InsideOut Travel—Teaching in Thailand Cont.

If you aren’t sure you’d like to live in Thailand, the best option may be to go there for a holiday, decide if you want to stay, and then look for a job. There is plenty of work so finding a job isn’t difficult.

To work legally in Thailand, you need a Class-B Working Visa. Such visas are good for one year or the length of your contract and must be renewed every three months. To apply for the visa, you must go to a Thai consulate or embassy outside of the country. You cannot get a working visa once you have entered Thailand.

Included in your application, you should have your original passport and five photocopies, 10 passport photos (dress in tie and coat as a professional image is very important to Thais), a contract from the school, your original university diploma (or English teaching certificate from TEFL), and several other documents that the school must provide.

The fee is around $50 USD for a single-entry working visa or $125 USD for a multiple-entry version of the same visa. The ladder allows you to return from other countries without complications.

Schools usually require that you pay for the initial visa and they will pay all visa costs after that.

If you showed up and found a job, you’ll have to leave the country to get that working visa—if you want to work legally. A lot of work is actually done under the table without working visas but this requires making visa runs once a month across one of the borders.

You can expect teaching contracts in Thailand to be fairly standard across the country. Their term is usually one year and can be broken by either party at any time. They will stipulate that you teach 15 to 20 hours per week—anything over that should pay overtime. It is common to require attendance at weekend functions such as school promotions, teacher retreats and weekly or bi-monthly teachers meetings.

Salary should also be stated, and should fall between 15,000-30,000 baht per month, depending on other benefits—namely housing or airfare. If you are seeking a higher salary range, look into either international schools or schools in bigger cities such as Bangkok.

Basic health insurance and vacation time should be included too. This typically amounts to a six-week period in the summer, from March to May, and two weeks in October.

Finally, for completion of the contract, there should be a stated bonus, which usually equals to one month’s pay.

It’s not common for Thai schools to pay airfare. It puts them in the hole before they’ve even met you and potential teachers could get them to pay for their airfare only to break the contract shortly after getting there.

On the rare occasion that they do pay for airfare, the salaries offered tend to be lower than usual or they may have no end-of-contract bonus.

You can expect to pay at least $400 USD for a one-way ticket to Bangkok, or $700 USD and up for a roundtrip if you plan on being there less than a year. I found that EVA Air, a Taiwanese carrier, has consistently offered low prices departing from the US.

There are a several types of housing to choose from—all are readily available in most areas and similarly priced with a range of 2,500-8,000 baht a month.

When deciding on a house, townhouse or apartment, keep in mind that Thailand is hot and humid 10 months of the year so air-conditioning is a must, even if it’s only in the bedroom(s).

Also note that single-family dwellings (houses and townhouses) have frozen energy rates whereas apartments are not regulated so prices can be exorbitant. If you want to keep your costs low but don’t want to be stuck in an expensive hole in the wall, an easy solution is finding another teacher to live with.

Finally, in some cases the school may provide subsidized or even free housing. Be forewarned though, school-provided housing is often substandard.

Transportation in Thailand is relatively good. The roads are well built and the highways are even better. However, Bangkok and the highly touristed beach areas are the only places you can expect to find proper taxicabs.

In all other areas, transportation is either by tuk-tuk, a three-wheeled motor vehicle that comfortably sits no more than two in a seat behind the driver [see the index page banner for an inside view of a tuk-tuk in Thailand, ed.], or songtauw, a covered pick-up truck with two benches facing each other in the back. Songtauws pick up passengers along the way so they are cheaper but more time-consuming.

Most foreign teachers choose motorcycles to get around town. Not only are they cheaper and more easily rented than cars but they’re more maneuverable in traffic too. A rental typically runs around 1,000-3,000 baht per month, with the gas costing just another 200-300 baht. The only downside to renting a motorcycle is that you’ll have to buy a helmet because of the strictly enforced law.

