Job Discussion Forums

skirmish · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 81

I know this has probably been asked before, but what is the market like for teaching on the islands, I guess mainly ko samui?

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

Phuket might offer more possibility for a teaching job than Ko Samui.

kenkannif · Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 550

Yes you'd most likely have more luck on Phuket (although after the Tsunami I doubt there's a large demand), although even there the competition can be strong and the wages lower than Bangkok...is it kind of depends on your quals and experience. Personally I'd suggest you look at the other 'not so popular' islands in Thailand.

Welshguy · Joined: 06 Jan 2005 Posts: 143

If you wanted to be near but not actually on Samui then you could do worse than have a look at Surat Thani. As you may know this is the main transit port to Samui. Its a really friendly place and contacts are easy to make. You can be in Samui in a couple of hours or less with the new ferry service SEATRAN, owned by a former student! There are a couple of chain operations there such as AUA MOD EDIT and ECC and then the local schools and vocational colleges etc etc. There are also local professionals who are keen to expand their knowledge of the language. You can rent a little soi house for about 3000 b a month and food and drink are plentiful and very reasonable indeed.

When I was there a couple of years ago opportunities for teaching on Samui were limited though you can source clients yourself with a bit of effort. I taught a group of bar girls language for social interaction for example!

Placebo · Joined: 19 Nov 2004 Posts: 80 Location: Bangkok

There are a couple of opportunities for teachers who seek to teach in the sun...

As mentioned in a previous post, there are several schools in Surathani which hire English teachers. MOD EDIT

Despite the Tsunami disaster, there is currently demand for English teachers on Phuket. Several schools have posted job ads in the last two months. Among them are ELT Phuket and the Prince of Songkla college. Also Dullwich college occasionally seeks (highly qualified) teachers.

The only school on Samui that I know of is "the international academy", formerly known as "Bencaja education centre". MOD EDIT

Competition is high and salaries are not great, considering that living expenses on Phuket and Samui are slightly higher than in Bangkok.

JosephP · Joined: 13 May 2003 Posts: 445

I used to live in Surat Thani and believe me it isn't simply a matter of hopping over to Samui every Friday afternoon and being back in class Monday morning. Sure, it's doable, but the pay isn't that good in Surat and you'll find yourself broke pretty quick.

tedkarma · Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:53 pm Post subject:

Phuket is probably more doable than Samui. It's a bigger, more mature, and more commercial market.

There is the usual cast of characters - several chain language schools - some pay reasonably, others poorly - some will have you teaching at the main branch - others will have you running from place to place an hour here, an hour there, with no compensation for travel time or transportation.

Several small community colleges hire -and pay poorly. Prince of Songkla University pays well (by Thai university standards anyway) and even offers good inexpensive housing on campus.

Some hotels hire their own English teaching staff - many hire it out to the language schools. The hotels that do hire - tend to prefer us older guys and like a fair amount of experience. They seem to have had their fill of the backpacker crowd. Hotels tend to pay mid-30s and up.

Tourism has been significantly off as we all know - but the better resorts and hotels (financially stronger) use this as a time to train up their staff. The financially weaker hotels will cut back on everything - so you might see the language schools hiring fewer people just for a little while.

But . . . the schools keep on going. Kajonkietsuksa - seems to always have a place for a good teacher and my understanding is that the pay has improved there.

Phuket, like most of Thailand - really requires that you show up in person.

I talked to a head teacher at one of the hotels when they advertised for a teaching position - and they had received over 300 resumes/e-mails asking about the job. But, in the end, only1/4 were qualified, only 1/4 of those were willing to come down for an interview � and only half of those really showed up - and some of those presented themselves quite poorly. It all came down to only three of them - one of them had just finished his TEFL Cert (I was his teacher-trainer).

Message being that if you can present yourself well, are willing to get yourself down here, are serious about getting a job, and have the qualifications and skill - you may well be the one who gets the job.

Phuket is a great place to live � I think one of the best in the world. That�s why my home is on Phuket.

Welshguy · Joined: 06 Jan 2005 Posts: 143

Well, how quickly you will go broke weekending in Samui depends on how much you have in the first place I suppose. I earned about 30000 from teaching but supplemented this with writing and editing work which brought un another forty or so per month. By and large I found that Surat was a lot cheaper than BK and the wages werent that much lower than a badly paid job in BK (there are a lot of BK based jobs on ajarn.com offering 30000 and LESS|). Of course the Islands are a different matter again, there are plenty of people visiting Samui for two weeks who will blow two hundred thousand baht in that time very easily. Having said that, there do have full spectrum tourism on Samui and you can rub by there for 1000 baht a day if you keep it fairly simple which basically works out at a couple of thousand for the weekend and a couple of hundred for the ferry. Mind you, you can have 15000 bahts worth of fun for only 8000 bahts worth of money as I well know!