Towzak

Apologies if this has popped up elsewhere but for the first time in all my years of teaching I have been issued with a 3 month work permit. I made an enquiry as to why and was informed that they will no longer issue a 1 year WP on a 3 month non B visa. So, now I have to visit immigration to get the non B 9 month update (which I would do normally anyway) then return to the labour office to get the WP updated to 1 year. I can see a point in this but I'm fully expecting immigration saying they can't issue an updated non B because the WP is only for 3 months. Anybody else experienced this ?

I'm pretty sure its the Labour Office that request a medical when you go through the WP process. In my case the local office request that you get a x-ray for TB in addition to all the other tests on their list and they have to be taken every year. For me its about 600 B and although the school will foot the WP bill they wont cough up for the medical fee...even though its part of the WP process. Mai pen rai.

Thanks ! for the reply and information SantiSuk..much appreciated. Thanks! also for the offer

I live up in Yasothon so I imagine like yourself I will probably visit every other weekend providing I'm not busy or elsewhere. I prefer to watch football in company with a beer rather than cooped up in an hotel. I don't mind so much if the commentary isn't in English (nice if can get it though).....I've grown used to that :-). Unlike your team, who I'm sure you'll be pleased with at the moment, my team are wallowing away in the nether regions of League 1 so I'm happy watching any EPL game really.

Having smashed the glass screen on my iPad mini I'm now looking for a place that can replace said screen. I have only recently moved to the area and live about 1 hours north of Ubon. There's nobody out here who can repair it so Ubon seems to be the place to go. One of my colleagues muttered something about 'King Kong' so I am assuming that is a computer place ?

And while I'm here, could anyone recommend places in Ubon where I could watch football on a weekend. Best places to go etc..

Thanks! in advance

NCA do indeed have a small terminal in Ban Phai, on the South bound section and I would imagine for South bound trips the bus would stop there. Not so sure for Northern trips though. However, although NCA may not call into a particular bus station they will drop you off on the roadside...though you may have to pay to Khonkaen even though you are getting off in Ban Phai. You need to inform them when you book your ticket and inform the attendant as you get on the bus.

I do an extra hours tuition after school from Tuesday - Friday and each student is charged 400 Baht per month, they each receive 2 hours per week though in reality the lesson is 45 minutes long as they always nip outside to grab food and bring it back to what I now term the 'English Cafe' !!. So, going on this they are getting very affordable lessons indeed......I am the Baht-stretcher of English tuition ! However, the numbers are quite high and I seldom have less than 15 per class and I limit it to 30 so that generates quite a tidy sum over a month. With them being my students anyway I personally choose not to charge 300 - 500 Baht per lesson.

One problem I do find, apart from the tail-off as the months pass by (which I anticipate anyway), is despite the cheap tuition some parents still do not cough up at the end of the month. Clearly, some of them perceive it as cheap babysitting and they can leave their child in school an extra hour or so. I find getting parents to pay upfront somewhat difficult to implement so (reluctantly) decided to turn non-paying parents kids away.

I think the normal rate here would be 200 Baht per hour and perhaps 300 at a push though I did teach the staff at the local Tesaban for 500 baht per hour....well, they did offer !

Visual aids and songs in a classroom are always a good idea, particularly with younger students. However, do not put all your eggs into one basket and set your mind on using the internet, a laptop, and a projector for every lesson. I would certainly have a plan B where technology is concerned and from my experience using the school internet has been highly unreliable. I would personally forego the internet and have my lesson on the laptop and link it up to the projector or large screen TV. It's also worth baring in mind that not all Thai students, particularly older boys, like singing karaoke or indeed singing in the classroom and would definitely shy away from singing in English so its best to mix it up a bit. Every classroom here has a widescreen TV but they are seldom if ever used......apart from the class Xmas party when the teacher puts a DVD movie in the drive !! Personally, I like to use them when I can because visual aids can be extremely useful, but, you need to ensure that all students can see the screen and hear it if you are using sound.

Is it a large government school with 50+ students per class ? I don't know anything about your particular teaching environment and of course this can make a huge difference. As an example, if I tried to use your idea in my previous school it would have fallen flat from day 1 for a variety of reasons. Not that it is a bad idea, its a commendable idea and the students do enjoy getting away from rote style and blackboard teaching.

Anyway, good luck with your venture Martin and let's know how you get on :-)

I doubt it will be this month. Some people say it will be November but according to senseiphone it will be December so I guess it will be released in time for Xmas ....not that I'll be getting one.

The one that I most fear, though not necessarily a killer, is the centipede (scolopendra) and this critter is known to pack a pretty mean punch.

I think the WP only relates to the school who employs you so taking on other jobs (private tuition) unrelated to the one at the school would also be illegal ?Maybe someone can confirm that.

I may be able to assist those who have no transport. I can take people from KK to the resort or those who live no more than 80 Km south of KK on Mittrapap. I don't mind making an extra run from the resort to KK to collect people if they really require it. Needless to say I do not drive a bus !

yes, I've tried it before with a particularly large and noisy class and it worked ok. I should add that I would never mark a good student down and they would eventually get what they deserve come marking time, I couldn't in all honesty take away points from a good student just because a member of their group was a complete pain. It's just a bit of psychology really to calm things down a bit hence the reason a small prize might also be a good idea. Thai students often like competitive games and pitting themselves against each other so those type of things are worth bearing in mind and integrating into a lesson.

