Everything is correct. I would also add that there is terrible discipline in the classroom. Thai students feel too relaxed with foreign teachers, which is most likely due to the lack of educational efforts in this direction from school administrations. The classrooms are extremely noisy, and often one has to shout to explain something. Many students apply makeup right during the lesson or engage in online broadcasts on social media. The boys often play games on their phones and show no interest in the ongoing lesson. I've tried complaining to the administration several times, but the manager just laughed and said, "Teacher, don't take everything so seriously."
This sounds like someone just complaining their job wasn't geared for them being a tourist. Its a job. You're there to live and teach. This sounds like just a normal job. If you want to go to Thailand to travel, then just go there in travel.
Thank you for not sugar coating the teaching experience overseas. This info saves me a lot of wasted time and expenses. I will just do a short holiday in foreign countries and focus my teaching career where I am currently living.
This sounds better than what I was expecting from your title. I teach in China. We don't get a 30 min break in the morning, we have random times throughout the week depending on your schedule. There are a few free periods in the day. We do get a 2.5/3 hr lunch break though where everyone has a nap after lunch. Well appreciated. School meals are free. Big summer and winter holidays especially in the Chinese new year. I am considering moving to Thailand in a year or two to teach. I love the country and miss it very much. Because of covid, we can't leave the country without coming back to do quarantine for two weeks. If I lived in Thailand I would already be in my favourite country so I wouldn't want to leave in the holidays. Life here is pretty boring. It's so humid too, and the beaches don't compare. Thanks for the vids Ben. Please tell me, do you need to get a vaccination before coming to Thailand?
Same, ive been teaching in china since 2018. My work life is cozy but these covid regs are getting old. My wife taught in Thailand in the past and so we were talking about moving back there in a years time. China has great pay, but I'm tired of chinas strict zero-covid policy
Coming back from a holiday in China feels like a punishment. You’re off for a week then come back and work for at least 7 days straight. I hope Thailand isn’t like that
I taught in Malaysia for 12 years, started off as an English Teacher and then taught ICT/Computer Science (and any other subject they needed me to take). If anyone thought teaching was easy, they have never paid attention to a movie that really depicted a teacher. But if you want to come and get involved with another culture, gorgeous beaches, rock climbing, so many beautiful Islands, I would take Thailand over Malaysia any day. But DO NOT go to teach English in Indonesia unless you are prepared to have the lowest pay in the world with the largest working hours. And some of the most rugged living conditions as well. But as a scuba diving Instructor you have more options of teaching for a while in Thailand, Borneo, India, Indonesia, but Thailand has the best Rock Climbing:D
I have had a similar experience with the heavy workload and big classes. My classes are ~40 students each and I teach 21 different classes (I teach both M.1 and M.4) seeing each class only once per week. It is so difficult having to keep track of these many students.
Same, when I taught I had 420 students total, and part of my contract stipulated I had to tutor one day a week at the agency as well, which is common. Plus gate duty, English camps, clubs, sports day...I burnt out.
Very accurate video. I taught in Phuket 2016- 2017 and its sad to see that salaries have not moved at all. Been in China for almost 5 years now, and the 2 countries cannot even be compared. Disappointing, as the people, places and food in Thailand are amazing.
I've been teaching here for 10 yeras. Good video, but it's missing a lot. 1. No one cares about English in Thailand. If you teach here, students will be pulled out of your class to study for other teacher's exams, the material you teach most likely will be way beyond the students level, and the pay sucks. While you make double what a Thai teacher makes, it's not enough to live a Western lifestyle. If you want to live a 3rd World lifestyle like me, then it's more than enough. 2. Teaching in Thailand is like being in the military. You have to arrive at school at 7am for gate duty. You have to get skin cancer as you stand in the 100F sun during royal/buddhist events on the humid front lawn, ect. Thailand is AMAZING at looking organized, smart, and professional while being the opposite. It's 100% pomp and circumstance. 3. While Thailand has many public holidays and it's super cheap to travel, working at a public school means you get only 8 months of pay! Even worse, most schools don't hire westerners directly because of the culture differernce. They will hire you through an agency who will take 10% of your pay for their services. 4. 50K people die a year in Thailand from air pollution. Thailand has the most polluted air in the world 8 months of the year due to people burning their trash on their property, farmers burning crops, roads packed with diesel-powered buses, and never ending construction projects. 5. You have NO legal rights. Westerns in Thailand have less rights than a black man in the USA. You are ALWAYS wrong in Thailand. Tourist police are not your friend - they exist to internalize all issues in Thailand to protect their tourism economy. As your self this before coming to Thailand - Why is Thailand the ONLY country in the world that doesn't have truely negative content written about it? That's because it is illegal to criticse Thailand. An american, last year, wrote a bad review of a Koh Chang resort who charged him an outrageous corkage fee. The resort used Thailand's vicious and overdramatic defamination laws to attack him.
