inutil

Both sides want to selectively enforce the rules. They just can't play on the same playground together. Both sides want the Constitution modified to support their view. Both sides want the Constitution rewritten to weaken their opponents.

That is politik essentiale.

I find all available information, including takes from the international community, most TV posters, and Thai news agencies so grossly incomplete that I could not make an informed ajudication of this situation if I was clairvoyant. I have read the available history, including both sides' current and past leaders, and it reads like some mad geneticist had teamed up with television writers to combine The Three Stooges, the Chicago gangsters, Elmer Fudd and Charles Manson into some hsyterically wild genetically manipulated sit-com to unleash on the world in 3D (live, without using a theater).

Too sad to be funny. Thai people deserve better than this.

Of course. Real politik. But you do this through a mandate and you win an election to garner popular legitimacy for your move. Nothing is inviolable. If 66% of people in the legislature will it, even the almighty US constitution can be changed. But real politik isnt the issue that is at hand here. The EC's job is to bring forward a legitimate government through transparent and democratic processes. As a scholar of thai law, im sure you know your relevant thai constitutional articles. That they propose a means to offer the voting populace a better alternative (and a more legitimate alternative - regardless of what we think of the parties themselves) is exactly what they should be doing as advisers in the process. The democrats have a means to return without too much blowback, whilst PTP have a means to justificably cleaim the election as valid and the genuine will of the thai people. The decision by the democrats to boycott this election will have been fought over. The times have changed. A fait accompli from a month ago serves no one.

It was not Yingluck who said she would not resign

It was Thaksin who said she would not resign

Poor now even allowed to make her own decisions about her own life ..

YS ...... "Thaksin is it ok if I go potty now"

You have made an outrageous allegation here which is highly inflammatory.

You state "It was Thaksin who said she would not resign"

You have not put this as an opinion, you have not referred to unverified and therefore possible false newspaper reports from unnamed and unknown people.

You have made a claim it was Thaksin.

Please back up this absolute allegation you have made with unequivocal proof that your statement is 100% correct !

...or dont. Its just a message board, not a court of law

Its very obvious why theyd say this.

First, as we get closer to February 2nd and the election itself, the momentum is such right now (although somewhat disippating to be honest) that it will only ramp up by the end of January. Its a simple calculation by the EC that benefits no one but the democratic process (which is of course their charge). More time means more time for the protests to blow out, or more time for them to take hold. Either way, the people will in effect have spoken and this will offer at least some grounds for moving forwards.

Second and most importantly. No matter what the results, one of the biggest parties in the country refuses to contest the elections. This has been a calculated gamble at the height of the protests and one that is going to backfire. They will be locked out of the North for a generation. But in allowing the option for a re-do/mulligan, the EC allows the democrats to come back on board. The only benefit here, yet again, is the democratic process. Though damage will have been done by their call for the disenfranchisement of the poor (for lets not beat around the bush here), in the name of 'electoral reform' (inevitable boundary changes re-weighing the value of their vote against the core democrat base) and a 'peoples councils' (stripping them altogether from power and influence), the damage can be managed and even a compromise power sharing agreement can be worked upon to push the country forward THROUGH elections and democracy. This benefits all people and all of Thailand. It also legitimises the electoral process itself as a means for (somewhat dysfunctional - but where isnt?) dispute resolution.

So its a very simple request: PTP allow the democrats a second chance to re-evaluate the change in tempers (and it is a change away from the bangkok protests by the looks of things). The democrats for ther pat will be put uder extreme (internal) pressure to reconsider their position. Of course, they will be punished this time around for sure, but this does not lock them out of power indefinitely (by democratic means or pure political chicanery). Thus minimising the fall out (and allowing them to make the case that they stood purely for electoral reform and not an opportunist power grab (which will of course envelop them should the 'coup' finally happen). Should they agree though, the wind will be pulled out of the sails of the protest movement completely. Peoples minds will turn to the election itself.

However should PTP agree on principal to this under condition that the democrats agree to contest the election and the democrats still refuse then honestly, there is no reason on earth to delay the election and the actual democratic will of the people. Every party is free to implode all it liked. The whigs no longer exist. The SDP is long gone from the UK (some might say?). If a parliamentary party choses to self-destruct to hold the elctorate hostage, this should be absolutely condemned. But it should be the duty of the electoral commission to mediate and attempt to get as many names on that ballot as possible. It is therefore only right that they should at least try to return one of the biggest parties off the streets and back into the ballot box. So no need for the accusation that they are in the pockets of the PDRC, they are doing a difficult job in rather trying circumstances to achieve two goals: Electoral credibility and governmental legitimacy. No democrats in the next parliament just means a year or two of unstable goevrnment and the whole thing repeating again, wasting tax payers money and eroding the faith of the people in the democratic process. Bringing the deomcrats on board AND power sharing is about the only genuine prospect of a stable government in thailand.

Tilac2 wrote:

...

Here are just a few examples of what Thailand needs to do to be brought into the 21st century:

elimination of extreme poverty;

rational public transport;

better education, including critical thinking;

better public health;

enforcement of laws;

better environmental policies.

When does Suthep talk about these policies? Dunno. But few Thai politicians ever do. Thaksin was that rare politician who actually did anything about any of these important issues, and he is vilified. Suthep goes on and on about the need to 'clean the house'. That always means Thaksin. Suthep seems to be empty of any policy except kicking Thaksin out. ...

__________________< end of quote >_________________________________________________________

One thing I miss in your list is the reduction or even extinction of corruption. How come? Also where is a real/working democracy as a way of running the countries, in a way that includes ALL and not only the rich and superrich...

The other point is that I would put priorities in a differnet way.

Better education and critical thinking you mention... Well Taksin had 6 years time to improve education, at some point he was Minister of Education and still... no change at all. To be honest, it doesn't take me wonder. Because clever farmers wouldn't vote for TRT or any such old-fashioned parties, so better to keep 'em stupid and give them 1000 Baht, when you visit them before the next election is opened.

The protesters in Bangkok are all for fighting corruption, more real democracy, better education and a more even distribution of the national wealth. So why would you wnat to put such people down? And instead believe the lies of Taksin. KNow when I stopped believing him? When he claimes he would sdolve the Bangkok traffic chaos within 6 months, some 16 years or so ago. I mean, how can you trust somebody after such a statement???

I wish people would stop with the farmer yokel bullshit. Just because youre a farmer, it doesnt make you an idiot. Just because you dont have an education above primary school level, it doesnt make you an idiot. Theres plenty of ways to be canny, smart, clever, intelligent, thoughtful and considerate on this planet. The root cause of wisdom and intelligence isnt your 4.0 grade average in the SATs.

People will vote for what is in their self interest. The key challenge is simply to show them how a communal self interest benefits them FAR more than a short term interest. There are very few people so stupid that they cant understand this. Then again, there are also very few people who are stupid enough to believe a third or fourth promise of 'jam tomorrow!'. And had the 'democrats' not undone everything with one stupid action (not the protest, but the absolute and unalterable insistence that there be no talks, no discussions and that the franchise be once again threatened because the poor are clearly too stupid to vote (for a party that offers them very little)), they might well have found a very good opportunity to make a real dent in these areas and offer an alternative. The growing crisis over rice payments is an open goal for a parliamentary opposition party. It creates the clear conditions for change WITHIN a legal rational framework (thus, as a crucial bonus, restoring the legitimacy of an accountable government to the people and thus the VALUE of every persons vote).

Instead though, they have once again cheapened the democratic system and made it much more likely (ironically) for short term interests to trump longer term insterests. Why bother caring about these issues in the future when 2 years down the line we'll be back in another coup/constitutional crisis and the paralysis of government?

