.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Ajarn
-
Posts
5,362 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Downloads
Posts posted by Ajarn
-
-
I know of no instance where the MoE has ever certified any TEFL course- it doesn't fit in their mandate, and at least up until last year, they had nobody on staff qualified to make such a determination.
I have seen advertising that T'nT's course is certified by the MoE, but I haven't seen any evidence of that. I'm guessing that someone was able to pass a cert through as a degree, but I don't really know what the exact basis for their claim is. It might even be true now...
^ Tis true, honest guv!
Three years now if I remember correctly?
Hmm...I guess that's good....
How do you know, Ken?
-
About 100-120 baht per hour in my experience They tend to have you purchase 10-20 hours up front. Some places guarantee you a license at the end...
Not sure about testing fees...
-
I'm in my late 30's, born American and fell in love with Thailand and the girl. I'm not rich and don't need western comforts other than the occasional coke. Has anyone left the west with little money (1 mil bat or less) and eeked out a lifetime of an existence in Thailand? I plan to marry a nice Isaan woman who is a cook and a massage therapist, not a bar gal. We plan to open a restaurant in northeast Thailand and live a quiet life. 95% of the people call me crazy for doing this. "It's not realistic." "You gotta have millions more bat to live the ex-pat life." "What are you gonna do when you're 70 and have no retirement funds? Make a border crawl?" I can bear the heat, the mosquitos and the rats, not neccesarily in that order. Can one collect Social Security while living in Thailand. I have been diagnosed with clinical depression which may qualify me for benefits. The depression seems to lift when I'm in Thailand. Coincidence?
" The grass always looks greener on the other side"
Sometimes it is, too
Follow your heart, but cover your ass.
-
Thanks guys for the honest replies. I was never really any good at written English at school. I would very much like to live in Thailand and at the moment are exploring the possibilities of work and I seem to hear alot about teaching. If I'm honest I don't know if I would enjoy teaching especially if it is as hard as you make out, I can have stress and sh*t all day in England. My feeling is though that I don't want to end up doing a job that keeps me around westerners all day I like the Thai people and would like to work along side them in soom capacity.
Working in a Thai office isn't the nirvana you might think. Lots of shit going on in every Thai office I've worked in, and it seems to get worse as the educational levels in the office go up...H.e.l.l., to me, has always been an office full of Thai female ajarns....
Watch out for Reality
-
You should be able to check with the Ministry of Education if the TEFL course is legit. Ask the school for contact details etc. Also The TEFL Institute don't mention anywhere on their website that they're certified which also another big, big give away!
Other than that IJWT teach has pretty much hit the nail squarely on the head IMO!
I know of no instance where the MoE has ever certified any TEFL course- it doesn't fit in their mandate, and at least up until last year, they had nobody on staff qualified to make such a determination.
I have seen advertising that T'nT's course is certified by the MoE, but I haven't seen any evidence of that. I'm guessing that someone was able to pass a cert through as a degree, but I don't really know what the exact basis for their claim is. It might even be true now...
As a former CELTA course inspector, I can tell you that the local CELTA course can screen you out, if they choose. The Cambridge folks keep a close eye on student grades at the end of each course, and the rate of failure to complete the course. Pressure has been put on certain course-givers to have a testing and screening process in place for all applicants, especially if grades/failure rates deviate much from the norm.
In the case of the courses here in Thailand, I'd say that if the applicant passes the screening test (which often includes a grammar section...), they likely won't be screened out for not having a degree. But I have inspected some courses where those without at least a H.S.dip or degree were not allowed to take the course...
It is claimed by some (usually without much evidence, from what I've seen) that CELTA is more "acceptable" internationally than the other certs, but both Bruce from Tefl Int. and Leigh from TnT will tell you that they have plenty enough grads teaching in other countries.In my experience, CELTA (A= Adults) is the most respected and well-known of any of the certs (Trninity is also well-known)..Evidence gained from many discussions with hirers over the years,locally, and at International TESOL conferences. A CELTA course is not just a lot of theory as some say- it's all put into practice, too. It's only downside for Thailand teachers is that it is designed for teaching adults, primarily.