@@djb1317 it's a lot more tolerable when you have fellow teacher friends to go drinking with every night but even that gets old because most people only teach here for a year or two and that makes it difficult to have long time friends. The only other expats left over are the ones that impregnated a local tie and, thus, got married to her and you can see a lot of those guys who upload frequent videos here in youtube. Nothing against them but while Thailand is really beautiful, super cheap, and the Hub of traveling Southeast Asia by plane, it's not perfect. There's no Western holidays here, no Western food unless you want to live in bangkok, and I don't know if you've ever seen Southeast Asian online content but that gets old real quick. What you do get online a lot is westerners creating hype content to make you feel like the grass is greener on the other side of the Hill here. For most people I highly recommend Thailand for traveling but I would not recommend it for expat life. If you teach here, keep it to one year and have extra money for traveling. If you don't have extra money for traveling then teach in korea where you can get free accommodations, airfare reimbursement, and $2,000 a month.
@@sethlarsen3020 you're welcome. If you're really curious about Thai culture I recommend a book called A Kingdom in Crisis: Thailand's Struggle for Democracy in the Twenty-First Century.
@@kendrewreviews I visited Thailand for a month in 2018 and loved it, but based on this experience and what's I've also heard about Vietnam I think I'm setlling on Phnom Penh
In China, for a qualified teacher who can get a work visa, the minimum salary is 20000RMB≈2800USD per month, up to 4800USD if you have more experience in teaching. Subjects teacher can get that salary easier.
I left America to check out Vietnam for a training-center gig. I didn't care for Vietnam, so I flew over to Thailand. I'm here now, and I've been getting a lot of offers, considering that the May semester is near. Even though I have over 10 years of experience, I've only been getting offers of, like, 42,000 baht. One school has offered me 55,000 baht, so I could take that. However, I've been at a few stores here-and-there, and I can't believe how expensive Thailand has gotten. If I don't take the job, I might just get prepared for a job in China for next August. Thanks for the video!
Some teaching jobs can be nice. But the biggest issue is getting along with Thais & how unprofessional some can be. Once one understands Thai, you will know more about the sort of ‘lowbrow’ behavior or views many Also, If you aren’t white, or attractive enough, your stay may be shorter if the Thai staff aren’t into you. You may be ‘too scary.’ Lol Cheers & work where is best for you. Leave where is not chill or good for you. Plenty of places.
Been doing it 4 months. My contract is easy, Got 4 classes and I teach them regularly throughout the week. Sure the kids can be annoying but I'm a bodybuilder and ex-security, I know how to discipline them and they respect and love me. Workload is piss-easy and everyone seems relaxed, not like teaching in the UK, can't relate with the video, I got plenty free-time. Only thing I can agree with is visa complications and pay cap, it's enough money, but you could make x10 more through online work.
What school are you at if you don't mind me asking? I am currently in Costa Rica and the teaching environment is piss poor, thus I have decided to leave.
@@thataintnomoonsucka I see. Sorry I cannot disclose, but I will say, many schools are different, usually you will get with an agency, they all have different types of contracts. Worth a research
@@thataintnomoonsucka hey man, sorry I cannot disclose, but you can definitely find an agency to teach here, will be easy for you as you have teacher experience
I am a Software Developer from Fiji who graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Computing Science and Information Systems back in 2014. Worked for my first company from 2014 to 2019. Then after working for my second company from 2019, I got chased away after 3 years in 2022 and now got chased away by so many companies in 2023 to 2024 in various IT roles. Wish I could quit my IT career and study Accounting but have no money to study again. But I have bought Thai-English language books during my trips in Thailand in 2017, 2018, 2023 so might be a good idea to teach English in Thailand rather having a stressful unemployed poverty life in Fiji in IT.
