Hi - Been reading your comments which have been insightful on some of the topics posted. I was hoping you may be able to offer some advice or a few pointers?? I land in Bangkok on 5th Jan 2011 and am hoping to find work teaching kids aged between 7-10. I have completed a weekend TEFL course and often give talks at schools in the UK but thats the limit of my teaching experience. I have however been to Thailand a number of times before so know what to expect in terms of culture and the place in general. The bit im stuck on is how to find a job! Where to look and how do you know if its a good place to teach!? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Best, Dave.

Ok thanks Kel, I'm just finishing my TEFL now, my plan is to teach overseas for around 5 years, I'm not sure what I want to do after that. I thought maybe I could do a PGCE then teach in the UK or USA somewhere but I'm not sure that I want to. It seems most children these days don't want to learn, don't have repect for teachers however I know that in Asia the children really put the effort in. My observation only of course. If I want to teach in an International school or a Public School then they always ask for a PGCE, so I'm leaning towards that later on. If I have spare money and time I may try doing the CELTA another time, but after a couple years experience I'm not sure that having a CELTA will be of much benefit. Thanks again.

Nathan

Hi Natan,

I think it depends on what you want to teach and where to be honest.I taught overseas first to get experiance but i didnt have a TEFL/CELTA/DELTA when i started though i was a graduate.I would say if you want to teach in the UK/Australia/US do a PGCE.A PGCE is only really the route you would go if you wanted to teach in these places or in international schools overseas, either way you will need to qualify and get a couple of years experiance teaching where ever you do the PGCE before international schools will consider you.

I would do the TEFL go and get some teaching experiance overseas and see how it goes before deciding what to do next.TEFL teaching is very different to teaching in the West and in international schools overseas so be aware of that if you are looking to compare the two!

The CELTA and DELTA are worth doing if you want to work in the Middle East once youve got experiance even if you do the PGCE as at the level you usually need to be at teaching wise will require you have a more indepth awareness of TEFL.So unless TEFL teaching is what you want to do as a long term career it might be worth just doing the TEFL but maybe a college/uni based one not one that is online as you miss out on direct teacher support and the actual experiance of actual teacher practice.

Hope this helps!

Kel

Hey WillisK, Is it worth doing a CELTA then a DELTA or just doing a PGCE, I will be gaining experience teaching from September but I'm always looking for ways to improve my portfolio, but obviously without high associated costs. I can do a PGCE in the UK when I go back after I've gained some experience, but I'm not sure about doing a CELTA followed by a DELTA.

Thank you for your input and the website..I will be checking that out! Do you recommend any schools/regions? I've never traveled w/o definite plans, so I'll be a little nervous about heading to Thailand w/o a job waiting for me or any contacts! Eeek!