Teaching in thailand part 2

Again, more emails I decided to port over. I hope they help.

Fabs:

Hey there Jen!

I woke up this morning with the fantastic idea in my head to teach languages in Thailand.
Could you share some experiences with me? According to your post in the teaching in Bankok group it wasn't too hard to find a job?!

Thanks a lot! :)


Jen:

It really depends what kind of person you are. You do not say very much about yourself in your profile, so I do not know much more to say then that.
I think it can be really good, but teaching is definitely not for everyone. If you are just out here to make a little money while backpacking around Asia, then do not bother. If you want some experiences teaching in a very different environment, then this is a good place to start.

To teach in Thailand legally you need a few things. Either a Bachelor's degree in Education or A Bachelor's degree in - well anything - and a teaching certificate (TESOL, TEFL, CELTA or other). You will also need to have a 3 day Thai Culture class.
If you have a BA or BS the others are not hard to get, and can even be done here in Thailand through a variety of companies, most of which will also find you a job.
It is possible to teach without any of that, they are not technically legitimate positions, but for that you are on your own. Welcome to second world Asia, corruption is not uncommon.

As for Thailand and Thai people, let me be honest.
You might have a bit of trouble proving that you speak English (because you do not come from one of the "big 4" English speaking countries), however if you are White skinned, so it shouldn't be a problem. I know that sounds mean, but its just a fact of life out here.
I really like Thailand. Bangkok is as busy a city as anyone could ask for. It has decent public transportation and most everything a person could ask for can be found here. However, Thai's are very disorganized. They do not take the notion of being "on time" seriously.If that is something that really bothers you, then I would recommend a different county (like Japan, maybe). Also, in Euro or Dollar comparison you will make very little money here. However, since everything is Thailand is very cheap, you will make plenty to live here.

I hope that helps. My best suggestion is to do your research. There are tons of stories on the Internet. Personally, I was supposed to go to Korea originally, but after reading what others had to say, I decided on Thailand. I am really glad I did, because I love it here and I think I will stay for an extra semester (or maybe the rest of my life).

Please let me know if there is anything else you want to know.

ลาก่อน,
Jen


Fabs:

Do you have any experience with schools that provide the teaching certificates? Prices and when courses start?


Jen:

I only know about the one I attended. It is called ATI and they are a USA based company. The course in thailand was about $950 which included 3 weeks of hotel room, and the class in Bangkok. It also placed me in my current school.
i would highly recomend a TESOL course, because they teach a lot about teaching methods.

their thailand website is http://www.tesolcoursethailand.com/

I know there are a bunch of other schools out there too. I just havent taken their course, so I cannot say either way. Search TESOL, TEFL, or CELTA on the net and you should find some.
There are lots of scams though, so I suggest using an escrow or backed credit service.

One thing to keep in mind about Thailand though is that you can only stay here for 30-90 days at a time before you have to make a visa run to one of the bordering countries. Its a good opertunity to go see new places, but it doesnt hurt to buy a multi-entry visa if your country allows it. They can really save money in the long run. You will still have to make a border run, but you wont have to stay overnight in the other countries, or go to the Thai Embassy there. I wish someone had told me that when I went to school.

Teaching in thailand

This was originaly a letter to Amanda who asked me what teaching was like. I figured I would share it here for anyone interested.

Actually, Im glad to hear that people are actually listening to what I say.
I had set up a blog, but I havent updated it ages. I seem to use Google Buzz more.

I am currently teaching 14-18 year olds. I am the only "farang" (thai word for forigner - specifically white ones) teacher at my school. though there are 3 other Thai english teachers and 2 chinese teachers. My classes have about 30 students and my class rooms are pretty bare. Seats, white board, (and because I am lucky, most of my rooms have air conditioning) thats about it. I teach 4-6 classes a day, which equals about 25 hours of teaching time a week. I am supposed to stay at the school from 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM though, even if I am not teaching. 2 of my classes are Intro (meets 3 times a week), 3 classes are Level 1 (meets 4 times a week), and 7 classes are "lab" - which is kind of english study hall - though according to farang teachers at other schools, mine seems to be the only school that does that.

All of my students wear uniforms. Classes are often cancled due to school events, which I am usually not told about ahead of time. Kids are usually silent and its hard to get them to speak in english because they are afraid of "losing face".

As for teaching. If you have an option to take a TESOL course and/or culture course for your country, i hightly suggest it. To teach you will use a lot of gestures. It takes a long time for students to realize they can understand you without knowing every word you say.
for my students I have found they know a ton of nouns and very little else (they knew these before I started teaching). They do not know how to make sentences and there pronunciation is very hard to understand. But they are pretty good at reading and writing.
There is a surprising amount of english on advertisments, but its usually suplamented by Thai, and often they have words that dont make sense together. for example there are some popular shops out here called "Panda soup" (the a's are written backwards) and "Beauty Cake".

