daiwill60

Can anyone out there rationally explain to me why the cost of Second hand cars is so high in Thailand ( Mahasarakham at least ), some of those I see for slae for the prices being asked , would make Arfur Daley turn in his grave, god bless him .

I thought it may be a farang pricing thing, but the wife confirms to me that it is not, the price is high for all.

After all, the condition of many of these vehicles, no where near warrants the second hand price being only a fraction less than buying a new vehicle in many cases. Very often when the cost is more reasonable and affordable the car is a complete 'shed' of a vehicle that barely looks as is if it would make it to the end of the driveway.

New cars are generally cheaper to buy in Thailand than in the UK.

So why is it, that second hand cars are so bloody expensive, compared to the UK, I looked the other day at a 13 yr old Honda Civic, that had been around the clock at least once, it had also been in the hands of a boy racer, ( lowered suspension, throaty sounding exhaust, lots of little cheap looking mods / bodges / repairs to electrics in engine compartment etc etc) and they wanted 175,000 bht ( nearly £3,500 for a shed, that would have been about 25,000 - 40,000 bht or £500- 800 in the UK, tops?

Are SH cars significantly much cheaper to buy down south near Bkk? ( suppose they well may be in the very near future, following recent events).

Why are SH cars so expensive in the poorest region of Thailand?

Will we now see a glut of very cheap water damaged Hondas on the market very soon?

If the Govt was offering money back on new cars, ( I think they may renage on this one following the cost of flooding) would the cost of SH cars have been expected to come down drastically?

I used Quatar on my first trip to Thailand and Kuwait Air on my second trip and Kingfisher on my last trip, IMHO there was no comparison between these flights, all of which cost very similar amounts.

Quatar Air had good IFE , reasonable food by flying standards and booze on flight, very nice staff. the airport stop over was boring, 13 hours on flight to BKK and 7 hours on flight home to Manchester. So i booked into local hotel for he long stop over and luckily a friend had advised me to book the exec lounge for simple reason that one could get free alcohol in there and as much very good quality food as you like in there, amazing in alcohol free country and spent7 hours in there sleeping and eating in comfort .

Kuwait , crap IFE nothing worked properly. food crap , staff gave impression of being helpful about IFE but must have been bored of everyone complaining all tiime as i have seen this complaint before with this airline. No booze available anywhere at all. Airport completely boring very little choices to eat or drink.

Kingfisher was ok for economy low budget airline, as long as you are not expecting too much , but at least IFE worked and could have a beer on flight, had stop over at Mumbai I think, which was really the pits of an airport, had my ciggie ligher taken off me by officials ( never been security checked on an in between stop over before), and to have a small very cheap disposable lighter confiscated was a bit pathetic i thought, as we just went to bar area where the staff where then being pestered for a light by everyone??? Beer in airport was just as expensive as airports in the UK.

Hi Guys

I know this is in the past, but i was in BKK yesterday stayed at Rhamkaemhaeng. but wasnt sure where the hell to stay as i was getting such mixed reports on the state of play around the city. Anyway, next day i took Skytrain to Ratchaprapop and wasn't sure what to expect really, but was surprised to see no flooding, was there two weeks previously and rain water not draining off was the problem then. I took BTS down to Taksin Bridge, obviously some water there but it was before high tide was due.

Then i took a Tuk Tuk over, through China Town to Democracy monument and Khosarn Rd, the only signs i saw of flooding all day, was sand bags, but the weirdest thing was the lack of traffic in areas that are normally very heavily congested areas and the distinct lack of people about. The roads around Democracy monuent on a saturday afternoon were virtually empty. It took no time at all to get around in the Tuk Tuk. In fact it was a pleasure to be driven around the centre of Bkk on this occasion.

I am in hotel in Bang Na near Swampi tonight , some water on roads but nobody seems too worried around here 7 /11 open as normal cars and motorbikes getting through no problems, taxi driver from airport happy that i will be able to get to sukmvit on saturday to watch Wales destroy France, and he also assures me that Dusit area is fine down by river . So if you cannot rely on politicians or the media to know what is going on , ask a taxi driver !!!!

