Blogs

Mark Newman

Don't dream it, just do it!

Don't be that person who lives a life of regrets

If the worst happens, just come home! If that job sucks, or you get sick, or the view from your apartment is another apartment... don't stay! You've lost nothing and you've found out that the life of a traveller isn't for you.

Diary of a Thai football season

(2020) Samut Prakan City v Rayong FC

The season finally gets underway again with a home match against fellow strugglers, Rayong FC

Each stadium will be allowed to admit fans, but only up to 25% of the capacity. And of that number, 10% will be allocated to away supporters. This is the new normal - at least for the foreseeable future.

More Diary of a Thai football season articles

Richard McCully

Teaching very young learners

Whatever your gender you should feel confident to teach students of any age.

I quickly learned that teaching very young learners requires a lot of energy but it also energizes you at the same time. I was pretty nervous about teaching five and six year old students but in the end I have found something which I really enjoy.

Mark Beales

Don't get too upset with the job ads

Thailand's employers can be brutally direct about who they want to hire

It’s worth being aware that some schools are pretty fussy about what they are looking for. Glance at any jobs section of a newspaper and you’ll notice that such pedantry is common.

Ricky Batten

Everything you need to know about hospital insurance in Thailand

Working your way through the jargon minefield, etc

Coming from the UK, where private health insurance isn’t the norm, I can definitely see why many expats struggle to get their head around it when they move abroad. Especially in Thailand, where foreigners don’t have equal access to public healthcare services as locals do.

Phil Hall

Getting a job interview - part 3

Legwork and salary negotiations

I was finally being offered teaching roles but the salary was typically around the 20,000 mark and that was just too low to consider. On the other hand, in most cases I would be the only Westerner at the school.

TEFL Course News

September 2020

What are Thailand's TEFL course providers offering in these difficult times?

Although there are strict limits on foreigners entering the country at the moment, a number of the Thailand-based TEFL course providers are still offering options for new teachers interested in gaining their TEFL qualification.

Sam Thompson

Outside connections

Is communicating with students using apps and social media a good idea?

I think the social media connections have been more helpful than harmful, and I'll likely continue the practice with classes to come.

Bangkok Phil

Four days on Koh Samui

This is a perfect time to travel - but it's impossible to ignore the travel industry hardships

We drove down to Lamai, another beach resort popular with foreign travelers, but like its neighbor, Chaweng, the sun-loungers were stacked in piles on empty sands, the umbrellas folded away and the cafe owners gone for an extremely long lunch.

Jesse Sessoms

Species extinction

Reflections on how technology has changed the way we travel

We have lost our identities; we are lost to ourselves. We are but a series of endless reactions to online stimuli. Before we have time to think and form our own perspective on anything, we are looking to see what our family, friends, and peers said; what the reviewers said; what the online influencers said; what the experts said.

Steve Schertzer

The selfish generation

Covidiots and their dangerous ways

Unfortunately, the coronavirus has not brought out the best in us. To the contrary, it has brought out the worst in us. It has thrown the curtains wide open to reveal a human population so scientifically ignorant, many seem to be regressing back to a time of human sacrifice.

Richard Constable

The class A and B new norm

Is it going to work well or is the system doomed to fail?

Teachers were told that the standard programme student classes, that each consist of thirty-odd students, would be split into approximate halves and each group would now only study at the school on alternative days.

Mark Brown

Beta testers wanted!

Testers who provide useful feedback will be given additional free materials as they are developed

California Accent provides over 300 TEFL lessons organized into 16 courses and 5 curriculums. These lessons are intended to be used by TEFL teachers in Thailand to supplement (not replace) the standard teaching materials issued by the provincial administrative organizations.

Stephen Louw

Plagiarism, copying, theft, piracy and cribbing

Helping students find a way to avoid it

It can make a teacher’s blood boil to discover that a large proportion of the students have exactly the same content, including the grammar errors in sentence 4, all probably copied from Phoom – the star student of the class.

Tom Tuohy

Teaching in Thailand post COVID-19

The 'new normal'

What does the future hold for education in Thailand? With the “new normal” in full swing, a “tourism reset” on the way, will there be any other meaningful changes in education, as some are hoping for?

Kylie Millar

Five myths about being a TEFL teacher

I'm sick of the moaners.....I really am!

I am sick and fed up of people coming out to Thailand with stupid misconceptions and then moaning about how awful it is to live in Thailand. Shut up and go home then!