Its an absolute catastrophe for democracy. The only way this will reach any kind of solution that will benefit thai people in the long term is (ironically again), if democracy holds out and the protests dissipate. But why will they? The democrats know that the decision to abandon contesting the elections has pulled them out of government for the next 4 years, and that gives them absolutely no reason to act in a manner that would respect the democratic process throughout the lifetime of the next government (should it even occur). Its all or nothing. And if the protesters should get their way... they have just lost the rural poor in the north for a generation. In fact, should their reforms go for the type of boundary changes (the only 'democratically' acceptable way to strip people of their vote) that would cripple the chance for the return of the reds (under whichever party name theyll be going by once PTP are unsurprisingly banned for the next 5 years), they will simply march on the capital because once again democracy isnt doing anything for them. And the only way to stop them will be civil war or acceding to their demands.

Its like a gigantic merry go round. Im assuming thai people must be having a bundle of fun on it because no one seems to actually want to get off.

Honestly, you kinda damned yourself in your second line of explanations.

Couldn't be arsed

Well, assuming thats you (and not the kids) which i honestly think it probably is since i assume what the people saw was your usual class with them. But thats okay. Sometimes it feels like youve been given certain classes to babysit anyways. Ive taught some shockers. We all have. Probably that class has a reputation anyway. Talk to their normal english teacher and feel out the situation a bit. Chances are youll both be giggling about trying to get that boulder up the hill. If that doesnt work, lament that its so hard to get them to follow even the most basic instructions and how you really need a thai teacher in there to help you with discipline and translation. Tell them it doesnt even need to be an English teacher, it just needs to be a teacher they listen to and respect/fear. Recommend the PE teachers Your teacher will either dismiss it out of hand (but now recognise that its the fault of the students and not you because youve tried sosoooooooooo hard to get them to listen but are close to throwing the towel in) or theyll be silly enough to bring it up at a meeting where any staff will immediately veto the idea. Discussions will then begin on how tricky that class might be and the homeroom teacher will now be told to make them behave in the next class. And for one class (or ten minutes of one class) they might. But no matter what its now been deflected and seen as a problem with that class and only that class and not you. The end.

Teens want what most kids want: to do and talk about the stuff they enjoy.

Anyone who teaches in asia realises that britannia doesnt rule the waves... unless its a school affiliated with cambridge. Those bastards are everywhere all of a sudden!

Either way, you have to make a choice. If the school is teaching British English, you teach British english. If its teaching american english, you call football, soccer so as not to confuse your poor students. You can teach them both of course, thats fine. But you could also teach your physics students that newtonian physics isnt in fact universal and that theres at least 10 dimensions. One of my mates, i remember quit his physics a-level many moons ago because of this. He said that every week theyd say "you know that shit we taught you last week... sorry, we didnt really mean it, thats only part of the truth which is not really any of the truth. but i swear, THIS WEEK youre going to learn the truth!" After about 6 weeks of this, he gave up.

My point is that ist just easier to lie a little sometimes. As a parent of course you can enjoy explicating the differences between british and american english and maybe even the way english is spoken throughout the world. It could be a fun lesson on accents if you like or about the places that english is spoken and why. Whee! lots you can do that doesnt dictate one or the other as the universal and sole truth. 00

I think you might be mistaking a language school with a school that teaches the english language A language school is a school where you go to learn thai. Thus you get an ed visa (under threat by the way). Then again, i might just be mistaking things. And because i want you not to get in trouble im not going to press you on the matter so you have plausible deniability

1. Get your double entry tourist visa. Dont just turn up on a waiver. Even if your company say theyll help you out. Just do it. Itll give you six months.

2. You need a degree to work legally in thailand (unless youre a hooker - im sure theres some kind of 'entertainer' visa like they have in japan... then again, theyre not exactly starving for entertainers needing to be lured to the bright lights of kabuki-cho). As such youll want to maybe make sure you remove any and all references to your job, where youll be working and be very cautious about revealing any further personal information under this account now that you have. It just takes one idiot with a grudge, or one person doing their job and its game over.

3. Plenty of people work illegally though. Dont be too discouraged. But dont announce it to the world.

4. SMILE. No one expects a fresh off the boat genius teacher, but if you smile and your kids like you, you wont suck at your job.

5. You will however suck at your job. Dont sweat it too much. Just try and be professional enough to learn from your screw ups and improve.

6. You will speak too fast, you will go off on unnecessary tangents, you will use too much english and you will bore your kids. All fo these will be fixed in time.

7. Until you get a visa to work here your options in this industry are very very limited (unless you get married). So its PROBABLY not going to be a career for you. That being said, there are other countries that have less stringent requirements, they pay worse, but by some accounts seem perfectly good fun to live in. Enjoy it while it lasts but have cash kept by just in case Even if its just an empty credit card. Youre working illegally. You should be prudent enough to have a means to get the hell out and keep your nose clean. Dont worry, i had a friend who worked illegally for the two months he was teaching in thailand. He didnt intend to, but the process took so long that by the time he finally had the documents ready from his employer, hed already turned in his resignation and was taking a job elsewhere. No one ever bothered him about it.

8. Keep your tourist visa up to date and keep your passport with you just in case. Squeeky clean in every other sphere of life should mean no one bothers you in the more shady bits.

9. If you dont have a work visa and are employed illegally, your company has you over a barrel a bit. At any point they can decide "oh wait a minute! im sure you said you had a degree!" Accept this as the price of the ticket and try not to piss them off. A good start would be not announcing on a public expat forum that theyre hiring you to teach english knowing full well they cant provide you with a visa and thus looking at a possible investigation into their business should an aforementioned wrong person look at this thread.

10. An ex-employee of the company i was working for took a fit about people not having work visas. He had some chip on his shoulder about something. My gmail was spammed with all these threats about how he was going to the labor board about it and how we'd all be deported. Nothing ever happened because the honest to god truth of the matter is that people without degrees and work visas keep wages down and mean thai businesses can make money on selling private lessons. In turn we get more schools and can have more locations and choices on where to work. Lalallala! I assume thats the reason, because honest to god, its not exactly a secret. In Korea they have (in part thanks to lunatics like AES (anti-english spectrum)), old housewives asking for private classes running around to try and catch you moonlighting outside of your VERY restrictive visa. They even get a reward when they do. In thailand... wellllllll... not so much Raids, if they happen are purely for the cameras. Institutionally they seem happy with things as they are.

11. I welcome all my illegal friends. You make me look awesome to be honest! But as someone else said, if youre teaching in rural isaan, no one is going to give a crap about your legality.

Truthfully in this case, thailand has money. I dont set its legislative programme. Thats for thai people to decide at the ballot box. But its not hurting for cash. We arent talking a war zone (well...) here. If people can afford to send their kids to private language schools to a point that theres a massive industry that pays MORE than the wage for a government school teacher because demand is clearly so high for teachers, then it can afford to pay for mainstream education. And if it chooses not to then im not going to indulge it by offering my services below market rate out of a feeling that someone should at least try and fix their (chosen) problems. I think its a national scandal that one of my coteachers (a brilliant teacher) said she could be earning far more money working in the tourism industry like her friends than working as an English teacher in Rural Thailand. Should the day dawn when she has had enough of teaching and does exactly that, then thailand just lost an amazingly hard working vocational teacher.

Again though, thats something for the thai people to decide on. This isnt Laos or even cambodia. Thailands pretty well off to be fair. That they decide to prioritise that money in private industry and very low taxes, thats for them to choose. If they think that rural education isnt important then they can remain eternally shocked when populist parties focusing on QoL improvements to rural thailand romp home in elections. Maybe they can strip them of the franchise or something, (well, until they find a way to make their vote count for less through scaled boundary changes and 'reforms')... again, thats the choice the thai people get to make for themselves.

