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.

He sleeps in a storm

Disorganization, discipline, and decisiveness in the overseas TEFL industry

11th September 2011

I really dislike job interviews. Not because of anything I do. I show up on time; I wear the right clothes; I'm polite; I listen and I ask the right questions. But when it comes to the interview and meeting other people in this industry, whether fellow teachers, administrators, principals, or directors, the ‘niceties' stop at my cover-letter.

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.

Unfinished business

Musings from the tortured mind of a damaged teacher

8th May 2011

I spend 12 hours a day at the school in which I teach. I don't have to, but I do. There is a two hour and forty-five minute break between the morning classes and the afternoon classes. That's common in Cambodia, I hear. The international schools and the language schools follow this pattern.

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”

The Mismeasure of Thais

Teachers rarely take the blame for students constantly failing exams.

5th August 2010

It is not the students’ fault that they are failing tests and exams. All students want to pass. They simply don’t know how since most teachers have never taught their students how to study effectively and to recognize the pitfalls of taking tests and examinations.

I am my mother’s keeper

Living my mother’s legacy in a world of good and evil.

2nd May 2010

I tried to look for a teaching position, but my heart just wasn't into it. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't focus. I had lost my energy, my drive to succeed. I barely functioned at all. I stayed in my hotel and watched the news. I did go out to eat and drink. There were nights when I drank and drank and drank. I tried to forget, but the more I tried to forget the more I remembered.

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.

Barbarians in the building

Teaching English to savages and the great recession

1st December 2009

This past July I accepted a job teaching English at a university in Saudi Arabia. I was to teach Saudi males in their 20's and was excited about that opportunity. The tax-free salary of around $3,500 U.S. a month along with a rent-free apartment, return airfare, and long paid holidays didn't hurt either.

My tango with Tony the Tarantula

Dodging the TEFL scammers

2nd September 2009

There will always be people like Tony, or worse, in this industry. Just as there will always be hordes of backpacking sex-tourists posing as English teachers. This industry, like any other, is obsessed with money and power.

The TEFL Industry

A rotting, putrid, stinking corpse

1st January 2009

EFL teachers are put into positions of authority and responsibility, most at a time in their lives when they have yet to learn what it means to be responsible. EFL teachers must learn to teach properly. They must learn to love their work. They must learn to see it as a mission and an honor. They must learn to be accountable for their actions, or their inactions. In essence, they must learn to become fuller human beings.

You are the solution

what foreign teachers don't want to hear

1st August 2007

Many foreign teachers forget that they're not in Kansas anymore, and demand that their hosts adapt to them rather than trying to find a middle-ground where a reasonable compromise can be reached. If many foreign teachers are the problem, (and they are), then they are also the solution.

TEFL’s number one enemy

Losers to the right of me, morons to my left

1st July 2007

There are many successful teachers here in Korea and elsewhere. I have been lucky enough to work with many great teachers. But they are a rare breed, indeed. Successful teachers don't allow the system to beat them down. They rise up to answer the call again and again.

Coming home

It just ain't what it used to be

1st February 2006

I remember what I told my family and friends before I left for Korea to teach English for the first time in the spring of 1997. I remember telling them about my biggest fear: To end up like everybody else. I didn't want to end up like everybody else. And what is everybody else?

The flame of hope

The optimistic goodbye and our living legacy

1st December 2005

I've had some great times in Asia, especially Thailand. Times I will never forget. But when it's time to leave, it's time to leave. And we all know when it's time.

The TESOL diaspora

Making the outside world a home

1st November 2005

I feel that the TESOL community, (if indeed there is such a thing as a TESOL community), is at a crossroads. Since so few of us have ever felt really comfortable living in another man's land, our story is not only one of alienation. It is also one of fragmentation, disillusion, and dissimulation.

I want your English and nothing more

Human beings first, English teachers second

1st September 2005

Most of the students marched lockstep into the manager's office and demanded another teacher. Fair enough. I stepped aside. Was I ready for the seriousness of this class? Absolutely not. I had absolutely no intention of treating this class, or any writing class, with the seriousness that the students demanded. I am a human being first, an ESL teacher second.

Boredom in the ESL classroom

What every teacher, student and administrator should know

1st August 2005

When I hear of students complaining that they're bored, my first response, at least to myself is, "So?" My next response is, "I really don't care." Which is true. I can't see why I should. I can't see why anybody should care. Education is the solution to boredom. Education offers opportunities for the student that staying ignorant doesn't. It's that simple.

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Ajarn Guests

Going Home

I possess ten years of classroom EFL teaching experience, plus a solid education, and this was the type of work available to me. There were many moments, such as when I was cleaning a toilet bowl, or when a housekeeper ordered me to do something, that frustration welled up inside me.

Teacher nightmares part two

More stories from teachers in Thailand who have found themselves in difficult situations often through no fault of their own. Can you offer them some good advice?

Fear of change?

In Thailand the government has set 2012 as English Speaking Year with a goal of encouraging students to converse in English every Monday. Such policies are useful but the major leap of enacting legislation to make English an official language for Thailand is also needed

About Ajarn.com

Ajarn.com was started as a small hobby website in 1999 by Ian McNamara. It was a simple way for one Bangkok teacher to share his Thailand experiences and pass on advice. The website developed a loyal and enthusiastic following. In 2004, Ian handed over the reins to Phil Williams and 'Bangkok Phil' has run the ajarn website ever since.

Ajarn.com has grown enormously and is now the most popular TEFL site in Thailand - possibly even South East Asia. Although best-known for its vibrant jobs page, Ajarn has a wealth of articles, blogs, features and help and advice. But one principle has always remained at Ajarn's core - to tell things like they are and to do it with a sense of humor. Thailand can be Heaven or Hell for an English teacher. It's always been Ajarn.com's duty to present both sides of the equation. Thanks for stopping by.