Stories, questions, and concerns about TEFL or teaching abroad are welcome here.
THIS IS NOT A coomer CONTAINMENT THREAD. PLEASE POST THAT CRAP IN ONE OF THE SIX COOMER THREADS CURRENTLY ON THIS BOARD.
For those who are experienced with TEFL, explain your experiences, where you're teaching, your pay, and your outlook on the industry.
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Unless you go to Western Europe or North America, yes, you will be made fun of.
Trannies are mostly insecure shut-ins, there's no way they would agree to be a teacher.
Kids don't have filters, you can't be a teacher if you have thin skin.
>Kids don't have filters, you can't be a teacher if you have thin skin.
This is exceedingly true. Their comments always make me laugh though. When I was still in the process of getting my BA, I would volunteer at a couple of middle schools as a TA. Most of the students were English Language Learners (ELL) from Honduras, Mexico, and Brazil. One day, one of the kids from Mexico asked the primary instructor why they had two teachers now while pointing at me. I told him that I was the TA and I'm here to assist the primary teacher. The kid immediately responds with "But you're an adult, did you get held back like 20 times or something?" In his mind, a TA was a child that helped the teacher pass out papers. I told him I was only held back 12 times because I never figured out linear equations. I still get a little laugh when I think about Luis. I hope he's doing well.
Is becoming an English teacher a good cover story for me being a sex tourist? I don’t want people to know why I want to go to SEA.
>inb4 “who cares what they think, bro?”
Remember swirly face guy, that Canadian pedo who Interpol tracked down in Cambodia by unfricking a photo of him, where his face was morphed into a swirly kind of pattern? He was a teacher.
Yeah except I’m into grown (biological) females.
Hopefully people will believe you.
Can you coomers frick off already? You literally have six other threads to shit up that are specifically made for you. This ain't the place.
Is there a decent TEFL market in Panama, especially for experienced teachers? I'd love to work at an international school or something there
Anyone have any advice for getting a job in Jomtien? I just want to chill on a beach while I try to get fit. Living in a northern, cold climate is making it hard to want to stay active. I was most fit when I lived in a warmer climate and jomtien looks cozy.
I'm not a sex tourist, so if it's further away from Pattaya I don't mind.
Anyone familiar with this? Also, how diligent is Korea with checking the validity of a degree?
I forgot the link.
http://www.englishmusicals.com/welcome
I met a British guy who used a fake degree.
Its possible, just know there's a decent chance that you'll get deported. Its probably not a good idea to tell random people you meet at bars, like said British guy.
Was he there to frick Korean women?
No, he didn't even go there to teach, he got sent there by his British company than ended up quitting his job and teaching instead.
So he decided to stay there and frick Korean women
are you the schizo?
No just an incel who gets off thinking about chads
I can't find any information online about moving FROM Taiwan TO China.
Is this even possible? I signed a contract to teach at a public school in Taiwan, but it looks like China is finally starting to loosen restrictions and I'd much rather work there.
Why would you willingly frick yourself anon? You have much more freedom in Taiwan compared to the mainland. If you go, good luck surviving your 20th lock down in that shithole, trust me, it's not worth it.
Money
I lived in China for 3 years before covid and have never been to Taiwan. Is Taiwan really that much better?
It really does look like they're realizing zero covid is impossible. Connecting flights have just been allowed from certain countries. All the gay health codes will go away within the next year.
I don't want to be the cuck saving no money with the cope of "a-a-at least my quality of life is better!!!"
Which job is worse? Working at Walmart or doing TEFL in Thailand/Vietnam? I have a meme degree that isn't really applicable to anything else and need advice. The pay seems to be terrible for TEFL teachers and doesn't seem to allow for career development. At least with walmart I get paid more. I need help deciding.
In what world is working at Walmart better than TEFL?
Why Thailand/Vietnam, especially when you have a degree?