Im not going to tell you to lose your motivation. Its exactly in the right place. But on a similar theme to an earlier post, i dont think that people should have to choose between a vocational career for the love of it, or a career you hate for the money. Teaching should be well paid. I mean of course *Real teaching* from genuinely motivated, and professional teachers. Not backpacking ESL teaching from chancers looking for a graduate gig to ride out a recession. Real teaching should be well paid, and individuals should be paying their taxes to invest in their offspring because its the absolutely right thing to do.You should be paid what you deserve and you shouldnt have to do it solely for the love of it. You should be doing a job you clearly love AND being reqarded for your effort.

This doesnt put me (self-interested and non-charitable) and you (kind and charitable) against each other as professionals. I want paid for what i do. And if i had the same work ethic as you (i dont) then theres plenty of money out there in the world to pay me (or rather, you), what i am (or rather, you are) worth. People shouldnt be in love with this whole 'vocational' thing. its a job. If its a job that needs to be done, then people should be paying for it. Its like the debates twenty years ago when people had the cheek to argue that nurses shouldnt be given a pay raise in line with the cost of living because its some kind of mystical calling and they should somehow sacrifice their lives for the sake of other people. Thats what a nurse is, right? Wrong! its a job. You need my sister cleaning your arse or generally stopping you from dying, then you should pay her a liveable (and frankly above livable because its an ESSENTIAL job in society with never enough people wanting to do it) wage. Dont play on her good nature twice. Not only has she chosen that for a career and sacrificed a great deal of other choices to help others, she shouldnt then be told that she should shoulder a shit wage on top of it. Thats outrageous. If theres money, you pay people. And if you cant raise money, then you stick the reductions on a manifesto and see how many people agree with you in an election.

"Things that get in the way and turn it into a maze:

2. Being old. Proper old. Not just middle aged and hiding it."

I'm 67 and was offered two jobs in just two schools just by visiting and smiling, and by being an NES which they couldn't find to work in their villages. I didn't even ask for the jobs. Yes I'm clean cut, well dressed, friendly, and I'm even lucky enough to have all of my hair.

But I know for a fact that I could find a teaching job in rural Isaan at my age if I wanted it and was willing to go without a work permit.

If you beat the system of prejudices and prejudgements... fair play! That was the point after all

On the other point on being paid Thai wages.

I am absolutely embarrassed in thailand to receive the wages i get. But genuinely, its not because im being paid too high, its because thai teachers are being paid faaaaar too low. The thai teachers i met were no worse (dispositionally/vocationally) than any teacher i met in japan or korea. Well, some of them. Theres some im left genuinely shaking my head at (teachers who sleep in class should be ashamed, and the teachers who just dont turn up for classes for the lord knows whatever reason and has no one covering their class is mind boggling). But the English teachers at my school in Trat worked very hard to bring these rural kids up properly. They set up classes after school and would spend their free time going over and over and over extra grammar points because, just like any teacher in any country in the world who actually cared about their job, they were 100% there to improve the life chances and opportunities of their students. This is why i personally think its often a bit bullshit when you hear attacks on thai teachers. Theyre no worse than their job than anywhere else. Sure, the older dudes struggle a bit, but thats the same everywhere. They learned grammar translation, they were taught to teach grammar translation, so they teach grammar translation. And theyre too old now to care about the switch to fluency and communicative English because the university and high school entrance exams are still pretty much built around grammar translation.

They cant speak a word of English, but they know their shit when it comes to testing and the material on that test.

Orrrr... theres the poor bugger thats been told theyre now an English teacher this year because the school has too many students and they need another teacher, but cant afford/find one. Usually a pe teacher because those guys do nothing anyways! I dunno if thats common in thailand, but it happened surprisingly often in Japan (and was one of my 4 coteachers in korea) so i assume it happens there as well.

But the younger english teachers i came across were passionate, diligent, and really really really wanted to drum into their students heads what made them passionate about learning English. Only the text book is an ABORTION that kills stone dead aptitude, inspiration, and passion. So much shit to get through, so few students who can follow it legitimately, and so much reading... so very much reading.

Kinda like one of my posts... brrrm boom!

SO yeah, that i get paid more than them is a scandal. That they get paid so little though is the bigger scandal. I never mind teaching in japan and korea because even a first year teacher made more than me in japan when you added in their twice yearly bonus, and im fairly sure that after their second year a korean teacher starts earning far more. So all things being equal, with eight years experience, and purely doing the job because someone was paying me to bring to life all the cute activities i found on englipedia for each class once a week, i figured i was being paid appropriately. But if im not changing lives in Thailand for the pay im getting (even at 30k) i felt a bit more aware of how much of a fraud i was. Buy two young english teachers &lt;deleted&gt; from my salary and train them up from scratch teaching communicative english! Better yet, pay your teachers a proper wage.

No maze at all.

If you have a degree in any subject at all, you have a job somewhere in asia.

If you have a degree in any subject at all, and a teaching certificate (120 hour tefl in class, base), you have a job in any of the big three.

If you have a degree in any subject at all, and a teaching certificate, and experience, you have a job

If you have a degree in any subject at all, and a teaching certificate, and experience, and intermediate language skill, you have a career in that country.

If you have a degree in any subject at all, and a teaching certificate, and any remote interest in teaching as a career, you have a career teaching in asia.

If you have a degree in any subject at all, and a certificate, and a remote interest in this as a career and the ability to pull your finger out yoru ass and occasionally retrain/update your skills, you have a decent career.

If you have QTS, or an MA in ed/linguistics/english and are willing to publish a few papers, youre pretty much sorted for life. Actual teachers and lecturers wont ever find themselves struggling for work. And if they are its because theyre being a bit too picky or hedging their options. But they can choose to be picky.

Far from a maze, it looks rather straightforward and simple. More like a freeway if you ask me. Everyone knows what needs to be done, they just dont bother, or would rather chance their luck. Dont think im not with them flying the slacker flag. Im their bloody mascot! Its just that this isnt actually, um, well, rocket science.

Things that get in the way and turn it into a maze:

1. Being from a country without 13 years of native English schooling.

2. Being old. Proper old. Not just middle aged and hiding it.

3. Being disabled.

4. Being fat.

5. Being ugly.

6. Being dirty.

7. Being smelly.

8. Being a drunk.

9. Turning up to an interview in shorts and a vest.

10. Having no ambition, interest, or love for teaching, but absoutely craving the escape of an easy life by the beach (and phoning it in).

11. Taking sick days.

12. Not cleaning your classroom.

13. Not interacting with the other teachers.

14. Boring your students.

15. Being disrespectful to any of the higher members of staff.

16. Acting in a manner that isnt befitting the dignity of the position.

17. Just all round hating the job and finding nothing enjoyable in it but not having the class and social grace to bottle that hatred whilst youre on the clock. Save it for warcraft.

18. Thinking "I know my coteachers think im a douchebag, but the kids love me so i must be doing my job right"

19. Not learning the language.

20. Scowlin around the corridors, outside the classroom, ignoring the kids outside of the classroom. Actually i think i can summarise this: Never smiling at school. SMILE &lt;deleted&gt;!!! More often than not, your job depends on it.

