualified. Most schools want young,white naive people straight off the boat. Other Asians confuse Thais. The young farangs fit nicely into a pigeon hole. It's face thing. The only places I see these days are Anubaans, who are even taking African women, which was totally unheard of 30 or even 15 years ago. Less racist to blacks but more racist to whites, go figure.

[BruceMangosteen]

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

That logic never works. You will still be asked/required? to send money back to her family. Family comes first, and the emergencies never cease. It's never enough money, never.

Thai schools seem more open to hiring teachers from the Philippines. One member mentioned the accent as a pitfall, but the truth is a Thai can't tell one accent from another at the interview process, if there's even an interview, and if those conducting said interview speak English. Students however, can tell but rarely say anything negative about it to their parents or other Thai teachers. So no worries on that count.

The wage discrimination will continue to flourish but more due to the supply of Philippine applicants and their willingness to accept less money, often living five or six to a room, in order to send money back aka "Philippine Hero's". Your situation is different but I doubt your wife will get a stipend for housing outside of school property.

The supply aspect is the biggest consideration. The new sharing concept in January will just encourage more and more Philippine folks to come on over. They may even start a ferry service so I'm told, from Manila to Bangkok.

Edited November 18, 2015 by BruceMangosteen

[Alk]

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

That logic never works. You will still be asked/required? to send money back to her family. Family comes first, and the emergencies never cease. It's never enough money, never.

Thai schools seem more open to hiring teachers from the Philippines. One member mentioned the accent as a pitfall, but the truth is a Thai can't tell one accent from another at the interview process, if there's even an interview, and if those conducting said interview speak English. Students however, can tell but rarely say anything negative about it to their parents or other Thai teachers. So no worries on that count.

The wage discrimination will continue to flourish but more due to the supply of Philippine applicants and their willingness to accept less money, often living five or six to a room, in order to send money back aka "Philippine Hero's". Your situation is different but I doubt your wife will get a stipend for housing outside of school property.

The supply aspect is the biggest consideration. The new sharing concept in January will just encourage more and more Philippine folks to come on over. They may even start a ferry service so I'm told, from Manila to Bangkok.

I've been going going to and living in the Philippines for many many years. I know how things work...I also know that generalities don't apply to everyone.

I'm currently not sending my girlfriend's family any money....she does that out of her salary. I see no reason why that would not continue in the future if she is working. I am not required to do anything i don't want to do. If I don't want to help her I won't. End of discussion.

She is the one pressuring me to let her work. If I decide to not let her, then I will send a few thousand pesos a month to her sister going to college however.

As I said in my post, with Call Centers more or less begging for qualified English teachers all over the Philippines, there is absolutely no reason for any filipina to go to Thailand and work for 15,000B a month. They can now earn that in the Philippines.

What is the sharing concept?

Why in the world would there be a ferry service? I just bought a ticket from Manila to Phuket for 3000B...and that includes paying extra for baggage. You can pretty much always get flights for about $100 each way if you shop a bit. A ferry service could not compete with that. Airlines are outcompeting ferries even on local island runs here in the Philippines.

[DogNo1]

I'm confused. Is your fiance moving to Thailand with you or not? If she is going to stay in the Philippines and work because she could make just as much there as she could in Thailand, her accompanying you to Thailand doesn't seem to be a priority. If she does come, check out Payap University. They've been known to hire Filipinas who are proficient teachers of English. English teachers from the Philippines are paid what they are paid. Accept it or not as you choose.

[Puyai]

She is the one pressuring me to let her work. If I decide to not let her, then I will send a few thousand pesos a month to her sister going to college however.

What else do you 'let' her do?

Is she allowed out of the house?

Can she have friends?

Lucky girl to have such an understanding guy.......

[balo]

There's a big Filipino community in Bangkok and most of them work as teachers. They are popular because of the their work ethics and lower salaries.

Normal salary for a Filipino teacher is between 17000 and 25000 baht , depending on the qualifications.

Edited November 18, 2015 by balo

[lostinisaan]

Thanks to all for your replies. They are about what I expected.

She was teacher of the year in her school with 130 faculty members, and could teach rings around me or almost anyone else I know, but i understand how racism works.

Any Filipina with a 4-year degree who is fluent in English can have her pick of dozens of call center jobs paying 17,000-22,000p in the Philippines. She will make more with bonuses and as she gets experience. That equates to about 15,000B, so there may not be a benefit of her working in Thailand as opposed to in her home country once visa costs and travel expenses are added to the equation.

