BangkokReady

They mean that they come for the photo opp, praise the tourists and say how great the thing that they did was (while gaining face for themselves), but never actually make the effort themselves. Which makes their praise, coconut water and photos seem slightly empty. A little cynical perhaps, but you can see their point.

The problem with the "supply and demand" argument is when you get a good teacher who would like more money but supply and demand Thai style says: "Why would I pay a good teacher more money when I can pay a bad teacher the same? All we care about is having a foreign person in front of the class and keeping a larger cut of the money." So the good teacher goes elsewhere and the bad teacher comes. Even if the bad teacher becomes a good teacher, they will then also want to move on. So either way the class is likely to have a bad teacher based on the level of salary, but the supply and demand argument still says this is fine and no one has any room to complain.

They're a lot more interested in creating a global workforce. They see English, and education in general, as being the key to their populations future success. I believe, perhaps assume, that the schools and agencies possibly don't syphon off as much of the teacher's pay either. Thailand doesn't appear to take education anywhere near as seriously. It's a lot more about corruption and indoctrination. They also don't have anywhere near as much of a global outlook.

I don't think it is lazy to expect a living wage from a full time job. It's great if some teachers want to make some extra money working during the evening and weekends, but a normal wage is a reasonable expectation from a full time job, and who wants to be doing that their whole life?

Prices have gone up so the real value of the money siphoned from teachers' salaries has gone down. So they reduce the wage to increase the cut they get. ????‍♂️

"No true Scotsman" fallacy. Every Thai wife is good. If she isn't good, she isn't a real Thai wife (and it's your fault for choosing the wrong wife anyway). ????

Isn't every ceiling also the floor of the room above?

You are the comment they replied to, not the person I was replying to. I just quoted both comments to provide context. ✌️

Criminals from all over the world find Thailand a safe heaven. Many of them are from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Romania, the Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Canada, etc. How does your comment relate to the comment you replied to?

Possibly looking for hidden safes, etc?

It makes you wonder how many people on the island were involved, how long they were planning it for, whether it would have happened to a Thai in similar circumstances, and so on. They obviously felt they had no need to rush. More like a leisurely salvage job than a robbery. It wouldn't surprise me if he was planning to sell what is left and move on after this. How would you feel walking around town, wondering which of the people around you were involved, or knew what was happening/who was doing it and said nothing?

LOL. Obviously. The article is about the result of the poll. ????‍♂️ The article claims that "Most Esaan Constituents Prefer Thaksin’s Daughter For PM: Poll", this is not true as 25% of something is not most, it's 25%. ????‍♂️ Nobody is talking about that. The fact that you constantly need to try to shoehorn in irrelevant details shows how wrong you are. Lesson?!! Bwahahaha! All you have done is try to bring up a load of irrelevant drivel to try and divert from the fact that Paetongtarn doesn't have the support of most of Isaan. ????‍♂️ You might not like the facts, but they remain to be as such.????‍♂️ I'm not sure I've ever seen someone so completely wrong make so many bizarre claims at being intellectually superior, but you do you.

She has the support of 25% of Isaan. That isn't most of Isaan.

As I said, ESL isn't really the same as other subjects. It's taught in a way that the native language doesn't need to be used. It's more about exposure and practice. While it certainly could be beneficial for either the teacher to be fluent in the native language, or for students to have a high level English, as it would allow more teaching outside the curriculum and in-depth discussion to take place, ESL can be taught without this. You are, of course, free to have your own ideas about what an ESL teacher should be, but I don't think this reflects the reality of the situation.

Whether you can avoid it or not, it is still very much the case in Thailand. "It's not a problem if you learn to speak the language and study the culture" does not excuse that thing.

Not everyone is willing to do that and not every job is deserving of that.

I'm not sure if in sharing your opinion you meant to be incredibly offensive towards foreigners, Thais, or both. Can you clarify?

A foreign teacher being able to punish students? Does that ever happen?

Some people don't have the ability or opportunity. Do they simply deserve what they get? More fool them for marrying someone, supporting them, and then expecting them to be faithful? It's never the Thai person's fault? Their attitude is fine in this scenario? If you can speak the language and understand the culture you are rightly rewarded, while if you cannot they you deserve to be treated as subhuman? Is that it?

I think your expectations are a little unrealistic. The teaching of English in most Thai schools is really more about training than teaching. It's largely going to be about exposure and practice. Proper teaching qualifications would probably not be that helpful in ESL (outside specific ESL qualifications), and may even be a negative as teachers would then try to teach formally in a subject that doesn't really require it. Thai is not an easy language to learn and it isn't something that is absolutely needed to teach ESL. Would it be a benefit? Maybe, but generally most of the instruction will be done in English, with the help of a co-teacher. I think to say "cannot be bothered" is a little unfair. Most people in ESL won't necessarily be relocating permanently and may not know how long they will be teaching in each country. Having a trained and experiences foreign teacher, walking into a classroom speaking fluent Thai would probably be a pretty successful teacher, sure, but how many people are going to do that and then teach in Thailand? Particularly in jobs that probably pay 35,000 Baht a month! A "qualified" teacher, who is willing to get to fluent level in the local language, could probably work anywhere they wanted. You're expecting too much for the job in question.

Sure, and this might be the case with the example in question, but it is still a thing that happens. Simply adding the detail "she's a bargirl" doesn't change the fact that the husband being foreign is a factor and that this reflects Thais having different attitudes to foreigners than they do other Thais, which is the point being discussed.

You believe that a "real teacher" is educated in what to do when the whole class doesn't want to work and refuses to do so, cannot fail, see no consequences for their actions, are safe in the knowledge that the teacher will be fired, and are happy for that to happen? With the school siding with the students and offering zero support to the teacher, telling them not to bother any Thai teachers about it?

The woman he lived with, the woman who was cheating, and the attitude of the people in the village, were all referenced in the anecdote. Hearsay, anecdotal evidence, sure, but more than just one person's attitude is being presented.

There's many that want to capitalise on any bad experience a foreigner has and use it as an opportunity to try to feel superior. They are "more Thai than you" or "one of the good ones", and any bad experience you have is a direct reflection on you personally. ???? A lot of troubled people enjoy this and relish the way that Thais can look down on foreigners, so that they can look down on them also.

Unfortunately this is very true, and probably one of the biggest stumbling blocks that foreign teachers face when trying to teach in Thailand. Foreigners in general are viewed by many as not really being completely human, and therefore not deserving of the same respect that other Thais are. Sometimes you feel like you're getting a similar experience to Africans hundreds of years ago, stolen from their home countries and locked naked into cages, being poked and prodded by curious Europeans. It makes it challenging for anyone to really build a life in Thailand. (It's OK though, someone will be along shortly to reassure us that we are the problem and they never have any bad experiences with any Thai people because they are better than us.)