benj005
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Posts posted by benj005
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Why are they to blame? Most are here as backpackers and need extra spending money. All they are doing is filling a position that needs to be filled. I blame the schools for doing shady deals.
Those in power crack down on any union very quickly. Even if the word union gets uttered, people get fired. That does not mean they can't be formed, but they have fear on their side no doubt. In the history of almost every other country there is somebody who stands up and effectively fights though, for whatever reason I don't see that happening here. Education is a part of it too. The less educated the people are, the less likely they will be to rise up. Don't think the govt does not consider that.There should be a Teaching union to tackle this underpaying of Teachers in Thailand, my sister is in Kuwait teaching and she is getting a nice wage with a house and flights home paid for, I am not a teacher but I believe Thailand are taking advantage of teachers here, like not paying them for the summer holiday etc. are you meant to do for money.
From what I have learned over the years here is that it has been 30,000 for over ten years but still Thailand seems to have no shortage of teachers.
30,000 is not enough to put up with working for Thais, add a zero and this is what they are paying other professions to work here.
Anyway, I totally agree with you, but I think the people putting up with these 30k baht salaries are just as much to blame however.
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1. Stop discriminating and shunning special ed children! Give them hope and a good education so they may shine!
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Of course. I understand what you're saying. I would think that teaching overseas holds a lot of advantages for someone who wants to find a teaching position in the states. Especially if you're going to work with minorities. Also, living overseas says a lot about the person. It says that he/she can thrive anywhere. Most people have a difficult time living in new places for an extended period of time, let alone teaching and living in a foreign country.I would say the longer you wait to actually work in your field of SPED, the possibilities of getting good paying jobs will become fewer and fewer. Getting solid references from people overseas can also be a problem. If you are looking ahead 20 years, investing in a Masters degree would be wise, would open up a lot of possibilities. Of course it all depends an what you truly want, how you want to live now and later on. If I needed to hire an online teacher for a college/university, I'd be looking at degrees accompanied with actual teaching experience and methods employed.
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Awful. Why is it so difficult to get a working visa in Thailand? Thailand needs to follow in South Koreas footsteps. All of the paperwork is done while the prospective teacher is in his/her home country. Before I taught in SK I needed my bachelors degree notarized and apostilled. The same with my FBI check. Included was my sealed transcript. Once done I sent the items to my recruiter who then secured my working visa for the year. The process took 3 months mainly because of the FBI check.
Why can't Thailand implement something similar?
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Hello Benj005. When I read your reference about Rowan University I couldn't help but reply. Not that I can give you any advice about your situation but I'm also a native of Philadelphia and a retired educator from Burlington County, NJ. Received a BA in Psychology from LaSalle University (College in those days). Couldn't do much with that degree so went on to Millersville University (then State College) in Pennsylvania, which was one of the very few that had degree programs for special education. Received my M.Ed. from Millersville and went on to teaching in several schools in Penna. and NJ before finally landing my job in Burlington County and continued in that school for 25 years. Did my Educational Administration certifications at Rowan (then Glassboro State). Retired as an Assistant Principle 6 years ago and moved to Thailand. I do volunteer teaching at the local Village school specifically the lower elementary grades.
My point being is that I am here on a very nice Pension and supplemented by SS. I have a very nice life here. My point is perhaps (don't know your age) you should consider going back to NJ and securing a position in Special ed. There has always been a demand for male spec. ed. teachers, at least when we were hiring, and the salaries range in the $40-$50,000 range for "starting" teachers. Visit Thailand on your summer breaks and eventually retire here when the time comes.
Just some thoughts for you.
Thanks for the reply streetlite.
I will be 45 years old in a few weeks. I know the dangers of staying in a place like Thailand for too long. I don't want to be that guy who taught here for 20 years and has nothing to show for it. I understand the money stinks here unless you teach at the international schools.
I don't know if you keep up with the news in NJ. Chris Christie has been assaulting teacher pensions and the atmosphere is not that great. Another thing is the requirements to teach in NJ are getting steeper. I need to pass the praxis math/science or else most public schools will not hire me. I have the content knowledge under my belt. I just need this these 2 tests. I can do this in Thailand. They have testing centers right here in Bangkok.
I was just offered a position on an island. The curriculum is setup for me. Its teaching conversation to secondary students. The pay is only $32,000 baht. I also get a free condo which is amazing. They need me to leave today if I want the job. They had a teacher that left unexpectedly and need someone ASAP. I was thinking about taking this job and seeing how it goes. Maybe stay a year and then make NY way back to NJ to search for a possible teaching position. I was home this winter and got depressed. This is something I'd like to avoid.
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I'm currently with my girlfriend and I see how she does it.Apart from working harder/more, another option would be to ask some Thai people how they get by on less 20k a month. They may have some useful tips.
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I see a lot walking with canes. Depending how rabid the dogs are I would suggest ignoring them. I a regular early am exerciser, the dogs don't even acknowledge me now.. Same thing in Vietnam. They seem to like moving wheels though..
Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand
I thought they ate the dogs in Vietnam?
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I'm going to call my state tonite and ask them about the need to update my teachers license.
