kat1

Chiang Mai set to become health center - They must be mad, or do they have a cunning plan?

As we all know, from December until May the air quality in Chiang Mai ranges from poor to life threatening. I know it is Thai to 'think money', but really, this takes the biscuit!

How to be a 'legal' volunteer teacher at a Thai government school.

1. Find a school that needs you and has teachers that you can work with. (In hindsight this is probably the most difficult step)

2. Ask the school to make a contract for you and to apply to the Ministry of Education for your teacher's licence.

3. Visit your local Labour Office, get the forms and confirm what they need from you in order to obtain a work permit.

4. Visit your local Immigration Office, explain what you are going to do and confirm what they need from you. They should supply a page detailing in Thai what is required.

5. If you don't have one already, get a non-Immigrant visa outside of Thailand. As an example, a 90 day non-Imm. 'O' based on marriage is enough.

6. Apply for a work permit: You will need to supply the application form completed in Thai, with the necessary section completed by the school, along with a copy of your passport showing your non-Imm. visa and copy of ID page, a letter from the school requesting your work permit, a copy of the letter from the Ministry of Education granting you a temporary teacher's licence, photos, and the completed Power of Attourney form. You will eventually get a work permit valid until the expiry/renewal date for you visa, which could be less than 3 months. Take a copy of your contract with the school just in case. You are now legal.

7. A few days before your visa expires, go to your local Immigration Office and apply to extend your visa to one year. They will change your visa status to being based on work. As per the information supplied by them before, you will need a copy of the teacher's licence letter to the school, 2 letters from the school addressed to the Immigration office, one asking them to extend you visa to the required date so that you can teach, and the other guaranteeing that you teach at the school. You will also need a photo (6cm x 4cm), a copy of every used page in your work permit, and a copy of every used page in your passport as well as the ID page. If you don't speak Thai, take someone that does. The charge is currently 1,900 baht. Take a copy of your updated contract with the school just in case.

8. On the same day, or at the latest, on your visa renewal date (there is a fine for going after), go back to the Labour Office to extend you work permit up to the new expiry/renewal date of your visa. You will need a letter from the school, a copy of the new passport visa stamp and ID pages and the completed form (including the section filled out by the school). The charge is 750 baht per 3 month period, plus 100 baht admin. fee. Take a copy of your updated contract with the school just in case.

9. Repeat steps 7. and 8. every year! (1,900 to Immigration, 3,100 to Labour Office).

Hi,

I am going to stop being a volunteer teacher this year and will therefore need to change back (I originally had a non-Imm O marriage) from my current non-Imm AE visa.

I understand that Immigration will need a letter from the school, but apart from 400k in the bank for a minimum of 2 months and 2 copies of passport, marriage cert., wifes ID card, and a letter from the bank, what else will I need to do/supply?

Will they need to do another home visit?

If I change before the annual renewal date of the current visa, will it just be be converted keeping the same renewal date, or will it be stopped and a new 365 days from application. I'm assuming I don't need to leave the country..............

Thanks

Hi,

I have been a volunteer teacher at a small local government school for the past four years. Initially I was asked to teach English to each class (p.1 - m.3). Over time this has been reduced to me taking the computer classes and 'easy English conversation' for m.1 - m.3.

Not being a Thai speaker, and not having any background in education, together with being a 'reserved' Brit has made it a struggle.

I'm used to working, so took it upon myself to build an interactive learning system, including audio-visual elements. IT in teaching has become a focus from what I can gather, so thinking it could be very useful, I have been expanding to include other areas apart from English, and in particular, the ability to take previous O-NET exams that have feedback built in. This is a time consuming task as I do not read/write Thai, and as the OCR software makes mistakes, I must check each individual character.

My question is, who should I contact to see if there is any interest in using what I am making, with a view to providing to other schools?

I have always drawn a blank talking to the only fluent English teacher, as there is a personality clash, and I never get any response to requests and discussions for even basic information, with the other teachers leaving her to be my communication point.

I have put in three years of daily hard work and would hate to see it go to waste when there seems to be little else available.