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TEFL or Teach English as a foreign language courses are available in most of the tourist resorts in Thailand. Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket all run these courses. If it your intention to work in Thailand I recommend that you take your TEFL here as well. The reason for this is that there are specific learning requirements of asian / thai students, this is mainly due to Thai being a tonal language. Taking your course here will prepare you for teaching Thai students. Normally you will be required to teach 6 hours to local students as part of the course.

WHY DO I WANT TO TEACH ENGLISH ?

There are very few vocations that a foreigner can do in Thailand but teaching is thankfully one of them. In Thailand there are some very good english teachers and an equal number of bad ones. As with any teaching job you need to put in the hours to make your lessons educational and fun. If you think that teaching English is easy and you can go drinking every night with no preparation for the next days class.... think again. Teaching english is hard work but do it well and you can make a reasonable living as well as providing a worthwhile service. There are five main types of English teaching positions available :-

  1)  School ( children aged 5 - 16 )

  2) College and University

  3) Vocational training

  4) Private Tuition

  5) Language Schools

At each of these venues there will be students of varying ability in speaking english. Normally your english lessons will revolve around conversational english and you will not be expected to teach written english. The exceptions to this are in vocational english where letter writing english skills are often taught.

HOW MUCH MONEY CAN I MAKE

I can't answer that with any certainty, but it will depend on your qualifications as well as holding a TEFL certificate. Teachers in Bangkok will no doubt earn more than teachers of rural northern schools but their domestic expenses and travelling costs will certainly be higher too.

Jobs requiring 25 hours teaching a week should pay from about 20,000 baht a month - £120,000 a month for an exceptional candidate. Most positions seem to be offered at between 25,000 and 40,000 a month.

You will undoubtedly  required to sign a contract that I recommend that you look at very carefully. Don't sign without looking as some of the conditions and working hours that candidates have signed and accepted blindly, are often unreasonable. Be careful about accepting jobs that require over 26 hours of teaching a week, as these hours combined with preparation time can present a gruelling challenge to anyone. Also check for clauses that prevent you from working elsewhere( private work ) or ones that require you to be on the educational premises for ridiculously long hours.

DO I NEED A DEGREE?

Definitely an advantage, and in some schools a necessity. But there are many schools who accept that there really isn't enough qualified English teachers to go around and are happy to accept a candidate who possesses the other qualities that they are looking for. You do however need to be able to be fluent at speaking english and at least have the intelligence to Research student's grammar questions if you don't have an answer for them immediately. The best qualities to have are patience, understanding and fun as well as the ability to prepare well for each lesson and prepare a timed lesson plan.

DO I NEED A WORK PERMIT ?

Absolutely !!! If your new employer isn't going to get you a work permit...be careful. If you work without one you leave yourself open to prosecution, imprisonment or deportation ! Some teachers do have to the visa run every two to three months, this is probably because they don't have the necessary qualifications to obtain a visa, or the school is not legally registered with the education department .