WonnabeBiker

Will they ever learn?!?

So they will likely get a Gaussian curve showing a pretty bad 80% majority being quite terrible at English. Then what?!?

Not 1 Baht less for high earning old, errm, ladies. (Yes, I witnessed one of those using the brightest M4 students for their own work)

Thanks for the comments and replies.

The incident with the broken finger had been unrelated and was my own motorcycle accident. I brought it up to show that the Police doesn't seem to treat this as the serious offense or even crime it is! In California, one could buy extra insurance against this...

Damage: heard of 80,000 Baht. My friend's truck was properly insured but his Thai wife hadn't bought the level of insurance he had wanted (now it came out - wives sometimes have other uses for money )

I thought a retired teacher likely owns a house and could cough up some money. To pay nothing, nada shows a certain attitude which I detest.

...

Regarding lawyers, the one time I hired one the results were mixed. Got a flat-rate deal (don't get me started on my experiences with lawyers in CA ). With 20/20 rear view vision, I now think he screwed me over, was not fighting and the seconds part of the agreement was dropped under a pretense regarding its likely outcome. He simple had the money upfront and didn't want to do the work or have someone in the office do it. He had been recommended by expats...

The court had >secretly< changed the venue. No notice to him or me, so we both showed up in the wrong town on the court day! How can defendants make it happen that the venue is changed to their home town is beyond me. It was Labour Court and then some non-Labour Court judge held the trial. My private thoughts of the whole experience are not fit to be posted here.

A friend was hit at a 90 degree angle and his truck ended up in some Klong (ditch with water).

A retired teacher had run a stop sign. Then he claimed my friend was "speeding 120 km/h".

Me, I had a broken finger thanks to an uninsured motorist and the Police only made him pay the hospital bill.

Q: How can one make someone pay?

Isn't it a crime?

If it was a farmer driving someone else's truck who plows his rice fields with a water buffalo, then I would see that there's no point in demanding payment. But while young teachers usually start at 9,000 Baht, older folks often get many times more. Anyone being serious about restitution could take out a loan or put it on a credit card!

These 35k contracts are crap. Working in government schools where you don't get paid for 3 months a year equals out to about 26,000 a month considering the holidays you have to save for. That's peanuts. Considering that the demand for "qualified teachers" is higher and higher every year, will they start to pay more? How long before a TEFL and BA isn't enough and it must be a teahcing degree? I'm glad enough to have moved on to a 50,000 a month teahcing job because if I had to stay and work in one of these government schools for any longer I would also have moved to China, which I've heard nothing but good things about, or maybe even back to Japan.

Sorry mate, but you seem to be another passenger on a flight to Beijing soon. Having "Lucifer" and some others on board might be very interesting.

In ten years working in Thailand, always with a proper visa and work permit, I always had 12 months contracts, summer and midterm break fully paid, inclusive all the holidays, etc...

I do not know any government school in Sisaket, nor in Ubon that only pays you for nine, or ten months. Do we really talk about the same topic now?

Have you ever heard the song "Money can't buy me love?" If not, please click on this link, please.

You've heard nothing but good things about teaching in China? Wow. How comes that I've never met one who's happy to work- and live- there?

It's the way of life why I made Thailand to my home country. I truly hope that your plane will always be on the Radar. -Niehauu Maa.-

@LOI, good for you. A friend in Surin just reported his school not wanting to honor contracts "till March 31st". Now the foreigner who want "a new contract" must forego a month's salary to make it happen.

A school hired me, verbally guaranteeing a 12 months' contract. The previous school sent all foreigners home as early as February... But then they reneged and wouldn't pay past March nor for holidays. Seems one needs to be careful even with low 25-30 k contracts! (They talk the talk, stating one has to be there to sign the contract in person / or the <director is unavailable> bla bla. Would be nice to get 30 k x 12 months without scams ("SS contributions" and one chooses a hospital only to find out no payments were received by that hospital...).

Hello non NES. Who checks that degree in Uganda? Thought so!

Lots of people from a certain continent get all kinds of "degrees" and become teachers here. Anything goes as long as someone makes money?

