I realize that there is an appropriate time for a resignation letter. However, in a situation where you have not been offered a new yearly contract and you did not violate your contract in terms of paper work or duties and nobody is telling you anything then the Thai Administration's seemingly harmless sign this resignation letter document is not in your best interest because they will not have to pay you anything regarding severance pay.

Rights and duties of employers and employees under the new Labour Protection Act B.E.2541 http://www.thailabour.org/law/thai/code.html

Severance Pay

An employer shall pay severance pay to an employee whose employment is terminated, as follows:
An employee who has worked for at least 120 consecutive days, but for less than one year shall be paid basic pay for 30 days at the most recent rate of basic pay received by him.
An employee who has worked continuously for at least one year but less than three years shall be paid basic pay for 90 days at the most recent rate of basic pay received by him.
An employee who has worked consecutively for three years but less than six years shall be paid basic pay for 180 days at the most recent rate of his basic pay.
An employee who has worked consecutively for at least six years but less than 10 years shall be paid basic pay for not less than 240 days at the most recent rate of his basic pay.
An employee who has worked for more than 10 years consecutively shall be paid basic pay for not less than 300 days at the most recent rate of his basic pay.

An employer is not required to pay severance pay to an employee whose employment has been terminated for any of the following reasons:

Resignation
Dishonest performance of his duties or the intentional commission of a criminal act against the employer;
Intentionally causing loss to the employer;
Performance of gross negligence which result in severe loss to the employer;
Violation of the employer's work rules or regulations or order which are both lawful and equitable when the employer has already issued the employee with a prior written warning, except in a serious instance when the employer is not required to give a warning.
The written warning shall be effective for a period of one year as from the date of the commission of the violation by the employee;
Neglect of his duties for a period of three consecutive work days without reasonable cause, whether or not a holiday intervenes;
Imprisonment by reason of a final judgment.

An employment contract shall be terminated when the specified period in the employment contract expires, the works related are as follows:
8.1 Employment on a special project, which is not in the normal way of business or trade of the employer, where there is a fixed schedule for commencement and completion of work.
8.2 Work of a temporary nature with a fixed schedule for its commencement or completion.
8.3 Seasonal work in respect of which employees are only engaged during that season; provided that the work most be completed within a period of two years and the employer and employee have entered into a written agreement at or prior to the commencement of employment.

Hello to all. I am from the U.S. and have been living and teaching in Asia for the past five years, four of those in Thailand. I absolutely love teaching Asian students, and my goal is to try and set an example with them, helping them to learn to think for themselves and enjoy the learning process as they grow.

While living in the U.S., I had a series of high stress jobs spanning over several years. My last job in the U.S. was a state job. I worked for the local corrections department at a medium security facility in our state and believe me; I definitely looked forward to my vacation time. All my vacations were spent in Asia. I traveled to the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Japan mostly. For me anyway, Asia just seemed to get under my skin and I looked forward to each vacation period in which to return. It wasn’t until my last trip to Beijing in 2002 that I learned about ESL teaching when a young Chinese woman approached me while I was sitting on a park bench near my hotel reading the China Daily newspaper, and asked me if I spoke English.

“Yes, I do,” I replied.
“May I sit with you and practice my English?” she asked.
“Of course!”

It turned out she was worried about losing her ability to speak English since she had just returned from Ankara, Turkey where her husband was working for a large corporation. She told me that in the circles she frequented while living in Turkey, everyone spoke English and now that she had returned to Beijing, she was finding it troublesome to find anyone with which to practice her English so she had joined a night course, but said she found it too basic. Her English was exceptional, and our conversation was delightful, going on for almost two hours. Before she had to leave, she asked me, “Do you like Beijing?”

“I love it!” a very truthful statement at the time.

“Then you should come here to live and teach,” she commented. I laughed and told her I was the farthest thing from a schoolteacher, but she persisted, telling me of numerous openings at local universities, primary and secondary schools and private schools.

