Diary of a Thai football season
Suphanburi v Samut Prakan City
An away trip to the club currently bottom of the league - but will it be an easy three points?
Like so many other Samut Prakan fans, I adored our previous manager, Khun Surapong. It was heartbreaking to see him leave. However, you have to give the new guy a chance. Will he get it right in his first game in charge?
Jocelyn Pollak
5 reasons why I love teaching in Thailand
My plan was to come for a year and here I am, still here in 2019. So why did I stay?
If you’ve been thinking about coming to teach in Thailand, I say go for it! There are so many amazing opportunities to learn and grow and make a difference here. You absolutely won’t regret it.
TEFL Course News
June 2019
June is still very much the busy recruitment season in Thailand
Lots of job ads at the moment are looking for teachers for a June, July or August start. Why not improve your job prospects by doing a teacher training course.
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.
Bangkok Phil
When Asians and Westerners meet on a football pitch
A weekend football tournament provided a fascinating comparison of mindsets and attitudes
In every game involving Asian players, I was bowled over by the the cool heads, the forgiving natures and the overall sportsmanship.
Stephen Louw
Movies in the classroom
Showing movie clips to students can be a fantastic teaching tool
Instead of showing the whole movie, we can focus on a clip from the movie – for the purposes of the classroom, you can get a lot of mileage from just a few minutes lifted from a movie.
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.
Phil Roeland
Teaching the kiddies
Do they learn anything at all?
Although weekend courses have to be fun for everyone involved, meaning both children and teacher, I think that fun and learning should be balanced. If the parents pay good money to get their kids on a course, the least a teacher should do is make sure that they learn some English. This can be done using fun and games, but not exclusively.
Richard McCully
Taking the TYLEC
A chance to improve and upgrade my teaching skills
Taking the course will make it easier to apply for other jobs in the future. It’s a desired qualification for many language schools, especially those who teach young learners. It can also boost salary too.
Walter van der Wal
Should you consider private health insurance for an elderly family member when moving to Thailand?
Taking Thailand's new health insurance laws into consideration
People in the latter stage of their life are more susceptible to contracting diseases and flu, therefore health insurance is essential. And in today's world, there are some pretty good plans out there for the elderly.
- Why is health insurance important for kids?
- The importance of insurance for protection against accidents
- Affordable private health insurance in Thailand
- 7 insider's tips for first-time Songkran partygoers
- Mandatory health insurance for Thailand expats
- How to prepare for a medical emergency when traveling
Phil Hall
Never going back?
The nightmare of losing a passport - before you even get to Thailand!
About an hour before we touched down in Bangkok, my son announced that his passport was missing! Panic started to set in, my wife started to berate our son for being careless, tempers were starting to reach boiling point. Certainly not the best way to start this family holiday.
Richard Constable
What's up Doc!?
A recent visit to a private Bangkok hospital
As for the doctors, I didn't have the least bit of sympathy for either of them. The way I saw it, the first was an uncongenial individual, who first having had her feathers slightly ruffled, then seized the opportunity to hit out and try to do some financial damage to an unwell person.
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.
Mark Newman
Investing in people or rolling out policies?
Let's evaluate what happens here in Thailand as something we can learn from rather than condemn.
I firmly believe that we can look at Thailand and learn a lot about how we prepare our kids to enter society and live rewarding lives with the resources they have and priorities they live by.
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.
Mickey Sheehan
New term conversations
Eavesdropping on the first day of term
Steve Schertzer
The poor traveler
The promised land or the den of lions?
One of the books I recently read is Bangkok to Ben Nevis Backwards, by Phil Hall. It could have been my story, minus the marriage to a Thai woman, a son, and an almost completed house in the countryside.
Todd Persaud
Get it down on paper!
The secret to managing office politics
Conflict in a workplace can pop up unexpectedly. This is why it’s necessary for you to write things down. This way, when it comes time to defend yourself or to shed light on the matter you can look back to your notes and bring up exactly what happened
Blake Sibbitt
The best place to live in Bangkok for teachers
Onnud has got the lot!
In the past, all we had was a Tesco, Big C and the beer garden. It was pretty barren. But it's distance from the "city center" and subsequent lower rents, while still having access to the BTS, has made it a popular choice for expats.
FIRE in Thailand
What does your retirement from teaching look like?
There's no excuse not to invest and plan.
Planning for retirement doesn't have to be complicated. All you have to do is spend less than you make and invest the difference for the long-term. That's it. I know you are thinking that's easier said than done, but start small.
Sam Thompson
Moving on
The lives we teachers touch and the impact we have.
There are always those days that make you wonder what it is you’re doing with your life, but I would argue there are few professions that can allow a person to make so many direct contributions to the lives of others.