I have no doubt that it's fun and rewarding job and I do love Thailand, was there a few weeks ago *but with all the extra activities 100% the job is underpaid. Especially because expats pay to relocate there with no airfare compensation. Thailand is becoming a lot more wealthy. It's not a third world struggling country anymore - some people think it is because it's rustic and the overhead wires but don't be fooled
35 000 is not enough for an expat to live on these days, Thailand has gotten more expensive with inflation, I have been able to find teaching jobs paying 40 000 , which is enough to live on but you won't save much, income tax is only 5%. And its hellishly hot and humid in Summer, now its a sweltering 40 C in April , too hot to go out and too expensive to have the aircon on all day. Income tax is 15% in China but you can still make a bit more than in Thailand, with a cooler climate and more scope with job opportunities.
A very broad outlook on teaching in Thailand, I know this discussion comes up a lot, but NES teachers compared to NNES certainly have many more advantages! I've seen circumstances where NNES speakers are almost treated like slave labour and paid very low! 18,000 to 25,000 baht and sometimes schools will restrict their visa requirements or threaten them with no renewal. I'm a native english spearker and work at a private school in Phuket and earn 85,000 baht plus, however depending on your lifestyle, the cost of living can be high. I would recomend that if you decide to teach and are successful at getting a position, use it as your ground base to live and work in Thailand. FInd ways to supplement your income if possible. I have gouged a succesful consulting platform that almost pays the same wage with much fewer hours per month. Take care people.
Salary explorer is terrible source of information. There is no way that the bottom quarter is making 1600 or less. People live in legitimate squalor in thailand. 1600 usd is like US minimum salary.
Most schools don't want you to speak Thai in the classroom, the idea being that you create an English-speaking environment. So no you don't need to speak Thai to teach English in Thailand, that being said it is useful to know a few phrases.
So are the lessons pre-made for you or do you have to make the lessons yourself? I love thailand and I'm thinking this may be the way to get my foot in the door of working there as I'm also great with kids
I have to plan my own lessons, but I know there are some positions that get pre-planned lessons. One of the girls from my TEFL course is in a language center and say 4 of her 5 lessons a day are preplanned, she just has to plan 1
Hi. I got some positions to teach in Thailand. But i got a bit confused since i will be started my master degree in August. Is it possible for me to teach and do my study as well?
@Chase Williams living expenses in uk are dumb though.. the new gas and electric prices for example! We’ve spent £50 in 3-4 days on gas and electric 🤢 that would have lasted the whole month in Thailand
Everything is correct. I would also add that there is terrible discipline in the classroom. Thai students feel too relaxed with foreign teachers, which is most likely due to the lack of educational efforts in this direction from school administrations. The classrooms are extremely noisy, and often one has to shout to explain something. Many students apply makeup right during the lesson or engage in online broadcasts on social media. The boys often play games on their phones and show no interest in the ongoing lesson. I've tried complaining to the administration several times, but the manager just laughed and said, "Teacher, don't take everything so seriously."
This sounds like someone just complaining their job wasn't geared for them being a tourist. Its a job. You're there to live and teach. This sounds like just a normal job. If you want to go to Thailand to travel, then just go there in travel.
Thank you for not sugar coating the teaching experience overseas. This info saves me a lot of wasted time and expenses. I will just do a short holiday in foreign countries and focus my teaching career where I am currently living.
It doesn't make sense for everyone, although there are some great opportunities out there, I just wanted to highlight the flip side.
This sounds better than what I was expecting from your title. I teach in China. We don't get a 30 min break in the morning, we have random times throughout the week depending on your schedule. There are a few free periods in the day. We do get a 2.5/3 hr lunch break though where everyone has a nap after lunch. Well appreciated. School meals are free. Big summer and winter holidays especially in the Chinese new year. I am considering moving to Thailand in a year or two to teach. I love the country and miss it very much. Because of covid, we can't leave the country without coming back to do quarantine for two weeks. If I lived in Thailand I would already be in my favourite country so I wouldn't want to leave in the holidays. Life here is pretty boring. It's so humid too, and the beaches don't compare. Thanks for the vids Ben. Please tell me, do you need to get a vaccination before coming to Thailand?
