When I started working in Asia back in 2012 I didn’t have any long term plans or visions for the future. I was in my 20s, I had just graduated from university and at the time I didn’t have so much as a TEFL certificate to my name. I figured I’d live in Asia for a year, then return to the US. In reality, I ended up spending a decade working in Thailand, China and the Philippines before finally getting married and heading back to my country of origin.

I’m not sure how it happened exactly, but somewhere along the way I ended up in possession of a master’s degree, a teaching license and the title of ELL director for a school district in the midwest. Somehow, a year in Asia had morphed into a professional career. The process had happened so slowly that I was barely aware of it until I woke up one day unsure of how I’d stumbled into such a situation.

The transition between teaching in Thailand and teaching in the U.S. wasn’t easy. But, without hyperbole, I can honestly say that I love my job here. It’s demanding, often stressful and there are issues that pop up here that you just never see in Thailand. Still, after ten years as a TEFL teacher I’ve found myself in a world of competent, dedicated professionals and even more oddly, found myself to be fairly competent, dedicated and professional as well. Contrary to my expectations, the whole experience has been overwhelmingly positive.

I never had any intentions of teaching in the U.S. but now that I’m coming up on my third year (two in a metro area and one in a more suburban/rural district) I have to say that teaching in the U.S. has defied my every expectation. I thought I’d be dealing with uncontrollable students, underfunded facilities and bad admin. Even at the worst inner-city school I worked at during my first year, the students were great (mostly) and the admin team was nothing short of amazing. We were very underfunded, though. That part is true.

At the end of my first year, my district stopped receiving ESSER funds and on top of that the distilled spirits industry managed to weasel its way out of paying school taxes, so the budgetary drop was quite significant. Now I find myself in charge of an entire ELL program and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. Thanks to my decade in Asia and my two years in urban schools with huge ELL populations, I feel like I have skills and strategies for anything I might encounter. The learning curve has been massive, but the payoff has been immense.

A large part of me wants to return to Thailand with my bright and shiny credentials. But, I just can’t bring myself to leave. My colleagues and work environment are too good, the pay and benefits are too good and the stability is too good. I don’t have to worry about trips to immigration and no one is going to arbitrarily fire me. I miss Thailand, but not enough to warrant leaving everything I have here. My wife and I will ABSOLUTELY be spending some of our summers in Thailand, though.

So, if you’re like I was back in 2020 and terrified of returning to your home country because you can’t even imagine trying to fit back in after so much time away, you might want to reconsider. Teaching in the U.S. isn’t nearly as bad as it’s made out to be. Plus, if you don’t like it you can always take your teaching license and work at a top-tier international school. That’s been my experience, anyway.

Cliff

I would say that when evaluating a teacher, you need to know something about their knowledge base, and, if possible, ascertain their level of caring for the students. (In response to a previous post, a PGCSE may not all be a guarantor of a good knowledge base; this is not always easy to predict based on one's CV). Another very important quality of a teacher is their ability to communicate their knowledge clearly. Being pleasant and likeable could also be important, but i would say it's less important than the previous qualities I've mentioned. Student opinion can be taken into consideration, but I would say you need peer observations along with observations from a knowledgeable supervisor order to make an accurate assessment of a teacher. As an example, I remember two of my main 6th grade teachers well. One was wildly popular, yet looking back on it, he often tried too hard to be our friend, whilst the other teacher was considered bland, but I ended up learning much more from the bland teacher as his lessons were full of information and well thought out; however, this insight came to me many years later.

