Job Discussion Forums

[dan1234]

Hi all,

I have some questions about finding my first teaching job. Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm a 49-year-old American male. I'm caucasian, clean cut, and I look younger than I am (if any of that matters). I've been living in Bangkok (Sathorn) for a year without working, but I can't do that much longer. I have a CELTA certificate I earned in California 2 years ago, and 3 university degrees, including a law degree. Other than my CELTA experience and some brief volunteer teaching at the CELTA program afterward, I don't have classroom teaching experience. I'll need something full-time, making at least the low to mid 30,000's a month. Of course, more is better. Here are my initial questions:

1. In other posts, I see the sort of hierarchy of teaching jobs in Bangkok. With my background, what's the highest I can hope to get?

2. Are language schools an option? Or am I aged out of those? What am I aged out of?

3. Is it better to put my photo on my resume/cv, or to attach it separately?

4. This time of year, is emailing my interest to jobs I find online (here, the other Thailand site, CL etc) a decent approach, or should I be walking cold into schools?

5. How does a demo lesson usually work during an interview? How often are they required? Do you present it to some administrators usually, or to a class of real students? Can I use one of the lessons I prepared during CELTA?

Ok, that's it for now. Thanks for any help you can give me. I appreciate it.

Dan

[plumpy nut]

You won't have any problems meeting the pay expectations that you listed. If you go from school to school you might get more, like in the 40,000 area. Make sure that you come late April when the hiring season starts otherwise you might have to wait.

When you apply wear a white long sleeved shirt with a tie, dress shoes, dark conservative looking pants and a nice haircut. Thais are very conservative and superficial in nature.

[heyheymymy]

1. The highest you can hope to get? You have three possibilities as I see it. The first is to work in a government school, primary or secondary. They pay between 25000-35000 depending on the school and your qualifications/ experience. Secondly, you could teach at a language school. There are lots of them around and pay varies, but with your quals/ exp you could expect to earn 30000-40000 with the possibility of topping that up with overtime. The third option is to work in a university. You are supposed to have an MA, but where I work there are a lot of teachers with only a BA and some with no teaching experience. Pay will vary from 25000 to 35000. The universities usually require you to work less hours (my contract is only 15 hours per week) and some have very good overtime rates. In recent weeks, I have seen Thammasat, Mahidol and Assumption University advertising locally. The academic year has just finished for most universities so they are hiring now.

2. Are language schools an option? Yes, as above.

3. I always put my photo on the resume because it is an important part of the application process and it is easier for employers to find it there.

4. Both emailing and calling in if you have time can work. I did a lot of walk-ins when I first got here but the directors in language schools were too busy to see me for the most part. I think it is really a matter of what is available at the time that you email/ walk in. If an employer needs a teacher and there happens to be one sitting at reception looking for a job, then they will probably see you. I came at a bad time initially, just after the floods so there was not too many jobs available.

5. I have only ever had to do one demo lesson. It was teaching to real students and they gave me a topic the day before so I had few hours to prepare. I guess this will vary from school to school

[Rice101]

Hi Dan;

Im going to be living in Bangkok for 6-8 weeks in May/June. What accomodations would you recommend? Can I get an appartment room or a room in a house for that period of time?

Thanks
Jeff

[heyheymymy]

Accommodation is available in Bangkok in abundance. Your best options are to either get a single room in a hostel, or to find one of the many short-term lease apartments that are located all over the city. Cost and standard will vary a lot depending on what your budget is and where you want to live. I saw some clean short term leases around the On-Nut area previously for between 4000-8000 baht per month. These were mid-sized studios but with no pool, they had modern decor and western standard amenities. These places normally charge you extra for TV, fridge, internet, etc. I have seen other places for less but would not really want to live in them especially if I were only coming here for a short time. Your best bet is to choose an area where you want to stay and walk around calling into buildings that take your fancy to get an idea of availability and price. It does help if you have someone who knows the lingo to take along with you.

[plumpy nut]

[dan1234]

Thanks for your responses! Sorry for the delayed thanks on my part.

So I'm likely going to be searching for a job in that April 18th to May 15th period. I know about this site for jobs, and the one with the name meaning teacher in Thai, and craigslist. Are there other good job sites I should be looking at during my search? Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks again.