Teaching job available - RoiEt

[SlyAnimal]

My boss has asked me to see if I can find a new teacher for the high school I teach at, which is located 50km south of RoiEt.

35k per month, school house available and financial assistance with visas/WPs (Not all costs, but some). April is unpaid.

The town is a countryside amphur town, so has 3x 7/11s & a tesco lotus express, but is also surrounded by rice fields and it's 50km to Roiet for your closest kfc or pizza company etc.

Generally speaking it's a pretty relaxed and flexible school.

The school is looking for a native English speaker with a bachelor degree in any subject.

Being in the countryside, I don't know how many applicants we'll get, in which case the school is potentially flexible on their requirements, provided that applicants speak perfect English, are easily understood, well presented & we don't have any better/more qualified applicants.

Anywho, post here with any questions you may have etc, and I'll endeavor to answer them. If you want to send your CV, you can send it to "teach in roiet at gmail com".

[puchooay]

What is the name of the district, please?

[SlyAnimal]

Kaset Wisai

[KhonKaenKowboy]

what are the working hours? How many classes/how long? How many students per class?

[SlyAnimal]

what are the working hours? How many classes/how long? How many students per class?

Regular school hours (8am - 4pm), with 16-18 50 minute periods per week and class sizes vary, as the bilingual program classes range from 9 - 36 students while the regular classes are usually all around 35 (give or take a few).

Most classes will be normal classes though, as from what I gather there will be 2x teachers teaching English conversation (as opposed to Maths/Science in English), and they'll have approximately 24-30 normal classes and 6-12 bilingual classes between them (Which will work out to somewhere between 16-18 periods each in total).

Edited May 7, 2016 by SlyAnimal

[skilled]

So 11 months contract and you pocket one month ?nice deal mate

[KhonKaenKowboy]

My first job with a US Government contractor, I was paid 8.65 per hour, while they collected 19.80 per hour for my services. Much more recently, was paid 18 and hour to tutor poor kids, and my company billed the State Government 40 per hour. It's still a raunchy, nasty business, but if they were only making 8.5% profit of the contract amount, than that is cheap by most standards...but I doubt in this case Sly' is making shiite off finding someone, who is willing to work in BFE. He might be more concerned about general disruptions made by starting the school year with a vacancy. Looks pretty decent...that same job in Chiang Mai could easily have a 25K salary attached to it, with many more applicants. No house, either. If I was 10 years younger, and needed a visa, I would likely apply, after all there are three 7-11s, but since I turned 50; the Vientiane trips are no longer on my calendar.

Edited May 8, 2016 by KhonKaenKowboy

[SlyAnimal]

So 11 months contract and you pocket one month ?nice deal mate

lol nope I don't get anything other than the satisfaction of helping the school + having a little bit of a say in who I'll be sharing the office with.

April is unpaid as teachers are not expected to work during April, or even sign in during April like the Thai teachers do.

Also otherwise teachers who wanted to leave would just sign on for April, then leave on the 1st of May after collecting their salary without giving any notice, thus leaving the school in the lurch 2 weeks before the start of the term. As yeah, some foreign teachers are greedy, so the school prefers to simply pay people a little more each month and then not pay teachers for April (So over 12 months, the salary averages out to just over 32,000 per month).

[Squeegee]

This isn't too bad for the right person. They'll need a motorbike and might want to avoid staying in the school accommodation, but other than that this kind of situation can lead to some amazing experiences.

[Fookhaht]

what are the working hours? How many classes/how long? How many students per class?

Regular school hours (8am - 4pm), with 16-18 50 minute periods per week and class sizes vary, as the bilingual program classes range from 9 - 36 students while the regular classes are usually all around 35 (give or take a few).

Most classes will be normal classes though, as from what I gather there will be 2x teachers teaching English conversation (as opposed to Maths/Science in English), and they'll have approximately 24-30 normal classes and 6-12 bilingual classes between them (Which will work out to somewhere between 16-18 periods each in total).

I've worked this very load, and just a warning to would-be slackers-- it's a grueling pace.

