Teaching in Thailand Guide

Thailand is a Buddhist country although you will find that there is a substantial Muslim population in the south of the country, especially on the border with Malaysia and there is a small (but very vocal) Christian population who amongst other things tried to ban a movie such as the Da Vinci code as it did not fit in with their view of Christianity. Thais don’t really understand agnostics or atheists and will automatically assume that you are Christian just because you are of European ancestry. Many of the top private Thai schools are Christian in name as they were founded by missionaries and they do their best to promote what their view of Christianity is. There are also more evangelical schools who follow a curriculum that embeds Christianity as a cornerstone of the learning

This article was written in 2006 and as updated in 2007 with the aim to give an overview as to what the teaching industry in Thailand is like, in particular focussing on Bangkok as well as just give some general information about what living and working in Thailand is like.

The authors of this article are all qualified teachers in their respective fields (business, IT, and education) as well as being qualified teachers of English. The opinions in this article are the opinions of the authors who have experience working at various levels which include: Thai universities, Thai high schools, international schools, language schools, working with corporate clients, as well as teaching privately, working in the business world working full time for a Thai company, and finally working as an examiner. The writers have between them 20 years experience living and working in Thailand and all information in this article is correct as of September 2007.

If you have any questions that you think would be useful to include on this guide then please email admin@teachasiaonline.com with the details for them to be added to this page.

For convenience, the guide is broken down into the following sections, with links to other pages as necessary where extra information is available but does not suit the tone of this article.

Contents

Country Information
Why Work in Thailand?
Where Should I Work in Thailand?
What Are Thai Students Like?
What Places Are There to Work at?
Salary versus Cost of Living
Legal Issues and Visas
Issues of Living in Thailand
Is it Worth Learning Thai?
Disadvantages of Working in Thailand
Teacher Training
Recommended Books, Links
!!From East to West

Obviously, this article has been compiled from the sum of experiences of westerners who live and work in Thailand. In my case planning the move from London to Bangkok entailed a lot of preparation and took a great deal of time to get everything read before I was ready to make the move.

There are a few things you should think about before you buy that ticket. First you need to think about what you will need to work here, you will need some smart (business) clothes for interviews. If you’re male then that means ties, long sleeved shirts with collars, and dress trousers. For women, you will need two or three business outfits (skirts or dresses as Thais don’t usually like to see female teachers dressed in trousers); and lastly a couple of good pars of dress shoes.

You should also take some time to put together a resume before leaving and save it on a CD or thumb drive and email yourself a copy on your yahoo or hotmail account so that you can access it anywhere you are in the world and so that you can print it out at an internet shop in Bangkok. Emphasize teaching, training, and travel experience in your CV, if you need some advice you can take a look at our guide to resume writing and cover Letters. If you have time, scan any important documents and pictures before you come over (passport pictures etc.) and email them to yourself as well so that you can use them as needed.

Get your documents in order and bring your college certificate(s) in a protective case, such as a hard plastic tube. Bring several copies with you as well as getting college transcripts if you can. Quite a lot of employers ask for transcripts so it’s best to request these before leaving home and bring with you a few copies. If you have any reference letters, add those to our paperwork pack. Some employers ask for references so get these arranged by asking your ex-bosses, old teachers, or co-workers to write a simple one page reference for you. Ask them not to date the letter (so you can use it when needed in the future) and ask them to include an address, phone number, and email address in case any prospective employers want to contact them. If you have taught before in another country and want to stand out from the crowd, think about teaching portfolios, putting one together is not that time consuming and is the hallmark of a professional teacher. Lastly think about Interviews and how you can stand out and think if you need a criminal background check. For more information on living and teaching aboard, check out our First Times article.

Country Information

For those of you that don't know, Thailand is in South East Asia and is sometimes confused with Taiwan by those that are geographically challenged (including me before I came out here on holiday). For anyone that is interested Thailand is a mainly agricultural country although if you spent most of your time in the capital Bangkok, you probably would not realize that. Thailand has a huge tourism industry and they do seem to get a lot of repeat business with some tourists returning year after year.

Thailand is quite a large country with a population that is similar in size to the United Kingdom; it is a constitutional monarchy and currently it is undergoing a period of change with a recent coup overthrowing the prime minister. Thailand is predominantly Buddhist although in the south there are more Muslims and there is a very small (but vocal) Christian minority. The new constitution has just been voted on and elections are said to be scheduled for December this year (2007).

Thailand's Statistics

• Population: 64.1 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Bangkok
• Area: 513,115 sq km (198,115 sq miles)
• Major language: Thai
• Major religion: Buddhism
• Life expectancy: 66 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 baht = 100 satangs
• Main exports: Food and live animals, office equipment, textiles and clothing, rubber
• GNI per capita: US $2,540 (World Bank, 2005)
• Internet domain: .th
• International dialing code: +66

Year	POPULATION
2005	(est) 65.97 Million
2004	64.86 Million
2003	63.8 Million
2002	62.5 Million
2001	62.9 Million
2000	62.4 Million
1999	61.8 Million
1998	61.2 Million

What is Thailand like?

Most westerners see Thailand as a popular tourist destination; it is a country that has mountains, tropical rainforests and flat plains, and beaches and it has been a very popular tourist destination with all the attractions for tourists also being reasons why many people choose to live and work here as well.

For many years agriculture was the main employer. But from the 1980s a thriving, rapidly-growing economy attracted large numbers of Thais to the expanding industrial and services sectors. The bubble burst in 1997 with the south-east Asian financial crisis. Stock and property prices fell dramatically, dragging down the currency and leading to bankruptcies, recession, and unemployment.

The government of the time - under Chuan Leekpai - worked with the IMF to reform the battered economy.

But the 1997 experience caused many Thais to regard international finance with deep distrust. Mr Chuan lost the 2001 elections to an opponent, Thaksin Shinawatra who promised to help people with their daily difficulties.

Bangkok expanded rapidly with the mass immigration of rural workers moving to the capital during the boom years. It is one of Asia's most vibrant, and heavily-congested, cities.

Thailand has a minority Muslim population, concentrated in its southern provinces. A decades-old separatist struggle in the region - which abated in the 1980s - flared again in 2004. The violence, mostly targeting members of Thailand's majority Buddhist population, has claimed more than 1,000 lives and still continues today. On 1st January 2007, bombs went off in Bangkok and it is thought that they were related to the southern insurgency although no one seems to have admitted responsibility.

Though its most-recent governments have been civilian and democratically-elected, Thailand has seen turbulent times. The military governed, on and off, between 1947 and 1992 - a period characterized by coups, coup attempts, and popular protests.

Thailand is famous for its cuisine which is known throughout the world for its use of hot, sweet and sour spices. Sculptures of the Buddha in sitting or reclining positions are also characteristic of Thailand, as is classical dance.

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy, the King, HM Bhumibol Adulyadej, assumed the throne in June 1946 and is the world's longest-reigning monarch. The royal family is revered by all Thais.

There are several festivals and Thai holidays which means some extra time off work on top of the normal holidays, that is if you have a full term contract. For those working part time or working on the side, holidays mean only one thing; that you lose money. Perhaps the best known holiday is Song Kran which falls in mid April and is a three day water throwing party or three days of water throwing mayhem depending on your point of view and dependent on perhaps how long you have been residing in the country.

There are also numerous National Holidays

• January 1st - New Year's Day
• February (lunar) - Magha Puja - Thai Buddhist holiday which falls on a different date every year)
• April 6th - Chakri Day
• April 13th - Songkran, (3 day holiday)
• May 1st - Labour Day
• May 5th - Coronation Day
• May (lunar) - Visakah Puja - Thai Buddhist holiday which falls on a different date every year)
• July (lunar) - Asanha Puja - Thai Buddhist holiday which falls on a different date every year)
• July (lunar) - Khao Phansa - Thai Buddhist holiday which falls on a different date every year)
• August 12th - HM the Queen's Birthday
• October 23rd - Chulalongkorn Day
• December 5th - HM the King's Birthday
• December 10th - Constitution Day
• December 31st - New Year's Eve

We have an up to date idea of when the Holidays are.

Thailand is a Buddhist country although you will find that there is a substantial Muslim population in the south of the country, especially on the border with Malaysia and there is a small (but very vocal) Christian population who amongst other things tried to ban a movie such as the Da Vinci code as it did not fit in with their view of Christianity. Thais don’t really understand agnostics or atheists and will automatically assume that you are Christian just because you are of European ancestry. Many of the top private Thai schools are Christian in name as they were founded by missionaries and in the past many influential Thais have studied in this type of institution (including it has to be said one or two ex Prime Ministers).

There are also one or two more evangelical schools who follow a curriculum that embeds Christianity as a cornerstone of the learning process (Christian embedded education) but on the whole the mainstream Christian Schools do seem to go out of their way to ensure that a balanced religious picture is presented and their attitude is completely different from the Evangelical approach which is, in my humble opinion a tad dangerous as I personally believe that presenting a balance is what education should do and thereby encourage children to really understand and make up their own mind about the important things in life.

Why Work in Thailand?

