jbauer

400000 = yes

When you say visit my wife, is there a need to leave Thailand?  What is the process to apply?

Thanks.

I have resigned from a job, for which I had a non-b visa to stay in Thailand.  The date given for end of visa is 13th July.  I am currently looking fir another job, but it is unlikely I will find one before 13th July.

I have a Thai family (wife and child).  I have 400,000b in a Thai account.  Therefore, I think I would qualify for non-o, but I am not sure I would be able to get all the documents needed by 13th.

What are my options?  I want to stay in Thailand, obviously, but my visa expires 13th July; I have been told that the visa amnesty to 31st July does not cover this, and that I would have to extend before 13th July.

I have taught a lesson, or at least part of one, on Guy Fawkes for years. There have been no complaints. I am sure it is understood that England is not Thailand, and things are different- Thais aren't actually all a bunch of backwards bumpkins with no ability to see other perspectives, you know. I don't think it should ever be considered bad form to impart knowledge that deviates from a status quo (within reason, of course, for safety's sake), especially global knowledge, or showing how cultures differ / have differed.

I also agree that any subject is ripe for use for teaching English, as long as it is interesting, and the medium of instruction is English and is appropriately graded . Students get enough grammar from their usual or extra classes; as a foreigner, the key thing you can bring to the class is the placing of this grammar in context. Certainly, you can get them to do something more interesting than the usual dry and repetitive drivel that they have been subjected to.

If you want, during the lesson on Fawkes, you can always describe how he eventually ended up, which a.) prevents dangerous speculation about the teacher's leanings and b.) very much engages the boys in the class (in my experience anyway).

I must clarify- what I really meant was, if I applied for a position in an international school in Thailand, would the check have to come from the Thai police, since I have been here for a fair while, or from the UK?

If this International school wants to see a criminal check, I'd think that they want one from your country of origin.

It might be required, based on your past performance if you may trusted with children and that you are a law abiding individual.

The definition of a "background check" seems to indicate that they want to see that you don't have a criminal record in your country.

Your background check needs to come from your country of residence. If you have been working and living in Thailand for the last 5 years(with a visa and WP) you will require a check from the Royal Thai Police. If you lived in a country for more than 6 months during the required time you also need a police check from there. That is why you usually have to give address details for the past 5 or 10 years....

What's the point in getting a police check from home if you haven't been resident there.Common sense really...

I never claimed to have common sense... However, it would probably be a lot easier to get a check from Thailand, if this is correct.

However, I would have thought that a potential employer would want to know what you might have done in your home country before you came to Thailand / wherever. A criminal record from 10+ years ago might still tell you something about an applicant, after all. I'm not aware of a time limit when, after that time, criminal convictions deemed spent are expunged from a record check- or is that indeed how it works? If I knew, I wouldn't be asking.

Imagine someone had a clean record in Thailand but had a criminal record in the UK. I'm sure that some foreigners in Thailand manage to slip through cracks in immigration concerning their past activities and keep their noses clean...

I must clarify- what I really meant was, if I applied for a position in an international school in Thailand, would the check have to come from the Thai police, since I have been here for a fair while, or from the UK?

If this International school wants to see a criminal check, I'd think that they want one from your country of origin.

It might be required, based on your past performance if you may trusted with children and that you are a law abiding individual.

The definition of a "background check" seems to indicate that they want to see that you don't have a criminal record in your country.

Thought it might. Does anyone have any experience of getting one from the UK while being in Thailand? I imagine it's a pain...

I must clarify- what I really meant was, if I applied for a position in an international school in Thailand, would the check have to come from the Thai police, since I have been here for a fair while, or from the UK?

If you need a criminal records check, should you get one from your home country, or one from the country you currently live in / want to get a job in, depending on time spent there? For example, I have lived in Thailand continuously for over five years- if I wanted to apply for a job in Thailand, or another country, which required a criminal record report, should I get a check from the Royal Thai police, or from my home country?