Please note you can get even better crap service with PIPEX UK now owned BY TALK TALK, the stunts they pull are usually this ( slow internet should be 1.5mb actually 100kbps), reset everything on your computer, hmmm no chnage, remove router and re connect , hmm no change, turn router off overnight, hm no change, ok turn off all other devies connected to phone sockets, hmmm no change, ok well send you a new router,, hmmmmno change, ok well get technical to call you back, hm no call ever, ok well we as a company take your comliant very seriously and as such well connect you to India where the nice man/woman cannot be understood and can repaeat the above procedure several times, oh ha ng on well call you back in an hour.... hm no call ok Ill e mial you using your online systen, e mail sent comes back please do not use this e mail start a support request, involves complex system of webpages to lose and confuse but eventually log a complaint, well reply in 2 days, hmmm no reply,,,, call again start similar routine above tell them escalate to manager, manager is Indian is as bad a ssatff and hell call u back??? still wiaitng,, ok website says can escalate any problem to CEOS office so call pipex and say want to escalate to CEOS office,,, good morning sir welcome to PIPEX heavy inidan accent difficult to understand lines painfully quiet. I want to report to CEO,,,, hm sorry sir cant do that, Hmmmm really website says u can?? blah blah SO conclusion SAMW THE WORLD Over NOT JUST tHAILAND MATEY.

Yes i used to be with tiscali in the UK also taken over by Talk Talk, basically tiscali was great until Talk Talk took over.

Well, to be brutally honest I'm English and I had trouble following your letter so I doubt K Manager is going to give it much of a second thought. From the atrocious grammar and punctuation to the strange references and obscure similies it really doesn't read too well. I am assuming you garnished your inspiration from humorous complaint letters that have done the rounds by email such as the Virgin Atlantic food complaint letter (which was very funny)?

If you were indeed serious with your complaint may I suggest you have your wife write it in Thai so that K Manager could understand it. Failing that, try using a more basic form of English in line with your abilities.

Hear Hear.

I am using TOT and so far the only problems I have encountered are not being able to get on some sites ( facebook and you tube ) during busy periods i guess.

Other than an outage one day, that affected all near me, due to a line problem which was quickly rectified within 24 hours, I have had few problems.

The guy who did the installation did convince my missus to let him lower our package to 6 mb instead of the 9 mb i asked for, with the explanation it was easier to move up a package 6 mb - 9mb if i didnt think it was good at 6mb, rather than down from 9mb to 6mb if i didnt need it, so thats where we are at. Unless, it was his way of fobbing us off if they could't actually provide 9mb where we are ( possible I guess).

But the letter from such a well educated enginneer, who served Her Majesty in the UK was quite appalling I thought. GO BACK TO SCHOOL , I have Thai students who can do better, and that is saying something. His Thai missus could probably have done a better job of writing it in English for him too, I guess.

Flooding has been on the cards for quite some time but it only had just got the attention of the government. Shame on the administration.

Try to be a bit fairer.

They hyave only been in power a couple of months.

And they are only jjust beginning to realise how bad their education system has been for all in Thailand, especially rural areas where most of their party leaders were educated in the past as kids. themselves

A Nation begins to wake up to its problems maybe??? Let's see what happens next, re teacher licence fiascos and getting rid of sanuuk mentalities in the classrooms.

The series of shots shows the construction of LA's flood control channel, it's finished operation during non flood periods, and fully functioning during flood conditions. The bottom shot show a channel which is not lined with concrete.

The top shot is the original LA River, which was paved over (very early shot, notice the old car on the right). It would have been better to allow some leakage back into the ground along the way, like the bottom picture which is the San Gabriel river. Both have dams at the base of the mountains which act as part time flood collectors and most time recreational areas. Even Sepulveda Dam (seen in many commercials and TV shows) is a flood control (usually) dry dam.

