Job Discussion Forums

[MozartFloyd]

I'm currently teaching in China and have been considering a move to Thailand. I have a Uni job lined up for the fall, but lately China has begun to seem one-dimensional to me. I'm American and have a BA. I thought I'd take a TEFL course in Phuket; have a little working vacation and get certified in September. I figured that would give me a month in country to land a job. Then I started reading the comments on this forum.

Wowsa! Is it really as horrible as the posts on this forum indicate?

http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=88577

In China I'm able to save half my salary, live comfortably, and my students provide me a modicum of reward: both in their successful grasp of English, and their pleasant personalities.

I don't need all the nightlife glitz Thailand is famous for, nor am I seeking female companionship. I would like to be near a beach and have the ability to practice yoga, and eat great food. I'm happy wearing shorts to work and dread the idea of a necktie. I'm middle-aged, not looking to get rich, and enjoy my free time more than work time. In China I work 16 periods a week.

What I'm gathering from this forum is: don't come to Thailand, stay in China and live a better life.

Right?

[plumpy nut]

You can forget wearing shorts. The Thais are not very business like, but they are superficial and that extends to clothing. There aren't any jobs here wearing casual clothes and definitely not shorts. Other than that Thailand will get you everything else you want except for schools that are not dysfunctional, students that feel they have to learn etc. Get ready for cheating and entire swaths of your classroom that ignore you, the students chatting away with each other. Also if you never used a microphone before, if you teach High School you will use one in Thailand. You'll use it to reach the 10 percent of the students that feel that they have to hear and pick up on what you are saying.

If you want to get a feel about what education is like in SE Asia, Thailand is probably an easy start to get acquainted with it. Not all is bad though, there are plenty of opportunities for writing papers on the issue of Education in Thailand.

[MozartFloyd]

Thanks for the feedback, Plumpy.

Directly or indirectly, I suppose this topic has been beaten to death on this forum and there aren't many interested in biting. I was interested in finding someone with a positive experience in Thailand; if there is such a thing.

While I appreciate that Thai's have their own way of doing things, I don't think they're for me. I think I'll keep my shorts, my minimal hours for better pay, and the freedom to lesson-plan, grade tests, etc in the comfort of my apartment. My experiences in China have been good overall; with students who are respectful and often hard-working. In the end, that's worth something, and China no longer feels so one-dimensional.