It is a concern, Nabbie. You did say you were looking for a British English tutor. Though she may well be an excellent tutor, you might not be aware that Roksana obviously isn't a native speaker, based on her short post. I fully agree with the policy of not criticizing grammar on this forum, but this situation is different- mods if you disagree, I apologize.

I have no dog in this fight; as I said, Roksana could be excellent.

Your post is well thought out and you have made many valid points.

I am simply stating that FB (which I loathe honestly) is something that imo every employer should be checking throughly. It is a kern insight into yhe type of person you will be placing in a classroom, with children. In the US and UK employers routinely scour the Internet for an applicant's bad behaviour. Schools do not have the ability, but it shoulf well be part of any agency's process.

Teachers in the west are subjugated to very rigorous background searches,

The way I look at is also this...what are these 'teachers" doing here and why are they here? If it is not a celebration of a life abroad and new experiences, travel, friends, activities - you have a problem. This best manifests itself in the modern fb page - or maybe even a blog.

If the person has no Internet presence (no addresses from pre Internet now online, past addresses pre Thailand), no FB, G+, blog, etc...you have a problem. In this day, with all the creepy people flittering around the world, a fireign teacher should be as public with his life as possible. For myself, anyone not celebrating his new, exciting life in a foreign land has none - and possibly no friends or family to share that with either.

Fake FB pages are ez to construct, but also ez to identify. Check resumes carefully, I have looked at many on the Internet thru the years and they are full of questions. One I viewed appeared to be an entire fabrication, fifteen years.

Finslly to you and your family. I view that as pretty solid proof you are a stand up guy. In fact, Thailand should give married men, especially tjose with families blanket approval for teaching.

Thailand spends a great deal of time verifying degrees, it needs to verify the quality of the character of the teachers. Drunks, creepers and assorted unstable peopme need to be moved out..Id say, of the past three schools I've been at 60% are flotsam and at least one teacher at each school a potential danger.

I agree, if anyone has spent a lifetime in horrible little public schools witbout a reason (such as living in Issan, or teaching at solid schools), they are a waster. Anyone that makes a career teaching in Thai public schools as well, instead of it being second career or activity or whatever.

The stereotype of the average 25-30k broke ass teacher fits, unfortunately. I'm just very worried at the teachers I've seen placed in particular by agencies on the schools. There are tons of burn outs and creepers in Thailand.

Thank you for your response. I made some bad assumptions at the start when reading your posts, for which I apologise. I can't say I agree with all of your points, but I do appreciate your stance and your commitment to, and reasoning for, it.

I would actually agree, a teacher that is absorbed with FB as much as say, the Thai is a concern. But its really the Linked In of Thailand.

I've never met a larger group of whiny, feelings on sleeze, puffed up pseudo-intellectuals than 30% of the teachers in Thailand. The 25-30yo are ok, but the ones with the "graduate" degrees from basically diploma mills and others that just fake it till they make it. Lol. People that have "made a life" in Thailand teaching EFL (intl schools aside). 30-40k a year faux snobs. They had absolutely nothing going for them in their lives, glom on to teaching and in a year or two, you'd think they went to Columbia Teachers College for their PHD.

No one ever came to Bangkok for the chess tournament genius.

Its a social resume. The person not need post daily or even weekly, but if you ate nit sharing your life with family, friends - whomever. You have none.

I stand by it, no Facebook page. Loveless, disengaged, Luddite. Possible social issues including big flag for a "secret life".

In a nation plagued with people drawn like a magnet for notbing other than sex (and sex with minors sadly), it is yet abother screening tool to determine what sort of person you are placing in a classroom full of kids.

Teacher or Administrator...lol, Do you have a teaching credential from home country? If yes, you are a teacher. As for Admin, watch out for head teachers and Admin. First liar never stands a chance.