In the old times in areas like Thailand or Egypt, flooding was good for the fields as new rich silt was deposited to make farming better. Now with the control of the rivers, more silt goes out to sea, in Egypt the Aswan dam collects the silt, probably making the situation worse by raising the seabed, reducing the flow, like what happens in the US by New Orleans.

River management and flood mitigation are expensive and often have unintended consequences. Building for the eventual Maximum flood is more expensive, and usually not approved due to costs. And large projects often, regardless of where you live, are breeding grounds of corruption.

River bypasses are used commonly throughout the world. A small example can be seen below. This particular bypass is in Bad Oeynhausen in Germany. They can be quite benign and are simply used to provide a short clean path for flood waters.

I would liken the construction of such a flood bypass for Bangkok as similar in scope to the building of a major roadway.

Your comments on graft and corruption are indeed true but it appears that you advocate no solution is the best solution?

Perhaps they should move Bangkok to the Khorat Plateau?

Apparently that already seems to be happening, as more and more Thais from Bangkok are buying up and building on land all over the place up here in areas like Khon Kaen, Mahasarakham, RoiEt etc maybe they know something others do not. Maybe Mr Dropaplop ( because he really has with this idea ) is one of them.

In fact my missus keeps showing me some internet map image projection of Thailand in about 10 years i think its , where Thailand is all but cut in half from Bangkok to Khorat plateau by water level increases caused by global warming ( sorry ) Climate Change, as it now known.

Can't help thinking how much this idea reminds me of the joke about the three scientists, who decided to see what would happen to an elephant if they corked its arse for a month and how far the result would go when they took it out. So one month later when the big day arrives the scientists position themselves 1 at 300 mtrs away, the next at 200 mtrs away and the last scientist at 100mtrs away. Now then, these scientists were clever and they had trained a monkey to pull out the cork. So everyone positioned the cork is pulled and crap flies everywhere, the 300 mtr chap is up to his waste, the 200mtr chap is up to his chest and the 100 mtr scientist is over his head and laughing his nuts off. Why are you laughing when you are covered in so much <deleted> they ask ' You should have seen the monkey trying to push the cork back in' he replied.

I really dunno why this BKK situation reminds me of this joke, maybe the boats are the monkeys in the bkk joke.

300B wage hike here, free tablets there, 15,000 minimum over here, rice price inflation over there... How long until this house of cards comes tumbling down?

In the meantime , here are some free condoms for you instead, as we don't want disgruntled voters to multiply do we????

This is so messed up! I am in my second year in a government school in the north of Thailand. The school have said they want me to stay, they have said that they love the way I teach etc etc. They asked me to take the teaching license so that they can keep me on at the school next year (year three). I have said no thanks, I will not pay the 80,000 tb (almost a quarter of a years salary) for a license that is only good for Thailand so that they can keep me on, "stuff that".

Now they have said that I will be offered a new contract for year 3 (2012) without having to obtain a Thai teaching license!!!! What a load of bol...... when will the nob heads at the MoE except that, if you can teach and the school needs your expertise, maybe you should be able to continue teaching.

.

Sorry haven t dug far enough yet , but where do you get 80.000 bht figure from, because i am having trouble getting my school to even cough up the 500 bht.

Tonight I was told by one boss that they are currently advertising and taking on new teachers 'with visa, permit and licence assisatnce' , to replace a farang teacher who walked a while back . I asked what is this assistance being offered, because if it resembles what i have recieved, then they are wasting there time, as i have had to push to get all the paperwork together and get everything back in order for myself to go to Bangkok next week and start the teacher licence ball rolling, all at my expense . The reply i got was the teachers licence is your s you pay , i said fair enough but whart about all previus tiems i have gone to immigratino anfd had to kkep paying all the 60 day, rather than free 90 day renewals on visa extension cock ups, cant the school or University even offer some recompense. I got the reply that farang teachers get paid more any way, thats why we also pay and nobody on admin really wants to go out of the way to help. I also dont get housing / living allowance as i live with my my wife in our home , where other farang teachers do get it in other schools, yet they advertise to new teachers that are single that they will pay accommodation <deleted>, when confronted admin shrugs shoulders basically and gripes do not get sorted up the chain or even mentioned i daresay. No wonder people have had enough and are departing for other SE asian places .

