jetzie

original Nokias are "preprogrammed" to start malfunction & "self-destruct'' in 2 years, or less !! beleive me, i only use Nokias, for the past 10 years ! At least 7 of them so far !

wierd cuz i had my nokia 6510 for 7 years now and still performing as well as some new colored 3g fones out there

I'm going to check it out, thanks for the heads up!

be sure to post back !

A lot of schools simply will not pay Asian teachers the same wage that they pay to farang teachers. Where I work, even Japanese teachers receive about 1/2 the salary of a farang. I always hate advertising and interviewing Japanese teachers because most of just laugh at the salary offer and it's rather embarassing.

So, if you have good English skills--native, fluent, whatever--you can probably teach here, but it's best that it be because you really want to rather than needing to make a living from it.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks scott, i do believe i have relatively standard english skills, fluent with no singlish accent. and honestly, i am pretty flexible on the salary, not too overboard though haha. I understand your irritation on interviewing japanese especially, i have had similar experiences

airasia has about 4 flights to and fro bangkok daily, so im sure u can do it. just purchase 2 1 way ickets sapareately if the procedures confuse you.

yes you can. fly in singapore on the 1st flight of the day, and you can catch the last flight out whcih is around late at night for the budget airlines.

I think a Native English speaker would be an English speaking person from a country that has English....and only English as the official language of the country.

I wouldn't consider anyone from Asia as being a native English speaker.

That's the Irish out then and possibly the Welsh.

Maybe even Canada, or at least Quebec. The mere fact that a nation has more than one official language should not disqualify its native speakers. One practical test would be that the vast majority of its natives learn English from early childhood and speak it fluently. Another test would be that the dialect of spoken English is not some exaggerated version such as 'hillbilly' or Cockney or eubonics. What about Australasians such as the 'aboriginines' and the Maori? What about perfectly educated natives of an English speaking country, whose ancestors are Black or Asian? Then the racism pops out, and we find that some employers want people of Caucasian descent.

Some employers of TEFLers in Thailand don't know that Irish and South Africans are Caucasian, native speakers!

Good point PB. There should be some international organization that, for the interest of TEFL, qualifies a country as a native English speaking country.

Perhaps the qualifications could have something to do with their secondary schools having a mandatory English curriculum for all students that involve all aspects of learning the English language such as English literature and proper use of grammer. The cirriculum would be similiar to what is taught in countries like the UK or the USA. Graduation from their secondary school would be dependent on the successful completion of their final year of English.

Do Singaporean schools have a curriculum like this?

In singapore, everything is being taught in English. and we do have a streamning exam at the end of secondary school (equivilent of highschool i supppose) which is called the O levels Examinations by Cambridge. English is the GP here and you get nowhere if you screw up that paper, graduation and where u are going afterhighschool pretty much depends on your score on your GP. Remembered having friends that scored real good on other humanities and subsubjects but screwedup on the GP, and were denied many good courses in colleage.

We start learning english the minute we step into school life, so i suppose that pretty explains English being the main and 1st language ?

yea, it only costs $0.11 to call thailand, regardless of where you are with skype, i guess it's pretty cheap considering there are no connection fee or anything.

Thailand is a very racist country, I dont know why that is, its everywhere in the world, but you dont see alot of other asians teaching here except for the low paying filipino type, if I were you , get another job in a different position, You can give it a shot though see if you like it, goodluck.

yes i realised too, i'm also giving other positions a shot too of course, would like to leave more options open

I dont have much of the paper quailifcations so will just have to keep on trying

As you say, jetzie, the term 'native speaker' is increasingly open to interpretation and perhaps gradually becoming irrelevant.

Anyway, jetzie, you go for it. Keep us posted on how you get on and the reactions you meet.

thanks khaoniaw, would be sending some emails to those i skipped ! i hope the reader of the email would think the same way as you do haha

Sorry Sing-man! You gotta come from Romania first and have blond hair!

Tip: I believe you can have the blond hair dye thingy done at pretty reasonable prices in many salons along Siam Square Soi numbers 1 to 3. Buy 2 get 1 free, if you bring other Singaporean (or even Malaysian) buddies along and wear Thai Uni uniforms (black/blue pants and white polo shirt).

nice sarcasm here, but i dont think it's really needed, thanks anyway I'll take it as a light=hearted post there

Thank you. I guess i will put in my resume what Mid said, it's true though, but i guess ultimately it's still up to the accessor/interviewer to decide on how he/she looks at the term Native Speaker.

and with that how am i or what should i be or produce to show the language school that I might or am able to speak standard british english, and of course i dont mean by faking an accent.