I totally understand your frustration ,when listening to all the lies here. I was stupid enough to quit my former job with a nice big house on campus, a carport and really enjoyed life in a neighboring province. And I thought it was a shitty school? My new job finally woke me up and taught me what shitty really means..

I still don't know if they'll really pay me fully my April and May salary this year. I quit my job, just because I can sleep at home every day, 6 K more a month, but I waste around 3.5 K for gasoline a month, commuting back and forth on daily basis.

At my former school I only taught grade six two hours per week, could stay at my house whenever I had no lessons. 18 hours a week.

Was there already for 3.5 years and the head foreign teacher, made some good friends, the director was a nice guy who gave me a lot of freedom.

I could finally make it happen that they paid for work permit and visa, even for gasoline to renew my visa, when the school van was used for more important things.

6 K more a month for having a lot of more lessons, setting up an EP for grade one, plus teaching ordinary grade ones, grade threes and sixes seems to be a pain in the -deleted-.I'm still waiting for the director to register the school at the SS office, so I do know how many rip offs, calling themselves directors, coordinators, etc...

My biggest mistake was to quit my job at my first school in my hometown, just to find out that working for an agency is nothing else than a big fragging headache.

When I started at a well known high school for an agency,none of my new colleagues had a work permit and we could finally make it happen that the agency sent some guys, because we went "on strike" with the knowledge and ok of the school's administration.

I had to listen to stories like: "If they show up, pay your fine for working without a work permit and go back to work." But the naked truth was that the DOL was already pissed and only a matter of weeks,maybe just days to "raid the school".

Gotta agree with the African native English speakers who all have a degree in education from the same university in Buea. I had to interview many of them and there're times where I couldn't understand them, nor did they understand me. One of these "mumblers" replaced me, when I resigned my position.

Sorry for my long post, but if I'd be in the situation to have to leave the country, I'd definitely try my luck in Vietnam.

I see my job pretty much similar what the guy in the picture's doing. Fighting with windmills.

But as long as I can keep up with all the bs and handle all the ups and down, I'll continue.

Only the word China alone scares the- deleted- out of me.G'Day.-

• TBH, I'm not getting this "national origin" thing. Last year, I met some wonderful Thai teachers. Young, motivated, highly skilled. Degrees from Chula and KK university. But the system pushes them to earning 1/3 of what some poser with a fake degree and very limited vocabulary gets.
• In Ausria, they held a Mozart competition with the violinist playing behind a curtain. => A Japanese won!
• It makes me mad, encountering posers who cannot write an essay (even if they had 10 times more time than someone who earned a degree would need). The TCT should look beyond "nice looking degrees" and test applicants instead. Let them engage in a conversation! Let them talk about their years at the university, their lectures, their projects and what the degree was all about. Let them write some essay and demonstrate academic writing skills. Or analyze some academic text.
• As a bottom feeder, I want to fight for the crumbs which fall off the table.
• The Thai system sucks - I know an "English teacher" in her 50s who makes a lot more than 35 k teaching P1-P4 kids in a village. Her TOEIC score would be <300, I guess. They should remove national origin as criteria and allow Thai teachers to compete for certain positions with a certain pay grade.
• Yes, they will hire based on looks, but I'd wish they would weed out those who cannot speak the language well and who clearly never went to university.
• OTOH, why shouldn't some well spoken NES without a degree teach conversation?!?
• These days, bad applicants have a field day!
• And some schools are cursed with "HR personnel" who are afraid of contacting foreigners. These schools keep viewing CVs on Ajarn.com but never dare to call, as that would require speaking English

Hey LostinIssan - great, you've made your life here as I have/ad. No quarrel. I'm aiming at the 30-40 single male crowd. The drifters and make no mistake, teaching English in Asia, especially Thailand is drifting.

Were you not on the board about a month ago commenting you thought your job, career was over and having all sorts of grief?? Maybe a mix up.

I'm just pointing to a great thread on Aj and seems most there thought as much of the idea there as they do here.

The other thread on Aj is just as comical, talking about lifestyle as if 35k brings any sort of lifestyle let alone savings. Of course, the future is largely in the toilet for the TEFL edutainment industry. That is simply fact.