It's also true that ANY cert will be accepted by someone, somewhere, but mostly by the desperate or uninformed hirer. With the enormous number of very dodgy TEFL courses (some with no teaching practice), informed people who hire teachers will surely accept the CELTA over most any other 'unknown' cert, like the TEFL certs offered by the two local companies.
I do recommend both of the local companies for teachers planning to teach in Thailand only, at least at first, primarily because you get real teaching experience with kids- the main market here.. Teachers with some experience under their belt need to be less concerned with their certs, most of which are only basic entry-level training courses, anyway. Hirers tend to ignore TEFL certs from experienced teachers, in my experience. Still, the CELTA cert will at least give a hirer some confidence that the teacher isn't completely clueless...
-
You can also get the address verification letter from your Embassy....No proof required, simply one of those 'you tell us what you want us to sign' affidavits....The one from the US embassy also doubles for getting your Thai DL
Some years ago, I succesfully used my UBC bill to verify my address when registering a bike in my name. Supposedly, UBC requires their equipment be located at the same address as on the billing, pretty much assuring your residence there...
-
Except for during rainstorms, the outage last night and today is the first time I can remember such a long outage...
The last time the people in shared networks were off for several days,
at least this one was only 12 hours.
UBC out for several days? When was that? What do you mean by 'shared networks'?
-
The cheapest place I know is inside Tanin Market, on Chotana road. There is an area with cheap wood furniture. Wooden dining/work tables starting at 300 baht, and most anything can also be made to order...
-
Except for during rainstorms, the outage last night and today is the first time I can remember such a long outage...
-
Once again there is no signal from the UBC satellite service.
The signal has been off since 7am 13th Sept at the least,
possibly earlier.
They cannot link to the satellite due to technical difficulties, is the official message.
A recording apologises for the poor quality of pictures, which shows how much they really understand their business.
UBC is a digital service and as such you either have a good picture, or you have nothing. There is no such thing as "Poor picture quality"!!
It went off at precisely at midnite, and it is throughout the country. UBC said to 'wait a few minutes', when I called them this am...
As for digital image quality, it's not so black and white as you might think, and it's quite possible to have poor image quality in a digital image. If you've ever made a .jpg image in a graphics program, for example, you can compress and filter the image to be of varying visual quality, and it's still a digital image.
Much of the programming on AXN is heavily compressed, and you can see the images start to 'pixelate' especially in action scenes with lots of camera movement...
-
Gary, I got the 3.0 Turbo, and if I remember correctly, the CarryBoy was about 24,000 extra
The total package was right about 780,000 baht, cash.
Good luck with the car buying.
-
A Thai friend of mine is looking to sell her motorcycle, but has no idea what it should be advertised for - and neither do I Naturally I don't want her to get ripped off.
I'm posting this here as I expect like any other country, prices for used vehicles varies from region to region.
The details of the bike are as follows:
Honda Sonic 125RS, 2yo, less than 4,000km, electric start, front disc brake, silver in color with white mag wheels, as new condition, always housed under cover, one owner. Cost 50,800 baht new.
Any ideas?
Just a wild guess, but I'd try for 40,000+ as a quasi- realistic price...
You can try checking with the guys at Goodwill Bikes Soi2, Chang Moi @ the Military Bank, turn right. They will give you an honest educated guess.
