| Q |
What the hell
happened to Ian' |
| A |
Ian is still around, albeit living in some
tropical island paradise. He’s very much in the background but we talk on
the phone or contact each other by email now and again.
The truth is that Ian got bored with running ajarn.com and simply wanted to
do something different. He got tired of answering the same old emails time
and time again, but unfortunately it’s part and parcel of running the site.
He worked very hard on ajarn.com in the first few years and there’s still
lots of material on the site that is all Ian’s work – a lot of it is looking
a bit dated but a percentage of it is still relevant today.
The thing I most admired about Ian is how he would tirelessly search the web
looking for resource pages to link to and for information about colleges,
universities, and schools, etc. Doing that kind of stuff bores me rigid. If
I’m going to spend an hour updating the site, I’d rather write an article on
finding an apartment than looking for resource links. Personally, from a
teacher’s point of view, I can never find anything worthwhile on the net
anyway.
Ian ran ajarn.com as a hobby whereas I definitely run it as a business. Ian
is an extremely laid-back guy, possibly the most laid-back guy I’ve ever
met. I don’t think receipts, book-keeping, and handling numerous enquiries
was exactly his idea of a good time. |
| Q |
How did you
start with ajarn.com' |
| A |
When I was something of an inexperienced
internet-surfer, I happened upon Stickman’s website and the section of his
site on teaching in Thailand. Quite frankly, I couldn’t believe what I was
reading. It was everything that I wanted to say about the teaching
profession in Thailand and more (I was feeling a little bitter and twisted
at the time) I emailed Stickman immediately and said that I had to meet him
(it was probably a year or two later that we eventually did meet). Stickman
replied to the initial email and implored me to look at a site called
ajarn.com run by Ian. Although still in its infancy, I was impressed by what
I saw and it was obvious that Ian and I shared a very British sense of
humor. I contacted Ian to ask if he would let me write for his website
because I had a wealth of stories and anecdotes that I wanted to put down on
paper and that’s really how the teacher’s tales section of ajarn.com started
off. The rest as they say is history.
In my opinion, the ‘Stickman guide to teaching English in Thailand’ is the
most extensive, the most factually correct and the most incredible page of
information that’s ever been written on the topic. I couldn’t care less how
many spelling mistakes or grammatical errors it contains, or if he runs
bargirl investigation services and knows Nana Plaza like the back of his
hand. That’s totally immaterial. It remains the quintessential Thailand
teaching web page. It’s inspired. |
| Q |
You don’t have much
competition as regards Thailand teaching websites. Why do you think that is' |
| A |
It’s damn hard work is the simple answer to
that one. Anyone can knock up a geocities webpage and call it a site for
teachers in Thailand, but what are you going to do to keep people coming
back and keep the site from dying on its arse' I could name six Thailand
teaching sites in the past three years that have folded because they seemed
like a good idea at the time and yet the webmaster couldn’t be bothered to
update the thing.
Ajarn.com has been lucky because the site has become easily the number one
place for jobs in Thailand. I’m amazed when I walk into the tiniest of
language schools, talk to the Thai staff, and they all know ajarn.com or
have at least heard of it. I get a real buzz out of that as well.
Statistics show that over 70% of ajarn.com’s traffic surfs in and views the
job vacancies board. So what are you going to do as a webmaster if you don’t
have an active jobs board' Punchy, interesting articles and features is one
answer but they’re time consuming to write. I admire Marko who runs the markoinbangkok site, because he realizes that he can’t compete with the
ajarn jobs board, but relies on a group of writers to keep him supplied with
material.
TEFL Asia is an example of a beautiful looking site, and the guys who run it
have become very good friends and business partners to boot. However,
they’ve told me straight that lack of good website content is always the
biggest problem they face. |
| Q |
Have you ever suffered burnout
from teaching' |
| A |
Several times. And it's not a pleasant
experience. You get to the stage where if the student makes one more mistake
that you've corrected him on a dozen times, you're going to beat him to
death with the teacher's manual. Burnout is an extremely dangerous
condition. It can lose you friends, it can lose you respect and it can
certainly lose you students.
