Thailand so far behind

Postbox letter from Mr. Russell

I have very recently moved to Vietnam after four years spent teaching in Thailand. The level of English here in Vietnam as their second language is way ahead of Thailand. Thailand hasn't left first base yet.

Short and sweet

How to get large classes talking

Over the last 7 years of working in Thailand, I’ve seen numerous teaching forum threads about how to get large classes talking.

Thailand vs Korea

Which country offers more for the English teacher?

Living and teaching in both laid back Thailand and fast paced South Korea has made for an interesting perspective on life in Asia. The two extremes are hard to compare but I think I should at least try.

A canteen lunch the only benefit

Postbox letter from Lisa

I notice a lot of schools have gone from paying monthly salaries to only offering hourly wages with no benefits other than a canteen lunch.

Absolute pile of sh*te

Are the job ads really that bad?

A disgruntled ajarn.com reader wrote in to say that he had never seen such low quality job ads on the Thailand TEFL websites. Is he right in his assumption? And if so, what are the reasons?

Arai Na?

English in Thai vocational schools

I came here 1.5 years ago and it was all planned as a 10-month experience. I had a high paid marketing job back home in Europe and everybody told me that it was crazy to leave my career and become a ‘teacher' here in Thailand.

English speaking day

Some different ways to get your students speaking English

I heard from a number of Filipino instructors in Thai universities that they had something called ‘English Speaking Day'. They said that students had not as yet made any significant progress but the instructors were optimistic that the ESD idea would work if implemented for a longer period of time and Thai students would surely improve.

This is an English-speaking only zone

Reflections from teaching in an English-only international school

Six weeks ago I started a new teaching job in Myanmar at an international school. The job and the school have surpassed my expectations and one of the most impressive things is that I can use complete sentences in the classroom and give directions in English and the students not only understand, but they respond with great English.

Where will the money go?

Postbox letter from Cliff

I retired from my job in the States last year and decided to spend my retirement here in Thailand, teaching Thai people to speak better English among other things. I knew beforehand it would be an uphill battle. I have spent 4 years of my life here, plus another 11 working at a Thai church near my home in the San Diego area, so I was well aware of the difficulties Thai people have with our language. In fact, most of the few Thai people I know who speak it fluently have a very heavy Thai accent.

Positive vibrations

Postbox letter from Dizzy Dean

I work at a private school in Bangkok that was severely damaged by the flood. I am happy to say that all teachers, both foreign and Thai, were paid their full salaries during the disaster.