Job Discussion Forums

[sharona]

Hello everyone,

I've just gained my CELTA and want to head off to China or Thailand (but not Bangkok).

Fact is I have a little bit of credit card debt, so want something quite well paid, at least for initial six months. Being degree'less though cannot go to Taiwan or Japan.

From looking around on the net, I think the main drawbacks with Thailand would be having to teach young children (which I don't really want to have to deal with straight off), and large classes.

And with China it seems having to be available for long hours on working days, and polluted cities.

Anyone have any solutions??

thanx
S

ps I will post to both China and Thailand forums, if this is okay! (want as many answers as possible)

[Gringo Greg]

my suggestion is to avoid Thailand if you have credit card debt..without a degree you will at best make 25k a month($600) and while the cost of living in low, it isn't that low. Plus you will have visa problems on a monthly basis without a degree..you can have an ok time if you are single and spending all of your pay, but life will suck for you if are sending 20% of your salary back home for debts.

My suggestion is to stay home until the credit card debt is paid off or just figure that you won't be paying it off.

[billybang]

been both places and china is difficult to understand. everything is written in chinese and almost no one speaks english. thailand at least some people speak english in big cities. but even with ba or masters degree you wont be paid more than 700$ american a month. doesnt matter about degrees. same pay as a high school education. china pays better. but try and communicate. one minute of english is equal to hours of problems.

[WorkingVaca]

If you need to make more money to pay off debts back home, you should be thinking about Korea, Japan or Taiwan. If you're interested in Chinese food, language and culture, Taiwan has it.

[august03]

[markholmes]

You're are unlikely to earn much money in the first six months teaching anywhere including Taiwan, Japan and Korea. There are lots of set up costs initially. Most people don't start stacking away serious savings until they are into the second year.

You won't be paying off many debts in Thailand or China.

[ela_espanola]

if u want to pay of ur credit card debt then thailand is out of the picture. try developed cities such as guanzhou, shanghai, bejjing etc. i got offered a good position with no degree or teaching experience. good luck

[ela_espanola]

[sigmoid]

Even with a degree it is difficult to find well-paid teaching jobs in Thailand, especially outside of Bangkok.

Do some more research about China. They seem to have a HUGE demand for teachers and more relaxed regulations in regards to teaching without a degree.

[David Bowles]

Agreed- demand in China is enough. If you really want to get money fast there's no way that China/Thailand would compare with most jobs in western Europe/the USA etc, but then again China can be very cheap to live in as your employer will almost certainly pay accommodation. I think working without a degree is technically illegal in China (I'm fairly sure it's a requirement for a work visa/residence permit), but that doesn't stop many people. If your employer has the clout to OK things with the local officicals it should be fine...

[ContemporaryDog]

I work in China and have all my rent, bills, meals, internet costs, etc all paid for by school. So while my monthly pay of 5800 yuan (about 400 quid) a month sounds low, I still save about 3000 of it, which is about 210 quid. You could conceivably pay off debts with that, although I do have to be a bit careful. In my first term I was going out to expensive bars and spending all my money on that, and hardly saved any, its only since Mrs Dog came along that Iv'e saved a lot - about 1500 pounds since Janaury.