@SUNSYLO1973 hi, I only have a tefl
Before it was required, now I believe it is not.
Same, ive been teaching in china since 2018. My work life is cozy but these covid regs are getting old. My wife taught in Thailand in the past and so we were talking about moving back there in a years time. China has great pay, but I'm tired of chinas strict zero-covid policy
Coming back from a holiday in China feels like a punishment. You’re off for a week then come back and work for at least 7 days straight. I hope Thailand isn’t like that
I taught in Malaysia for 12 years, started off as an English Teacher and then taught ICT/Computer Science (and any other subject they needed me to take). If anyone thought teaching was easy, they have never paid attention to a movie that really depicted a teacher. But if you want to come and get involved with another culture, gorgeous beaches, rock climbing, so many beautiful Islands, I would take Thailand over Malaysia any day. But DO NOT go to teach English in Indonesia unless you are prepared to have the lowest pay in the world with the largest working hours. And some of the most rugged living conditions as well. But as a scuba diving Instructor you have more options of teaching for a while in Thailand, Borneo, India, Indonesia, but Thailand has the best Rock Climbing:D
i'll skip indonesia then😄
I have had a similar experience with the heavy workload and big classes. My classes are ~40 students each and I teach 21 different classes (I teach both M.1 and M.4) seeing each class only once per week. It is so difficult having to keep track of these many students.
Wow! That's a lot of students.
Same, when I taught I had 420 students total, and part of my contract stipulated I had to tutor one day a week at the agency as well, which is common. Plus gate duty, English camps, clubs, sports day...I burnt out.
I recently had 26 classes. I can relate
Very accurate video. I taught in Phuket 2016- 2017 and its sad to see that salaries have not moved at all. Been in China for almost 5 years now, and the 2 countries cannot even be compared. Disappointing, as the people, places and food in Thailand are amazing.
I've been teaching here for 10 yeras. Good video, but it's missing a lot.
1. No one cares about English in Thailand. If you teach here, students will be pulled out of your class to study for other teacher's exams, the material you teach most likely will be way beyond the students level, and the pay sucks. While you make double what a Thai teacher makes, it's not enough to live a Western lifestyle. If you want to live a 3rd World lifestyle like me, then it's more than enough.
2. Teaching in Thailand is like being in the military. You have to arrive at school at 7am for gate duty. You have to get skin cancer as you stand in the 100F sun during royal/buddhist events on the humid front lawn, ect. Thailand is AMAZING at looking organized, smart, and professional while being the opposite. It's 100% pomp and circumstance.
3. While Thailand has many public holidays and it's super cheap to travel, working at a public school means you get only 8 months of pay! Even worse, most schools don't hire westerners directly because of the culture differernce. They will hire you through an agency who will take 10% of your pay for their services.
4. 50K people die a year in Thailand from air pollution. Thailand has the most polluted air in the world 8 months of the year due to people burning their trash on their property, farmers burning crops, roads packed with diesel-powered buses, and never ending construction projects.
5. You have NO legal rights. Westerns in Thailand have less rights than a black man in the USA. You are ALWAYS wrong in Thailand. Tourist police are not your friend - they exist to internalize all issues in Thailand to protect their tourism economy.
As your self this before coming to Thailand - Why is Thailand the ONLY country in the world that doesn't have truely negative content written about it?
That's because it is illegal to criticse Thailand. An american, last year, wrote a bad review of a Koh Chang resort who charged him an outrageous corkage fee. The resort used Thailand's vicious and overdramatic defamination laws to attack him.
hmm interesting insight.
