Kevin Forster

I was seriously fed up with life in England so I sold up, house, contents, the lot. I put the money in an offshore bank account and set off to travel around Asia. I took a TEFL course before I left home but I just travelled around for a couple of years. I was too busy having a good time to work.

Pure chance. I was sitting on the beach in Koh Samui one morning, I was down to my last 500 quid and an airline ticket. Basically two choices should I stay or should I go now. Obviously I chose to stay

I'm actually paid by the PTA of the school. All the students pay into the foreign teacher program and we negotiate a contract from there. I make 35K a month and do a bit of moonlighting to make the party money.

Where to start??? Break down the student teacher barrier, become the kids' friend. Find out what they enjoy and use that in your lessons. Learn their nicknames, they love it if you greet them with Hi Som, rather than Good morning student especially if they are not in school. Be the teacher you wish you had when you were a kid. Laugh and joke with all the kids as you walk around the school. Lay down a few simple classroom rules in your first class and apply them fairly. Use the carrot not the stick. Forget the fact that you have 50 kids in the room. Split them into 4 teams, let them elect team leaders and after your presentation make sure your team leaders understand the activity and use them as peer teachers then monitor each of the teams in turn, they love the responsibility.Never tell a kid she's wrong just ask her to try again. Always praise good work. Never humiliate a student as a punishment sit them down and talk the problem through. Always dressed smartly kids hate scruffy teachers. Pretty easy really.

The biggest problem I have is that no one tells you anything..... then you are criticized for not doing whatever it was that you weren't told to do.

The feedback from the kids is what makes everything worthwhile. I just came back from camp in Khao Yai. My M3 class that I have taught six periods a week for three years had their farewell ceremony and I had to bless them and tie the white string to their wrists . They were all in tears as they said thank you and goodbye. No amount of money could buy that feeling.

My name's Kevin and that's what they call me.

Yep.

I didn't quite mean that. I meant that most posters have a downer on government schools. I just wanted to present the other side of the coin.

I like to make sure what the going rate is and of course to check my job's not on there.

Haven't been to England since 1996

I'm always having great plans but all my mates say that they'll carry me of this school in a box. They're probably right.

Although I come from Manchester, I spent most of my life in a small village of about 3,000 people.

Haven't got a clue. I used to be a production manager in a food factory so probably something in that field.

Duck noodle soup.