As for US min wage, I just hold that up bcz its the lowest of all western countries. So if you are not making that...its pretty sad. People in US working at 7-11 are making more than you and people working at Walmart in 2016 will be making b120 hr more than you. Lol.

Lifestyle...

No worries about me. I've a job lined up on Korea teaching for a year. Wife will work in friend of friend cosmetic shop. Then we will take that cash and use it to relocate to US. Stay until I hit 65 and she qualifies for benefits.

We did a stop in Seoul before, she likes it, the cold and loves the US.

I taught three years. Income was only mad money. But I do believe proper pay for proper work, period

I'm sure you all are living the dream unlike the 22 teachers I've worked with prior. Thus last lot is some real drifters.

One impression over the five years of teachers, maybe does not apply to board, maybe it doe. Seems like Thailand is the elephant graveyard of single men (tarzan movie). Where single men essentially go to live out whatever sad, broken, sexless life they had. Grab any vice they can scrounge up left over from a salary of 35k per month - and die.

That's what I've witnessed. All I hear is yammering about lifestyle, but I look at the 20+ teachers and I only can say two have had any sort of life and one is just a guy working really hatd building a solid career.

Even the ones planning the exit to teaching back home were lost, hapless, ineffective and already burned out. They will never get licens,, guaranteed.

Go do a year in China and go home (Americans). Do you really think you can stay here for the next 30 years?

Finally: Are you American and servicing debt back home? Well, the thb is about to take a bit of a tumble. With that the amount you send back will be even more meager.

30 hours at Walmart = 300

40 hours at Agency = 250 (215$ over 12mos)

As the thb drops and drop it will, we are in unprecedented and historic times, you will make even less in terms of the usd.

Hell, maybe if you are not NES and out of Eurozone its better to be here BUT...EU is gonna take off like a rocket with the currency paired down. If you have skills, you can take advantage of that.

Genius

Lifestyle

@Mencken, you may look down upon the sub-36,000-THB-mob but then many of us haven't been fortunate back home.

Stuck in a call center, paying xxx pounds council tax besides rent, tax, NI contributions. Got a car? Then you might be working to pay for it!

OTOH, eating out daily? Appreciating a Honda Wave (@ 1/3 the UK price new) and a small house costing 10% of one's salary?

Yeah, I might not have a career. But at the end of the day, life isn't too bad when one can save hundreds of pounds each month. More importantly, when one has some freedom at work. And the opportunity to work with students is priceless. Yes, there is Thai admin and never ending b.s. / office politics etc. But it can be what you make of it. We do have some control here...

Re China, the internet is full of <recruiters from hell> tales. Just getting all the paperwork done is also a PITA.

Generalisations don't work, JMHO. There are okay jobs where one has a big desk, wifi 99.9% of the time and a printer & scanner in the office. Where one doesn't have to submit lesson plans or go to a temple for a week. But then, the expensive audio system might not work due to lack of cables.

Some TAs hardly ever show up for classes. And one might have a M3/9 class full of misfits who want to sleep or play with their phones and who may not even show up. The once-a-week thing is a waste of time!! It would be better to teach conversation a few times a week for a term and not the net term, IMHO. Another idea would be to group students based on skills, not age.

Anyhow, I have yet to meet a Thai director or HoD who cares to hear foreigners' suggestions.

^^^

In the minds of many directors, NES can be replaced. A Cameroonian I worked with last year is now earning 12 k (down from 25 k). Some schools have a weird idea of what a foreign teacher is worth. There was a trained teacher from the Philippines making 20 k. His TOEIC score was xxx points higher, but he made way less. And don't ask about the "fake degree". *** All schools I have known have shown a drive to cut cost and to replace NES.

Granted, that's a worrying trend. Forget job security and stop dreaming of TEFL being a wonderful career when one is down in the dumps with bottom feeders.

These 35k contracts are crap. Working in government schools where you don't get paid for 3 months a year equals out to about 26,000 a month considering the holidays you have to save for. That's peanuts. Considering that the demand for "qualified teachers" is higher and higher every year, will they start to pay more? How long before a TEFL and BA isn't enough and it must be a teahcing degree? I'm glad enough to have moved on to a 50,000 a month teahcing job because if I had to stay and work in one of these government schools for any longer I would also have moved to China, which I've heard nothing but good things about, or maybe even back to Japan.