The first time I experienced burnout was in my second year at Berlitz. Share
with me if you will a typical Berlitz schedule in the early 1990s. You would
start with groups of Japanese housewives from 9.00 am to midday. Then again
with Thai private students from 1.00pm to 4.00pm. You would then have a
couple of hours to put your feet up with the Bangkok Post before doing
one-on-ones with Japanese businessmen and lessons with bored-looking and
fidgety Thai corporate groups from 6.15 to 9.10pm. That is one hell of a
long day and I was doing that literally six days a week because we found it
so hard to get decent teachers. It was not uncommon for me to do a ten-hour
teaching day. It was clearly a recipe for disaster, and I guess I should
have seen the burnout coming.
It happened during a one-on-one afternoon lesson with a Thai girl in her
early twenties. Obviously from a very wealthy middle-class family (as most
Berlitz students were) I clearly remember asking her to name three foods
that she'd never tried. She was an intermediate level student and we were
doing negative present perfect structures. She shook her head because she
simply couldn't be bothered to answer the question. She resented every
single minute that she had to spend in that classroom with me, forced to
attend conversation classes by her parents when she'd rather be looking for
new shoes in Mahboonkrong. I thought that perhaps the question was too
difficult so I asked her to name three places she'd never been to. After a
slight pause she shook her head again and at that moment I just snapped.
"You're paying 800 baht an hour for private lessons and you can't give me
one f***ing example of a place you've never been to'" I think my face may
have turned crimson at one point. Somehow we got to the end of the lesson
and as you'd expect, she marched straight up to the reception desk to
complain. As was Berlitz's policy in those days (and they won't thank me for
saying it) they always took the student's side and I received a verbal
warning. It hurt me a lot that warning because it was the first complaint
I'd had in nearly 4,000 lessons I'd taught for Berlitz, and two months
earlier I'd come top of the student poll for 'most popular and effective
teacher'.
Two months after that incident I handed in my notice. |
| Q |
What’s the worst lesson you’ve
ever done' |
| A |
I've given bad lessons. We all have. It's
difficult for me to recall lessons in which I truly felt I let myself down,
but I'll share some of the most memorable lessons with you - memorable for
perhaps the 'wrong' reasons.
At ELS, where I worked for five generally very happy years, we used to
prepare students who were going to study abroad in either America or
England. This we did by giving them six hours a day for one whole month of
conversation practice, academic writing and reading skills. The month of
April was a particularly busy time because the Thai schools would be closed
and many of the students came to study with us during the break. I remember
one particular group of twelve students, all aged between 16 and 19, and all
of them with ambitions to go and earn degrees in the United States. I laugh
to myself when I think back to that class and I'm sorry that I can't
remember what school most of them came from, but it was almost as if every
teenage Thai genius had enrolled in my morning conversation class. They were
incredible! I had boys of 16 raising their hands and asking me why I was
using the subjunctive when it was clearly not appropriate, and when I bid
them farewell with a cheery "see you tomorrow then" half the class wanted to
stay behind and discuss the meaning of the word 'then' in that particular
sentence. As I say - they were just incredible. I've never experienced
anything like it since.
One of the worst things to do in a classroom is to talk negatively about the
royal family, but I have to confess that I put my foot in it with a group of
pre-intermediate students in a lesson on the future perfect (a verb tense I
find little enthusiasm for at the best of times) Getting rather tired of the
bog standard 'by 3pm the lesson will have finished' and 'by midnight I will
have gone to bed' I decided to spice things up a bit with examples of events
that 'will have happened' by the year 2050. It was one of those occasions
when in a desperate search for fresh and inspiring things to say, I hinted
that a certain gentleman would no longer be with us by the year in question.
The brain can do strange things to you at times. Fortunately, I had a great
relationship with this class and they just gestured wildly waving their
hands from side to side, "no, no, you can't say that" they cried in unison
I felt myself turning redder by the second and the palms of my hands began
to sweat. I apologized. No one complained. And we all laughed about it the
following day. Phew.