Because making 35000 baht a month is pathetic even by Thai standards. I make three and a half times that already. Plus, I've been told I'd be working 50-60 hours a week as a TEFL instructor. Seems like I wouldn't be able to do much with the pitiful amount after I get off work. Is teaching in Thailand or Vietnam actually that bad or is it just a meme? How much could I honestly make and how many hours am I actually going to be working? I ask because there never seems to be any consistent answers.
I used to work admin in an international school in China. The teacher turnover rate is high due to how hard teaching actually is (for a novice) in addition to dealing with a host of issues ranging from Visa problems, housing problems, transportation problems, culture problems, etc. There is no career development in abroad ESL teaching unless you're extremely lucky. You do your contract to get your money, then you're out. At least with Walmart presumably you would have the opportunity to advance up to store manager or whatever, in addition to possibly collecting benefits or a pension if you devote your life to them.
Teaching in Thailand probably is that bad, but salaries are going up in Vietnam, and if you choose to teach in China in the near future you could earn a lot more money doing dick.
I was making almost $3,000 a month after tax teaching at a public school. 19 classes a week, one lesson, zero office hours. Apartment was paid for.
Do proper research on each country to find out what would suit you. Thailand is for losers without a degree or for international school chads that make a lot of money wherever.
I'll add to what this anon said about teaching in Thailand. Lots of people want to teach in Thailand, and native Thai teachers get paid shit (like half the salary of a TEFL teacher). It's also a feudal country where native Thais can lose their shit over non-Thai being paid more than them for what they think is the same job. Strong visa rules enforcement and a lack of public interest in learning English means there's little work available at private centers, the private centers that exist don't earn much and therefore don't pay much. All of these factors depress the wages in Thailand. You'll earn more in almost any other SEA country.
TEFL is on its death bed, china which was always the biggest employment market is closed and even if they went straight back to "normal" tomorrow no one wants to go there anymore. All this means that SEA + taiwan/japan/korea etc are getting flooded by teachers which just encourages the schools to keep pay pathetically low and treat teachers like crap.
Honestly, go work at walmart but use all your downtime to learn a useful skill, maybe one that you could use to digital nomad with in the future.
>china which was always the biggest employment market is closed and even if they went straight back to "normal" tomorrow no one wants to go there anymore.
They seem to be realizing that zero covid is a meme, and if no one wants to go back that means salaries will remain high for the people who can put up with the "culture" or lack thereof.
I've been in TEFL for over a decade, and watched it for the decade before that. Its demise has been predicted a few times before. The shakeup with China definitely affected the prospects of current teachers but things will settle again.
As for staying at a minimum wage retail job instead of going abroad, I'm not saying your advice is terrible, but he should take into account a few other factors: Can he get a similar retail job at similar pay at any time; the cost of living where he is vs overseas and the resulting purchasing power; free time at his current job and overseas; [perceived] quality of life in both situations; desire to live abroad at least for a while; etc.
>All this means that SEA + taiwan/japan/korea etc are getting flooded by teachers which just encourages the schools to keep pay pathetically low and treat teachers like crap.
That "flooding of teachers" absolutely hasn't happened in Korea. In fact, there's a shortage of teachers, despite Korea now being the only place in northeast asia to be open without quarantine.
Korea already had a horrible reputation for treatment of TEFL teachers well before the pandemic. When COVID finally gripped the country, patient zero was from Itaewon, the foreigner district area of Seoul. Literally every foreigner was blamed for COVID at that point and foreign teachers and turors were suddenly dropped/fired/harassed en masse at the blink of an eye over COVID. Many finally had enough or were no long able to make any money so they left ad havent looked back. Koreas reputation for English teaching is in absolute tatters. Its going to be a long time, if ever, Korea ever recovers any supply of foreign English teachers, especially with everyone still masking up like its fricking 2020 all over again, no one from the West wants to deal with that shit anymore.
bro you don't know what you're talking about. Patient zero was a cult in Daegu, and they were the main people blamed. Foreign teachers weren't fired in mass, that's some alt-history. Random foreigners weren't being harassed. Maybe like one dude got fired and one dude got harassed by a crazy person and than whined about it on reddit.
