Kwai Yai

Fascinating forum. I have lived here for 2 years and speak rudimentary Thai. I use Thai every day in school, the kids laugh when I get the wrong tone but they correct me. I guess I am not musical, I just can't get the tones, they all sound the same to me. Dog, horse, come etc., all the same. I know Thai numbers but I can ask Tow-arai? in the market and I have no idea what the reply is. I live in Tak and maybe they are not speaking Thai - I have no idea. In my local watering hole they only speak Thai and I have no problem in understanding what my bill is (too much, usually), but in the market they might be speaking in Burmese for all I know. My biggest problem in trying to learn Thai is motivation, but in the sense that normal Thai conversation, TV, community radio is so utterly banal that I can't see the point. I notice that several posts mention educated Thais......where do you meet one? I know that they exist but they are as scarce as hen's teeth. I taught university students in Chiang Mai, they knew nothing. A graduate in business studies & marketing had never heard of a James Bond movie. He liked Chicken Little, playing cards and hip-hop. I tried to help him with his CV but gave up. A Thai BA is equivilant to leaving high school in UK. I read a poem in the Bangkok Post today written in honour of His Majesty the King. The opening line was about being born in the "beautiful country". He was born in Boston, Mass. USA - that's no secret. Thai's don't know this? In my school kids are brainwashed from kindergarten onwards, I showed my students a world map (with Thai script) they were surprised that Thailand was not the largest country. "Oh, Thailand lek, lek maak maak". Geography is not taught in Thai schools, nor is history. Ask a Thai what side Thailand was on in WW 2, they ask what was WW 2? I get a great buzz from my kids, 450 students in P5 & P6 but mostly I am p...ssing into the wind.

I would like to know why all the people living in thailand on a so called permanent basis do not become a citizen of Thailand and saves themselve the hazzle of forever obtaining vizas

Joking I hope, there are hundreds of thousands of people born in Thailand who do not qualify for Thai citizenship, they are called Karens, Akha, Lisu, Lahu etc. Their families may have lived here for 50 yearss but they are not THAI and neither is a farang. Welcome to the reality.

My guess is : they don't give a dime. Native english teachers or not, the results are awfull.

So better to hire thais.

The Thai elite will always find "good" and "real" english teachers : by sending their children abroad.

Your last sentence is spot on, where did our "caretaker prime minister" study?

In my school the few Thai teachers who can speak some English (not the Director of course, his is limited to "Good Morning") are going out of their way to find a solution to the visa problem. One of them told me "You are part of our team, we must try to help you." So, maybe there are a few who do give a dime. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. The Thai 'English' teachers come to me all the time with questions about the English language, "how do you say that", etc. In Chiang Mai I taught a 15 year old who could read most of the Bangkok Post. There is a small spark, it could make a big fire. Don't give up.

And possibly a fossil

I have never read so much uneducated, ill-informed garbage as in the first six pages posted on this subject. So, us visa-runners are all no good criminals eh! We should wake up, smell the coffee and get a legal visa. Yeah, right.

I have been teaching English here for over one year, making monthly visa runs after my six monthly expired. Why don’t I just get a Non-imm. B? Because the lazy Thais can’t be “assed” to provide me with the correct documents. I require a letter from my school director and a letter from the director of education in my district. The new laws have caused a wave of panic in the schools here because the Thais now realise they have got to provide their teachers with the correct docs. - or loose them, and they have to do it pronto. Oh! horror, the directors have to write a letter when they could be watching TV in their offices or enjoying long boozy lunches.

I am sure that if I knew who was the director of education for my district I could pop round to his house with a bottle of Black Label and an envelope with a thousand baht and I might get my documents next week.

Nobody has spotted the main point, in a country which has had no elected government or working parliament since April, exactly who changed the Laws of The Kingdom of Thailand and how? Answers on a 1000 baht note to the Khao Lak Rehabilitation Center for tsunami victims, which is closing through lack of funds.

The ONLY official statement from the head of immigration, Gen. Suwat, was published in Forbes magazine. There has been no official announcement in the Thai press, though The Bangkok Post featured the story. No Thais at my school were aware of the new rules until I made them aware. Incidentally, Gen Suwat said that we (filthy illegal foreigners) are working in bars in Pattya. Err, come to Thailand and work in a bar for 100B a day, not me, dear General.

This is the most useful and sensible post on this subject.

I have never read so much uneducated, ill-informed garbage as in the first six pages posted on this subject. So, us visa-runners are all no good criminals eh! We should wake up, smell the coffee and get a legal visa. Yeah, right.

I have been teaching English here for over one year, making monthly visa runs after my six monthly expired. Why don’t I just go legal and get a Non-imm. B? Because the lazy Thais can’t be “assed” to provide me with the correct documents. I require a letter from my school director and a letter from the director of education in my district. The new laws have caused a wave of panic in the schools here because the Thais now realise they have got to provide their teachers with the correct docs. - or loose them, and they have to do it pronto. Oh! horror, the directors have to write letters when they could be watching TV in their offices or enjoying long boozy lunches.

I am sure that if I knew who was the director of education for my district I could pop round to his house with a bottle of Black Label and an envelope with a thousand baht and I might get my documents next week.

Nobody has spotted the main point, in a country which has had no elected government or working parliament since April, exactly who changed the Laws of The Kingdom of Thailand and how? Answers on a 1000 baht note to the Khao Lak Rehabilitation Center for tsunami victims, which is closing through lack of funds.

The ONLY official statement from the head of immigration, Gen. Suwat, was published in Forbes magazine. There has been no official announcement in the Thai press, though The Bangkok Post featured the story. No Thais at my school knew about the new rules until I made them aware. Incidentally, Gen Suwat said that we (filthy illegal foreigners) are working in bars in Pattya. Err, come to Thailand and work in a bar for 100B a day, not me, dear General.