Thirdly, I'll share with you the biggest class I've ever taught - all 168 of
them. I was invited by a publishing company to do a three-hour demonstration
on 'communicative language teaching' to 168 Thai English teachers in a hotel
conference room in Si Saket. Now that's a challenge!
The major problem was that I had no idea what level these people were at, so
I spent three days preparing a lesson for pre-intermediate level students.
For God's sake man, these were Thai English teachers teaching the language
in Thai secondary schools all over the North East of Thailand. Anyway,
cometh the day, there's a packed conference room and a buzz of anticipation.
I was introduced to the audience and as the applause started to die down, I
took the microphone from the master of ceremonies and I decided to start the
'show' by jumping down from the stage and taking the mic into the audience.
Then it was a case of saying hello and asking a few basic questions to one
or two of the participants. Well, can you think of a 'warmer' for 168
people'
Every question was met with a nervous smile and a shake of the head. "How
far have you travelled to be here'" No reaction. "How are you today'" They
knew that one. "Is this your first time in Si Saket'" He understood the Si
Saket bit.
If you can imagine being faced with a 'class' of 168 adults that you have to
entertain for a total of three hours - a class that is barely advanced
beginner. And you've been up for the last 72 hours preparing material that
is about as much use as a one-legged man in a break-dancing competition.
Then you'll have some idea of how I was feeling. |
| Q |
Do you think TEFL courses are
worth the money' |
| A |
They're worth every penny. What TEFL courses
do (and this is always overlooked) is give you an enthusiasm to teach. If
you feel like you may be suffering from burnout - take a TEFL course. It
doesn't matter if it's a one-day program or a whole month intensive course,
because I'm not going to come at this from a certification angle, but I've
never walked out of a TEFL program without feeling like a new man - bursting
to get into the classroom and try out new ideas and techniques. If you're a
teacher and have never felt the need to take a TEFL program, you don't know
what you're missing. I always find them the most worthwhile experience. One
of the great things about teaching is that there is ALWAYS someone who knows
how to do it better than you do and is willing to pass on the knowledge.
|
| Q |
Do you think it’s possible to
make a living doing only freelance work' |
| A |
It's a question I've been asked many times and
is always difficult to answer because it depends very much on the
individual. Some teachers make a go of it and some are on the next plane
home. I started corresponding a while back with a guy in Japan, who had got
bored of life out there after eight years and fancied 'giving Thailand a
go'. He was adamant that he wanted to go the freelance route despite my
suggestions that he find his Bangkok legs by working for someone like Inlingua at least until he knew the ropes.
We put our heads together and decided that with his Japanese language
ability and his teaching experience, he should aim for the Japanese
community on Sukhumwit Road. The problem was that he didn't know how to go
about it. I gave him the idea of putting ads in the windows of Villa
Supermarket and Fuji Super, two shopping places well-known and heavily
frequented by the Japanese community. Hardly what you'd call a brainwave but
then again, why do so few teachers do it' To cut a long story short, he sent
me an email the other day and he's literally swamped with work at 500-1000
baht an hour. I'm not relating this to claim any of the glory for the
original idea. He's the man juggling around the schedule and keeping the
customers happy. He's the one who's had to develop a business acumen and
make sure that word of mouth means he'll never be short of work.
Personally I've always felt that freelance work is the 'icing on the cake'.
You have your bread and butter daytime job or your well-paid weekend work
bringing you in a guaranteed 25-30K a month, and then your freelance
privates are what push you up to 50K on a good month. |
| Q |
Why have you left jobs /
changed jobs in the past' |
| A |
When it comes to teacher meetings, staff
meetings, academic input on how businesses should be run, curriculum
development, discussions, etc, etc, I have to say that I'm not the easiest
bloke in the world to get along with. It comes about because it doesn't
matter whether I'm cutting the lawn, ironing a shirt or typing up this hot
seat Q&A I care passionately about what I do. This is a rather long-winded
intro into the reason that I've quit most jobs - conflict with Thai
management. When I quit a teaching job at a Thai-run international school in
the year 2000 and went into sales and marketing, I swore that it would be
the last time I worked in a Thai-run school. If you're currently working in
a Thai-owned establishment and you're happy, then I am happy for you - but
it's not for me. Culturally, there is just too much difference in how I feel
a school should be run and how Thais think it should be run. I'm not saying
who's right and who's wrong because sometimes I've been at fault, but the
conflict always wears me down eventually.