Then suddenly she looked at her watch, turned to me and asked, “Do you have time for me to show you something?”
“Sure,” I said, and then she got up and motioned for me to follow her.

Her nickname was Jo, and as we were walking Jo told me that almost every university in Beijing had an English department and were always hiring foreign professionals to teach different subjects in English.
“But, I’m not a teacher!” I emphatically told her. “I am a parole officer, a person who looks after criminals! I teach, but surely not what your people are interested in learning!”

Jo shook her head and waved me off, leading me to whatever she had in store for me, which turned out to be a nearby university. We entered the university and I was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the place and the beautiful architecture. Once inside she led me to a huge billboard full of announcements and other articles, quite naturally most in Mandarin, but with a small section in the right upper corner devoted to want ads for foreign teachers in English.

The requirements were fairly simple and straightforward. You had to be from a country such as the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, etc., and you had to have at least a bachelor’s degree in any field. TELF, CELTA, TESOL certificates were not necessary, but surely were a plus, and you did not have to have any prior teaching experience. The university provided you (free) with an apartment, free water and gas, air conditioning, a portable heater for the winter months, a T.V., CD/DVD player, cable T.V., a microwave, refrigerator, water boiler, washing machine, rice cooker, bed and bed clothing, wardrobe, iron and ironing board, living room furniture, desk, bureau, telephone (except for long-distance calls), and a LAN connection to the university computer network. But, you had to pay your own electricity bill…Awwwww!

Afterwards, Jo led me up several stairs and down two different corridors to meet somebody she knew. Luckily for us, he was in his office. We knocked and an American emerged, much to my surprise. Mr.
Dan, as he was introduced, was a very pleasant gentleman from the state of Virginia. We exchanged pleasantries and after a brief conversation, he got down to business and told me he left his “dead-end” job as a realtor in Portsmouth, to come teach in China. He told me he had “absolutely no experience” as a teacher of any kind, but had taken a TEFL course near his home, and sold everything to come and live and work in China.

Mr. Dan had lived and worked in China for ten years. At the time I met him, he was the head of the English department at the university, had a Chinese wife, a 2-year old son, and another child on the way. Before we left, Mr. Dan offered me this surprising, yet tiny little tidbit of advise should I decide to come to Asia to teach:

“Stay as far away from other foreigners as you can. They are like a plague. They’ll gossip about you, steal (ideas, teaching materials, money, plane tickets, train tickets, clothing, lesson plans, etc.) from you if they can, stab you in the back, blackmail you, lie on their mother’s grave, and generally make your life miserable, whereas Asian’s will usually treat you right.”

I left our little meeting with Mr. Dan feeling very odd that he would say something so blatant and terrible about other westerners.
Six years later, all I have to say is this: “MR. DAN WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!!”

After five full years of employment in Asia, I have ONE good friend who is a foreigner. He is from England, which doesn’t really mean anything, since I’ve met twenty-fold Brits who were flaming arseholes, but I can honestly say I choose my friends very carefully, and the majority I meet, I could diagnose with some form of DSM-V diagnosis or severe personality disorder.

Enough said

Mr Jeem

Coming from the United States, a country where antidepressants and antipsychotics are some of the fastest growing prescriptions, living with mental illness in Thailand can be quite a change. I myself take medication to treat the chronic depression I have lived with for as long as I can remember, and I wondered how the subject would be treated in Thailand. The first thing I discovered was that Thais don't seem to have a concept of depression. Try explaining constant overwhelming despair to someone who barely speaks any English, and you'll soon find how difficult it is. I would imagine that living with bipolar disorder would be even more difficult in Thailand. Many psychotropic medications are used in Thailand for people "with difficulty sleeping". Whether or not this is a euphemism used to save face is up for debate.