LG

This was the first mid-term exam at one of the more famous schools in Bangkok. We prepared the questions, the answer keys and gave everything to the Thai administrators. After the exams were over, we received computer printouts of the exam results. The maximum score was 20 points. More than 60% of the students had 0-10 points, and the Thais told us that they all had to get a minimum of 10 points. And we had to correct the scores manually. So a student who got 3 points (out of 20) suddenly had 10 points. A student who had 7 points (out of 20) suddenly had 10 points. The only exceptions were those students who did not take the exam at all. They actually got 0 points.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, it doesn't matter how inflated your ego is, it doesn't matter if you like Filipino teachers, native speakers, Europeans, whatever. In the end, we're all stuck in the same circus anyway, and we're all exactly the same clowns. And no, don't kid yourself that "in my school you can fail students". Yeah, yeah, homie. If you believe in something like that, you must be an idiot. This also explains why Thai schools are riddled with corruption and the agencies do whatever they want: in fact, any education here is of no consequence at all and teachers do nothing but act as kindergarten teachers and warm bodies in the classroom.

If you want to be a real teacher, look for another country.

Bobby

I have just read a rather venomous and frankly racist anti-white post on here from 'Marisol', whom I suspect is Filipino, but I could be wrong.
https://www.ajarn.com/ajarn-street/postbox/native-english-burger-flipers-nebf

He/she seems to be claiming that men from the UK/USA on 30-40k in Thailand are no more than right-wing, alcoholic 'burger flippers' in their own countries.

Here's the thing. To teach in Thailand now it is pretty much impossible (post waiver) without a degree in education. Like the one this 'burger flipper' from the UK has.

The days of schools just hiring any old white face without so much as finishing high school education are long, long gone. And that is a good thing, of course.

One detects yet another 'chip on the shoulder' Filipino. I work with many. I get on well with a few, but most (as in pretty much all of them in my experience) have a very poor level of written English. One of my duties is to check and edit their tests and worksheets before they print them. This is because they were almost always littered with poor spelling and grammar before the Head implemented this.

I do know one Filipino who earned the 70k we 'burger flippers' got at my school because his English was native level (he was born and educated in the USA to Filipino parents).

You're not paid less because 'muh racism', you're paid less because your English isn't good enough. Remember, your level of English is the key part of your teaching job in Thailand.

You passed your TOEFL? Great! Could you pass A-level English or write a grammatically perfect 15,000 word dissertation in the English language?

Thought not. Quite a few of us have, you know?

Now, get that big, fat, anti-white chip of yours off your shoulder.

Not a burger flipper

I've dedicated my life to teaching, honing my skills, and mastering the art of education. But what's holding me back? Age. Can you believe it?

Thailand, a country I've dreamed of teaching in, has shut its doors because apparently, I don't fit their preferred age bracket. "Under 55," they say. As if my years of experience mean nothing.

I'm not just a number. I'm a passionate educator with a wealth of knowledge and a burning desire to share it. But they'd rather favor youth over experience. It's frustrating, infuriating even.

But you know what? I refuse to be defined by their narrow-mindedness. I won't let their age bias deter me. I'll find a place where my expertise is valued, where my passion for teaching English isn't overshadowed by some arbitrary number.

Thailand's loss. I'll take my dedication, my expertise, and my enthusiasm elsewhere—somewhere that appreciates what I bring to the table. They're missing out on someone who could have made a real difference. But I'll find a place that recognizes the value of experience and passion, regardless of age.

Cliff

If you are a native speaker, then you can do a teaching license and start working for a reasonable salary (80,000 baht and more). If you are not a native speaker, then you will always be at the same level of earning and you have minimal chances to exceed 40,000 - 45,000 baht per month. If at some point you start earning more, the school will find it more profitable to find a new teacher. You will only lose the best years of your life. Of course, dozens of teachers from the Philippines will disagree with me, but they have close proximity to their families, airline tickets are cheap, and they have minimal requirements (their country is still at a very low level of development = they lose nothing).