I was planning to apply in some of the advertisements i saw online but skipped aplenty mainly due to the fact that i am not sure if i fall under the native speaker catergory or not. If i do apply, what should i put under note ?

PS: yes it is known that some singaporeans only can speak Singlish, but there are people that can speak standard english. and im confused on this term Native Speakers as it could mean 2 things: 1: being a farang, 2: english being ur main language, which apparently for singaporeans, english is our 1st and main language, considering Singapore is the only asian country with english signages all over the country.

can u use skype?

same here, i'd say go for it like i did

Hi guys, i understand the meaning of native speakers in most advertisements. however, i am unsure if i fall into such a catergory.

Look, i am a singaporean where my country speaks english as a first language, English is my 1st language, so technically it should be my native language, although im not white, im asian.

am i right on this?

is a singaporean a native english speaker?

i have a shan girlfriend and i must say that shans are great people, along with burmese people . very friendly and nice warm people. Only cons about them is them holding a burmese passport which makes it difficult for them to go anywhere , even thailand.

Now, anyone wishes to hire my girlfriend as a domestic housekeeper? she's looking for a job like that too, as she cant get out of her province without a permit and she wants to get a job, doesnt want to stay home doing nothing

http://www.thailandfranchising.com/2007/index.htm

anyone going to this fair? which business do you think is worth to take a look into?

didnt find any topic on this, just wondering if anyone is as interested in this fair as i am..

you guys can try watanna mansion at ratchada soi 17.

Hi guys , i understand that at the borders of maesai/tachilek we can be issued a 14day visit entry permit for travel up to kengtung and mongla. i need to visit my girlfriend's family soon and i might need t stay longer den 14 days.

i also understand that i can purchase a 28day tourst visa from the myanmar consulates, but my question is: can i travel to kengtung WITH the 28day visa through maesai overland, i will not be flying in.

hi guys i appreciate some help here as im in the states and i cant reach the consulate via phone , and i will be needin to head to bangkok and myanmar pretty soon...

Hi guys , i understand that at the borders of maesai/tachilek we can be issued a 14day visit entry permit for travel up to kengtung and mongla. i need to visit my girlfriend's family soon and i might need t stay longer den 14 days.

i also understand that i can purchase a 28day tourst visa from the myanmar consulates, but my question is: can i travel to kengtung WITH the 28day visa through maesai overland, i will not be flying in.

any one????

does this have anyhing to do with my girlfriend's problem???

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127404

I don't think your problem is related to tourist visa applications in Penang. My GF from the Philippines has had no trouble at all collecting tourist visas there.

I would suggest that you should try there. The OP has just done what many people enjoy to do on this forum i.e. scare mongering.

An interesting parallel to your story would be that my GF would not attempt to apply for a tourist visa in Manila as they would almost certainly refuse her....exactly the same problem you have with your Burmese GF.

hi, but my gf requires a visa to leave the country, if she didnt get approved in yangon, where else can she go??

does this have anyhing to do with my girlfriend's problem???

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=127404

hi like in my previous posts i mentioned my girlfriend is Shan, last April she went from kengtung(her hometown) to Yangon's Thai Consulate and applied for a tourist visa to enter bangkok, she was rejected becuz they said she has already too many Thai Tourist visa stamps. told her to apply 1 month later again.

so now come june10, she is back to yangon again and applied, and she has to wait till the end of june to know if she is approved. why is this so? why did she have to wait for the month of june to end to know if she is able to go or not? i never been to yangon and realy dont know how things work theere, any vetereans can shed some light??

And also, if she isnt approved, where else can she go to get a tourist visa?? she is a Myanmar citizen living in kengtung and the only place one can go is to yangon. what other ways IF the thai embassy rejects her application?

thanks , this is getting a pain in the ass because im trying to get her to bangkok so she can apply for school!

any myanmar/Kengtung citizens or people with understanding please help me out here, thanks

thanks guys, will head to target or walmart asap, thanks