Also, how do you go about acquiring a Thai teacher license?
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To answer question in short yes. Build up contacts and you will get around 500 baht an hour for private lessons. Online work sucks and usually doesn't pay much more than local rates. 15-20 dollars an hour is the standard.
I am unclear of your credentials. You said that you have a teachers license but then you said from a University. Teacher's credentials are from state to state and have nothing to do with universities. As for your lack of experience, it is true unless you were a full time teacher in an accredited school in your home country or other international schools, you will not get positions that pay well. The other thing that you will run into soon is that your license most likely will expire in a few years. You will need to look at your states requirements to keep your license current. The good news is that you will get the Thai's teacher's license because of your qualifications.
35k baht is low but isn't poverty. Budget well, build up your resume and try to get better jobs. You might want to try China for lower tiered international schools and build up your credentials for a few years and try Thailand again. Or just take the average salary jobs here and grind away.
$500 baht sounds decent. That's something that I'd like to look at in the near future.
I have a special education degree from Rowan University. Its located in NJ. I'm aware that different states have their own requirements. I graduated in 2005. I am the last class that has an actual special education degree. I'm grandfathered in. NJ did away with the separate special ed degree. Now, its offered as a supplement to a regular teaching degree. For instance, teachers can now get a degree in regular education while taking a years worth of special ed classes. That would make them dual certified which is highly recommend. In my case I have taken the Praxis general content knowledge test that is mandatory to teach in NJ. I am also dual certified. I can teach both regular and special education.
I've called the state on two separate occasions and asked if I needed to update my teachers degree. I got a no both times. They told me that I didn't need to do it. Regardless, this is something I still would like to do. I've been putting it off. I should at least take a few more Praxis tests.
If I need to start at the bottom I will do what I need to do. $35 baht might be fine for a place like Korat, but not for Bangkok. Do you agree?
Thanks for the help.
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Is it difficult to find a job now?Well go for EP programs. If you can afford to wait a month or so then the new term starts end October .. there are plenty of 40-50k jobs on Ajarn.com
With the visa crackdown I'm wondering if we will have our pick of schools. A lot of schools are afraid that there are going to be major shortages.
Thanks.
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You do meet some freaky people who teach ESL. I remember the last school I was at was in South Korea. The school hired this really big dopey guy. He would put the kindergarten kids on his knees and sing sings to them. He would cry with them if they were having a bad day. He would talk baby talk to them. The classroom that he was in had a window that looked out to the hallway. He would look out the window and shut the curtains very quickly. His room stunk and was always dark.First off, I get the impression that the person who asked the question in the first place is not really looking for an answer. Sounds more like looking for a fight. At least, that's the impression I get after reading through most of the posts here (or as many as I could remember in between dropping off to snooze on my keyboard).
Anyway for anyone who have never taught in Thailand and would like to know what it's like, here's a glimpse at how things look like from the ground.
Someone told me about his colleagues at a very big Thai government school (I am not telling where). There are plenty of foreigners in that school, both NES (whatever kind of animal that might be) and non-NES but, apparently, according to that little bird who told me about it, nobody is confessing to holding any kind of paper qualifications (you know, degrees, tefl, work permits, etc). Presumably they do but the bureaucratic monster in resident at that school is so huge that everybody thought that Ajarn A took care of such things while Ajarn A thought that it was Ajarn B's job and Ajarn B was very sure that Ajarn C is the right person to see about it ...
So how do you get to teach in Thailand?
I asked a few foreign teachers in Thailand and most of them came through an agency. That, basically, is how things are done in Thailand. The school needs some foreign teachers to boost their ratings or boost their ego or whatever and they just pass the job to an agency. The agency may be manned by people who are not fluent in English (alright, maybe enough English to save themselves if their lives depended on it) and the agency is tasked with screening foreigners to teach English. Great start.
Qualifications and experience, from what I can make out, have no bearing on the issue. It all depends on how desperately the agency needs to fill its quota of teachers which it has been contracted to supply to the school. I am serious. I have personally spoken to a foreigner who became a teacher for the very simple reason that she had run out of money.
So should anyone teach in Thailand?
Why not? You cannot be worse than what I have already met. And when you measure against the rock bottom, you will always be an improvement. Thai kids, by the way, are not really fools. If you cannot teach, their parents will hear about it soon enough, and the Director's ear is just a phone call away. So that's what happened to the foreign woman who became a teacher for the very simple reason that she had run out of money. She got away with the charade for only one week. Then she was shipped out. I heard that she was sent to a school in the jungle somewhere (just kidding but then again, a rubber plantation does look like a jungle, doesn't it?) but that rumour may just be a face-saving ruse.
Creeeeepy!
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Well if he's a man and has tits that would make him a... [emoji15]Are you a handsome man?
And does the OP have tits...
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New Jersey. Rowan University.^ teaching license from where?
I can teach both special/regular education. I've been looking at international schools for a possible position. The thing is they don't count hagwon experience in Korea as teaching. I disagree but I can see why they don't. I was a teacher's aide for 3 years in NJ and that's not counted as well.