Oh slackers of the world, (and some who arent slackers but have the roadblocks up in their way by social stupidity, homophobia, racism, and whatever else), if you fit any of those criteria, look at some of the others you can do on the list and make an extra effort to pull that off. If youre a bit of a dick to the staff, pop back after new year with some goodies for everyone and theyll suddenly think that you were just shy all along and that it was THEIR fault you had such a weird relationship. If youre a bit phone it in, spend your lunchtime just wandering around mucking about with the first and second graders on the basketball or soccer pitch. You dont have to change the world, you just need to balance stuff. If youre a bit of a loner, learn a bit of the language and BE SEEN struggling with it a bit, watch the advice roll in from all the teachers who dont teach english. And if your school doesnt like you learning thai for the students, learn some cultural cornerstone phrases so that when you give your present to the director from the new year holidays, you can say it in impeccable thai with all the right bowing and have him or her instantly think youre a GENIUS employee who shows the right level of respect. Now youre in his eye as a wrothy son or daughter to take out for lunch and get to know a bit.

If you are fat, make a bit of an effort in your clothes and style. Look a bit more energetic and spry and dress sharper. Just because youre overweight doesnt mean you have to go to all the effort to lose weight and take care of yourself, it just means you have to own it a bit more. Do something to make yourself more employable. Get a qualification, learn a skill, shock them with a new style or technique or just extra attentiveness.

The great thing about being a screw up as a teacher is that theres LOADS you can work on and improve. You can pick and choose what tiny wins you need. Have at it. Its not hard.

I think you missed the point. The piece of paper is CRUCIAL to getting you the gig. Its just the relevance of said piece of paper to said gig thats in question. Get the right credential and it matters not a jot what your skills or motivations are (actually it does, but im really just mirroring the melodrama for the fun). But it still doesnt matter all that much. As ive frequently lamented, the only reason a dosser like me has a job in esl is because a) im MEGA cute for my age. Though that trains reaching the end of its line in the next 6 or 7 years; im stupidly energetic (and in turn this ones reaching its natural blaggit lifespan as well). If people ever wanted to make a difference to their education systems that have less of this! (me) and bring in more second language english learners with teaching qualifications in systems that actually WORK (scandinavian in particular - image + technique + motivation + desire). Until then though, im coasting entirely on the back of a iece of paper that shouldnt in any way allow me to be an authority in an entirely unrelated subject. One, by the way, i failed to get a grade c for at the first try for my GCSEs (C for english lit and D for english language - got an A years later when i was doing my a-levels, but still...)

If i could teach philosophy mind you (in particular political philosophy), im pretty sure id be a mix of INCREDIBLE and annoyingly over-complicated... :?

...Im not for everyone to be honest

Seems to me that the majority of problems you teachers face are because you haven't had proper training. If you either studied Education in school or at the very least kept current, you might not have those issues.

classroom management, an interactive approach in the classroom, well designed lesson plans, scaffolded lessons, and a few strategies to change up lessons if they are not effective, and realizing that you need your students as much as they don't need you. Stop thinking that you are the center of their learning.

One reocurring thing that I hear from this thread could be solved with learning how to impliment technology in the classroom. Since students are listening to music, put that in the lesson. Create activities that follow the curriculum that use music, games. "Bus Stop" create activities for them to explore things on 5 different tables *put a large piece of paper on each (whatever new vocabulary, grammar, concept, idea you want them to explore/discuss/know. Put them in groups and have them look at pictures, sentences in the wrong order cut out, etc. have them write, ask questions, or arrange things, Then after 3-5 min, have them go to the next table and add to whatever the other group just did. Building off their ideas. They can even write questions challenging what others wrote.) Then put each separate sheet on the front board and explore what each other came to. Facilitate and stop standing in front of the class.

If I need to lecture/present new material, even with a power point, I am walking around the room constantly. I do not stand in front of the class for more than 30 seconds a period, knowing every students name and engaging them constantly helps to.

Another thing to realize is that you represent "the English speaking world" if the students have a bad experience in your class, it will hinder their desire for learning all foreign languages and their desire to be with or communicate with foreigners. So yes, I agree with directors, you should not be taking away their technology, sending them out of class, and making them enjoy the entire time they have class with you. As long as their is a skill attached to everything that you do, a proper assessment, outcome and goal of every project you have them do, they will learn and find it worthwhile. Speaking English isn't and shouldn't be the only "goal" of taking an English class.

Watch TED TALKS, there is one on how we hinder children's creativity. My guess is most of those complaining of discipline problems, probably don't know the goal of education. If you think that learning facts, and knowing things is why we go to school, you are in the wrong profession.

It is clear that everyone posting has the heart in the right place, but it is also clear that the majority of problems being faced are not issues for veteran teachers with the theoretical knowledge of best teaching practices to back it up. I am not saying we don't have bad days also, but having clear objectives outlined on your board, letting the students know before they are assessed what criteria they are being assessed on, allowing their imput on what to learn, or what activity/project would help them the most, will turn a lot of these problems around.

I am a very energetic teacher, and have a naturally deep and loud voice, if students fall asleep in my class, they must be exhausted. English and other languages are quite boring to learn, they aren't practical if you don't achieve a certain level. So it is hard for them to see putting in effort day after day for no results. People also lack motivation when the result is a long term goal for when they are older. Math is another subject that is very hard to teach effectively, however since so many see and fully accept the use of math, they tend to work harder. Making tangible practical goals each lesson, showing them they progress, making it interactive and just plain fun will turn their motivation around.

Ah to be sure, youre not wrong. But lets me go a bit Turner to your waterlilies here. Its something that very very few people within it have chosen as a career. In fact, it has all the hallmarks of your classic summer job that you always planned to leave, but the pay was alright, the routine was nice, the people at work were a laugh and even though you kinda didnt like it all that much and found it a burden, well, there was always the weekend where you could forget about it.

There are a few of you skulking around i know who actually WANTED this for a career and work diligently at keeping up to date and trying your absolute best, but at a statistical figure plucked out of my kiester, id say you make up less than 5% of the western guys and girls out there. You make up much more of the non-western, or non-native english speakers of course. Because they understand the doors that English opened for them and they have a skill set of absolutely amazing practical advice and study techniques that they can pass on. They were motivated to learn their subect, they LOVE their subject. It stands to reason that if the opportunity and dispositon aligns, theyre going to want to teach the subject,

But the majority of english speaking natives? its a doss, a lark, something to do and see the world a bit. And most of us dont stick around anyway for longer than a gap year because, "hahaha! are you serious? career suicide! Two years max!" And true to their word, they go back home to be replaced by the next bunny caught in the headlight twenty or early thirty something. These make up the absolute brunt of the ESL conveyor belt teaching industry in Asia. "what? Someones going to pay me 3000US/month tax free because i have a degree in any subject at all and can speak my native tongue! AND i can spend my handsome vacations traveling around asia? Where the hell do i sign up for this?"

And then theres the lifers. The HARDCORE raiders of the ESL world! The biggest complainers out there. Well, some of them...

Some took to teaching. Maybe they couldnt teach in their home countries, or they could (as in a few of my US friends), but competition for jobs is a pain, so hey! asia! Maybe they just decided on a country change. They have their teaching qualifications, so why not see the world a bit at the same time and maybe one day bring this back to inspire their own students in kansas. They threw themselves into it as professionals and they love the job, they love the status, they love the self worth and those dudes... god i wish i was like them. Theyre HAPPY! By God! theyre actually LOVING their job despite its obvious frustrations and difficulties. And you know what, those dudes are climbing the ladder. Its that simple. Theyre interacting with their students, theyre putting in the extra time and effort working to become a valued, dependable and trustworthy member of staff. They are the vocational teachers! The ones who decorate their walls with loving care, who do the yearly 20km run with their students, and who make the classroom and learning environment awesome. Above all, they love their schools and the prospect that theyre making a genuine difference.