One I noticed recently was the Revo Heritage internet radio. It is available in Thailand but will set you back over 12,000 Baht....cheaper than a tablet though. If you could pick up a cheaper tablet and combine it with the excellent 'TuneIn radio' app then that might fit the bill. Personally, I use an iPad and TuneIn radio.

Anyway, link below for the Revo if you want to take a butchers

http://www.siammetry.com/

You could try a form of self discipline which might, or might not work....but perhaps worth a shot. Basically, you tie a points system into end of term marks so ideally those with higher points achieve marks towards their grade. This point is important and you need to ensure the students understand it. You randomly assign students to groups taking care to separate out the 'noisy gang' so they are not all together. Needless to say it is best done in one of the earlier lessons of a semester. A novel idea is to give each student a number then in bingo type fashion (they might actually enjoy this part) assign them to a group so, for example, first number out of the bag is number 37 and its hyperactive young Somchai sitting at the back there and he goes into group 1, next number goes into group 2 and so on. Its upto you how many per group but needs to be large enough to contain a mix of students. Now you have a number of groups containing both boys and girls, good students and bad ones and each group is allocated 100 points. Now, lets say our disruptive Somchai causes a bit of chaos and disrupts the lesson.....oh dear! you will have to deduct some points from group one's stash of 100. Somchai might not give a dam_n but others in the group just might knowing its going to have an impact on their final score. Hopefully, this will encourage some form of self discipline when you start knocking off points. You could also throw in a prize for the best group/s. It could completely collapse given the 'no fail' system and I guess you are relying on the better students to speak out. I have tried this method and it worked, not in the early stages so you have to be patient.

The groups don't have to sit together and you can carry on doing your lessons as per usual but taking note of who pushes the boundaries just a bit too far. With chemically imbalanced M3 I would imagine not having to be too strict with the points deduction as they do seem to be notorious for arsing about particularly the lower grades of that year. It was always M3 /5 with me and were affectionately known by all teachers, including Thai teachers, as 'the animal class' and they really had got arsing about down to an art form. I got along with them fine but some of the things they got upto I had to say to myself 'I didn't really see that'. A small number of them used to have a cigarette in the toilets before my lesson then sit at the back of the class and turn the floor fan on.....the idea being to blow the smell of smoke from their clothes !

Good luck! with it Chonabot...teaching a class of 60 is dam_n hard work

I will be in Khonkaen that weekend so two tickets for the missis and me please

Is it possible to stay at how chow for the 1 night rather than the weekend ?

Cheers!

As far as I know Raymond is back in the UK though from what I gather he returns every now and then. I have heard nothing recently about the English Language Centre that he operated. Learning Thai in Phon will more than likely be a 1v1 as there is no centre that teaches Thai. This shouldn't be a problem its just finding the best teacher to do the job and one who the OP will be comfortable with. I know teachers in all the Phon schools so I can put in a word if that way would be acceptable.

The teachers are Thai. There are not too many farang in these parts. I can go weeks on end without ever seeing one :-)

If you are wanting intensive classroom learning then the best places would be Khonkaen or Korat. 'Walen' are probably the best known but they have no training facilities in Isaan as far as I know, though they do offer online courses through Skype. My other half is a teacher so I've asked her to dig up some info. I think there may be a 60 hour student course at KKU but this focuses more on culture and only covers the basics of language. Would be a good start I suppose.

I know many teachers in Phon so if you wish I can ask around

I would imagine the local bus service can take you into Udon Thani (very cheaply) though in my experience they tend to stop working late afternoon/ early evening. You may also need to take a tuk tuk or Songthaew from the bus station as Udon is a fairly large city.

I am not familiar with the Phen bus service but it It really isn't that far to Udon so perhaps a taxi might be a better idea if you know exactly where you want to go and this will negate getting city transport once you arrive, but, arrange the price before you get in and if it seems a bit steep its not impolite to barter a price with a smile. The hotel you will be staying in can easily arrange taxis for you or if you are staying with friends they will know a taxi driver who can take you. If you are returning late from Udon then it will probably have to be a taxi.

I would certainly recommend a trip to Nong Khai even if it is just to see the Mekong and Laos on the other side but the Indochina market and many other places to eat and shop sit along the side the Mekon promenade. There is also a very old Post Office there. In Nong Khai you will also find Sala Kaew Ku so load up the camera ! It's a very interesting sculpture park. If you want to eat local with the locals head for the Rimkhong area and for local produce/culture a visit to Jom Jang might also be of interest. You can get around NK on foot or even hire a bicycle for the day. For countryside I guess Loei would be the obvious choice, especially Phu Kradueng

Highly unlikely Phen has a movie theatre, for that you would need to go to Udon Thani.

There are many things in the area to do and see and you could also visit Laos via the friendship bridge at Nong Khai. I guess it depends on whether you have your own transport and how many things you can pack into a day. I would suggest looking at some online tourist maps of Udon Thani and Nong Khai as Phen is roughly between the two, these will give an extensive list of the most popular places and from there you can decide where you would like to go...... and how you are going to get there.

Are you trying to use a credit/debit card from your own country ? If so, then it may be blocked from particular transactions (in Thailand) for security reasons and you would have to inform your bank to release the security measure.

I think most people have downloaded the digital version rather than had a boxed version delivered. You can get this direct from the GW2 Official site. It is a lengthy download but well worth the wait :-)

Shocking news. What a thoughtless and cowardly crime.

Rest in Peace Stephen and my condolences to his family and friends.

Can also confirm things on IoJ are positive. A few bugs here and there but with the servers just coming online Saturday that's nothing too bad. I don't seem to be experiencing any latency and there hasn't been any lag when in large groups.

Great game, having fun