I agree on the mask though, nobody gives a shit about COVID people are just afraid of being judged honestly.
It was the second far larger wave that was started in Itaewon, and yes, tons people of left and were ostracized- hence why there are no teachers left.
incorrect again, the Daegu wave was the largest until the December 2020 spike, which wasn't really centered in one area. There was an Itaewon outbreak, but it didn't lead to a particularly high COVID spike.
Were you in Korea in 2020? Because I was, and nobody was ostracized
Dude Itaewon was literally a ghost town even well after other places in Seoul were opening up again. The anti-foreigner sentiment was running sky high during the height of the pandemic.
>I agree on the mask though, nobody gives a shit about COVID people are just afraid of being judged honestly.
It's the same shit in Japan and Taiwan. The people in these countries are weak, compliant cowards. I don't think even Chinese people are THAT anal about masks.
>it is weak to be compliant
t. American
Shit like this is exactly why I won't go back there. Aside from being the most shallow, materialistic country I've had the displeasure of experiencing, they treat foreign teachers like complete garbage. They'll just keep throwing work at you until you break and criticize you to death.
Frick South Korea.
I mean I assume it depends on where you work, this definitely isn't the case for me.
The management has watched like 2 classes a year of mine, and I'm basically working with no oversight and very little criticism.
>I mean I assume it depends on where you work, this definitely isn't the case for me.
Just Google around to see all the horror stories. I refuse to take that risk again.
I was broke when I left. I did that wage slave shit for years, barely making enough for rent. After I got my degree / teaching certificate I applied for a company who got back to me immediately. I passed the online interview, borrowed some money and went straight to Vietnam. The flight cost was paid back to me along with my first salary.
Now I'm living rent free, saved up money, can eat out everyday, no longer living stressed out. I get paid to talk to adults and don't have to deal with moronic man children. There's still high demand for teachers here.
There's no legitimate arguments for being a slave when you can do better.
Czechia is still possible, probably other East European countries too
The fact that there are legitimate arguments for working at Walmart instead of a TEFL position is indicative of how shitty the situation is. Unless you're already financially secure for the rest of your life and just need something to do with your time, then I don't see a reason to go into TEFL. The truth is depressing.
All the arguments are about money, in worst case you do it for a year and come back and get rehires.
And protip: everyone you left will be doing the exzact same thing when you come back but you will be a different person.
Also protip: the job is for the visa, the real money is from private tutoring once you are there.
I'm moving to Taiwan soon and am already put off by their moronic covid policies.
Is it better once you're actually there or is everyone such a braindead, compliant robot in every other aspect of life? I'll I've heard for years is that Taiwan is a better version of China yet they seem to be the exact same.
>HURR WORK AT WALMART INSTEAD OF TEFL
>YOU'LL MAKE MORE MONEY
And you will also
-have shit work/life balance
-be looked down on by literally anyone that you talk to
-have no upward momentum (don't kid yourself thinking you'll make a career out of it)
-still live in the same, shitty town you're in now, no prospects, no new experiences, day in, day out
TEFL may not pay amazingly, but the life experience is more than worth it. Plus, unlike a walmart job, it looks like you actually did something on your resume when you come back. Employers won't be salivating, but they'll consider you for an entry level BDR role over someone who's been a cashier for years.
But yeah, these grapes sure are sour, whatever you want to believe.
Good luck getting laid as a Walmart employee too.
At least with TEFL you can swim in pussy.
Yes.
>Good luck getting laid as a Walmart employee too.
This is a TEFL thread, please frick off to your containment thread.
Can anyone here actually give a straight answer on a school or organization in Thailand that's hiring right now that isn't a scam or complete dog shit? I want to work in Thailand, but the horror stories always worry me. I just want a simple ฿50,000 a month position. I have a bachelor's degree and a TEFL cert. I just need a legitimate school/organization that won't immediately try to frick me over. That's literally my only requirement. Can anyone here actually help?
Look up schools in the city you want to live in and send out emails.