And then theres the teachers who got married and are trying to build a life here (or whichever country theyre in), and teachings whats available (at a not terrible salary), so teaching is what they do. They might not have quite the same enthusiasm as those above, but they want things to work, and if you want a career in this industry, experience in and of itself wont be enough. You need sustainability, you need to stay on top of your game. So you work hard and you do what you can so your kids can flourish.

And then theres the folks whove been doing this so long that they cant honestly figure a way to get out of it. They dont really want to be doing it, but they kinda overstayed the party a bit, and now theyre a bit too old for graduate jobs, (and a bit too jaded for a bottom rung job back at primark). Tragically, theyve accustomed themselves to a lifestyle thats... alright... and cant seem to find it within themselves to give it up to go work the checkout or sponge the dole for 6 months. They keep telling themselves theyre definitely going home after this year, but just kinda cant face it (because for every year they stay, the fear of returning a prospectless washed up thirty something is existentially terrifying.

Teaching, despite people often telling you otherwise is just in fact a job to them and not some kind of mystical calling. "Someone pays me to show up and dance, and i show up and dance." For these people, the kids are good fun, boisterous, noisy and a little poorly behaved, and just maybe theyre still nevertheless good at their jobs, but it doesnt inspire them and it doesnt instill in them a sense of purpose or joy. Its a job. Its mechanical and routine. Parts go in, hangover comes out. Maybe they cant believe their luck that someone would be stupid enough to keep them in gainful employment, or maybe, as i say, theyre just lost and lacking direction. Either way, they make up a heap of the lifers ive come across. Neither inspired nor unhappy. Content. Drifting. Delaying a decision they dont want to make, and riding their luck a bit until someone invariably makes the decision for them.

And then theres the final lifer subset: the guys who really shouldnt be near this industry. I meet a few of them on my travels, Theyre...not awfullll... human beings. But theyre not all there. And i cant for the life of me understand the desperation some recruiters must have when they hire these people. Surely they can see it!!!! But nope, and even if they do, fail in Japan? off to Korea; Fail in korea? off to Thailand; fail in Thailand? off to Cambodia! These are your classic 'running away from their problems' group. They dont make up very many of the people out there, but theyre the limpits of the ESL world. Youll be needing a crowbar to pry these bastards out of asia. And its probably because no matter how shitty their life is here they can always try and hide behind cultural difference as an explanation of their mad behaviour in the host population (which is why you often find them in the remote parts of the country where ne'er a farang exists). If they go back to the world where people can see through their shit clearly, theyll be checking out. And thats actually kinda sad, so the hate should stop on those human fuc_k ups.

The final group, unique to south east asia because the big three in asia all have strict and enforced laws, is the backpacker looking to prolong their stay a bit with some teaching on the side. I dont mind this dude. Some people forget that a lot of the goal of the job is to familiarise kids with foreigners and not feel intimidated using their broken english on them. More practice the better! It also allows them to take in more of the world. This weeks teacher might be their self intro on Ireland. They play a game in week 2 and then the next teacher comes to tell them all about Russia. One of my

schools im currently teaching at would actually LOVE this model to be honest! Theyre huge on the whole 'internationalization' thing.

Anyways, i didnt really mean to write a whole post of stereotypes, what i meant to write was this:

Your training in asia consists of this:

On the job training (what the hell worked!!!!!!???!?!?!? I think i will DO THAT AGAIN!!!)

Seminars where some schmuck from the above group chosen ENTIRELY on the basis of it being 'their turn', comes to tell you how to teach ("I dunno who thinks im an authority on anything, but er, this worked in my class! have you thought of trying this!)

One off talks from people trying to sell books like the Oxford Picture Dictionary who have NO IDEA AT ALL on how to sell the activities in the book, or worse, have no idea what a real classroom of bored kids will do to said activity.

Massive huge seminars (prefectural or even nation wide) where you all gather up for three days of socialising at a huge hotel in the capital and get plenty of advice on things like cooking, how to understand the mind of your chinese/korean/japanese co-teacher/neighbor. And then a few presentations where everyone is asked TO PRESENT how they would teach a class on x-topic to an imaginary class so we can all do exactly the same "I DONT KNOWWW!!! But have you tried this? this might work!!??!?!" active genki "fun" desperate activities. (obviously from 'presenters' following the classic "this worked before in a seminar i was at, ill fill the time with them doing group presentations!)

Oh, and we'll get one seminar on multiple learning styles and probably a lesson or two of the language taught in the most traditional boring rote method by a native actual teacher and also one "SUPER FUN" lesson taught entirely in Polish or something. And we all come back to school none the wiser and maybe with one or two plausible new activities we might have a crack at trying in the classroom.

Training and development is lackluster and dare i say it, a clusterfuc_k. If you want real training you have to pay for it im afraid. And so few people really want to make this a long term career. So its often blind leading the blind out here. And when youre kinda devoid of any motivation for the subject in the first place, that whole idea "do i really want to commit to a career in this industry or am i DEFINITELY going home THIS TIME when i have enough savings for retraining?" well, its a bit of a dilemma, im sure youll understand.

I stayed for two whole months in Thailand teaching (6 months in total). Im trying to decide what was the tipping point?

Teaching definitely played a part in it, but heres the rundown of things that made me leave:

1. The pay. Sorry. I know. But i can teach anywhere else in Asia. Ive got plenty of experience and more importantly, no real ambition or desire for a high salary. Im also rather employable once you see me in person. I dont need great pay, i just need enough to live on and send money home for the next time i get itchy feet and need to whole sale up sticks and move. The pay is awful.

2. The climate was horrendous (im a pale blue scotsman - its not for me ). Its not the heat, its the wetness. I was there from april to early october. So obviously i got the brunt of rainy season. But when it wasnt raining, it was humid, I lived in an apartment with a fan... and a bed. I would have furnished it out but i didnt even move into it until mid june, by then i was gagging for a pay cheque and then by the end of june id already made my decision to leave anyway.

3. The speaking test: I did a speaking/reading test with a p4 text book on P4-M3 students. I did initially try to use the grade below them to keep it easy, but i kept having to go lower down the grades until i found a happy and comfortable blind text they could handle. I found it at the start of the P4 textbook. This is my sister, her name is... she is... she likes etc. The reading test had my jaw on the floor, but the speaking component (very VERY simple questions) just had me wondering what theyd done for the last 6 or so years of their english classes. Some people might rise to the challenge and look at it as a fabulous opportunity to go back to basics. Im afraid i thought "Run!"

4. Because in conjunction with the INCREDIBLY low level the classes were an hour long. With just me. Im used to at least a disinterested co-teacher doing marking and occasionally piping up to tell them to shut up and stop running around. But by week 3 i was having 'quiet (INEFFECTIVE) chats with several students/lesson outside the classroom. And upon occasion actually blowing up at them. I know, youd have done it better, but in my defence, my teaching experience was japan (where im not the main teacher - and even when i am, theres always a very active coteacher with you, and korea where the coteacher is there (against their will usually and by the dictates of the vice principal), but still keeps the kids in line. Coming into Thailand was like being dropped into the deep end of the shark pool for classroom management. The kids have very little understanding of English. They treat your class as a fun game. Theyre super sweet, but my god, the attention span! And its an HOUR LONG!!! Jesus, im bored 10 minutes into a pimsleur lesson. And thats predominantly in my home language.

5. My crappy Mifi internet. An 8gb cap at max. I go through that in less than a few days. And if it rains, say goodbye!

6. And rural thailand is BOOOOOOORRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGG as hell! People are nice, but its boring as hell.

