Thread: Alternatives to teaching to pay a good living wage??

I am coming to Bangkok at the end of the year and want to start teaching. I am going to enroll with a TEFL school and then start job hunting....before I get shot down in flames, I have friends who are teaching with no degree and a TEFL certificate or have a degree and no TEFL cert' and they are earning in excess of 40k Baht per month so I know it is possible! I am just wondering what my other options would be? I have an HND and a BSc.Hons in Biochemistry with several years commercial experience (I'm 37). Where is best to start looking for better paid alternatives to teaching? I really fancy teaching but have seen many things on this forum about what mugs farang teachers are to earn ~30k per month when engineers and other expats are earning in excess of 60k....maybe some of those people who slate the TEFL teachers can give me some their own advice.

I quit teaching and decieded to bite the bullit.
With a bunch of Thammasat law grads we deceided to set up a law firm here in BKK.
I have a big case tomorrow.
I am excited!

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

I am coming to Bangkok at the end of the year and want to start teaching

Why do you want to start teaching? Because you want to teach, or it's the only way you can think of to earn a living in Thailand?

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

have friends who are teaching with no degree and a TEFL certificate or have a degree and no TEFL cert' and they are earning in excess of 40k Baht per month so I know it is possible!

Lots and lots of hours and not much free time to make that kind of money sans degree/tefl.

Biochemistry? How about a refinery?

Expat engineers earn waaay more than 60,000 Bt a month.

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

I am coming to Bangkok at the end of the year and want to start teaching.

I have friends who are teaching with no degree and a TEFL certificate or have a degree and no TEFL cert' and they are earning in excess of 40k Baht per month so I know it is possible!

I am just wondering what my other options would be? I have an HND and a BSc.Hons in Biochemistry with several years commercial experience (I'm 37).

maybe some of those people who slate the TEFL teachers can give me some their own advice.

Got it well planned haven't you?

Consider the man-whore business

money in the bank baby.

Originally Posted by Sir Burr

Biochemistry? How about a refinery?

More like Chemical Engineering?

Originally Posted by Smeg

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

I am coming to Bangkok at the end of the year and want to start teaching

Why do you want to start teaching? Because you want to teach, or it's the only way you can think of to earn a living in Thailand?

That's him told, eh Smeg ?

Smeg......... I want to start off teaching because I know I can do it and there are more teaching jobs readily available than anything else. Then , after a while see what else is around. If my heart was set on teaching per se I would go elsewhere ie: Japan and get paid shitloads more so I think that answers your question on whether I want to teach in Thailand just to be in Thailand!!!! Probably just like you.....

^ Good plan. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

Smeg......... I want to start off teaching because I know I can do it and there are more teaching jobs readily available than anything else. ....

Plenty of places will take you on. All they need is a farang ''body'' so to speak.

Whether or not they actually learn something from you is a different matter altogether.

If I teach I would want to do it well so hopefully the students would learn something.... I met up with some decent teachers earlier in the year and also some piss-awful teachers who I wouldn't give the time of day to. The piss-awful teachers hadn't even invested in a teaching course and didn't care about the students or the school and were just worried about picking up their pay-cheques to fund their weekend festivities. Don't get me wrong.....I like a beer and a bar fine as much as the next man or teacher

Originally Posted by Asiafiend

Don't get me wrong.....I like a bar fine as much as the next man or teacher

So you also want to ply your trade as a male prostitute?

TEFL-ing, in a way, is male prostitution, but dressed up in a un-ironed short sleeved shirt, ill fitting strides and the lowest range shoes on the market.

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

TEFL-ing, in a way, is male prostitution, but dressed up in a un-ironed short sleeved shirt, ill fitting strides and the lowest range shoes on the market.

as opposed to DJing which is really a very classy hiso job...

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

TEFL-ing, in a way, is male prostitution, but dressed up in a un-ironed short sleeved shirt, ill fitting strides and the lowest range shoes on the market.

as opposed to DJing which is really a very classy hiso job...

DJ-ing is not anything of the sort. It's quite cuthroat I'll agree but not hi-so.

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

So you also want to ply your trade as a male prostitute? TEFL-ing, in a way, is male prostitution, but dressed up in a un-ironed short sleeved shirt, ill fitting strides and the lowest range shoes on the market.

Piss off, Pat.

Not everyone plies their trade like your British mates. Some of us actually like and care about what we do.

Originally Posted by MisterStretch

Not everyone plies their trade like your British mates. Some of us actually like and care about what we do.

So you're saying Brits are the ones who dress that way?

Funny that cos as far as the ones I have met who are attired in such a sorry way, they have indeed all been Brits. But not mates I'll like to add.

I've done some teaching in Chiang Mai & Bkk as well, but let's face it, Thailand is rather restrictive when it comes to work permissions, and looking for a decent job while staying in Thailand is next to impossible for most. I have been there in my early twenties, and was living rather comfortably in Chiang Mai, due to my large condo with a nice balcony, my own motorbike and some money to spend on beer and Lao. But then you're 37 and want to work for an amount where you'll really have to keep a tight budget, and let's face it, Bkk is not the rest of Thailand. You'll need money for the BTS, Taxis, expensive condos, food, malls etc etc... Otherwise you'll have the same miserable life of all the other Thais who complain about Bangkok being such an ugly and dirty city. Only hi-so's seem to enjoy the city, from all I've heard.
If you have a solid degree apply directly for a job in an international company that might send you to Thailand, that I believe is the only reasonable long-term way to do it.

Why not consider taking a teaching job outside of Bangkok, cost of living way too expensive there and a bloody nightmare to get around. I've been teaching at a government school in Northeast Thailand for 5 years now and have a pretty decent lifestyle -- rent a nice house for 1/12 my monthly school salary, and paid off a pick-up, motorcycle and can afford an annual beach holiday to Hua Hin. I've even scraped up enough to fly home to North America on my earnings. Granted I've taught some side jobs to augment the cash flow and it helps that my wife helps bring home the bacon with some private Thai massage jobs. In my view the much lower cost of living up country, the friendliness of the locals and fresh air make it worth the gamble.

I should probably add that I own a house in the UK that I can make a small profit on when I rent it out (~200 quid) and also a redundancy payment as a lump sum in my bank account that I can fall back on. I am not brave enough to do this sort of thing "without a pot to piss in" so to speak although many of the people I met in Thailand had done exactly that.

^you should also piont out how tight you are!

I'll do it for you though

I should probably add that I can make a small profit (200 quid) from renting my house and I have a lump sum from a redundanacy payment that is in my bank account to fall back on. I'm not brave enough to go out and live in Thailand without a pot to piss in!!

Yo Jizzybloke...........not tight just EXTREMELY careful and I certainly don't give anything to those beggars shuffling along Sukhumvit like you!

Cheeky fukker, MODS jail him!