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

Best of luck for your relationship and I hope that you're the only one who's sending money to "help her parents."

No offense just happened to a good friend of mine. It turned out that she's got three kids and a love ,when he wasn't there.

Why can't you live together? Just curious, the distance relationships seem to be very difficult to handle.

[Jessi]

Private school in Korat pays Filipina teachers 15,000B a month. Only one white face at the school as they are trying to push the International school bit. Its a branch of a very large school in BKK.

No Thai teachers at all, only in the Admin section, cleaning and kitchen.

Thai's look down on Filipinas.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Jessi

[mmh8]

She needs to be braced for racial discrimination. the employers will see her as a lesser being. she will be paid less than other workers and will be expected to work more, volunteering for everything that happens.

know that her new colleagues will talk about her behind her back and generally attmept to make out her skills are crap. admitedly you need to understand thai to get told that an english teachers language skills are no good, but that is the case.

[Alk]

I'm confused. Is your fiance moving to Thailand with you or not? If she is going to stay in the Philippines and work because she could make just as much there as she could in Thailand, her accompanying you to Thailand doesn't seem to be a priority. If she does come, check out Payap University. They've been known to hire Filipinas who are proficient teachers of English. English teachers from the Philippines are paid what they are paid. Accept it or not as you choose.

Sorry if I was unclear. She will move with me to Thailand, but is saying she would still like to work. Thanks for your recommendation.

I live on the 21st floor of a big hotel next to the biggest business park in Cebu City. Every night, I look out my window and see hundreds and hundreds of call center agents in high rises right across the street from me answering phone calls from all over the world..and there are construction cranes everywhere making more high rises for more call center agents (they've completely ruined the ocean view I had when I first moved in here).

I was making the point that with the explosion of Call Center Jobs available in the Philippines, although nobody is getting rich here, there is no reason why any educated English proficient Filipina/Filipino needs to go to another country and work for rock-bottom wages. There are help wanted signs everywhere. There is a large booth in the mall next to me offering on the spot interviews and immediate hiring of call center agents promising salaries up to 30,000p (most new agents don't make that much however).

That was not the case 5 years ago here, but is the case now.

[Alk]

She is the one pressuring me to let her work. If I decide to not let her, then I will send a few thousand pesos a month to her sister going to college however.

What else do you 'let' her do?

Is she allowed out of the house?

Can she have friends?

Lucky girl to have such an understanding guy.......

You are taking one sentence out of my reply and then using it to flame me. Typical of boards like this, but disappointing..

Taken as a whole my reply meant that although she wants to work to support her family, if I don't think it makes sense for her to do so (due to low salaries/long hours), I will take over the responsibility of doing so.

The idea behind us moving to Thailand is for us to travel and experience everything the country has to offer. We can't do that if she is working 12 months a year. It may not make sense for us to be tied down by her job. We don't need her to work to get by financially. If the pay is too low or hours too long, there are far better things we can be doing with our time. I would much rather her be with me than working for about $15 a day.

Have a great day.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Alk

[Raybangkok]

As the prime minister has just requested an increase in Filipino teachers to come here I do not think she will have any problem finding work. I have been teaching and running a school here for over 20 years and fully agree with the comments about low salaries and discrimination. I wish you both well.

[Alk]

As the prime minister has just requested an increase in Filipino teachers to come here I do not think she will have any problem finding work. I have been teaching and running a school here for over 20 years and fully agree with the comments about low salaries and discrimination. I wish you both well.

I appreciate your reply and your kind words. It is not a must that she needs to work. If the employment opportunities in Thailand are not worth pursing, we can always lay on beaches, go to coffee houses, eat good food, and travel.

[Johnniey]

As the prime minister has just requested an increase in Filipino teachers to come here I do not think she will have any problem finding work. I have been teaching and running a school here for over 20 years and fully agree with the comments about low salaries and discrimination. I wish you both well.

I appreciate your reply and your kind words. It is not a must that she needs to work. If the employment opportunities in Thailand are not worth pursing, we can always lay on beaches, go to coffee houses, eat good food, and travel.

That gets boring after a couple of months.

[Alk]

Thanks to all for your replies. They are about what I expected.

She was teacher of the year in her school with 130 faculty members, and could teach rings around me or almost anyone else I know, but i understand how racism works.

Any Filipina with a 4-year degree who is fluent in English can have her pick of dozens of call center jobs paying 17,000-22,000p in the Philippines. She will make more with bonuses and as she gets experience. That equates to about 15,000B, so there may not be a benefit of her working in Thailand as opposed to in her home country once visa costs and travel expenses are added to the equation.