Sorry mate, but you seem to be another passenger on a flight to Beijing soon. Having "Lucifer" and some others on board might be very interesting.

In ten years working in Thailand, always with a proper visa and work permit, I always had 12 months contracts, summer and midterm break fully paid, inclusive all the holidays, etc...

I do not know any government school in Sisaket, nor in Ubon that only pays you for nine, or ten months. Do we really talk about the same topic now?

Have you ever heard the song "Money can't buy me love?" If not, please click on this link, please.

You've heard nothing but good things about teaching in China? Wow. How comes that I've never met one who's happy to work- and live- there?

It's the way of life why I made Thailand to my home country. I truly hope that your plane will always be on the Radar. -Niehauu Maa.-

@LOI, good for you. A friend in Surin just reported his school not wanting to honor contracts "till March 31st". Now the foreigner who want "a new contract" must forego a month's salary to make it happen.

A school hired me, verbally guaranteeing a 12 months' contract. The previous school sent all foreigners home as early as February... But then they reneged and wouldn't pay past March nor for holidays. Seems one needs to be careful even with low 25-30 k contracts! (They talk the talk, stating one has to be there to sign the contract in person / or the <director is unavailable> bla bla. Would be nice to get 30 k x 12 months without scams ("SS contributions" and one chooses a hospital only to find out no payments were received by that hospital...).

Hello non NES. Who checks that degree in Uganda? Thought so!

Lots of people from a certain continent get all kinds of "degrees" and become teachers here. Anything goes as long as someone makes money?

Am seconding AllenB. Had a lot of issues with botched bikes and now fear Somchai mechanics.

Use a credit card if you have to.

They don't need a seminar. They simply need to enforce air pollution regulations, with big fines for offenders.

They should come after the land owners. It's not like pyromaniacs burning other people's fields...

It's a lawless society.

Where's the army? If just 1,000 offenders were punished in one province, it would be a change.

Moreover, it's incredibly wasteful as in this climate, composting is the answer and farmers would save on fertilizer as well.

Well, how about you handling this in DIY fashion?

1. Choose a 5-star hotel like the SOFITEL.

2. Arrange the shakes (Spirulina, Maca, Kefir, ...) and massages

3. Arrange daily colon irrigation

4. ...

I was given olive oil to drink in huge quantities and am not sure it really >cleansed< my liver

But you might look into reducing the acidicy in your body? Apple cider vinegar etc.)

Have a great time at half the cost?

Some operators go wild and charge the earth for some standard program and a few shakes etc.

You certainly lost time as a result of being taken to a small clinic rather than a large hospital.

The various "volunteer" ambulance services not infrequently receive kickbacks from small private facilities to bring patient to them. even when not, they are not staffed by personnel with adequate training to assess and decide where best to bring a patient. Possibly. But then, even a small clinic has a doctor and an ultra sound machine...

Should always where possible get a taxi to a hospital you have pre-chosen. If unable to do so, call that hospital for an ambulance - all hospitals have ambulance services.

It is highly unlikely that the person you spoke to in the ambulance was a doctor. In fact may have had no medical training at all, and may have had no dea what you were saying. Well, I spoke with her. She was an intern and her presence added 3,000 Baht to the bill. The hospital generated a form on which the PE as likely diagnosis is written and signed by her. Her English was exceptionally good. *** There might have been bad internal communication or f e a r of saying something a superior might reserve the right to diagnose? (At a rural government hospital's dental clinic, a young dentist had to step aside for the big boss who was motivated to make the foreign pattient come to his private clinic... She could have handled that extraction without "help" and I wonder how she felt?)

