romulus

Do you have a passion for education?

Do you have a skill or talent or work in a profession outside education circles?

Are you self-motivated, enthusiastic and have a passion for life and learning?

Do you want to be part of a dynamic, high-performance and fun-filled tribe?

Mastereign Singapore is expanding...

... and we are looking for such individuals to make up our SEAsian team of trainers, consultants, directors and staff.

PM your resume

Sure you can teach, but without a work permit, you cannot work, hence you cannot be paid...

Would you be based in the countryside or in Bangkok? The roads in some parts can kill. Holes everywhere and if you're not familiar with the roads and where the potholes are, you could easily damage your suspension while travelling fast. The other thing to watch out for is floods. They occur ever so often here...

I have a sportrider (2004) 3.0G chip-tuned so I get about 150+hp. Ride is rougher than a saloon car but definitely more comfortable than a pickup. The D4D engine doesn't shudder at high speeds and isn't very loud (comparison with pickups). It can take most anything and I've managed to squeeze up to 14 in it. The 4WD will get you out of most sticky situations and the high ground clearance will see you through most floods. I've modified my rear seats so they fold flat - it's almost pickup truck like if need be!

I get about 9km/lit in city traffic conservatively or about 8.2km/lit if I step on it. I get about 12km/lit on the highways cruising around 110km/h. If I cruise at 120-130km/h on the highways economy goes down to about 10.7km/lit.

It's big and heavy but it feels a lot lighter and more nimble than the equivalent Isuzu chassis (Mu7, adventure, etc). I've driven my friend's Fortuner to do Visa runs and my feel is that the Fortuner is more sensitive on the gas but slower on the brakes. Didn't feel much difference in terms of softness of the ride though although the interior of the Fortuner is a lot more comfortable and classy. Handling is roughly the same.

Maintenance, parts, etc. are easy to come by and almost any garage will be able to fix it (so they tell me).

Sportrider D4Ds cost about 450-550K depending on the model and specs

Fortuner VVTi used goes for about 750k+ D4D V model is about 850k used, while the D4D G (manual) goes for about 750+

MU7 is priced slightly cheaper than the Fortuner.

(all used car prices)

I've not had a Volvo so I won't comment.

Hope this helps.

The problem with keeping a lot of troops on a border is that eventually they get bored and do something. Unless someone has some information as to why this sudden movement of people into Cambodia or disputed territory.

I could hazard a guess...

... they were looking for unripe mangoes and got carried away?

Great! I'd love to read your research.

Seems like problem has its roots in low self-esteem than a disinterest in English. Work on their self-esteem by giving them tasks like you said, are of interest to them. They would tend to do better on them if they're motivated or interested to do them. I had a M3 class do a series on music using pop/rock songs which I played in class. Used that to introduce adjectives and adverbs, etc.

Yesterday a friend of mine called to tell me that one of his M3 students died 3 hours earlier. He was in my M1 computer class and in my M2 English class, new the boy well.

RIP

Question, how to talk to his friends about what happend? (He was sick, but it happened in less than a week).

Are you fluent in Thai? You may want to talk to the school counselor. Most schools should have a teacher in charge of counseling.They would be trained to handle grief and trauma.

Have Work Permit 1 yr visa

Have 2 homes one in Pttya other in BKK, Live and work alernately both places

Up to now did 90 day reporting wherever I was at the time, Now ?....

I think you will still be able to do your report at either one but it would best to do it at the one where you get your extension done.

I think Pattaya would be better than Bangkok.

Since they will have no way of knowing where you REALLY live, whichever address you put down on your form is the place of residence they are going to take. I guess if you put pattaya as your address, you'll have to do it in Pattaya. I don't think there's space for you to put more than 1 address on that form.

Singapore lies in what is called the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone so it rains at least once almost every week. There is no "dry" season. We have 2 monsoon seasons - SW Monsoon (typically drier) when the high pressure is over Australasia and the the NE Monsoon (typically wetter) when the high pressure region is over Asia.