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

So, I talked to my supervisor and showed her that I can't apply for the test unless I have a degree and gave her the requirements for the temporary licence.

She came back to after reading some papers in thai and told me that the school will provide me a letter from the director about the reasons of employment and teaching experience.

"And then we send it to Bangkok, right?" I said.

"No. You register for the test online and you take the letter with you when you go to do the exam." she said.

No No No, You read the section on the web site ''Provisional teaching Permit'' and the requirements to get your 2 year provisional exemption certificate.

After reading this, you will then require your school to provide a letter or the filled in written in thai form on the website entitled EXAMPLE.

When you have this / these signed by the school director, you can take this form, along with YOUR DEGREE CERTIFICATE and your passport, employment contract and 1 inch photo of yourself (without sunglasses) and evidence you have paid 500bht fee at a post office or the named bank ( form also on website), to apply to do the tests.

This wil give you a two year provisional licence during which you first do your Thai cultural awareness course. At the same time you take this form, you also hand in your TCT KS01 Teachers Licence Appn form (and the mass of paperwork required for that form as well) to the TCT, that you have paid 500 bt to register for at your post office.

Following your visit to TCT with the forms, you wil begin to do your Thai awareness course, and having completed that course successfully, you can renew for 2 more years and begin on the professional teaching licence course. If you do at least one unit from this course in the following 2 years you can get renewals, and this goes on like this each two year period. However, if you cannot show you have made efforts to do some of these courses during each two year period, you will not get a following renewal.

The reason they are doing this is to ensure that people do have proper accredited degrees, as originally stated and required to teach in Thai schools, however many people have slipped through the net over the years, as demand outweghed supply, especially away from Bangkok and more popular areas, such as Issan etc. The are now beginning to tighten up, whether it is suddenly the new Gov't or what, I do not know, but it is happenning, and that is it.

And TEFL Teaching course sites, based here or online, make it all sound so easy don't they? Well maybe it was for a while !!!! maybe it will be again, who knows come the revolution??

Maybe you could try Laos or Cambodia or somewhere if you don't have a degree or you have a dodgy Khosan Rd Degree, as I think for the foreseeable at least, things are going to get a lot tougher regarding this issue, even for true degree holders, and for quite a while, as the Reds don't like farangs, as you will clearly work out from the love expressed in return by farangs posting on this site and similar sites. Some of us are tied somewhat.

Sometimes wish I'd stayed in the UK now, NAH only Joking, I would truly miss the fun and shenanigans.

Amazing Thailand

If I recall, this has been suggested before. If you sign anything stating you have a degree, including signing the application giving the type of degree and where it was acquired, then you could be charged with fraud.

The Thai bureaucracy doesn't take kindly to this sort of thing. I spent a weekend with a new teacher sitting at Immigration Detention for a document forged by a secretary. He was exonerated, but it took over a year. A secretary was charged and she spent sometime in jail. This wasn't the TC, but it cost the school 70,000 baht to bail him out and they held his passport for year until the situation was resolved.

I would consider the option of lying, very, very carefully.

Same here Scott, good advice given.

People who try to be dodgy usually find themselves in dodgier situations than this they try to dodge, eventually!!!

There was a point in time when Life Experience degrees were getting through--as I understand it. I don't think that is the case any longer.

As far as the cost goes, again, I don't know for sure. I remember when I got my TL, it cost me 500 baht. That wasn't a waiver, but the actual license. I only had to pay once.

If there is a cost for the waiver, it is minimal.

The waiver cost is definitely 500bht now. You download a form off the site, and take to a post office or one of the thai banks, pay 500bht get receipt of payment and take / send with letter of appn for waiver to TCT, along with your appn for teachers licence, at least thats the way it appears to be to me.

