welshtony

I had to phone ahead and book on officer to do it - its listed on the internet as a service they provide - maybe your local station had never been asked to do it before so had no knowledge of it. I wont be able to recall which dates and which guests houses I stayed in at the different parts of Thailand so I guess I will have to just give rough guess dates and the main places I stayed. One of the things asked for is proof of staying in Thailand, this seems daft as I wouldnt be asking for a criminal record check if I never stayed in Thailand. Im unsure as to what would be proof apart from my old passport. Most guest houses get you to write your passport number and details in a book but they dont give receipts for that and my visas were just stamps.

I thought getting a CRB from the UK was a pain until I encountered this, I was never asked for proof of living at any of my UK addresses!

A few months ago I started going through the process for getting a private hire licence, it was for my job but luckily they gave up on the idea.

Like you I put down my time in Thailand, and they also wanted a check from the Thai police. The Thai police wanted dates, time and places....and copies of my fingerprints, therein lay the problem. UK plod dont have my prints (nor does any country actually) and under no circumstances would they take them and either send them or give them to me to send to Thailand. An insurmountable brick wall. If you're in Thailand then no problem, the Thai police can take them.

Lesson for the future, dont mention you have spent time in another country.

Cheers Sierra01, I have my prints from the UK police, it cost me £66 quid and I had to have them done at the front desk along with the people signing in for bail and people reporting crimes. I got some funny looks. The document I will have difficulty getting is the proof of my time spent in thailand - would a certified photocopy of my visa stamps in my old passport do?

This kind of check is pathetic, where do they draw the line ? If you go on a month long holiday do you also need to prove that you weren't arrested while there ?

What proof is there that you were actually in Thailand, what's preventing you from picking some other country almost at random and getting a police report from there ? Do you need to prove you were in Thailand ?

Yeah, it did occur to me after they asked for the crim check that I could have kept my mouth shut about my travelling and they would be none the wiser. They have it on record now so I have to go ahead with it. Worst thing is, as they dont check internationally without it getting brought up, you could get up to all sorts whilst abroad and it wouldnt get flagged up. Unless of course, you volunteer the info like me!

Hi guys, I spent 6 months in Thailand the other year (amazing)! I have to get security vetted by the SIA in the UK. As I spent time in Thailand they want a criminal record check from Thailand. I have a weblink for the thai police force in Bangkok but it doesnt mention a price - is that correct? Also, does anyone know a quicker way to do it or have a contact, as from experience of Thailand, and the fact no money is involved I imagine the "cha cha" aspect of thai lifestyle may be in force when dealing with this paperwork.

I didnt get in any trouble whilst over there but I did visit a lot of the country, I cannot remember all the venues I stayed at, certainly not addresses, so would you advise me to just put tha address of the guest house in Bangkok that we kept coming back to?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I feel real bad for the Brit who got stabbed. Like a few of these posts have pointed out, there are not many facts posted. Still, as usual a fight has broken out on this site with people taking sides. People are also speculating that this guy was a drunken wife beater. If I had been stabbed to death in a foreign country Im sure my family would have been devastated to think that people were imagining up all sorts of slights on my character just to win an argument.

Thailand seems quite lawless at times, but im pretty sure that is part of the alure for a lot of people. Dont get me wrong Im not saying he had it coming or anything, I think that we shouldnt make up scenarios. If you want to argue with each other, use proven facts and leave this guy & his family alone.

Sounds like global warming etc is messing up all weather systems - my old dear said they are predicted the coldest winter for 31 years in U.K. Reckon I will hole up in Phuket where the weather hasnt been too bad up until the past week then come back to Thailand on return from Australia to have a proper look around! - Was due to go Bali but dont want to risk it so will pay to change flights to thailand. Cheers for the advice guys.

Bye the way..which internet weather forecast sight do you trust most? Half of them seem to be unabel to predict their next bowel movement! I know its not an exact science but one must be better than the others! Im fed up of seeing "thundesrstorms -60% chance of rain" and then getting a lovely day in the sun, only to be followed by "sunshine friday" booking a boat trip and getting urinated on from a great height!

Shouldnt be complaining as thailand is my favourite country so far and my boys back home are freezing - not to mention working, but im British and we all moan like thai people sleep!

Cheers!

Welshtony

This may be a "how long is a piece of string" type question! It seems that the normally predictable weather systems in Thailand are late this year. People in Phuket are saying it was drier longer and that it is a lot wetter a lot later this year!

Myself and my partner only have until the end of January in Thailand b4 moving on to OZ, we also have mates coming out to visit us for January. At the moment Phuket has the best weather we have seen even though its hammering down today.

Are any of you in the know out there as to where will have reliable good weather for this last stint of our holiday as we do not want to bring our friends out for a wet couple fo weeks and really want to make the most of thailand while we can.

At the moment we are considering staying in Phuket till end of Jan as heard Samui, gulf coast etc has taken quite a beating recently! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!...Cheers!!!

Welshtony.

Hi guys, this may seem like a silly question to those of you in the know but here goes...