Random rant #32 (nonconsecutive)

(copied from buzz, but not transliterated)

Its all the little things out here that are so very strange...The bus only kinda stops, so you have to run to it...the air conditioned one is 16 baht, the other one is sometimes free and sometimes not (no I have not figured out why, or how to predict). either way, I am likely to get steped on in places that I didn't think it was possible.
moterbikes are amazingly awesome. they do not obay the laws of traffic...or physics sometimes. if I take one, it will take about 15 mins to get to school. If I do not it will take 40. Today it took 70, but it was raining.
Thai time is kinda like almost time...it runs whenever it feels like it, possibly relitive to the sun. Logic is not...
and how did this road get over there....
Sometimes I feel like I'm in Thailand, sometimes the slums of Detroit, and sometimes the best resort in Arizona.
Welcome to Bangkok, please leave your sanity at the door.

--- additional note --- Now I have taken the boat. Its close to the school, but not so close to home. It is on a river, and its wet, and smells kinda funny, and its way awesome. ---

Death on wheels

So I have to get to work at 7:30 am. The first day I took a taxi, that took 45 minutes and cost 105 THB; and I was late. Its really amazing too, because I am only about 8 miles from work. The next day I got up earlier and left at 6:30 am on the bus. That was not so bad, but only because one of my student's recognized me and helped me navigate the bus system. Otherwise I would have definitely missed my stop.

Thursday I did not wake up so early and I would have been late, so I decided to take a motorcycle taxi.

It was possibly one of the most invigorating things I have done in my life. 50THB and we were there in about 12 minutes. The motorbikes do no seem to have to follow traffic laws, so they just kind of weave in and out of traffic as they please. Its both scary and amazing.

I had never ridden a motorcycle of any kind before in my life, but it was very exciting.

Thailand's eternal children

So, I think of all these great things to say, and these great titles during the week, and then by the time I get to a place that has internet access, I do not know what to say anymore. I remember I had come up with a great title for this next post...but I really do not remember what it was about, so...maybe I will come back and fix this later.

So I have survived my first week as a teacher. I have encountered some strange problems that I wouldn't have expected. Like why are my level 1's better at English then my level 3's? And how on earth do I answer the question 'why do we say noodles with an S, but rice doesn't have an S?' it defiantly makes me think.

Lessons in Thai titude

((ok, so I am a bad person, and I have not yet posted my backlog stuff...I will get to it eventually, I promise. for now though, I'm still looking to the future))

Today I learned that females do not lift weights. I tried going to the Gym, and every time I tried using the weight room equipment (as opposed to the treadmills and bikes and stuff), the attendent got a bit upset and would show me some other piece of aerobic/cardio equipments. I guess I just looked like a stupid Farong to him. but so much to learn.

So I looked at a food cart this morning that made fried rice at the end of my Soi (sidestreet). I thought I had told the lady "no thanks" and walked away. However, when I got back she had a box of the food waiting for me. I felt pressured to buy it; but I was kinda upset. -- glad I did buy it though. Cause I was much too exhausted to go out tonight.

Turns out fried rice with shrimps (yes whole ones, skin, eyes, legs); is actually pretty good, even cold.

I cannot begin to explain how busy it is here. The main road starts out in the morning practically empty. There are about 10 carts serving breakfast foods (not what we would call breakfast food, but there here in the early morning, so they must be), and the sidewalks are about 6 feet wide.

By mid day the stalls have all opened and the sidewalks become about 4 feet wide.

By evening, the entire night market is booming, and the sidewalks are about 2 feet wide. -- at this hour there are also about 500% more people trying to walk down the street then in the morning.

By 2 am the streets are completely deserted, the carts are gone, and the stalls look like they have never had a person in them. The edges of every street corner are piled high with trash bags; and the only thing that is open is 7-11 -- those are everywhere. There are 4 within walking distance of my hotel.

Backing up a bit

This is my first blog, so obviously its going to have some kinks. I am not sure about this thing we call blogging. It seems to be kinda half like public review, and half like privet journals that all the world happens to be able to see.

I will start off mine by explaining my trip. I figure if you do not already know me, you can read my profile once I put one up. But for now know this.

I am currently in Thailand; but my trip did not start here, and so neither should my blog. My trip started about 3 weeks ago with a trip across country (America). I started out in Orlando, FL and drove to Denver, CO. Along the way I saw several places, and I feel some of them are worthy of review. So I figure I will step back and review these, before I move on to the actual flight, and trip to Thailand.

For those who are interested in following along in a more specific sort of way. I will also be keeping a map of my trip. Please see
View Trip to Thailand in a larger map