As to what occurred once at the hospital, I can't say, not knowing what signs were present on your arrival. No chest pain. Very low oxygen level. A thrombosis in the left calf muscle - with huge swelling. The multiple repeat Xrays suggest they were considering other possible diagnoses. Why r e p e a t them?!? This doesn't make sense to me! Not when ultra sound shows the heart muscle and its SHAPE. Mine was grotesquely "deformed" in response to the blockage. The differential diagnosis for PE is pretty long and the abnormalities seen on Chest film, as well as the presenting symptoms, are common to a number of other conditions. Though indeed the presence of calf pain and swelling should have been a strong indication. Is it the bloody HIERARCHY? An experienced nurse could have manned the ultra sound machine and identified the DVT. Can it be that due to some weird power play inside that hospital they wouldn't even try to proceed with diagnostics for hours?!?

The not being allowed to take anything by mouth initially was a precaution in case surgery became necessary or you lost consciousness (risk of aspiration).

BTW it is not always possible to see a DVT on ultrasound, though apparently they could in your case. ? Both clots (in the lung and my leg) were hard to overlook.

Wish someone could share their bill at the famous B. hospital. I ended up at a big hospital near Victory Monument.

Am speechless - "15 minutes" vs all these HOURS. But we cannot have some >lowly nurse< invade a doctor's sphere of competence?!?

Why can't they let some young trainee doctors try real life diagnostics if the Big Doc's busy?

Twice I have has DVT episodes, first was blood clot moved to lungs.Was at home and very painful,taxi to Bumrungrad emergency room Diagnosed in about 15 minutes and corrective action taken to address clot. Took 10 days to recover at hospital. 2ND episode was blood clot to abdomen -same hospital ,about same time to diagnose ,was in hospital about 8 days. When it's serious --go to a serious hospital.

Both cases resulted from long airline flights-I now fly only business class.

Lefty

Lefty, I'm glad to hear you got diagnosed and treated that quickly!!

Care to share the cost? My bill was >150 k for 2 days, one in a regular room.

You should increase the blood thinner for those long flights. Are you on Coumadine or something? The Praxada 150 mg tablets are way more expensive than in my home country. Will switch to Warfarin based pills...

...

YMMV, but I found that some light exercise helped with the swelling in my right leg.

Lee, as a NES with a degree - you should be fine with a BA. Not just in Thailand but also other neighboring countries.

Teaching is a peculiar career path. Many of us get bogged down by the daily nonsense and get out after a few years.

OTOH, it's rewarding to work with young people.

When do you plan to come over?

Now consider the same acts - by a foreign teacher. Her ass would be in jail AFAIK.

Then there is the shocking fact that all were subjected to this humiliation. There might have been a few unruly boys - but never ALL of them. This is most disturbing, the lack of differentiation. Doesn't she know who she needs to punish?!?

Over the years, I've often observed some older teacher sit and do private stuff while the class stays quiet.

No, she won't get punished as upholding the system trumps all. Hope I'm wrong though.

so they don't even have to provide bills ?

800 million in construction ...

thai buddism = big temples, well fed monks, good equipment, cars, tv's, iphones

helping the poor ??????????????

for a funeral or other ceremonies, they don't work for free either !!!

and did the good monk not put several hundred of millions on his own account ?????????

Come on, how about an accounting for the hundreds of millions?

Is this the best they can do with donations?!? Build more temples instead of putting in Western toilets into poor folks' homes or paying for reflective paint to cool their homes etc.?

Have they actually built temples worth xxx million, or is this just some lame excuse? Where are the receipts - or don't they "do" receipts?

We Greeks are constantly complaining about our politicians.

We call them useless, money grabbers, power grabbers and all sorts of other names.

We should not complaint about them but blame ourselves, for being so gullible and vote for a young leftish guy that promised the earth to us.

Of course they will employ the delay tactics as they know very well that nothing can change and they have to adhere to our obligations.

But they are trying to show the Greek people that they are fulfilling their pre election promises.

We don't want to go bankrupt, we don't want to get out of the EU.

But we can't have the pie and eat it too.

We also have to realize that the EU does not depend on us but quite the opposite.

I wish they get more sense in their brains and change their tactics, before it's too late.

And I wish the Greek people see the truth and get rid of this guy and his party, before it's too late.

As a German, I would disagree with your assessment. Yes, the young guys may shake things up. But then you got a really competent finance minister. He discovered a giant accounting and statistics fraud - you think the German "Gollum" could have done that?!

They got the Krauts by the short and curly hairs.