7. The work permit. Im (potentially) legal. I have all my documents. So why on earth is this process so unfeasible long? Why am i constantly chasing people up to get this done. And why, when it is almost done, am i the one responsible for completing the bureaucratic stage? Arent i being employed by someone? Why is the employee doing all the legwork here for legality? Isnt this something the person sponsoring your visa should be doing? Eugh! Again, asian expectations. Japan and Korea both created the expectation that someone else would be taking care of my paperwork. My bad. But even then its still taking FOREVER!!! I took the job at the start of april. I assumed we'd start the process immediately. As the first visa run arrived around the second week of may, i asked how we were getting on. We hadnt started. They needed to wait for schools to come back. As the second visa run came, because I hadnt started the job yet (point 8 now i think about it) no one had come to the school yet to get the signature. At the third run? Ah yes, we'll send someone next week. At the fourth... oh, that was just the first step, we'll get the docs together and send them all out to you and then you need to do another visa run because you need to have x-days left on your tourist visa to begin the process and then...

8. Why did my job start in June? The term started in mid may, the kids were at school in mid may. You requested i move to Trat in the second week of may. So why am i just meeting people then spending the next 3 weeks stuck at home without a pay cheque?

9. By "at home" i of course mean at a hotel. Since the subsidized apartment the school had set up (see above - fan/bed), had the former ANGRY teacher in it who refused to leave because "he had a contract with the school for the apartment". I moved in a month later.

10. Ants. I never used to hate ants until i moved to Trat.

11. Visa runs. I should have just done the tourist visa run. But i was broke and didnt fancy it. Plus as point 7, i honestly didnt know it would take so long. I figured those 15 days would be enough THIS TIME to get it done. But Hat lek/Cham Yaem is a hole. The cambodian mafia there are just so nasty to deal with. And i had to do it no less than 6 times. Including throwing caution to the wind by giving them my passport for 4 days while they did the Phnom Penh tourist visa run so i could do my TEFL on Koh Samui without another visa run.

Special bonus mention:

12. The Golden Orbweaver spider that slowly descended from a tree onto my back whilst i was taking pictures of one of its brothers (luckily seen out of the corner of my eye)! YUUUUUUUUUUUKKKK!!! right out of the darkest hell of my fears.

I dunno. A litany of things that bothered me. Not all education. In fact only really a few of them were education. The kids are adorable for sure. The schedule was alright (18 classes per week). But in korea the job was really satisfying, whilst the lifestyle was okay. And in Japan, the lifestyle was awesome (whilst the job was alright), when you have both the lifestyle and the job not working it can be hard to justify sticking around. If the classes were 45 minutes or there was a coteacher, i might have stuck around. Hell, if id have done my tefl before i might have had another try at it.

I dunno if ive written it off entirely. I think its just the wrong time in all honesty. I made the decision to go there at a time when id just lost my job in japan (company lost contract to lower bid by interac is what i tell myself), and the notice time frame (20 days), was too short to not appear absolutely desperate/terrified to find something else in time. So came here to buy time and see if i liked it. I didnt to be honest. But i think with a bit of savings in the bank to pay for the move/set up and enough for a rainy day, i could have done it with a bit less worry about the future and having the means to escape should i require it. So if i come back, itll be because i miss it and want to be here instead of doing it because i hit a dodgy patch of luck and needed to ride it out. And theres enough reasons that you could enjoy thailand to make the complaints seem as trivial as they genuinely are. Plus im solo teaching in china right now, so hooray for classroom management skills!

As a quick 2c regarding "High moral fibre"

I like to think of there being 2 standards by which "moral fibre" is judged. I grew up playing a lot of role playing games, and I think that they hit it on the button in regards to people's alignment:

Lawful - Obey/Uphold the law, regardless of whether it's a good law or not.

Chaotic - Do what you want, regardless of the law.

Good - Does what's "right"

Evil - Doesn't really care about "right" and "wrong"

With each person being a combination of the two sets of values, in varying degrees.

So you can be of high moral fibre, even if you're "Chaotic Good" or "Lawful Good". Likewise people will often consider themselves "Good", when actually they are simply being "Lawful".

Which is part of the reason why TESOL Certificates are so dodgey, as (to the best of my knowledge) there isn't a single international body which can accredit organisations on whether they meet a high enough standard or not. As a result, when applicants apply with a certificate from a dodgey TESOL school, the employer can't verify if it's a decent school or not, as they don't know which schools are good and which aren't. Universities on the other hand, have various rankings etc which can be used to confirm that they offer legitimate courses.

I always liked to think of myself as chaotic good, but turns out every test i take (and i take them because like you, i am a massive nerd), makes me neutral good. I cant even be a bloody druid.

Number 2 is by far and away the best choice.

Just because hes got a phoenix (i assume) degree doesnt make him a bad person who cant teach. Just because ive got a degree from an accredited university doesnt make me an awesome teacher. The degree is a visa formality, its a hoop you jump through for the work permit. It suggests you have the study skills and discipline in an academic environment i suppose, but nothing more. Im no brighter than someone without one. I can possibly write in a more colorful manner (and use bigger words thanks to the millions of essays i had to complete in the process of attaining my degree), but other than that... i dunno...

it always feels hilarious that i can teach in asia, and my swedish mates (with their fluency in second language acquisition) cant. It also seems funny that i get an automatic 1 year visa in china (where i live), and my Philippine colleague gets a six month visa purely on the basis of her nationality (shes a qualified teacher and im not). It does lead to a certain cynicism about the whole thing. I mean, i get why theyd want to put the hurdles up (probability?), but the only real qualification to do this job is a certain look and disposition that marries itself to the expectation of your clients.

Too cynical perhaps? Maybe so.

Bottomoftheladder4life!

So number 2. Tell him that hed have more success with that degree certificate if, instead of mailing it out to foreigners who know that its not a real university, he popped in to the schools themselves and spoke only to the Thai English teachers/directors who had no clue one way or another.

On the subject of thai men hating the farang. (and women i guess, but my massive straw poll evidence consist of one person who was 100% male).

Was coming back from Koh Samui. The bus dropped us off at Kao san road. I had to get to Nasa Vegas hotel. I had a fuc_king huge snowboard bag with me. I was haggling like a beast, but when you have a snowboard bag like that (dont ask) you eventually have to accept the deal you get or you drag that thing kms up the road to the nearest subway.

Anyways...

Approached by several taxi drivers all laughing about the bag. Liked one, but he kept trying to convince me i needed to go to a strip club. He passed me onto his mate, who then spent ten minutes chatting and negotiating the fare and trying to convince me about all the sexy places he could take me.

Thanks, but no dude, i just want to get to the hotel.

Got in the taxi and off we went. It took almost 10 minutes of flat out refusals and continual reminders that i wasnt here as a tourist but was a teacher that he eventually relented.

And in relenting, a wave of relief crossed his face that he could give up on the bullshit. I swear down. We chatted a bit. Obviously from Isaan, he hated that he had to do that whole thing, but he makes a cut from the bars so he goes full on. He seemed happy that as a teacher that he hadnt worn me down (not that he stood a chance mind you, did i mention the 35kg snowboard albatros sitting in the boot of his car?). In the continuation of the discussion, one thing became apparent. He kinda found the whole sex industry and that foreigners use it, as a kind of national disgrace.

He was a lovely bloke. Genuinely. Once the facade dropped he was just a hard working dude putting food on the table.

But this glaring hypocrisy was outrageous. Him and his friends had literally spent twenty minutes trying to convince me to go to a sex show. No let up. And yet, despite this; despite playing this whole game on dumb naive tourists that this was the most normal thing in the world for a taxi driver to insist that they all go to a cool sex show and not to the place they requested (and then when you refuse, just ramp up the matey playful nudge nudge ladyboys with huge cocks thing), should the foreigner relent, he would then have just one more dick head confirming what he always knew about foreigners. Confirmation bias i guess. But was he wrong?