Check your teachers resume fraud, there is a shiton of it. It's ez to spot. Make sure you kniw who you ate hiring, if the teacher has no history - you have a problem. There are loads of sketchy people teaching kids that have no business near them. Drunks, creepers.

PS an afterthought. Every TEFL job I have held in Thailand, I was informed they would "check my Facebook page". So, looks like you two are well behind the curve. Still, they will hire young people with drunken behavior as well as otjers with no fb page at all, so some..still lazy and turn blind eye in search of warm bodies.

I do have a facebook page. i don't update it much at all; never was very interested to do so, as it seemed a trivial thing to do. I can use it well enough, so I don't think I m a luddite. I just have no interest in the sorts of things that appear to be shared via facebook, like the cliche of showing off what you happen to be eating for lunch. In older days, I would have categorized that as being akin to the dull guy who is desperate to show you his holiday snaps. Times change, I guess.

I also don't think I am loveless. I have a wife who could probably do better than me; I managed to charm her so I must have something going for me, but YMMV. It's true I am 36 this year, so maybe I am outside your age range for being "okay", and, indeed, I am not qualified to be a teacher in my own country. I am qualified to be a teacher in Thailand, though, and I didn't think it was too challenging to reach the required standard various Thai teachers I met couldn't reach it. Is that sufficient for you, or do foreigners have to be eminently more qualified than locals to meet the definition of "teachers" in your book?

Leaving aside the personal stuff...

Some people like to communicate the old fashioned way,for example, by using the power of speech. Some people are just naturally more private than others, and this doesn't really diminish their ability to do their job well, or indeed to be a friendly enough person. I, for instance, am quite quiet, but in the classroom I come alive, without trying to blow my own trumpet. Some of the best teachers I have ever met were quite insular, standoffish, or even unfriendly. They did know how to teach, though.

However, some "creepers", so I have read, can be very social types, or at least know how to pretend that way, hence the importance of teaching children that not everyone they meet online can be trusted. Given the trivial nature of facebook, and the essential meaninglessness of friending someone on it, it means that even the unsocial ones could give the impression of a varied social life, if that is the image they are trying to convey. Unless, of course, you feel a facebook acquaintance is as trustworthy and meaningful a relationship as a real-world friend, like they used to have in the old days.

I agree that Thailand has a problem of sexual exploitation of minors. Although not perfect either, I would think a criminal record check would be more prudent a method of ascertaining if an applicant might be a problem than checking if that applicant's facebook status has been changed in the last six months, or if they shared a picture of their cat.

Not to sound too dramatic, but if people really are being hired based on a check of what their facebook looks like, it seems a new witch hunt might be in the future. He's an unassuming guy who doesn't really like to impose his daily minutiae on others? No! He doesn't share enough about himself! He must be untrustworthy and probably a nonce! Don't hire him! What, he already works here? Get rid of him, now!

I'm not really having a go at you, genuinely, more about how restrictive a worldview what you write about appears to me to be. However, you do seem to be implying that, because I have reservations about social networking, I therefore have something to hide. Maybe I am way off, and you were just warning me that I might have trouble obtaining employment if I don't keep and maintain a facebook page. I would again suggest it would be relatively easy for a pedophile or other degenerate type to construct a facebook life if he so wanted to, or even not have to construct it, as apparently there are plenty of them who lead otherwise ordinary lives- they probably aren't all stereotypes. In fact, maybe your "friend" you are checking on right now is one- how would you really know?

Teachers should never be friends with the students if they are under 18. I was shocked to find my 13 year old daughter with foreign teachers on her facebook.

Totally unprofessional and bordering on criminal.

How on earth can they be disciplined if they are friends?

That's ridiculous. FB?!

And any moron that has any sort of untoward convo with a student must know its all available for the cops to review.

You discipline them as any other student.

TEFL instructors are not teachers and even if they were, I've seen kids with THAI teachers as friends and vice versa from some of the best schools in the country.

Want to zero in on a crappy teacher - no fb and or no fb (real) friends and relatives - like in real life lol.