A post has been removed as a poster had deleted quoted post headers as he had reached the maximum number of nested quotes allowed leading to misunderstanding of who posted what. When replying to certain parts of a post, learn how to use the Insert quotation feature.

Ok, for the benefit of the deleted poster and some of us others!!! where is the ''Insert Quote Feature", I just hit Reply all the time, Right or Wrong???

It makes me wonder h these big department stores prosper so well. Even if they doubled the thai wage these people still wouldn't be able to afford to shop in them. A lot of thais must already be on very good wages to support these stores,

Agree with you there mate, i am always amazed when walking around in the malls to see so many people buying stuff in all the designer stores, and yet there are so many staff doing sod all, and TBH how do they sustain the level of staff in some of these places is a question that sprung to mind recentlly. I then though mmmm its probably coz they pay them so little but at least it creates jobs and keeps them doing something rather than giving handouts for doing sod all like back in the UK.

How do so many Thais afford to also build so many of these big paosh houses and all drive around in expensive SUV's and pick ups, if they are all so lowly paid????

Low compared to what, North Korea? It's only low when you're low end, such as mediocre housing rental or dining out noodles on the street, but for anything of substance, such as quality food & wines, car imports, or mortgages and loans for vehicles, proper internet, it is the same, if not more, than the West. I agree with the post above yours, although those buying votes are clever as they know full well the masses are too stoopid to know what they're buying into.

Eating noodles off the street makes it extremely cheap, but even eating in restaurants is relatively cheap. Ofcourse, if you're wanting to eat imported foods, then you have to pay for that, but that's mostly due to import taxes.

I have proper internet here costing me 640 baht. It would cost me twice that in Aus.

I ate out last night at a reasonable restaurant - 800 baht for 2 people, including some beers. You wouldn't get that in the west.

Agree with what you are saying about prices but , 800 bht for a meal for two, you was ripped off or must have had a few beers or wine or something.

I and 2 friends, this afternoon ate a meal each, and a salad to share, 1 coke and two bottles of water 270 bht and we left saying we felt very full.

Can't answer your questions but, I started working in Phitsanulok last year and the school took care of that for me.

The director himself went to Bangkok and applied for the temporary 2 years licence.

This year, I have to do the test so I've been told. The point is, I don't have a degree.

Anyone got a clue on what should I do?

Am I supposed to apply for the test, fail and then get the temporary licence again? or is there different process for teachers like me?

You were very lucky then if your boss did all that for you.

Did they also pay for the licence?

If you do not hold a degree i suggest you read the Teachers Council Thailand web site of which there is an english version and go to section '" Routes to the Teaching Licence" look at route 2 or 3 to understand your situation. Personally i am surprised you got the temp cert in the first place, as it does state that they require a copy of degree certificate on the list of stuff to bring with you, maybe your boss sweet talked them in the TCT on his much wanted little trip to the bright lights of BKK.

I have no idea about the financial end of it, but sometime back, the rule was that teachers could get 3 waivers, 2 years each. Some of these people should be running out of waivers now.

Maybe they wll move to Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam etc for less hassle and better pay etc from what I hear and take somewhat with a pinch of salt.

It is my understanding that you need to have a degree to qualify for the taking the examinations.

The examinations are a mechanism to upgrade a regular Bachelor's degree to the equivalent of an Education degree.

So the other option is that the school has to apply again for the temporary one every 2 year?

Will they give up the 4000 baht just like that?

HAHA you are havin a laff aren't you? No school is gonna pay for a farang to do it, as mentioned in another reply they more than likely will do the absolute minimum and send you on your way to BKK at your expense with the letter for temp licence. What happens if you fail? who knows ? depends how desperate they are i guess, and if the teachers council allow you another two years?????

The test and qualification is yours to keep and take with you wherever you go in Thailand, do not let the school you are with keep it, it is yours for keeps or until the next renewal at any rate.

thanks for replies guys

I have recently been told that I need a Teachers Licence to gain my 1 year Extension Visa and Work Permit.