Thailand is a very attractive place to work for some people, the cost of living is not that high especially if people have some income from a western source and it is not difficult to find work if you are a native speaker. Although quite a lot of work is reserved for the indigenous population, unless you are an expert in a particular field, or you do something that really cannot be done by the local labour market, then you really only have teaching as a viable option for those who want to stay in Thailand long term and need to make some money. It is also quite difficult to get a visa to stay here long term if you are not working and you cannot qualify for a retirement visa (you must be 50 years old or more) so many people teach because it's the only thing they can do here and because it gives them both a source of income and the legal paperwork to stay here in the long term without any hassles.

There are quite a few teachers who have been living and working in Thailand for a very very long time (in some cases 15 - 20 years); some of them might even still be doing visa runs. Some of them are more familiar with life here than life in their own country, some of them might not even have been home for a long time. No matter how long people have been here it is very difficult to build up a level of security for yourself, as foreigners we have no social or family support mechanism; health care whilst cheap when compared to the west is not that cheap when you have to pay it yourself from your own local salary.

Every so often someone will hear mention of there being a crackdown on teachers and that the ministry of education is instigating some quality checks; the fact of the matter is that there are many unqualified teachers working in Thailand but then again the money to be made here is not enough to attract professional people to work here and it should be said that perhaps professional people would not put up with the shenanigans that some of the Thai schools get up to!

Some of the more famous Thai schools do have an absolutely awful reputation for treating their staff badly, breaking contracts for no reason, changing working conditions in the middle of a contract. There is one very famous Christian College that has a very nefarious reputation for losing paperwork and causing problems for teachers who then have to foot the bill for the very mistakes that the school created. In the past they used on agency to recruit teachers and all the agency wanted to see was a pulse in order to employ you. There have been cases of criminals working in quite well known schools and from time to time someone will get arrested and deported back to the west to stand trial. I wish the Thai authorities would instigate some uniform criminal background check to stop people who pose a threat to children working here and they have gone some way to putting something in place but it really does need to be a concerted, transparent, and uniform policy that applies equally to all.

How long people stay really does very from one person to the next, some people come and go; do a few years and go back home for a while before returning again. Quite a few people decide to upgrade their sills and become proper qualified teachers and they end up going back home in order to get qualified so that they can come back and get better paying jobs.

There are people teaching here who are just in it because it is the only thing they can do and make some money, some of them might make good teachers, some of them however should not be allowed in the classroom. The low pay of most jobs in Thailand is a sad reflection of the standards of some of the people applying for the jobs, frankly, quite a few Thai schools would not want to deal with a professionally qualified teacher who might question things a little too much. Some Thai schools prefer to have PWM (performing white monkey ) in which they will prefer any white face to edutain the children. This is quite shocking to people from countries where there are anti discrimination laws in place and where quality come first.

Unfortunately Asian speakers of English (Thai or Filipino) or even Asian looking teachers might receive less pay even though they might be better qualified than a westerner working at the same school. Thais seem to perceive that being white = being a teacher of English! Luckily some schools can differentiate between quality teachers and those that are not; there are schools out there that pay teachers the same no matter where they come from. If you do the job, you are qualified, there should be no difference in pay scale dependent on race.

There are those who say that people of African descent come across discrimination in the Thai workplace and that perhaps they might find it more difficult to find work. Personally I think this attitude should not be perpetuated or tolerated by any foreign teachers and that we as a group should aim for trying to change things positively so that there is not inherent lingering racism in Thai education. I have known a handful of non white native speakers of English (British and American born) who have had few problems getting work and I think attitudes are in fact changing slowly. I don’t think that people should be paid a different salary based on their race or ethnicity, but I’m not the one who sets school policies. If you are not white, then the odds are you will be paid less. The best schools however have no difference in pay scales.

There is no doubt that Thailand is an extremely attractive place to live and work. The cost of living is generally low but so in the most part are the salaries. There is such a variety in places to visit and things to do, there are beaches, mountains, there is jungle. Living here can be a real adventure, just remember to take off your rose tinted glasses if you stay here long term because it’s almost like another country, the different between visiting here as a tourist for a few weeks, and living and working here. Things can start to grind you down, the visas, the lack of regulation, the inadequate adherence to any kind of consistency; many foreign teachers get jaded and/or burnt out very quickly (often within two or three years), I would say that on average, most people only stay for a couple of years before moving on but there is a steady stream of new people willing to take the plunge and try to make a go of it here. As a foreigner, things are very stacked against you, you can’t work in certain areas/fields, you can’t run a business on your own. Some people thrive on the challenge and make a go of it in spite of all the hurdles, but most people fold or are unable to make a success of it.

Where Should I Work in Thailand?

There are many different areas to choose from. There are 5 different regions and there are 75 provinces. The north consists of smaller cities like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai where the weather is a bit cooler, there are some nice mountains to explore and you will be quite close to Myannmar. There is also the North-East which is sometimes called "Isaan" which has a few nice cities like Korat or Khon Kaen. These areas also have universities so there are also opportunities to teach outside the government school system. The south seems to attract quite a lot of people to go and work there, some people like the idea of working near some of the nice beaches, or think they will be able to participate in some tropical teaching utopia, places like Phucket have opportunities if you fancy getting away from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan living.

To be brutally honest, teaching away from the big city is not that much fun. Some people are suited to living the quiet life in a small town, others like me are not. From time to time I have had to go and teach up country (and down country) and there is not a whole lot to do in the small towns once work finishes and the sun goes down. Yes, nowadays there will be 7-11s, KFCs, Pizza Companies, some of the big chains are well represented in the smaller towns, there might however be no cinema (or if you are lucky there might be a cinema that shows films that are dubbed into Thai), there might be very little to do, and you might find that having an in-depth English conversation with someone is impossible. Stuck on your own if you don't speak the local language well with nothing to do can simply drive you crazy. On top of that you might have to content with lower pay because "things are cheaper" when in fact people would probably want more money to work there unless they have pressing external factors that necessitate them living in the area.

I'm afraid to say that living in the middle of the countryside is just not for me, but some people love the peace and quiet and long to get out of Bangkok as quickly as they can. Schools that are further afield as a consequence find it a lot more difficult to attract teachers due to the fact that the central region is where most people end up teaching simply because Bangkok is where most of the opportunities are. Near Bangkok there is also Hua Hin, Pattayya, Ayuthayya (the previous capital of Thailand) and other assorted cities so it is possible to stay reasonably close to Bangkok, having it available whenever you need it, and at the same time isolate yourself from the impersonal capital city a little and get to experience a little of the hidden side of Thailand.

The southern region of Thailand is a lot friendlier than the capital, and being a foreigner there, you draw more curiousity than you would walking around more cosmopolitan Bangkok. In the South there are a lot more Muslims than there are in the other regions which are all predominantly Buddhist. There's some nice beaches, places like Phucket, Somg Khla, Nakorn Si Thammarat, Hat Yai, they have schools that employ foreign teachers. Even though there has been some problems in the South, it's a lot more laid back than Bangkok and it's a lot cheaper to live there. It's worth going down to visit just to try the food as there are some regional dishes which are hot and spicy and very good.

If you want to get out and about and try to find out what Thailand was really like in the past, there are several places worth visiting. Ayuthayya is a couple of hours from Bangkok and used to be the capital. There are several national parks with historic remains which are very interesting. Sukhothai also has the same set up with some parks housing more ancient remains ( the Sukhothai period preceded the Ayuthayya period) and in the north east, near Korat, there are still more ancient remains which retain more of a Khmer influence which can be seen in the architecture and the stone work.

What Are Thai Students Like?

If you've ever taught in the state system in a western country and had to deal with some of the problem students that are now part of everyday classes due to inclusion policies, then teaching in Thailand could come as a bit of a gentle shock. Without wanting to stereotype a whole generation, it is mostly true to say that Thai people greatly respect teachers and whilst the Thai educational system can still be classified as one that relies on rote learning it is changing slowly and there does seem to be conscious desire within the powers to be to instigate some changes for the better.

Students at international schools could be easily equated to those who study at public schools in the UK (or private schools in the US). For the most part parental expectations are high, support is forthcoming, and these are normally motivated students who know that they need to work hard to get through their GCSEs or A Levels. International schools used to only be able to take non Thai students or at least only students who had a passport other than a Thai one. This has changed in the last few years; now all international schools are free to take whoever they want, irrespective of where the students come from. Most international schools have a good mix of students, some being more popular with particular nationalities, whilst others have a cosmopolitan mix of students studying together.

Students at private Thai schools are another matter entirely. I have met the best and worst of Thai students at the same school. You can run the whole range from having some kids that want to learn everything and are chock full of insightful questions that will keep you on your toes, to some kids who come to class and that's it, they don't pay any attention at all, copy all their assignments from the other students, and you really wonder what the hell they are doing at school as they sure are not learning anything. There really do seem to be some demotivated students, even some very bright students who don't care; I can only attribute this to one thing and that is the fact that all students pass no matter what. Schools set their own exams, mark the exams themselves, and even assign the grades to their own students. In the final analysis the grades or GPA are totally meaningless; they don't enable employers or universities to differentiate between students. No school wants to have failing students, so as a result they all pass, all the way through the school system. As a consequence you could have a student who has been in an English program for 10 years and yet cannot even write a coherent paragraph or hold a conversation. Not only that but because they have idled their time away in an English program, their Thai language skills might also not be up to par and if they have spent such a long time studying in English but not understanding much, they really are going to struggle if they go somewhere else (i.e. overseas) where passing is not automatic and requires some dedicated hard work.