What is positively creepy is teacher/s without a FB page at all. You can tell a lot from someone's FB page. If a teacher is a social media ghost, guaranteed he's a creeper. Guaranteed.

No fb, anti social loser - do not hire. Fb with only rare, lame updates says almost as much. % Posts with too much alcohol, very couch potato lazy guy..lose quickly.

No activity, maybe not afake fb page or a creeper, but a dull teacher sure.

No fb page but teacher gives out email to students...bingo. Creeper.

FB is very public and to my mind, safe as long as that teacher is safe. After teaching here awhile, I have seriousdoubts.

In short, are you hiring teachers full of life or are they social misfits, alcoholics and creepers?

Someone who doesn't use Facebook is by default an "anti-social loser"???

Sounds pretty fascist to me.

Judging by your comments I can assure you that you will never be a true educator and certainly not an administrator; so what you say is no value to anyone in the teaching profession.

Agreed; possibly the stupidest way to judge a teacher's value I have ever heard, apart from whether they are good-looking or not.

I might as well say that people with busy facebook pages are shallow ninnies, who somehow think that their tedious daily lives are of such vital importance to people they barely know that they must broadcast the complete details of their dull existence at every opportunity; of course, I try not to generalize.

Well two things

1 Foreign teachers get more money

2 You have no idea of Thai culture just another Farong with why don't they do it like they do in my country menttality.

1. More money, in the short term, but depends on the type of school, the individual school, the seniority of the teachers, the relationships the teachers may or may not have to the management etc. Long term, maybe not- knew a perfectly ordinary old teacher in a relatively rural school on 82,000 bath/mth base salary (saw the contract with this in). How you play the game, maybe. Not to mention benefits and "perks". Not everyone is on less than 15,000 baht a month, you know.

2. I do know of the reluctance to unionize and the cultural/political reasons why, and I disagree with them, at least in some cases such as this, where obviously it would do some good- sometimes change isn't a bad thing. They do it in many other countries, not just my own. Not even saying unionize, just stick up for yourself en masse on occasion, if you are in a ridiculous situation such as one described in the post I commented on. Give it a go, at least? Up to them.

Do you know more than Thai culture than me? I'm not saying you don't, because I don't know who you are, but how are you so sure of my knowledge on it? Even so, I can know about it and, at the same time, not agree with it...

Well maybe you do know about Thai culture more than I do. You just don't accept it. You want it to be like it is in your country. I accept it even at times when it is illogical to my western mind. I have been here long enough to know that it is changing on it's own merit and speed. I recently had to buy my two Thai Granddaughters a new computer and printer for school. That was unheard of when I first started visiting Thailand 9 years ago. I know enough about Thai culture that trying to impose change on it from an outsider will not help. Accept it and do what you can to help change it when you see the chance.

As for the first statement could be I was replying to one posters school policy. I have no idea of the other schools.

I will deal with your final statement first- you used language which indicated a generalization ("foreign teachers get more money"), which seems to negate your "could be". The other part- I know nothing of Thai culture- was an assumption, which you have climbed down and gone sideways from, even though the rephrasal is also an assumption..

You might not believe me, but I agree with you about not imposing change. Some questions-

1. Why did you have to pay for the computer? Presumably kindness, but...

2. By paying for the computer, why should the government/Ministry of Education feel they have to pay for anything? This allows them to ignore their responsibilty.

You can obviously disagree, but isn't buying the computer for the school, not your own granddaughters, foreign interference? I'm not trying to have a go, but as I said, I agree with you- it is the job of Thailand and Thai people to change things if they want to.

I don't want to change Thailand any more than they want to change it themselves. If they didn't want to change, for instance, workers rights, why do they have all of the employment laws and courts that they have, and have had for a while? A cynic might say it was to pay lip service to modernization, for whatever reason. YMMV.

