The Wannabe English Teacher Thread

[Boon Mee]

before you get on your high horse remember this is not yankee politics and we don't need you here doubting and SHOUTING...

Who the hell's shouting?
I was just asking a fair question re renumeration for teaching in LOS.
Never heard of that kind of money is all...

[sabang]

Oh...and the TEFL thing...absolute waste of time and money if you're not teaching English...

I have one from the early 90s. Got it in NZ on one of my brief visits back home...in 11 years in Thailand I have never been asked for it...

but for unis they will want to see the original copy of your degrees and your transcript for your MBA...I emailed an application through one unis website which resulted in me teaching there part-time for the last five years...

Here's a list of Thai unis for you...

That sounds great Klongy. Half decently rewarded part time teaching/ lecturing. I'll certainly follow up on that.
I even saw an advert for decent job at Chulalongkorn recently, in the Legal Faculty. It involved little if any lecturing actually, and they wanted more of a management qualification, and specified they did not want a lawyer!

[William]

^^we had the British guys from Siam Square (what's their name?) in to teach our support staff. No more than 15 students per class. Cost us 100,000 Baht per 30 hours.

[ChiangMai noon]

Cost us 100,000 Baht per 30 hours.

But was it worth it?

This is the hurdle I keep falling at.
30 hours of study is effectively from now until 8.00 tomorrow evening.
You'll not learn much and I genunely believe that 100,000 baht is excessive.
The entire industry is a woeful scam.
The language takes years to master, not a day and a half.

[William]

^no, it wasn't. The problem, however, was as much "ours" as theirs. "We" (the royal use) expected results we didn't get. I don't blame the school for that, I blame "our" expectation levels.

[NickA]

^It's 220 baht /student/hour which is not too much, but yep, they probably got very little out of it. I wonder how much of the 3000+ baht per hour the teacher saw?

I have virtually given up private teaching unless the student can convince me they want to learn - I only have on student at the moment.

[sabang]

^
That is certainly true of Bangkok.
Not so, ChiangMai unfortunately.
A mate of mine just took a job at a local private school (not language school) for 20,000 a month. Full time. 8-4 Monday to Friday.
He has a masters degree from Berkely and has been accepted for a phd course at Oxford startinbg in August.
I'm not kdding you.

Corporate English classes are also notoriously stingy up here.
I have taught at Tesco Lotus and Makro.
Big companies who are unwilling to pay more than 1,000 an hour for classes of 16 or so students.

Wow.
I was thinking of 40,000 bht plus at least, but I'm starting to get more greedy now.

[Boon Mee]

^
For sure...I might be interested in one of those $60.00 an hour jobs too if it's not too far from the house and I get skint in my retirement.

[Butterfly]

Well I ask, why pay more than 300 THB an hour (I used to pay 400 THB an hour 4 years ago) for an English teacher when you know your staff will be not motivated to learn and will be as brain dead after the class is done as they were before.

[William]

Boon me - can I ask why you keep calling it a $60.00 an hour gig? Has the dollar fallen off that bad?

[NickA]

^a good teacher will motivate them

[Boon Mee]

Boon me - can I ask why you keep calling it a $60.00 an hour gig? Has the dollar fallen off that bad?

2K Baht equals ~$60.00 @ 34/1.
Last exchange rate I saw.

[Butterfly]

^a good teacher will motivate them

Strangely as it sounds, for a more 400 THB/hour, the guys we got were not that bad. Not sure what they were doing in Thailand though.

I had a "professional" English teacher (licensed and teaching in government universities) for 1000 THB/hour but she gave up after a few lessons because the staff wasn't just "there", unmotivated despite her effort.

It's quite hard for a teacher here to see your work accomplishment never materialized, because your students are simply not interested. How do you resolve that ? money is obviously not enough. Maybe shagging the pretty students could be a motivation but apparently it's not included in the compensation package.

[William]

^^ I would have said 2,000 Baht got you nearer $55

[Boon Mee]

^^ I would have said 2,000 Baht got you nearer $55

I was using 34/1
Round numbers anyhow...

[sabang]

$50 bucks plus an hour is pretty good for Thailand actually, imo.
Especially when you're basically doing it as a Freelancer.

[William]

^True. But you should keep in mind you can make more than $50 an hour off the internet. Problem is, no visa...

[Boon Mee]

$50 bucks plus an hour is pretty good for Thailand actually, imo.
Especially when you're basically doing it as a Freelancer.

I suppose there's no 401(k) match and you have to pay your own health insurance but yes, sounds pretty good.

[William]

^if you're relying on 401(k), you're fucked!

[Boon Mee]

^if you're relying on 401(k), you're fucked!

Depends on what you have it invested in - right?

[William]

^nope

[Boon Mee]

^nope

Ah...you wouldn't want to expand on that there enlightened summation would you?

[William]

401(k) is the same as a provident fund in Thailand. I's good as it goes, but has it's limitations on transferability. Also, at, what 5% of earnings, it won' provide for the long term

[Boon Mee]

401(k) is the same as a provident fund in Thailand. I's good as it goes, but has it's limitations on transferability. Also, at, what 5% of earnings, it won' provide for the long term

Well, your typical 401(k) has either a 6% or as much as an 8% match (depending on the company you work for) and it invests is a myriad of different vehicles of your own choosing. Once one retires or changes companys, it is either rolled-over into an IRA or another investment of your choosing. The 'match' is like free money so it's the best deal for the average worker since defined-benefit pensions are becoming a dying breed these days and Social Security won't see one through.

[klongmaster]

But you should keep in mind you can make more than $50 an hour off the internet

do tell...