The students at Language Schools fall into a couple of categories. Those who must study and progress to either get promotion or go to study in another country, those who really have a genuine desire to learn English, and those that are forced to study.

Students who feel that they must study to either go abroad or to get a promotion are usually pretty motivated and want to do well. These types of students will be looking at either taking an IELTS or TOEFL test or TOEIC depending on whether they are concerned with academia or work.

The best students and naturally the most motivated are those that really want to study. Learning and mastering another language is a hard slog for most people, there might be a few lucky people who seem to effortlessly acquire native like fluency without breaking sweat, but unfortunately for the majority of us it takes time, dedication, and practice. Teaching motivated students who are like sponges soaking up all that you can give is one of the best experiences you can ever have as a teacher.

If the best students are those that choose to study; at the other end of the spectrum we are faced with those that are forced to study. Saturdays and Sundays, evenings after school, not so much as an institution for learning but more of a babysitting service so that mum and dad can go off to the Siam Paragon to do some shopping. Teaching some of these can really be an “experience” and can be quite challenging. This type of work seems to suit some people and others like me tend to just avoid it as being too much hassle.

What is the Thai Educational system like?

Thai students should spend 12 years at school; the system being split into two lots of six years, Pratom 1 - 6 which is then followed by Mattayom 1 - 6. Free public education is compulsory for all children aged 6-15, providing 9 years of compulsory education. Pre-school for children aged 3-5, primary for those aged 6-11, lower secondary for 12-14 year olds and upper secondary for students who are 15-17, is available. Higher education is generally usually in the form of a 4 degree program leading to a bachelor degree.

If a Thai student has access to the full range offered by the educational system, they should go through four levels of education: one or two years of pre-school education; six years of compulsory primary education; six years of secondary education and four years of higher education.

The school Year

The first semester of the school year starts on May 17 and ends the first week of October. After a three week break, the second semester begins on November 1, and continues until the second week of March. The long summer holiday is from the third week of March until May 16, and then the cycle starts again for another year. Classes are held Monday to Friday, during which time the students receive approximately six hours of instruction each day.

Schools vary in different parts of Thailand. Small rural schools are not as regimented as the large city schools nor do they have as much in the way of technological equipment. Most schools do however require uniforms, depending on the affluence of the families.

Evolution of the Thai System

Education used to be provided by two institutions, one religious and the other royal.

Buddhist monks gave basic education to boys in classes set within the compounds of monasteries, while children of the royal household and from families of the nobility were educated in order to serve in the court and govern in the provinces. The mass of society was made up of farmers, who saw little need for literacy. Village history, lore, and local philosophy were transmitted orally.

In the reign of King Rama V (1863-1910 A.D.) there was increased recognition of the need for educated people to staff the growing bureaucracy. As a result, the Thai education system was modernized and made more accessible to the general public. This began with the 1898 Education Proclamation, which was strongly influenced by the British system and in which two educational paths were stipulated: the academic and the vocational.

The first comprehensive education plan was introduced in 1932. This plan highlighted four years of elementary education and eight years of secondary schooling. This system was further refined in 1936, when five levels of education were featured:

• preprimary or kindergarten
• primary
• secondary
• pre-university
• higher education.

The educational plan of 1951 was noteworthy in that it facilitated special and adult education.

As part of the emphasis on national development since 1960, a major goal of the educational system has been to harmonize and comply with economic and political plans. The government faced the challenge of widespread illiteracy, as well as the massive task of training young men and women for the dynamic development process in the shortest time possible. Recently, it has had to modify instruction to include the specialized skills required by industries such as computer science and environmental engineering, together with new branches of medicine.

The most recent changes were brought about by the educational plan of 1977, which called for six years of compulsory primary schooling, three years of lower secondary education for those who plan to enter special occupations and three years of upper secondary education for those who wish or enter higher education or a university. This system was launched in May 1978, beginning with the first grade at both the primary and secondary levels, and continued until the cycle of six grades at both levels was fully implemented in 1983.

Efforts to raise the overall educational standards of the nation to meet the development needs in technology and advanced agricultural methods result in the expansion of basic education from six to nine years, covering six years of primary education and three years of lower-secondary education, in rural areas to form a broader basis for future training and employment.

What Places Are There to Work at?

There are so many different places to work at, in this section we will just give a brief overview of the different types of places, for details, names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. please take a look at our Directory for individual school details.

The most common places to work are either

• Schools – Government or private
• Universities
• International Schools
• Language Schools
• Tutorial Schools

There are also

• Agencies to work for
• Companies that hire teachers to teach their staff

Schools

Thai schools are broken up into three different levels:

Anuban
Kindergarden usually called grades K1 to K3

Prathom
Primary grades P1 to P6
In western terms there are Years (or grades) 1 - 6

Matayom
High school grades M7 to M12
Years (or grades) 7 - 12

Most schools however will have a mixture of ages and grades within the school and some schools span the whole range of ages from Prathom 1 up to Matayom 12. Thai schools seem to be micro managed and the degree of freedom that you have as a teacher can be very limited. One example of this is the bizarre situation you might face if you want to do something like getting some photocopying done. If might require the signature of one or two people to give you authorisation to make some copies and then they won’t even let you do the copies yourself, you have to give the materials to the photo copying staff one or two days before you need them just so you have a chance to get them in time.

The schools are hit and miss, some are very good to work at, and others see a constant in and outflow of staff as they can never seem to retain staff for more than a semester or two. In general, schools that have a very high turnover of staff have some underlying cause that you should pay heed to. Once you get on the ground and meet and talk to people who work in the school system you’ll find out quickly which schools are good to work at and which ones are best avoided.

This leads me on to another aspect of Thai schools that does not sit well with me. Thai students never ever fail anything! You can’t fail the students, and if you do choose to fail them, you just have to give them another exam until they pass, basically, it’s your fault as a teacher if your students fail. You might have the most unmotivated class in the whole world who did nothing all year and can’t even put two or three words together in English, but you can’t fail them and even if you did, often the school will just change the grades anyway so that the little darlings pass and move to the next level. This means that you might have students who have been studying English for eight or nine years and still can’t write a sentence and they just get left further and further behind. The tests are mostly multiple choice anyway which means that a lot of cheating goes on and the tests really are pretty meaningless. Give students a real valid and reliable test like IELTS or TOEFL to measure their English ability, and they will get a real shock (as will their parents who have been paying for their education)

There is a lot of cheating in some Thai schools, the testing systems rely mostly on multiple choice tests and there is usually no testing of deeper understanding that an essay question for example would measure. Assignments are done as a group and if you do give essay questions, expect most of it to be just copied and pasted from the Internet. I can still remember one M4 student giving me an essay on Thai boxing where “Thai boxing turns the human body into a multi faceted weapon that utilizes every part of the anatomy with devastating results”.

There are many bilingual schools who teach everything in Thai and English or English Immersion programs, these also can be of varying quality and I have heard Thais complain that the level of spoken and written Thai of those Thai students who study mostly in English is just not up to par AND their English is often not that good as well!

Universities

Universities are numerous and there are several types, some are public universities like Thammasat and Chulalongkorn, others like Assumption and Bangkok University are private. Salaries at universities really do seem to be a lot lower than what you can get working for a school. This runs against the normal rule that the stuff is harder to teach, there are less qualified people around, therefore the salaries should be pretty high or at least higher than teaching in a Thai High School, if, however you are well qualified in the subject that you teach with a masters or even better a doctorate, then it is possible to make quite good money with extra hours that pay quite well.

A huge benefit of working at a Thai university, especially one of the better ones is the amount of respect you will get just for working there. Just working for one of the top two universities can open other doors for you in Thailand.

International Schools

Bangkok must have the most international schools of any city in the world, they are everywhere! Some of them are internationally accredited by an external organization such as WASC and teach a foreign curriculum, whereas others just have the word “international” in their name and don’t really provide the quality of education you would expect from a fee paying schools that is supposedly externally accredited.

The foreign curriculum schools are generally very good, I especially like the International Baccalaureate and IGSCE/A Levels because they promote a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the standards are consistently high. To work at most international schools requires a teaching qualification that would enable you to teach in the same country as the system being used at the school, although there are EAL/ESL teaching positions available as there are a lot of Thai/non native students who also need some extra English to bring them up to speed before they can study the rest of the curriculum in English.

Language Schools

Private Language Schools can be found all over the country with new ones opening all the time. Some of them are one man bands with one person being the owner, the director, the DOS, and others are big chains like ECC and Siam Computer and have many branches throughout Bangkok and all over the country. There are some smaller schools that have a just consist of a single branch, tutorial schools in Siam Square on the most part would fall into this category.