Because to this day, people like Regling, Merkel, Schaeuble keep lying through their teeth to avoid telling the taxpayers that they have s u n k xxx bn Euros. Regling is in charge of the ESM and he keeps negating the need for a "haircut".

Why not set the interest to - 2% and make the loans repayable in the year 2999?!?

The Greeks got less than 40 bn of those 240 bn a few years ago. Check it out. How come this isn't public knowledge? No wonder they want Yanis V. to shut up!! But he is likely right, saying "... nd the Germans wil pay in the end". Amen.

The euro is a nuthouse currency. It is suboptimal with different financial realities, dissimilar in the countries' national strategies rather than convergent.

Therefore, the euro is converted into a powerful Deutsche Mark, that rules, dictates and commands nationals and vassals of various gradations.

In a paradoxical manner, which paradoxical is not, the euro introduces into the political and social life of of every country it occupies, an economic and class racism, resulting in the reproduction (and new production) of nationalistic stereotypes.

Using the debt as a tool, Greece is being restructured over the past years, and transformed into a pariah country. The Greeks are paying for a debt they did not create/accumulate. They are under a memorandum forced upon them that will last for generations.

They are enslaved.

There is more to it. Who got bailed out or "rescued"? A: not the Greek, not the Irish.

Of those 240 bn, less than 40 were reaching Greece. The rest went to Greece's creditors. BANKS etc.!! Likewise when Ireland got saddled with 30 bn Euros new national debt. That money wasn't used in Ireland for Irish purposes.

The ECB is blatantly serving some elitist banksters' interests. And now they want an "EU Army"?!?

Germany's excessive, >7% surplus causes deep pain and unhealthy capital streams. Now how will they cure the ailment? By one eternal TRANSFER UNION? They better n o t allow any referendums...

The mantra of a lower Euro being wonderful for exports is a simplistic view. There will be welfare losses...

It's an unbelievable festering mess when one considers the amounts owed to the Bundesbank through TARGET 2.

Are they gonna bankrupt Germany? Is that the end game?

It's still the planning stage, eh? Does anyone recall the plans announced since 2010? "50 bn Euros" from privatizations etc.?

Doing would be a different matter alltogether.

All this to help the Krauts lull in their taxpayers instead of telling them that there is a need to write off a 3-digit bn amount when ELA and Target 2 are included.

Target 2 is a fascinating issue the politicians hope the people will never read up on.

Do you have a proper 4 year degree and did you receive teacher training ? Too many, and I know one very well, can't even speak correct English let along teach English. They are here to party and screw the students. My gf got a new English teacher, young English guy, and he is hitting on all the girls. She can hardly understand his English as he has a heavy accent. This guy should not be teaching, Period !!!

OP... You have many bad examples of teachers out there so Thais (other teachers and students) now don't trust the farang and will question everything. Blame your fellow farang teachers if you are doing everything correctly they could be the reason.

Just saying

I have a 3 year English related degree. You might not think so from my occasional key slips and heat of the moment rant style of writing

I get along with all of the teachers at my school, just one has has a problem with the farang each year. Her voice reigns supreme. When the Director makes promises to me, this teacher just cancels such promises. Perhaps the reason she has a stick up her ass is because she knows how much power she has. She was joking the staff room earlier today about me getting a 3 sentence letter of recommendation from her with her name and contact info at the bottom so she can speak to any potential new employers. She joked about this to intimidate the other farang at the school, who she regularly tells "don't be like Kevin".

It's a shame that this is Thai culture like some of you say. Part of me doesn't want to discredit Thailand by thinking that this is the way it must be here. If I do loose this battle at least I can take the experience of how messed up the educational system is and tell some stories about it.

I don't feel the same person after this experience so far and have been taking anti-depressants in the last few weeks as the defamation and threats got worse. Maybe it's finally time to use some of those sick days I have avoided using thus far.

Kevin,

after reading a few dozen posts, I think you figured things out. Hang in there and collect a salary while you are busy applying for another job. Be that in LOS or abroad. And when the going gets tough, take time out.

Have a good meal, a massage and try to forget what's bothering you at the school.

...

There are some things which make me wonder.

* your HoD is weak - or wise and she will just shun the crazed hater and ignore her actions?

