Boatabike

Ok a simple question which will probably not produce a simple answer. My girlfriend is from Laos and we have been living together for over a year here in Thailand. This has been achieved on tourist visa's for her and a non-b visa and work permit for me. Is there any way of being able to get a 1 year visa for her and if so what are my options?

Thanks in advace.

The British Embassy is willing to supply a letter stating that your a good boy, or girl, for the princely sum of 2,499 Baht. I received this information from the Embassy in response to an E-mail i sent concerning the clearance form I had received from the UK police, via dear ole mum.

Does anyone know if this is an accepted document by whatever Thai authorities might want a piece of paper saying you are in fact a good boy, or girl?

Thanks.

Do we still need this check? The school i was working at last term, was sent a paper from MOA saying that it is required. After having left the job with a view of leaving the country, i have now decided to give it another year and see how the land lies at the end of that. Having been asked back by the school, they tell me i need to get a blacklist check done in Bangkok. The police check has not been mentioned at all and when I asked about it they seem to think the blacklist check is instead of the police check, not as well as. Does anyone know anything more on this development? If indeed it is any sort of development at all? I am now thinking perhaps leaving was the right way to go after all.

The school is shaking their heads and saying how much harder it seems to hire foreign workers this year, but when asked what do i need to do, they still have no idea at all.

Thanks for any info that relieves shaking head syndrome.

My school has just entered its most crazy period yet. I have been working there for 2 years and my permit expires on the 18th of this month, my visa on the 31st. Renewing it now would be the easiest and most likely way forward in my opinion. They all say they want me to work there, and from my experience with them, I believe this to be true.

I am in the system, any problems with new rules and regs. would be best dealt with whilst I am in the system and working, but no. The school has decided it should wait until the new term to renew my contract, thus putting me out of the system and back to square one with applying for a new visa at an Embassy somewhere not close. I have told them this is not the best way forward for me or for them and that, they are very likely to end up with no teacher at all, but they say they have to follow the rules? What rules? They then had the cheek after saying they need to follow the rules to ask me to work without a permit to the end of the month...Ha!

I have told them that it is, renew this month or not at all but the ass. director seems to have that 'oops cocked it up again, must not back down and lose face' attitude and so he is keeping to his decision despite the fact all the Thai teachers and office workers are shaking there heads and saying how sad it is to lose me. The kids, well I only found out 2 days ago and they are in the middle of their exams so I didn't want to upset them with the news but the ones that asked if they would be in my class next term took the news very badly.

Therefore, it looks like I am going to leave Thailand because I just can't deal with this intense stupidity anymore, they have this week to change tack and then I am out of here and looking for work in more reasonable countries. To anyone thinking of coming to work here.... good luck.

Thanks for your answer. I am still trying to get the application form to fill in, the link in the original post was very helpful and they replied to me within 12 hours. They told me to contact the local HQ in the area I last lived, this I did, but I have had no reply from them at all as of yet. My mother is going into her local police office for me tomorrow to see what they have to say, and to pick up a form if she can, but with 3 postal periods plus the time it takes for them to process everything it is looking grim on the time scale I have been given. I did start this process one week before the school received official notice that this would be required but as the police are ignoring my mails....?

Can this be done through the Embassy or can the Embassy supply me with something that will suffice. I am being told they can but only by Thai people so far. Is there a link to somewhere I can download the form from at all?

Any info on the Embassy being able to supply me with a clearance check would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Does anyone know if this can be done at the UK embassy? I have had no reply (as yet) from my local police HQ back in the UK and time is starting to run rather fast if i wish to be able to renew my visa and permit within Thailand. My school has told me they must see this check before they can renew my contract. They have also told me that other schools in the area say that it can be done at the UK embassy, has anyone any info on this?

I am now really 50/50 on staying or going. My visa and permit run out before May and if my school are not able to renew in the time scale i have then i am out of here for sure.

I get paid very low money, teach the worse kids in the town, and have headache after headache just trying to do my job. Anyone know why i am still here?

Here is the reply i got from UK police following the link in the first post. You will need to contact your local HQ in the area you last resided it would seem. I have Done this very thing and am awaiting a reply from the local office. I will update this as i get anything of use. Goodnight!