Finding your meds is another struggle. Unless you live in Bangkok or Chiang Mai, expect to have to order your drugs from Bangkok. When I first moved to Nakhon Si Thammarat, I went to every pharmacy I could find only to be told that they didn't have the drugs I needed and that they had never even heard of them. I eventually found a pharmacist who ordered my drugs for me. If you take medication for mental illness, make sure you come to Thailand with a nice big supply, because finding a source in Thailand can be a lengthy process. Don't wait until the last minute, lest you discover that the pharmacy needs to order the drug and it will take 1-2 weeks. Running out of a prescription you need in a foreign country is an unpleasant experience, to say the very least. In short, if you're planning on moving somewhere off the beaten path, finding a pharmacist that can help you should be one of the first things you do.

Ada Hodgman

The purpose of this message is to let readers know about a few changes both on the Thai side of the border as well as the Laos side.

1. When going to Laos, the fee for a visa on arrival is still the same - 1,500 Baht. Visitors must receive the application form at window number one.

2. Once the application is filled out, then go back to window 1, submit it and pay your fee of 1,500.00 Baht.

3. Wait by window 3 to receive your passport with a 30-day Laos visa inside. Note! The system is both new and better because when you receive your passport, you are now stamped into Laos and your 30 days is clicking away slowly. Before the introduction of this new system, you had to go to the check-in counter and have your passport and visa stamped.

4. Now your are ready to look for your ride into town to probably go to the Thai Embassy. Get into your private minivan or whatever for about 500.00 Baht and quickly get to the Thai embassy before 12:00 noon to submit your application, 2 photos, passport copies and fee of 1,000.00 Baht for 60-day tourist visa. Please remember at this point that time is everything. Forget the beers, women and looking for the cheapest room and go directly to the Thai embassy QUICKLY to submit everything.

5. I submitted my application that I downloaded from the Internet and filled out while still in Bangkok. I paid my 1,000.00 Baht fee and received my receipt and I was told to come back the following day (Tuesday 13:00-15:00 06/01/2009) to receive my passport and visa. A little change here because in the past you would be able to get your passport and visa the following working day 14:00-16:00 but now 13:00-15:00.

Overall it appears that the Thai embassy is trying to become a bit more farang-friendly They actually have a separate bathroom for men and women and they've even put a new Canon photo copier right near the windows where you submit your application. I think this is a long overdue but a welcome change.

Name withheld

When I was trying to look for an interesting topic to be discussed in my class the next day , I came across in the website of ajarn.com, surprisingly I saw there the section for Filipino teachers in Thailand. I got interested of their opinions and finally I have decided also to share my own thoughts and sentiments since I am also a teacher like them. I've been teaching for almost 12 years now. To tell you frankly, I am happy with my job because I am fulfilled of what I am doing. I am not after of the money that I can get for me, the most important thing is what I can impart and share to my students.

I'm often asked, "Che, what's your job?" I always reply," I am a teacher." The response I get generally comes in a wide range from an "Oh" to a "You've got to be kidding me." But one thing in common is the disgusted or horrified look on their faces.

If I had said I wanted to be a lawyer or a doctor, the response would have been more along the lines of "That is a great profession" accompanied by a handshake and good luck. I dread being asked the question because the response I get leaves me feeling ashamed of my chosen profession. Then, I think about it and realize I shouldn't be ashamed; teaching is a noble profession. As teachers, we are educating future generations, shaping young minds and lives. We are responsible for the welfare and education of the 100 or so kids who will walk into our classroom every day. We've got a chance to impact each and everyone of them. A teacher's motivation and encouragement is extremely valuable to a child; it can change the child's life. Just imagine the science teacher who could have convinced a student to go into the field of medicine where he or she may discover the cure for cancer. That's just one of many examples.

We should be commended for picking a career inspired by passion or love instead of monetary gain. You'll be hard-pressed to find a teacher who isn't in it for the money. I can't imagine most people, or any teacher for that matter, willing to wake up at 6 a.m. each day, get to school by 8 a.m., teach from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. with barely a half-hour to eat lunch, stay another two hours after school to go to meetings or run after school programs, go to school or care for a family, spend three or more hours grading, and then an hour reviewing for the next day; doing all this,yet receiving minimal salary.

