SlyAnimal

- Update - I've finished all of my assignments etc for Module 6, in general: - 4x Assignments initially seemed very challenging, but they're sorta designed to be done with the assistance of AI (One of them you have to analyze a 300+ document that's all in Thai). As a result, they weren't as tough as they initially appeared. - Lesson Plan was relatively easy, just taught a class as I usually do, but filmed it, and then matched some appropriate theory to fit with my lesson. - Exam was relatively difficult, but it's online and you can resit it as many times as you want, so it isn't that tough. Also if you're only aiming for a passing mark of 60%, then that isn't too much of a problem. - Watching the videos was easy enough, since you can just keep them open on a second monitor rather than having to actively watch. - Homeroom classes (online) turned out to essentially just be turning up for 10-15 minutes so that the homeroom teacher could check attendance and then people would ask any questions they had about the course etc. For those who didn't have questions, they could just go after the picture was taken. - The main problems some people had was with their own schools, as some schools wouldn't supply the documents they needed for the krusapa assignments, or were hesitant about allowing the teachers to film a lesson. So now I'm just waiting for the seminar at the end of the module and then I'll be finished the module. Module 7 Just had my orientation for this today. It looks like the university running this module is taking a very different approach, and this will involve a lot more work. As there are 7x different assignments + the lesson plan / video. Also it sounds like the homeroom classes will be 90 minutes long, with an expectation of active participation, although I'll find out more in 2 weeks. Also for anyone who does the 7 modules, when you go to orientation, everyone is unsure about how to "check in" and "check out" at the start / end of the orientation. Below is a video which shows how to check out (And it's the same process for checking in).

The cost of living in Phuket etc is likely part of the reason why some expats don't live there, but when it comes down to it I think most of the expats here (Isaan) came to Isaan as that's where their gf / wife was from. In most cases I think the gf / wife wanted to stay near family, and the expat was just happy enough here so stayed. Most of the expats who live in Isaan are here because they wanted to settle down, not because they wanted to go out drinking and partying. RoiEt is a very nice place to settle down in, and the Thai people here are always super welcoming and friendly. Comparatively, at least for me anyway, I always feel a bit out of sorts when visiting Phuket though as they're so used to foreigners, and in many ways it doesn't feel like Thailand at all. Even so, I love the ocean views and so tried taking some decent length family holidays in Phuket to see if we should move there, but ultimately it just wasn't the right fit for us and we decided to stick to RoiEt (With semi-regular visits to Phuket instead).

RoiEt Expat Restaurants / Bars: - Pizza 101 (Next to the lake) - Lakeview (Next to Pizza 101) - Riverside (I'm not sure exactly as I think they moved to a new location).

A lot of pretty fair comments about the Thai education system, although for the OP, bear in mind that the class was online, when it sounds like the teacher doesn't usually teach online. I know that not everyone likes the "keep the scores high" strategy of many Thai schools. But most people misunderstand it, the objective isn't to give everyone high grades, the objective is to try and ensure that everyone learns. Although admittedly keeping grades high does also help to reduce complaints from parents, as some parents associate poor grades with poor teaching. Usually students who would have received are lower grade can do some additional work in order to change their grade, this pushes them towards additional learning rather than just punishing them for failing. Unfortunately though, many teachers just see it as too much work to supervise that extra learning, and will instead just change the student's grade instead.

Did you get that from AI? Or copy / paste from somewhere else? A lot of it is good, although very much the formal and official way that Thailand would describe their education system, rather than practical advice. (Or perhaps just a way to promote the essay writing service linked in your post?)

I posted in another thread about things to do in RoiEt earlier in the week: With regards to the nightlife, I'm not so upto date on things but: - Rongbeer is a "Da Wan Dang" style club, so is a quite large venue with live music (usually Thai country style music), tables where you can order food / beer to and is open until late. - Mai Tai Hotel I'm not sure if this is still open or not but it had a club with coyote dancers (The road parallel to rong beer) - Boozer and a few other bars closeby are nice bars which people goto (same road as Mai Tai Hotel) Not such a big nightlife scene compared to many other towns (e.g. Sarakham has 2x universities so has a lot more bars), but you can have a decent night out.