That's not exactly a way to determine if the school is going to frick me over when I get there, mate. I need actual instructors that have actually taught in Thailand to give legitimate advice on specific schools they've worked with. I don't need wishy washy maybe answers that serve no purpose.
Does Thailand have an old expat forum, similar to Taiwan's Forumosa, you can look at? That, or reddit TEFL forums, will usually have lists of blacklisted/whitelisted schools.
how much to coom in Thailand if you have TEFL???
>how much to coom in Thailand if you have TEFL???
You don't have to show your TEFL to tell working girls you're a poor teacher. If it's a quiet night, they'll agree on half what they'd expect from another falang. Remember that business sense in this country is moronic and merchants would rather throw away food than sell it for less than they think a "rich" tourist should pay for it. Prozzies can be the same. So tell them you're a poor teacher and they'll only expect 50% more than a regular Thai would pay, and less than the 2-10 times a two-week millionaire tourist "should" pay.
Lmao you commies expect free food and hookers because you were born? You're precious, never change
>doesn't understand basic business logic
>calls smarter people than him "commies"
You sound like a college moron read a book instead of thinking with your vage
I'm sure someone is going to risk their reputation recommending some random Britbong on SighSee.
You can post on thaivisa/aseannow. Most of the public replies will tell you what you're hearing here (that Thailand is a terrible place to teach with an expectation of being adequately paid, respected, etc), but some veterans might send you private PMs with recommendations.
Here's another thought - you probably have something compelling that makes you want to teach in Thailand more than a neighboring country. To each their own, I won't question it. But if it's that important, just do away with the charade of caring about a decent job. Take something at a public school where they are all lazy as shit, and if you wai and smile and kiss the asses of the Thai teachers and principal, you could speak gibberish and everyone will leave you alone because they don't understand English anyways and you'll meet their desired expectations of a friendly falang monkey. Then use your free time to do whatever is compelling you to work in Thailand, and hopefully earn a side income too.
You are very unlikely to get 50k baht/month with a decent CV, and you simply will not get it with only a degree and TEFL cert and no experience. Thailand has some of the lowest pay for TEFL teachers in the region.
Sorry anon, but you should only teach in Thailand if you've got some other reason to be here.
I taught at a school for rich kids for a while, it was alright if you're into that scene. Deal was good though- 2 million won/month, nice apartment, free airfare, and two months paid vacation. It was fun to do in my 20s but I wouldn't go back to that life now.
thailand has legal weed and cheap beachside towns so idk why you wouldn't want to be there tbh
Why are so many TEFL teachers such douche bags? I swear, most of the ones I've talked to have this attitude of superiority when it comes to the locals they teach. Does the job turn them this way or does TEFL just attract these types of buttholes?
Example
A lot of teachers have to deal with spoiled rich kids who have shitty parents.
I can understand that to a point, but I don't understand why they're pieces of shit outside their workplace. Their anger is usually directed at the locals that have no relation to the situation they're in. I've had to deal with shitty students and their parents before, but I've never taken my frustrations out on randos in the country I'm in. Teaching has made me hate teachers.
Oh, yeah.
China got to me after a while, but I hadn't left the country in 2 years. I never felt that way about the locals in any other country.
I'm going to Taiwan soon and I'm already pissed at the seemingly mindless level of compliance the people there afford the government. Quarantines and outdoor mask mandates in the second half of 2022? Fricking braindead chinks.
Imagine getting this butthurt over a piece of cloth
Why do you believe it's normal, good, or useful at all to wear a shitty cloth mask outside in humid >30 degree weather?
>Imagine
You need to go back.
I hear this all the time online but am still yet to meet anyone in real life or online for that matter that genuinely hates locals.
Currently in Bangkok, and literally every TEFLer here shit talks the locals for being dumb, lazy, selfish, or racist. The older TEFLers are generally the worst.
What's the problem? They ARE dumb, lazy, selfish, and racist. Who else are you going to vent to except other foreigners?