If you really think about it, a teacher's job is not much different from a doctor's or a lawyer's. All three require expertise in the area you're practicing extensively. All three have their students', patients' or clients' lives in their hands. All three are almost always working; when they're not physically on the job they're mentally on the job. Thus, it's only natural all three should be awarded the same respect.

Next time someone asks me what my job is and they make a face at my answer, I'll just turn to them and ask, "What's wrong to be a teacher? Remember teachers, we unmake or make our students. Keep on moving and God bless us all.

CMP

As a potential farang in Thailand, I have found your website most informative. I would now like to add my twopence worth.
Firstly, the debate about whether native English speakers make better teachers than non-native English speakers:-
I am, what the advertisements presumably hope is, a native English speaking South African. In South Africa we have 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans and 9, so-called, indigenous languages (the languages spoken by the 9 Black tribes in the country.) This does not take into consideration all those thousands of South Africans who are of Hindu, Tamil, Urdu, Dutch, Portuguese, Greek, Lebanese, Italian, German and French descent, and who probably regard themselves as native English speakers, although they still speak these languages in their homes. It is quite obvious therefore that the vast majority of South Africans are not English first-language speakers and that many will not have the language skills necessary to teach English here in South Africa, let alone anywhere else. So, how does one define a South African native English speaker, and how does one determine if he/she is fit to teach this most diffiucult language to others?

Secondly, the issue of having a qualification that says one can (supposedly) teach English to foreigners:-
Following on from the above, it is quite obvious that most South African English teachers will have taught English to second-language students at some stage in their careers, and that most South African teachers will have taught other subjects (in English) to second-language students. So why do we need TEFL or TESOL qualifications? We get enough experience right here in our own country!

Thirdly, the issue of the Thai Government's licensing requirements for foreign teachers:-
In South Africa (currently), the B.Education is a post-graduate qualification originally introduced (many years ago) to encourage people with Bachelor Degrees to teach (most teachers studied for the B.Ed.part-time while teaching.) Otherwise (currently), all high school teachers are required to have a Bachelor's Degree plus a Teacher's Diploma (4 years of study) and primary school teachers simply have a 3 year diploma. BUT, when I qualified, all we needed to be able to teach was a Bachelor's Degree with a teaching subject as a major, and on the strength of this, I taught for 4 years, before entering the field of librarianship. So where do I fit into the Thai scheme of things? I do not have a B.Ed. but I do have a degree in English, a post-graduate librarian's diploma and 4 years' teaching experience. I do not mind the concept of the Foreign Teachers Thai Culture Training Programme (if it is worthwhile), but I am not interested in spending another year and thousands of Baht on getting some qualification which will probably duplicate what I have already learned in my own country. According to the official I spoke to at the Royal Thai Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, the employers should be paying for these courses anyway, not the teachers.

Fourthly, the issue of "visa-runs":-
Again, the Royal Thai Ministry official told me that this is nonsense. As a South African, I purchase a Non-Imm.B.Visa here in SA, which I then renew (for a fee) after 3 months in Thailand, and Thai Immigration then gives me a 9-month extension. At no time do I have to leave the country on any cross-border visa runs. If I renew my contract for another year, I simply request another extension. So why are you ex-pats chasing visa renewals across the border?
He did warn me however, that private schools in Thailand must have a certain income to be able to employ foreign teachers otherwise these teachers are illegal. So it appears that teachers should ask to see balance sheets before accepting teaching posts.
Finally, are there any South Africans in Thailand who can share their experiences?

Marguerite Huson

I’m sympathetic to the problems AN’s school has recruiting teachers (North Eastern Woes, 7th August) but you have to be realistic. Hardly anyone wants to live in these remote parts of Thailand, and those that have a romantic notion about it soon discover that it’s not as wonderful as they first thought (they probably didn’t think it through in the first place).

