Thailand vs Korea
Which country offers more for the English teacher?
Living and teaching in both laid back Thailand and fast paced South Korea has made for an interesting perspective on life in Asia. The two extremes are hard to compare but I think I should at least try.
Absolute pile of sh*te
Are the job ads really that bad?
A disgruntled ajarn.com reader wrote in to say that he had never seen such low quality job ads on the Thailand TEFL websites. Is he right in his assumption? And if so, what are the reasons?
How's the Thailand TEFL job market?
Are salaries really going down?
Ajarn.com asked about thirty recruiters, language school owners, government school hirers and firers, etc for their opinions on the TEFL job market in Thailand. So then - are teacher salaries really going down?
So many hurdles
Postbox letter from Fozzie
I am a non-native English speaker from Europe but I've been teaching here in Thailand for five years now and never had a problem with documents and being employed as a legal teacher. But now my school have told me that according to The Ministry of Education website (which I cannot check because the info in question is only available in Thai apparently) - I need to satisfy all of the following requirements.
Thailand race Issues
Postbox letter from Mr B
I came to Thailand with my girlfriend and within two weeks we both had a job in the same school - quite fortunate, I know. Neither of us have degrees, but we have TESOL certs and various tertiary qualifications. The process of getting the job was a little strange or different to what I'm used to. We both applied for the same job posts that we found online and many of these applications required a picture. My girlfriend got quick replies and I hardly got any or was told that I would be 'kept in mind' for future positions.
No real shocks
Postbox letter from Mr. Russell Park
This is a follow-up from a post I made late last year regarding a school in rural Nakhonsawan, where I informed the readers of my surprise at landing a job in a 'normal' school and how the school itself and the staff seemed nice and human.
Be warned!
Postbox letter from Dennis Faulkner
This is just a 'be aware and take care' story. The week before last I was offered a job with a teacher agency and invited to start immediately. But as I was already working for another school so the best I could do was give the agency a week’s notice and I eventually left my old school last Friday
Soaked during floods
Postbox letter from Jimmy
I am not surprised some teachers are being told by Thai schools that they will not receive money for the time they didn't work during the floods. The safety net is for the Thais, not the falang. If you've been there long enough, you should know the pecking order by now.
The demise of our socialist dreams!
Postbox letter from James
I would suggest that we remove our European (and U.S) socialist blinkers and learn to accept that the world, or the schools in this instance, do not owe you anything except a wage for teaching. The schools did not force teachers out of Bangkok, the floods did.
Getting the facts right!
Postbox letter from Keith
There is social security system in place in Thailand, but only for Thais. Next, Most contracts here are written in Thai and even if you ask the school to translate the contract into English the translation isn't accurate