* would the school support the "reporting spree" against you? The purpose of that eludes me - you aren't teaching any more. So what is it that this woman wants the Police (and the Pope?) to know?!?

Yeah, they are like this. Had a director ask the foreigners to hold some for-profit seminars during their Fall holidays. When that fell through due to no takers among other schools, we had to teach students, while Thai teachers were free to go.

Firings? Hours before the end of the month, some Thai letter gets handed over. Gotta put the foreigner to work till the last minute!

Letting them keep your salary makes no sense to me. Collect your salary, keep your head down. And go get some good reference and have someone else sign it. (Maybe even prepare it yourself).

Good luck!

The level of insight shown by the OP into the system and culture here, plus his lack of sensitivity with regards to the topics he chooses suggest he would do far better seeking employment as a crash test dummy.

So yeah, best to get out of dodge... entirely.

7000 words of complaint... in English... in Thailand... to an employer.

Classic.

It was never intended that the Head of Department read the entirety of the letter, that was her prerogative. The intention was to record a summary of the meeting together with all my grievances and attach them by email so I had recorded proof that I had taken issue with the teachers behaviour. Also, her lack of response (which I had anticipated) could indicate agreement of my version of events and help to show the truth in my claim to third parties should something arise (such as dismissal) where I need something to rely on in the future.

The tactic did help in yesterdays interview. The teacher tried to deny what she had said and encourage the Head of Department to agree with her. The Head of Department just stayed silent on the matter, which caused the teacher to storm out.

The summary of the meeting was that she would give me a copy of the warning letter but only if she could send it Immigration and every school in the area too. I accepted. After she left the office, the Director and Head of Department said that she is blunt and says crazy things sometimes. They will now write me a good recommendation letter and urged me to let it all go. I have no problem with that now.

Who pays the postage?

What does it make it h e r business (that you are someone who does what humans do, making mistakes)?

Is she herself without blame and has the backing of the director??

The teaching has ended? Were any letters sent off? Who paid the postage - was it by registered mail? (Something is decidedly o d d about this, JMHO)

And all parties know that you won't be teaching there next term. &lt;deleted&gt;?!?

Why can't the HoD and the director shut this down?

Maybe she had feelings fro you and is now a woman scorned? Or is she a nutter? Usually, this stops when it's costing money.

Whoa. A 12 pages long document and all in Thai. With her not even making an effort to have a go at translating or - as important - condensing the text?!? Academic writing is not about churning out long-winded bla bla.

This is intriguing, as at my school, Thai teachers had to take the TOEIC test. Doesn't this apply to each and every Thai teacher of English? Or are some more equal than others and can enjoy their promotion and Masters degrees without getting tested?!?

OP, do you think Thailand needs another "English teacher" who can't / won't make an effort at doing some of the work herself?

Apply this to the medical field and the consequences might be lethal.

The whole process stinks - including that unknown "advisor's" role. How dare such a person ("professor? lecturer?") pass students he or she must know cannot even handle their own thesis?!??

The Emperor is naked. It's time to face reality and do something for the poor kids who won't be learning English because another incompetent and lazy person poses as "English teacher".

Errm, is the PACC looking into such cases, or would that destroy the fabric of society?

Does Thailand want phonies who are waied and respected?

Your life can change in seconds. While in the shower, I felt woozy and had trouble breathing.

The ambulance came and took me to a small private clinic. There they x-rayed my chest repeatedly, drew blood and prepared for IV drips. Then they started calling other hospitals...

Hours later, in the next hospital's ambulance, I told the doctor that I thought I had a thrombosis. Henceforth, the issue appeared to be a pulmonary embolism. My right calf was visibly swollen vs the other leg.

There was someone with credit cards and I also had insurance. I'm mentioning this to explain that fear of non-payment could be excluded as explanation for the long wait. (At the first hospital, the bill was paid in full without bothering with an insurance claim. And the first ambulance never presented a bill. They were manned by volunteers and we plan to thank them and to make a donation. Please check out which ambulance service to call - they are not all the same.

There is something about this experience which keeps bothering me.

Why wasn't I a) diagnosed quickly and then treated in a timely fashion?