However, is protecting the rights of workers anti-Thai culture? Is speaking up against injustice and other problems, in itself, anti-Thai culture? I would say no. Recent years (and even decades before then) have shown that Thais do not not accept some things now that were unquestioned before. This is more and more prevelant, and is not necessarily due to foreign interference.

I am not, as some dubious personage suggested, a troll. However, every way of behaving that I suggested the teachers of the affected school use has already been used in Thailand, by Thai people, before, to varying degrees of success. It is true that I would like Thailand to change in many areas, but they are actually changing in many of these areas by themselves (over years, sure, but change is evident).

If it's what they want, it has nothing to do with me- it is just that a lot of what I want happens to correspond with a lot of what they appear to be moving toward, of their own volition...

Probably because you are one yourself. You have talked enough nonsense on this thread to be considered a troll.

Ummm... How is anything I said above incorrect? In fact, everything I have said on this thread is correct, or at least debatable, from experience. I would assume you know absolutely nothing about what you are talking about. "Nonsense", indeed. Tell me what I have said which is nonsense, then.

On second thoughts, I have just realized, somewhat belatedly, that I replied to a troll again. Fool me twice...

A quick look confirms that the only salary of less than 20,000, which is more than the 15,000 Thai teachers allegedly make, is for Fillipino teachers. I have yet to see a salary on there of less than 20,000 for farang teachers. However, icare999 was referring to international school salaries, which are not advertised nearly as much as government/private schools on that site, and his estimates are correct.

OMG- I have just responded to an obvious troll. Why the hell did I do that?

Probably because you are one yourself. You have talked enough nonsense on this thread to be considered a troll.

Ummm... How is anything I said above incorrect? In fact, everything I have said on this thread is correct, or at least debatable, from experience. I would assume you know absolutely nothing about what you are talking about. "Nonsense", indeed. Tell me what I have said which is nonsense, then.

This is exactly why government school is the best, as it strictly follow Prayuth 12 core Thainese value.

Thai government school now even have Farang teacher.

Not sure if they managed to get the full 15,000 Baht / month or not.

not having a go at you but honestly all posts I've read are total BS talking about 15000 baht. That is peanuts in real international system here where even lowest qualified forang teacher gets at least 60-80,000 baht a month in Bangkok and elsewhere at least 60,000 and many can earn 150,000 in top international schools. The thai assistants however are lucky if they get 15,000-20,000 and to be honest most of them aren't worth any more in my experience of having sent our 2 kids to several schools here including bi-lingual thai private and good international schools. I know friends who think 400,000 a year fees are crazy but international schools we've sent our kids have in each class properly qualified forang teachers or if not ones with many years forang experience. Amongst other things I'm a fully qualifies teacher but know that does not make a good teacher. Problem is most Thai teachers (except at some of very top) dont teach children to question and dont understand

" even lowest qualified forang teacher gets at least 60-80,000 baht a month" hahahahahah.

Please see here: http://www.ajarn.com/

A quick look confirms that the only salary of less than 20,000, which is more than the 15,000 Thai teachers allegedly make, is for Fillipino teachers. I have yet to see a salary on there of less than 20,000 for farang teachers. However, icare999 was referring to international school salaries, which are not advertised nearly as much as government/private schools on that site, and his estimates are correct.

OMG- I have just responded to an obvious troll. Why the hell did I do that?

jabuer what are you talking about? 82.000 baht per month for a teacher !! no way!!

Teachers/ government employees get paid according to grade.

The highest grade any teacher can achieve is grade 9. 70.000 baht per month.

I have shown my wife your post (she is a school director) took her five minutes to stop laughing.

Saw it myself. Can't say anything else, as obviously I don't have a copy. Believe me or not. I do know something about the concept of grades, thank you.

It is possible this was not, in fact, a base salary; however, it was a regular monthly amount, and the amount is not far removed from your wife's assessment of what is achievable (the woman was near retirement age). This is leaving aside the fact that, as everyone should know by now, what is official here isn't necessarily official.

