Flying solo

What it's like to start your own 'Thai-style' business in Thailand

2nd March 2011

When I visited Maesod for the very first time I decided to come and live here and start a factory. I was attracted by the town's abundance of cheap teak, cheap Burmese labour and OK its beautiful girls as well.

Entrepreneurial teachers?

Nobody owes you a career. Your career is literally your business.

31st January 2011

Are entrepreneurial attitudes and actions beneficial only to business owners? Or can all of us, teachers included, benefit from thinking and acting like an entrepreneur? Can a teacher think like an entrepreneur without starting his or her own school?

It’s goodbye to teaching

Stories from folks that have found things they would much rather do

10th August 2010

Here are stories from a dozen folks who resigned themselves to teaching because they mistakenly thought it was the only job they could get in Thailand. Then lo and behold, Lady Luck came a-knocking.

Hope for career shifters in Thailand

How can talented teachers overcome a lack of opportunity?

19th July 2010

There is a green pasture for teachers in Thailand especially for those who have extra qualifications or skill in accountancy, secretarial science, engineering, call center, computing, and other fields

Live in the East: Work in the West

opportunities in on-line education

24th April 2010

What if one could have it both ways? Work in the West, live in the East. Get paid developed economy wages while spending on developing economy prices. Is this possible?

A dollar or two on the side

A look at some of those business sidelines destined for failure

23rd February 2010

You may well be a teacher who lives to stand in front of a whiteboard. You may be up half the night compiling lesson plans. But the world loves a teacher who is also something of an entrepreneurial optimist.

Copland

Joining the Thai tourist police

1st May 2008

So with a 5am alarm call, I set off to Sukhumvit soi 5, wondering what I would learn from the boys in brown. The hotel venue itself was very decent, if nothing special. I was ushered into a large conference hall and presented with an information pack.

Beating the teacher trap

Is teaching English really all there is?

12th July 2007

Is it possible to escape the teacher trap? If you think that teaching is the only thing in Thailand that foreigners can do (apart from own a beer bar in Pattaya of course) - well here are ten stories to prove you wrong.

Corporate training

Is the end really nigh?

19th February 2006

We'll send a teacher to your company two nights a week and after forty hours your employees will be gassing to each other like natives. Yeah, right. Why are so many Bangkok-based companies saying 'enough is enough' where English language training is concerned?

Transitions in Thailand

The grass isn't always greener on the other side

2nd March 2005

Bored with teaching? Sure there is a better way to make a baht in Thailand besides the TEFL game? Well, I just finished a six-month stint working in the marketing department of a large Thai furniture company.

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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

Software for student tests

The integration of internet and computers with education and English learning is something students find normal, and classrooms without some access to educational software may seem quaint. Some students may even feel they can get more ‘professional' teaching from the numerous online ELT sites if a school is behind in IT.

Whatever happened to the shopping mall teacher?

They are the shopping mall English teachers - gliding like pale, undernourished phantoms amid the hordes of weekend Thai shoppers. The main reason I empathize with the shopping mall teacher is because I was once one myself. I know how desperate and soul-destroying it can be.

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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.