Its this weird nasty little game that everyone seems to be playing. But lets be honest, plenty of people do join in and play the naive tourist suspending their disbelief a little and telling themselves that this is just how things are in thailand and its really just harmelss consequence free (moral or otherwise) fun.

I liked the dude a lot. But its right there, that little unspoken nod and a wink where we can pretend we dont understand whats going on so he can make a bit of cash to send home. Its an unspoken covenant between men who get to pretend to hate each other for what they turned them into.

On the recession thing!

Can i just add to my tale above and pin this down to November 2008. I got an email from my best friend. He wrote to me about his life and how he was doing... but he said this one line:

...and i might even have to replace you as my best mate".

It wasnt meant in malice or meanness. He was just flippantly saying that if i stayed in Japan for another year (going on year 5), he'd have to move on (in a cute way - best friends are best friends, thats the whole dam_n point of them!).

But it kinda hurt. Id been a dick staying that fourth year (i fell in love with snowboarding and got a job in Nagano after JET). He was unhappy - not at me - existentially i guess. And i really should have gone back.

So i gave in my notice. Id be gone at the end of the contract in March 2009. And perfect timing! I could score a nice quick minimum wage gig, then apply for a PGCE, spend a year training as a real teacher, spend another getting QTS and then i could use that as a springboard for some proper jobs around the world.

Needless to say the recession was a BEAST!!! I was reliably informed i was naive and that i really didnt understand its affects and would soon get mine when i arrived in the UK. And I did. Got a temp gig at a pitch and putt (brilliant fun job - sit in a shack all day handing out golf clubs, listening to the radio, studying and occasionally go for a round or two when its slow), then it ran out. People wouldnt even take your CV for temping. They were flooded with people. Minimum wage gigs were hugely oversubscribed, and after failing to get a job with the DSS (im a philosophy grad &lt;deleted&gt;! aside burger king, the civil service is all we DO!!!) by dramatically and somewhat SPECTACULARLY screwing up the interview i was feeling that overconfidence had maybe once again sunk its teeth into my ass.

Anyway confidence knocked I was sad, but not floored... No job, on the dole. Rapidly crashing savings. Itd all be fine anyway, i was going to uni!

...Until July and the UCAS knock backs! Amazingly it turns out, just having a degree in philosophy doesnt mean you will be automatically accepted onto a PGCE to teach Religious Education in a year where applications to uni EXPLODED. In fact after two years of self denial, ive come to the conclusion that it was nothing short of pure chutzpah to even think there wouldnt be thousands of equally jobless, worried, RE degree holders (or even with a minor in anything to do with RE - er... i did a module on the holocaust), who might be more suitable despite their clear lack of awesome teaching experience in a country, job, and structure that has nothing to do with the one youre now applying to teach in.

So 4/4 rejections. Then in clearing no call backs.

And thats why i panicked and took a job back in asia teaching in Korea. I mean i tried Japan again, but the visa man. Its a pain to get someone willing to pay you a proper salary AND sponsor that visa. Korea took me nae bother though. Enjoyed it. And thats where the next story begins.

(ETA: Theres no part 3 )

There but for the grace of God.

Its rather amazing how quickly things can get out of control when you just get one of those runs. I just had one.

I was in Korea, had a great time, had a guaranteed job, definitely coasting. Peaceful life. But decided i wanted to head back to japan so i could snowboard for those last few years before the knees give out. Made a mission then to get back...

Hard work getting the visa again

Accepted a job with my old company. Low wages (230) but figured id be back up after a year or so. Got positioned in Saitama but wanted Nagano. So after a year working at a school that wanted me to stay (im a bundle of ridiculous energy), i sacked it in to try a move to Nagano. Handed in my notice and assumed with my experience and my skill as a teacher Id be a shoe in. And it turns out that in the wrong end of 30 you might not have quite the same impression of your value that someone else does. Anyways, tail between my leg i went back to my old company. They hooked me up with a spot they were trying to get me to take in Nagano. Pay was still low (240) but came with subsidised housing and they agreed to waive the pro rata clause that forced my hand in the first place (paid term only).

So i turned up last year in Nagano. Obviously loved it. Well, i mean id lived there for a year before. Its isolated. Youre on your own pretty much, but those mountains all around you are fantastic. And the air is so nice.

Day 1, shown around and heres where the luck switched on me. I didnt impress one of the head teachers (i had 4 elementary schools i would teach at one day a month (on rotation) and my main JHS id be teaching Mon - Thu). This is hindsight of course. At the time i just thought that was her personality. Turned out i was wrong and it would cost me my job.

Anyways, things were going great. Excellent reports from all my schools. Even that elementary had only one complaint (that i didnt use enough japanese in meetings). I was a shoe-in for recontracting. I even received pre congratulations from my company for delivering after they got the reports. Then Blam! Two days later at a meeting to rubber stamp it (i was reliably informed by my kyoto sensei), the head teacher who disliked me from day 1 (hindsight), said these words... "i think its time for a change".

I then learned that she wasnt just the head of Sarashina elementary, but the head of the head teachers association for the district. So they effectively fired me. (well, didnt offer the company a new contract), Instead they went with interac (whom i assume also put in a rather aggressive bid).

I was told this on March 1st. My contract finished March 21st. I had to be gone at the end of the contract.

After trying and failing to get another job in time (im sure they could smell the panic), i had to make a decision. And that decision led me to Thailand (as it always does i guess if youre an esler looking to buy time). The plan was simple: Come here, find a job, see if i liked it. If i didnt, buy time for the Criminal records check and apostille to go through then get a job in korea.

I had enough cash to squee me through the first couple of months easy (about 100,000). I also had an untouched credit card ready for emergencies. I rationalised that although it sucked, it kept me in asia, it meant i could check out thailand and see its viability and it was a cheap place to live which means my savings would push me on a bit.

Arrived, wasnt entirely impressed. But got a job straight after songkran. Figured itd be ready to roll in May. I turned up as requested in early may to be told the job wasnt available quite yet and id have to wait until the start of June. No problem. Ill just pop to my cheap subsidised housing then get set up, do my visa run, and then spend a few weeks chilling on Koh Chang... Sorted! But alas the person i was replacing wasnt leaving quietly. He refused to leave the house, so there i was, snowboard bag in tow (yes, that was me if you ever saw an idiot wandering around bangkok dragging it behind him), suddenly forking out on a proper rent. found one for 7000. I then realised with the house and deposit (and after accidentally splurging on a suit, pants and shirts) i was down to my last 25,000 and with at least a month before id get my first pay cheque (end of June)... id have to hold off on the beach plans. Sat in my hostel playing games and keeping costs down. Thailand wasnt appealing to me, but i figured once id start teaching again, itd be all sweet.

But it wasnt. The rain came. Any journey of 5km on a scooter was a crap shoot regardless of the bright blue skies surrounding you for miles. It was like the Truman show. Any time you try to escape the boundaries of Trat, the heavens would open sending you scurrying back home.

And suddenly it felt really claustrophobic. Teaching was chaos. Pure chaos. The kids were mega sweet, but had woeful English. My coteacher was amazing but we dont teach together and i felt a bit douchy wasting her time moaning. I couldnt handle it. I was done. I looked, and as luck would have it my CRC expired in mid september. All i needed was to get it apostilled and id be off to Korea within a few months. And then i got yet another shitty break: You now need a TEFL for Epik. Dammit! I could, i reasoned (again), wait until the end of the contract in october, do the tefl, then head to korea... but what schools will be hiring in december? The school year finishes at the end of december and doesnt realistically come back until March... who would pay me for a three month holiday? It was decided then...