AN suggests retaining 10% of the salary until the end of the contract. The first problem with that potty idea is that salaries aren’t high enough to live on if you deduct 10% every month. If the salary is over 40K then sure, but where do you get that much outside Bangkok? You’re having problems recruiting now and you want to make it even harder by telling candidates that they won’t get their money until next year. This brings me to my next point. I’ve hear of many horror stories about teachers who are expecting to get either a bonus, withheld salary or simply their final month’s salary only to be told to get lost as their contract won’t be renewed next semester and we’re not going to pay you your money. By the way we cancelled your work permit a week ago.

Sorry AN but this is just yet another way to screw the teacher. If I hear anything like what you suggest at an interview I’ll get up and walk out. I’d like to suggest to ajarn.com that schools advertising teaching positions state any subversive contract clauses to avoid wasting people’s time.

Mr John

I am over in the North East of Thailand we had 4 Falang teachers including myself. At the end of June just after pay day our friendly Kiwi packed his bags and shot over to Ubon. Well the contract did say and does say one month's notice. At the end of July, well what do you know, the Aussie and the Brit packed their bags and left as well.

Now I love my job, my students and my school and put an advert on ajarn.com and hey presto, 60 applicants but not one native speaker. To tell you the truth it is not important if the teacher is a native or not, it is the person that is reliable, honest and keeps to their side of any agreement. I managed to rope in a Filipino and by a year's time if he sticks here and proves himself then he will get the salary of a native speaker. He has no TEFL [certificate], but his life experiences and his commitment in acquiring the 20 hour Thai Culture Course Certificate told me this guy is worth having. I agree whole heartedly with improving the educational system in Thailand though I wonder how long we all will go bald, with the frustrations of having ideas but not thinking them through as the Teacher's Council has painfully demonstrated over the past few months. At 48 I never dreamed of studying again. at 46 I got my TESOL that was hard enough for me but gosh a year of the Graduate Diploma the mind boggles about all the hardships that one may have to endure especially in traveling 10 hours one way to Bangkok every Friday night.

The school have asked me how we can attract native speakers. I plainly said they are only interested in the money especially in the middle of nowhere, but you can create an English programme seek only truly qualified professionals and pay them 35-40K plus housing. Just do not offer the course to 2600 students as it simply does not work. Well as we all know, Thais love to nod - and I got a nod!

However my main gripe is how does one prevent teachers from behaving dishonourably by not abiding by their contracts? The only solution I could think of is to retain 10% of their salary and pay it to them when they leave either at the end of their contract or by serving their notice period of one month. In addition the school pays for the Work permit and for the Brit well they paid a year up front for him and he left after 2 month's. The hardworking parents are being messed up by these unsavoury characters. Anyone got any ideas on getting great teachers that not only teach English but behave as respectable decent ambassadors of their own country, if so please send to the postbox

AN

Hi. I just cannot help but respond to some issues raised in recent posts concerning teaching in Thailand. My background is that virtually my whole teaching career has been in Asia and, I suppose some students may one day soon be labeling me as a “crumbly”, so I’ve been around for quite some years, including mainly for visits but also for work in Thailand. Like Greg of Taiwan I see the attempted introduction of some checks and training in the teacher “acceptance” scenarios of Thailand a positive step by the Ministry of Education. The fact that there are seeming inconsistencies and missing logical steps in new procedures introduced should not pose as a major problem nor present as a complete surprise to those familiar with planning, scheduling, organizing and communication difficulties that are commonplace in Indo-china as a whole. Patience is a virtue in Asia and the acceptance of necessary change is a virtue everywhere.