You have it backwards, the dumb people aren't racist. You must be a college moron
Lol, you're one of those TEFLers. I've met shitty locals before, but I don't conflate that to the entire population. If you're pissed at someone then take your anger out on the one doing it. You'll get no pity from me when some homosexual foreigner apes out and then the locals kick his ass and deport him. Get fricked, homosexual. I will never understand why homosexual foreigners that hate a country stay in it.
Hey lads I made a thread here:
Long story short how difficult is it to get a job without a degree, albeit with a TEFL cert? I have an Irish passport and a modicum of experience teaching especially with language, my mum was a teacher for 30 years teaching English as a second language as well I'd hope some of that rubbed off.
I want to go to Poland or France since I've already been to Poland and liked it, and France I do have some French already my stepdad is Québecois.
college so expensive I can't even finish it. housing price has gone up 300% in my area (florida). parents kicking me out because I don't have money for college and they don't have money to stay here. do I need a degree for latin america? my spanish is shit but i know a couple chicks who could help me practice that
or something about a fake degree in SEA. anything, i'm desperate to not go to the streets. my brother already had to do that for a year
I'd suggest the Navy if you don't have many alternatives. You'll get to travel and honestly the Navy pays a shit ton more than what most degree holders will ever make. You get health care, dental, free schooling if you want it while you're in, a GI bill that gives you E5 pay while you're going to school. Just go into the intelligence field and you're life is fricking cake. Just don't be moronic with the money you make and you'll be fine. If Navy life isn't for you then you can always get a online TEFL and work in Pattaya, Thailand for a few years. You won't be paid much, but you'll be right on the beach.
genesis implementation last year made it impossible, already tried before college. I guess I'll try the online TEFL
So as someone whose finishing his degree in the next 6 months in something unrelated, what steps should I do to actually get tefl job in SEA. I know i'll need some kind of tefl cert but not sure what I should do to maximise my chances.
Good luck getting advice from the morons here. I've literally never found anything of value here in terms of education or career advice.
I have a CELTA and a TEFL cert so im qualified to answer this question. i ahve also literally worked in an intnerational school in china.
The industry isn't accredited so any moron can open up a TEFL center and hand out a cert at the end. The whole idea is that you use the cert overseas because everyone there knows it wouldn't fly in north america.
The CELTA is an actual month long intensive course where you have instructors and are given a pass/fail at the end.
Either can realistically get you employed in SEA with relatively little experience. Just dont' expect amazing pay and benefits. High turnover rate in the ESL industry. Few people make it past 2 years.
Thanks for this I'll look into doing the celta. I don't need amazing just livable. Any other advice for getting my first job?
and I was under the impression tefl in most countries is kinda laid back, compared to American careers atleast, why the high turnover?
Not the guy you were talking to, but pay, workload, and work expectations play the biggest roles in the high turnover rate. Southeast Asia is kind of well known for fricking pitiful wages while also requiring you to work ridiculous hours. It's not that you'll have a lot to do, but you're required to stay at the school all day for no reason. The fact that a good chunk of Southeast Asia are "save face" cultures weighs on foreigners after a while. Southeast Asia can be great for a lot of reasons, but it comes at the price of being incredibly tedious at times. Frick constant visa runs and government corruption. That shit is everywhere in SEA.
What places are better than SEA that a beginner could start at?
I feel like most people here would disagree with me, but Brazil has some great people. I've literally never once had an issue with any of my students from Brazil. This goes for both adults and children. I'm a bit jaded and biased against SEA though. Southeast Asia is still a fine start if you want to teach, but I would also consider South America as well. As a side note, if you don't already know another language then it might be difficult to converse with people in SEA outside transactional conversations. Since you already know English it'll be a lot easier to learn Portuguese if you go to Brazil. But as the Thais say "up to you."
Can you even earn a livable income in brazil without working crazy hours? Will everything i own just be robbed out of me by favela monkeys?
I really want out of SEA, even if its just for a year, but being able to live a comfy life on 15 - 20 teaching hours with 2 or 3 days off per week makes it hard to leave.
