Traveller with zero interest in children suddenly super keen to teach English to Thai kids
Amanda Alanesque, 22, never had much time for kids. She never had younger siblings, and certainly never showed much interest in taking care of young children as a job. Never had she identified education as a potential career choice, and despite earning a degree in the arts she never saw teaching as an option. At least that was until two weeks ago, when she signed on for a year-long ESL contract in southern Thailand.
As far as social media is concerned, Amanda seems to be extremely into her sudden career change. “Love these kids!” she wrote as the Insta caption for her classroom selfie with 20 Thai kids.
Skeptics have suggested that Amanda’s love for ESL teaching is less because of the spirituality uplifting feeling of educating the next generation and more due to the fact that she earns four times the minimum wage in a tropical paradise. Moreover, some have suggested that the hilariously bad job market for humanities and arts graduates back in English-speaking countries has made it prudent for travelers to suddenly discover their ability to entertain rich Asian kids with sock puppets.
“Look, do you think people work in real estate because they really love empty houses?” she eventually The Tragic Traveller. “I have a BA in Theater Studies. TEFL is literally the only option for someone with an arts degree who wants to not live in a cardboard box.”
Nonetheless, she admitted $2,000 a month in a country where a meal costs 50 c – all while living 10 m from a world-famous beach – is a pretty sweet deal.