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

Best of luck for your relationship and I hope that you're the only one who's sending money to "help her parents."

No offense just happened to a good friend of mine. It turned out that she's got three kids and a love ,when he wasn't there.

Why can't you live together? Just curious, the distance relationships seem to be very difficult to handle.

Thanks for your reply. We're getting way off topic, but let me say:

First, I don't send a single peso to her parents now, nor have I. I have not been asked to.

My GF and I live together half the time. She teaches at an international school over an hour south of where I live in the middle of Cebu City. Where she teaches is not in an ideal area for me to live, so we decided last spring that she would keep the current place she lives in, and just spend weekends and Wednesday nights with me to limit the killer commute. We also go on monthly vacations as well. That works out fine for both of us, but will end in January when she will quit her job, travel with me to Thailand, and we will be together full time.

....If she can successfully cheat on me on the 3 nights (Mon,Tues,Thurs) we are not together while teaching all day and video chatting with me every night, more power to her.

Next...there are tons of horror stories like the one you state above regarding your friend. They almost all revolve around a guy living in a foreign country having long distance relationship with a Filipina GF in the Philippines (I'd be lying if I was to say I didn't have one of my own). There are probably just as many or more stories regarding Thai girls and expats. However, if you belong to any Philippine expat message boards, you'll see there are also thousands of expats who are completely happy with their wives and lives in the Philippines. The same is true regarding many ex-pats in Thailand with their Thai wives.

Any man living in the Philippines, like I do, has all the cards in his favor. Much more so than a man my age in Thailand. If you are even a half-way decent looking guy with a little money and a bit of personality, there will literally be 100 other Filipinas waiting to take the place of a current girlfriend. I'm talking about nice attractive girls, usually with jobs, who speak English extremely well. Any girl dumb enough to cheat on a coveted foreign boyfriend will get dumped in a heartbeat, with the man enjoying a new date with an attractive young female on daily basis until he finds someone he likes well enough to have a relationship with. That's the reality here.

And by the way....I've also checked extremely carefully and I can't see any signs of my current girlfriend having 3 kids.

[smotherb]

In my 3 decades teaching in Thailand, Filipinas are not wanted even if they are qualified. Most schools want young,white naive people straight off the bos someat. Other Asians confuse Thais. The young farangs fit nicely into a pigeon hole. It's face thing. The only places I see these days are Anubaans, who are even taking African women, which was totally unheard of 30 or even 15 years ago. Less racist to blacks but more racist to whites, go figure.

While some of what you say is true, it is not always the case. There are literally thousands of Filipinos teaching here. I know many of them through my brother- and sister-in-law and two nieces who are Filipino and teach here. The true part is some schools want only white NES teachers. My wife, who was born in the PI, but went to high school and college in the States and is an American citizen teaches as NES and is very well thought of at her school--she lasted through two agencies and became a direct hire of the school. A Thai friend who employs Filipinos says he prefers them, the Thai children feel more at home with the Filipinos and they are not as hard to get along with as the whites.

[Rhys]

Ethnicity, nationality, qualification, location, bias, tolerance for BS...all are subject to intepretation. Good luck, I'm sure she can find a teaching position and the pay will be lower. Drive on.

Edited November 19, 2015 by Rhys

[elgenon]

When Asean takes effect at the end of the year I would think that Filipinos would be in demand at any business that interfaces with English speakers since their English, in general, is much better than Thais'.

[Puyai]

She is the one pressuring me to let her work. If I decide to not let her, then I will send a few thousand pesos a month to her sister going to college however.

What else do you 'let' her do?

Is she allowed out of the house?

Can she have friends?

Lucky girl to have such an understanding guy.......

You are taking one sentence out of my reply and then using it to flame me. Typical of boards like this, but disappointing..

Taken as a whole my reply meant that although she wants to work to support her family, if I don't think it makes sense for her to do so (due to low salaries/long hours), I will take over the responsibility of doing so.

The idea behind us moving to Thailand is for us to travel and experience everything the country has to offer. We can't do that if she is working 12 months a year. It may not make sense for us to be tied down by her job. We don't need her to work to get by financially. If the pay is too low or hours too long, there are far better things we can be doing with our time. I would much rather her be with me than working for about $15 a day.

Have a great day.

Read your posts again. There is more than one,

Cheers..

[Alk]

She is the one pressuring me to let her work. If I decide to not let her, then I will send a few thousand pesos a month to her sister going to college however.

What else do you 'let' her do?

