I think Thailand needs to be more realistic about what it's looking for with TEFL teachers. You don't really need any qualifications to teach TEFL at the real TEFL level other than being a native-speaker and having a CELTA, etc.

Take Spain for example; a great place to a take a year or two out and have a working holiday. At the time I was there they only requested we had some kind of TEFL cert. No degree was needed. You weren't sold the job as being a a real or serious teacher. You were sold it as helping students improve their English. This was generally done by practicing conversation.

They wouldn't have dreamed about asking you teach math or science etc, in a real school. We were restricted to the TEFL level language centers and rightly so.

Thailand needs to be more honest and open if they're serious about improving their level of language. There's no career here for the most part, but if you want a year or two out, regardless of your age, come here and have a working holiday. We can't pay you much but you'll have holidays and be able to get by.

Thailand seems to be looking for properly qualified teachers for less than TEFL level standards. It ain't gonna happen.

If you're a properly qualified teacher, I wouldn't recommend Thailand for the most part. I've known properly qualified teachers here earning 100k a month and they thought it was a lot. But in the grand scheme, it really isn't. Try having kids and growing old here on that.

I knew a guy who came here with a degree and wanted to get qualified. He ended up doing his masters, and maybe even a doctorate here, and then realized that even within Thailand, it was pretty worthless. They wanted qualifications from western universities etc. He ended up starting an agency and basically just lies for a living. Selling an idea of professionalism to people who simply aren't, being instructed how to teach by people with inferior qualifications. Just one big factory of teachers.

If you're a real teacher in the sense you wanna help people, god bless you. It's one of the most noble things you can do in life. You'll always be a teacher so make sure you invest in yourself. If you like teaching but are doing it mostly to stay in Thailand, do not waste thousands of dollars on teaching qualifications that restrict you to teaching the rest of you life. That is awful investment, especially in a place like Thailand.

Online work is the way to go. Affiliate marketing etc. There's a lot of money to be made if you're reliable and hardworking. You need zero qualifications other than a fantastic work ethic and knowing where the money is. I'm not going to tell people how to do it, but there is money online to be made. It's definitely the way forward for people who wanna live abroad.

When Thailand pisses me off, I just hop on a plane with my laptop to somewhere else for a week. I soon miss Thailand and return to her. But as in life, familiarity breeds contempt and I need my away time sometimes.

Ryan