I figure you'll be managing the homework, quizzes, and evaluations of upwards to approx. 500 students per week. If you're conscientious, count on no more than 5 hours sleep a night. Typically, many extra-curricular duties and Saturday/Sunday activities demanded of you as well. Many classrooms without air. OP please correct me on any of these dire predictions (based on my experience).

Under these conditions, and supporting a family member, I worked for 17,000B/month for "getting one's foot in the door" which eventually worked out nicely in just a year's time. (The second year, my salary more than doubled and my workload went down 60% at another nearby school. It helps to establish a good reputation.)

So, at 32,000B, plus housing, you want to establish yourself in Thailand, and if you are already a bundle of energy--go for it!

[SlyAnimal]

I've worked this very load, and just a warning to would-be slackers-- it's a grueling pace.

I figure you'll be managing the homework, quizzes, and evaluations of upwards to approx. 500 students per week. If you're conscientious, count on no more than 5 hours sleep a night. Typically, many extra-curricular duties and Saturday/Sunday activities demanded of you as well. Many classrooms without air. OP please correct me on any of these dire predictions (based on my experience).

Perhaps in the city, the countryside is a bit more relaxed But the job is what you make of it.

The school usually assigns similar aged students to one teacher (e.g. you might have all 9x M2 classes once a week, in addition to maybe 4x M3 classes and 2x classes each week with MSB 2 and 3 (MSB = bilingual program). So then although you might need separate lessonplans for the MSB classes, the 9x M2 classes & 4x M3 classes could likely use just 2x lesson plans between them (Perhaps with minor variations for the top/bottom classes).

Likewise as it's English listening and speaking, rather than reading and writing, the expectation would be that you would probably set very minimal homework, if at all.

Weekends are almost always your own (Except for 1x English camp per year), although there are optional school trips which you can go on. Our head of department sometimes runs English camps at other schools on weekends, which are paid on top of your salary (And optional). There are also some meetings that start at 4pm, they are sometimes mandatory, depending on the topic etc. The school will also invite you to dinners/parties to celebrate New Years/retirements/new appointments etc outside of the regular school hours, it's your choice on whether to attend or not, but if you attend you must sing lol.

Although you're correct about many classrooms not having aircon, generally only the staffroom + bilingual classrooms have aircon.

Edited May 9, 2016 by SlyAnimal

[Fookhaht]

Excellent and detailed further information. Any applicant should be able to step into this position, eyes wide open.

[puchooay]

That area is far from Bangkok.Will the successful applicant be expected to travel to KSP themselves in order to obtain a waiver?

If done by post will they be expected to work without work permit for the time it takes?

[SlyAnimal]

Actually this position has now been filled (Just talked to my boss not long ago).

Although in answer to the below:

That area is far from Bangkok.Will the successful applicant be expected to travel to KSP themselves in order to obtain a waiver?

If done by post will they be expected to work without work permit for the time it takes?

The department of labour has in the past granted work permits without teaching licences, although immigration won't give extensions of stay without one. The school has therefore previously done waivers by post/fax, and yes teachers usually then initially work without a work permit, although some teachers have visited KSP in person themselves to speed up the process (Which I might do as well this year, since my previous waiver has expired).

Edited May 9, 2016 by SlyAnimal

[BruceMangosteen]

Also otherwise teachers who wanted to leave would just sign on for April, then leave on the 1st of May after collecting their salary without giving any notice, thus leaving the school in the lurch 2 weeks before the start of the term. As yeah, some foreign teachers are greedy, so the school prefers to simply pay people a little more each month and then not pay teachers for April (So over 12 months, the salary averages out to just over 32,000 per month).

I discussed this in another thread. There is in fact an opposing opinion, which I share. You, the teacher, has earned April for completing a full year and since/if said school doesn't want to pay it unless you renew(at there whim of course as well), well, I hold no ill will towards the teacher who leaves or doesn't show up in May. If April were in the contract(initial) this would be a moot point, but it isn't. So payback can be a bitch, live and learn. There is often of course also a VISA involved.

