Moving to Thailand to Teach English! NEED ADVICE!

[yocumdt]

I have recently decided that college is not right for me right now and that I need a change of pace in my life. I am twenty years old and am considering moving to Thailand in order to teach English. I have no idea where to start. I do not have a bachelor's degree and I am not yet sure which program I should use to get my teaching certification. I am currently putting in long hours at a factory near my home in order to save money to move. I need to know what I should do before I decide to move forward with this decision and where the best jobs are for my qualifications. Any advice at all is much appreciated!

[joseph44]

No bachelor-degree, no teaching-qualifications and way too young........won't be easy.
The teaching qualifications can be solved by attending a TEFL, TESOL or CELTA course. Preferably in the country where you would like to start a teaching career.
The bachelor degree is another thing. One of the reasons to require a BA is to restrict the age of the teachers. Therefore, you will never see teachers younger than 23 years of age.

Of course you could try and make the move........but IMHO it is better to wait for a few years, get some kind of degree and save at least USD 20,000, so that you are able to survive without a job during the first year. In the meantime you could obtain a teaching qualification in the USA. Whatever you do......stay away from online-TEFL-courses. They are not very high-valued by educational-employers.

[TomC]

Originally Posted by joseph44

Of course you could try and make the move........but IMHO it is better to wait for a few years, get some kind of degree and save at least USD 20,000, so that you are able to survive without a job during the first year.

20K, Yeah, I like it. Never want to be under capitalization. Get a BA and save 20K, then FLY like an eagle.

[stednick]

Originally Posted by yocumdt

I have recently decided that college is not right for me right now and that I need a change of pace in my life. I am twenty years old and am considering moving to Thailand in order to teach English. I have no idea where to start. I do not have a bachelor's degree and I am not yet sure which program I should use to get my teaching certification. I am currently putting in long hours at a factory near my home in order to save money to move. I need to know what I should do before I decide to move forward with this decision and where the best jobs are for my qualifications. Any advice at all is much appreciated!

Yocumdt: You asked for advice, well here it is.

Reading your post it appears you need to redefine, or establish, your long term goals and your plan to achieve them. You need to do some serious soul searching. The first place to start is to define where you picture yourself in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years. As you are 20, where do you want to be when you are 50 years old. Married? With children? Living at the top of the food chain? Lottery winner? Nose-to-the-grindstone successful? Happy-go-lucky-artist type?

Difficult question. What do you want out of life? After you have answered this all important question you can begin to define the path that will get you there.

As far as saving funds to become a teacher in Thailand; Why do you want to teach? and, Why Thailand? First things first, if you truly believe you have the calling and talent to be a first-rate teacher, then get your degree in education, intern, and pursue teaching credentials. If you approach teaching as an escape, diversion, or easy money, you are doomed to failure.

Thailand. Why Thailand. Have you been here? Do you know the downside of an impoverished third world country? Can you withstand the incredible heat? Spend serious amounts of time reading through this forum. There is a massive amount of experience documented here. Not tourist stories. Real life questions and answers, information exchanged among Ex-pats who have lived here and can provide true guidance. Read, read, read, and then read some more.

Also, do not limit your investigation to Thailand. Read other countries forums. Do an extensive investigation of your options. Take your time. There is no rush. Plan, plan and then, plan some more. Anticipate problems. Have a well thought out game plan. Have an exit strategy. Have a plan B and a plan C.

In closing: You are responsible to, and for, yourself. Do not take this responsibility lightly. You will benefit the rewards of your hard work, and, you will suffer the consequences of impulsive foolishness.

I hope this helps. Good luck and let us all know what you decide to do.

[TomC]

Originally Posted by stednick

Yocumdt: You asked for advice, well here it is.

Reading your post it appears you need to redefine, or establish, your long term goals and your plan to achieve them. You need to do some serious soul searching. The first place to start is to define where you picture yourself in 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years. As you are 20, where do you want to be when you are 50 years old. Married? With children? Living at the top of the food chain? Lottery winner? Nose-to-the-grindstone successful? Happy-go-lucky-artist type?

It has to be one exceptional 20 yo who can think like what you've just laid out. When you're young, you never feel like you can die and 1 year is like forever much less 10 years. Using myself as an example, years ago I worked for Boeing and I quit 4 months shy of 15 years. Now I found out that they use the number of years in the calculation for pension. 15 instead of 14 would have been a nice little bump in the pension calculation. What kind of bone headed decision to quit? But at the time, 4 months was like forever and who thought about pension anyway?

[stednick]

Originally Posted by TomC

It has to be one exceptional 20 yo who can think like what you've just laid out. When you're young, you never feel like you can die and 1 year is like forever much less 10 years. Using myself as an example, years ago I worked for Boeing and I quit 4 months shy of 15 years. Now I found out that they use the number of years in the calculation for pension. 15 instead of 14 would have been a nice little bump in the pension calculation. What kind of bone headed decision to quit? But at the time, 4 months was like forever and who thought about pension anyway?