You can earn a livable income in Brazil but probably not enough to pay for the flights to and from there. You can find the occasional job advert on eslcafe. It will admit the pay is low but pays for flights on the condition you finish the contract. Like many South and Central American teaching jobs, you should really look at it as a form of volunteering.
>What places are better than SEA that a beginner could start at?
I just wrote the comment before this about jobs in Latin America usually being volunteer-level. Having said that, they are great places to gain experience. You can often get a job as a subject or grade teacher, and that will look a lot better on your resume than "Dancing Monkey at Happy Giraffe Preschool Detention Center #423".
I don't know how common that is in Brazil but you can do it in the Caribbean.
>I don't know how common that is in Brazil but you can do it in the Caribbean.
I also know someone who got a grade school teaching job in Bolivia with little more than a Bachelor’s degree. He does speak good Spanish, though, which probably helped.
>The fact that a good chunk of Southeast Asia are "save face" cultures weighs on foreigners after a while.
This also applies to China and Taiwan. China is throwing away billions on this zero covid nonsense just to save face.
I’ll add to this that it’s worth getting some experience for a few years and then work on an MA, DELTA, and/or PGCE. You can make a ton of money teaching at an international school or university in SEA with the right qualifications and experience.
Taiwan visa fees:
Non-US citizen: $66
US citizen: $160
I legitimately don't understand this.
Where do these zips get the balls to charge US citizens more when the US is the only thing preventing China from fricking them in the ass dry?
>what are reciprocity fees
I am getting fricking sick of you underage homosexuals and your dumb ass questions. Google something in your life and read the experiences of other people holy fricking shit.
Don't care. I fricking hope Taiwan gets taken over now.
>Stories, questions, and concerns about TEFL or teaching abroad are welcome here.
Hong Kong's NET Scheme is still the best deal in the world, hands down. I'm pulling six figures, tax free, working 180 days a year. Tropical paradise, super rich with western comforts, cuties on tap, primo location, English speaking. Due to the coof, I haven't worked a full day since 2019 either. I've been teaching from Zoom on and off for the past two years. It's unreal. If you have the patience for the zero-coronavirus nonsense and quarantine nonsense (it is beyond maddening at times), one can live a very comfy life, with minimal effort, and a basic TEFL certificate. The best part is, they're basically giving jobs away, all across the SAR. It's been on the front page of the South China Morning Post more than once. One man's trash is another's treasure.
Tell me more about it. Considering that, Taiwan, or back to Japan (did two years of JET), the West is doing my fricking head in.
HK, £3k /m, it's fine and you don't need talent but it's unfulfilling and I'm leaving this year
Are you on the NET program?
I was thinking about HK but wasn't sure about the actual net saving per month once you factor in the insane rent prices.
How long did it take you to feel like you wanted to leave?
>Bachelor's Degree, Less than 100 hours on my TEFL/TESOL certification, CELTA
what does "less than 100 hours" mean? I'm trying to get a business visa for Vietnam and just want a part-time job, don't care about wage. A standard 120 hour degree should suffice?
What are my options for Asia as a Norwegian who is fluent in English and graduated from university in the UK?
>Is it possible to get a job teaching English as a 60 yearold? If you have a bachelor degree
Short answer, yes. It depends on the country and whether you're on a work visa. Some countries have limits for the age for work visas. Next problem is many schools and centers have obvious preferences for younger teachers. But there are niches available for older teachers, and many older students and parents of younger students (except the youngest) will have a preference for older and seemingly more mature/experienced teachers. Age and maturity counts for a lot in most cultures around the world.
Longer answer, it will be much harder than a younger teacher for some of the reasons stated above. A lot of existing older teachers might be in that country on retirement or marriage visas, often working without a legal work visa but not needing to do visa runs or draw suspicion about why they're there so long, so they often get hired on an informal basis. Your best bet is to be on the ground looking for a job, rather than emailing your resume from the other side of the world.
Are male teachers discriminated against in japan/korea like they are in the US? Like being afraid of sex harassment claims constantly and being told not to hug students.