The joys of teaching in Thailand

Spending time around ESL teachers in Thailand might make an outsider think that we really are a lot of whiners. It is understandable why some people wonder why we would put up with the job if things are so bad. If you read the web-forums, devoted to those of us who teach English here, you will see post after post of complaints about the state of the education system in Thailand and the amount of obstacles that are put in the way of those wanting to do the job. It is reasonable to ask why we would put up with it? It’s not like the pay is up to much. What keeps people doing a job which seems to cause them so much stress?


Well, the truth is that despite all our complaints things aren’t really that bad. Teaching has rewards that just aren’t available in other professions. School administration can try and interfere with a lot of things, but once the lesson starts we have a lot of autonomy. The classroom can be like our stage and for the next fifty minutes, to an hour, we have a captive audience. These members of our audience are not passive participants though; not one bit. We have to battle for their attention. If we get it right we can leave the class feeling high as a kite; if we get it wrong we can feel down in the dumps. The highs more than make up for the lows. Occasionally you get a great day, all your classes go well, and you almost skip home from school convinced that you are the best teacher ever.


Another reward of teaching are the students themselves. When I started in the profession my anxiety about what they should or shouldn’t be doing took away from my appreciation of the students as individuals. I am now much more relaxed around them and have found that they can be great fun. They can make me laugh and make me think. I can see how their aspirations are similar to what mine had been at their age. Their enthusiasm makes me feel like a teenager again; it is easy to believe those who claim that teaching young people keeps you young. It can sometimes feel like a real privilege to know them at this special time in their lives.


Teachers can really make a difference to student’s lives. This goes way beyond the lessons that are being taught at the time. I remember all my teachers and they all affected my life in different ways. The impact of teaching students can have an impact way after that teacher has died.


There are also lots of other perks to the profession which keep us in the job. For one thing; it is hardly hard labour. Despite the occasional annoyances I still get days when I think; ‘wow. I can’t believed that I’m being paid for this’. I don’t have a boss on my case all the time, and most of the jobs associated with the job are reasonable.


Teaching in Thailand is not always easy, but it certainly has its good points. We wouldn’t do it otherwise.

Dealing with disruptive students

Dealing with disruptive students can be difficult. If you fail to do it though, these little devils can make your life hell. I have met more than a few colleagues who have experienced sleepless nights because of a class where they felt like they lost control. I personally have walked out of a classroom determined never to teach again. It can take a lot of inner-strength to face students once more after you have had a bad experience with them.


It is easy to just blame the teacher for not having the skill to keep students in check. This definitely seems to be the attitude in Thailand with teachers afraid to admit they are having problems in case it reflects badly on them. This is a real shame because support and exchange of ideas could work wonders to bring these classes back under control. Instead there seems to be classrooms where good students can’t learn because of disruptive students and teachers hide the fact so as not to rock the boat,


I know for a fact that it is not always the teacher’s fault, because I was once one of these disruptive students. I did not want to be in school and even if one of those wonderful teachers like the ones you see in movies (I’m thinking Dead Poets Society here) walked into the room then there would be no way that I wanted to listen. Always blaming the teacher is treating the student like a purely passive variable in the equation; I don’t believe this is the case.


It is not always the disruptive student’s fault either. Why should they be expected to sit through boring classes with teachers who don’t seem to care enough about them to keep them interested? I wouldn’t put up with that either.

The truth is that the problem is caused by a mixture of unique factors and no one answer fits all cases. Sometimes students are disruptive because they don’t want to be in school or because they have serious traumatic event occurring in their life. Other times they are disruptive because the lesson is boring, or that they are tired, or because a teacher told them off for not doing their homework.


It does become easier to control classes as experience in teaching grows. I do believe though, that more should be done to bring the problem out into the open and not to create a blame culture. This problem can drive good teachers out of the profession, and create a learning environment which fails students.

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Best advice for those wanting to teach English in Thailand

I always seem to be meeting people who would love to come and teach here in Thailand. My first response is to dish out warnings about the difficulties that people may face. Many of those interested have already developed Thai fever though and can't be dissuaded - I was the same.  I made many mistakes on my path to becoming a legitimate teacher, but I also learnt quite a bit. Here are some of my top tips for making the process as pain-free as possible. 

1. Have realistic expectations. Working in Thailand is completely different from coming here on holiday; what was once exotic will soon appear everyday and making a living in a sunny place can be just as difficult as elsewhere. 

2. Don't come here in holiday mode. If you come to Thailand with the intention of staying then it is vital that you take the whole thing seriously.  It is important to quickly develop a normal routine so that you can meet your work commitments. The partying needs to stop, but this does not mean that you can't still have fun and have all the benefits of living in a tropical paradise. 

3. Make sure you appear respectable when around colleagues or students. In Thailand this means not walking around the super-market in your swimming trunks and not falling around drunk in front of your students. It also means not doing anything which would reflect badly on employers. 

4. Teaching is a profession and requires a professional attitude.  It would be wrong to treat it merely a way to extend your holiday. This attitude will reflect in your work. Teaching is a noble profession and you can have an enormous influence on the lives of students; this influence can be good or bad. 

5. Become involved in the ESL community. Listen to the podcasts and read some of  the many blogs and online articles devoted to teaching English as a Second language; become knowledgeable about the different teaching methods and stay up to date.  Check out the Thai teaching related web forums regularly. This knowledge will be impressive at job interviews and more importantly help you develop as a teacher. 

6. Get qualified. It is possible to get work without many qualifications but this is not recommended. For legal work the minimum requirement is usually a degree. Attendance at some type of TEFL course is also usually desired. 

7. Gain some experience in front of students. A TEFL course is good for this. If you have never stood in front of a group of learners before then it can be a traumatic experience. It is best that you have as much support in the early days as possible. 

8. Don't be tempted to submit dodgy certification. Fake degrees are easy to find in Thailand but the consequences for being caught with these are extreme. It is often easy to spot these fake certificates. 

9. Try and have some savings for when the shit hits the fan. Thailand does not have any comfortable social security payments for you to fall back on if things go wrong. Make sure you are not caught with your trousers down. Have at least enough money to make it back to your home country. It is also handy to have a credit card from your home country for emergencies. 

10 Don't just take the first job that comes along. Research and think carefully. Does the job have health insurance? Does it pay you for twelve months of the year? Will it guarantee you a work permit and help you with this? What will your employers expect from you?