I am aware that I have to initially apply for a Provisional Teaching Permit, along with a letter form my school requesting 'exception of professional qualification', which will be valid for 2 years, during which I have to complete the various examinations and tests in order to become a fully accepted and eligible teacher within Thailand, and then with the aforementioned permit I will then be allowed a work permit and then with both of these in hand I can finally get my 1 year extension visa ( weird considering i had a work permit for 5 months prior to this month with no app'n for teachers licence , but thats another story ).

Anyway back to point. Does any one have any experience and advice before I visit Teachers Council Thailand?

I am led to believe by the myriad of confusing information segments on their web page, that I need a letter from the school requesting a temporary exemption for 2 years and to also fill in a Teachers licence application form and provide copies of all the usual personal farang documents and countless more photos, along with prove that i have paid the required 500bht at a local Post Office. It is then suggested that I send these forms etc to the Dep't in BKK, yet I have also been advised to hand deliver them as they will get lost or whatever. This is an ok option for me as I need to go to BKK soon anyway.

My questions are, When I get to the offices in BKK:-

1. I presume the offices in Nakhon Ratchasima Road in Dusit are the correct offices to go to?

2. Does anyone know which department I need to go to, when I get there?

3. What is the procedure and how long I can expect it to take?

4. Am I to expect receiving the necessary paperwork that i require for my visa extension and work permit on the day I go there?

As I don't get many opportunities to go to BKK and do not want to keep going for continuous 60 day renewals or border crossings when i really shouldn't need to be doing, I would be grateful for any info / advice on this to ensure minimising any further misinterpretations of the rules and regs.

Thanks Guys

Forget all the fussing about the over-hyped pressed-chipwood/cardboard furniture. WILL THEY HAVE SWEDISH MEATBALLS?

Don't forget the dirt cheap Hot Dogs as well MMMMm!!!

There is no 90 day reporting for those on visa entry so that is first mistake. You should have departed Thailand and returned for a new 90 day stay. What you received was a 60 day extension based on marriage as you did not qualify for employment extension of stay.

Instead of leaving returning for a new 90 day stay you tried again but because of no contract supporting a one year extension received only for the remaining time on your contract.

Now you return again rather than making a quick exit/return (no need to stay out of country more that a minute) to find you do not have the required license to teach (believe first year they allow exemption) and are properly advised exit/return for 90 days or bring wife again (which is not normally allowed) for a new 60 day extension. That requires proof of visiting wife but you object to proving that with wife as everyone has to do for that extension (which I point out again is never issued back-to-back to normal applicants).

So Basically i have been working in a school for the best part of 5 months now without a work permit initially.

Which is not legal (even if common).

90 day address reports are filing a TM.47 form and start 90 days after you apply for your first extension of stay (date you applied for that 60 days). If you depart Thailand it starts again on day of entry. It has nothing to do with stay in Thailand.

Thanks Lopburi for clarifying what i thought was total lack of communiation on part of Immigration.

I was always under the impression on my arrival over here that i had to get out and in every 90 days too.

However i do think that the main problem here is the lack of coherent communication, regarding requirements, between myself, the dept's of the university responsible for over seeing our paperwork. and their communications with immigration office, who actually came to the university to discuss with the said staff and inform them of their requirements, and by the sound of it failed to discuss the farang teachers working in the school section of the university.

These ongoing problems have also been combined with the farcical time it takes the aforementioned Uni to get contracts and work permits organised for the staff they employ (upto 2 months to get a contract under ones nose) and subsequent misinformation given by people who have everything in order and had advsed me that i did not need to leave the country once i had a work permit and a contract. The University backed this up with a statement to me that although i didnt have a permit the letter they wrote to immigration, for me to take on my first visit, would be ok as they had spoken to someone there and i should just show them the paperwork they gave me. MMMMMMM!!!