If you work at a private Language School, you could really have to put in the hours. Most of the work at language schools is at the weekend with a lot also being scheduled in the evenings; working during the week like a normal 9-5, Monday to Friday job is not what you'll normally get at a language school. You might end up working six days per week, six hours per day and that's teaching hours! Thirty-six hours a week might not sound like much but if you have to do it for a long long period of time you will burn out as a teacher, most teachers in high schools teach around 20 -22 periods per week and even that it quite a lot if you have to prepare classes, mark assignments etc.

Tutorial Schools

One last type of place to work is the tutorial schools of which there is a vast multitude around Siam Square. These all follow the Thai curriculum and are very popular for students to cram Maths, Chemistry, Physics, and any other subjects that are taught in the Thai system. Every weekend if you take a stroll around Siam Square you will see a legion of parents and offspring being dropped off or picked up at these cram schools. As an educator I do have to question just how effective these schools are, they sure seem popular, and they sure seem like a nice little money spinner for those running them, but are they actually any good? Do they actually benefit the students? From what I have seen they just seem to consist of vast rows of students being droned at by a Thai teacher, not exactly the student centred approach or social learning approach which seems to be the accepted educational standard elsewhere. There also seems to be a huge conflict of interests in that all the teachers make extra money from teaching what should actually be taught in the schools in the first place, it does make you wonder why the kids are going to school in the first place if they can't learn everything they need at the school itself.

Thai teachers don't get paid that much and you can't begrudge them trying to make a bit of extra money, but basically selling short cram courses to your own students or forcing very young children to cram at weekends is very questionable and just masks the very basic solution of paying the teachers more so that they can make enough money from teaching!

Agencies

There are also quite a few Agencies who will place you in a job and who do recruitment on behalf of many schools. These really seem to be a mixed bag and really I don't think they add much value for the service they provide. The better agencies will give you a course book and maybe some activities and place you in level tested classes that are not too big with a pre and post test for the students to make sure or at least to demonstrate that some learning has occurred. Some of the worst agencies on the other hand will give you nothing, will just let you do what you want and some agencies will not exactly be bending over backwards to give you the money you just earned. Lots of agencies hold back money to stop a teacher "doing a runner" and in the past there have been problems with a few agencies paying their staff. It is always best to ask around and try to find out some information about any agency you are thinking of working for. In this author's opinion the teacher should not pay money or commission to be placed in a vacant position.

Companies

Some companies, often hospitals or hotels hire English teachers to teach Business English to their staff. These jobs are normally pretty good if you can get in with a well known company and they give you a work permit, visas, holidays. Sick pay, and health insurance, plus you might not experience some of the shenanigans that go on in the schools here with promises not being kept etc.

If you don’t fancy any of these options, there is also the option of Freelance teaching or of working Part time

Is it easy to find work?

Schools are hiring year round and there is always some work available. For Thai schools the academic year starts in mid-May and the first semester runs to the end of September. The second semester begins in early November and finishes at the end of March so many schools recruit a few weeks (or even days) before the semesters start (Thai schools are not renowned for being the most organized) . The international schools follow the terms times of their respective system but they normally hire quite well in advance of the terms starting, maybe one of two terms in advance!

All the other types of places hire as needed with jobs popping up all through the year, there is quite a large turnover of teaching staff, it’s best not to take the first job that offers itself and if any school is too keen to employ you then you might want to check them out a little before you sign on the dotted line.

Salary versus Cost of Living

What's the money like?

Some people can survive on 22,000 baht per month while other struggle on making ends meet on 140,000! What you need depends on yourself and the lifestyle that you choose to lead.

I always hear foreigners justifying relatively low salaries by saying that the average salary is only 8,000 baht per month. I don't know where this myth comes from, although it is undeniable that some workers in the agricultural sector don't earn much. Here are the figures for more menial type work:

• Agriculture, hunting and forestry (3,019 baht)
• Fishing (2,968 baht)
• Mining and quarrying (7,646 baht)
• Manufacturing (6,420 baht)
• Electricity, gas and water supply (17,841 baht)
• Construction (4,706 baht)
• Wholesale and retail trade, repair business (6,760 baht)
• Hotels and restaurant (5,680 baht)
• Transport, storage and communication (11,752 baht)
• Financial intermediation (19,325 baht)
• Education (14,883 baht)
• Health and social work (10,804 baht)
• Other community and social work (6,311 baht)
• Private households with employed persons (4,068 baht)
• Extra-territorial organisations and bodies (5,753 baht)

Source: National Statistical Office, first quarter, 2005

These other figures (below) come from the Board of Investment and show salaries to be as follows:

• Office manager 47,994 baht (US$1,208)
• Executive Secretary 32,296 baht (US$813)
• Engineering 26,051 baht (US$656)
• Researcher (Thai) 24,722 baht (US$622)
• Sales/marketing staff 23,785 baht (US$599)
• Public relations staff 16,635 baht (US$419)
• Office staff 15,222 baht (US$383)
• Driver 8,528 baht (US$215)
• Housekeeper 6,532 baht (US$164)
• IT Manager 90,000-150,000 baht (US$2,265-3,774)
• Webmaster 45,000-60,000 baht (US$1,132-1,510)
• Web Designer 25,000-35,000 baht (US$629-881)
• Network Administrator 45,000-55,000 baht (US$1,132-1,384)
• LAN Manager 60,000-80,000 baht (US$1,510-2,013)

So we can see a disparity between the figures and although teaching is relatively underpaid when compared with other industries or jobs, in fact Thai teachers don't seem to do that badly, especially when they have a few years experience behind them and have built up a bit of seniority. In my humble opinion, I think you'd need about 45,000 per month to survive and be able to stick a little bit away each month to pay for any emergencies that my arise.

International Schools

The money can really vary from job to job and place to place. A job in an international school should net you the equivalent to what you could earn at home with a nice allowance to pay for your accommodation, however you will need all the necessary qualifications; a bachelors or masters in education; PGCE, Diploma in education; or equivalent to stand a chance of getting a job with one. Sometimes there are jobs as English assistants to bring non native speakers up to speed with their English and these would normally require you to have a degree with a TEFL qualification like a CELTA.

Thai Private Schools

EP programs (English Programs) or MEP (Mini-English Programs) seem to be popular at the moment in many of the privately run high schools and their salaries for a subject teacher seem to be about 50,000 baht per month depending on qualifications and experience. Some places are starting to insist on 15 credits of education in order to get a teaching license stating that it is a requirement from the ministry of education, others don't seem to care, I guess it all depends on the school and the people in charge. The schools all have varying reputations, from some that don't honor contracts and expect you to pay just to receive the salary you've just earnt and pay for your own soap and toilet paper, to others who do treat their staff very well. It's always best to try to grab one of the existing staff and have a quiet chat to find out what working conditions are like or you can have a quick look online or check out http://www.teflwatch.org which runs a discussion board highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of individual schools.

From the MOE website

"English Program/Mini English Program schools are new types of schools newly introduced in Thailand which provide basic education in accordance with the 2001 Basic Education Curriculum.
The purposes of this initiative are to support the Education Reform in Thailand and to use English as medium of instruction. The ultimate goal is to improve English proficiency of Thai students.
Instructions of various subjects in English Program schools must be in English except Thai language and social studies.
As for Mini English Program schools, at least 50% of the total instructions must be in English."
For a full list of English programs:

http://www.moe.go.th/Twolanguage_School/EP_name.htm

For mini English programs you can see them all at:

http://www.moe.go.th/Twolanguage_School/MEP_name.htm

Government Schools

Thai government schools seem to pay a fixed amount, a flat fee with a housing allowance. The figure I see bandied about are about 28,000 + 8,000 housing allowance per month.

Universities

Thai universities are a mixed bag and salaries rarely approach what teachers can make in a good school; why this is so is a mystery to me as it would be logical to assume that to teach in a university that you would need a higher level of education yourself to be able to teach there. However there are some universities that do pay quite well although you will probably need a masters degree or better to stand a good chance of getting a job. Working at a university, although the monthly salary might initially seem quite low, there is normally overtime available which will supplement your income quite a lot.

Private Language schools

Private language schools are very hit and miss. Some of them are wonderful places to work, believe in teacher development and ask you to teach a reasonable number of hours (I don't think you can teach more than 22 hours per week without burning yourself out). Even different branches of the same chains have varying reputations so ask around and be picky. The job market is very much a teacher's market.

Private Students

Teaching Privates or teaching private students as opposed to teaching at a private school is something that you will consider at some point in time due to the fact that if you teach for any length of time or if people find out that you are a teacher then you will probably have students asking you for private lessons. Never steal students from your place of work, if students at your school ask you then politely tell them it's not possible. Word gets around very quickly if someone finds out you have been poaching students and you very probably will lose your job and might even start finding it difficult to find new work. I normally get recommendations from ex-students or people that I know and some of the private students I have now, I have had for three years. Normally I take students for one to one tuition and occasionally take a group of two or three, however private students are well known for cancelling last minute and I only take privates if I like the students and I think they genuinely want to learn.

There are some people who can make a good living out of privates, they network well, they have contacts who introduce new students all the time, they keep a stable of many many students so it does not matter so much if they get cancellations, and they advertise in all the right places.

