My great escape
How are things working out in China?
Lack of inspiration this month made me decide to participate in ‘The Great Escape’ survey found elsewhere on this site. Here are my answers.
Some solutions to the challenges of teaching in Thailand
Some ideas on how to make life easier for yourself
Don’t take complaints or awkward suggestions to your local head. Go to them with easy to understand positive solutions instead. And don’t push your case or demand an immediate response.
Four times the salary of a local Thai?
What a load of bullshit!
Nothing irks me more than reading that statement and you see it all over the web wherever the topic of teaching in Thailand is discussed or promoted. It’s a statement that’s both grossly misleading and wildly inaccurate.
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.
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.
Repetition
An argument about what students really need
Most of us are faced with the same challenge: large class sizes. We can’t do anything about this other than work with it.
Being a business English teacher
Finding a teaching job in the corporate environment
Why isn’t there more demand for business English courses in Thailand? Well, most of the available textbooks are as dull as dishwater and are far too generic. If they were designed for international markets then most of the countries in Southeast Asia didn’t appear on the list.
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.
Finding work in Isaan
How easy is it to get jobs in this region?
General Internet searches tend not to provide a very complete picture of employers because many of them don’t have websites. Those that do are unlikely to show any interest unless you’re in the immediate vicinity.
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.
