| Q |
Welcome to the
ajarn.com hot seat Hal. Now with you being a lecturer at a university, do
you refer to yourself as a language facilitator, a lecturer, or a teacher
like the rest of us? |
| A |
Hi Phil, and thank you for the opportunity. When Thais
ask me what I do, then I reply that I am an ajarn. If I meet some guy in the
pub, I say I am a teacher. We all get called Ajarn at the university and I
mostly talk to the Thai staff in Thai, so that’s the only reason I make the
distinction. I don’t like the status distinction Thais make between being a
kroo or being an ajarn, because in the final analysis we are all educators
and we all work hard for the students. |
| Q |
Did you go straight
into University work or have you come via the familiar private language
school route? Where did you cut your teeth in other words? |
| A |
I did a little bit of private work teaching IELTS for
a private language school, but most of my experience has been back in the
UK, managing a department and teaching on the IT and management side. I
was lucky to get good job offers when I wasn’t looking for work at the
time just through people I knew. They were good opportunities and I liked
the people and institutions so I took them. I hear a lot of horror stories
from some of my friends about teaching here, but fingers crossed - nothing
bad so far.
I really did not want to teach children or solely English, so even though
I have a CELTA to fall back on in case times are hard, I wanted to rely
more on my professional and academic qualifications. I have nothing
against those who work in the language schools, but I do feel those who
are willing to work for paltry amounts just because they are not qualified
can denigrate work conditions, pay, and reputations of foreign teachers
here. This is not the teachers’ fault, really it’s because some the
schools are very lax about standards and whom they employ, and they really
in the final analysis only care about the money. Sure I realize that it’s
a business, and businesses all exist to make a profit, but I would hope it
would always be done with the students’ best interests at heart. It’s a
shame that a lot of Thais that I talk to have quite a low opinion of the
westerners who teach here. I would just like to add that I am talking in
general. Personally I have not met a teacher here in Thailand who has not
been 100% dedicated to their students.
|
| Q |
Tell us a little about the number of
contact hours you do and the size of the classes? |
| A |
To be honest, the hours vary dependent on what the
current requirements are, I would estimate I do about 15 hours a week
teaching, though there is also other private work that comes up from time to
time. Class sizes vary a little, but mostly I have about 10 – 25
students in each class. Normally each term I have different subjects to
teach, so I do teach a lot of students at any one time. It’s hellish
remembering all the names. |
| Q |
How’s the teacher’s room? Is it like a
flagship for Thai-farang relations or is it ‘them’ on one side of the room
and ‘us’ on the other? |
| A |
The Thai staff are great, very helpful. We don’t have
to hang around when we are not teaching so there is not really much
interaction. I just turn up when required, teach, and then head off home. |
| Q |
I imagine that lesson prep and exam
marking must take up a hell of a lot of your time? |
| A |
Well it’s true exam time is hell because marking
takes up a lot of time, and lesson prep can be pretty arduous at times.
The curriculum is pretty much set and the students all have exams to pass
at the end. I think the key is presentation, delivery and anticipation. My
students are my number one priority and I will go out of my way to deal
with any problems they have so I am always looking for ways I can improve
as a teacher. Initially when you first start teaching preparation is
incredibly important, as you gain experience preparation takes less time
but it never loses its importance.
When you know you’ve just given a good lesson and the students are happy
then it’s such a good feeling - all the preparation time really pays off.
Proper prior planning and all that
|
| Q |
Do lecturers in Thailand wear the tweed
jackets with the vinyl elbow patches or do you go for the beige safari-suit
look? |
| A |
Very funny… It’s too hot to wear my tweed jacket here.