I worked for a very short period in the Victory Monument area as an academic
director for an exciting new franchise school. I wanted the school built on
sound principles - proper student level testing, an exciting and varied
curriculum, and with a group of teachers that enjoyed coming to work. The
Thai boss cared only about the school showing a profit and insisted on
filling every classroom with ten students regardless of what level they
tested at. It caused no end of argument and bad feeling between us. I quit
the job under very distressing circumstances (I can't bring myself to go
into the details - it's too painful) but I'm going to surprise you now and
admit that I was wrong. I was in a no-win situation. I couldn't change
anything. I should have just kept my head down and taken my monthly salary.
Thank you very much. But what can you do when teachers are coming to you
every day to tell you they have beginners and advanced students in the same
class and all they're getting is 250 baht an hour for their troubles' |
| Q |
Why does the Thailand teacher
have such a bad image' |
| A |
It's definitely a lack of professionalism.
Forget about the whoremongering (most teachers can't afford it anyway) and
forget about the alcoholism (90% of teachers like a drink but that doesn't
mean they have a problem)
It's all of those little things that teachers should do but don't -
reliability for example - turning up for lessons on time, submitting lesson
plans for a substitute teacher, and making sure textbooks are returned to
the teacher's room bookshelf. It's all those little things that make other
teachers lives difficult. Here's a story.
I need to go back to the exciting new franchise school I mentioned in the
previous answer. I remember organizing and opening four weekend classes
there with about 8 students in each (considerable revenue for a school that
was clearly desperate for money) The teacher pay was about 230 baht an hour
so frankly we were always going to struggle to find teachers. I hired four
teachers looking for 'several hours on a Sunday' and they were given a
little training and given the textbook to take home and prepare the lesson
with. On the first Sunday morning at 8.55am with 32 eager students milling
around in reception, three of the four teachers failed to turned up. I'll
leave the ensuing chaos to your imagination. When I tried to call them - one
had checked out of his guesthouse and no one knew where he had gone. Another
one had 'twisted his ankle' - obviously walking home pissed on the Saturday
night. The third teacher was at home to answer the phone, but had decided
not to come in because he felt that he was worth more than 230 baht an hour.
Not really what I wanted to hear as the clock struck nine. |
| Q |
What should
we do about the diploma mills on Khao San Road' |
| A |
Nothing. If people want to buy fake degrees,
there will always be a place to get them. Obviously being connected with the
ajarn.com site - I hear things that go on in the TEFL business. There are at
least six farangs I've heard of who are supplying these documents at a
price.
I belong to the school of thought that a degree doesn't make a teacher. A TEFL certificate might. A degree certainly doesn't.
"But a degree is a 'benchmark'. It proves that you can grasp new concepts,
develop your intellect, and become 'educated" All I can say is you've never
met the students I used to hang around with. |
| Q |
As a
professional teacher/administrator, what development courses have you
recently completed' |
| A |
It's been a few years since I attended a 'proper' training course I'm afraid but I'm quite gifted with a good
imagination (so people say). I also read a fair bit to try and get new ideas
to use in the classroom. Nothing beats imagination though.
Last month I went to a series of lectures organized by Cambridge University
Press. It was only a one-day thing but one of the lectures was from Gareth
Knight who wrote the Business Explorer series of textbooks. I like Gareth
immensely because he knows his stuff. He did a presentation on 'What we
should be teaching in a conversation class'. It was fascinating and I came
out with a whole new perspective. Try and get to some of these
workshops/seminars if you can. They're well worth the effort. There's
usually free food and drink as well. |
| Q |
How long do
you spend on lesson preparation' |
| A |
I have a saying - 'the best lessons are
prepared half an hour before the lesson starts'. You can sit me down on a
Friday afternoon with an endless supply of paper and ask me to prepare
Monday's lesson. My mind just goes blank. But on Monday morning I can open
up a textbook or a book of supplementary material and magical things happen.