So how much should you charge? Well the honest answer is it's up to you, you can charge whatever the students are willing to pay; personally I charge anything from 500 baht to 1500 baht an hour although when you ask most students what they want to study they will normally vaguely mention a need to study "conversation" and then just wait to see what you suggest.

Teaching Corporates

Teaching Business English is usually done through an agency who will provide you with a nice (usually photocopied) textbook, a couple of tapes, and will send you into a business to teach their staff "Business English". For this you as a teacher might get 400-800 baht depending on what you are teaching and where the location is. There is a lot of competition in this sector of the business and agencies do exist to make money, who knows what will happen in the future but it does seem to me that more and more businesses are questioning the value to English lessons provided by some agencies who in the final analysis don't really know what they are doing. Not all agencies are bad, some do great work, but it would seem that those that promise the most for the least expense get the work initially and when they fail to deliver culminates with a jaded client who then dismiss the idea of teaching English to their staff for a long while.

Teaching corporates lets you earn a little more money for a few hours work per week, normally on a Tuesday and Thursday 6-8 or 7-9 although there are classes at other times of the week (and even some before the normal office hours) people normally find it very easy to fill their two normal slots and then find it hard to accommodate other corporate work due to the time conflicts. With a little careful management it is possible, but in my opinion corporate work is nice extra work which you do to get a little extra money on top of a normal salary, it would be very hard to just survive on corporate work alone although some people do manage it.I would guess that the going rate for corporate work to be about 500-600 baht per hour.

In order to set up courses for businesses in Thailand companies really need to differentiate their instructional methods and materials and with the right contacts and a bit of luck you can set up your own corporate work which will be cheaper for the company because they don't have to pay an agency, and will let you earn more money per hour as well!

Teaching Freelance

Setting yourself up for Freelance teaching can be quite well paid but it is hard to market yourself and unless you are really good at self promotion, it’s always going to be something else you do to supplement other things. Not many people can turn freelance work into a full time job but many people do give it a go and have some success.

Things to consider when getting a job

Take a look at our other articles to give yourself a good chance

• Resume writing
  * Cover Letters
  * Interview Tips
  * Do you need a criminal background check? What is it and how do you get one?
  * Check out our overview of teaching portfolios
  

There are however a couple of other things

What's the cost of living?

Bangkok can be a pretty cheap place to live, the food is cheap and readily available, Western food is available. How people adapt to Thai lifestyle is what can make a big difference to costs though, eating Thai food everyday will cost you about 30 to 50 baht per meal, a coffee at Starbucks will cost you almost 100 baht; in other words you can eat all day just for the price of one coffee. Wine, cheese, chocolate and other everyday items in the west will cost you more than they would cost you back at home. Some other goods are taxed heavily in Thailand, the cost of a new Mercedes is more here than almost anywhere else in the world and yet Bangkok has more Mercedes per capita than any other city in the world.

Food and Drink
Plate of Thai food at an average small restaurant	40B - 70B
Plate of western style food	150B - 300B
Meal at a high quality Thai restaurant	300B - 500B
Beer in an average bar	60B - 150B
20 cigarettes (Western brand)	60B
Travel
Average taxi fare	70B
Bus fare	7B - 20B
Average Skytrain fare	25B
Thirty Trip Skytrain pass	600B
Underground trip	28B
Shopping
Pirated software	120B
Fake Rolex watch	500B
Bootlegged DVD	90 - 150B
Cheap T-Shirt	100B
Fake Shirt	150-250B
Real Brand name shirt	1000B - 1500B
General
Cinema ticket	120B - 140B
Nightclub Entrance Fee	400B - 600B
Local English language newspaper	25B

How much money do I really need?

Money can be the root of all evil, but dress it up however you like; money does make the world go round so how much of the folding stuff will you need every month?

Places to stay

The one single thing that will make the biggest hole in your pay packet will be the cost of your accommodation. For me choosing a place to live is of the utmost importance as if I have a nice place I am less inclined to go out and spend more money on other things. There are so many different areas and with the Skytrain (BTS) and the underground (MRT) it has never been easier to get around the city quickly and cheaply. Because it is easier to get around than in the past that opens up a lot more places to stay that don't require the necessity of having a car just to get to work and to go out. There is talk of the skytrain and underground being extended sometime in the future, however I would try to find somewhere that is within easy reach of the BTS or MRT and if you need to think about getting to work anywhere that is not within easy reach of the mass transport system then it would really be better to either move within walking distance or dip your hand in your pocket and get yourself some wheels.

It is possible to just get a single room for around 4,000 - 8,000 baht per month but to be honest you won't get much for it. Moving upscale a little you can spend a little more and opt for a one bedroom apartment with a separate living area which will cost you 12,000 - 17,000 if you want to near a skytrain station. A two bed room place with a kitchen, two bathrooms will set you back 22,000 - 35,000 for a popular area such as Thonglor, Sathorn, or Sukhumvit. Obviously these are rough figures and there are wide variations in price depending on location.

Some apartment buildings come with a wide range of facilities, some have a swimming pool, some have a gym. I know of at least one condo block that has a snooker room, squash court, badminton court, gym, and sauna!

Accommodation
3* hotel room	800B to 1200B
Central Bangkok studio with good facilities (per month)	8000B to 20,000B
Central Bangkok apartment 1-2 Bedrooms (per month)	17,000 to 30,000
Non-central cheap apartment with few/no facilities (per month)	2000B to 4000B
Central Bangkok Townhouse	7,000 - 40,000]]

Bills

This is where everyone has a small degree of control over what they spend so let's deal with the essentials first; water and electricity.

Water rates are cheap in Thailand and even if you take three or four showers a day you water bill shouldn't be more than 300 baht. unfortunately some buildings like to inflate the bill and charge you more than the meter rate and thus secure themselves a nice little earner from each tenant. Water should be around 18 baht per unit and a single person living alone with a washing machine and a couple of baths/showers per day should use only around 7 units.

Electricity bills can also get padded and really really really can vary depending on how much you use the air conditioning. My electric bill is usually around 800 baht per month normally, however if I start using the aircon all the time, especially when I am sleeping my bill can hit 3,000 baht with no problem. It's much cheaper to buy a good fan and put it at the end of the bed or in the living room to keep yourself cool.

Every man and his dog has got a cell phone and the packages really vary, some companies have promotions that change every month and some seem to be fixed. The easiest decision as regards mobile phones is whether you want a pay as you go phone that will need topping up with money every so often; or whether you want a contract phone for which you get a phone bill every month. Pay as you go numbers are easy to get hold of, they are cheap, and you can use them instantly. They are easy to top up with credit with just a simple visit to a 7-11. The only disadvantage is that they are slightly more expensive than the contract phones, you can run out of credit sometimes when you don't expect to, and if you lose your phone, you will also lose your phone number and not have a chance in hell of ever getting the same number back again. Contract phones require you to have work permit, the rates are cheaper. If you get a decent package you can pay 2 baht per connection and 0.25baht per minute as opposed to 3-5 baht per minute for a pay as you go number. If you lose your contract phone number then you can easily request a replacement sim card and thus retain the same number which is important if people need to constantly keep in touch with you.

Calling abroad used to be really really expensive, now however it's not too bad. You can buy a phone card to call abroad from a company like Phone-net which are available for 500 or 300 baht and with that you can call abroad. You can also dial directly using 008 and 009 prefixes (both routed with Voice over IP but perfect sound) these are the cheapest numbers to use to call abroad instead of using the normal 001 prefix. Lastly if you have a home computer and fast internet access you can use a service like Skype to call home which works out really cheaply.

Cable TV is another of those little luxuries that would will probably really want as soon as you've seen what is actually considered viewing here. Thai TV mostly consists of banal game shows or Soap Operas with screaming young girls, big haired women, and very wooden overacting. So either you stock up well with DVDs, download your favourite programs from back home using bit torrents, or you stump up the cash for UBC. There are several packages, the cheapest is about 950 baht and for that you don't really get much, the next level is 1,500 baht and for that you get HBO, BBC news, and a few other bits and bobs. The top package (and therefore the most expensive) give you everything which to be honest it not that much. UBC is very disappointing and in my mind very expensive for what you get. All of the movies that are on are really old and so are most of the series, so unless you like sport or watching the news I really think UBC is not worth the money. I cancelled my UBC a few months ago because there was really nothing on that I wanted to watch and 2,500 baht a month for the top package will buy you a lot of DVDs that you can watch anytime you like. If UBC let you pick and choose the channels that you want to watch and billed you for those rather than having just the set packages then I would be tempted back as a customer, but for me UBC was a waste of money.

I should just note that another option is to get a satellite installed and with that you can pick up a lot of channels at no monthly cost, however I don't know anyone who has done this so I'm not sure. If anyone has any details please let us know so that they can be posted up here.

Food

Thailand is famous for its delicious food. Ten years ago, no one had a clue what Thai food was and nowadays there seems to be a Thai restaurant on every street in the UK. Even pubs are offering Thai food as part of their lunchtime offerings, I would say Thai food is as popular if not more so than Indian or Chinese Food. Freshly and quickly prepared, no other kitchen can beat the Thai. I find the best choice of foods on the streets. Usually the food stalls are specialized in only a few dishes that they prepare with great skill.