Tomasso

I've been looking for a new teaching job for the past two months. I was planning to get hired directly by a school, but having received no replies to my emails (probably bad timing, October-November), I decided to contact the numerous agencies that seemed to have plenty of jobs available ASAP. Due to your lack of communication and difficulties in reading and understanding messages and texts, and your laziness, I'd like to ask agents and recruiters, "Don't you like money? Do you like money? Do you want to make money?" Isn't that the reason you're in this recruitment business? If yes, then why are you wasting time, e.g. taking hours and days to arrange an interview or a phone call with you, or asking same questions multiple times, or asking to send a CV which is already attached to the email? Aren't you looking for a teacher to start ASAP? You need to place a foreigner in a school, and I need a job, so get your a** off the couch and put it to work. Thai schools/agencies have a shortage of teachers, so landing a job should have been an easy task, but I guess I was wrong about it.

Winston

One pillar of success in the classroom, is knowing your audience. While most here can agree that the typical ESL/EFL classroom in Thailand is not going to be described as a content-rich Liberal Arts environment, the opportunity to utilize the classroom resemble something similar to that of a Seinfeld episode: making something out of nothing.

Very few ("very" being the operative word) have the opportunity to work their craft so that Thai students can explore, ruminate on and learn the conditions and virtues of the human experience. While Mr. Beam claims he is missing the learning targets, in which case, I think he is purposely sandbagging, there is plenty there to work with and what is then sustained, can be the next step in promoting student efficacy ("scaffolding", anyone?).

We all know the concept of working both inside and outside "the box". The typical EFL/ESL classroom is the box. The teacher is the colored dot trying to operate within. It seems to me, in order to create more room for learning opportunities, the smaller the dot is, the more space there is to move about within those parameters.

While the boo-birds will certainly scoff, do ideas on how to mold the classroom into something resembling an active, motivating and communicative learning environment break one's leg or rob one's pocket? One teacher's ideas may not work well in a stuffy dungeon (which they are needed most) but that does not constitute them as weak, or low-level. Remember: the teacher is simply the modeling messenger, while the students (and parents) bare the burden of responsibility for putting the message(s) into practice (no amount of "face saving" can escape that universal truth). Now, just think of the possibilities if that were to happen: Thai students actually doing a bit of homework, practicing what was learned on their own. Should that ever be the case, the boo-birds would be less relevant.

Sharing ideas is a necessity for those wanting to enhance their craft. Moreover, learning any foreign language involves both deductive and inductive thinking. Games can be a great way pathway.

Knox

I taught in Bangkok in 2019. It was a great experience but I didn't think too much of the financial aspect. I had 3,000 USD (I'm American) in my bank account before I came. When I left, I had 1,000 USD left. Before I came, one blogger wrote that you will do fine with 1,000 USD in the bank. Totally wrong.

What most travel bloggers dont talk about is the cost to be legally working in Thailand. Most schools don't pay the cost. Visiting immigration, border runs, transportation cost, picture fees, application fees, police clearance fees, work permit fees, etc... If you get scammed by your school and decide to stay in Thailand, you have even more additional costs. You have to find a hotel/hostel and stay for a few weeks to a few months and you're not getting paid for a few months while you find another job. If you can't find a job in 30 days, you have to do another visa run which is an additional cost. These costs mount up. I don't regret living in Bangkok but there are hundreds of costs you won't find out until later, and they can make and break you.

Tony

During my time in Thailand, I witnessed many people become seduced with the country and its people. In particular, men often fell deeply in love and lust with the young Thai damsels. Women often fell for the Alpha Thais - the fit, happy Muay Thai fighters. Most of these relationships ended through some sort of manipulative and dramatic event, with the expat often complaining about "dishonest" and "deceptive" Thais who only see them as ATMs or sex toys. I lived this reality and mindset for most of my time there, even though I was never scammed by a woman, I bought into this victim mentality.

Here's my quick point: people will take advantage of weakness no matter where they are from. If you are weak and naive enough to try to buy someone's love through gifts and promises, that is your problem, not theirs. People, particularly women, will test your strength. If they find a weak spot in you that makes you vulnerable to others, she will not have confidence in you as a man. She could be Thai, white, blue, whatever.

This principle of strength is the same as it is in the classroom. Your students will not follow you if you try to pander to them through kindness. They will tolerate you and follow their own needs until the bell rings.

coachbb