-
American University Alumni (AUA)
73 Rajadamnern Road, Muang, Chiang Mai 50200
Tel: 278407
Fax: 211973
E-mail: [email protected]
-
I bought an Isuzu last year, and went to three different dealers, 100 km's apart, to check prices. Each had the same pre-printed color catalogue (as did mitsubishi) with all the prices neatly printed. Each place offered this as the price, with added options, 4wd-2wd, auto-5 speed, turbo-nonturbo. About an 80,000 baht difference between 4wd and 2wd, for example. Something like, I think, 30,000 extra for the auto, which I have, and love it. The torgue converter really seems to be setup perfectly for max power transfer. Powers right through the gears with minimum lag. Leaves those clutch pushers in the dust
The trick seemed to be in knowing what options were giveaways, since they weren't offered until I specifically asked for free options...I ended up with free liner, big bumpers, luggage rack, window film, I baht of gold, insurance and registration for first year, 'transportation' fees waived, 2 liters of fuel
I would definately recommend Isuzu as a vehicle, and as a service organization (except they're ###### kii nio on the fuel). Pretty much everything 'just like home', except for much better service here, and a lot cheaper for Labour, which is the best deal here, really. Isuzu has more service centers in Thailand than any other car maker, too. I also feel confident in them to not scam me in any way, and I would feel confident (at least in the main Chiang Mai Service Center) even if I was a clueless chick, or a cluless farang.
I love driving it (4-door PU w/carryboy) and a bit more than a year later, zero problems- and the aircon Rocks!
161 kmph (verified by gps) top speed, in my case. Turbo pulls hills like a champ.
-
For me, the price of diesel is inconsequential. The great sense of Sabai Jai (relaxation) that I get from those long drives is far valuable than a couple of hundred baht for a day's drive
My idea of a long drive is the 15 k over to the other side of the island
Sounds fun ajarn, makes me wish for a bridge to the mainland
Funny, makes me wish for a bridge to an island, sbk
-
But don't expect salesman to know it.
Boy, is that an understatement
-
For me, the price of diesel is inconsequential. The great sense of Sabai Jai (relaxation) that I get from those long drives is far more valuable than a couple of hundred baht for a day's drive, and it's often the cheapest part of the trip, since I also enjoy looking at stuff being sold along the hiways- on my way back from Bkk last week, along the road, I bought:
A fresh honey comb with live larvae- just bite in, it's delicious!
A couple of Jasmine flower garlands
A couple of kilos of fresh* smoked fish
Enough Plaa Ra for a year
Some plants for my garden
A clay oven (to replace the one I got there last year)
Delicious fried banana chips of the sweet and salty varieties
Oh, and I bought a souvenir receipt for speeding from the police near Thoen- only 200 baht
Who could ask for a fuller day!
-
Here is a place with an interesting collection that includes a Corvette and a Trans Am. http://www.pattayacity.com/intercar/
-
Ajarn, surely Nelson would fit in really well with your feline academy
I think my housekeeper would head back to the hills
-
Thank you Ken for sticking up
for me on this one, until
you got the old buzzard (joking only Teacher).
-
Dogs?
No experience but would think more likely to be timid as has no agressive in it. Can do a test if required
My sense was that P1P's question was more along the lines of his ability and 'streetwisdom' to Flee The Scene when necessary...
-
It's not often you find someone willing to research an alternative viewpoint.....
My plan was to research it to reinforce my position, not yours!
-
Thanks for your patient and informed teaching, Ajarn
-
Okay, because of your insistence that things are different now (and with the credible anecdotal evidence you presented), I cruised through some ajarn.com ads and I believe now you are right. There is more of a demand now for science and math teachers than in years past. A few in tutorial centers, a few in Thai govt schools. Of course, these were all for teaching kids. If you like 'em, great.
Still in the extreme minority when compared to the need for English teachers, but clearly more of a need than I'd seen before.... I stand corrected. I still believe that focusing on English teaching skills will be of most value, but the Science/Math background clearly is now value-added.
http://www.ajarn.com/Jobs/jobs_offered.php#1003764
Hey, even Olde Dinosaurs can learn new tricks
Thai Learning To Drive
in Chiang Mai
Posted
It's on the South side of the Middle Ring Road, about halfway between Chotana road and the Mae-Joe/ Chiang Mai road- just across from the giant Mae Kwan Im statue at the Chinese wat.
Just an open field that is used by many people to practice parking and such. Sometimes you can catch a driving instructor there teaching.