Job Discussion Forums

[wanderer]

Like anyone else who has worked or traveled in Asia I've a lot of nice things about Thailand.
But, I've also read some discouraging things about working there on this board. Seems like the general opinion is that the salaries are too low.

Recently, I received an offer from a Bangkok University that is, apparently, the usual 17850 a month plus 8000 housing allowance. I'm tempted, but, like so many of you have said here, am I going to be stuck there, saving nothing, wishing I had picked another Asian destination this time? I have four years experience teaching in Asia--children, aduluts, at junior high school, vocational colleges....

Your ideas, please.

[Peter McAlpine]

I've lived here since 1984.

Quite honestly, one doesn't come to Thailand as a teacher to get rich. You most probably won't. You might wish to start off at a university as it gives you a very elevated position in society, and this makes it much easier to find private students. You could also try Mahidol University at Salaya. I used to work there, not as an ELT teacher, but there is a decent ELT department there. Try ABAC too. They have web sites. The students tend to be wealthy and so getting a decent rate for private classes isn't a problem.

There's also Shinawatra University belonging to the billionaire Prime Minister. I hear that the 2 so called top universities, Thammasat and Chulalongkorn don't pay well and they seem to feel you are honoured to be working there.

If you want to settle down, Thailand's a great place to do this, and your profession as an ELT teacher is just right because it enables you to find a job and stay legally. If you get married, your wife can start a company and you get a work permit this way too. It costs 2 million Baht to start a company, but this can be reduced to 1 million. Your wife's family might help you out here if you don't have this amount of money.

You will have to learn to overlook or laugh at the less positive side of Thai life - the corruption, dual pricing, etc.

There are also some hotels that hire English teachers, though probably not at the moment as SARS has emptied the hotels. Thailand is not a SARS affected country, but a large proportion of the tourists come from SARS affected countries. Because they are not coming to Thailand, the hotels are very empty.

In sum, Thailand is a wonderful country to visit, work in, or live in. By coming to Thailand to teach English, you just don't know where it will lead to. If you have a vision of what you would like it to lead to, you will most probably achieve that. (One of the keys to success!)

This is very brief. I hope some of it helps. Email me if you have any questions: [email protected]

[sigmoid]

Yes, I would say that living here on 25K baht per month, or even 30K, will be a drag and will definitely need to be supplemented with extra work. But if you really want to live in Thailand then teaching at a university offers a number of advantages.

Anyway, SARS seems to be clearing up in China and Taiwan. I would give serious consideration to those countries and Vietnam.