Job Discussion Forums

[saj88]

Hi I am looking to do a 5-6 month teaching internship in Thailand, and was wondering if anyone has any experience with/ heard of i-To-i or ESLstarter?
I am also a bit unsure about what a reasonable monthly budget would be if accomodtaion was already paid for?
Any advice will be reallly appreciated!

[tttompatz]

[MaiPenRai]

As Tom says, the "internship" label is not really what it seems. Many 'Placement agencies' and 'TEFL schools' and combinations of those 2 are using this phrase to mean a guaranteed job placement (in most cases anyways).

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with these programs for some people. As Tom says, it is relatively easy finding working teaching EFL in Thailand, especially if you come in March/April/May, BUT while it may be easy, it still requires a lot of work and good attitude. What the good 'placement agencies' do is all the leg work for you. They find the school, organize the visas and work permit, provide accommodation or help finding, provide some kind of framework for what you should be teaching, etc.

For someone right off the boat, these things can be daunting, especially if it is your first time abroad. Add the intense heat, rain downpours, lack of language knowledge, lack of knowledge about Thai schools, being in a new huge city, having few or no connections or friends, etc. and finding a job in Thailand or Bangkok can become a big task. Not everybody wants to spend their first few weeks in Thailand doing all those things, especially if they only plan on staying for a few months-1 year. My experiences with teachers using these services is that many of them want to travel and enjoy Thailand before they do the EFL 'experience'. Finish work, travel a bit more and then head home or on to another country.

They provide a service and if you don't need that service, you shouldn't use them, but they can be a good starting place for a new 'teacher'. Spend a semester getting to know the law of the land and then move on to bigger and better opportunities.

The downside is that the jobs they offer are usually at the less attractive schools and/or less attractive areas of Thailand, but that is all relative as well. Large class sizes are common, poor resources are common, poor communication between school and foreign teachers is common, lack of clear educational vision (especially for EFL) is common, smaller Thai communities is common, lack of western comforts is common, etc.

It takes time, experience and knowledge to land the better jobs.

Ive heard lots about i-to-i and it hasn't been great. In my opinion, there are better 'placement companies' and/or 'TEFL schools' to do this type of program with.

As Tom says, in Bangkok you would want 35-40,000 baht/month to be comfortable with no savings and outside Bangkok you would want 25-30 to be comfortable. Its all relative to your lifestyle. Thailand is a place where it is relatively easy to be poor, but much more fun to have enough to take some vacations to the islands and such.

Best of luck. (apologies for spelling and grammar, im in a rush today)

[saj88]

Thanks for the quick reply and advice!I'm just weighing up all my options at the moment, you say that there are better placement companies to do this with, could you recommend any?

[tttompatz]

[MaiPenRai]