Are We Ready?

Thailand's English as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) industry is, without doubts, a Filipino-dominated industry as most of the foreign teachers employed to teach English and other content subjects are Filipinos. The ESL/EFL industry in Thailand is not that promising compared to other countries but, nevertheless, it's easier to come to Thailand for a job than in other countries. Most of the teachers here, came to Thailand as tourists who then applied for a working permit after finding an employer.

However, the salary that one could probably earn here is not as high as those who are working in other countries but because of its cheaper cost of living, it is not that difficult to make both ends meet. Many of us here could still send a good amount of money to help our families back home and we could send and save even better if we are hardworking enough to accept additional classes during non-working hours. We could go for private one-on-one tutorials or small class tutorials in learning centers. However, no one is assured of a stable job because most of the foreign workers here are working in contractual basis and usually we work under one-year contract and the thing is, most of the learning centers and even some schools do not provide work permit to their foreign teachers.

No one is assured of a lifetime job here in Thailand. Recently, a huge government project handled by two big universities in Bangkok made unlikely changes in their employment contract causing exodus of foreign teachers for some of them left while others were unfortunately evicted from the project. I don't know if it's another bad news from Thailand's ESL industry but I have read an article that a big English language center in Thailand would be ending its operation this year because it's planning to move to another Asian country where the business could be more promising. Over time, we have seen how the industry dropped that no wonder a time would come that only very few of the foreign teachers would be needed here.

In reality, the future is not ours but we could do something for our future by preparing for it as early as today. We have to face life positively and we could only do that if we know that we are financially secure. The future is not ours yet the present has been given to us so that we would be ready if ever the inevitable moments would struck. Make every moment of today a preparation of tomorrow for no one knows what would happen the following day.