Normally it’s just typical business dress, smart trousers, a long sleeved
shirt, and a tie. Boring I know, but it’s what the students expect. At least
we don’t have to wear silk shirts every Friday. |
| Q |
What extra-curricular activities do you
get roped into? |
| A |
Well I have to go out and drink and sing Thai karaoke
with my students when the courses end. I have a repertoire of about 5 Thai
songs I can squawk my way through - a couple of songs by Loso, Silly Fools,
and Clash. That seems to keep the students happy and show them how 'jai dee'
I am. The last time I went they only had about 6 songs in English and
“Scarborough Fair” was the best of that lot…. I am hoping to get “roped
into” trips abroad the next time the students go |
| Q |
What are the downsides of working at a
large university? |
| A |
Sorry to say I honestly can’t think of anything
negative to say about where I work. My boss is amazing and incredibly
supportive, the students are very attentive and motivated to learn. In fact
I love my job. The staff are expected to deliver what is required without
any interference and there are always other people you can turn to for
advice. I guess I am lucky in that we all have quite a lot of freedom, which
is an aspect I really like. That can also bring pressure on you to perform
because there are high expectations, but on the whole it’s a great
environment to work in. |
| Q |
You’re about to take the Thai
proficiency examination. What does that involve exactly? |
| A |
What seemed like a good idea at the time has pretty
much turned into something that I can’t wait to finish. It’s been 3 months
of mind numbing boredom, where you do the same thing every day and just
practice the exam every day. They don’t even vary the format at the school
at all, as a result we never have all the students in class at once, and I
have been guilty of missing a couple of days here and there. It is an
insight into how anally retentive the Thai educational system really is, I
mean we even have to dress up in black trousers (or skirt) with a white
shirt and tie for the exam (we also had to do that for the mock exams as
well!)
Briefly, the test has 5 sections and the pass mark is 50%. Firstly you have
to write a letter (20 marks) most of the marks are for the correct
formatting of the letter and you have to draw an envelope and write the
sender and addressee, you even have to draw a square for the stamp and write
2 baht in it. The next section is to write a 30 line essay about a topic
(30 marks), this could be anything, from “Why I love Thailand so Much”, to,
“Who is the best person I know”. After that comes what is for me the worst
(and most pointless) part, the dictation (20 marks). All that is required is
that you must write down exactly what the teacher reads out, you hear it
twice and they always choose words with irregular spellings and words that
can be written about 20 different ways and still sound the same….. Then we
move to the reading comprehension test (20 marks), 2 passages with some
questions that may or may not relate to the passage and finally you have to
read a piece out loud (10 marks). So that’s 100 possible marks. In the final
analysis, there are no grades and a pass is a pass, so that’s all I’m aiming
for. |
| Q |
And once you’ve passed
it, do we have to ‘wai’ you with the hands raised slightly higher? What does
it do for your status in Thailand? |
| A |
In reality it means pretty much bugger all at the
moment, however it is supposed to be a requirement for teachers in some
sectors and it seemed like a good way to finish off my study of Thai. If
you apply for residency here it’s supposed to help support your case as
well. In the current political climate, and the fact that no one really
knows what will happen in the future for us, I guess it’s my futile little
attempt at staying ahead of the game before the goalposts are moved again.
The greatest benefit for me is that you can listen to people around you
and understand what your students say about you, but you don’t need the
exam to achieve that. It also helps you understand why Thais make the
mistakes they do when they speak English. I have to be honest, Thai is not
an easy language to learn and I still struggle in some situations. I had
to go to Homepro to buy supplies for the business and my vocabulary was
not adequate to the task. I guess “True knowledge exists in knowing that
you know nothing.” can apply for me here. I am still not fluent and
perhaps I never will be, but I will never stop learning and trying to
improve. The bor 6 exam is currently the only way of gauging ability with
the Thai language and it is recognized by the Thai Ministry of Education
and therefore the Thai government, although I feel there is too much
emphasis put on writing and there should perhaps be an oral element.
|
| Q |
When does being able
to read Thai come in handy, apart from knowing you’re probably on the right
bus? |
| A |
Well Thailand is noted for its high quality
literature…… In Bangkok most things are in English as well, but when you
go up country then it’s very useful. I guess it’s nice to be able to read
menus and Thai newspapers and get the news that is reported to the local
population. You can also read friend’s girlfriend’s emails for them when
they have problems….
