Are you sure you wanted to teach English in Thailand?

Most of the Filipinos here in Thailand work as English teachers. Some works in hotels, some are singers, few oldies babysit Filipino children and others in health care fields. Let's focus on your desire to teach English here in Thailand.

Before you come here in Thailand, ask first yourself " Why do I want to teach in Thailand?" If your answer is to look for greener pasture, I'll discourage you not to come. Why? What you could earn here can be earned in Philippines! We're earning Thai baht here people not dollars! The Universal Currency Converter for today shows that 1.00 THB = 1.42484 PHP only. In Hayai City for example the salary range of Filipino teachers is only 15K-25K THB. Our school is only one of the few schools that give the higher salary and shoulder the VISA fees and Work Permit fees. The rest, not only did they give a salary lower than 20K but they let their Filipino teachers shoulder their VISA and work permit fees as well! But others are earning extra due to tutorials but it means additional working load for you. 

Provided you give me the answer that 15K is way better than volunteering in our government schools located in the middle of nowhere with a monthly allowance of only 1500-2K and without any assurance of getting an "item"- a permanent teaching position. I'll advise you to contact a friend you have here in Thailand and ask when is the hiring season, if he/she could help you or if he/she will be kind enough to accommodate you for few days while hunting for jobs. If you don't have contacts (which I think is harder to come here if you don't have a single contact), try visiting Ajarn.com. They're posting vacant teaching positions . Post your resume and wait for call. BUT this strategy isn't as effective as before because many Filipinos just came here in Thailand as tourists and visited every school in Thailand to apply as English teachers. I tell you some get lucky, some were not. It's not an assurance that you graduated with flying colors that you'll get a job. I've known several graduates with honors that applied here but were turned down until they can't take it anymore and went back to Philippines disappointed. I tell you this harsh truth so that you could check yourself- Do you teach to live, or do you live to teach? I teach here in Thailand not only because I'm earning more than I used to have in Philippines. God placed a special calling in my heart to bless the younger generations by teaching them English so that in the future these young generation could lead this country and be not afraid to mingle with the world because they already learn the universal language-English. 

If there's a will, there's way. The following post is intended for fighters...for those who want to teach in Thailand no matter what! Here's some tips:

1. Prepare show money. Philippine immigration is getting strict for Filipinos coming here in Thailand as visitors. It's because of US who came here first as tourists for several days but ended up getting jobs here in Thailand. We became OFWs-the unsung and underrated heroes (because the money that we send back to the Philippines as remittances shield the country from any economic calamity) and it's not appreciated by our immigration. You'll be ask to show them money at least 20K if you plan to visit Thailand. Of course, they're right. How can you be a tourist without money? he..he...They won't allow you to tour Thailand without money because you may pose problem to the country . When you run out of money, what will you do? Don't tell me you'll rob a bank or beg on streets or ask help from our embassy? See, they avoided future problems by asking you a show money!

2. Book a two-way ticket. Of course, you plan to tour Thailand so you're expected to be back in a span of few days or a week. They wanted to be sure that you'll be back thus the importance of the return ticket!

3. Visit Thailand on hiring seasons. Hiring seasons usually falls on last week of April to 1st week of May. Schools usually starts on the third week of May so before class starts, you could just walk in schools and hand in resumes. Some schools will just say they'll call you. Some will interview you immediately and some will just stare at you because they don't understand you at all! he..he...

4. Find a school. It's important that you could find a school as early as possible so that they could provide you with VISA and Work Permit . If not, you need to exit Thailand after 30 days (if you enter Thailand by plane) and then 15 days extension after your 1st exit. You're only allowed to exit for three times. After that you'll be asked to leave Thailand to go to Penang, Malaysia to get a tourist visa. It's not easy to exit  Thailand every other 15 days. Some of the Thailand's immigration officer were not friendly so you have to deal with that.

See, if you don't have contacts here in Thailand, imagine the cost you need for your hotel or apartment while hunting jobs. There are some good websites devoted to teaching English in Thailand and it is a good idea to join these. Ajarn.com is the most popular but it is also possible to pick up good advice from the teaching section of the Thai Visa forum. The Ajarn website has tons of useful articles covering all aspects of finding and keeping work; it also has a lively forum where visitors can get advice. The job section on this website is probably the most comprehensive available.

On the other hand, just recently I discovered that Thailand also got healthcare job sites. Nurses, doctors, surgeons, dermatologists and other health-related careers from other countries are now welcome in Thailand. Just check this out .