Bad Teaching Experiences

No pay Jose

Sent in by Mike Walker

22nd November 2011

I returned to my school in Bangkok today after almost two months waiting for the floods to subside. When I enquired about being paid for the last eight weeks, the staff just laughed at me.

Teaching in Thailand for keeps

The main reasons teachers get fired

4th July 2011

Getting fired from a job causes teachers anxiety, embarrassment, trauma and often sense of injustice.

Oh, one more thing - you’re fired!

One teacher's account of being popular with students and getting fired

6th October 2009

I found out later after talking with other teachers, that there were two teachers that didn’t like us and they were both on the “committee” The director couldn’t go against the committee because she would lose face.

One thing wrong with Thailand

Sent in by RM

22nd February 2008

The only thing wrong with Thailand is the foreigners.

Leaving on a jet plane

4th February 2008

Working in this third world, is much harder than it seems. It's not the land of my dreams --There is always a problem waiting for you. The corruption is just a way of life.

Problems at your school

There are always problems where you work

15th January 2008

So there are 25 things wrong with your teaching job? Actually there are 25 things wrong with every teaching job - you just pray they don't all happen on the same day. As Phil explains, it's the way you handle these often 'minor inconveniences' that will make or break your time in Thailand.

Don’t forget Mr Wunder-ful

Sent in by Ralph Sasser

16th November 2007

He's the one that secures a job over the Internet, promises to be here on a certain date and comes a month later claiming he had some problems leaving his other job.

Hubris vs humility at the helm

Why I decided that enough was enough

2nd August 2006

The Thai members of staff to whom I regularly voiced my concerns about the very visible slowing, sometimes even reverse pace, of the program’s progress, always said give it time. So I did. For a year, from the time our four deputies were very ceremoniously replaced, I waited and hoped something good would happen.

We work for the room

ESL ghosts of the past

1st July 2005

There's been so many bad experiences, I don't know where to start. Forget the times I was ripped off hundreds of dollars from unscrupulous Korean hagwon owners and Taiwanese recruiters. That might take too long and it's another column entirely. I'm still trying to forget the time when one of the nine million Mr. Kims barged into my class and, in front of the students, told me in Korean what a horrible teacher I was.

Good teachers or warm bodies?

What do we deserve?

2nd January 2005

I’m guessing that at least one third of all TEFL teachers are underprepared, underqualified or lack any kind of training in their subject. Compounding the problem is the fact that government funding for teacher training/re-training is non-existent.