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I was just offered a position for $32,000 baht a month teaching conversation to secondary students. Free condo included. It ends at the end of September. I don't know if this is a good thing.Degree and experience get into a position at 50k or higher...those places that pay 35k are usually for non degree or non natives. In the meantime hit up corporate part time evening stuff
I was just wondering if I could start online teaching or privates I could bring up the pay. Still deciding if I'm going to do it.
The thing is I have 2 years experience teaching in South Korea, and a teacher's license. Should I hold out or take the job?
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We all know $35,000 baht just doesn't cut it anymore, and if you live in Bangkok you'll probably not be able to put any money away. How do you supplement your meager incomes so you can actually save and/or have some spending money?
I was thinking about teaching online. That looks promising. Maybe even doing privates. I did a few privates per week in South Korea and made some decent side money. I don't know what the rate is in Thailand. In Korea, I was charging $40 won an hour, which was equivalent to $41 USD.
Does anyone teach or tutor online? That looks like the best option, and something I'd be most interested in. Thanks.
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My grandmother house was broken into when she was sleeping. She let out a terrible scream that startled the burglars and they made a run for it.
Get a pitbull!! Get a pitbull! I'm telling you that you will not have any issue with people trying to get into your house. My buddy had two and they were nasty. Kept both of them in a cage fed them bloody meat all the time. Good watch dogs.
You don't want to wake up in your bed and some nut job is standing over you with a machete.
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I would need to ask myself why the owner/staff allow the sad people in to sell their wares.................
I asked the owner,
They said, the beggars and hawkers are all run by a violent gang of criminals.
If you don't let them operate in your place, it tends to end in a fire or a beating.
Really? Maybe the gangs should fun another form of making money.
These people who sell their wares can't make more than $500 baht a night.
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Are you a handsome man?
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In the restaurants, never buy anything, although the wife does sometimes, as she feels sorry for them.
On the road, on the intersection before I turn to go to my house, there is a little boy, about 6 or 7 years old selling flowers.
I always give him 20Baht and don't get the flowers.
He knows the car by now and he runs to me when he sees it.
I know the money is for the arrogant father watching from the other side of the road, but I can't resist of giving it to the kid.
Yea, I try to show some compassion because I never know what's in store for me in the future.
I might run into bad luck and be the falang selling flowers to you while you're eating in the restaurant. :(
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As I live in an Ivory Tower, they aren't normally able to get in to pester me
lol..
You don't go out to dinner? Drive to the store?
I was eating at a restaurant in Bangkok last night first there was an elderly lady trying to sell flowers. I felt bad for her as people were just ignoring her. Then an plus size lady came in and was trying to sell candy. Who the hell wants candy at 9pm? She was also ignored and people were not kind. At last an older guy came in and was trying to sell those cheap Simpson lamps. He also had a glowing rubix cube. I wanted to tell him that the Simpsons are out of style. This isn't the mid-90's anymore. He left without selling anything.
I really felt bad for the old lady. It looked like she hadn't sold anything in a long time.
The bar I was at is owned buy a ladyboy. I don't know the name. It was one of those outside restaurants. The food was your standard Thai fare.
Very delicious.
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You guys know the people. You're eating in a restaurant or drinking at your favorite bar and along comes an old lady trying to sell overpriced flowers. How about the guy who is trying to sell those cheap lamps, or the woman who is desperately trying to sell you candy.
I feel bad for these people. What an awful job. To walk into a bar and have 99% of the people there give you dirty looks. Who wants to buy something when you have been drinking or eating all night.
What about the people who wait at the busy intersection selling flowers? I just can't even fathom the amount of smoke they must be breathing in day and night. They normally stand out there for hours baking in the hot sun. What do they make? $500 baht if they're lucky.
What do you guys normally do? Do you buy something from them, or do you just ignore them?
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Gee -- maybe I'll listen to that Wayne Dyer audio -- but I'm just so-o-o-o busy right now ...
Listen when you clean your house, or listen to it on a drive. Do you take the bus? Workout? Shop? Cook?
There are many ways to listen to audio books. That's the beauty. You can still listen to them and go about your life.
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Gee -- maybe I'll listen to that Wayne Dyer audio -- but I'm just so-o-o-o busy right now ...
Listen when you clean your house, or listen to it on a drive. Do you take the bus? Workout? Shop? Cook?
There are many ways to listen to audio books. That's the beauty. You can still listen to them and go about your life.
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You can only live in the now. That's the only thing we can do.
Even our past was once lived in the now. The problem is people think about the past and reminisce with rose colored glasses. It wasn't that great.
People dread the future, but the future is a minute, hour or a day away. We only have today.
Good audio book that I'm currently listening to is Wayne Dyer "Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self Defeating Thinking Habits."
Think in small steps one minute at a time. For instance, if you want to get your MA you can't do it overnight. You can take a class that will lead you to your MA.
That's all you can do.
My First Thai Robbery
in General Topics
Posted
I'm going to need to restate what I said earlier.
Get a pitbull. Keep it in it's cage and only feed it meat. It's going to get nasty quick. Don't let it around young children. Only you and your wife.
Then let it loose in your backyard at night.