That sounds like a miserable existence, will keep it between cambodia and Vietnam and leave Thailand for visiting
@@djb1317 it's a lot more tolerable when you have fellow teacher friends to go drinking with every night but even that gets old because most people only teach here for a year or two and that makes it difficult to have long time friends. The only other expats left over are the ones that impregnated a local tie and, thus, got married to her and you can see a lot of those guys who upload frequent videos here in youtube. Nothing against them but while Thailand is really beautiful, super cheap, and the Hub of traveling Southeast Asia by plane, it's not perfect. There's no Western holidays here, no Western food unless you want to live in bangkok, and I don't know if you've ever seen Southeast Asian online content but that gets old real quick. What you do get online a lot is westerners creating hype content to make you feel like the grass is greener on the other side of the Hill here. For most people I highly recommend Thailand for traveling but I would not recommend it for expat life. If you teach here, keep it to one year and have extra money for traveling. If you don't have extra money for traveling then teach in korea where you can get free accommodations, airfare reimbursement, and $2,000 a month.
@@sethlarsen3020 you're welcome. If you're really curious about Thai culture I recommend a book called A Kingdom in Crisis: Thailand's Struggle for Democracy in the Twenty-First Century.
@@kendrewreviews I visited Thailand for a month in 2018 and loved it, but based on this experience and what's I've also heard about Vietnam I think I'm setlling on Phnom Penh
In China, for a qualified teacher who can get a work visa, the minimum salary is 20000RMB≈2800USD per month, up to 4800USD if you have more experience in teaching. Subjects teacher can get that salary easier.
I left America to check out Vietnam for a training-center gig. I didn't care for Vietnam, so I flew over to Thailand. I'm here now, and I've been getting a lot of offers, considering that the May semester is near. Even though I have over 10 years of experience, I've only been getting offers of, like, 42,000 baht. One school has offered me 55,000 baht, so I could take that. However, I've been at a few stores here-and-there, and I can't believe how expensive Thailand has gotten. If I don't take the job, I might just get prepared for a job in China for next August.
Thanks for the video!
which areas are you looking for jobs?
Yes. Global inflation sadly
Some teaching jobs can be nice. But the biggest issue is getting along with Thais & how unprofessional some can be. Once one understands Thai, you will know more about the sort of ‘lowbrow’ behavior or views many Also, If you aren’t white, or attractive enough, your stay may be shorter if the Thai staff aren’t into you. You may be ‘too scary.’ Lol Cheers & work where is best for you. Leave where is not chill or good for you. Plenty of places.
Already happened to me..Jess, I could write a book on the crap and scams I've put up with here.
The secret is = live in Thailand and work online.
So this is what I’m considering. Can I ask - are you just doing visa runs or is there a way of getting a work visa while just teaching part time?
@@jackd6129 I don't do visa runs. I ended up getting a Thai girl pregnant and now have a baby here. I have a family visa.
@@mocrovich teach online.
@spenceabroad7960 bruh im tryna be like you my boy, wife a girl from there and live with her over there. Girls in the UK have gone wild.
@@jamal22958 Please do lol, UK girls are tired of boys like you
Been doing it 4 months. My contract is easy, Got 4 classes and I teach them regularly throughout the week. Sure the kids can be annoying but I'm a bodybuilder and ex-security, I know how to discipline them and they respect and love me.
Workload is piss-easy and everyone seems relaxed, not like teaching in the UK, can't relate with the video, I got plenty free-time. Only thing I can agree with is visa complications and pay cap, it's enough money, but you could make x10 more through online work.
What school are you at if you don't mind me asking? I am currently in Costa Rica and the teaching environment is piss poor, thus I have decided to leave.
@@thataintnomoonsucka I see. Sorry I cannot disclose, but I will say, many schools are different, usually you will get with an agency, they all have different types of contracts. Worth a research
@@thataintnomoonsucka hey man, sorry I cannot disclose, but you can definitely find an agency to teach here, will be easy for you as you have teacher experience
@@Swiminator_08 What agency did you use ? I'm searching Teaching jobs in Thailand .
I am a Software Developer from Fiji who graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Computing Science and Information Systems back in 2014. Worked for my first company from 2014 to 2019. Then after working for my second company from 2019, I got chased away after 3 years in 2022 and now got chased away by so many companies in 2023 to 2024 in various IT roles.
Wish I could quit my IT career and study Accounting but have no money to study again.
