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 value of learning groups
How to help students learn better
Think back to when you were a kid or a teen and what your least favourite school subject was. It wasn’t that it was boring because if it had of been then other students wouldn’t have liked it or excelled at it. It was because it wasn’t particularly accessible to you as a learner.
A time of change
How does teaching in Thailand now compare to twenty years ago?
For those of you pissing and moaning about visa runs, the immigration department, the work permit process, the unpredictability of the consulates in neighboring countries - let me tell you this - it was no better in the early 90s. In fact I'd say marginally worse.
Yes, it's official
Thais can be just as good at English as Khmers, Vietnamese and Laotians but
English is a compulsory subject in Thailand. But class sizes are normally large. This leaves little or no room for one-to-one dialogues.
Teaching at my university
What does holding down a university job entail?
if you want to teach university classes like mine, in particularly regard to Thai classes, if they are school leavers they’re really as good a bunch of starters as you could ever hope to get. If you try and teach them in a systematic way, you will encounter difficulties – difficulties that might, at first, be inclined to plunge you into the deepest depths of despair.
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.
The flipside of teacher agencies
Reasons that a teacher agency could be good for some teachers
Teacher agencies are just like people. Some are fun to be with and some you just wanna kick to the curb. Shop around, ask around. Check to see if the agency you are thinking of working with actually possesses a valid license from The Ministry of Education, many do not. Remember to keep an open mind and not to be too quick to judge though.
Quotes from the discussion board
These are the hilights
Here are some of the top quotes from members of various teacher discussion boards taken from over the past twelve months or so. Let's call it the best of the teacher's room
The lowdown on teacher agencies
Why do teacher agencies have such a negative image?
Most agencies just drop foreign teachers off at a school and leave them to fend for themselves. They give teachers no curriculum, lesson plans, grading rubrics, textbooks, workbooks, realia or anything else to help them. The foreign teacher is left to deal with all of the linguistic and cultural misunderstandings that will inevitably arise, on their own.
A noble profession
Postbox letter from CMP
A teacher's job is not much different from a doctor's or a lawyer's. All three require expertise in the area you're practicing extensively. All three have their students', patients' or clients' lives in their hands.
