4 hours ago, thequietman said:

For now, I keep grafting away and saving about 35000 baht a month from this thankless task. Take the money I say and bite your lip whenever possible. (It is difficult)

You are obviously not working for a Rajabhat.

4 hours ago, thequietman said:

They don't have any respect for us at all and we are just tolerated. I pay them lip service and no more, and try to game the system when given any chance at all. Doing this 11 years now and I know how it all works. All show and no substance. I shall continue to supply it in great abundance. ????

I'm trying to learn how to do that. It might be too late. However, I did decide today to take the crappy cute PowerPoint presentations full of errors, they made from my nice ones, and use them as is in the videos. Why should I fix them? I will make a polite disclaimer about the errors and the plagiarism, urging students to get the book, using complex words that will get by the reviewers. Then I will grin and get this set over with as fast as possible. With the time I save, I will relax and begin packing my parachute.

35 minutes ago, sanooki said:

Quote

They don't have any respect for us at all and we are just tolerated. I pay them lip service and no more, and try to game the system when given any chance at all. Doing this 11 years now and I know how it all works. All show and no substance. I shall continue to supply it in great abundance. ????

I'm trying to learn how to do that. It might be too late. However, I did decide today to take the crappy cute PowerPoint presentations full of errors, they made from my nice ones, and use them as is in the videos. Why should I fix them? I will make a polite disclaimer about the errors and the plagiarism, urging students to get the book, using complex words that will get by the reviewers. Then I will grin and get this set over with as fast as possible. With the time I save, I will relax and begin packing my parachute.

You are working in a low end uni in a 3rd world country for a pittance. Do not try to care more that your bosses who are constantly making stupid decisions and disrupting learning time with pointless indoctrination ceremonies. Like @thequietman said," learn to play the game".

58 minutes ago, sanooki said:

I get your point. That is one of the reasons I've given for threatening not to do it. All the rest of them are bending. Some are complaining too. There are no stated contact hours in my contract. It's a salaried position, the upside being that I can go months without working and still collect a paycheck.

 

I have also mentioned that video work is a completely different animal than classroom, and not even hinted at in my interview. Many of the others are not properly trained for this, so failing. I made an analogy with my boss, asking would they be asking me to clean toilets or drive a bus. She says this is teaching work and that's what we're expected to do. It's asinine, really.

You are clearly older than me and thus wiser I will assume. I know it's a little late in the day to tell you this, but ......... stop taking it seriously.

 

If they want you to make videos of your class, just agree and then forget to do it, the camera didn't work, don't turn on the sound, walk off point so the camera can not see you, whatever, but say YES to everything. Just nod and smile. After a while, it actually gets funny trying to meet their demands. As long as you don't say the word, 'NO' then you will be fine.

 

Take it for what it is ....... a shambles and a game. Just get better at it than them. ???? Every Uni and high school should have a warning like cigarettes - "Not to be taken seriously."

42 minutes ago, sanooki said:

You are obviously not working for a Rajabhat.

I'm trying to learn how to do that. It might be too late. However, I did decide today to take the crappy cute PowerPoint presentations full of errors, they made from my nice ones, and use them as is in the videos. Why should I fix them? I will make a polite disclaimer about the errors and the plagiarism, urging students to get the book, using complex words that will get by the reviewers. Then I will grin and get this set over with as fast as possible. With the time I save, I will relax and begin packing my parachute.

See ..... now you're beginning to understand. Leave your western work ethic t the entrance to the Uni tomorrow and you will be happier for it. Test the waters and see how far you can push the boundaries. You would be surprised at what you can get by on. Cut those 4 hour lectures down to 2, give the kids longer breaks between the hour, don't shout at them if they return later than you said ........... relax and see it for what it is ....a complete shambles. The Thai lecturers do it - learn from them.

 

So, when you wake up tomorrow morning, put a smile on your face, say Yes to everything and then just ignore them. They don't like confrontation, so they won't ask you again and if they do ............ smile and say 'no problem, I will get right on that' and then do as I told you before. ???? Take the money and start to relax.

2 hours ago, thequietman said:

So, when you wake up tomorrow morning, put a smile on your face, say Yes to everything and then just ignore them. They don't like confrontation, so they won't ask you again and if they do ............ smile and say 'no problem, I will get right on that' and then do as I told you before. ???? Take the money and start to relax.

Also, check your contract for your sick/personal days. Make sure you use them all up because they wont roll over and you wont be paid extra for any unused days.

On 9/25/2019 at 8:42 PM, thequietman said:

See ..... now you're beginning to understand. Leave your western work ethic t the entrance to the Uni tomorrow and you will be happier for it. Test the waters and see how far you can push the boundaries. You would be surprised at what you can get by on. Cut those 4 hour lectures down to 2, give the kids longer breaks between the hour, don't shout at them if they return later than you said ........... relax and see it for what it is ....a complete shambles. The Thai lecturers do it - learn from them.