[SlyAnimal]

Also otherwise teachers who wanted to leave would just sign on for April, then leave on the 1st of May after collecting their salary without giving any notice, thus leaving the school in the lurch 2 weeks before the start of the term. As yeah, some foreign teachers are greedy, so the school prefers to simply pay people a little more each month and then not pay teachers for April (So over 12 months, the salary averages out to just over 32,000 per month).

I discussed this in another thread. There is in fact an opposing opinion, which I share. You, the teacher, has earned April for completing a full year and since/if said school doesn't want to pay it unless you renew(at there whim of course as well), well, I hold no ill will towards the teacher who leaves or doesn't show up in May. If April were in the contract(initial) this would be a moot point, but it isn't. So payback can be a bitch, live and learn. There is often of course also a VISA involved.

lol, visas are for 12 months anyway, but the April salary just encourages people to say they'll stay for the following year, and then not turn up in May. If they are going to leave, that's all good, we can find replacements, but when they say that they're going to stay, and then don't, it screws up the start of the term.

Giving them their April salary via a higher monthly wage is significantly better for all parties concerned imo, as then if they tell us in March, that they won't return in May, they've still collected their full annual salary + we've received advance notice. Alternatively if we paid 32,000 THB per month instead, and then played russian roulette on whether teachers who said they'd return after collecting their April salary, then we'd potentially end up having to find a teacher on short notice, while the teacher would have still only received the same annual salary as they'd have received on an 11 month contract with a higher monthly salary.

But I can sorta see your point, by paying them in April, they wouldn't need to budget or put any money into savings during the 11 previous months, and could then just live from paycheque to paycheque. Budgeting is really difficult afterall, you have to like, not spend all of your salary as soon as you get it, and money can really burn a hole in your pocket.

On a more serious note, there is a benefit to a 12 month contract, in that then teachers have more of an incentive to stay on until April, and not leave during the middle of a term or similar.

Anyway, as I said earlier, this position has now been filled, I just can't help myself when it comes to replying to questions/comments lol.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

_{The irony is that the same people, who can't budget based on an 11 month contract, claim to be suitable to manage 200 students.}

[BruceMangosteen]

Also otherwise teachers who wanted to leave would just sign on for April, then leave on the 1st of May after collecting their salary without giving any notice, thus leaving the school in the lurch 2 weeks before the start of the term. As yeah, some foreign teachers are greedy, so the school prefers to simply pay people a little more each month and then not pay teachers for April (So over 12 months, the salary averages out to just over 32,000 per month).

I discussed this in another thread. There is in fact an opposing opinion, which I share. You, the teacher, has earned April for completing a full year and since/if said school doesn't want to pay it unless you renew(at there whim of course as well), well, I hold no ill will towards the teacher who leaves or doesn't show up in May. If April were in the contract(initial) this would be a moot point, but it isn't. So payback can be a bitch, live and learn. There is often of course also a VISA involved.

lol, visas are for 12 months anyway, but the April salary just encourages people to say they'll stay for the following year, and then not turn up in May. If they are going to leave, that's all good, we can find replacements, but when they say that they're going to stay, and then don't, it screws up the start of the term.

Giving them their April salary via a higher monthly wage is significantly better for all parties concerned imo, as then if they tell us in March, that they won't return in May, they've still collected their full annual salary + we've received advance notice. Alternatively if we paid 32,000 THB per month instead, and then played russian roulette on whether teachers who said they'd return after collecting their April salary, then we'd potentially end up having to find a teacher on short notice, while the teacher would have still only received the same annual salary as they'd have received on an 11 month contract with a higher monthly salary.

But I can sorta see your point, by paying them in April, they wouldn't need to budget or put any money into savings during the 11 previous months, and could then just live from paycheque to paycheque. Budgeting is really difficult afterall, you have to like, not spend all of your salary as soon as you get it, and money can really burn a hole in your pocket.