As with trying any kind of regional food, it helps to either go out with someone who is knowledgeable regarding the various different dishes that are available. If you just eat out on your own all the time or with other westerners, you will probably keep on trying the same old dishes, day after day.

So we’ve taken some time to compile a quick guide to eating Thai food when you are in Thailand.

The first thing to bear in mind is that there are many different types of places you can get a good meal at. There are various small stalls on the sides of roads, open air restaurants, air conditioned restaurants, and big posh (expensive) places like the Blue Elephant. Just remember, price does not always equate to quality. You can get some great meals very cheaply. Breakfast

So let’s start with the very basics. Most Thais for breakfast will either have Jok which is a rice porridge or Khao Dtom. Jok is usually served with fresh ginger, spring onions, various types of meat, pepper and on request a raw egg. A delicious meal.

Khao Tom is rice soup but you can still recognize the rice. Served with fresh herbs, garlic, onions and meat, fish or seafood. Like jok it is usually eaten as breakfast and it tastes well.

Sala pao are steamed dumplings which are popular and can be found everywhere. Many fillings are possible, but the most common ones are minced pork (moo sab), my favourite, and pork with a red sauce (moo daeng). The decoration on top indicates the type of filling. Not sure if this is universal or different by shop. Available in different sizes too. Every morning you can see people traipsing off to work carrying a little carrie bag stuffed with Salapao!

Popular Street Food

Kao Moo Daeng

Thin sliced pork on rice, covered with a sweet red sauce. Add lime juice, brown soy sauce and eat it with some fresh spring onion. If lucky, you will be served a small bowl of soup as well.

Kao Man Gai

Very nice (but not too healthy) chicken dish served on rice with a spicy sauce/dip and some vegetable soup. The chicken is cooked and the fat is also used with the rice, so it's probably best if you didn't eat it every day.

Kao Kah Moo

Very similar to Kai Man Gai, except this is pork and it will come covered in sauce.

Satay

This is pork or chicken on a stick, served with peanut sauce and a spicy mix of cucumber, onion and chilli in vinegar.

Moo Ping

Pork meat on a stick grilled on the barbecue. Served with a spicy sauce and if you like, sticky rice. Other types of meat often available at the same shop are chicken liver (delicious), sour sausage (also delicious but very fat) and chicken ass (too chewy for my taste).

Noodle soup (Kuay Tiaw)

Thai noodle soup, most popular street food ever. Available in many variations, depending on size and type of noodle (small (sen lek), big (sen yay), made with egg (bami)), type of meat and with or without soup (naam or haeng). Make it to your own taste by adding (dried) chilli, sugar, fish sauce and/or vinegar.

Eating Thai Style

When you go and eat out Thai style in a restaurant or with Thai colleagues, you don't just order what you want and start to tuck in as soon as it arrives. Thais like to share their food, so expect to order lots of dishes as a group to share amongst the people at the table. Normally there will be a few nibbles such as fishcakes, followed by 3-4 dishes all served with either rice or noodles. I have listed all my favourites below.

Lahp

Lahp is a regional dish from the north east, (and I include it here because it is the best, most delicious Thai food ever!) spicy meat salad. It is normally served with sticky rice and other Isaan dishes such as Som Tam, Kor Moo Yang, Nam Dtok Moo.

Yam Bradook Foo

Deep fried fish (not the whole fish), it's pretty hard to describe, it's deep fried fish (a bit like tuna) that is then served with a spicy/sour dip. It's crunchy and really is delicious.

Tom Yam Kung

Most popular Thai soup, filled with shrimp (kung), lemon grass and mushroom. Also available in a fish or chicken variety. Usually quite spicy. Eat with plain rice.

Som Tam Thai

Traditional food from the Isaan (North-East). Made of sliced unripe papaya with tomatoes, green beans, peanuts and shrimp (paste). Besides this they put in a chilli or 2, so it can be hotter than hot. Variants are served with black fresh-water crab (Som Tam Pooh) or fermented fish (Som Tam Plara), but I don't like the smell and taste of either of these. Eat with sticky rice.

Khao Pad

Fried rice with vegetables, egg and meat or seafood. A good fill up anytime.

Khao Niaw Ma Muang

Sliced sweet mango, served with sticky rice, sweetened with coconut milk. Usually eaten as dessert, but I eat it as a complete meal sometimes. Heavy stuff but very good. A similar dish is served with durian instead of mango and is even more heavy but delicious too.

Phad Thai

The most common vegetarian dish, also popular with non vegetarians. Noodle, bean sprouts, egg and (dried) shrimp are fried in high speed, so that it remains crispy. Eaten with crushed peanuts, spring union and lime juice a real treat.

Crepe Jiipun

A big round hot plate usually means pancakes. Not thick and soft as served in other parts of the world, but thin and crispy. Many fillings possible, but my personal favourite is banana. Folded double in the shape of a pizza slice it is a tasteful snack.

The more adventurous among you should give these interesting and exciting Thai dishes a try.

Legal Issues and Visas

Thailand's visa regulations are complicated, inconsistent, change retrospectively without warning, and seem to get more and more difficult to understand the longer you stay here and the more you try to understand them!

The information here is correct in our understanding as of October 2007. Any errors are due to changes or due to variances in implementation of immigration law and while we do try to ensure that information is as accurate as possible, we are not the immigration department and there may be differences and/or problems that we cannot foresee. If you have any doubts, check with the relevant authorities.

There are basically three categories of teacher paperwork wise:

1. An illegal teacher who works without a work permit, a teacher’s license (if one is required), and without a one year visa. Illegal teachers in the main have to do border runs and consulate runs to neighboring countries every month or every 2-3 months.

The main reasons that teachers work illegally are because they don't possess the necessary qualifications; their employer can't/won’t/don’t know how to get them a work permit; or because they don’t like to be tied down with someone else having so much control over their right to stay and work and/or so that they can do freelance work and not be tied down to any one single place.

Teaching without a work permit could lead you to encounter serious problems which could culminate in a stint in jail, a fine, or even deportation.

2. A legal teacher who has a work permit (from the Labour Department) and a one-year visa (from Immigration Dept). The one year visa is issued based on having a work permit. If you don't have a work permit, you can’t get the one year visa. Teachers that work in universities or in language schools (not high schools) do not require a teacher’s license.

3. A legal teacher who has a work permit, a one-year visa, AND a teacher's license (from the Ministry of Education). A teacher’s license is required to work in any government school or any school that teaches children in the public or private sectors.

Obviously being legal in either category two or three means that you have some security and as some border runners can have problems staying long term, it is always easier to stay legal within employment unless you have some other long term way of getting a longer term visa; marriage, business, or some other provision.

Visas

There are lots of lots of different types of visas and rules are constantly changing. Check with immigration/a consulate/ or an embassy before you make plans

Visa on arrival

Some nationalities automatically receive a 30 day visa on entry with the option (at the Immigration officers discretion) to extend by 10 to 14 days at a cost of 1,900 Baht). Quite a few foreigners have lived in Thailand for years and years on this kind of visa and just gone to a border point every 30 days, crossed over and returned to receive a new 30-day stamp. This might have changed as Thai immigration have announced that people can only get a maximum of three 30-day stamps, and then they have to leave the country and spend 90 days out of the country before you being allowed another one. There is however an alternative, people can visit a Thai consulate abroad and get a tourist or non-immigrant visa there before continuing with one or two more visas on arrival. This apparently can be repeated ad infinitum but using past experience as a yardstick to guess the future, there could be a clampdown in the future but I would be unable to guess for sure if and when it may happen. In all matters relating to Thai immigration and officialdom, the only certainty is uncertainty.

Slightly better than a visa on arrival are the tourist Visas that are issued by a Thai embassy or consulate abroad. A tourist visa can be for a single entry or a different number of entries (specific and limited to a set number of entries) or can even be for multiple entries (over a year and not limited to the number of visits you can make) A single tourist Visa gives you sixty days on entry, with the option to extend by 30 days (costing 1,900 Baht) at an Immigration office. A double entry tourist Visa gives you the same sixty days (with a thirty day extension), and a further sixty day entry once you've left Thailand and returned with another thirty day extension available.

A triple entry would give you THREE entries of sixty days and a multiple will let you enter as many times as you like but the maximum you can stay without crossing the border with the sixty days plus a thirty day extension in one go.

Many neighbouring countries only give single or double visas and some places are better than others. No one knows which is the best place to go to get a visa, many people think that you have to go home or to a consulate/embassy in a western country to get something like a multiple entry visa.

Tourist visas can enable you to stay longer than a visa on arrival but you cannot work legally in Thailand on one, for that you need one of the other types of visas: a Non Immigrant visa.

Non-immigrant Visas

There are many many different types of non-immigrant visa:

A Non-immigrant B Visa is generally the Visa you want if you are looking to work. To get one you need paperwork which usually includes letter that guarantees your employment, an employment contract, maybe a letter from your embassy and perhaps a security/criminal background check.

