I am on my way home by the end of March. It's been a real good experience, but I'm having a lot of difficulty dealing with the Thai public education system, so I want out and I want a break from education systems for a while.
If you're interested in teaching in Thailand, I suggest you look for an international school outside of Bangkok. Bangkok is over-crowded and not a particularly well-planned city. Getting from one place to another takes a fair amount of time unless you whiz around the traffic on a motorbike. Bangkok is also very interesting because you could spend a lifetime in it and still find something new every day.
Chiang Mai is supposed to be very nice. Pattaya is very nice. It gets a bad reputation because of its Walking Street (a.k.a. Red Light District), but it's actually a pretty beautiful part of the country. There's an island (Koh Larn) nearby which you can take a ferry to most hours of the day.
I've heard some horror stories about international schools making contradictory or outlandish requests of their teachers like teaching Romeo & Juliet to 8th grade students who could barely carry speak or read. I've also heard stories about unfair treatment like my friend who was a volunteer coach for her school's basketball team until she was asked to stop because her kids complained to their parents that she made the kids show up on time and maintain a high grade point average. I mean, every school has its quirks.
The problem I've had with the public school I'm in is I have too many students and I have too little time to teach them (once a week with forty or more students), so we don't really know or understand each other. On top of that, I have Thai co-teachers who have been teaching English for 20 years or more, but could care less about the students they're teaching; treat cheating and plaguarism as facts of life; and barely understand me when I ask for help or try to talk casually. I wouldn't reccommend applying to the school I'm in now. There are lots of job postings on this site (http://www.ajarn.com/).
My best experience was with this teaching agency (http://www.aycthailand.com/). They put me in a private primary school where I could teach the same set of students 3 to 6 times a week. I had to teach from a silly book (most books are silly because they're published in other countries and Thailand's culture is quite different from most), but I had fun, the co-teachers were friendly and spoke English pretty well, and the students were learning. I also got long vacations.
My friend works for this company (http://www.wallstreet.in.th/). He says they're a little scatterbrained, but they pay well and the job is not too difficult. You don't get a lot of vacation time though.
With foreign travel comes the responsibility not to make an ass out of yourself. In other words, foreigners have a bad reputation because some leave their manners at home. A bad impression leaves a deeper impression than a good one. Thai people like to have fun, but they have limits and its important to learn and understand those limits in order to build better relations between Thailand and the rest of the world. It's important to keep a positive attitude, be patient and understanding no matter how rudely you are treated. Thai people may not like conflict, but if you push them too far, they are more than willing to push back harder. If you know you're being tricked, try to have some way to prove it whether it be real proof, make some up (a.k.a. lie), or try some other way to negotiate. Anger or violence should not be the last resort. Walking away or giving in are much better alternatives.
Of course, this advice and any advice from travel guide books should be taken with a grain of salt. If you feel mistreated, say so or remove yourself from the situation. A few times I've ignored mistreatment because I thought there was some cultural misunderstanding only to find out later that I was letting someone take advantage of me.
Good Luck!
โชคดี (chok dii)!
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