Yes, there IS life after Thailand - Page 3 - Ajarn Forum

MikeS · 16th August 2008, 18:32

Caracas? Cayman Islands? Canton? Capricornia? Cattle Creek? Cararra? Candyville?

Umbuku · 17th August 2008, 05:24

I pick the Cayman Islands.

Nice little tax shelter and the beaches are good.

Lor Ling · 17th August 2008, 08:02

Canvey Island.

AO was telling me how captivated by England's most underrated beauty spot he's become!

In seriousness Cali sounds pretty nice to me in parts AO, though I've never been Stateside. You'll still have the sunshine!

MikeS · 17th August 2008, 10:23

Carrarra is a nice suburb on the Gold Coast near the beach south of Brisbane with good surf, which might suit AO.
Caloundra is a beachside suburb north of Brisbane which probably has better surf than the Gold Coast.
Both sound like AO kinds of places.

GreatSage · 22nd August 2008, 15:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeS

Just thought I'd let you know there is life after Thailand teaching English. We've started this week at a large language school in Brisbane, after also doing some casual at two other large language schools here. We went for the one which was the first to offer us five day a week work, as we wanted some regular income. In our case, this means 20 hours a week of teaching and we're getting about $37 an hour, which sounds a lot by Thai standards, but isn't special by Aussie standards; however, it's the same rate being paid by all the schools we had contact with here. It will do for the moment.

One thing I did notice is how highly organised the language schools are here. Its all planned and when you walk in its just sitting there in a box and you just read through it, copy anything required, grab the CD and you're away. And they all have shelves loaded with extra activities all packaged and labelled and ready to go. Very organised.

Another thing I must comment on is the weather - its ruddy cold after LOS. The other night it was 2 degrees overnight!!!!! It is winbter here of course, so we expected it, but its a shcok after the temperature rarely dropping below 25 where we were in Thailand. We've gone from aircon to sleep to actually needing blankets to snuggle under.

A final observation is how great hte public transport system is here in Brisbane. The bus takes us to the city from the suburbs in 30 minutes. Its fast (onw bus lanes separate from the cars) and very efficient. We even have GoCards, which are stored value cards we reload and just swipe when getting on and off the buses. Very efficient.

We're currently literally camped in our empty house, which was left vacant after the tenants moved out, but that's OK as we like camping. We're preparing the house to put up for sale and intend to downsize to a smaller townhouse and cut our debt.

There are many things I miss about Thailand (the people, the food, the relaxed lifestyle etc) and our three years there were great. We hope to visit again in October and repeatedly after that. Who knows, once we sell the house and replace it with something whose mortgage can be paid by the rent, we might take off again. Meanwhile, we're enjoying being back in Oz.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Just thought I'd pop up and say there is life after Thailand. Stay well,

Mike

I'm doing something similar at the moment...only in Sydney.

Me and the Mrs are living with family...so we don't have to pay rent etc. It's a good set up for a year as my brother had a huge spare room + balcony.

$37 an hour is about right. Some schools will pay $46, but they are hard to get for that very reason.

1000 baht an hour is very good though compared to Thailand. My wife is also working, so it was more pratical as a couple than going to Korea or Saudi at the moment.

Saving some money is much easier. Without even trying we have managed to save over 100 000 baht in only a couple of months. In Chiang Mai, that would have taken well over a year.

You are also absolutely right that the schools are a hell of lot more organised and professional here!

Umbuku · 22nd August 2008, 15:40

The government TAFE colleges pay $55 to 60 an hour but you need to be fully accredited in education with a lot of experience behind you.

Don't really see why though. My wife is attending her free English classes there and all she brings home is photocopies of Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use and tells me they are watching Mr Bean in classtime.

GreatSage · 22nd August 2008, 15:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umbuku

The government TAFE colleges pay $55 to 60 an hour but you need to be fully accredited in education with a lot of experience behind you.

Don't really see why though. My wife is attending her free English classes there and all she brings home is photocopies of Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use and tells me they are watching Mr Bean in classtime.

A friend of mine is teaching ESL at TAFE and gets $67 an hour.

She doesn't have an education degree. (To get in now though, you need it)

If you do have quals in education, you can also teach as a casual in the Govt schools system. They pay mid 60's ($) and it would be a reasonably easy gig short term.

Umbuku · 22nd August 2008, 15:50

I'll be up for that in another two years time.

Got to be better than playing tour guide to snotty spoiled Asian students for half the money.

GreatSage · 22nd August 2008, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umbuku

I'll be up for that in another two years time.

Got to be better than playing tour guide to snotty spoiled Asian students for half the money.

Casual teaching in the Govt. system is pretty good from what I've heard from mates + my brother is doing it at the moment.

You register with one of the bigger schools...and there's pretty much always work / daily.

My brother goes in...they say "today you are covering history...today you are covering sport" etc...

He gets to basically just go through the text book / get them to do a few exercises. Walks out with the equivalent of about 8000 baht for the day.

He reckons full time teaching in the Govt. system is a f-ing nightmare though for those teachers. Tonnes of psycho. students / fights / teachers basically spend all day getting kids to behave.

He saw a kid smash another kid over the head with a chair the other day...

Casual work though...where you're in and out and don't have the long term baggage and hassles = great pay and easy enough work.

Umbuku · 22nd August 2008, 16:06

Sounds good as in five years time I'll be considering moving back to Thailand and I don't want to put down any deep tap roots in Oz.

GreatSage · 22nd August 2008, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Umbuku

Sounds good as in five years time I'll be considering moving back to Thailand and I don't want to put down any deep tap roots in Oz.

The way I look at is that you can teach here for a year and then live in Thailand for 3 years easily / have a cruisey life.

Or teach in Thailand for 4 years and get paid like shit / work hard.

Umbuku · 22nd August 2008, 16:19

It's a mugs game but I plan to be shooting fish in a barrel.

MikeS · 25th August 2008, 16:54

Some casual language school teachers get in the low $40s an hour, depending on experience. Also, if you teach at least five hours a day you get a full days pay, which is an extra couple of hours of pay per day. So its possible to teach 25 hours a week and get five full days of pay.

haltest · 29th August 2008, 17:25

It's a bit sad to be TEFL teaching in a western country and to be honest if I was reduced to doing that I'd think my life had gone seriously off track.

That's why it's always important to think of the future and put in place skills and knowledge that can be used to earn decent money back home if you have to make the move back. Too many people get sucked into the laisez faire lifestyle and forget about future employability.

BTW fair play to you MikeS et al, this is not a personal critisism just a general observation...

GreatSage · 29th August 2008, 20:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by haltest

It's a bit sad to be TEFL teaching in a western country and to be honest if I was reduced to doing that I'd think my life had gone seriously off track.

...

It's a good job back here...well, in Australia anyway.

The $ are good...it's extremely professional...the hours are good...the conditions are good.

I've worked in much "higher" level jobs than this...but this is the most enjoyable thing I've done.

I'd not like to do it forever...but as a way to earn some decent $ relatively easily, it's nice.

It's essentially the same work as in Thailand...only with much better pay / conditions / materials / higher level of students. What's not to like about that?

Side note: Re future employability. For those who are interested in teaching back home...

It's not that easy to get this work here. It's MUCH more competitive than Thailand and the level of teachers is much higher (A lot with Dip Ed quals).

If your TESOL was from Thailand...most schools here that I know will NOT accept it. You need quals from here. Most want an A pass CELTA from here / or a University level PGCE in TESOL.

You generally won't get work with a qualification earned in Bangkok as Thailand is poorly regarded.