Requirements do differ hugely from place to place so try to find out exactly what you need before you head off to get your visa. It’s no fun being stuck in Cambodia or Laos after having travelled all that way just to have them deny your visa because you forgot a piece of paper that they have now decided that they want to see. Officials can be a law unto themselves and if you are travelling from a western country, I would always advise people to get their visa there as you will probably require less paperwork and they seem less reluctant to issue visas. You should also bear in mind than even if you ring up and check what you need t is not unknown to still not be given the full details or for some new requirement to rear its head at the last minute.

A Non Immigrant B visa will give you ninety days, with the option to extend by ten days at Immigration at a cost of 1,900 Baht with the option to extend again for another six days at a cost of another 1,900 Baht. You can get double entry Non-immigrant Bs which give you two entries of ninety days (plus the two extensions that you can pay for), each entry after the first entry is activated by exiting and re-entering the country.

A multiple entry Non-immigrant B Visa is the best visa available as it gives you just under fifteen month of worry free visas (apart from the trips every ninety days or so) and will give you ninety days worth of cover each and every time you leave and enter the country up to the expiry date of the visa.

Non-immigrant O Visas are for those who are married to Thai nationals or have Thai children or other dependants. They are similar to a Non-immigrant B visa, although there is a requirement to show you have enough money to fund your stay and support yourself/family without having to work which means that you have to show 800,000 in a Thai bank account that has been there for at least three months before you apply or you need to be able to show a joint local or overseas income of 40,000 baht per month. The money you have to show has just doubled from 400,000 baht and you might have to show the money/ and/or the monthly immigration (the rules are not clear at present) and then immigration can extend your Visa for up to twelve months. You can also get a work permit with a Non-immigrant O visa but expect some schools to be reluctant because they have either never done it before or think that it can’t be done.

Ed Visas are available for those that are studying in Thailand (normally full time). People can apply with a letter from a school or university and then apply at immigration for a visa allowing them to stay in Thailand for the duration of their studies. Some schools that teach Thai offer this visa but some require you to study every day while others aren’t so stringent about how many hours you do in the classroom. You are no allowed to work legally on an Educational Visa but you can stay on one for a long time provided you have the support of a school or university. In theory you can stay for a long time on one of these visas if you do for example a Masters degree and then perhaps a PhD or doctoral level qualification but you can’t legally work! On the positive side, you don’t need to do visa runs either and I am sure you could work part time or off the radar.

Work Permits

If you want to get fully legal, then you need your little blue book, the work permit. Most schools require you to be on a Non-immigrant B visa, although you can get one with a Non-immigrant O (spouse or dependant’s Visa). If you need a Non Immigrant B visa then you might need a trip out of the country to get one but sometimes it can be changed here in country. A lot of employers prefer to deal with a Non-immigrant B Visa even though it is possible to obtain a work permit with a Non-immigrant O Visa. This is because: a lot of employers aren't aware of this, it's too much trouble for them, or they don’t know how to do it/they have never done it before

You need a few of months left on your visa so that the school can obtain/provide all the required paperwork (which can be a lot). Immigration can give an extension (of up to thirty days) while the paperwork is all being put together and it is not unheard of for work permits to take from four or five days to four to five months before everything is handed in and then the work permit is granted and everything finished. Once you have a work permit, then it is easier to renew it but once you leave the job you have to hand it in and with a new job, you have to start the whole process again. Most high schools require a teaching license in order to get a work permit (this is not required in language schools or universities though)

A work permit does not cover you for all work anywhere. Your work permit only allows you to teach in the location stated on the inside cover of your work permit (although it is possible to add other locations). Technically, as soon at you teach away from the main place covered by your work permit, for example to teach corporate clients or private students, you are breaking the law.

It would be lovely to see a work permit that is tied to the teacher and not the school, this would really empower the teacher and give them a lot more freedom but I’m afraid that I just can’t see this happening as some schools seem to feel that they need a certain degree of power or leverage over their foreign staff which is a shame.

Other Issues

Aside from the issues with work permits, visas, and teaching licenses, there are a couple of other issues that every teacher needs to be aware of.

Re-entry permits

Being given a non immigrant B visa unfortunately does not mean that you a free and clear of any potential problems (or costs) and if you leave the country, it will have the unfortunate side effect of cancelling your visa as well! To avoid this potentially disastrous situation you must buy a re-entry permit; either bought from immigration or at the airport. This tiny little stamp which takes up a full page of your passport and costs 1000 baht for a single re-entry or 3,800 for a multiple re-entry. The re-entry permit is valid as long as your visa is valid ( or until you use it in the case of a single re-entry permit) .

You must make sure you have a re-entry permit before you leave the country because if you don’t your visa will be cancelled when you leave and that will also cancel your work permit and your teacher license (if you have one) and means that you have to start the whole tedious process again.

If you have a visa extension, you still need a re-entry permit and if you get a new visa then you need a new re-entry permit as well (if you travel you need to make sure your re-entry permit will cover you and you will probably need a new re-entry permit each time you extend your visa for another year).

Dealing with bureaucracy

I am firmly of the opinion that Thailand is a place where bureaucracy rules. Forget the rules as they apply in the west where there is a clearly defined rule of law that applies equally and without favour to all and that is clearly defined. Immigration officers can be inconsistent in interpreting rules, might not know all the rules, or the rules might have just changed but they might not have been published!

When I deal with immigration I try to ensure that I project a positive image, I try to be the perfect poster boy foreigner that the Thai immigration officer would like to have staying in their country, teaching their children, etc. Basically have a shower and a shave before you go and make sure you are clean, put on some smart/business clothes, try to speak Thai if you can as much as possible just to show that you are making an effort to fit into their country and culture. Always be polite and act appropriately and never lose your temper. Remember, these people can make your life unbearably difficult or they can make it easy. Obviously you can’t make sure that things run smoothly 100% of the time, but you can try to control some of the factors and present yourself positively. I have lost count of the number of westerners I have seen in immigration, wearing flip flops, shorts, and a T-shirt, and sometimes even accompanied with a very rough looking lady of negotiable affection. It’s not worth taking the risk and it’s so easy to make sure that your interactions start off on a positive note, just with a little thought and effort.

Thai Laws and Related Articles

Some laws apply to some schools and some don't, in any case as an employee, normally Thai law is on your side, especially if you have a work permit and are legally employed.

All details of relevant legislation is below:

• Working of Aliens Act 2521
• Labour Protection Act 1998
• National Education Act 2542
• Applying for License to Practice the Teaching Profession B.E. 2549
• Details of Testing and Evaluation of Knowledge for Practicing the Teaching Profession - evaluating whether you can be a teacher or not.
• Course of Testing and Evaluation of Knowledge for Practicing the Teaching Profession - if you don't meet the criteria to teach, what you might need to do.

The latest change is the Teachers and educational personnel Council Act 2546 which lays down standards for teacher qualifications.

We've archived all the news reports on the issue of Fake Qualifications so you can see exactly what went on.
There's some legal documentation you might want to take a look at that relates to teaching in Thailand.

What other issues are there Living in Thailand?

One of the main issues that really needs thinking about, especially if you come from a European country is that of Health insurance?. What might have been free back home, suddenly can cost quite a lot of money at any of the Thai hospitals. Obviously nobody thinks that they are going to fall ill, but the sad fact of life is that the older we get, the more likely things are to go wrong and its also another sad fact of life is that accidents happen when you least expect. So getting yourself some good medical cover is very necessary, especially if you are in Thailand for any extended length of time.

Some schools and other places of work will give you medical insurance; however it is very important to check out what package you have been given and what it actually covers. The first medical cover I had from a Thai school did not really cover much and you still had to pay quite a lot yourself. My first cover was provided by AIA and to be honest I was not really impressed, even though the weak cover of the card was probably due to the school paying for the lowest package just so that they could tell their employees that they had medical insurance as one of the benefits.

Other schools will give you proper medical insurance that will cover everything and anything. All medication, all treatment, everything is covered with your little laminated friend that is sitting in your wallet. Recently I had to visit hospital because I found a lump in the side of my chest, I saw a couple of doctors who tried to reassure me that it was nothing, that it was benign, even then it was still a source of worry, so I decided to nip down to Bumrumgrad and get it removed. A one hour simple operation came to 7,000 baht plus 1,000 bahts worth of medication and painkillers. So if it's 8,000 baht for just a very small and quick procedure, you can start to imagine what the cost it going to be if there is something seriously wrong with you and heaven forbid you have to even stay in the hospital for a few days to recuperate.

Some medical plans even cover you for things like dental care, it might be a fixed amount, but getting so many thousands of baht worth of cover for your teeth is not something to be sneezed at, as you get older, you will use it. Last year I had to have a root canal done on one of my teeth, apart from the numerous visits that were required due to my tooth having a complicated root system, the bill for all the work with the cap was 25,000 baht.

One last thing to be aware of is your documents, you will need your passport and it belongs to you not your school as do your diplomas and certificates. Do not let your school hold any of your documents and it is sad to say that some schools like to think that they have some power over their teachers by withholding important documents and even withholding information! I personally would not let my documents out of my sight because I know of many cases where documents have gone missing either at the school or at immigration. Replacing important documents when you are on the other side of the world is not that easy to do, so just give photocopies where you can and escort your documents if originals are really called for.

