The stats: 8 days, 4 potential interviews, 3 actual interviews, 2 offers, and 1 job. I decided to take a job with the first place I talked to, the private bilingual school across the river in Pinklao. I’m turning down an offer from the “suburban” bilingual school, and I don’t want to work at the boys Christian school, even if it is offered to me.

The interview at the Christian school was hostile and negative. I had to start out defending why I wanted to teach in Thailand, even though I have a degree in Computer Science. Then the guy regaled me with tales of chaos in the classroom: high school boys out of control, students with Tourette’s Syndrome going crazy, and teachers afraid to go into their classrooms. He didn’t sell his school too well (I was interviewing him too, after all), and I decided that the last thing I want to deal with would be a roomful of teenage boys, no matter what the nationality.

The “suburban” school was OK, but the offer was only 35,000, the school was very big (60 foreign teachers!), the classes were big (35 students), and there is no air conditioning. It’s not TOO far away, though. It was worth considering, but the Pinklao school was better, despite the distance.

The school I will work at is very nice. It is fairly big, at 3,000 students, but the bilingual program is small, with only a couple hundred. It’s also very expensive. The facilities are nice, I like my boss, and, I know somebody who already works there. The money is also good: an even 40,000 baht. That seems like a lot of money, until it’s converted into dollars. Then it becomes $1,000 a month. Hopeless poverty in the US, but enough for my expenses in Bangkok. I also will get basic health insurance. And, since I’m working for a “real,” not a language school, I will get all the national holidays off, as well as term breaks. There are a lot of national holidays in Thailand.

I suppose I should talk about “bilingual schools,” because I don’t think I have explained these. There have always been international schools, which hire “real” teachers (and pay “real” money, 60,000+ baht), and teach exclusively in English. However, they are very expensive, so cater mostly to expatriates. In the last few years, many schools have started programs catering to middle class Thais. Poor man’s international schools, if you will. Subjects like Thai grammar and Thai culture are taught in Thai, but everything else is taught in English, by English speakers. At some schools, a Thai teacher will then re-teach the subjects in Thai. The idea is that if kids go through a program like this, they will become fluent in English.

In my job search strategy, I targeted bilingual schools and universities. I never applied to any private language schools, which teach only English. I liked the idea of the bilingual schools, because I could teach other subjects. I liked the idea of universities, because I could teach young adults. This would have been my preference. Unfortunately, I did not hear from any universities. There was a chance that I might have been able to get a job at a university through a friend in June. But I couldn’t wait that long.

So, barring young adults, and not wanting to deal with rowdy high-schoolers, that leaves primary students. I’ll be teaching upper primary, which is my second choice of age-group. I never though I would teach kids, but I hear they are very well behaved. Apparently, instead of rowdiness, the problem is apathy. The kids come from well-off families, so many of them have an attitude that they don’t have to learn, since they know they will get a job with their daddy’s company when they grow up. Still not perfect, but it’s the lesser of two evils.

Tomorrow I’ll go over there to meet with my boss, who will show me some apartments. I still have 30 days in my over-priced, pink place in Victory Monument, so this will be preliminary looking. I should be able to find a place for half of what I pay now. I will start teaching summer school on the 29th. Before then, I will have to go to Malaysia to get a Non-Immigrant visa. Hopefully I can spend a little time in Phuket while I am in the South.