Interested In China?

I like this video of China. If you don’t listen to the voice over, it resembles a very good travel video. If you do listen to the voice over then understand that they are trying to sell a TEFL course to you. They are trying to sell their TEFL course and job placement service that you probably don’t need in order to teach in China. Just enjoy the video so you can get to know China, in case you want to teach English in China.

So, are you ready to pack your bags and move to China? Well, go ahead, but I prefer things here in the US, despite all of the great things you can do in China, I still think there are more opportunities right here in Tacoma.

Destination: Thailand

I just realized that I do not have a Destination TEFL report up on Thailand yet. I taught in Thailand for several years so I figured that it would be a good idea to put one up and make things easier for teachers considering teaching in Thailand.

There are many different types of jobs available in Thailand. You can do corporate work, language institute work, university work and even teach at ordinary primary and secondary schools. The largest number of available jobs are at primary and secondary schools throughout the Kingdom of Thailand. This is followed by university work and language institute work.

Pay starts out at between 25 to 30k baht per month for provincial teaching jobs and increases up to 50k for some of the larger schools in Bangkok. The cost of living is quite low in Thailand so it is possible to make ends meet with the salary on offer, as long as you avoid expensive nights out.

Finding a job is relatively easy, just find one after arrival, keeping in mind that January through March is the toughest time to find a job as schools are winding down their school year and not looking to bring on new teachers. The most important factor in finding a job is to dress nicely and have a great looking CV. Qualifications needed differ from school to school, but expect that you’ll need a 4 year degree and some kind of TEFL certificate. It’s all rather flexible though.

Visas are the real hassle in Thailand. Requirement change on an often basis and this makes it tough to plan ahead. Plus they have started to require teachers to complete a rather idiotic Thai culture class before giving them a teacher’s license. It seems like to much hassle to me.

Anyways, I’d love to hear other comments on Teaching in Thailand and more advice.

Destination: Bolivia

Bolivia is an interesting country is South America. It’s intriguing, but unfortunately, there is not a lot of good information about it on the net. Maybe it is because a lot of the teachers who choose Bolivia as their destination are not able to share the information as much as teachers from other destinations are.

In an attempt to rectify this, I scoured the net for information and came across this report from a Mr. Martin. He has graciously allowed us to post this article here on this site. It’s the information you need to know to teach in Bolivia.
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Destination TEFL: Southern Chile

Thanks to a nice fellow down in southern Chile, we have another destination TEFL article. This time we are focused on southern Chile. Thanks to a man who gives by the nickname Dayton, we have a great informational article on southern Chile, including the climate, the people, and most importantly a bit about TEFL in southern Chile.

Natural Factors (weather, landscape, etc.)

Rainy. In the 10th region, there are really only 2 or at best 3 months of the year that qualify as summer-esque. The rest of the time its a windy, rainy, and in wintertime cold (*beep* ball freezing cold in the 11th or 12th regions, but I´m a wuss from central California) So be ready for that. Especially if you are coming from the northern hemisphere, as I was, I thought a tad to lightly of taking 2 winters in a row… never a good idea, I would heartily recommend taking 2 summers in a row to ease the transition to a foreign country.

But when the sun comes out, its lovely. A very direct sun, you want to wear your sunscreen, but right now we´re springing into summer, and the verdant green pastures are sprouting wildflowers everywhere. Green pastures, sunny skies, green green green and blue blue blue, blue of ocean, blue of sky, and white capped volcanoes in the distance. Easy to get into the mountains, and there are some beautiful mountains to be explored, lakes to be gazed upon and swum in. Dec, Jan, Feb are key months. Thank god we’re there now.

People

Chileans are a nationalistic, proud people, yet live in a constant state of wishing they were more “desarollado” thinking that because it comes from the US, its better. I can understand, because the TV here shows pleasure and success on the same luxurious and excessive north american terms that I´m used to seeing in California´s inflated economy, but here in Chile we look around and still see a lot of shanty houses made of tin and scrap wood…

They all want to learn english, yet can be off-putting in their approach to gringos. I guess what i mean there is that they are not used to foreigners amongst them, even though the tourism industry is growing steadily. If you are tall and light haired (me) get ready for 100 stares a day. If you are black, or aisan, or have tattoos or piercings displayed, get ready for 100 stares a second.

Drinking is in high swing here, though the good beer costs mucho mucho, but good wine is more affordable, Food is reasonable, but I would not say Chilean Cuisine will ever become world class.
And if you think you know Spanish (I did) think again, Chileans speak a dialect all their own, full of idiom, slang and the like. I now joke that I´m tri-lingual (English, Spanish, and Chilean)
Like all South American countries, punctuality is not a translatable word or concept.

Teaching English

This only speaks to my teaching experience here in Chile, as I haven´t had any other experience teaching. I find these students to be varied, and have been working teaching business people in the salmon farming industry (THE industry in the south) But all are willing to learn, and if learning English was easy, you’d have lines out the door, down the street for miles. I haven’t really tried, but I suspect a proactive sort could develop a good list of private clients here in Chile, as native speakers are hard to come by outside of Santiago, and all professionals are seeing English as pretty much a necessity.

They are shy to produce the language, as a whole, and I’ve found that difficult to combat at times. Even in class, they will write a sentence perfectly, but be afraid of pronouncing it wrong, so they won’t try… odd. Practice makes…..?

You may email the author at daytoncrites@yahoo.com for more information.

Destination TEFL: China

I was just using my feedreader and came across a google news item for Worldpress on Teaching English in China. It’s provides one take on teaching in China from the eyes of Tom Carter. It shows that you do need to do your homework before jumping into the world of TEFL, but there are benefits to the TEFL lifestyle.

I appreciated this paragraph the most:

The moment I arrived in the Middle Kingdom I had what some seasoned expatriates call “the complete Chinese experience.” The “school” that had accepted my application turned out to be a nickel-and-dime operation run out of an apartment by a guy in his bathrobe. I’d come half way around the world for a job and found myself out of work.

I surely can appreciate the complete Chinese experience. I think you can get that kind of experience in most countries, but I am interested in hearing China stories so leave them in the comments.

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