Staying long term

I have been in Thailand for quite a long time, more than 6 years. In that time I have seen people come and go. It’s just a place where people don’t tend to stay for very long. Most people will come, spend a couple of years here working and then realize that it is not exactly easy to get rich out here and will either go back to what they were doing before, go to another country where the salary is a lot better, or try to update their qualifications so that they can gain access to the higher paying jobs. If you stay for more than two year then you too will start to notice people coming and going; I have no idea how large the turnover of people is, but Thailand sure does chew some people up and spit them out. One has only to look at the case of the teacher who was arrested trafficking heroin just so that she could get the money together for a flight home to see how desperate some people become. Thailand is not an easy place to make things work and it really does take a certain type of person to survive here.

I would guess that there are a couple of reasons why people don’t stay long term.

Money is the biggest consideration, simply put while it is possible to make a great deal of money here if you are very motivated and good at managing yourself with perhaps a dash of entrepreneurial spirit, Thailand is a very good place to just mark time and achieve very little. Some people can save and earn almost as much as they would at home. Others manage to save very little perhaps because they pursue a western lifestyle and they have a low income. Just a simple thing like a trip home every couple of years is going to eat into your savings and if your salary is only 35,000 per month and you manage to save 10,000 of that every month, then it really does not leave much wiggle room for any emergencies of problems that will inevitably crop up.

Having a family and kids is also expensive here. If you want your kids to go to a good school and receive a good education then you better get ready to put your hand in your pocket. At 500,000 per year per child for an international school, the price is not cheap and if you have 2 kids, then that’s a lot of money that has to come from somewhere, otherwise you will have to enrol your kids in the Thai school. Now if you’ve got a nice expat package or work for an international school then it’s no problem as your kids’ education will be paid for, but face it, on a low salary if you want your kids to receive any kind of decent free education then you have to take your family, bag and baggage back to whatever corner of farangland you are from.

Being away from friends and family can be hard for some people, although there are a lot of westerners here, they won’t necessarily be the type of people you would be friends with if you were back at home (wow hope that does not sound snobby, it’s not meant to be). In any case you will be thousands of miles from your mum, dad, brother, sister, best friend, and even though absence can make the heart grow fonder, some people can’t deal with the isolation they might experience here especially if they are living outside the more cosmopolitan areas and they have no command of the local language.

There are a lot more western men than women and I have had countless western female friends say how difficult it is for them to have a relationship, one even said that she just felt like wallpaper in the background. As a western female you might have more choice of jobs (as long as you like teaching small children) but you might find it hard to have a relationship. This can take a toll and I’m sure it’s one reason why there are fewer women here who stay long term.

Staying long term does not look too good if and when you do decide to return to the west, if you’ve been working for a multi national, an NGO, or Harrow International School, then that would be ok for some snotty nosed HR manager who has never been outside of Europe, but trying to explain why you spend 5 years living in a country which has a less than positive reputation for ladies (and boys) of negotiable affection, you might find it hard to get a job back home.

But some people do stay, lots of people come, get married, have kids. Some open businesses and make some good money. There is less red tape here in some aspects and perhaps there is more opportunity, although, I have to say, if you’re a foreigner in business here, the odds are very heavily stacked against you. But if you can come up with a new idea and market it here, success could be just around the corner. Thai people though are very fickle and fads come and go in the blink of an eye. A product that makes a lot of money one day, you might not be able to give away the next. One example of “Roti boy” a chain of shops that sold buns, there used to be queues all over Bangkok as people queued (often for up to an hour) to try and buy this sweet bun. Three months later, all of them are closed; in fact I don’t think there is even a single one left anywhere in Thailand.

Is it Worth Learning Thai?

Learning the Local Lingo can be very useful and is something that most people have a bash at. Thai is quite a hard language to speak well although it is quite easy to pick up the basics so that you can communicate with Taxis or carry out your business in shops. Getting anywhere close to fluency is a lot more difficult, this could be due to the fact that most of the materials are geared towards beginners and intermediate learners, it could also be that the schools that do provide Thai instruction for foreigners don't teach anything much beyond the Brathom 6 exam which as a foreigner you can do and is the basic benchmark of success for being able to use the Thai language effectively.

Although speaking Thai is by no means compulsory, and in fact you can get around quite well without it, being able to speak and communicate in Thai does mean that you can do more, and get things done more easily. Most Thais actually greatly appreciate a little bit of effort to pick up some conversational skills. Personally I like to speak Thai as much as I can and I spent quite a long time studying the language in detail, both part time at SOAS (the School of Oriental and African Studies) in London, and then spending nine months studying full time at Union Language school and going on to take and pass the Grade six Thai Language Examination. Being able to read and write Thai can also mean that you can pay local prices for things and at least insulate yourself a little from some of the dual pricing that occurs from time to time.

The Bor 6 exam is available once per year, usually in November or December and is done at the ministry of education, and the test has 5 sections with the pass mark being 50%. The test consists of writing a letter (20 marks) for which most of the marks are for the correct formatting of the letter and you have to draw an envelope and write the sender and addressee, you even have to draw a square for the stamp and write 2 baht in it. The next section is to write a 30 line essay about a topic (30 marks), this could be anything, from Why I love Thailand, to, Who is the best person I know&. After that comes a dictation (20 marks) which require you to write down exactly what the teacher reads out, you hear it twice and they always choose words with irregular spellings and words that can be written about 20 different ways and still sound the same. Next we move to a reading comprehension test (20 marks), 2 passages with some questions that may or may not relate to the passage and finally you have to read a piece out loud (10 marks) to a Thai teacher who will ask you some questions and that's the 100 possible marks that you can get.

Some of the Schools Teaching Thai offer a three month preparation course which for me was 3 months of mind numbing boredom, where you do the same thing every day and just practice the exam every day. They don’t even vary the format at the school at all, as a result we never had all the students in class at once, and I too was guilty of missing a couple of days here and there. Studying for this exam at a Thai language school is an insight into how anally retentive the Thai educational system really is, I mean we even had to dress up in black trousers (or skirt) with a white shirt and tie on exam day(we also had to do that for the mock exams as well!)

In the final analysis, there are no grades and a pass is a pass, a few months after you take the test you will get a postcard telling you that the results are available and there even was a pdf released on the Internet that detailed the names of all those that passed, in any case you still have to go to the ministry of education and go and get your certificate.

The Thai language belongs to the Chinese-Thai branch of the Sino-Tibetan family. Standard Thai is based on the central dialect and is understood everywhere although some places like the northern, northeastern, and southern regions also have their own dialects. Central Thai is taught at schools and is also used for TV broadcasts and other national requirements.

Thai language is tonal; similar to Chinese although Thai does have five tones whereas Mandarin only has four. There are many words that originally come from Sanskrit and Palian and the Thai writing system is indeed based on Pali and Sanskrit with many Mon and Khmer words still in use today. Some words are the same in both Thai and Cambodian even though the grammar and languages are dramatically different. King Ramkhamhaeng of the Sukhothai area, invented the written Thai language and there has been little change in the language apart from the retirement of a couple of consonants.

The Thai alphabet consists of forty-four consonants and fifteen vowels. The script is written horizontally and left to right, with no gaps between words. ,Vowels are written above, below, before, or after the consonant they belong to and some vowels are not written at all put are implied from the surrounding consonants

From a western linguistic viewpoint there is not much grammar in Thai. There are no plurals, no tenses, and no articles. The main problem for western speakers is that the Thai language has the 5 tones : the mid tone, high tone, low tone, rising tone and falling tone. This means that meanings of words varies depending on which tone is used. If you pronounce a word using the wrong tone you might not be understood. It takes quite a lot of time and effort to learn to use and to be able to differentiate the different tones.

Another problem is that it is difficult to differentiate between certain consonants. For example, the Thai language has consonants for the sounds (in English) 't', 'th','b','bp','k'.'kh' and there is even one sound 'ng' that although it does exist in English, it is never used to start a word as it can be used in Thai.

There are lots of text books to help you study that come with tapes or nowadays come with CDs. There is the excellent Inlingua course, Teach yourself Thai, Thai for Beginners, Thai for Intermediate Learners, Thai- English dictionaries. Most of the books are pretty good, in particular the series by Benjawan Poomsan Becker run nicely together.

Disadvantages of Working in Thailand

There are many disadvantages to working in Thailand long term. How will an employer back in the west view a two or three year sojourn here? Is it possible to save money working here? What about if you have a family, is it possible to provide for them just by teaching here?

Having kids does seem to be a tipping point for many people. If you work as a teacher then your knowledge of the lack of quality in the educational system might be the spur to take you back to your own country. The lack of opportunity might also act as an impetus to return and upgrade your qualifications either to return in the future or move onto another country. You are limited in what you can do work wise in Thailand and there is less opportunity than you might suppose, but for many people the pros vastly outweigh the cons and the cheap cost of living and quite a good quality of life can be enjoyed; all this coupled with a cultural experience that many enjoy and can look back on with fond memories.

Teacher Training

Recommended Books, Links

Teaching
Office of the National Education Commission (Responsible for policy making and planning for education at all levels and of all types)
The Teachers' Council of Thailand