On a more serious note, there is a benefit to a 12 month contract, in that then teachers have more of an incentive to stay on until April, and not leave during the middle of a term or similar.

Anyway, as I said earlier, this position has now been filled, I just can't help myself when it comes to replying to questions/comments lol.

Thank you for being rational in you reply. Just a few more points on this very important issue..

1. My experience is the VISA is the same as the contract, not "12 months anyway".

2. Your attempt to take the Thai stance while admirable, is still irrational. This so called higher wage for the 11 months vs a 12 month contract is straight nonsense. "Budget" or controlling the farang is only for real losers to accept. That said, more than a dozen seem to be here living month to month and dependent on the school's mood.

3. The students and staff are used to the start of the term being "screwed up" as quite often the new hires don't work out or are instantly asking for salary advancements claiming destitution. Problems with VISA's and Work Permits etc. dominate the time and while one would think could be handled at the time of hiring, it just doesn't work out that way. Thai's enjoy their vacation time and aren't paid extra to deal with farangs and their "problems".

Glad you found someone ready for the country life. It would be good for the right person and personality.

[puchooay]

Also otherwise teachers who wanted to leave would just sign on for April, then leave on the 1st of May after collecting their salary without giving any notice, thus leaving the school in the lurch 2 weeks before the start of the term. As yeah, some foreign teachers are greedy, so the school prefers to simply pay people a little more each month and then not pay teachers for April (So over 12 months, the salary averages out to just over 32,000 per month).

I discussed this in another thread. There is in fact an opposing opinion, which I share. You, the teacher, has earned April for completing a full year and since/if said school doesn't want to pay it unless you renew(at there whim of course as well), well, I hold no ill will towards the teacher who leaves or doesn't show up in May. If April were in the contract(initial) this would be a moot point, but it isn't. So payback can be a bitch, live and learn. There is often of course also a VISA involved.

lol, visas are for 12 months anyway, but the April salary just encourages people to say they'll stay for the following year, and then not turn up in May. If they are going to leave, that's all good, we can find replacements, but when they say that they're going to stay, and then don't, it screws up the start of the term.

Giving them their April salary via a higher monthly wage is significantly better for all parties concerned imo, as then if they tell us in March, that they won't return in May, they've still collected their full annual salary + we've received advance notice. Alternatively if we paid 32,000 THB per month instead, and then played russian roulette on whether teachers who said they'd return after collecting their April salary, then we'd potentially end up having to find a teacher on short notice, while the teacher would have still only received the same annual salary as they'd have received on an 11 month contract with a higher monthly salary.

But I can sorta see your point, by paying them in April, they wouldn't need to budget or put any money into savings during the 11 previous months, and could then just live from paycheque to paycheque. Budgeting is really difficult afterall, you have to like, not spend all of your salary as soon as you get it, and money can really burn a hole in your pocket.

On a more serious note, there is a benefit to a 12 month contract, in that then teachers have more of an incentive to stay on until April, and not leave during the middle of a term or similar.

Anyway, as I said earlier, this position has now been filled, I just can't help myself when it comes to replying to questions/comments lol.

Thank you for being rational in you reply. Just a few more points on this very important issue..

1. My experience is the VISA is the same as the contract, not "12 months anyway".

2. Your attempt to take the Thai stance while admirable, is still irrational. This so called higher wage for the 11 months vs a 12 month contract is straight nonsense. "Budget" or controlling the farang is only for real losers to accept. That said, more than a dozen seem to be here living month to month and dependent on the school's mood.

3. The students and staff are used to the start of the term being "screwed up" as quite often the new hires don't work out or are instantly asking for salary advancements claiming destitution. Problems with VISA's and Work Permits etc. dominate the time and while one would think could be handled at the time of hiring, it just doesn't work out that way. Thai's enjoy their vacation time and aren't paid extra to deal with farangs and their "problems".

Glad you found someone ready for the country life. It would be good for the right person and personality.

If someone is on a visa then there will not be any problems. If you stop work or change jobs your visa remains valid.

My guess is you are talking about extension of stay based on employment.