 

So, when you wake up tomorrow morning, put a smile on your face, say Yes to everything and then just ignore them. They don't like confrontation, so they won't ask you again and if they do ............ smile and say 'no problem, I will get right on that' and then do as I told you before. ???? Take the money and start to relax.

Your advice is great. I had actually been slowly and grudgingly moving in that direction. This thread has been priceless in getting me to see that nobody is asking for my high level of quality control. I can at this point scale it back much more. I don't know if I'll be renewed next time anyway, but figure I've got 10 months and can at least have a more relaxed journey there.

 

To one of your previous posts, if I make a video completely unusable, I'm pretty sure they'll have me record it yet again, so my working strategy will be to do the minimum to make it appear usable ???? When in Rome...

On 9/25/2019 at 11:40 PM, stubuzz said:

Also, check your contract for your sick/personal days. Make sure you use them all up because they wont roll over and you wont be paid extra for any unused days.

Thanks for your advice. I generally avoid using those if I don't need to because it usually ends up taking more time and energy to make things up. Plus, we're in an open environment where I'm not expected to be on campus unless I have a meeting or a class. 

 

However, in one of our discussions, my boss was threatening that if I didn't do these videos, she might force me to sit in my office full days. My response was to ask what will my hours be? ???? So in that case, I would be heavily managing my built-up days for sure.

On 9/25/2019 at 8:36 PM, thequietman said:

If they want you to make videos of your class, just agree and then forget to do it, the camera didn't work, don't turn on the sound, walk off point so the camera can not see you, whatever, but say YES to everything. Just nod and smile. After a while, it actually gets funny trying to meet their demands. As long as you don't say the word, 'NO' then you will be fine.

OP-This is the best advice you've been given so far.  The last Thai Culture course I attended they asked me to be a guest speaker and give a foreigner point of view to the newbies. (I've been teaching here for 18yrs now) Also keep in mind, the labor dept. is your friend. They back you up on severance pay claims IF you document every request and response, keep a signed copy of all contracts/tax reports (to back up your claim of 6 yrs of uninterrupted employment), copies of your schedule, etc. Everything that proves they just let you go. Currently (unless you're making 20,000k a month) you're looking at well over 200,000k in severance pay.

Last thing, there's a "Dip-Ed" course being offered with teachers in mind at St. Roberts that TCT recognizes as equivalent to an M.Ed. Evening/weekend classes.

On 10/7/2019 at 9:02 AM, mrwebb8825 said:

OP-This is the best advice you've been given so far.  The last Thai Culture course I attended they asked me to be a guest speaker and give a foreigner point of view to the newbies. (I've been teaching here for 18yrs now) Also keep in mind, the labor dept. is your friend. They back you up on severance pay claims IF you document every request and response, keep a signed copy of all contracts/tax reports (to back up your claim of 6 yrs of uninterrupted employment), copies of your schedule, etc. Everything that proves they just let you go. Currently (unless you're making 20,000k a month) you're looking at well over 200,000k in severance pay.

Last thing, there's a "Dip-Ed" course being offered with teachers in mind at St. Roberts that TCT recognizes as equivalent to an M.Ed. Evening/weekend classes.

Just checking in after a few days. Thanks much for your comment and advice. The last 2 bits are especially interesting. I did not know about the severance pay availability. I will check into that. Also, the diploma course you mentioned. At my age, I am continually back and forth with myself on whether another credential will be worth the time.

Cheers.

^ Sanooki, I took the St. Roberts course and got a Teacher's License shortly after my 60th birthday.  The way that I look at it, is that it's better to keep as many options open as possible.

On 10/10/2019 at 7:38 PM, otherstuff1957 said:

^ Sanooki, I took the St. Roberts course and got a Teacher's License shortly after my 60th birthday.  The way that I look at it, is that it's better to keep as many options open as possible.

Good food for thought. But, where can you teach with that license at your age? Also, approximately how much was the total cost of the degree please?

I currently teach Science at an all EP private school.  I can also teach Math if need be.  Native English Science and Math teachers are always in demand, so I'm sure I could get another job if I left this one.

 

If I was a regular TEFLer I would be worried about staying employed though.

20 hours ago, otherstuff1957 said:

I currently teach Science at an all EP private school.  I can also teach Math if need be.  Native English Science and Math teachers are always in demand, so I'm sure I could get another job if I left this one.

 

If I was a regular TEFLer I would be worried about staying employed though.

I'm a programmer and have taught computers in high school here in the past, so maybe I'm also good to go. Thanks. I'll check into that program.