English teacher jobs are varied and rarely dull!Yes Indeed ! English teacher jobs here in Thailand are very, very rarely boring or dull. Believe me I have been doing the job for two years now. And I do have tremendous fun at work every day, however please don't think its always easy. Some lessons can at times be extremely challenging, also very rewarding. My name is Neil and I would like to tell you a little about living and working in Thailand
First of all before I even looked at getting a job I knew I would need a TEFL certificate, especially as I do not have a teaching degree or indeed any degree. This certificate I would come to realise is very important and the academy I got mine with provides the only one in Thailand which is recognised by the Thai ministry of education. Despite what you might read or hear you don't need a degree to get one of the many English teacher jobs here in Thailand, and I'm living proof! But beware, there are dozens of English teaching courses in Pattaya and Bangkok and they will all be too happy to provide you with a generic course and give you a "certificate". They will even guarantee you a job! that's a story in itself.  Let me tell you about my usual teaching day, By the way I work at a large Government school in a relatively small town. the routine is pretty much the same for many teaching jobs in Thailand. I arrive at school for 0730 and sign in, then I go to my office who I share with another English teacher, we have a coffee, chat and generally plan our work for the day. All our ESL lesson plans are already available to us and its our decision as to what we teach for the term. Your TEFL training should cover lesson plans thoroughly so don't worry about this aspect. Not forgetting how to conduct tests etc, My contract is for 20 lessons per week each lasting 50 minutes. I do 2 lessons in the morning and 2 for the afternoon. I,m always back at home before 1530. I consider myself lucky as my school is not too rigid about me leaving and doing a bit of shopping or going for lunch and a coffee. I do not take advantage of this and if a student asks for some extra practice I always try to make myself available. Don't get me wrong here not all schools in Thailand are as flexible. I have heard of schools that actually lock the gates, and you have to stay on the premises. I don't have my own classroom as such so I move around the school from classroom to classroom. And believe me just walking around is an unbelievably entertaining experience. I often have a group of kids trying to ask where I'm going, with varying degrees of English. You will however be asked without fail "how are you" "good morning/afternoon" and no matter what your response, the student will say "I am fine thanks" The young Thai girls are probably the most fun and eager to learn, I teach English conversation to M1 who are 12-13yrs M2 13-14yrs and M5 16-17yrs. The main reason I'm often "mobbed" is because I like to have fun in my lessons and I'm quite popular. You will soon learn that Thai kids love to have fun (Sanuk). I could still have fun in my lessons with less attention outside of them, just by being more serious between classes. But that's me I like to be involved, you may be totally different.
ESL lessons can range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and without fail many students will be late for class, and some just will not appear for weeks, I guarantee it. Bear in mind here I'm talking about a Government school as opposed to a private school. Upper level M1 class, surprisingly studious! Lowest level M1 class, sub human! Ditto for my M2 students. My M5 students are a little more mature, Upper level M5, sometimes too clever and often a challenge to teach as they need to be stretched. Lowest level M5, attendance problems, total lack of motivation and even peer pressure to not learn English. These students are challenging in different ways. ESL lessons at a Gov't school can range in class size from between 30 and 45 students, I did have one class with 52 students. Obviously with classes of this size you are not going to spend much time with individual students. I was taught on my TEFL course not to expect too much, wise words indeed. When I first started I wanted my students to learn so much, but by changing my attitude and my lessons to "edutainment" I felt less stressed and the kids still learned. So if you are a serious academic type stick to the English teacher jobs in the Universities and private schools.  After school I generally come straight home and relax for an hour or so, take a shower get changed and then its time for my private lessons. Yep, private lessons. A fantastic way to earn a substantial extra income. If I put more effort into getting private students I would soon be doubling my salary! As it is I do 90 minutes which generally runs into 2 hours. I teach conversation to 5 university graduates, who I must say are an absolute pleasure to teach. By the time I finish my private lessons its around 1830 so I take a break. Then I shall spend a couple of hours or so dealing with emails, enquiries and other work related to my website. Quite often I shall get a call from the girls that they're not gonna make it.. this happens quite regularly with private students. I don't mind really because it frees up an evening to add content to my website. So for usually 4 nights of the week I'm working pretty long days. Fridays I tend to unwind a little, and its very rare I do any real work at the weekends, which I thoroughly enjoy by the way and is when I take advantage of the fantastic climate here in Thailand. I often travel to different towns on my motorbike. Sometimes go fishing for the day followed by a BBQ in the evening. I can hear you asking so how much can I earn doing one of these English teacher jobs? I would say the average salary is 30,000 Baht per month. Some English teaching jobs pay up to 60,000 Baht, but I'll be honest here that figure is say teaching in Bangkok, you have a degree and possibly some teaching experience. I would say most newly minted TEFL teachers start out with part time work, which is great for gaining experience and looks good on your CV/resume. My first English teaching job was hotel training, I worked at two 4 star hotels in Pattaya and another in Rayong which is about 70km south of Pattaya. Despite being offered 2 permanent jobs at the same time, I took the hotel training even though it was only temporary.. I couldn't resist living and working in these places, it was fantastic. My salary and cost of living. My salary is 30,000bt, out of this I have to pay 2500bt per month for my rented house. Utilities are about 400bt per month especially if I ramp up the A/c. Most evenings I go to my local bar to eat and have a couple of beers, 40bt for a Thai meal and 45bt for a beer. Week days I eat at the school and lunch costs me 15 to 20bt, incidentally the food is very nice. Do bear in mind though I'm a single guy, If you get hitched up and housed up you can pretty much double your day to day living costs, and if your partner has a couple of kids then your expenses can skyrocket! Trust me on this,,been there done that Also, I live in a relatively small town far from the tourist trail, no commercialism means no high prices. Don't get me wrong I'm not living in a shack up in the hill's, there's everything I need. If you want to live and work in Pattaya or Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket etc, again your expenses will be substantially higher. I would like to end this page by saying how genuinely happy I am living and working in Thailand. If you would like the chance to join me and take up one of the many English teacher jobs and there is a real shortage here in Thailand. Whether you want a new career or just the chance to travel and have a great lifestyle like me. Then check out the Text-and-Talk website, have a real good look round and I mean a good look round, then if you still have any questions come back and Contact me about the next step, you won't regret it! If you book directly through Text-and-Talk Academy your investment will be US$1420 for the course and US$75 for all materials and workbooks (I use the books regularly and are superb). So a total of US$1495. Not bad for a valuable lifetime internationally recognised qualification. I did the course and definately understand the value of it, also I will give you honest advice if you wish to Contact me. And I have a popular website, So if you book your course with me its just US$1379 Total. And yes I do receive a commission, The deposit to book a course is just US$280 Here is their 2011 class schedule for Bangkok:
And here is their 2011 class schedule for Pattaya:
Thinking of Starting a new career Some FAQ's about English teaching courses Read about Retiring in Thailand and work part time Discover real ESL lessons Some pages which are totally and absolutely unrelated to teaching! Thailand practical travel information Return from English teacher jobs to enjoy Pattaya home page |
I don't go short of anything and to cut a long story short I live on about 15,000 a month which means I save 15,000 of my salary. If I wanted to do so I could spend much more on entertainment etc; But hang on.. My private students each pay me 100bt which works out at an average of 1500bt per week. So I hardly touch my salary! Happy days indeed. Oh, I nearly forgot, unlimited mobile internet 1000bt per month. Though there is free wi-fi at school.