Life's so unfair for the bad teachers

Postbox letter from

For every good teacher, I'd say there are three bad ones. The bad ones are usually allowed to coast along until the school finally get their revenge and don't renew their contract.

Don't accept paltry salaries

Postbox letter from John

Many teachers are not too concerned about how much money they make because they are only here to have a good time

Take the first job you can get

It's all about getting a foot in the door

There are "Teachers in Thailand" rooms that I belong to that say don't settle for anything less than 40K when it comes to a teaching job, and although I do agree with them, that's easier said than done.

The practicality of experience and the advantage of training

How delicious is your pie?

When I lost my cherry to teaching, my pie was all desire. Nowadays it's about half desire and half experience.

The art of teacher recruitment

Take it seriously - or find someone else to manage the hiring.

It's that time of year - the busy hiring season - when I genuinely feel sorry for many Thai admin or management staff who are coerced into having to recruit foreign teachers to work at far-flung institutes for very average salaries.

Finding teachers just wasn't me

Postbox letter from Eoin

My advice to any schools in the current climate is, if you find a good teacher, hold onto them for dear life. I fear it's becoming near impossible at a TEFL level now in Thailand to find new good ones.

Problems with the system

Postbox letter from Mike

After 12 years and four different schools, I have come to the conclusion that the "quality of Thai students' English skills" did not improve within the last 12 years. But how is that even possible when more and more NES teachers with experience and degrees in education teach Thai students, even at smaller schools?

Who is worth working for?

In search of the holy grail.

Is there a Holy Grail of ELT jobs? Why are some teachers happy, while others suffer under a yoke of abuse? Who are these employers that are spoiling our fun?

Long term work or short term work?

What are the pros and cons?

I'll simply take a look at some pros and cons for both long term and short term teaching stays in Thailand. For the sake of this article, 'short term' is anything less than a school year and for 'long term', any work that keeps you in Thailand for more than a year.