Hello ....

Different forces deal with this in slightly different ways. We suggest you

get a friend or relative in the UK to ask the police force you require the

clearance form from to advise on information they require from you as this

is not a standard situation.

Please note:

PNLD does not have the resources to research every email in depth. This

reply is intended as a guide only. The advice you are given is based on the

information provided. You are advised to seek professional advice before

any further action is taken, see Terms and Conditions for further

information.

Regards,

PNLD

My school received a paper today saying that all the foreign teachers employed there will need this police check by May.

Who is in fact responsible for checking you have this, as my Immigration office know nothing about it? Is it down to the school itself? The Immigration or the work permit office?

This seems to be a real situation that is going to be enforced i have a strange feeling it is not going to just go away as some here would like to think

As I work at a Government school I would just like to add a few words. Not all G. schools will treat you so bad. Where I am working the staff, and some of my fellow teachers, have all been very helpful and legal in their dealings with me. They sorted out the work permit, my tax, and all my paper work needed for the relative offices that I had to visit on the road to employment; they even came with me the first year to make sure it all went smoothly.

The hours are as stated, 20 teaching hours per week. I personally do a fair bit of marking and grading work, which takes time, plus prep. work which I do at home, as there really is little in the way of materials and facilities at the school. Having said that, this week I am on 2 days as the school is closed while the M-1, M-2 and M-3 students go camping. I was told I had to go but due to being an old git with back probs, I declined this fine opportunity to sleep in a tent with 1000 screaming kids on holiday. Last week was 4 days due to Teachers day, the week before that was 4 days due to English day at the school so no classes for me. The week before that was 3 days for some Gov. holiday etc. Summer holiday I worked or no pay.

I love January! (I did work Christmas day).

A lot depends on the school you choose, I hear so many scary stories about schools and working conditions, I think I got lucky with mine. It is not all good, but that is more down to the students than the staff and their dealings with me. I have several very enjoyable classes, with students that stay awake long enough to learn with me, other classes.... well banging head against brick wall is more pleasant and appreciated.

A little research on the school can help a lot. I am the only foreign teacher at my school so when applying for the job there was no feedback available from other workers. Local info consisted of, 'oh bad boys there', turns out that was true, but I get on with them pretty well, as long as I don't do anything stupid like expect them to think.

Pro's Lots

Con's Lots

Research the school a little, ask both locals and foreigners about schools in the area you wish to teach. The locals will know a lot about the reputation the kids from that school have, and it is them that you will be spending your time trying to help.

I have just returned from my local Immigration office where I asked about this subject. As far as they were concerned, for the renewal of my contract and new visa, all would be as it was last year. They knew nothing about the criminal record paper at all.

This in itself does not surprise me. They have however said they will ask about it and let me know in plenty of time if this is going to affect those already in the loop or just new applicants.

Just because they were unaware of it does not mean diddly squit of course. A local office in the sticks is often the last to know anything! However, for now it looks to me as if those in the loop are just that, I hope this remains to be my thoughts come next April when I renew my contract. If asked to go to the UK for a piece of paper it may very well be the straw that breaks this camels back.

British nightlife expedition

If you watch carefully, you will see a steady stream of drunken English fatpats wobbling from sign to sign, being led from one girlybar to the next by this latest space age technooky, aimed at the up market tourist that Puket is craving so badly.

Boatabike,

I have the latest O-Net Exam, but it's about 20 pages long and I'm not going to scan and upload that for you. As someone mentioned, most bookshops will have the big ONet exercise books, mine was about 300 baht. Anyway, as you are in a hurry, I've got a pdf file of the actual exam from 2548. A couple years old but the new exam really isn't all that different. It's about 15 pages long so you'll have to somehow get it copied and collated in a day. good luck. Let me know if this attachment works as I've never done that here before.

The link works fine. Thank you very much for the effort I am sure it will be of some use in the near future.

Many thanks one and all.

One more suggestion. First, though - I've seen the English entrance exam used for admission to CMU, and it was a fairly good, fairly difficult test. All the other English exams I've seen in Thailand (written entirely by Thais) were crap - bad questions, bad answers.