[SlyAnimal]

Thank you for being rational in you reply. Just a few more points on this very important issue..

1. My experience is the VISA is the same as the contract, not "12 months anyway".

2. Your attempt to take the Thai stance while admirable, is still irrational. This so called higher wage for the 11 months vs a 12 month contract is straight nonsense. "Budget" or controlling the farang is only for real losers to accept. That said, more than a dozen seem to be here living month to month and dependent on the school's mood.

3. The students and staff are used to the start of the term being "screwed up" as quite often the new hires don't work out or are instantly asking for salary advancements claiming destitution. Problems with VISA's and Work Permits etc. dominate the time and while one would think could be handled at the time of hiring, it just doesn't work out that way. Thai's enjoy their vacation time and aren't paid extra to deal with farangs and their "problems".

Glad you found someone ready for the country life. It would be good for the right person and personality.

1/ Contracts are for 12 months, but April is unpaid. Never had any problems getting a 12 month extension on this basis.

2/ I don't see your point here? Or at all really. If teachers were paid for 12 months, rather than 11, they'd be on 32k instead of 35k. Is your point teachers are losers for accepting 385,000 THB per year, across 11months, while accepting 384,000 THB per year over 12 months is fine? Or simply that they should be paid more? As only 385,000 THB per year is a deal only "losers" would take?

Either way, I'm really struggling to see your point.

3/ Sounds like you're just making a comment here which is completely unrelated to the discussion.

In general, you just seem to be trying to comment on something which you have no idea about & obviously haven't thought through very well. That's very out of character for you, but I guess we all have our moments. Next time you reply, maybe think rationally and objectively before hitting reply. You'll then convey whatever argument you're trying to make in a more understandable fashion, and perhaps might even sway others to your way of thinking.

[BruceMangosteen]

A claim that the wage would be higher on an eleven month contract vs. a twelve month is just rubbish, an excuse not to pay said teacher(s) what is deserved and earned. The point remains one month "holiday" wage is reasonable after completion of one school year. Attempts to use "higher wage" as an excuse just doesn't fly with most who have been around. Your point was that teachers not showing up for school is somehow unusual or not normal. My experiences differ. This combined with those who do show up do so broke and often ask for salary advances, can't afford the VISA and Work Permit expenses, in short, in Thailand without even enough money to survive one month.

[muzmurray]

_{The irony is that the same people, who can't budget based on an 11 month contract, claim to be suitable to manage 200 students.}

That is not irony.

[SlyAnimal]

A claim that the wage would be higher on an eleven month contract vs. a twelve month is just rubbish, an excuse not to pay said teacher(s) what is deserved and earned. The point remains one month "holiday" wage is reasonable after completion of one school year. Attempts to use "higher wage" as an excuse just doesn't fly with most who have been around. Your point was that teachers not showing up for school is somehow unusual or not normal. My experiences differ. This combined with those who do show up do so broke and often ask for salary advances, can't afford the VISA and Work Permit expenses, in short, in Thailand without even enough money to survive one month.

So what you mean, is that instead of being paid ฿385,000 per year, they should be paid ฿420,000.

I don't think any teachers will disagree with you there, more money, for free, is always an attractive selling point.

Although if the budget is ฿385,000 and you want to increase it to ฿420,000, where will that extra money come from? Maybe we could take it out of the temporary Thai staff's budgets, they earn about ฿102,000 each per year, we could take that down to ฿95,000 on 5 of them to cover 1x Farang teacher. It's only a small amount so they won't miss it, and we all know how much more deserving the Farang teachers are.

After all, just because Farang teachers agree, and are even happy, to receive an above average salary over 11 months rather than 12 doesn't matter, and they should be paid more because they were stupid for agreeing to not being paid in April.

After all, that 11 month salary part was so cleverly hidden that you'd have to actually read either the advertisement or the contract prior to signing or listen to the details being verbally explained to them. These are things which can't be expected of the average teacher!! As in addition to not being able to budget, teachers are also not able to read or accurately interpret English speech.