Another option is to buy a used motorcycle. This should cost you approximately 12,000 baht ($300). Cars, which can be rented or bought, are usually outside a foreign teacher’s budget but they are still an option.

Healthcare in Thailand is quite good and very reasonably priced. For the last decade, Europeans have been visiting Thailand to get dental work and plastic surgery done as it’s far cheaper than in western countries and still of high quality.

So, my point is you don’t need to worry if you get injured or sick. You’re not dealing with a Third World healthcare system here. In fact, many Thai doctors are Western-schooled.

As for health insurance, schools typically provide basic coverage. Minor visits to doctors for colds and injuries are usually covered. More expensive procedures will have a maximum limit, above which you will be required to pay the difference.

Check with the school to determine what the insurance covers, and if you feel you need more, that can usually be arranged for a low cost. Vehicle insurance can also be purchased.

Teaching and living in Thailand is very different from teaching in America. Obviously, they have different customs, requirements and social mores. So, expect it to be different.

As I’ve mentioned, Thailand is majority Buddhist and has very different social expectations than foreigners do. One thing you’ll notice is that they don’t appreciate negative emotions such as anger and frustration.

In fact, in many situations, it’s disgraceful to lose your calm. Therefore, rarely displaying such manners amongst themselves, they tend to be very uncomfortable when foreigners do. Stay away from being negative and go with the flow like the natives do instead. Nothing is worth taking too seriously.

Humor is another important aspect of the culture. In classrooms, teachers are expected to be funny at times, mixing humor with seriousness. In this context, humility is a valuable asset to have. Not only does it make the day go faster but your students will love you if you make them laugh.

Next, it’s important to recognize that until recently, education in Thailand was mostly for the upper class. Meanwhile, the majority of the population got little education, if any, and most often ended up farming.

But with the country’s economy now picking up steam, this is rapidly changing, taking more and more students out of the rice paddies and putting them into classrooms. While an overall positive for the country, students may have a hard time catching up.

There are a few other quick things to be aware of about teaching in Thailand. You will likely be expected to write lesson plans for your classes, turning them in ahead of time to be pre-approved.

You may also have textbook issues. They may not be available for everyone, especially if you teach subjects other than English. I found that making photocopies was a good solution to this problem.

If you know that you’ll be teaching subjects other than English, find out whether books will be provided, otherwise, you may need to bring some of your own resources. Some of the teachers I knew had to get all their material off the Internet and it wasn’t the easiest thing so save yourself the trouble and find out ahead of time.

Well, that should do it, you’re now ready to go out and get a teaching job in Thailand, and with the job market there as good as it is, you should have no problem doing so.

You may even find multiple offers coming your way causing your departure to come much sooner than you’d expected. Enjoy, it’s a fantastic country.

Sean Enright initially caught the travel bug after a near-death experience in 1996. He has traveled in India, throughout South and South East Asia, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and in Latin America and the Caribbean. Most recently he spent 14 months in Thailand. He now lives in Winter Park, Colo.

Getting Around

Nestled between Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, Thailand presents a level of adventure and natural beauty unparalleled by its neighbors. There, you can take an elephant ride through the jungles of the north, go rock climbing on the world-class cliffs of the south, or soak up the sun’s rays on one of the many tropical beaches along or just off the coasts.

These are some of the holiday choices English teachers in Thailand get to make.

For long-distance travel, buses are the best value as long as you have time. The cost ranges from 20-80 baht for every 100km, or 50-80 cents per 50 miles, depending on class. VIP buses are nicer than anything in the US, some even have reclining chairs with massagers built-in.

A step up from buses is the train system. While it’s slightly more expensive, it’s still another fairly cheap option for long-distance travel. A sleeper will cost you around 100 baht for every 100km.

Another option is air travel. With Thai Airways being one of the best air carriers in the world, the prices to travel anywhere inside the country are incredibly reasonable. A roundtrip from north to south will usually run just under 7,000 baht (approx. $175) but it saves you days in vacation time.

CONTINUED LINGUA FRANCA

Teaching in Thailand

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