If you decide to come to Thailand to teach English (EFL) there are many kinds of teaching options available for you. Jobs range from teaching children to teaching preparation courses for students taking TOEF or TOEIC exams, teaching business English classes and a whole range of things in between. To help you make up your mind what types of English classes you might like to teach, here is a quick rundown on each type and experience expected for each.
Teaching Children in Schools – Around 80% of the jobs in Thailand are actually teaching children. Jobs in schools range from Thai government schools to English Programs in Thai schools, to bilingual schools and international schools. Salaries range from 25,000 baht per month at government schools to over 100,000 baht a month at international schools. For most government schools, basic requirements are a university degree and hopefully some teaching experience. Many schools are so desperate for English teachers though that they’ll accept any warm body who happens to be Western, even without a university degree. This unfortunately has led to some teaching disasters in Thai schools with some of the Western ‘teachers’.
The bilingual and international schools are much more choosey. They all require a university degree, often a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certificate too, and at least a year or two teaching experience. They do however pay from 50,000 to over 100,000 baht every month, a salary that will give you a lifestyle far superior to your average lifestyle in the West.
Teaching Children in Language Schools – There are tons of language schools in Thailand and many Thai parents make sure their children learn English at one of them on evenings or weekends. Most of the language schools require no experience, no teaching certification and don’t require a university degree either. Again, this leads to some of the worst Westerners ‘teaching’ in these language schools, but there are some good teachers too. If you have a university degree and any teaching experience, the language schools will usually jump at the chance of hiring you. They will pay between 400 and 700 baht an hour but, as the work is sometimes inconsistent, it doesn’t always add up to a full-time job. Some do offer full-time jobs, but they will require you to teach at least 28-32 contact hours a week, which is a much higher number than most of the Thai schools and is very difficult to maintain on a regular basis in my opinion.
Language schools are great though for extra income as most have available classes on evenings and weekends. I worked at a language school on Saturdays when I first came to Thailand and working just one day a week paid my rent and utilities for the month.
Teaching TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS Preparation Courses – A lot of Thai high school and university students and even some Thais who are already working in companies will take TOEFL, TOEIC and IELTS exams (to study at universities overseas or for English language requirements for the company they work for). Most of the language schools offer these preparation courses and need Western teachers to teach them. These classes will be on a part-time basis and be in the evenings or on weekends. Pay scales will range between 300 and 700 baht an hour (only the lower level language schools pay 300 baht an hour and only the unqualified, inexperienced teachers accept that low of a salary). Teaching these classes is usually really fun though, because the students really want to be there and want to learn. Most language schools require a university degree in order to be able to teach these courses, and some do also require experience in teaching TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS preparation classes.
Teaching Corporate/Business English – This is usually the most lucrative teaching opportunity but jobs are more difficult to get. Many language schools and agents need Western teachers to teach in-house Business English classes at companies all over Bangkok. These courses will run for around 10 weeks and pay between 400 and 800 baht an hour (the good agents don’t pay less than 600 baht an hour). These classes themselves are fun to teach as, again, the students usually want to learn, and preparation time for classes is quite easy. However, they are short-term contracts and class cancellations can happen often as work at the company takes precedence over English classes.
There are also full-time opportunities at corporations but these jobs are few and far between. I currently work at one of these full-time corporate jobs and salary and benefits are excellent, as are my students. It has however taken me almost five years to get a job like this as most companies don’t want to spend the money necessary to have a full-time in-house Business English instructor. These jobs all require verifiable university degrees, TEFL certification and usually at least three years experience.
These are the four main opportunities for teaching English in Thailand. There are other opportunities but around 90% of the jobs will fall under one of these categories. All have positives, all have negatives, but if you’re careful about choosing a job and don’t jump at the first job offer you get, there are many teaching opportunities in Thailand so you could end up with a great job.
