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MaiPenRai
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 390
Location: BKK
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 Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:35 am Post subject: |
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| It seems obvious to me that he is coming here for holiday, not because he has any desire to teach |
[/quote]Part of the reason why some Thai employers keep the salaries low is because of back packers who are not qualified flooding the teaching market.[quote]
If you want to teach, you should know what you are doing. If you have no experience working with and being responsible for large numbers of children, you should get training.
If you want a holiday, take a holiday. $3000 should provide you enough to have a nice 2 month experience in Thailand and area if you plan well, eat locally, use cheap transport and hotels and dont drink every night. Get a 60 day tourist visa (still free I beleive) at your local Thai consulate before arriving in Thailand and you can extend it in Bangkok for 30 more days if you decide to stay a little longer.
Foreigners who are looking for extended holidays by teaching (yet have little desire to teach and/or be any kind of role model) have been one of the main reasons why the visa/labour paperwork/process/costs have become so much more difficult and costly over the past 5-7 years and as mentioned by another poster, have kept salaries and packages low.
While some Thai schoools just want warm bodies in the classroom to show off to unknowledgable/misinformed parents, many really want responsible and dedicated teachers who care about at least trying to provide something for the students. Most Thai teachers think the education system is broken as well, they just dont think (or know how) they can change it and/or dont want to rock the boat.
With no experience and no course, someone with thick skin, passion, dedication and positivity should be able to figure things out within a couple of months, but they will probably have to spend many a night/weekend scouring the net, prepping, planning, etc. before things start to click.
So, do you take a course so that you are prepared and confident for teaching, which should allow for more free time and less stress, or go trial by fire and spend your first 2-3 months trying to figure out what is going on? If I was only going to be here for a short time, I would personally want that time to be enjoyable.
1. Take a guaranteed placement (4 month/1 semester) TEFL course with the knowledge that you should have no problems finding a placement for both you and your partner, BUT will have almost no say in you location placement.
2. Rent a place in Bangkok and hit the streets going to all of the language schools with the knowledge that you will probably not find work together with your partner, might not be provided with paperwork to get your proper visas and work permit (working illegally), BUT will not feel as bad about leaving when you feel you have had enough of an "experience" and will have an extra $600-1000 in your pocket.
OP, I say keep saving and plan to arrive in Thailand about Feb/March if looking to work at language schools or March/April if you decide to work at public schools (TEFL course placement programs will usually place you at public schools -- April course with placements usually starting in May).
Best of luck.. |
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totefrosch
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Posts: 6
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 7:37 am Post subject: |
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| This is obviously a pro Thai response so typical of any criticism of Thailand. The facts are the facts and the rules and regulations can be found on the internet. IF a school will do the 90 day check-in that's great because it takes about 6 hours to get there, processed and to get back to point of origin.The 90 day check-in must be in person or by a paid courier. I have lived in 11 countries and done business in 55 countries and never have I seen a 90 day check-in requirement in any country other than Thailand. |
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Placebo
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Bangkok
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 1:55 pm Post subject: |
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Have you ever thought about how difficult it would be for a Thai tourist (or any other nationality for that matter) traveling to any European or North American country on a 6 month holiday to find a legal job while doing that? Are you kidding me? There aren't many countries where you can just stop by and get a legal job.
You may have had it easier in your 55 countries as you were doing business and not working as an employee (I assume).
There are plenty of things that I complain about in this country, but saying that it is hard for an educated foreigner to legally work here, obtain a visa and keep this legal visa status is just not true. |
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totefrosch
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Posts: 6
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:20 pm Post subject: |
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1. You are throwing out a Red Herring. What does Thai Immigration have to do with Thai tourists in the USA?
2. To be sure, orur experiences may be different, but the degree of difficulty in getting a visa and work permit depends on how well connected the school is with the immigration authorities and you know what that means or how much the management supports their teachers. I have worked for a good university in Thailand and I am currently working for a not so good university in Thailand.