As I said, it's not that far off from what your wife says is possible, and certainly extra school income is up for grabs, for the right people. As to the legitimacy of my claim, it's a system with lots of money flying around and mysteriously disappearing, and an amateur quality level of bureaucracy with an extremely thin veneer of respectability. Even as a school director, I don't think she could know everything that goes on in every case, and that is leaving aside the idea that she isn't necessarily in the loop as much as she might think she is (not trying to be rude, sincerely, but how else could I phrase it?)... That is, assuming she is a director, and does in fact exist.

They charge huge fees and pay the teachers peanuts

It's up to the teachers to accept or reject the salary they are offered. No-one is forcing them to work for "peanuts".

And, What is the Unemployment Rate among those Teachers who stand-up for their rights ??

Thai Teacher 15,000 THB, Farang Teacher 40,000 THB, so is that about right ??

There is a labor court which actually does work with at least some degree of impartiality (documented many times). Maybe if they did stand up more, and in a group, it wouldn't be so easy for their managers to exploit them. Foreign teachers don't often get screwed around with like this, unless they are very green, and they are thought of as eminently more disposable.

Thai teacher salary : Foreign teacher salary = Apples : Oranges

At our (private) school, Thai teachers haven't had a summer holiday for years, not even a day. Now, they are being told they must work weekends as well until the start of the new semester (through summer).

But the farang teachers don't? Why not? Is it because they have complained in the past and the management knows they can't strongarm them?

Just a guess, but if that is correct, it goes to show that, if you don't complain about something and just accept it, you deserve to have to put up with it. Thai teachers like this don't get much sympathy from me on this matter, as they won't do anything to change it. Sounds like your school's teachers have to do work for work's sake, probably to fulfill some management power trip, and are completely whipped; harsh, but if you don't stick up for yourself, what do you expect?

It's not just about them, either; the stress they let themselves be put under probably affects their performance and reduces their effectiveness in the classroom, and the students often don't want to do these after school/weekend/summer course extra-curricular activities and complain of being tired/bored. (It must be said, though, that many of the Thai teachers I know do actually get paid for extra work; off the official books, of course).

Well two things

1 Foreign teachers get more money

2 You have no idea of Thai culture just another Farong with why don't they do it like they do in my country menttality.

1. More money, in the short term, but depends on the type of school, the individual school, the seniority of the teachers, the relationships the teachers may or may not have to the management etc. Long term, maybe not- knew a perfectly ordinary old teacher in a relatively rural school on 82,000 bath/mth base salary (saw the contract with this in). How you play the game, maybe. Not to mention benefits and "perks". Not everyone is on less than 15,000 baht a month, you know.

2. I do know of the reluctance to unionize and the cultural/political reasons why, and I disagree with them, at least in some cases such as this, where obviously it would do some good- sometimes change isn't a bad thing. They do it in many other countries, not just my own. Not even saying unionize, just stick up for yourself en masse on occasion, if you are in a ridiculous situation such as one described in the post I commented on. Give it a go, at least? Up to them.

Do you know more than Thai culture than me? I'm not saying you don't, because I don't know who you are, but how are you so sure of my knowledge on it? Even so, I can know about it and, at the same time, not agree with it...

45slap, I appreciate that you gave further explanation of your comment, even though I personally disagree with your stance. Sorry for the earlier post, where I assumed you were just some "I have the right to do whatever" knucklehead.

In my opinion, proper respect for a good law should remain the same anywhere, and should not be affected by the environment; I would not murder someone in Thailand, because it is wrong, not because I feel I must obey Thailand's laws out of politeness or because I don't have citizenship, etc. The fact I am in Thailand does not affect my refusal to rob a bank any more than being in my own country would.

