A bit of culture part one
Loud music and slouching
Now let me first get one thing straight. I like Thailand and I like Thai people. They are very friendly and I usually don’t mind their strange behaviour and views. They say it’s culture. It’s not a problem for me, but the question is: can you handle it? With ‘you’, I mean the newly arrived farangs who are still in the so-called honeymoon period and think Thailand is heaven on earth
No fries with that!
Teachers as mentors and heroes (part two)
As we ESL teachers and TESOL providers--- especially those teaching in financially impoverished countries--- strive to help others to financially improve their "lot in life", are we not, at the same time, helping to turn them into the same capitalist and consumerist pigs that have now permeated Japan, South Korea, and other developed countries?
Transitions in Thailand
The grass isn't always greener on the other side
Bored with teaching? Sure there is a better way to make a baht in Thailand besides the TEFL game? Well, I just finished a six-month stint working in the marketing department of a large Thai furniture company.
Here is the news
as prepared by the Thailand Ministry of Open and Honest Government
In Education news - A British English teacher who had been fired for failing a student has been reinstated. Last month Trevor Brigham was dismissed for failing a female student.
I finally made it
Snapshots of my first month in Thailand
Let’s start with this one, the moment I landed at Don Muang airport and officially changed my status from Gaijin to Farang. Notice the naively enthusiastic smile.
The teacher's diary
One teacher's descent into madness
The diary is the sad and heartbreaking four-week journal of Mr Jim Elmdon - a teacher who came, saw, and failed miserably. Keep a box of tissues handy.
Wan Khru
Today is teachers' day
The only country in Southeast Asia never to be colonized by the West, the Thai people take great pride in the preservation of their way of life, and the customs and traditions that make their country unique.
Tips for the Thai classroom
How to survive it
After graduating from college in the States, I surmised the job market and beat a hasty path to Thailand. Using an all-inclusive, value-added program called LanguageCorps, I had TEFL training in the well-known Ban Phe school, followed by a guarantee of my choice of jobs.
Graduation day 2
It's time to buy flowers again
Comparing a regular college graduation to the posh uni graduation I wrote about last year. As with all sequels it's the same but different.
Graduation day
More from the cultural sensitivity files
An excuse for parents to shower their offspring with cuddly teddy bears and for the graduates to tart themselves up beyond all recognition . . . or is it? ( Actually it is and that's the idea behind this weeks ramblings)
