Thailand's Floods Negatively Affect Foreign English Teachers
While Thais Are Having a Hard Time of It, Many Foreign Teachers Aren't Too Happy Either
As large areas of Thailand flood and people around the world feel sorry for the Thais, few have given much thought to the country's lowly English teachers. Americans, Brits, Aussie and Canadians -- some are brand-new teachers in Thailand, some have been here years but, for many, Thailand's floods have been just as devastating as for anyone who is Thai.
As a former English teacher in Bangkok, I'm well-versed in the lot of the foreign English teacher in Thailand. Not as glamorous as it may sound, English teachers in Thailand are often underpaid, don't always have contracts, and are sometimes treated like second-class citizens. So, when a natural disaster like the country's horrendous floods happen, many have problems.
One of my friends, Shawna, has only been teaching in Thailand for a few months. She was on the normal October school holidays when floods hit and her school, near Chinatown in downtown Bangkok, couldn't reopen on time. Since then, Bangkok's Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has delayed school reopening dates again and again, as floods continued to hang around.
Today they announced the new date is now tentatively rescheduled for December 6 but, during the time her school was closed, Shawna didn't get paid, as she doesn't have a contract. That's a month's salary she'll never see, along with her three weeks' vacation pay.
Other foreign teachers across Thailand are having similar problems. Salaries not paid, vacation pay out the window and, in some severe circumstances, work permits have expired and teachers have had to leave Thailand to do a visa run, at their own expense. But, with schools closed, they couldn't get needed paperwork to get a new work permit, meaning another even more expensive trip out of the country will be required in a few weeks to apply for that.
Thais, of course, think if you're a foreigner and particularly if you're white, you must have more money than God. So that they didn't pay you for the month the school was under water, well……you'll survive.
Even teachers who are getting paid are having other flood-related problems. My friend Paula, who works at the school I used to teach at, has an annual contract so her salary was never in jeopardy. But, when she went back to school this week to do paperwork preparation in time for the students returning, all the foreign teachers were told their normal vacation at the end of this semester, in March, would now be cut.
Instead of the three weeks they'd normally get, they'll only be given four days. Four days holiday in between two semesters. To make up for the time lost to flooding.
When questioned by the foreign teachers about what sense that made, (really, why would the school want exhausted teachers?), the administration's response was the teachers had already "had their holidays" and now needed to work. According to the school, and many other schools in Thailand, being trapped in your apartment on a flooded street in Bangkok, or wading through knee-high flood waters every day to shop for groceries, constitutes "a holiday".
So, the next time you feel sorry for the Thais who've had problems with floods, spare a thought for the thousands of English teachers in Thailand. While no worse off than millions of Thais, many aren't much better off either.
Published by Cassandra James
I'm a British-American writer currently living in Bangkok, Thailand. I've been writing for Associated Content since 2007 and was named one of AC's Top 100 Writers for 2008, 2009 and 2010. I primarily write a... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a CommentI do agree and thankful to the person who wrote this article,we are also an english teacher even though we are not in Bangkok and did not expereince the flood, but we do experience the samething about the school of not paying the salary.We dont understand because when they hire us in the contruct it supposed to be one year it means 12 months, but the school where we are at right now told us that its because April is vacation so they will not going to pay us. I dont understand if this things is right?
If the Pheu Thai guy is so 'high up' why doesn't he do something about it.??..they are the government after all!!
I have to mention that the 13 are qualified teachers with contracts and work permits... but then again if you aren't qualified, have a contract and work permit then you are working illegally and should nt really expect the same deal..
Well, 13 out of the 18 foreign english teachers i know in Bangkok are being paid between 60% and 75% of their salary whilst the schools are closed. Not a bad deal if you ask me.. The others are not happy but that's life.. If you want full perks and top rate pay and packages you really don't chooses being an English teacher as a profession... I think the Thai teachers are getting it much worse as not many of them are taking home 40k a month even when schools are open!! So to upset you both...Just offering another side of the story..... I am glad you mentioned Indian and Filipino teachers too... they get a bad enough deal as it is, many are far better teachers than your average backpacker / holidaymaker who married a Thai ...But they get less pay because they have different colour skin...
Oh and btw, a Thai very high up in the red-shirt/Pheu Thai movement just messaged me and said the Filipino teachers he knows have all been treated the same poor way. As, yes, foreign English teachers also encompasses Filipinos, Indians and others.
Chris, I have to agree with Jordan, you don't know anything about the current situation of foreign teachers in Thailand as, if you did, you wouldn't make comments like yours. And as far as my article being "disgraceful", LOL, I'd suggest you improve your reading comprehension. Nowhere did I say not to feel sorry for Thais (90% of my friends are Thai and 50% have been waist-deep in water for weeks - Thai boyfriend still can't go home to his house - and if you read my other articles on the floods, you'd see I have every sympathy for Thais. but this is an article about foreign teachers not Thais). It is also possible to feel sorry for Thais AND for English teachers, particularly as many of them have been here for decades and are still getting screwed by Thai schools. And, no, it's not as easy to just quit and go to another school when half the schools are doing the same thing. Now off you trot to read my other articles, I'm sure you'll find something nasty to say about them too, LOL.
By the way Jordan, If you are on 40,000 THB per month i suggest taking out insurance cover for your home and contents. Only 5,000 THB per year, covers for theft too... Well worth the small investment.
Very sorry to have upset you, ... I won't report it as Abuse as i can see you are obviously under a lot of stress. Believe be, i know more about English teachers than you could imagine. And if you want to get into numbers i have been here for 21 years and my house too is under 2m of water, now for 7 weeks. Not that that has anything to do with the article. I suggest you look for another job, if you are not being paid and the school say they will not pay you then YOU would be the idiot to stay there. Well, i guess you didn't abandon your family, you just moved to a high rise in town or something like that... As i said, luxuries that most of the flood affected can't afford.. The original article was in bad taste, simple as that. . People blowing their own trumpet and caring more about their own situation than that of others.. I suspect 90% of foreign English teachers still have family overseas, that option to leave Thailand is always open...come back when school opens and you can be paid
To Chris, you know NOTHING about English teachers in Thailand. The author is correct. I'm an English teacher and have lived in Thailand for 15 years. I have NOT been paid for almost 7 weeks and my school say they will not be paying me. I live in Rangsit so have also lived in floods, just like the Thais. The house my husband and I own (he is Thai) is still under a meter of water. The salary I SHOULD have been paid (over 80,000 baht) would have gone to pay for repairs. But with no salary payment, we don't have the money for repairs. And "return to my own country?". I've lived here 15 years and am married to a Thai as are MANY English teachers. What? We're just supposed to abandon our families and go back to America or England? You, sir, are an idiot.
An absolutely disgraceful article.. "So, the next time you feel sorry for the Thais who've had problems with floods, spare a thought for the thousands of English teachers in Thailand. While no worse off than millions of Thais, many aren't much better off either."
English language teachers have the option of returning to their own countries, a luxury not afforded to the many Thais who are living in terrible conditions with their homes under water..I think that the writer shows a lack of understanding to what is really happening in and around Bangkok and seems more concerned with teachers not getting enough holidays!!