Well... if he, or she's, got the balls to quit college, save money, move halfway around the world to teach language in a Foreign country and be intelligent enough to ask for advice from experienced Ex-pats, he or she, is exceptional. My input is food for thought. I hope it leads to the formalizing of future plans. What do you think about this yocumdt?

[TomC]

Originally Posted by stednick

Well... if he, or she's, got the balls to quit college, save money, move halfway around the world to teach language in a Foreign country and be intelligent enough to ask for advice from experienced Ex-pats, he or she, is exceptional. My input is food for thought. I hope it leads to the formalizing of future plans. What do you think about this yocumdt?

I don't have the answer, but I just think it's bad idea to skip college. Maybe 30 years ago, you could survive in the U.S. with a highschool diploma. But now it's a global economy. You're competing with the Chinese, Indians and the rest of the Asian Tigers. Here is more food for thought of how important education is for the Asians. Indira Gandhi National Open University has enrollment of 3.5 million students. Yes, that's not a misprint.

Of course, skip college if you're going to party, or run up huge debts. Go to accredited school that you can afford. Work part time to pay for it and save, save, save while keeping up the grades. Work like a maniac like the Asians. Then we can talk.

P.S. Maybe it's a good idea to come and see how difficult life is in the developing countries like Thailand. Then you can go back and appreciate what you got. It's a maturation process.

[falangjim]

Originally Posted by yocumdt

I have recently decided that college is not right for me right now and that I need a change of pace in my life. I am twenty years old and am considering moving to Thailand in order to teach English. I have no idea where to start. I do not have a bachelor's degree and I am not yet sure which program I should use to get my teaching certification. I am currently putting in long hours at a factory near my home in order to save money to move. I need to know what I should do before I decide to move forward with this decision and where the best jobs are for my qualifications. Any advice at all is much appreciated!

What qualifications? Stay in the US, get some college experience-if only for two years. Then come to Thailand and take a TEFL or CELTA course. You won't find anything here with what you currently have except working illegally.

[godfree]

Originally Posted by yocumdt

I have recently decided that college is not right for me right now and that I need a change of pace in my life. I am twenty years old and am considering moving to Thailand in order to teach English. I have no idea where to start. I do not have a bachelor's degree and I am not yet sure which program I should use to get my teaching certification. I am currently putting in long hours at a factory near my home in order to save money to move. I need to know what I should do before I decide to move forward with this decision and where the best jobs are for my qualifications. Any advice at all is much appreciated!

The advice you've received from forum members thus far is sound. Your lack of a degree (can you get a 'certificate' of some kind? That would be helpful). If not, many schools are skirting the Goverment's requirement that expat teachers have a degree, simply because they need English teachers so badly.

But a GOO TEFL certificate is a must. By that, I mean one that really teches you how to put together an attention-holding 60-minute class. I've taught EFL in Japan, and I have a doctorate in education, and I've seen one school in Thailand (no dout there are more) that gives you a really strong grounding. You can check them out at UniTEFL Chiang Mai Thailand | TEFL Courses & Online TEFL. They also have a strong job-placement service that's free.

[Lyn_57]

Originally Posted by yocumdt

I have recently decided that college is not right for me right now and that I need a change of pace in my life. I am twenty years old and am considering moving to Thailand in order to teach English. I have no idea where to start. I do not have a bachelor's degree and I am not yet sure which program I should use to get my teaching certification. I am currently putting in long hours at a factory near my home in order to save money to move. I need to know what I should do before I decide to move forward with this decision and where the best jobs are for my qualifications. Any advice at all is much appreciated!

You need to do what is right for you!!! If college isn't the right thing now, it might be in a few years.

In the mean time you need to experience life and if that means uprooting and moving to another country then DO IT!! I am a volunteer teacher in Cambodia (with TESOL but no university degree) and am so happy I've made the move (I'm 55 yrs). I would suggest volunteering first to get a grip on how to teach, once you have done a reputable TESOL course. I live on $65 US a week including rent, electricity, water and food so it can be done. If you want to earn money without a university degree you can expect about $5 an hour here. I worked at a private school for 15 hours a week at $5 an hour and lived comfortably on that however I decided not to continue with the paid work as I gained far more satisfaction working as a volunteer.

You do need to read about life in a third world country and be prepared to forgo the luxuries that you are presently accustomed to. You also need to learn that you can't help everyone - remembering that almost everyone in a third world country needs help. It is very easy to burn out here unless you have the mental strength to not spend every waking moment helping others - you must also look after yourself.

As for climate.........I'm surviving and so are thousands of other volunteers and visitors. Sure it's unbearably hot in summer, but a little suffering is good for the soul and makes a stronger, more resilient person.

So...............live the dream