James Humphries

Tips for the newbie teacher

Keep these points in mind and you'll cope far better

Don't get stressed by the job. Remember that you are merely the latest in a long line of farang teachers who have come and gone. There isn't enough time to make any real progress with students' English so just try and make it fun for them.

Phil Roeland

How to motivate students

Keys to improving language learning

Motivation can either be internal or external. Students who are internally motivated usually learn English because they want to, because they enjoy learning or because they want to achieve a certain goal, not because they have to. Examples of personal goals could be pursuing a promotion at work or planning to enrol in a foreign university’s graduate programme.

Parin Hemtanon

How to gain teaching experience when you have none

Could lack of experience be the reason why schools aren't replying to your job applications?

When I realised that I was an inexperienced teacher, I decided to create my own life-changing “teacher training program”. These are things I did to pack my resume with relevant teaching skills and experience, which I believe helped secure my first teaching job.

Stop that noise!

Nick Tarver

The pee, the nong and the wai

Aspects of Thai culture

Although ajarn.com has never shirked from handing out some just criticism on Thai education and culture I felt it was only fair to balance worthy criticism with worthy praise.

What hope for a superficial education system?

David Walters

Do bilingual children out-perform their monolingual peers?

What do research studies show?

Giving a child the chance to learn multiple languages from an early age is one of the most amazing gifts a parent can give. Being bilingual opens up so many more doors in life.

Kink Bundy

My experiences of working in a college in Bangkok (part 7)

Poor facilities and poor student attendance make teaching difficult.

Many of the students had taken out loans to come to this school. The loans could often be too much for their families to repay and they’d need to drop out for financial reasons, and end up leaving the school with no degree and a staggering pile of debt that their families would struggle to repay.

Charles Green

The teacher mindset

English teachers are all business owners

In Thailand, I have found that people quickly get labeled and categorized as either good or bad, helpful or unhelpful, good teachers or bad teachers, etc. Then once you are labeled it is a long and difficult process of changing your projected image.

Karisa Blake

Confessions of a new teacher

What I learned in the first five months

I'm Karisa and I couldn't be more of a cliché: a blonde, American, recent college grad who decided to go teach in a foreign country! Don't be too impressed with me; I'm hardly unique in this expedition to teach English abroad.

Adam Crittenden

Tips for first year teachers in Thailand

How to maximize your teaching enjoyment!

Successful good quality teaching is never a "walk in the park." As you prepare to teach in Thailand really try to focus on being there for the students.

Megan Swanick

Grammar vs speech

Differing techniques inside the classroom

In my experience, students recite a grammar rule or know the rule or learn the rule and maybe even vaguely understand the rule, but then you ask them a basic question and they don't understand.

Jessica Watson

Dealing with the troublemakers

Discipline: tips on control in the classroom

Troublemakers. We have all seen them do their thing, causing mayhem and disorder in the classroom; perhaps you were even one yourself at some point during your time as a student. Troublemakers are the bane of every teacher's existence and they make our job go from difficult to pounding headache and hair-tearing proportions.

John Wilson

Can you start on Monday?

What lies behind that oft-heard request?

This request often means the organisation you are joining is less than adept at hiring procedures and is pressed for time. The ‘power-dressing princess’ delegated to find new recruits may have had little aptitude for the practicalities of recruitment.

Dr. A.E Schneider

Things I learned about recommending students for graduate and professional school

Ways to truly support students’ path forward

Once applicants have accurately assessed their skill set, standing out amongst the crowd of outstanding applicants is surprisingly straightforward and achievable with enough hard work and preparation.

More Dr. A.E Schneider articles

Jocelyn Pollak

Three fun warm-up activities

Games designed to get students focused on using English and getting comfortable with their classmates.

Have fun with these games and consider joining in with your students! Great EFL warm-up activities really set the tone for a great class. Enjoy!

Rachel Diamond

Finding a job in Thailand - the basics

From one newbie to another

If you're considering coming to Thailand on your own to find work as an English teacher, I promise you can do it.

Ben Bartee

Stumbling blocks

What I didn’t learn in my 100-hour online ESL course

I can see my skin through my dress shirt because the thin layer of fine linen is totally soaked through. In short, it’s too hot to care about anything academic.

Lee Lepper

An amazing TEFL journey

From Saudi to Thailand to China (and a bit of America in-between)

China is definitely on the upswing as far as English teaching goes. Thailand is a place I love but professionally dead to me. Saudi was challenging, interesting and of course lucrative.

John V

Excuse me, haven’t we met before?

A satirical look at TEFL personality types

If you’re just an average teacher struggling along in a sea of two legged sharks trying to do your best give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back, because you sir or madam are gold dust.