You'd be teaching westerners in Thailand? That may be a good job to have.

I dream of teaching studious students here--adults, kids, I don't care. Just give me students who will do the work I assign and actually make an effort at that work. But alas, I teach Thais, so I'll have to keep on dreaming.

What would the pay be like at this job? Avg/good/great?

You know the weather would be a LOT better at this job than your new job in China.

I hope this hotel job works out and you stay happy over the long haul, Jin.

Jinchafa, before deciding to completely turn your back on Thailand, I have to say don't do it yet. Not if you're going to be teaching actual English teachers. Thai adults are more mature than what you call "unappreciative" Thailand school kids in your post. If you're teaching adults, you won't run into the common problems that are merely symptoms of a defunct education system. If the pay is upwards of 40,000 Baht and you're provided with free housing and/or meals, I'd say jump on it! The only "problem" is the violence in the south, assuming you'll be going there. Even then, I wouldn't worry about it. Hey--ya gotta die someway, right?

Make sure your vest is made outside of Thailand.

Here is something else anyone thinking of coming to Thailand should consider--Thailand has no real consumer protection laws, something I've learned the hard way.

Read on:

1. A 'Sony' portable CD player I bought at a bus station for almost 50 US bucks lasted about 2 hours before burning out. Culprit: Defective capacitor. Could I return it for an exchange? Nope.

2. An L.A. Bicycle-brand mountain bike I bought has needed two new tubes and five patches after riding it only about 200 miles. Culprit: paper-thin OEM tires.

3. A Nokia phone I bought my fiance brand-new lasted two weeks before the speaker failed. Luckily, it was under warranty and was repaired for free.

4. A Thai-made pair of shoes I bought three weeks ago for almost twenty bucks are already coming apart. Can I take them back for an exchange or refund? HA! A similiar pair of shoes I bought at Pay-Less in the USA are still going strong after about four years.

5. A pair of sneakers my fiance bought for about five bucks lasted maybe 7 days before the side split out of one of the shoes.

6. Last October, a brand-new Toyota car began to give a lady in Bangkok problems even before she left the dealer's lot with it. The problems got steadily worse, but the dealer refused to fix the car. The lady protested by taking a sledge-hammer to it in a highly-publicized act to 'force' Toyota to repair the piece of junk. It was all in the Bangkok Post and on the T.V news. Toyota caved from the bad publicity and gave her a refund. She bought a Honda imported from Japan.

Thailand is a dumping ground for inferior imports. Domestically, the situation isn't any better. As piss-poor as the education system here is, I wouldn't ride the subway or the skytrain in Bangkok if not for this fact: both were designed and built by engineering firms from Germany and Japan. Thais, with their ##-brains, were left out of the process, thank God.

More two cents for your piggy-banks.

Yes, the TESOL mills are part of the problem. Mine didn't cover important topics like testing or culture. Another thing mine didn't mention is what teaching is like in the myriad Asian countries. Third, of course, they charged too much for a program that became in the end useless 'filler'. And finally, none try to weed out undesirables.

During my month-long stay at my mill (TEFL International), I never once heard anyone discuss testing and/or the fact that one day we'd have to give tests to our students. They also 'forgot' to tell us about Thailand's cheating epidemic and the reality that students never fail here, giving those students no reason to work in or out of the classroom. And being as students in Thailand have no reason to work, all the methodology taught at TI is useless here.

My class at TI didn't have any misfits, save for a few annoying drunks, but misfits seem to be somewhat common in TEFL. TI, and other mills as well, can eliminate these fine examples of what a teacher should not be by simply interviewing their teacher-candidates on the first day of their programs. Misfits would kindly be asked to hit the road. But the mills won't stop milking the cash cow that is the misfit, so the misfits are allowed to complete their programs and be unleashed on schools everywhere.

Considering how little of TI's methods I actually used in my Thailand classrooms during my first year, I know now I should have gone to eBay and picked up a fake cert instead of spending big money on a real one at TI. I would have saved probably 1500 bucks and wouldn't be furious with myself for dropping that good money to learn how to teach kids who don't want to learn in the first place.

No Rheno. In fact, though it is not a recruiter I've been communicating with, he did not warn me about the random bombings and shootings. I'm not shocked by his "lapse" though. Another teacher here in the forum did bring up that unsavory bit of info though. Oh well. Actually, such things don't bother me. Our days are numbered from the time we're born. Not that I like to tempt fate, but as an American where in this world am I really safe anyway?
As for teaching unappreciative students in Thailand, that's out of the question too. I'm actually considering teaching would be teachers. (That should let the cat out of the bag - I've heard about some of the so called TESOL programs in Thailand, but I think this one has the potential to turn out some good teachers.)
Well then, if I do decide to go to Southern Thailand, I'm sure I can find a bullet proof vest to fit my skinny ass. Oh wait, they don't cover the ass do they. Hmm, maybe body armor is more like it. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't stop a BB.
Seriously though, thanks Rheno. You're comments are always appreciated.

Maybe , we should write more real names on these board ,so that the teachers could avoid unscrululous recruiters ? Do you know some ?

Lamentably, the problems outlined in these reviews are generally all too real and in some cases portray situations that border on the horrendous.

True enough, recruiters are generally the devils in these situations and more of them are rearing their ugly heads every day. There are however a few honest agencies, so it's unfortunate that they must suffer from the reputations created by the unscrupulous. Added to the confusion is the fact that some teachers will post unfavorable reviews because they have been found to be incompetent as teachers. It somehow assuages their bruised egos to post such negative comments. Fortunately though, I think those situations are few and far between and most comments posted here should be taken seriously.

So, all in all, it begs the question - what can be done? Sadly, there is very little we can do. As I've stated before in this forum, the Chinese government will ultimately step up to the plate and make some changes that will help. But ultimately, even that will only slightly alleviate the dishonesty that we are subjected to. It's important to realize that the Chinese consciousness regarding "getting over" on someone is extremely different than ours. It is an age-old cultural truth that in China to come out even on a deal is not the goal - one must come out ahead. True, this is slowly changing. But it's not changing fast enough to make a difference in this EFL game. By last count, there are approximately 150,000 EFL teachers in China. This means there is a large pool of potential fish to be lured and netted by those eager to cash in on our naivity. Even I have been hooked in China and I consider myself to be quite worldly and street wise. (One must be careful of certain schools also: a business college in Qingdao called PSB, and a franchise school called Boya come to mind.)

So, again, I ask the question what can be done? My only hope is that, like I have done, others will write to the schools where they received their TESOL certificates and warn about the pitfalls of teaching in China. If you have writing skills, write articles for your hometown newspaper or on as many ESL forums as you can find. Sooner or later the Chinese government will tire of the negative publicity, and changes will be made that will positively affect the EFL industry in China.

Until that time, you can do as I'm doing - make plans to get the hell outta Dodge. It's a tough decision though. There is so much about China that I really love. However, I'm tired of dealing with the uncertainties.

What about Vietnam? Anyone have any comments about teaching there? Yeah, yeah, I've heard the horror stories about petty crime and outright thievery, but what about the teaching scene in general? A year or two ago I read a post by a teacher who had traveled the world for six years teaching EFL. His comment was that in Vietnam he had found a home and planned to stay forever. What do you think?