Because Singapore lies practically at the equator (1.25deg N), the weather is hot all year round. The period between monsoons is characterised by short but heavy downpours caused by convection usually in the afternoons and evenings.

You'd think, probably by being in Thailand, that there will be lots of flooding in Singapore. There used to be but not anymore. The drainage system in Singapore is pretty good. All natural water channels like streams and rivers have been more or less "channelised" - made into drains to ensure surface run-off gets channelled out of the area and to one of the many reservoirs as quickly as possible. There is constant deepening and widening of drains and storm drains (we call them canals) to ensure that flooding is kept to a minimum.

You planning for a visit? Do remember your brolly!

Hi there, what a f*cking mess!

I have to return to Udon as soon as possible after 4 long weeks without my family.

Now my flight to BKK on 5th Dec. was canceled.

The train or bus is a real pain. Now that the airports are open, check with your airline again. You may be able to fly to Bangkok and catch the bus up to Udon.

Unfortunately, I booked myself on a flight to Chiangmai BEFORE this thing ended. Now I have to brave a 12hour bus ride back to Khon Kaen.

You didn't say which passport you're holding so I cannot comment on whether you need a visa. Look here:

http://www.mfa.gov.sg/home/idx_visaFor.html

IF you're holding an ASEAN country passport or a Commonwealth nation's passport, you don't need a VISA to enter Singapore. For other countries, check out the web link.

As long as there are foreign teachers willing to take teaching jobs here (most of which pay peanuts), I doubt the TEFL industry will go away anytime soon. The Thai teachers get pathetic salaries, but they also get government officer status (public schools), retirement benefits and other goodies. This is why Thai teachers on 30K a month can afford to drive BMW's while foreigners making 40K/month are scraping by. Most teaching jobs here are a dead end financially; we're on our own as far as putting money aside for retirement.

Are there any foreigners interested in educational reformation in Thailand?

Like foreign investment, can we see ourselves as not just impacting our classrooms but educational policy as well? Can we get more involved in mentoring local Thai English teachers, undergradute teacher trainees, etc? Infusing, inspiring and equipping them to nurture their future. Let's face it. We are not here forever.

Is this already being done? I may not be aware of efforts at the government level though but they may be concentrated in Bangkok.

I teach in Khon Kaen and they have a pretty good programme that aims to develop their own local Thais to be proficient English speakers and teachers. Although I can't say it's a popular course at present, but in the next 10-20 years, I see qualified locals replacing farangs.

I just heard that Gen Sondhi was appointed because being a muslim, he would be better able to deal with the unrest in the South... Now he's taken over the country... News from other parts (Australia, Singapore?) advises foreigners to stay indoors.

Did I hear someone say the Islamic radicals want to take over the world?

Pray for peace as this has great potential to become really ugly...

That said, whenever I've arrived at Changi airport, there has never been a queue ahead of me, and I barely slow my walking pace to pass through immigration there - far less than 20 seconds.

That's you probably arrive during non-peak periods. Changi probably is able to space out their flights and give enough lead time for each flight. That said, I've never had a looong queue in front me either. At most maybe 8-10 people. I also notice that during the busier periods, they have more staff to man the counters. I think the Thai authorities can staff their counters with peak flows in mind.

Let me offer another point of view.

Perhaps the focus should be on educating the children on the dangers of such crimes. Many Thai children (especially in the outlying village areas) are ignorant to these dangers.

By educating the children, no matter what the government does, or doesn't do, the children are aware of what's proper and what's not and who to tell if anything should happen, farang or local.

Do any of the schools have a comprehensive sexuality programme? I'm looking to start one in my school...

University should be a place for learning to think and express yourself.

Any uniform is totally out of place.

But then this is Thailand, thinking is not a strong point.

I have a friend who just set up a language school in the NE. She's been here for about 6 months and her registration only JUST got approved. Apparently the education officers were not as interested in her curriculum as they were in her school's "policy concerning dead students". The schools application was NOT approved until she wrote that the school does not accept dead students and that dead students were not required to attend class or examinations and they thus would not be allowed to graduate... something like that.

Someone should write a book. Really.