art vandelay

a guy in the 7/11 wouldnt take a 1 baht coin because it was dirty.. a restaurant cashier tried to reject a 100 baht note because it had a small tear in it...

not the brightest of people

they must have seen you coming because i've just returned from a long weekend in CM and found the song taew drivers to be refreshingly straight forward and i was never over charged - or at least i paid what the thai passengers were paying!

maybe your attitude or attire marks you out as a target for over charging?

smart thai's dont watch tv shows on youtube they use the thai download/streaming sites.

my GF is enjoying downton abbey and the office at the moment

absolutely, there is a thai vegetarian festival, can remember when but all he food sellers deck their stalls out with yellow...

teaching assistants cheating great role models for thai youth.

why doesn't her friend contact her family back home and get them to contact the authorities to liaise with the thai authorities?

there seem to be some fairly obvious practical things the friend could be doing...?

content simple introduction tasks for elementary level students.

the boss will want to see you have the attention of the students, confidence in the classroom, good classroom management, active and involved students and most importantly students speaking english.

make sure you dont talk too much. 30% teacher talking/70% student talking should be achievable with introduction type tasks.

obviously have a lesson plan; tasks, timings, lesson objectives etc. and to really impress the boss i'd give him a copy of my plan at the start of the lesson.

make sure you have a good mixture of activities; speaking, listening, writing, reading etc.

good luck!

you often read about thai's threatening to sue, what they dont seem to get is that you cant sue if something is true. you cant sue someone just because you dont like your dirty laundry being aired in public.

i remember the thai lady in the UK whose sponsor said he didnt want to support her visa renewal. she said she was going to sue UK immigration for 100 million baht because they refused to renew. wonder how that went for her...

i dont see how thai law can be applied to something that happened in the UK? thailand has no jurisdiction in the UK.

sort out the driving lessons first...

it is baffling how thai people can look at these photos and read the death and injury statistics and do absolutely nothing about it.

if my thai business owning friends are anything to go by finding staff who can keep their fingers out of the till will be a challenge.

fairly typical knee jerk over reaction rather than contemplation and communication to find a compromise solution.

maybe you shouldn't be trying to manage the situation at all. just sit back and let your step daughter make the arrangements and be prepared to calmly accept whatever course of action she comes up with.

including being prepared to go or not go at the last minute because nothing has been arranged in advance...

assuming you have you a CELTA or equivalent then the practical classroom management sessions will serve you well but 50 is a big class.

assert yourself from the start; you can always become less strict but if you start off being too easy on them you will never gain control

work with the students to come up with a classroom contract outlining do's and don'ts that they all sign and put up on the wall

arrange the class as you want it to make management easier e.g. separate trouble makers

be well prepared with a variety of activities; listening, speaking, writing in each lesson

be clear and consistent on boundaries

dont come to work with a hangover.

Is this very similar to Bess in the UK dropping in to see West Minster Abbey, so what!

David Cameron is the British Prime Minister, not Elizabeth II, erm... she's the queen. apart from that the analogy is valid, though Cameron's visit to Westminster Abbey at say Easter or Christmas would probably be covered in the UK media

ticks have to be removed one at a time. its best to use the small plastic tick removers, you get a grip on the tick and twist - not pull - it out. horrible things.

cant help with fleas, sorry.

i remember 10 odd years ago the craze was for teenagers to take every unnecessary part off their motorcycle. and for them to tinker with the exhaust so they would scream around the streets, thankfully that has stopped.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by Suan Dusit Poll said that Prime Minister Yingluck is the number one female politician Thai people want to celebrate Songkran with

cant argue with that, i'd love to spend songkran getting wild and wet with the PM

if you were seen vandalising the foliage at a hotel in your own country would you expect to be held to account?

if you saw someone, a thai possibly, vandalising foliage at a hotel you were staying at in your home country would you expect the management to take action?

restitution should of course be 'appropriate' to the damage done and a suitable apology given.