I live in RoiEt. I have no idea about the other place you mentioned to compare it, but RoiEt is a pretty nice small city. If you were coming for 2 months, and from the sounds would be working online or similar during the day, it'd be a nice place to chill out. - The lake in the center of town is a really nice place to chill out, or to go walking / running around. - There are a couple of expat restaurants / hang outs right next to the lake with a stunning view. - Speaking Thai is fine, everyone speaks Thai, many prefer to speak Isaan but everyone can speak Thai. - As you'd expect, a decent amount of markets etc There are a decent amount of sights to check out which aren't too far from the city: - Huge standing Buddha in the town - Wat Bua on the outskirts of town (very nice temple, not mind blowing though) - RoiEt Tower is next to the lake and is shaped like a huge vode (folk musical instrument), it has amazing views & a zipline that goes from the tower to the park inside the lake. - The park inside the lake is another great chill out zone, and there's a small aquarium next to the lake too. - Maha Chedi Chaimongkun is in RoiEt Province, but quite a long drive, in my opinion it's one of the best pagodas in Thailand (Despite not being finished yet) - 50km south of the city, in Kaset Wisai, there is Bung Jorakae Fishing Park (Crocodile Lake Fishing Park) which is pretty good if you enjoy Thai style fishing + it has a few extras (some semi-exotic animals for Thailand + prawn fishing + hotel + mini-aquarium + great restaurant). It's worth a look. - Near Kaset Wisai there are some Khmer Ruins in Ku Ka Singh. They're not that impressive, but worth a look if you're in the area anyway. - If you haven't seen Thai silk being hand woven before, they have hand looms near Ku Ka Singh you can visit while out there. - If you've never been to the Thai countryside, and talk to some of the locals, you can likely get a tour of one of the farms - If you wanted to go to a water park, there is one in RoiEt City which is ok, ok water slides but a lot of the pools are shaded so very cold. At Samat (about 25km) has a big popular water park that also has a lot of restaurants for people to chill at while they swim. Selaphum has a hotel, The Chic 101, which has a decent pool and a couple of water slides and is a generally really nice place to just chill out at. - In Thawatburi (10-15km from the city) there is this big science place which has a variety of interesting science related stuff to check out. - There's an interesting temple that's sorta near the army base which is quite cool, I can't remember much about directions to it though as it's been years since I went there. - There is a Ratchabhat University, but it's about 25km out of town. A few technical colleges in the city though. - Kalasin Dinosaur Park is a fair drive, but definitely within range of a day trip (Kids do it as a school trip) - On the road to Yasothon there's this giant toad which has a sorta educational area which is pretty interesting, lots of information about the Bang Fai festival's origins (Rocket Festival) - Maha Sarakham (35km from RoiEt) is a university town, with 2x universities + 6x technical colleges. If you want to do some study, you could maybe do a course via there rather than Ratchabhat RoiEt as it's a similar distance. - Khon Kaen & Ubon Ratchathani are roughly a 2h 30m drive from RoiEt, so could be worth a weekend away if you're exploring. - Nakon Ratchasima & Udon Thani are roughly a 3h 30m drive from RoiEt, so could be worth a weekend away if you're exploring. - The other provinces within Isaan are mostly a similar or less distance. Most of the stuff above isn't amazing, but if you're here for 2 months might be worth a look. RoiEt is one of those places where it's nice to live here because it's a relaxed town with a decent amount of restaurants and places to hang out, but is still friendly, isn't super crowded, and doesn't have terrible traffic (Except when dropping kids off at school, as the 3x biggest schools are all practically right next to each other lol). It has enough interesting things to do that people can be kept amused for a while I think, and is central enough within Isaan that you can travel to a variety of different places pretty easily, so is a good sorta home base.

