Teaching Placement

The TESOL certified teachers are placed by American TESOL in widely located schools across Thailand. The institutions where the TESOL trained teachers are assigned are interestingly diversified, ranging from remotely located rural temple schools to the plush, urbane private schools.

The jobs of ESL teachers are seen to possess the common features -

• A maximum of 24 classes per week involving 20-22 hours of teaching; not repeating a single class twice in a week. The duration of a class is usually 50-60 minutes, depending on the school.

• A lesson plan has to be submitted at the end of each month.

• The general school-timing in Thailand is between 8:00 am – 4:30 pm, with slight variations in varied schools. However in Language Schools, ESL teaching occurs mostly during evening and on weekends.

• Thai schools don’t operate on Thai National holidays. Saturdays and Sundays. But on the contrary Language Schools stay busy during this time.

• It is necessary to attend the morning assembly, usually beginning at 8:00 am.

• ESL teachers need to prepare weekly lesson plans for individual level/grade of students assigned to them. The school and ATI might ask for samples from the teachers as well.

• Teachers will prepare (hopefully creative) lesson plans each week for each level/grade they teach. Teachers will likely be asked by the school and us to provide examples of lesson plans.

• Professional conduct that represents a positive picture of ATI, the teacher himself/herself and his/her homeland are expected out of the TESOL certified individual.

• The teacher from ATI on short term teaching assignment should ideally conform to the rules of attendance, punctuality, neat and professional appearance and smart and organized approach towards teaching,

• Teachers are expected to be favorably receptive and adaptive of Thai culture.

• A healthy relationship maintained with Thai colleagues would speak well of the TESOL certified teacher from ATI.

• Dress code for men in school includes :

  • Pants (no jeans or cargo pants) and a button-up/collared long or short sleeve dress shirt (no golf shirts).

  • Ties may be required by some schools on a daily basis.

  • Brown or black dress shoes are accepted (no running shoes or sandals).

  • Ties are required on Mondays and all special occasions/days/festivities (e.g. Teacher Appreciation Day).

  • Males are expected to be clean shaven. Facial hair is allowed only if it is properly trimmed on a daily basis and is presentable.

  • Earrings or visible facial rings (eyebrow, lip, nose, chin, etc) are not accepted.

  • Visible tattoos are not accepted.

  • Generally hair should be short and presentable. Males with long hair may be expected to wear it pulled back presentably.

• Outside school, men have freedom to exercise choice. However, irrespective of the weather condition, moving around bare body (not wearing a shirt) is not at all accepted in Thailand (excepting at a beach)

• Smoking on campus by a male or female is not only not culturally accepted, but illegal, even during the training course.

• Dress code for women in school includes :

  • Wearing knee length or longer skirts with a presentable blouse (no low cut or revealing shirts).

  • Only dress shoes are allowed – no open toe and high heel shoes are acceptable (no sandals or running shoes).

  • Visible facial rings (eyebrow, lip, nose, chin, etc.) are not accepted.

  • Earrings are accepted providing that they are not worn in excessive numbers (E.g. 4 earrings in each ear).

  • Hair should be presentable.

  • Visible tattoos are not accepted.

  • Men and women alike should stick to business colors for their clothing, no loud colors accepted.

• Outside schools, females are free to wear what they please. But a female teacher discovered on streets in a revealing outfit is not acceptable or respectable at any time in Thai society.

• Thailand is overly careful about physical appearances and first impressions. Government schools are rather stringent. Teachers enjoy a position of respect and honour in the society and are therefore expected to be accordingly attired, both inside and outside their schools.

• The ESL teachers will participate in an English club for students once per week. This is scheduled during school hours at the same time as various other clubs available to students. This can usually be done as a group with any other foreign teachers at the school.

• It is the duty of the teacher to abide by the rules and regulation of the school unless notified otherwise by ATI.

• The teacher is responsible to monitor individual students, the growth graph of their language skill, maintain a record of students' weekly attendance and grades and also keep a note of special observations if any.

• The teacher should weekly execute the responsibility of the greetings activity by rotation, meeting students and parents at the school entrance between 7:30 am to 8:00 am.

• The teacher is supposed to do the weekly performance of the English 1 minute activity. The concept is to plan and present a short (2/3 minutes) speech in English during the morning assembly, on topics as varied as public service type announcements, riddles, tongue twisters, idioms, slang, nursery rhymes, etc. It is possible to conduct the activity in group along with any other foreign teachers.

• Teachers will perform the Star Talk activity for 5 minutes before starting each class. This consists of teaching the students a short introduction and then having them introduce themselves to the class using the format you provide.

• ESL Teachers need to attend and participate in 1 annual English Camp for their school per semester. The dates will be arranged by the school. There is little to no preparation required, just attendance and participation. English Camps generally fall on a Saturday and run from 8:00 am till 4:00 pm.

• TESOL trained teachers are supposed to give after-schools English tuitions to a group of Thai colleagues, once per week, individually or in group with other foreign teachers split with other foreign teachers. This is exclusive of the limit of 24 classes per week.

• Teachers will be at school for all Non-Thai national holidays. This includes Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Easter, Valentines Day, etc. Most schools have special celebrations on these days and you will be asked to help organize them as you will be the resident expert on Western holidays.