3. Keeping the visa depends entirely on contract renewal with the same school. The two contracts I have signed, one from a state university (rajabaht) and one from an international university, clearly state that the employer does not have to give any advance notice that the contract will not be renewed. Our last contract renewal was a rewritten contract eliminating the terms and conditions we agreed to work for. We had 36 hours to accept or reject. To reject was to begin the visa run process within the week.
4. As a businessman in the petroleum industry and as a teacher I have lived in the USA, Venezuela, UK, Holland, Germany, Iran, Morocco, Malaysia, Taiwan, S. Korea and Thailand. I was on Ex-Pat status, TCN status and Local National status. In some countries I was responsible for hiring ex-pats, TCNs and LNs. Thailand is the only country that requires a check-in every 90 days. In all the countries mentioned, once you got your work permit and residence visa it was finished. Please verify with the governments of the countries I just mentioned. |
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NigerianWhisper
Joined: 21 Mar 2009
Posts: 176
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| totefrosch wrote: |
| This is obviously a pro Thai response so typical of any criticism of Thailand. The facts are the facts and the rules and regulations can be found on the internet. IF a school will do the 90 day check-in that's great because it takes about 6 hours to get there, processed and to get back to point of origin.The 90 day check-in must be in person or by a paid courier. I have lived in 11 countries and done business in 55 countries and never have I seen a 90 day check-in requirement in any country other than Thailand. |
I see no typical 'pro-Thai response to criticism'. You are simply stating how you see things from your own personal experience. I and another poster have stated ours.
It only takes my school 90 minutes to do all of the above. No idea where you get 6 hours from.
And I will repeat 90 day reporting does NOT have to be done personally. As long as another party (in my case, the school) has a signed Power of Attorney they can also do this for you. Postal option is also available.
I suspect any problems you may have are probably in how you present yourself and your demeanour.
References to other countries and their rules and regs are of no concern here..........this is a forum about Thailand. |
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MaiPenRai
Joined: 17 Jan 2006
Posts: 390
Location: BKK
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| Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:43 pm Post subject: |
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| it takes about 6 hours to get there, processed and to get back to point of origin.The 90 day check-in must be in person or by a paid courier. |
6 hours to get where....starting from where? 90 day notification in Thailand must be submitted to your regional immigration office, which means that depending on were your work permit is processed, you could be reporting to a one of 15-20 immigration offices. I used to work in Mahasarakham province and thus reported (mailed) to the Mukdahan immigration office. Now I report in Bangkok. (Neither took me 6 hours by the way).
I have personally mailed my 90-day notification with no problems and my current school does all of the 90 day notifications for us. Takes me 10 seconds to sign the form. When mailing, make photcopies of all documents in case of problems, mail 1-2 weeks before due date, call immigration office on due date to ensure that it has been received (yes, someone will be able to speak enough English to get this info).
THe 90-day notification is a pain, but is very easy to do. In many cases, people get the day off work (or half day) to get this done. Not a bad deal IMO. (even though they could mail it in as mentioned many times already).
| Quote: |
| The 90 day check-in must be in person or by a paid courier |
This is just not correct, as mentioned by 2 posters already.
| Quote: |
| Please verify with the governments of the countries I just mentioned. |
No thanks.
Enjoy where you are for whatever it is or it might be time to try out country 12.
Best of luck... |
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Placebo
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 80
Location: Bangkok
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| totefrosch wrote: |
| 1. You are throwing out a Red Herring. What does Thai Immigration have to do with Thai tourists in the USA? |
Lighten up, mr. Jet-Set....  It's called an analogy! The OP is coming here as a tourist, not as an Expat. So my comparison to a foreign tourist coming to America and applying for legal work status is not at all irrelevant.
You need to check your own argumentation before criticizing my logic. you are the one throwing out generalizations here. |
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Mr. Kalgukshi
Mod Team
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Posts: 6613
Location: Need to know basis only.
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| Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| On this board, unlike some others, members are required to address the message and not the messenger. It would be a good idea to start doing this immediately before this thread is unavailable and there are sanctions. |
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