1. X-rays don't show blood clots. &lt;deleted&gt;?

2. Why wasn't I allowed to drink for more than half a day? (Just wondering)

3. Surely they had an ultra sound machine and could have seen the blood clots within seconds - as they did, once they used this tool.

During the 2 days at the hospitals, they x-rayed me a dozen times. What's up with that?!???

Granted, I have no medical knowledge. But with ultra sound, they can see the shape of the heart (mine was grotesquely deformed). The heart's muscle straining against a blockage etc. And see blood clots within seconds.

...

Is this normal? Letting a patient lie there for over 6 hours without bothering to do the ultra sound test in the light of having heard of a "thrombosis"?!?

• Is it fear of making decisions?
• Is it to save money and avoid costly diagnostics? The blood test included a "D-dimer" value which was 9,000 instead of 500.
• I'm ungrateful but can't help noticing how bloody s l o w the doctor reacted. Inject the blood thinner once that CT scan was done. Just order a nurse to do it. Is there something wrong with their process at the ICU?

Maybe a mistake is made - and a patient dies. But by playing it safe and letting hours pass one dreads to think what will happen when a patient is in worse shape than me. (And there had been moments when I thought I would be dying in agony).

Amazing, isn't it?

Then there are schools who recruit people who cannot i. take the very low hurdle of a TOEIC score of 600 or ii. hold a conversation.

Some language schools demand a bribe. It has been going on for the locals for years. But recently, one such school began inventing "a loan to the owner". Instead of 1 month's salary, it was 1/3. And the promise to repay it "when you leave".

Abysmal old text books (often sourced in non English speaking countries) etc. And then there are those services which charge volunteers. what do you think of Greenheart Travel?

Quote: In Vicharn's eyes, Thai educational quality slipped over the past few decades because policies are flawed, while many government teachers have successfully bribed their way into their jobs and continued to use dishonest means to claim promotion and rewards.

"What can we expect from such dishonest teachers?" he asked critically. What about greedy directors?!? Let's assume you are Thai and need a paying job. You are in debt after years at the university and your parents are worried about your future. To get that job, they must pay about a year's salary. Quick: what would you do?

a) Report the bribe taker to the authorities - then what? Remain unemployed for life? (Or worse, much worse, serious repercussions)?

Opt for a long period of unemployment without getting benefits? (Feeling useless, hating one's life?)

c) The very brightest and best Thai English teachers would rival non NES who get 3 x or more than them. Starting with their TOEIC score. Alas, the Thai system is discriminating against the very best they have. Why not allow a Chula graduate with a few years' experience and a tOEIC score above 800 to compete against some folks from African countries?!? (I know such a situation - the highest paid foreigner having a TOEIC score of <550 and he gets free housing thrown in while the excellent Thai teacher earns <33% and must stay in some dorm).

Some Thai teachers of English make >40 k due to seniority. But can they hold a basic conversation? Nope.

I'm all for a student-centric approach. Drop the daily "morals" sermon. Stop using silly incomprehensible tests designed by clever Thais. Allow students more choice. Okay, maybe 20 in a class of 44 can't be arsed to learn English. Accept that and let them learn something else instead. And for those who really want to go the extra mile, offer frequent English Club / English Corner style lessons and pay for their books provided they actually read them.

How many bureaucrats are pushing paper, telling teachers what to do and how to do it?

And then the teachers get "evaluated" - not by the students who know who's good and who's not. (Office politics comes into it).

One poster here reported how his boss keeps breathing down his neck, sending in teachers to observe him. Keep that up and that teachers will just leave.

Do we see proof of the Peter principle at Thai schools?

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21643138-how-turn-teaching-job-attracts-high-flyers-those-who-can

How to turn teaching into a job that attracts high-flyers Feb 14th 2015 | From the print edition

Yesterday, the underground parking was full. My driver boxed in some other car and said she couldn't put her gear in N, because then she couldn't lock the doors.

What?!? Maybe the other driver will have to go to work early in the morning?

She would be risking acts of vandalism or some other repercussions.

Me, I would be hopping mad if some ass.... would box me in like this, then not even leave a phone number to call.

What do you think?