Best Time To Travel To Thailand
Despite what you might hear on TV or what’s reported in the news now is the best time to travel to Thailand. At least start preparing if you’re really considering Thailand for your next ESL job in 2017. The school year is right around the bend and most teachers are starting to consider their futures. Some will stay, some will go. The good news for you my ESL hopefuls is it means new job vacancies.
School Life During “The Rush”
At my old school, during the second semester it felt like we started wrapping things up right after New Years. Midterms came and went in no time and right around February students are preparing for finals. At this point you’re really at the end of your lessons and probably playing review games(or whatever you do to prepare).
I say now is best time to travel to Thailand because the most expensive part of your journey is at it’s lowest price. I usually aim to buy my tickets for flights to Bangkok at least a month and a half in advance. So if you do the same I don’t see why you can’t find $400-$500 flights. Or you can buy your flight at the last second and pay more… Tam Jai Koon(up to you) right? I once bought a ticket 3-4 days ahead and it cost around $800 bucks. Never again…
Got a TEFL?
If you’re set on Thailand but still don’t have a TEFL certificate, no worries! As I’ve said many times before. You don’t need a TEFL to actually land an ESL job. You really don’t, but unless you have something like a masters degree or a degree in a relevant subject, you sure as hell will lose preference to those who do have all the required qualifications.
At least have a bachelors degree or you may have some difficulty sorting your work-permit out. In a bad case scenario you’ll have to constantly do visa runs in and out of the country. Worse case, you’d get barred from the country. You can check me on this as well, but I think they’ve limited it now to a certain amount of times you can do visa runs.
So unless you have solid connections in Thailand that can refer you to a decent position, don’t take shortcuts, get a TEFL dudes and dudettes. If your strapped for cash then go with the MyTefl.com $139 Online Course option. If you want to really get a feel for Thailand and have real life practice teaching then certainly make time in your day to check out SEE TEFL. You can Get $200 Off SEE if you sign-up in advance.
Get 35% Off When You Enter: FARANGDA (at checkout)
See MyTEFL's 120-Hour Course
Getting Hired From Home
It’s not a bad idea either to try to get hired from home. There are some risk you take by doing this (i.e. Getting paid less) but it can be reassuring for those of you paranoid first-time travelers (like myself). I won’t sugarcoat it though, the opportunity for jobs may come as fast as they go and the availability of a position can change in an instant. Also some employers may not honor their agreements over e-mail.
Feel’n Lucky?
Over spending to get here just to be underpaid can all be avoided with some preparation. For example, if you get a TEFL you’ll then get access to a network of employers that specifically look to hire graduates from those courses. Once you survive the first school year(it’s not that bad) you can use your experiences and solidify your knowledge as an ESL teacher and utilize that to find higher paying jobs.
If you’re ever planning on visiting Thailand and have questions hit me up. I want to help! If you’re not the commenting type then send me a personal message. I’ll try to get back to you in under 24 hours. Don’t worry I don’t do spam.