Im thinking of staying out here and working as a teacher, at this point I do not know how long for. Retiring out here sounds great but if I work out here until retirement age (what is retirement age here?) will I still be able to draw my U.K. pension? Im 31 at the moment and was wondering what the situation would be as if I stayed in Thailand I would not be making U.K. contributions.

I imagine the answer to be a definite "No, obviously" but Im under the impression that if you are a waste of space on job seekers all your life in the U.K. you will still be entitled to a pension! If that is true then would I still be elligble to a U.K. pension? Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Welshtony.

bumped again for the benefit of job hunters.

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Hi guys. Im brand new to all this and am interested in teaching in Thailand. Im finding most of these posts both amusing and alarming. Upon landing yourself an English teaching post in Thailand, am I to believe that you are not to follow a scheme of work, national syllabus or have any of your lessons observed at all? Also if this is the case then are there masses of non-teaching staff doing the job just thinking up lessons off the top of their heads without even having textbooks?

I can see that if this is the case then you may have a wide scope for creativity and originality but I think I would have to begin donwnloading National Curriculum standards from the U.K. to ensure I wasnt wasting both the students and my own time. Would that be a good idea or would it not be applicable over here? If I have used any bad grammar, punctuation, spelling etc... please dont tear me to bits Im a science teacher with PE teacher literary skills!

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Keeping up appearances is your number one priority as a teacher in Thailand. The results, students grades and what the students learn are secondary. It's more important to be seen to be doing everything appropraite than actually teaching something. I think you left out a full sop and apostrophe in your last two lines by the way. (:

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Cheers Robitusson, Ill get my red pen out! So, do the schools provide activity based textbooks or are all the activities generally thought up by yourself?

Cheers for the advice Welshman! Ive had to improvise where modules or sometimes schemes have been missing before, but that was in my own subject. What concerns me more is probably my own subject knowledge and the levels that I would be expected to teach in Thailand!

I start work on Tuesday at an International college. I went there today to get the sylabuses, etc and found that, for some modules, they had no more any idea what I was supposed to teach than I did!

Hairy moment, but realised that management knew less than me about what was to be taught.

OK, I'll go along along with it and design the course as I go along. Most of the big Unis etc have strict guidlines about what you teach but, in many, you're on your own.

The only consolation is that you probably know more about the subect that they do (even if you know f**ck about it).

You have to be flexible here and be prepared to cut and run if you think the organisaton is taking the piss.

Sorry to sound negative, but will come back to you with my experiences ( after I have experienced them myself!).

bumped again for the benefit of job hunters.

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Hi guys. Im brand new to all this and am interested in teaching in Thailand. Im finding most of these posts both amusing and alarming. Upon landing yourself an English teaching post in Thailand, am I to believe that you are not to follow a scheme of work, national syllabus or have any of your lessons observed at all? Also if this is the case then are there masses of non-teaching staff doing the job just thinking up lessons off the top of their heads without even having textbooks?

I can see that if this is the case then you may have a wide scope for creativity and originality but I think I would have to begin donwnloading National Curriculum standards from the U.K. to ensure I wasnt wasting both the students and my own time. Would that be a good idea or would it not be applicable over here? If I have used any bad grammar, punctuation, spelling etc... please dont tear me to bits Im a science teacher with PE teacher literary skills!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

bumped again for the benefit of job hunters.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi guys. Im brand new to all this and am interested in teaching in Thailand. Im finding most of these posts both amusing and alarming. Upon landing yourself an English teaching post in Thailand, am I to believe that you are not to follow a scheme of work, national syllabus or have any of your lessons observed at all? Also if this is the case then are there masses of non-teaching staff doing the job just thinking up lessons off the top of their heads without even having textbooks?

I can see that if this is the case then you may have a wide scope for creativity and originality but I think I would have to begin donwnloading National Curriculum standards from the U.K. to ensure I wasnt wasting both the students and my own time. Would that be a good idea or would it not be applicable over here? If I have used any bad grammar, punctuation, spelling etc... please dont tear me to bits Im a science teacher with PE teacher literary skills!

Hi everyone! Im hoping somebody can give me some infromation on teaching over here? I have a degree in Environmental Science and have completed my PGCE and a years teaching in an inner city school in England. I would be quite happy to have a go at any subject but I hear that there is always work for english teachers. The info I would really be interested in would be regarding visa/work permit requirements, housing and demand.

I am currently in Bangkok on a years holiday and would be glad to visit a school or hear from anyone that has some information that may help me.

Cheers!

Tony.

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Hi

probally the best website out there!

Ajarn

Hope you find a job!

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Hi everyone! Im hoping somebody can give me some infromation on teaching over here? I have a degree in Environmental Science and have completed my PGCE and a years teaching in an inner city school in England. I would be quite happy to have a go at any subject but I hear that there is always work for english teachers. The info I would really be interested in would be regarding visa/work permit requirements, housing and demand.

I am currently in Bangkok on a years holiday and would be glad to visit a school or hear from anyone that has some information that may help me.

Cheers!

Tony.