But I have bought Thai-English language books during my trips in Thailand in 2017, 2018, 2023 so might be a good idea to teach English in Thailand rather having a stressful unemployed poverty life in Fiji in IT.
I have no doubt that it's fun and rewarding job and I do love Thailand, was there a few weeks ago *but with all the extra activities 100% the job is underpaid. Especially because expats pay to relocate there with no airfare compensation. Thailand is becoming a lot more wealthy. It's not a third world struggling country anymore - some people think it is because it's rustic and the overhead wires but don't be fooled
Great video! I am happy that you set appropriate expectations. Are you still teaching in Thailand? I noticed this video was done a couple years ago?
35 000 is not enough for an expat to live on these days, Thailand has gotten more expensive with inflation, I have been able to find teaching jobs paying 40 000 , which is enough to live on but you won't save much, income tax is only 5%. And its hellishly hot and humid in Summer, now its a sweltering 40 C in April , too hot to go out and too expensive to have the aircon on all day. Income tax is 15% in China but you can still make a bit more than in Thailand, with a cooler climate and more scope with job opportunities.
A very broad outlook on teaching in Thailand, I know this discussion comes up a lot, but NES teachers compared to NNES certainly have many more advantages! I've seen circumstances where NNES speakers are almost treated like slave labour and paid very low! 18,000 to 25,000 baht and sometimes schools will restrict their visa requirements or threaten them with no renewal. I'm a native english spearker and work at a private school in Phuket and earn 85,000 baht plus, however depending on your lifestyle, the cost of living can be high. I would recomend that if you decide to teach and are successful at getting a position, use it as your ground base to live and work in Thailand. FInd ways to supplement your income if possible. I have gouged a succesful consulting platform that almost pays the same wage with much fewer hours per month. Take care people.
Thank you for the video, it's very informative
These stats are not even close to accurate.
Ive been here almost 3 yr and im already looking to return to my home country.
Salary explorer is terrible source of information. There is no way that the bottom quarter is making 1600 or less. People live in legitimate squalor in thailand. 1600 usd is like US minimum salary.
If you don’t mind me asking.
In what type of school do you work?
High school, primary schools, kindergarten?
I'm teaching Prathom 3 (primary, grade 3) in Rayong and absolutely love it!
@@krutiminthailandI’m considering rayong, how’s that going for you?
@@krutiminthailand Do you have time to party?
have a question for you , you go to teach english , do you speak thai good before teach english, or you speak only english ?
Most schools don't want you to speak Thai in the classroom, the idea being that you create an English-speaking environment. So no you don't need to speak Thai to teach English in Thailand, that being said it is useful to know a few phrases.
So are the lessons pre-made for you or do you have to make the lessons yourself?
I love thailand and I'm thinking this may be the way to get my foot in the door of working there as I'm also great with kids
Things vary from school to school, however typically I believe you will be making the lesson yourself.
I have to plan my own lessons, but I know there are some positions that get pre-planned lessons. One of the girls from my TEFL course is in a language center and say 4 of her 5 lessons a day are preplanned, she just has to plan 1
Thank you!
Very good video. 😊
Hiya, Great videos! How high should my English grammar proficiency be before going to enrol on a month long TEFL course?
I recommend learning to communicate in the English language, before contemplating teaching the subject.
Hi. I got some positions to teach in Thailand. But i got a bit confused since i will be started my master degree in August. Is it possible for me to teach and do my study as well?
maybe if your studying takes place outside of work hours.
I'd love to to teach there. I have a son and husband and I manage big groups, can you tell me where can I find job offers?
this video. Don't get a Job it's alot of work....wow.
Would it be possible to request time off? There's a wedding in India I'd like to attend in November, if I could go for a week
160 hours, i think its about 50 baht per hour or less from what i previously calculated.
35k baht, 160 hours works out 218.75 baht/hr
@Chase Williams not sure if I’d say decent but it would be enough to live comfortably
Unfortunately I don’t have a masters 😢😭
@Chase Williams living expenses in uk are dumb though.. the new gas and electric prices for example!
We’ve spent £50 in 3-4 days on gas and electric 🤢 that would have lasted the whole month in Thailand
you are very repetitive.
Liked it. Ty