"< We learn from writing so we have to translate it when we use the language. That's the reason why most of Thais are not successful in English, including me although we have to study it for about ten years at school," said Thavorn Chalassathien, deputy secretary general of the Federation of Thai Industries.>"

Yesterday, I was introduced to 2 university English teachers both of which were Thai. We had a short conversation because I could not understand what they were saying. They could not put a simple sentence together to answer a general question or make an intelligent understandable comment. Makes one wonder, if the professors cannot speak english then why would we expect the students to speak english? :jap:

Does anyone expect the students to speak English? I teach English majors and most of them speak reasonably well but some cannot put a simple sentence together. Here is an example of a conversation I had with a fourth year English major student who will graduate next semester. She missed a small test because she overslept.

"Teacher I....I .... I....... Teacher I want test. I......."

"Ok see me at half past two"

"ok teacher thank you"

At 8.30 she calls me on the phone

"teacher where?"

"I am in a meeting"

"Teacher I office you. You meet me two thirty."

"Yes but it's now 8.30" (I suddenly realise she's translating the Thai "song mong khreung".) So I replied in Thai "Bai song mong khreung"

"oh teacher cannot. Have class"

"Ok. What time do you finish"

" Four ... four.... er four and a half."

I'm not allowed to fail them. She'll go out with a degree in a few months stating that she can speak English.

My Thai son (speaks perfect Thai and perfect English) had to attend the compulsory English classes at his Thai uni.

The teacher was a 19 yr old Thai girl who has no qualifications, and no training in teaching English and she cannot speak English. Son says the young lady was not pleasant and spoke to the students very severely.

The teacher turned up very late for every class (supposed to be 2 hrs X 2 times per week), with about 5 or 6 sentences, all hand written all in block letters with no pronunciation marks, on a page ripped out of a note book. One of the students was then sent to another building to buy a photocopy for each student.

A typical example: 'YESTERDAY I WAS WENT GO TO THE SHOPPING'

The teacher gave no explanation of vocabulary, or contruction or anything.

The students had to, as a whole group, recite each sentence 5 or 6 times. End of lesson.

The other students all know my son speaks advanced English and they told the teacher so. Result, the teacher criticized my son's western surname (western surnames are ugly, etc.)

SOLUTION TO THAILAND IN GENERAL:

Cryogenically freeze the entire nation for 20 years and seal it with shrink-film . . . with the exception of 10,000 small babies who are removed to England (to learn proper English) to grow up on special farms away from big cities. When they are all 20 years old, re-open Thailand again, remove the hugely-useless teachers and replace them with these 10,000 new teachers who can not only speak perfect English but are additionally aware of world history and events and the (minuscule) role that Thailand plays in them.

Oh - that won't work - the new teachers won't be able to speak Thai. Bugg*r. Back to the drawing board.

R

Actually you are not far off the mark with your idea.

I have many Friends in the UK with Thai wives and susequently Thai or Thai/english kids being educated in the UK and being bought up speaking Thai, english and in some cases Welsh. Kids like these are the ones who will fit the bill you are describing above. In fact one of the aforementioned kids who came over to the UK when she was about 6 yrs old, with not a word of english on her lips, except the word DAD as i recall, was talking to me on skyoe the other day and her english was word perfect and was in fact very surprisingly English accented, to the point that i had to comment that she sounded like a real Toff.

Kids soak up Languages and at least this minister is acknowledging the problems in the education system here, as well as giong someway to point out the way to rectifying them to some degree. However the problem is deep rooted and the biggest stumbling block will be in getting the current teachers to adopt to the new concept of not using rote teaching methods, as they were probably trained to do , and were brought up with in school themselves.

Yes a lot of the Thai teachers have bad English skills themselves , but this is because most of the were bought up with old teaching methods in school themselves. Personally I think this Minister needs to be applauded by all for recognising the problem at least , not derided, as most of us who post on here usually do ( myself included) everytime the Government tries to show a willingness to do something good, as so often seems to be the case for many of the commentators on posts here.

Maybe we have become to used to just knocking everything that happens over here, rather than trying to encourage the good things we see, as and when they appear.