Canada

After reading this forum for an hour or two, maybe my better option is to extend this one, then apply for one, and if refused, go for my 3 VOA's. Is this possible?

I am hoping to stay till May or so. BTW, getting married next month, to a Thai. Any input on my scenario? I don't have a Thai bank acct, or WP, but the money exists. Is it still 400,000 if you are married, and do you need to show income as well? How long does it need to stay in a Thai bank? How long before you apply for a visa based on marriage, does the money need to show in a Thai bank?

I know I could access alot of this on this site, but I have been reading now for quite a while and am going to bed.

Thanks

this is my second 3 this year

Hi there,

Does anyone know where you can get a multiple entry visa on this side of the planet? Mine comes up in Dec, and I would like to start to plan this. I live relatively close to the crossing at Mae Sot. I am not sure what you can get from Burma. I came with a triple entry from Canada, and I hear that is unheard of over here. Double entries? Anywhere? Thanks.

I got three 2 month visas from Canada

The uni gals no longer look HOT .

When it gets as serious as this take a holiday back to your home country. When you return after 2 weeks of whale watching the eyes will glisten again.

Now that's funny

I have to agree with Ijustwannateach. Eek, you may wish to "widen"your perspective....just a little. If you get around a little, experience Thai teachers, Farang teachers, Thai students, and the "system", it may help.

Being an unqualified English teacher myself; I am a little surprised at your rant. I am at a Goverment school. You would ( or I would ) expect a certain standard of teaching and teacher abilty. I was surprised.... Of the 6 English teachers there, 2 cannot speak English at all, 1 can a little bit, but won't, and 3, I can understand some of the time. I am unqualified, but more qualified than the students other options. I can communicate with the students in Thai, and am openminded enough to ask for direction and help from the other teachers regarding the "how to's"of teaching. Aside from some difficulties with one teacher, it has been a good experience for all. This job is not easy by any definition, and severely underpaid.

Your rant sounds like you have a personal thing with this guy, which has clouded your perspective

Scott, thanks for the objective view and constructive suggestions. And thank you to this forum. I read it every day. Being out in the rice fields, I often feel out of touch. This is one of my tools for staying sane.

The rest of the english teaching staff is actively trying to persuade me to reconsider my position. There are more problems than this one at this particular school. Some of them solvable and some of not. I am going to be staying in this village for at least another 6 months. I hate being bored. Since Friday, I have made the Thai english staff aware of my particular problems with the school and their process with me. This would be the third time I have done this. They have swore up and down that they will do what they originally promised that they would do, that my differences with this one teacher are surmountable, and everything can be smooth sailing in the new term. I am unsure of what to do. If they do what they say...it is a bearable situation.

Any words of wisdom? ( I can hear them already) Thanks for your input.

Extra info....I am illegal here. They hire me as a private contractor. How big of a target am I? Will the school suffer as a result of someone "blowing the whistle"on me. If so, would that be enough of a deterent to stop someone from doing so? The teacher that I am in conflict with was the one that actively persuaded me to come here, promised the world, and has information about me such as a copy of my passport, and signed documents regarding my employment with them. I feel vulnerable, have so from the start, but more so now than before. Probably because I am...Right?

I must have have offended this one teacher who sees herself as my superior. I haven't got a clue what I did. I go to work, I care, I teach, I am careful to not offend and to not to have many opinions; especially about this system of teaching english. I have been teaching 27 classes a week. She increased my load to 33, and has been a ----for about three weeks now. During one of my classes last Friday, she asked on the side if I was going to continue to teach next term. I said I wasn't sure, that we needed to talk. She turned around and announced to my class that this was my last day teaching at this school, that I would not be returning next term to teach. I officially quit the job at the end of the day.

This has been extremely difficult from the start. The school has lived up to none of their promises. There has been an extreme lack of support for a new teacher who is under qualified. What I can't figure out is; why did they ask me to teach here, knowing my lack of experience and qualifications? And I guess the other question is; what did I do?

All in all it has been a great learning experience. For me more so than the students. I have learned a lot about the Thais and the Thai education system. I am not a rocket scientist, but it doesn't require one to know that something is not quite right here; regarding the system and the students. They are are more than not interested. They refuse to learn. The 90% incapacitate the 10% that do want to learn. Really it is a sad situation.

Fortunately for me, my stay here is not funded by the school.

I am not looking to solicit complaints or Thai teacher bashing....just comments about experiences you may have had. I understand that the teachers that I work with have many years of school/university combined with experience teaching. I respect them for that.

I am curious. Is there anyone out there that has run into opposition from Thai teachers? If so...Why? What did it look like? What was the eventual outcome? Thanks.

So I take it that I am not the only one not getting paid.... I was starting to nurse a resentment about that.

Canada, don't feel guilty. I recall when you posted, months ago, and some of us warned you that it was risky and might be difficult. 28 hours per week is exhausting; most of us couldn't or wouldn't teach that much.

How to improve yourself, you ask? Well, if you have access to the internet, you can enroll in an online TEFL course. If money is not a big problem, you could enroll in a TEFL course in Chiang Mai, BKK, Phuket, etc., for the October school vacation.

