I wouldn't do Thailand - the laws are becoming pretty tight and I have had several friends put in jail for a few days for working without a work permit.

Cambodia would be a very good option

I assume its probably 130K + 20K housing or something similiar?

You will get hit hard on taxes - probably 25-30%

In terms of eating in versus eating out - Thai food is MUCH cheaper than even cooking it yourself. Thai food is incredibly good and incredibly cheap with a plethora of vegetable + chicken/beef/shrimp combinations for less than 3 dollars. To save money on food its better to eat out Thai.

I would drop the cheese habit. Cheese is one of the most expensive food items here in Thailand. Cheese will definitely become your most expensive food item.

I do not think you will be able to save 75 K. If you have to pay taxes on 130K you will probably take home less than 110. While some ESL teachers do survive on 35-40K a month, they would most likely be single and very frugal.

If people dismiss the ME simply because of one ISR forum poster, they have bigger problems

A strong interview with knowledge about IB and why you want to teach in an IB setting would go further than an IB online certificate.

Many people go to the "less desirable" locations to gain initial IB experience but there are always exceptions.

I would do the research, try a few units of Inquiry in your classroom, document it in a portfolio and sell yourself in an interview instead of trying to buy your way in

As Psyguy and others have said - experience in IB is the number 1 thing - everything else falls short so you might as well just spend the time doing independent research and be ready when you get an interview

and International School Bangkok had Timothy F. Geithner and you can see how well that worked out for most US tax payers

I think I would rather take the soap actors

Its a good school. I had a parent in Chiang Mai send their child there and the parent was very happy.

Its not the Elite or top tier but its a good school with a pretty decent salary package. If you want to live in Bangkok then it would be a great option - especially if you are single.

Its a good school. I had a parent in Chiang Mai send their child there and the parent was very happy.

Its not the Elite or top tier but its a good school with a pretty decent salary package. If you want to live in Bangkok then it would be a great option - especially if you are single.

Its Western Europe - every WE thread will quickly remind you of the golden rule - you don't go to Western Europe to save money

Good luck in Bangkok

Congrats to everyone that was successful at the BKK fair and a great big THANK YOU to shadowjack for his real-time exposé on what it was like this year.

I too was scheduled for the fair but luckily 'Captain Underpants' managed to keep his pants on for a few more interviews at other schools and we received an offer and signed a contract with a tier 1 in South America.

I was actually really excited about going to the fair as it would have been my first but we were thrilled with the offer and school so no regrets.

Before the fair we had only received 2 nibbles from schools attending asking to set up interviews the day before. The school we signed up with found us through the search database and sent out an unsolicited offer to interview so that database has been well worth it for us - both in the opportunities for us to contact schools and for schools to find us when looking through the database.

For those still waiting - definitely KEEP YOUR HEADS UP and be confident. There are so many fantastic schools and opportunities. We have always taken every opportunity to interview because recruiters move around all the time and its great to talk with someone and make those connections.

Best of luck to everyone!

I think most International Schools do have an early start date for new hires that range from very late July to early August.

If you are unable to take a position in that time frame that might become an issue.

Its a nice school up in the mountains. Beautiful campus and quite secluded. It takes 20+ minutes to get down off the mountain and about 40+ (depending on traffic) to get into town. If you wouldn't mind being secluded more of less in the mountains and enjoy the outdoors I bet you would really like it.

Very safe and family friendly and the school is a good school so I think your kids would do very well.

As far as living, two salaries would do quite well. I would assume 50-60K baht a month so two salaries would be 100-120K a month which would do very well in Chiang Mai. Thai food is great and very inexpensive and there it is also a family friendly city. Population is expanding rapidly and there will be 9 (NINE) new shopping malls built in the next 2 years so there will always be new development.

Outdoor life is wonderful in Chiang Mai and it offers ample amount of traveling opportunities around Thailand for very cheap.

Best of luck!

Its definitely possible.

I would also look at Chiang Mai International Schools. There are about 4 of them that all pay in the range of 50-60K baht a month (1800-2100 USD Month) and Chiang Mai is a very family friendly big town in the North.

There is also Prem International School in Mae Rim (North of Chiang Mai 20 minutes) and they pay very well, full IB. It would always be worth it to apply!

Best of luck!

I worked with a wonderful woman in her late 60s in my last school and she was a fantastic teacher. She taught Kindergarten and was always very active with the kids and both them and the parents absolutely adored her. Then one day she did not show up anymore and no one really could find out what happened.

Hello Everyone,

I first want to thank all of you for all of your contributions and valuable knowledge. It has been such a valuable source of information and has helped me so much!!! :D

We have been doing two skype interviews at our dream school (teacher couple) and we had our third early this morning. Unfortunately due to the extreme time differences it needed to be very early and they only had additional questions for my husband. Well, he woke up late and barely made it to the computer so he did not use the video - BUT during the interview he accidentally clicked it on and he was sitting in his underwear!!! :(

The head of school and department head quickly excused themselves and said they would be contacting us again at a later date.

Did he completely ruin any chances? Is there anything I can do? Should I email the school and address the situation? Should I poison him? :oops:

Please help.