| Q |
Matt, I
had a look back over those excellent dozen or so columns you wrote for ajarn.
To quote a sentence in the March 2005 column "Whatever you do, don’t start
an ESL career in Thailand". I think it's fair to say that you don't look on
your year or so in Thailand with any great fondness? |
| A |
In fact, my year in
Thailand was very enriching – I got married, bought land and experienced
residing in Thailand as opposed to just visiting there. Wait, did I just say
enriching? I meant impoverishing. But, oh well, it was a learning experience
and I’m glad I had it at 30 rather than, say 50 when scurrying back to the
developed world is less feasible. In all honesty, I regret very little in
the decisions I made and in the fun department that year was a blast. As for
starting an ESL career anywhere, I suggest one take a good hard look at
oneself because it’s not necessarily an easy road, though I wouldn’t trade
it for anything (short of six-figure income in a job with a heavy
international component, in which case forget ESL). |
| Q |
You must
look on how things have developed here with all the MoE changes, etc and
find it hard to keep a smug expression off your face? |
| A |
It’s funny but I still
feel very frustrated when reading about the situation in Thailand. In part
it’s because I plan to go back someday and would like to see things move in
a more positive (in other words, streamlined and efficient) direction.
However, I can’t help feeling good about not having to deal with it now.
Come to think of it, I never want to deal with Thai immigration again – I
wonder if human traffickers work in reverse? Maybe I could get smuggled into
Thailand? |
| Q |
I am of
course assuming that you keep tabs on how things are changing over here in
The Land of Smiles? |
| A |
Very much so. For now
though, I am safely ensconced in the boring yet secure womb of Japan and
don’t plan a Thai rebirth until another 6-8 years in the future. It’s hard
to look that far into the future of the TEFL scene in Thailand or Japan, but
I certainly hope that some of the bumps that teachers face in Thailand will
have been smoothed out by then. Yes, in fact I did just buy a pair of
rose-tinted glasses, how did you guess? |
| Q |
You're now
in your second spell as a TEFLer in Japan. How had things changed for the
English teacher over there while you'd been away? |
| A |
One significant change
took place while I was in Thailand. The details are slightly dry, but the
upshot is that due to labo(u)r regulations and the national insurance
system, the big Eikaiwas (English conversations schools – the largest
employers of foreign teachers) had to do some nifty footwork to avoid paying
big-time back taxes, which resulted in the teaching contracts being
shortened by several hours a week. In effect, we are all part-timers, though
that is more a question of semantics than anything else. The concrete effect
is that the average monthly salary has tapered back slightly in conjunction
with the working hours. Of course private lessons abound and there is plenty
of opportunity for those with a bit of hustle – a nice segue into the next
question. |
| Q |
You're
juggling around two different jobs and working seven days a week. That must
be a killer? |
| A |
The nature of the work is
exceedingly easy. Eikaiwa means small groups and in spite of the increase in
kids classes the lessons remain fairly tame compared to what one might
experience in a Thai secondary school. Two of my days are half days and I no
longer am involved with management. So basically I flap my jaw to small
groups of adults or throw the ball to small groups of kids and leave the job
behind as I walk out the door. Seven days of relatively stress-free work may
well be worth five days of stressful work. I suppose it’s the price one pays
for trying to make a career out of teaching in Asia. While I’m at it let me
plug my blog, which deals heavily with these themes -
http://asianalien.blogspot.com/
- no commercial interest incidentally (probably why the posts have become
infrequent – still there might be some info of interest for those
considering Japan). |
| Q |
When you
did a hot seat interview for ajarn.com several years ago, you said that a
newbie in Japan could expect to earn in the region of 90,000 baht a month.
Has that entry level pay packet gone up at all? |
| A |
I suppose I already
answered the question. It’s interesting because for years we heard of the
faltering Japanese economy and yet working at a big Eikaiwa I used to
receive monthly salary increments of 10,000yen (3000baht) every year I
signed a new contract. Now the Japanese economy finally seems back on track
but teachers are receiving paltry, if not non-existent yearly raises – at
least where I work - one of the big guys. I think that the Eikaiwa market
has been saturated and that the company (if not companies) has over invested
and is finally realizing it. There are a number of mini-branches of major
Eikaiwa schools manned by one member of staff and one teacher. It doesn’t
take an accountant to realize that the salary overhead alone is outstripping
revenue created. If it sounds like the Eikaiwa industry is on faulty ground,
I don’t mean to give that impression – the better part of the Kanto plain is
however. |
| Q |
We had a
little dig at NOVA language schools in that interview. Wasn't a British
female teacher working at NOVA murdered a few weeks ago? That must have been
big news? |
| A |
That hit very close to
home, let me tell you. I commuted past the station near which the apartment
was located for over a year. There are many teachers who live in that
neighborhood and though I didn’t know her, I know people who did. That said,
I don’t think it would be fair to draw any larger conclusions from the
tragic incident. I don’t feel that Japan is a dangerous place, but certainly
people should exercise the same prudence they would in their home countries
while residing here. In other words, people are people wherever you go.
Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because a given society is
deemed ‘safe’. |
| Q |
Your Thai
wife is over there with you? |
| A |
Yep! It was a slight
headache procuring the dependent’s visa, but relative to teaching in
Thailand it was a cakewalk. Not only is she great to be with, but it’s like
having my own personal Thai chef. She has been homesick and lobbied heavily
to visit during Songkran this year (request denied due to lack of available
funding), but she has found that there is a small yet active Thai community
in the area, and moreover with a bit of effort non-ripe papaya can be
obtained so that som-tam appears on our menu weekly. Putting this in a
cryptic manner (lest the authorities are pouring over my internet
ramblings), she spends her time gainfully and in a manner that is profitable
to our household. |
| Q |
But surely
there'll be a time when you expect to return to Thailand? I presume your
wife would like to some day? |
| A |
The term ‘klap baan’ is
often heard resonating through the apartment, but we have recently
discovered that we can stream ITV from the internet and someone she knows
evidently can hook us up with satellite Thai TV. I have a feeling that will
be the next major purchase. The longer we stay in Japan the more money we
have the better life will be when we get back to Thailand. I’m in no rush –
no rush, whatsoever. It’s only six hours by plane and Thai immigration still
hands out visas on arrival for ‘quality’ tourists. |
| Q |
What
investments did you make in Thailand exactly? |
| A |
We do own one rai of land
that we plan to build on. We also bought a fair amount of dirt for said
land. Does dirt count as an investment? What if I called it soil or fill? On
the serious side, I would imagine that there are a lot of people who believe
that the buy-in for Thailand is a small outlay of capital (bar, restaurant,
English school, etc.) and that starting a business in the Land of Smiles for
some reason doesn’t adhere to the same principles as back home. Well, don’t
be fooled – the streets of Nong Kai (Thai Lao border) are lined with empty
farang bars and anyone who has spent anytime in the country has probably
heard countless beer-soaked sob stories of those who lost money trying to
start a business in Thailand. Leave your money back in Farangland invested
safely within well-reputed Farang financial institutions unless you feel
strongly about charitable giving aimed at the Thai construction industry.
|
| Q |
Are there
opportunities in Japan for a teacher to earn money 'on the side' through
non-TEFL activities? |
| A |
Actually, I have a friend
who became a headhunter, but that is his primary job. Occasionally I’ve
heard of people doing modeling or acting and in one case medical
guinea-pigging, but these are all big paydays that are few and far between.
I knew of a guy who did a lot of modeling and acting, but lost his teaching
job due to poor attendance because he needed to constantly attend auditions.
When you start doing the math for the average person trying to make money on
the side without teaching is going to be less profitable then just teaching
a lot. The other snag is that technically our visa don’t allow for that type
of work (a very qualified I think on this one). |
| Q |
If you
launched another job-hunt in Thailand, how would you do things differently? |
| A |
This is a good, but tough
Q. For one thing, I was living in Khon Kaen so the opportunities were
limited and I am not sure I would have actually done anything different. But
certainly I would have asked a host of tough questions during the interview
process and made far more demands of the employer. When I was leaving the
job they said (and I take this with a large squirt of fish sauce) “If you
decide to come back in the future we’ll pay you 40,000baht a month.” That’s
ten thousand more than they were giving me on the best of months and though
I didn’t fully believe them it opened my eyes to the possibility that I
could have demanded another five-large out of them. The problem is that I
approached the interviews with a very western I hope I land this mentality,
whereas I should have had a more What can you do for me? frame of mind. Next
time I will definitely play hard-ball with employers. |
| Q |
Looking at
the ajarn jobs page - as I'm sure you do from time to time - do you feel
that salaries here just aren't moving? |
| A |
Yes, I do get that feeling
and it’s the same in Japan with the exception of the private lesson market.
I think there needs to be a catalyst to really get TEFL salaries moving
upwards and I hope that will be China. What I mean to say is that if the
Chinese market TEFL market starts to take off, and I don’t see why it
wouldn’t – it will create a supply/demand imbalance that will hopefully
ratchet up salaries and perks for teachers throughout Asia. Unfortunately, I
don’t see this happening overnight and with broadband connections internet
lessons are definitely a thing of the near future, which could move the
supply/demand pendulum back toward even – though certain lessons, think
kids, will never be virtual. |
| Q |
Is it a
teacher's market in Japan right now? |
| A |
In terms of private
students, yes. I think that the Japanese consumer is more and more willing
to dole out for private lessons and that teachers can ask for more per-hour
than they could five years ago, but the more encompassing answer has to be
no. For one thing, the private industry has got its dirty paws on the
secondary school contracts – much like in Thailand were employment agencies
hire teachers and farm them out to schools while taking a piece of the
action for themselves. This works for the schools because when teachers are
sick or decide to skip town for say…Thailand, the agencies have a constant
supply of ‘talent’, as it were. Naturally, for the teachers it means lower
wages for the same work. I already outlined the difficulties in the Eikaiwa
industry. I’d love to say things were rosy and that those looking to give up
Thailand the streets of Japan were paved in yen notes, but alas things here
are stable, not-improving. |
| Q |
Any plans
to give up teaching altogether? |
| A |
Not in the foreseeable
future. I may be one of the few that actually enjoys the job and doesn’t
just do it because it’s all I can do living in Asia. I think that working in
as a TEFLer is much more pleasant when you feel that you’re getting fair pay
and have stable visa status with a straightforward application and renewal
process. Unfortunately, these two aspects – the latter, in particular – are
lacking in Thailand…at least for now. |
