Job Discussion Forums

KALPANA · Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 2

Hello,

My name is Kalpana and I am a 24 year old girl from Birmingham in the UK.

I've decided i'd like to go and teach in Thailand next year - very scary as i have never gone travelling before so i am not really sure what to expect!

I have a degree in English Language and Literature and I have just completed my TEFL course.

Just wondering if i could have some advice. how easy is it to find work abroad? is it easy to go there first or apply from England? Also do most insitiutions help you find accomodation??? Also how safe is it as a female traveller on her own?

Anyway advice, words of wisdom and encouragement will be gratefully received!

Kinds Regards,

Kalpana

khmerhit · Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 5:43 pm Post subject:

Good luck, Kalpana -- you are very brave-- I didnt go anywhere till much later than 24.

There is LOTS of work abroad! Tons and Tons! Especially for someone with your profile--ie a young woman. Students love women as they are relatively rare...

You could work for EEC in Bangkok, or you could apply to ACE in Cambodia, a much more interesting country! They have a website and will be starting a new term soon, so they will be needing new teachers.

Travelling is safe, depending on what you do and sometinmes on where you go. There are lots of other people travelling too. Just dont accept any strange parcels and agree to transport them for friends--especially in Bangkok.

Wherever you go, best of luck and have fun.

kh

KALPANA · Joined: 10 May 2004 Posts: 2

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE AND INFO!!

It's nice to hear first hand from someone who's already been abroad. I will look into the EEC and ACE (i hadnt even thought of Cambodia!)

Kalpana

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Be careful. Abroad is full of wicked people. Learn some basic Abroadian before you go.

zorro · Posted: Fri May 14, 2004 7:08 am Post subject:

kalpana, you can check out ecc in bangkok but i would recommend against it. the hours aren't that good and the pay is pretty miserly.

i worked for a school called kings college of english. it was a good school with lots of young people. i had a really good time there and the thai staff were very friendly and will look after you. they will help you with accomodation and make sure that you settle in well.

i know that they are now recruiting for two female teachers. female teachers are at a premium in thailand at the minute, and you could find yourself getting paid higher than the average 30,000 baht per month.

check out www.tefl.com

tefl is for jobs everywhere (there may even be some for cambodia...)

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

RikkiHoon · Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 9

Kalpana,

Just to give you some background information: I worked in Bangkok teaching English (ESL) in a Thai university and in an international school for three years. I have many friends who have worked in all areas of language instruction in Bangkok, from top-notch international schools to sweatshop operations like British American and, to a slightly lesser extent, ECC. Zorro offers some sound advice and I would second his point about ECC. An informative site, which you may be aware of already, is this: www.stickmanbangkok.com. There is a relatively comprehensive listing and evaluation of most of the more well-known language schools. With your undergraduate degree and TEFL certificate, you will be in a position to work for more than 30,000 baht a month, although you are a beginning teacher. It is worth doing your homework before taking a contract at one of the poorer quality language schools; after a few weeks you will become increasingly frustrated with the extent to which you are considered expendable. This certainly not true for many langauge schools in Bangkok, but it is certainly true for many.

Have you considered working for a Thai university? This is what I did for my first year and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, there are pros and cons to any job, especially that of ELT in Thailand, but, on the whole, it can form a sound experience base for future teaching work in Thailand because you will be working with Thai people (and, unfortunately, Thai administrators!!!), in a Thai environment. The hours are not too heavy and they pay, with a couple of extra evening classes (which often take place in the afternoon anyway), is around 34/35,000 baht. Not bad for a first post. You will get help finding an apartment too if you ask nicely!

My last point for now: Don't listen to scaremongers who warn against the evils of the world abroad and the dark, malevolent forces in Bangkok etc. because Bangkok is a great place to live. That is my sentiment anyway. You can find bad apples anywhere if you look in the 'right' places. I feel safer walking through Bangkok at 1am than I do walking through London at 7pm. I have never had any problems, personally and those that do seem to have problems are ussually the cause of the altercation anyway.

My advice is to come out to Thailand with enough money to live for a month, find a job, pay deposits on apartments etc. and then see how it goes. Make sure you have enough money for the return ticket home and you are on a winner. If it all goes Pete Tong, then get yourself down to the travel agent's and you'll be home before the end of the week!

Good luck and best wishes.

RikkiHoon

Legolarse · Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 36 Location: UK

Hi Kalpana,

I'm 23 (male), in the UK and also looking for my first job teaching in SEA. I have visited both Cambodia and Thailand and I would say that if you haven't been abroad much before, it might be best not to commit to a stint in Cambodia as it is very different from Thailand and could be hard going for someone not used to that sort of stuff, esp if you'll be alone.

Visit it by all means - me and my ex loved it, and it's very easy to get to from a base in Thailand - but committing yourself to living and teaching there before you've visited a delapidated sort of country may not be wise. It depends what sort of person you are, though.

RE places in Cam to teach, reports about ACE are mixed, as other parts of this website show.

http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/asia/sefer.cgi?display:1011475134-13079.txt

http://www.eslcafe.com/jobinfo/asia/sefer.cgi?display:1030343621-9532.txt

I'd be interested in finding out what you decide and how you find wherever you end up.

Chris_Crossley · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:24 am Post subject: Resurrected thread

Legolarse, Kalpana's original request was posted on May 11 last year - or, in other words, 14 months ago.

You need to check the dates when the threads were started, since, lately, a lot of (very) old threads have been resurrected.

Still, it would be of interest if Kalpana gave us an update. Are you still out there, Kalpana?

Spinoza · Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 194 Location: Saudi Arabia

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Legolarse · Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 36 Location: UK

Oh yeah. Oops.

I saw the May thing but thought it was this year