Our school uses "My First Grammar" for our P1-3 grammar classes which I think is really good, as it goes relatively slowly and has lots of pictures, and My Next Grammar for P4-6 (I don't use this one though, so can't comment). My First Grammar is really good for a 1-2 times per week book, although the teacher needs to know how to explain the grammar rules etc properly as the text book doesn't do such a brilliant job of this. There is also a workbook that goes with it (And funnily enough, often has quite good explanations of the grammar) but it's quite difficult to get ahold of real versions of it (And is essentially just more of the same exercises as the classbook). We also use Family & Friends, which has a workbook + grammar friends (grammar text book), the combination of the 3 is really good for an everyday type of class as it has a variety of different activities etc to mix things up (Probably not so great for tutoring though unless she was tutoring every day after school).

How it generally works with teaching license waivers, is that you're meant to show that you are making progress towards becoming a qualified teacher. So you should do at least 1x module during your 2 year license. If you don't, they'll probably (not 100%) give you another license waiver anyway, maybe even 2, but they might include a more strict condition that next time they want to see that you've actually made some kind of commitment to register for the modules (e.g. Signed up for one, or attempted one, even if you haven't actually completed it).

Parents usually give their permission to the teachers to hit their students at school (We certainly did to our son's homeroom teacher). But they give it to the homeroom teachers because they know that the teacher is measured and responsible, not some idiot who is going to beat a kid because they're frustrated and need to take it out on someone. The teachers usually only hit the kids lightly with a ruler, never hard enough to leave a mark, at least for our son's teachers anyway (He's in an EP with a very good reputation, so the teachers are used to dealing with children who have very wealthy parents, and it's a primary school too, in a countryside school or high school things might be different). When I was teaching at a rural high school one of the teachers was usually responsible for dispensing discipline. I never saw it with my own eyes, as it was behind closed doors, but the students were terrified (Although when they left his office, they usually more seemed chastised rather than looking like they'd just had a beating, so I don't think it was all that bad (But enough that they certainly didn't want to do it again). From what I did see, he only had a thin bamboo stick, not weighted etc, and so I don't think it could deliver too much force. I wouldn't be surprised if the students parents had given permission for him to administer punishment though, as most Thai parents would happily outsource discipline to the teachers if they could (At least that was my impression from talking to some of the parents). But in general, I'm a big believer in having the option of corporal punishment, but never using it. As you should always have something as a scarier option for disobedience. I feel that corporal punishment loses it's effect if used too frequently, and then it loses it's motivation. Just like how when I was at boarding school, if the prefects caught you doing something wrong they'd usually give you their own punishment (some type of beating or a physical exercise challenge), or you could elect for the official punishment which was similar to lines. The lines option was only very very rarely taken, as pain is temporary but lines take forever lol (And prefects would never properly hurt you, just cause a little pain).

You need to have a temporary teacher's license from krusapa to register for the course. I'm not sure if you use a teacher's license when teaching at a language school, so you might not be able to.