However, obeying does not mean agreeing, and it does not mean I feel I shouldn't have a voice. I may not be Thai, but I don't see why I can't affect change; I would actually listen to a foreigner in my own country if he criticized some aspect of it,and would then choose to agree or disagree with him. I would not dissuade him from saying it. By voicing an opinion, I might, in a small way, affect the mind of a Thai person (however unbelievable that might seem). I realize many people would vehemently disagree with this, and say that I have no right to influence a different country, or post that bwana picture again. I am not someone who means to oppress. However, I do feel my opinion should be allowed; it's just that no one has to listen to it if they don't want to.

If Thailand allowed (legal) slavery, I would vocally disagree with it. I know that I might well then be pressured to leave, but there are some moral absolutes that I won't abandon for the sake of the independence of another culture. If this makes me a fool, so be it- maybe I could change things, even if only in a minute way I don't believe I would be being hypocritical about disagreeing with a law, though, as there is no law saying I am not allowed to communicate my disagreement (apart from on certain things, although this situation does indeed make me feel somewhat of a hypocrite, regardless of whether I hypothetically agreed or disagreed with them).

You have made me think quite deeply about my stance; thank you.

At our (private) school, Thai teachers haven't had a summer holiday for years, not even a day. Now, they are being told they must work weekends as well until the start of the new semester (through summer).

But the farang teachers don't? Why not? Is it because they have complained in the past and the management knows they can't strongarm them?

Just a guess, but if that is correct, it goes to show that, if you don't complain about something and just accept it, you deserve to have to put up with it. Thai teachers like this don't get much sympathy from me on this matter, as they won't do anything to change it. Sounds like your school's teachers have to do work for work's sake, probably to fulfill some management power trip, and are completely whipped; harsh, but if you don't stick up for yourself, what do you expect?

It's not just about them, either; the stress they let themselves be put under probably affects their performance and reduces their effectiveness in the classroom, and the students often don't want to do these after school/weekend/summer course extra-curricular activities and complain of being tired/bored. (It must be said, though, that many of the Thai teachers I know do actually get paid for extra work; off the official books, of course).

Bakeman, regardless of what Buddhism is about, those two circus clowns are guests in another country. It has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with being respectful and behaving in a socially acceptable manner. Do whatever you want in your own country. My girlfriend tells me to run a red light; I tell her no. It's not my country. I abide by the laws. (Most of the time). However, in my country I will run a light if I want. Up to me.

I assume your home country has laws about running red lights, so it is not "up to you" at all, and quite correctly; likewise, were you to hit my kid by running a red light, it would, correctly, not be "up to me" to decide to murder you on sight in revenge, even though I would feel completely justified in doing so.

Hell, I work with a d...head who ignores everyone when he's not in class. Just plays on his phone. Has zero social skills. Reminds me of autism. When I speak to the guy and he ignores me, I feel like stuffing the phone down his gullet.

Maybe he actually is autistic, doesn't have the same social advantages as you, and doesn't really deserve abuse. Just saying.

Dear jbauer, I accept that I should watch more media from different countries in order to "get the accents more". I accept your sincere comments. I apologize that I cannot afford to pay for a professional translation. If I was born in the UK and live there my whole life, I would never bother people with this request. I seek help because I truly need it. Regards, Lara

FWIW, I am from the US, and I understand the speaker as well.

He's rambling on and on about the prospects of (developing) tourism in ASEAN, which I would personally pronounce as AY-SEE-AN... not AH-SEE-AN.

One of the reasons why it is difficult to understand his ramblings is that he is referring to presentation material, that we as mere listeners, are not privy to seeing.

I pronounce it AH-SEE-AN because all the Thai/SE-Asian teachers I have heard pronounce it like this (there is also an awful song which pronounces it like this as well). Could be everyone is wrong and it is actually pronounced "AY-SEEN"...

It is also correct that the presentation as it was given was probably easier to grasp, through use of slides, realia, etc. Again, while not wanting to be a d--k about it, that is why students have to pay attention, not just try to catch up later- something I wish I had done more in my degree!