Oh, one more thing - you're fired!
One teacher's account of being popular with students and getting fired
I found out later after talking with other teachers, that there were two teachers that didn’t like us and they were both on the “committee” The director couldn’t go against the committee because she would lose face.
Ajarn.com supporting ageism?
Postbox letter from K.Dempsey
Surprisingly, a respected top university in Thailand was one of the first to promote this kind of blatant prejudice against teachers. Someone there has decided for some reason that anyone over 50 is braindead and incapable of teaching English to undergraduates!
A job gone wrong
Postbox letter from MP
In March I was offered a job through a teacher placement agency. They offered a great package which included free accommodation, a great placement, a decent salary and 50% insurance.
Teaching in Phuket was a costly mistake
Postbox letter from Derrick the trusting fool
Many schools in Phuket operate with a factory worker mentality and it is obvious as they are constantly advertising for teachers. I find it hard to believe that a so-called prestigious university operates without following basic Thai labor laws or MOE standards.
My tango with Tony the Tarantula
Dodging the TEFL scammers
There will always be people like Tony, or worse, in this industry. Just as there will always be hordes of backpacking sex-tourists posing as English teachers. This industry, like any other, is obsessed with money and power.
Those damn textbooks
Why those textbooks were not designed for South east Asia
Conversation classes are popular in Southeast Asia but the staple for this course is “Let’s Talk”. Why? Because it is one of the few conversational books available. By the time you have stripped it down and localised the content, you may just as well have done it all by yourself, which of course you have.
Foreign A-holes
Postbox letter from Mr Jeem
After five full years of employment in Asia, I have ONE good friend who is a foreigner. He is from England, which doesn’t really mean anything, since I’ve met twenty-fold Brits who were flaming arseholes.
The TEFL Industry
A rotting, putrid, stinking corpse
EFL teachers are put into positions of authority and responsibility, most at a time in their lives when they have yet to learn what it means to be responsible. EFL teachers must learn to teach properly. They must learn to love their work. They must learn to see it as a mission and an honor. They must learn to be accountable for their actions, or their inactions. In essence, they must learn to become fuller human beings.
The rules of behaviour
How to conduct yourself as a teacher
I got to thinking about some of my past employees, good and bad. Instead of telling you about of some of the more “interesting” interviews I have conducted, I thought I would write about what types of behavior and teachers schools and agencies here want and do NOT want.
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?