Boatabike, I've got another idea. TEACH THEM HOW TO TAKE EXAMS. Chances are, your M6 students don't know how. They go lockstep, starting with questions #1, 2, 3, to the end (and run out of time), and don't know to skip the impossible questions. They don't know the basic things about test taking that you learned by age 17 or 13. They know how to look at the other students' answers.

Teach them to look at the 4 multiple choice answers (it's always four, always mult. choice) and eliminate the least likely answers first. Figure out a way to explain the process of elimination. Teach them to read for extreme words such as always or never. Teach them to understand the question before guessing the answer. Teach them to go back and see if they answered all questions, only once per answer.

If you succeed in teaching them how to take exams, they can use it over and over again.

PeaceBlondie this is a great suggestion, and something I do for all my classes at mid term and end of term exam time.

Thanks to all your great ideas and for just taking the time to reply. I actually visited my local Rajapat (spelling) Uni. in the hope they might help out, only to find that you don't need an exam to get in there, ha ha. My Thai teachers confirmed this after I did the 50k round trip on their confirmation that going there in the first place was a great idea.

The head of the English department at the Uni. did confirm that what you are all saying about buying a book in a shop, Tesco has them it would seem.

After rushing back, to take an afternoon class I find that the whole thing has been canceled for now.

I will get my holiday after all. I hope you all find this as amusing as I now do! When it gets this stupid, I actually find myself loving Thailand again lol! It's when it is only half-stupid that it bugs me.

There are books and books of them. You say "uni entrance exam," as though it were one thing- but until recently there were many individual subject exams, and there still are different subject exams under the new O-net, A-net system. The problem is that the new system is so new that the books for them haven't really been published yet. I've seen only 3-4 poorly translated (and one incorrectly answered) questions for my subject for the new tests.

From what I'm aware most cram schools are still using the old books, which are still more or less on sale- they're quite thick. Get someone from your school to go with you to a Thai bookstore and pick one of them up as appropriate for your subject and the task at hand- you really need a Thai teacher to pick out the right sort of book if this is an unfamiliar area for you. Be warned: they are all in Thai.

Since you have been given an impossible task, I wouldn't sweat it too much.

"Steven"

I was under the impression that there was a standard English entrance exam for all schools. As for getting a Thai teacher to go to a bookshop with me, nice idea but we don't have time i have to do this for Thursday and Friday and all the Thai teachers are off on holiday.

In the sticks useful book shops are not so common as you may think. My school, in fact, has no books at all for a foreign teacher to use. Oh well it was worth a try. Thanks for the info, i will just have to do the best i can with what is available.

thats why you get paid goodluck mate and on all honesty Im sure you can manage:)

p.s this is the first post I seen about helping with teaching material lol

lets see how this thread turns out if any peeps decide to help, and im not being sarcastic, push goes to shove and there might be a shining light at the end

In all honesty, I will manage, but I would rather have a genuine entrance exam than something I can throw together in (now 1 day). I have never seen a Thai University entrance exam so putting one together in a day is not likely. Putting something together that will make the Teachers and students happy is no prob. However, I would rather it be of use to the little darlings. I can down load an exam from many sources or make one up, but it may be nothing like a local entrance exam. I am sure someone out there must have access to something that is relevant to Gov. School M-6 students entering university.

This is not a request for teaching material it is a request for a specific type of exam, to which I have no access. I was informed about this only 10 hours ago, hence my trying here for a helpful soul that may have what I need, to be able to help the students I do not teach, whom have been abandoned by their Thai teachers in a crucial part of their pre Uni. education.

Once a year my school likes to send all the teachers to Chang Mai on a long weekend, this weekend as it happens. Personally, I declined; spending just 2 days that far away does not grab my fancy. So holiday at home for me then... not!

I am required to get our M-6 students ready for their University entrance exams. I have been given just 2 days notice in which to prepare for this little gem. For this, I would like a genuine exam sheet from a previous year, something that is relevant to what they are actually going to have to sit.