I'm going to put some notes in here to help others who might do these modules in the future. Just started Module 6 today. There was an "Orientation" at 4pm on Zoom. From the sounds it's very important that everyone attends any group conference call. Looks like there's a 2h "homeroom" time each week when everyone needs to be online. These were initially assigned to fixed dates, but in our homeroom session afterwards we asked the teacher if we could change the dates (Some people had other module homeroom sessions on the same days, others had special class etc), and the homeroom teacher agreed but apparently krusapa wouldn't let them change. Apparently the people who had other things to do could just login briefly for a screenshot though and then go to their other module's class if they needed though. Also the homeroom teacher said that they thought the homeroom sessions would likely only take about 20mins, despite being assigned as 2h. However, we had to "check in" at the start of the assigned time for the orientation, and then "check out" shortly after the end of the assigned time for the orientation, despite finishing 30+ mins before we were meant to, due to something in the system. Checking in / out was essentially just logging into module 6 via the ONE app and then clicking green buttons to proceed, not difficult or complicated despite having no idea about how all this works. I think it was mentioned that there are 72x videos which students need to watch, but I might have misheard. You can start viewing the videos straight away, some of the guys who had done other modules were already upto 10 or 15 videos watched by the time we started the orientation. From what I gather you have to play them completely, and then even maybe go back to re-watch the final 1 minute of the video to get it to count as ticked off. They suggested it's important to get these watched early, incase you don't have time later on, and I assume you can always go back to re-watch them if you need to know the content. Looks like applicants need to score 60%+ to pass, and there will be 4x assignments which must be completed (in addition to attending homeroom meetings + watching videos online) as well as a 2 day seminar at the end of the course, and an exam. Breakdown of how your grade is calculated is: 30% seminars 30% assignments 30% exam 10% attendance With watching the videos being part of these too (I can't remember which part though). Assignments are along the lines of below: 1 - Look at your school's educational quality framework (Thai document you can get from the school), and then say what it is and whether it's appropriate for your school + why. 2 - Explain the process of your school to ensure that the educational quality standard of your school plan is met. Then explain how you, as a teacher, can act or do as a teacher to ensure that school standards are being met. You've then got to show them how you would do this, and how you would assess success etc. 3 - Review the results of the school's latest school assessment report and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your school, and provide recommendations for improvement. Then state how you as a teacher could do to improve the quality of your school. 4 - Write about your learning experiences that reveal your understanding of the quality of educational quality assurance, designing and implementing educational assurance in schools & the use of evidence and evaluation results for educational improvement. Also registration for the next 7 modules will apparently open in October, as one of the people in the class had asked Krusapa and that's what they said (But didn't give a specific date). One thing which seemed to be a common theme from those who have done other modules already, was that it can be a lot of work if you signup to a lot of different modules which overlap. Some people had 3+ modules which were overlapping, because they were doing 4, 5 & 6, and although the start dates are staggered, they overlap. Anyway, that's my experience so far. Figured I'd post up so that others could benefit from the knowledge.

Anyone doing these? I'm in Module 6, Batch 1, starting July 3rd - Sept 3rd, with the Seminar from Sept 13th - Sept 14th. Module 7, Batch 1, starting Aug 7th - Oct 15th, with the seminar from Oct 18th - Oct 19th. Would be interested in hearing from anyone who has done them before on whether there's much work involved with these, and any tests or assignments etc, or if it's just something you just cruise through to tick the boxes so to speak. And if anyone is doing the same course, perhaps can share some info/resources to help with any tests or coursework which are required for them. Also if anyone sees other batches come up on the One App, please post up, as I'd love to register and complete all 7 before they decide to change the system on me again.

Yeah teachers can download the OnePlatform App on their phones, and then register to join the 7 modules. I've got 2 of them starting soon (July 3rd & then a 2nd one on August 7th), each takes about 6 weeks I think (There's an online seminar at the end you have to attend I think). From what I gather, so long as you do 1 or more of the modules you'll be assured another license waiver (And once you do all 7, you'll qualify to apply for a full teaching license).

Yeah some schools are definitely better than others. My current school is pretty much the dream, no gate duty, no morning assembly, all co-workers are friendly (NES/NNES/Thai), able to leave anytime you don't have class, great text books so lessons are easy, tonnes of special class available, annual payrises & the students are amazing. Also helps that my own kids are both at the school, so I get to see it from the perspective of a parent as well. Literally couldn't ask for better from a government school. Although it does make me wonder how so many other schools go so wrong though. As our EP isn't just a great place to work, it's very successful too. The standout factor to me, given the number of foreign teachers we have, is that the working conditions are great, and so most of our teachers have been at the school for 10+ years (Some 20+). As a result, all of the teachers have had time to improve as teachers in a stable environment.