Happy hour at the ESL bar and grill

Amusing the students to death

3rd September 2012

Students are being scammed out of their money by an industry that is content to amuse the students to death by turning English language education into a perverted version of happy hour at Joe's Bar. Teachers and students deserve better than that.

Culture of insouciance

The Cambodian rubbish dump, and my not so final, final exam

23rd January 2012

Many of the students in my class with their fancy clothes, laptops, I-phones, and I-pads, rarely experience an atmosphere where true learning takes place. Outside of the odd serious teacher they may have encountered along the way, they also live and learn in a rubbish dump, an educational one.

Fast times at Hitler High

What on earth are the schoolkids being prepared for?

28th October 2011

For those who think that the students may have missed the lessons on Hitler and the NAZIS, or perhaps fell asleep during the lectures, I say the opposite: I say that these students were probably very much awake and were mesmerized by all things NAZI. By the looks of things, they seem to have learned quite a bit.

Business as usual

More rambling from a TEFL lunatic

11th July 2011

I've been living and teaching in Phnom Penh Cambodia for six months now. I suppose I could write about the magnificent ancient temples of Ankhor Wat, the beaches of Sihanoukville, the Buddhist scriptures and artifacts, and the splendor of the Royal Palace. But I won't. What I would rather write about are the people.

The enemy within

The evil side of the TEFL industry

7th March 2011

It is a complicity of silence that sees many foreign teachers working hand-in-glove with a Thai administration that cares only about money and maintaining an educational system mired in cultural backwardness and social repression.

Why?

Standing up for the teaching profession, and the complicity of silence.

10th January 2011

“Someone wrote on your blog that you are 'dangerous'. I say you are a neurotic loose canon and a liability for a school, working with children”

Determine your own significance

The true value of an English teacher

11th January 2010

Native English teachers incompetent in the classroom? Of course they're incompetent. Many of them, anyway. Then again, many of the Korean English teachers are incompetent as well.

Show me that you love me

The Bangkok freak show, and my response to John Wilson.

3rd September 2009

Sticking up for passionate teachers

Are we sore thumbs fighting the good fight?

1st July 2009

This is a column (or a blog entry) that I should have written long ago. It is to thank those who have taken the time to email me. I do appreciate it and learn from all your letters. I say blog entry because a poster on a popular South Korean website, and a teacher in the EPIK program whom I've met, keeps telling me that it's not a column; it's a blog entry. Okay, johnhenry, whatever you say. You're much smarter than I.