If you are a 'fake' teacher and worrying about the number of temporary teaching certificates you can get, then the key is to decide before your employer applies for your license. Sometimes this is immediate, and sometimes you have to wait a few months. Nothing is worse than realizing the other teachers are super toxic right after you got another license. I think you only get 3 or 4, for a maximum of 8 years. As everyone knows, it’s good for two years, or whenever you leave, whichever comes first.

Contracts are probably OK with a government school and likely garbage for a private school (based on what I’ve heard). Sure, you can go to Bangkok and take a private school to court but it seems like a waste of time. The contract is the last thing on my mind. Extra work, horrible foreign teachers (insert 100 pages of laws broken), or simply just a bad environment should be figured out in about a week. Worse case, delay with the teaching license and non-B and leave after getting your first paycheck. Note: I wouldn’t continue to work in that province, however, if you burn a bridge this way.

I’ve seen foreign teachers hit kids and luckily I didn’t have a work permit yet, so an easy exit. School said that was probably the only time this particular teacher hit kids. Yeah, OK, I’m out of here. Avoid the gossip. That is impossible, sorry. Foreign teachers will try to get you fired and people will tell you. If you are from the UK or America, no school is firing you in this environment. Probation seems to only work with agencies, since they promise a fluent English speaker and the joker can’t even introduce himself without struggling. Easily fired, replaced, and usually a different problem. It took me three schools in a big city before I finally found a place that understood how to find good people. Best advice: Don’t worry about anything; enjoy your time with your kids, understand it’s a part-time experience, and move on. The worst losers are the 10-year veterans who hate absolutely everything but smile at the Thai teachers as they act like everything is great.

Andrea