One of the big occupations for those expats settling in Thailand is teaching English as a foreign language. In fact, you can see my guide to getting a teaching job in 10 days if you’re interested in that type of thing.
The problem is that over the past few years the pay rate for native English speaking teachers in Thailand has not only stagnated, but in some cases has gotten even worse. Jobs that used to pay 40-45k baht a month are now starting off at a measly 30-35k baht a month. How the heck is the struggling English teacher expected to make ends meet with a salary like that?

Well, some inventive folks have decided it’s no longer worth teaching in Thailand, but they still love the country and the culture and would like to continue living there. The compromise they are making is to teach outside Thailand in Korea, Japan or the Mid East countries where salaries are much higher. They make the big bucks there for 6-12 months and then come back and live in Thailand for another 6-12 months before repeating the process.

Obviously with all this interest in traveling back and forth between Bangkok and cities such as Dubai people are looking for inexpensive ways to fly.

Fortunately there are quite a few carriers that provide cheap flights to Dubai from Bangkok. Jet Airways, Kingfisher Air and Gulf Air are three that I can think of right off the top of my head. I can’t vouch for the first two, but I have flown with Gulf Air several times and each time the cabin crew was very polite, the food was good and overall the flight experience was wonderful.

If you’re interested in undertaking this type of experience I think you’ll find that it gives you the best of both worlds. Dubai international schools are mostly of a very high quality and discipline of the students is quite good making the teachers’ job much easier.

Regarding salaries, you’ll definitely want to look at the private sector rather than Dubai government schools. Pay rates at government schools in Dubai can be a bit on the low side although the highest paying will give you about 48k baht per month. Private schools on the other hand will pay from 85k baht a month and upwards to 170k baht per month. These salaries also include flights to and from Thailand as well as accommodations.

The catch for the private schools is that most require valid teachers’ licenses from the country of the curriculum. So, American schools require a valid U.S. issued teachers license and U.K. based curriculum schools will require PCGE and QTS. Some of the lower tier schools won’t have these requirements, but the pay scale there is so low that you’ll be saying “Why bother” because you can make a similar salary teaching in Thailand.

Teaching in Dubai can be a very good way to keep your self employed at a great salary and still afford yourself plenty of time to spend in Thailand. It’s also a great way to pad your bank account or retirement fund if that’s what you need. Plus it’s a heck of an adventure.

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Check out these similar posts:

• What Work Can We Do Other Than Teach English in Thailand?
• Thailand Jobs | Working in Thailand for Foreigners
• Teach English in Thailand in 10 Days (Part 2)
• Income for Women in Thailand
• Teach English in Thailand in 10 Days (Part 1)
• Thailand is Expensive!
• Should I Move To Thailand?