Is she allowed out of the house?

Can she have friends?

Lucky girl to have such an understanding guy.......

You are taking one sentence out of my reply and then using it to flame me. Typical of boards like this, but disappointing..

Taken as a whole my reply meant that although she wants to work to support her family, if I don't think it makes sense for her to do so (due to low salaries/long hours), I will take over the responsibility of doing so.

The idea behind us moving to Thailand is for us to travel and experience everything the country has to offer. We can't do that if she is working 12 months a year. It may not make sense for us to be tied down by her job. We don't need her to work to get by financially. If the pay is too low or hours too long, there are far better things we can be doing with our time. I would much rather her be with me than working for about $15 a day.

Have a great day.

Read your posts again. There is more than one,

Cheers..

My God you are dense. I'm really tired of dealing with jerks on message boards, but I guess they are unavoidable. it is why boards have ignore user options (which I will use immediately).

Read your post above. You definitely did quote one sentence and use it to flame me, since i said i might decide not let me girlfriend work at a bad job, and instead to use my own money to send her sister through school.

You are welcome to list the others examples which you seem to claim you read..but if you do so, try to have enough intellect to grasp the context of my reply..which was responding to someone who was insisting that since my girlfriend was a Filipina, that I would automatically be required to send money to my girlfriend's family, which was a racist generalization that I was refuting.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Alk

[SlyAnimal]

Please stop trolling the OP. If you read his posts, it's pretty obvious what he means, and you don't need to keep prodding him about it.

Further trolling posts will be removed

[SlyAnimal]

Also @OP

Your fiance will likely find that she'll earn somewhere between 15,000 - 20,000, possibly more if she's really good. But there is a lot of competition for jobs, for example, I advertised a position about 2 years ago, and left the door open for non native English speakers to apply, if they had IELTS 8.0 or IELTS 7.0 & a degree related to maths/science. I was absolutely flooded by applications from Filipinos & African non Native speakers, over 150 in just 3 days that the advertisement was posted (I asked them to take down the ad after that, as it filled up my inbox). Funny part was though, that none of them actually met the requirements (A Pakistani did, although 2x exceptional NES candidates applied, so she didn't end up getting the job anyway).

Your fiance will likely be better than most of the other non NES applicants, since she practices her English with you every day, so get her to do an IELTS test (Or similar) which can then be included in her application, and assuming that she gets a good score, can be used as the basis of why she's better than all of the other non NES applicants.

[Alk]

Also @OP

Your fiance will likely find that she'll earn somewhere between 15,000 - 20,000, possibly more if she's really good. But there is a lot of competition for jobs, for example, I advertised a position about 2 years ago, and left the door open for non native English speakers to apply, if they had IELTS 8.0 or IELTS 7.0 & a degree related to maths/science. I was absolutely flooded by applications from Filipinos & African non Native speakers, over 150 in just 3 days that the advertisement was posted (I asked them to take down the ad after that, as it filled up my inbox). Funny part was though, that none of them actually met the requirements (A Pakistani did, although 2x exceptional NES candidates applied, so she didn't end up getting the job anyway).

Your fiance will likely be better than most of the other non NES applicants, since she practices her English with you every day, so get her to do an IELTS test (Or similar) which can then be included in her application, and assuming that she gets a good score, can be used as the basis of why she's better than all of the other non NES applicants.

Thank you Sly,

Great information. Much appreciated. It is not a must that my fiance works. I think I have a good idea now what the going rates are.

[Too]

She was teacher of the year in her school with 130 faculty members, and could teach rings around me or almost anyone else I know, but i understand how racism works.

Any Filipina with a 4-year degree who is fluent in English can have her pick of dozens of call center jobs paying 17,000-22,000p in the Philippines. She will make more with bonuses and as she gets experience. That equates to about 15,000B, so there may not be a benefit of her working in Thailand as opposed to in her home country once visa costs and travel expenses are added to the equation.

It still might be a good idea if she can find a 20,000B teaching position, and if it keeps her busy and will prevent me from having to send money home to help out her family.

The Filipino guy at our school is paid 18kB a month. He's got a 3-year degree

but had no work experience in the Philippines before moving to Thailand. He's

not very fluent in English or good at English grammar, to be honest.

So your partner would be more likely to find a teaching job here because she's

got a teaching experience back home, though they might only pay her 15kB a

month for the 1st year. This is the pecking order, sad to say.

She'd try to look for one in March and April when they will be looking for replacements

during the school holiday.

Good luck.

Edited November 21, 2015 by Too