Does anyone have access to an old exam sheet that can be scanned and sent to me by tomorrow January Tuesday 9th 2007? I would greatly appreciate the help, as my school has nothing available that is in the slightest bit relevant. I am not happy about this being dumped in my lap with no notice.

I feel it is important for the kids to have some idea of what they are not ready for, and as I am not teaching M-6 this term I am not up to date on what they are in fact learning (if anything). Funny thing is I lost my M-6 classes this term as they needed the extra grammar lessons from their Thai teachers, and now push comes to shove the Thai teachers all go on holiday and leave it in my lap, amazing Thailand indeed.

I am sure you are all familiar with this sort of thing happening and so I feel quite confident that someone out there can aid me in this short notice request.

Many thanks.

Anyone know how this effects those already in the loop? I have my work permit (2 years), a teacher license was never issued to me (I believe that this will be needed to renew my contract). Will i also need to get a criminal record clearance check from the UK to renew the contract or is this only applicable to new visa applications?

Maybe we need two new pinned posts, one on requirements for those in the loop, and one for those who are thinking about teaching here for the first time.

Thanks in advance.

I believe the Thai fixation with Poodles stems from the fact they fit in the front basket on the Honda dream. Ever tried getting a Bulldog into a basket?

There once was a member on Thai visa,

Who's girlfriend was a right ole teaser,

He met her in a bar, and signed over his new car,

and now he's a foot sore ole geeza!

My contribution to life the universe and everything.

Err i believe you posted that in the GAY forum Donz, and yes you were getting a great response there.

wsertyu

I waited till gone 2 am before i tried this new and exciting game, hope i don't get addicted now.

MALT

Well as we Britt’s are all drunken thugs, of low intellect we obviously unable to actually read the Britt. bashing threads and therefore nobody actually gets offended, our more advanced and intellectual cousins from the U.S.A are of course highly mortified that others may find their sensitive, caring ways and genuine concern that the rest of the world are so far below them, (gosh it is a surprise we manage all those years without them) that the slightest criticism is likely to make them invade err sorry I meant burst into tears, sensitive chaps those yanks you know, tread carefully please.

(only joking, honest)

(wouldn't need to add that in the Britt bash thread).

Leftcross is spot on, and there are too many people proposing cowardly actions on this thread. I'm appalled at the number of people who are advocating not lifting a finger to save a small girl from being beaten to death by a vicious gang of adolescents.

Thank god that some people in this world have a bit more backbone.

As for this baloney about it always being better to wait for experts to arrive on the scene, as has been pointed out many times now, sometimes it is quite clear that that course of actions could result in the person losing there life.

If you're the one on the scene, and there's anything that you can do, then it's time to stand up and be counted. Act like a man. If you have a phone and you think the situation requires it, then of course make a quick call to the police, and then attempt an intervention. Sometimes you might not even have to get involved physically, just shouting and drawing attention to the felons may be enough to scare them away.

I don't think people have been advocating anything of the sort, they have simply been agreeing that an elderly man half crippled is not the person to go head on with a gang of thugs. You would jump in there, but you are not an elderly man with health issues, but you might go to the aid of an elderly man with health issues, so perhaps he should have got himself killed so that you could come to his aid? Come on nobody said you should not help a child in problems, he did what he was capable of doing, if more capable he may have done things differently but he did not walk away, he did not ignore it he acted as best he could.

Mr brave jump in the water to die, helped not at all, man overboard is dealt with in the way mariners the world over are trained to deal with it and it ain't by suicide!

As we all seem to find the proposed teaching license a sure fired way to reduce the availability of foreign teachers in Thailand, how many of us are actually going to say enough is enough and pack the bags and leave?

Without knowing for sure what the hel_l is going to happen, nobody is just going to up and leave right now, but if the proposed plans, as we read them here in this post, come into effect who is sure that they will leave rather than jump through the hoops being supplied?

Personally, and it is difficult to say without full knowledge, I, hmm it is difficult to say. ###### i don't know what i am going to do so i guess this question is rather pointless. Does anyone know for sure what they will do if this comes into effect, i am going for choice 4.

Edit Err where did the poll go?