Make sure to get that contract

Postbox letter from sheryl

One teacher's terrible experiences from taking a job offer with no contract

Handling a 'sanook' class

How to handle a classroom full of badly-behaved children

Success in handling naughty students calls for common sense, creativity and resourcefulness on the part of teachers. Furthermore, a lot of reasons that trigger students’ behavior have to be addressed too, for if they are not, problems will surface

Traumatised by Thailand

Postbox letter from Micky Davenport

I don't want to go through those traumatic experiences again, of being discriminated against and collaborating with agencies and somehow taking part in fooling these lovely Thai people.

Barbarians in the building

Teaching English to savages and the great recession

This past July I accepted a job teaching English at a university in Saudi Arabia. I was to teach Saudi males in their 20's and was excited about that opportunity. The tax-free salary of around $3,500 U.S. a month along with a rent-free apartment, return airfare, and long paid holidays didn't hurt either.

PJ's journey

How difficult is it to adjust to life back in the old country?

How easy or difficult is it to adapt back to a life in your native country after spending seven or eight years teaching in Thailand? Will jobs be easy to come by? Are your old friends still around, and if so, how will they react when the wanderer returns? How does it feel to suddenly find yourself thrown into a world of credit crunches, binge drinking, escalating crime rates and a world far removed from the one you left behind?

The anatomy of a teachers room

What goes on in that cramped, airless little room?

For all those who have ever taught in Asia - laugh along at 'the anatomy of a teacher's room' from the water-kettle that's never full to the pot-plant that always needs watering.

Notes on a semester

What can you do when teaching starts to get you down?

How can I or any teacher that feels he's underachieving turn things around? I doubt there is any magic formula, but I've come up with a few ideas. Many of them are blindingly obvious but it's often the easy points we miss during difficult classes.