In fact there should be no surprise to foreign nationals that the Thai Ministry of Education from an educational perspective is trying to improve matters in relation to hiring foreign personnel. I read a recent Yahoo survey which claimed that 40% of foreign teachers in Taipei, Taiwan, hold some false documentation, notably fake degree certificates that they bought in Bangkok. Yahoo did not provide an account of their procedures in obtaining this information or survey results; however, from my personal experience of working in Thailand as a teacher trainer, Yahoo’s article seems both factually credible in essence (even if the numbers turn out to be inaccurate). It would be interesting to read properly researched reports of the numbers or percentages of fake educational diplomas presented to schools by foreigners within Thailand itself.

Notwithstanding this, unsupported criticism of the Cambridge certificate is unacceptable. It is what it is. To the best of my memory or knowledge the initial motivation for introducing the former RSA certificate/RSA-Cambridge certificate/now the Cambridge CELTA etc. was that English had already moved firmly into being the major international language of communication but there were simply hardly any trained teachers to meet the vastly expanding needs for teachers of

the students of the world. The quick fix was a condensed short initial training course so that the varied mix of characters who had begun to appear as teachers in classrooms all over the world had the opportunity to study and practice on a survival course which also resulted in the award of a certificate. The expansion of TESL has been so great that the quick-fix course framework has never experienced a time frame sufficient to be replaced by or integrated into a full-course qualification. So the quick-fix mini-course in teaching has never been replaced but, rather, it has been extended upon such that there is now a sub-first degree level diploma.

The fact that many language schools in Thailand now seem to offer their own mini-course versions in TESL is not necessarily a good thing in all cases, because there is no qualified third-party agency such as a top university, e.g. Cambridge, to monitor standards and formats to maintain high standards. It is a common experience to find that TESL-certificate wielding Western bricklayers are working in Thai schools but have little clue to what they are doing. That’s perhaps just one reason that Thailand comes out bottom of the world league in internationally recognized testing systems.

So, good on the Ministry of Education. I trust that the format of their new system will gradually revise and improve through their gradually working through any difficulties that arise. Perhaps one day Thailand will host many foreign teachers who are skilled enough in a greater variety and range both of English language skills and up-to-date language teaching skills. Perhaps by then both the certified Western bricklayers and their trained Filipino colleagues will know how to write and present acceptable job-winning application letters and resumes – but that’s another topic that needs addressing in another letter or article.

Stephen Thomas in Laos

One should understand that language acquisition is a skill which has to be taught by people who are skilled. It doesn't matter which nationality or color one appears with. The native speaker myth as believed and promoted by many academics around Thailand is that only a certain tribe of people from selected countries can or should teach English. The truth is that there are no real native speaker who know the language any more in this earth simply because what language is taught in the classroom and in prescribed text books are not used by common people in those countries.
English is not a language owned by any country and for that matter it is spoken (communicated) appropriately by a larger population of people in countries other than those mentioned as native speaker countries namely U K , U S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In simple words more people speak English outside these countries that all the countries put together.

The main reason for the widespread need to learn the English Language arose due to the advent of the computer, where in programs are written with English text and words. Many folk have much to gain by using unskilled workers to teach English so as to weaken the abilities of a larger population of learners, this in turn will enhance the population of low wage laborers, flesh traders and host of other professions that require very little or no knowledge of a foreign language. The native speaker myth looms over the downfall of the language acquisition abilities of poor innocent Thais. Simply coz the folks in charge want to earn a quick buck and con as many people into believing that they can learn best from someone who was born with the language spoken all around him/ her.

I am a native speaker myself but would not come out front and speak out loud to disturb my bosses or the financiers coz teaching English is what brings food to my stomach. I do however want to create an awareness that would enlighten the educated folk and academics into selecting people who are interested in teaching and not just people who need a job so they can hang around the country for fun( no offense to whom it may disturb but one cannot be a computer programmer if one has not been taught or trained to). To take appropriate steps to make sure that the selected people are genuinely interested in teaching and enhancing the abilities of the local children.
All the best to those desiring to live and work as teacher in the land of smiles.

Y. Coarter