The Bartender

James,

No you should not take the job. You need to know how to teach before you become a teacher. A four week training course is the least you could do.

I'm not sure if you're taking the piss or not, but you should seriously research the ramifications of getting caught working without a degree in Thailand. Better yet, why don't you ask yourself if you really want to become an educator, or if you're even qualified to become one.

I will believe in the death penalty when you will prove to me the infallibility of human beings.

--Marquis de Lafayette

Ten years ago, I read an interesting journal breaking this soft science issue with a more hard science approach. The author basically equated "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" to mean the juror is about 95-98% sure the person committed the crime. (This obviously doesn't apply with admissions of guilt.) After all, unless all 12 jurors personally saw the crime committed, the jury can't be 100% sure. If you follow the logic, and if you have 1,000 executions in x amount of time, as much as 5% have a chance of being innocent.

Obviously an erroneous guilty verdict is a travesty of justice. However, when dealing with the finality of death, it's simply unacceptable...anywhere.

Does anyone have first-hand knowledge regarding sticky rice?

Is sticky rice a different strain of rice from white rice? Or can one start with the same strain and cook the rice in a different way to produce different results? Also, if the strains are different, could one start with the white rice strain and manipulate the cooking process to come up with a very "sticky" white rice?

Between four foreigners, we've asked 15 Thais and the vote is split. Some are bragging that their info is coming from their "friend from Issan" and that makes them experts. Others state that persons coming from this area are perhaps...less informed and working under assumptions that are hard to separate from fact. The mere fact that 15 educated Thais can't agree, leads me to believe it's not an easy question to answer--or not as easy to answer as one might think.

And yes, we have way too much time on our hands.

Here's the deal: In five months I'll be leaving Thailand after teaching phratom 4-6 Science here for two years. I'm an American with a BA-Political Science and have a TESOL certification from TEFL International. So my question is: If I want to work at an international school, what is the most effective qualification to get next? What about some good websites for finding this info?

I'd like to continue teaching Science but a switch to English wouldn't be out of the question. I don't know if going to the UK for a PGCE or getting a QTS is even an option, but living in the UK (or the US) is really not my cup of tea. I'd be willing to do some hard time in The West for a while but it would really need to be worth my time. Does anyone know of a good on-line certification that international schools would accept? I'm not looking for an easy out, just an option outside the US or UK. What about gaining the necessary qualifications in another country?

I'm also looking to into the DELTA. Does anyone have any opinions on its usefulness? I also wouldn't be opposed to getting a more relevant degree if that's all it will take.

Basically, I'd really like to improve my teaching skills and find a great school to work at with a more serious approach to education than what I've been experiencing here.

Any useful suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.