I handed my notice. I was going to finish July, do my tefl in august and then leave in September for the start of the Korean year.

And heres where it all went seriously aglae.

Load of jobs in June and July. Id tested the waters. Recruiters were hitting me up left and right. But i wanted Gangwon Do. This little test had shown I was still reasonably viable and wouldnt have a problem finding work. So i waited. And then August came and it was time to leave trat for the sunnier climes of Koh Samui and play TEFL. Didnt really give it much thought on the Korean front because it was still (too!) early. "The jobs would start flooding in mid august"...

I couldnt have been more wrong. Around the middle of the second week i had another look... where the hell were all the public school jobs? Of the very scant pickings, Id apply. Maybe hear back. Have my docs sent to the school and be told i had the job, only to realise that time and again this was just recruiters keeping me on their list for an emergency. Id refuse hagwon after hagwon because i was sure this time they meant it. By the end of the third week of the course i realised the horrible truth: This might actually screw up.

And it did. As the deadline of my CRC approached (you need 6 months validity), the call-backs dried up. No recruiters were going to recommend me. If i did get a call back it was to confirm that i wasnt already in Korea and/or the expiry of the crc; and then nothing. It was done. Id fuc_ked up korea.

As luck would have it, the quiet desperation meant i started having a wee peek at China. And the second i gave up on it, i applied for a job here and immediately got a call back. Was given a formal offer within a day and was reassured to find that this could be done in a couple of weeks.

So bags packed, i left my cheap Koh Samui (where i was doing my tefl) for the big bad lights of bangkok.

Picked a hotel with easy access to the airport (nasa vegas) and was ready to nail this and get the hell out! The CC was getting some use, but two weeks more was nothing!

And then i waited. And waited. And bought another week of accommodation through my dwindling credit card. Around september got the word that id get my docs next week! Hooray! at least it was moving. Waited some more. Paid some more. Was starting to worry, but "get the docs, head to Chinese embassy, get visa, book flight! its only another week!" i told myself.

And then they told me "no no, you cant do it in bangkok, it has to be done in your home country! you need to get a courier to do it for you or fly back yourself!".

But thats another 200 quid at least and another two weeks turnover! All i could do was look at my CC statement. It was coming down to the wire.

Docs arrived (a day and a half late because the hotel didnt recognise the first name - i go by my middle name - and sent it back). I sent them on immediately. Woohoo! next day delivery! This is back on!

Courier received them on thursday. Would have a crack at it on the friday. Could be gone by the middle of the next week if lucky!

Lucky! HA!

Rejection 1: you need ANOTHER informal invitation letter.

Shit! another weekend!

Rejection 2: We arent processing any express visas today. No, sorry, you cant submit it as a normal service.

Shit!

Rejection 3: You cant have a thai address for a uk application im afraid.

Shit!

Reje... oh hang on! on day 4, wednesday, they ran out of reasons and completed it. It would arrive by Tuesday (And did). And as luck would have it my visa ran out on the Thursday which id already decided was my hard deadline to a job in china (i couldnt afford the risk and another weeks hotel bill).

i scraped through on the skin of my teeth with just enough left to have 2000 RMB spending money on arrival. All debt mind you. But here i am. First pay cheque (half because of the money i needed to borrow to pay 4 months rent in advance from my employers), and half again because i simply HAD To send some money home (2000RMB) to pay my credit card bill. I didnt even buy sheets for my bed or pots to cook with until 2 weeks ago.

Next month im on half salary again as they take the rest of the loan. It sucks, but its back on the savings trail again at least. Have a bit more job security now and after December ill be on full salary again (which means i can quickly get rid of that debt and have my emergency back up in play again).

Now you might be wondering why this is so long and why im detailing it when a) its a message board - no one cares; and b ) no one cares. But its this: Its not the big shit that falls on your head. Its the small things. In that one stupid story are so many rolls of the dice and pushes for what i want. And all it takes is one shitty run and youll be in that position. And youll think you should have OBVIOUSLY stopped at X-point and got out. But thats not how its going to work. That very overconfidence you have that youll know when to walk away is going to be the thing that sucks you down. Not until you reach almost the end game is the risk anything approaching serious. You still have back ups. Its ony at the point when youre bridges are burned, your backups to the backups are gone and all youve got left is one more shot that if you screw up now, youve kinda ran out of alternatives that you realise... i might have actually &lt;deleted&gt; this.

(Well... within reason. I contacted my old company after the rejection on Tuesday from the embassy and said "if they dont accept it by the end of this week, i have to give up on china. I dont suppose you guys have anything?"

And to their absolute awesomeness, and despite the selfish little pursuing of my own wants and needs, offered me another job on the spot if it feel through. No change in pay, same contract. So theres always an option i guess. But man, what a run of shitty little niggly, wind you up bad luck.

Oh and in pure butterfly affect, i lost two probable jobs in Japan because i didnt have my drivers license because for NO REASON WHATSOEVER i had it in my wallet in Japan (it was korean), and lost it in october last year (and for the first time ever in japan, never got it back). So i can only conclude this was all deliberate and carefully orchestrated to wind me up.)

through the 8 years or so of dossing about on tefl ive found an avenue to properly consign myself to oblivion. I might be in it for the wrong reasons...

As someone eternaly at the bottom rung of the ladder in EFL (degree, tefl, 8 years experience) i can tell you categorically that this is an image driven industry. Be honest with yourself. If you were a principal, who is going to make you look better in front of parents? The 65 year old grandad with a degree but looking to give back to the world, or the 23 year old girl fresh out of college and looking to change the world?

Sorry grandad. I know itll annoy you, it also does me given that im borderline your situation nowadays. But the reality is this:

at the bottom level youre an image. Youre interchangeable and thus entirely expendable.

If you fit the image, hooray! welcome to your low paid teaching gig! if you dont, you best have an extra qualification or experience that justifies why we're selling you to x-school. because you are a commodity and you have to be capable of being sold. If they cant sell you, then youre not getting on their books.

I know its obvious/cynical, but thats the reality. You dont fit the image, then you need something else? How about IELTS test tuition? Do you have a qualification in teaching that? What about a delta? Or experience teaching in public schools, or are you bilingual? These all help you set yourself apart. And honestly, its not hard at your age adding to your qualifications. Spend 2 months at a cram school getting serviceable thai and suddenly youre useful again. Its easssssy becoming employable. But you have to be at least a little honest about yourself to do it. This isnt a merit driven industry, its cosmetic. Merit only comes into action (i assume) at higher pay grades. If you want your foot in the door you supply something people need at the right price. If youre old that means you drop the wage demands, do some volunteer work at the school and get some experience, or better yet, learn some thai and start networking with people, (who, lets be blunt, will be interested in showing off their cultural depth by having a farang friend to show to their mates. Its not a bad thing, it lets you in the door. But its a cynical industry and thats the honest bullshit of it),

Good luck champ. And yes, im in full agreement. My having a degree adds nothing at all to my ability to teach english. My speaking english natively adds nothing at all to my quality as a teacher. I would sooner have a kid fluent in English from scandinavia teaching my kid english than me. Not only can he speak the subject and know it inside out, he also understands intuitively the barriers a second language learner faces as well as the techniques and skills to overcome it. Its like employing supermarket managers to football managers because they know how to lead people. Id rather have someone that knows what drills worked, what drills were effective and what drills on the pitch motivated him and his mates. Bring on the great sweep of non native instructors and lets raise standards by putting an end to this cosmetic bullshit.

ETA: yes, i might be half cut.

and Yes, thailand is screwed. Its way behind every other country ive taught in. Survival (very basic tourist) english wont save it.