Thanks. Exhausting...yes, that's it. Really, I have thought of the Tefl/ Oct break thing. I should make that decision soon. I do have internet in my home. Anybody out there with experience regarding the online Tefl that they would like to share?

I have been teaching in remote Thailand now only for a couple of months. I am a native speaker, however I am not legal, nor qualified as a teacher. I have come to understand that I am still teaching here only because ; I stick to vocabulary, pronunciation, and definition; my girlfriends uncle is the sub-director at the school; there are six Thai english teachers at the school and I am "supplemetary"; it is a challenge.

Allthough what I thought would be easy is turning out to be quite difficult, I do like it. I want to better myself so that I am more qualified.

I am embarrassed to say, but I only have grade 10 from Canada. I am not stupid, I had a difficult time growing up. I know my abilities and lack of as well.

My question is this; how could/should I go about educating myself from Thailand?

My goals are:

A) To teach better

To know more

C) To one day, be legal here

Again, I am embarrassed to write about this on this forum. If I thought I was doing the students a disservice I would stop teaching them. If I thought that someone qualified would teach here, I would gladly step aside. They have been looking for a falang native speaker here for years. I have been honest with the staff and directors at the school about my lack of qualifications and formal education since we started negotiations about the job. I like getting paid, but I don't really need the money that they give me for the hours that I work and the conditions I work under.....28 classes a week M1/1-M6/4, about 40 students per class, each class once a week.

Any thoughts on my question would be appreciated. Thanks.

Public high school out in the middle of nowhere.

I have only been at this now a couple of weeks. I am in a remote area teaching at a school of 1100 students. I am unqualified technically. I have been honest with the school from the start of negotiating the deal. They love me, so do most of the students so far. The kids have six Thai english teachers teaching six levels of students. The levels are then split 5 times according to ability and level of interest. I am an "extra" teacher. They see me once a week, which is severely inadequate. I teach only vocabulary and pronunciation. I really feel sorry for these kids. I can only converse with two of the other teachers. Guess how many students I can converse with? Yes, you're right. None. These are supposedly qualified teachers.

I do my best to get and keep them interested and teach what I can in the little time that I have with them. Being able to speak and understand english might make a difference in what some of these kids end up doing.

So, I don't have cred's or a work permit. Yes I am illegal...shame on me. Anyone want to teach where I am teaching?

They teachers have now asked me to teach them how to speak.....

This last post or reply about the teacher in Isan...have you read the last 5 pages??? Go to his class. How is he with the kids? How are they with him? Can he speak english? Or is his accent so thick that the majority of english speakers couldn't inderstand him? ( I met a Scot here that was teaching, legally, that I couldn't understand). Like....c'mon man....what do you want?....a fully qualified teacher, or one that can teach what you want your children to learn? Think carefully about this one. If you know this guy, what do you know about him? Is he dangerous? To anyone? I recommend that before you make your judgement of him, sit on on some Thai teachers' classes as well. If you can't afford to buy a good education here, think carefully about how you proceed here. Good luck.

Canada: I think your basic problem might be the visa situation. Are you on a Tourist Visa? If so what happens when you have used up your 180 days?

A lot of schools don't have a problem per se with the degree situation, it is the MOE (Ministry of Education) that set the rule. And without the MOE and eventually the Labor Department for the WP, you might not be able to stay.

People with valid long stay visas, although technically working illegally, aren't usually caught.

I am on a tourist visa. Three entries, two months each. When it expires, I plan to go to Myanmar and purchase what I can. One or two, two month visas. You usually can't get a six month from over here. Myanmar is close to where we are staying. The money is not my big concern. It is not why I am doing this. Just really want something to do, to be able to contribute, and earn enough to live here for a while. I'll be going back to Canada next year. Thanks for your replies.

supply and demand

they're choosy where they can afford to be choosy - big-city high-salaried jobs

they're not choosy where they can't afford to be choosy - provincial towns and government schools anywhere

Some remote provinces don't even bother with work permits, teacher licenses, help on visas. You're accepted as an ajarn, and no 'formalities' are done, until you need a new visa, at your own expense. So things have changed drastically for some employers who play the game down at the MOE and MOL offices.

Not quite sure how to reply on this site. I just want to add, that I am working as an english teacher in a gov't school in a small town in the province of Kamphaeng Phet. Nobody wants to work here as a teacher. Because of my lack of a BA, the school seems to be unwilling to support a WP application. They are however, willing to employ me without a WP and are quite happy to have me. I have been honest with them about my lack of qualifications from the start. They have only been able to attract Phillipino teachers thus far, which the students have a hard time understanding. They prefer me with no qualifications over a non native speaker with qualifications. I am unsure about the consequences of doing this if caught or the chances of being caught. I think I know what the rules are, but this is Thailand. Can anyone educate me on this? In case you are wondering....I came here for a girl. Her uncle is Sub-Director at the high school here. I haven't been teaching at the school for long, reports from the students and the other 6 english teachers (Thai) are quite favorable. They want me to stay, but are unsure about how to proceed with me. They say that no WP is less of a problem than applying for one would be. Feedback?