IJustKnowItAll

I must agree that giving something just for "face" and for showing off is kind of vulgar. Give from your heart and without motive.

Hope that doesnt make me intolerant of Thai people!

Age is a state of mind. I know people nearly dead at 42 and others living like 25 at age 75. In Thailand many jobs say no teachers wanted over age 45. So you will face discrimination if an older person like me.But not everyone has that attitude so it just means you need to work a little harder to find a position. Hard work is easy because it is in your control.Why are you asking about age if you are 30 ?

Yes there is discrimination but it doesn't have to be a barrier to finding a job. Like you say you just have to work a little harder to find the right position for you.

30 year olds worrying about discrimination! Whatever next!

well... we are setting a english centre teaching english so I wonder will it be the same?

Good grief, then you need to have a legal business as doing that sort of thing, maybe a licensed THAI teacher (M.Ed. or Ph.D. or Ed.D.) to be your director, maybe a special permit from the Ministry of Special Silly Regulations, maybe inspectors from 3 agencies, ....some have said it took over a year to get started.

That really was a misleading post.

Also the one from IJWT who says you need a Thai with a Ph.D. A Masters will suffice. Unless you have been through the process how can you both comment on it? It's very clear you both havent so why post confusing information on the forum?

Setting up a school isnt that difficult at all. Two months is a realistic time frame. Yes there are a lot of visits to various agencies but if you follow their instructions it is pretty painless if you have a Thai partner.

As for firstknight teaching, I agree with aussie, better to employ your teachers than for you to set foot in the classroom.

Good luck

I don't think it makes much difference if it is a Thai or a foreigner that does the interview.

I think your situation is the exception rather than the norm. To me it does make alot of difference if it is a Thai interviewer as I believe their skills are not up to the job because they tend to give employment to people they know rather than what they know.

Or, maybe he perfers Thais to hire him because he knows a farang wouldn't give him a job!

You took the words right out of my mouth.

IMHO a native speaker would have far more idea of how good or bad your English skills are or how genuine your intentions maybe. In general a Thai interviewer's English skills wouldnt be high enough to know whether you are good or bad. That's why so many bad teachers get employment in Thailand.

I've been at my school for 4 years and have seen around 8 teachers come and go, we only have 3 native speakers. All walked in off the street and all didnt have a clue in the classroom. None of them lasted a year. It was very obvious to me they wouldnt last but the school didnt care or more likely didnt have a clue who they were employing, a white face = teacher. It's so hit and miss with the hiring in Thailand because most Thais havent got a clue about foriegners.

And by saying you should be interviewed by a Thai because you're in Thailand is a bit ignorant. Your comment about teachers working for peanuts and being whoremongers is rather ignorant too.

I'm sorry IMHO DragonQuest is lucky to have a job teaching and it's only Thai ignorance or desperation that he has one. I pity the kids he is teaching. If he speaks as bad as he writes then I cannot see what positives there are in him being allowed in a classroom. I dont want to attack him but if you want to comment on Teaching and come out with the arguements he has in the English he used then you open yourself up for comments like mine.

Dragon I really hope your teaching is not as bad as your writing.

just cause i dont, your in thailand, you expect to live and work with thai peolpe, you didnt come here to get hired by your own peolpe, thats why you left your country in the first place right? to get away from it all, to start a new life and new begining, and just cause why should they have all that power and athourity? unless hes married with a thai and been living here for 10 + years and started his own school then maby.... lol

a farang hired me only, but i took the thai head, it should of been thai though. it seems there are quite a few out there, but the magority are gonna be thai, and it should be thai, its better i think, i dont like the fact of a falang hiring .

So Dragonquest, you're a teacher...wow... and a native employed you.....wow....Why don't you like being hired by a native?

I think it is better to be interviewed by both a Thai and a native speaker.

I wish the Thai teachers at my school had been interviewed by a native as they are terrible. How can a Thai admin, with little or no background in English, employ a Thai teacher of English?

Seems like my last post disappeared. Did I offend the gay community/mafia/mods or is there a gay phantom at work?

No, at least not yet.

Not yet! So you're thinking about it or expecting a major breakout? Thais are lucky in that most dont really have to shave let alone wax. Luckily for me waxing isnt something that I have to endure.

Anybody know what happened to Boybrat? Is it true he is now covering fashion for the Bangkok Post?

That's probably what he's telling everyone.

When I lived in Bkk I always went to Telephone Bar for a drink. The staff were friendly, not pushy, one of the owners a South african but sounded australian, always came over and made time for a chat with his customers. That was 2 years ago though so how it is now I don't know. I do know that the owners had trouble with stealing from staff and many of them had to be fired. It cannot be easy running this kind of business in this area. There are a lot of outside influences which one can do very little about. I would never invest my money in a bar in Thailand after hearing some of the things the owners have to put up with.

IMHO the bar could do with a lick of paint and the original concept of the telephones seems very dated. A total refit wouldn't go amiss but is it worth investing such money when a lot of your takings are creamed off by outsiders? Probably not. I dont envy you guys trying to earn an honest living here from a bar.

Certainly true about Brits - some very difficult accents.I personally do not think Thais have a problem with black westerners at all. They do look down on their own 'black' people from Issan or dark people from neighbouring countries. Dark skin in Asia is regarded as indicating you're from a low social group as you appear to look as if you work in the sun. Compare this to white skin which indicates working indoors. No different from England 200 years ago - the blue bloods with milk-white skin were the top of the heap.

I've met many teachers whom I found difficult to understand and always wondered how their students managed it. Accents are not a bad thing and I know my students whould have difficulty understanding me if i were talking to my friends in London. I feel it is my responsability, as a teacher, to be as clear as possible so I personally make an effort to be so.

The worst accents for me are Americans from the south and anyone north of Watford in the UK. Throw in most Aussies and Kiwis and there wouldn't be many teachers left here if jobs were based on audible accents.

As for being black in Thailand there is definite discrimination by Thais to them. I know a black American teacher here and he has mentioned discrimination. he also said Thais are not physically attracted to black men as they would be to a caucasion

I forgot, the average Thai school is trying to save money. They would in most cases choose two or three, sometimes four filippinos instead of one white, native speaking westerner. So, it also comes down to money.<br />If the farang will get paid 36K they can get three filippinos for 12K! More teachers!<br />

I believe this is more the case today.

When I first started teaching 4 years ago my tefl instructer told me that a white skinned Brit or American was still the number 1 choice followed by Aussies and so on down to the bottom of the list being asians ie Filipinos and finally at number 10 a black skinned teacher from say Nigeria. Black Americans/ Brits would be higher up the list. This certainly seemed the norm and there is no denying the fact that Thais are, in general, pretty racist however they love money more so once they could get away with employing Filipinos for a third of the salary of a native white person by convincing the parents they are as good as a native, then saving money or let's say being able to corrupt more away from the budget, means Filipinos have gone way up the list from number 9 to probably number 2 today.