Seriously though I guess the biggest benefit is you
can insulate yourself from the dual pricing, which is one of the worst
things about living here. Writing it can be useful, and I have ambitions
of writing for a Thai publication one day.
|
| Q |
You’re about to start
off your own book business, so go on mate – give it a plug. What is it
exactly? |
| A |
Don’t laugh, but the business is called Thaibrary (
Thai + library). We have more than 3000 books and for a small monthly fee
you can borrow up to five books per month, it’s also a drop in place where
you can come and grab a coffee, put your feet up and have a quiet read. We
have a website which should be up and running
www.thaibrary.com and a percentage
of the profits will be donated to Thai charities to fund education for
children that don’t have the opportunities we have all been lucky enough
to have. We hope to get up to around 10,000 books and I hope it will be a
useful service, not just for the ex-pat community, but also for Thai
people who want to cheaply improve and practice their English. If anyone
wants to drop me a line or ask me any questions they can email me at:
books@thaibrary.com . We will
also be buying and selling second hand books, but the focus will be on
providing any books people want to read, Teaching reference books, science
fiction, fantasy, fiction, literature, etc. Lots of people don’t have
space to store lots of books and they still love to read. Please feel free
to pop in and take a look.
You will be able to see a full list of what we have available online as
soon as I get chance to inventory the books, and possibly we might even
think about a delivery and pick up service in the future. The library is
located on Sukhumvit Soi 24, turn left after the 7-11 on the left hand
side when you walk down soi 24 from Sukhumvit and it’s on the left hand
side. Go up the stairs to the first floor and there we are. There will be
a map and full directions on our website. I hope to open up on the 16th
December in time for Christmas. To be honest everything is taking a bit
longer to finish then I had anticipated, but I am hopeful we can open on
time.
|
| Q |
Where did you get the
idea from? |
| A |
Well the idea came to me when I was talking to some
other teacher friends who work in Bangkok and everyone was complaining about
the cost of books, I love reading and books are expensive here and their
selection is not exactly great, and also the second hand book market is a
real rip-off. So there was the idea to open a library of English language
books. The challenge was to make it affordable for everyone and the hardest
thing was finding a place to do it. Most bookshops in Thailand are Thai
owned and they don’t have any idea about what we like to read and what is
popular. I guess I read 2 books a week, mostly books that I brought from
England, when you think the average price of a novel is around 300 baht,
that is a lot of money. We will be charging around 150 baht a month for what
I hope will be a quality service and access to good books. Hopefully we will
also branch into providing music and English/American TV series DVDs as
well. |
| Q |
Any plans to go into
other business areas? |
| A |
I have a couple of other ideas, but I
guess I will have to see if the current one takes off or not first. A
teaching collective that benefits the individuals and guarantees a good
standard of teaching would be a good idea. |
| Q |
Will you always do a
bit of teaching to ‘keep your hand in’ or do you dream of giving it up
altogether? |
| A |
I really enjoy teaching, and I will
always keep it up, my students are absolutely fantastic, and I enjoy it a
lot. It’s strange how some memories stick in your mind, so I will just
relate one that I still remember. I was teaching a pre-course MBA class, and
one student in particular was pretty troublesome, she was also the oldest in
the class and was chatting away in Thai all the time even though her English
was actually pretty damn good, I guess she thought she couldn’t learn
anything useful, she would also come in late, answer her mobile in class
etc. I really took my time with her, and made sure she realized that she
would benefit from the class, and after 2 or 3 weeks she was a perfect
student, after the term finished she asked if I would come and teach at her
company. I guess I love the fact that as a teacher that you can make such a
difference to someone. |
| |
|
