About living in Bangkok I have share this with my overseas friends before and I like to share here. Did this after speaking to many overseas friends here:

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:57 am Thailand is ranked 74th out of 100 for English proficiency in the EF EPI index. Only Cambodia is worse at 94. Vietnam is 52, having gone down in the rankings over the last few years.

That's strange because it's a whole lot easier to find locals who speak English here than in Thailand or Vietnam. They must get the stats from some academic records or something.

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 10:57 am If you're going to teach in Thailand, you won't find many motivated students. Thailand is ranked 74th out of 100 for English proficiency in the EF EPI index. Only Cambodia is worse at 94. Vietnam is 52, having gone down in the rankings over the last few years.

Most Thai students do no work and only want the course credit and expect to be passed, no matter how bad they are. Many students learn from an English-speaking Thai teacher and I use the term "English-speaking" loosely, very loosely. Can't even carry on a conversation. This is according to a British friend in Bangkok with 35 years teaching in UK schools plus 15 in Thailand. He's been working corporate for a few years now. He speaks French fluently and speaks German.

Vietnamese students are noted to be avid learners because of an overall respect for education. I hear pay is pretty good, especially for tutoring. Just an FYI: Come July 1, if it happens, the visas are changing as VN tries to weed out all the "teachers" on tourist visas. You will probably need a school job invitation.

You're right about Thailand, and they've got this "we were never colonized crap"* pounded into their heads leaving many of the less bright ones to believe that Thai is the only language they will ever need to know. They see themselves as leaders of the World. I taught for 9 years not because I needed the money but because it was something meaningful to do. Most of the girls were great, most of the boys became a total pain-in-the-ass especially after reaching P6. Starting at P6 they got that false sense of superiority and simply could not be taught. (The same false sense of superiority they will keep their entire lives). A few of the more intelligent boys did not get that attitude. The drastic change between P5 and P6 was consistent for the 8 years I was there.

If I didn't have a Thai teacher in the room to maintain discipline it as nearly impossible to have a meaningful class. I was lucky to have a great boss or I never would have stayed that long. The Thai teachers beat them with sticks, something I wasn't about to get involved in.

Then there's the BS of trying to teach them grammar before you teach them how to use the language since that's all the Thai-English teachers know. It makes no sense and guarantees failure. We had one Thai teacher with a degree in English who became the poster-child of the school. She could not carry on the most basic conversation and hated me because I knew it.

* This is a reminder that Japan colonized Thailand in one day on December 8, 1941, Thailand surrendered that same afternoon, and since Hawaii is on the other side of the Date Line, it was the same day as Pearl Harbor. Thai children are taught nothing about World War 2 and most don't know it ever happened. Yes, you were colonized.

phuketrichard wrote:farang teachers teaching in thai schools ( not university) earn between 25-35,000 baht/month
enough to get by living alone, but not much

Exactly. And if you want someone who's not a gap-year student, you have to pay up. No mention of the complicated visa/work permit situation there as well, which drives people away after a short stint. I agree regarding their poor English skills in general. Even in some large hotels the staff are pretty clueless language-wise.

And regarding colonization: the only reason they weren't colonized was because the French and British wanted a buffer state...

Cambodians are very poor at reading comprehension and lame writers, but pretty good and natural at speaking. The last time I was in Thailand, I asked a girl in a department store for directions, she was really struggling with basic terms such as go straight, upstairs, turn left etc. But most I encountered were adequate, but I wouldn't say superior to Cambodians. Vietnamese are easily worse than Cambodians at speaking. From what I experienced in my short visits there. I could barely understand a waiter in a mid range restaurant.

i thought the thais just invited the japanese in rather than resist, so technically...?

i thought the thais just invited the japanese in rather than resist, so technically...?

rexwell wrote:Cambodians are very poor at reading comprehension and lame writers, but pretty good and natural at speaking. The last time I was in Thailand, I asked a girl in a department store for directions, she was really struggling with basic terms such as go straight, upstairs, turn left etc. But most I encountered were adequate, but I wouldn't say superior to Cambodians. Vietnamese are easily worse than Cambodians at speaking. From what I experienced in my short visits there. I could barely understand a waiter in a mid range restaurant.

That's my experience as well. Vietnamese and Chinese tend to have more difficulties with pronunciation than Khmers. It's true that Cambodians aren't very good readers compared to the Vietnamese (in their own language as well). It's changing though, I regularly see young people reading books now (there are a few cafés that cater to that as well).

Marty wrote: ↑Wed Apr 29, 2020 1:44 am Those positions can be easily filled. With Filipinos.

I believe their native tongue is tagalog.