I wish I could explain it but I can't. It's just the way my brain works (or
doesn't). I don't think I've ever walked into a lesson and stuck to a lesson
plan. There are too many variables - what kind of mood are the students in'
are the best students here today (the ones who will lead by example)' |
| Q |
What happened
to the old ajarn.com teacher nights at the Londoner' Any chance of them
being started up again' |
| A |
Yes, they were quite good in their own way,
and they were a great opportunity for new arrivals to meet some of the old
hands. There was of course the added attraction of two beers for the price
of one but we won't go into that. I think it would be great to start them up
again but someone else will need to do the organizing. On a final note, I
made some great friends from those ajarn Londoner nights - friends that I
still keep in touch with. |
| Q |
What’s your
favorite age group to teach' |
| A |
I like teaching motivated
corporate employees. That's what I'm good at. That's who I'm comfortable
with. I've taught a total of about four hours with kids in my whole life.
The laugh is that I'm actually quite competent with teaching kids but
there's just something 'degrading' about it - and I don't want to knock kids
teachers because to see a class of kids all running around having fun is a
wonderful sight. It's just not my bag I'm afraid.
Teenagers can be difficult as well, especially the ones that don't seem to
have the will to live. And I've sometimes had problems with older students
(50 years up) who are usually very personable and easygoing but just don't
seem to improve or have the will to improve. The students who walk into the
classroom with the 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' attitude are
generally a waste of time. |
| Q |
How are you
going to crack down on teacher agencies advertising on ajarn.com' |
| A |
This is a difficult one. I
may be being bloody-minded about this issue but I hate the thought of
teacher agencies using the free ajarn.com ads board to recruit staff. There
are some quite horrible teacher agencies operating in Bangkok, but as Leigh
from Text and Talk said, "how can you distinguish between the cowboy
agencies and the institutes who outsource teachers to schools and colleges
simply because that's the way the schools and colleges want to do things'"
What's the very definition of an agency' If an agency charges the secondary
school 45,000 baht a month to find them a teacher, pockets 10,000 baht for
themselves and gives the teacher 35,000, is that a problem if the teacher is
happy with 35K' What's the alternative' The teachers could approach the
secondary schools themselves, but in reality it's easier said than done. It
can be difficult to track down the person you need to see. It can be
difficult to locate the schools. The secondary school might not have a clue
how to go about getting work permits and visas.
I can't give you a straight answer on this or tell you if I plan an all-out
ban on teacher agencies. Many of them are very cleverly disguised. |
| Q |
What do you
do when a teacher contacts you to say that they’ve been mistreated by a
school' |
| A |
Surprisingly this doesn't
happen very often (about once or twice a month) Does that mean things aren't
as bad as we're making out' Anyway, here's another story. A guy contacted me
a few months ago to complain about one of the job advertisers. Usual things
- the school is hell on earth, every teacher wants to leave, they held back
my pay, the head teacher is a slave-driver, etc, etc. I had a bit of time on
my hands and there was a fairly genuine tone to the email so I decided to
investigate. Just before I picked up the phone I received a very heartfelt
email from the school in question, outlining all the problems they'd had
with this particular teacher (he'd borrowed 20,000 baht and refused to pay
it back. He'd no-showed on four successive Saturdays and told the elderly
school owner to go **** herself) Who's at fault' The answer is that I don't
care. What I do care about is that there are probably two sides to the
story, and I'm sick of getting left with egg on my face almost every single
time. If a teacher contacts me to complain about an employer, I'll send them
a sympathetic reply and wish them luck. If three teachers contact me about
the same school (and that's also happened), I suggest they put it on the
discussion board. Me' I'm not getting involved. |
