School's out... forever?

[johnray]

It started with a brief closure.  I got a message saying 'we will be shut for a few days' in March.

 

Then the months dragged on.  I have spiraled into crippling debt and had to move to cheaper house.  The move was done with one car plus my girlfriend's boss has an office full of boxes at our house (he did a runner back to India and left her with all the stock)  He rarely pays her in full and has missed multiple salaries.  The new house has no AC, no kitchen, no water filter and just one fan.  On top of this I have the university tapping me for money soon.  20,000 bhat (maybe more up to 40,000).  I've never sweated so much in my life.  Getting through 4 tshirts a day.  Now the work is done though.

 

So I got interviews from another school.  The interview was done via a line call.  Over the months 5 teachers have dropped out of the line group.  Most saying they have gone back to the UK.  A few saying they have better offers.  A lot of the teachers are fighting the time limits on visas and the promise of employment.  Also they are trying to take the TOEIC / medical certificates / police checks within the short time and with no income.

 

The schools seem to be desperate now for teachers as a lot of them have left already.  The schools are bending the rules quite a bit and accepting teachers with no degree and have a 'just turn up and teach' attitude.

 

The teachers were Russians, Turkish, French, Filipino and more.  Two British guys.

 

I have started my own online teaching set up on Zoom and have 2 students,  I'm waiting for a call back on 3 more students.

 

200 bhat per hour for one family.  The other family asked for 100 bhat per hour.  Barely enough money to buy food.

 

As far as the other staff and receptions they have all tried to start their own business.  Selling, home made items.  I get regular updates on social media with them promoting products.  It's clear they have just taken a photo of something in their house.  Very sad times.

 

The date has changed many times but the latest opening date is some time in July.

[Phil McCaverty]

1 hour ago, johnray said:

The date has changed many times but the latest opening date is some time in July.

My son's school messaged all parents back in March sometime to that the school would be closed until July 1st earliest. That date has remained throughout.

[puchooay]

2 hours ago, ben2talk said:

Actually the basic curriculum is common to the whole country

I didn't say it wasn't. I was pointing out that the teaching plan and test papers are written locally. As most teachers only teach the kids to pass the tests, each teacher setting up their own online teaching program would not be difficult.

[Brunolem]

13 hours ago, puchooay said:

I disagree. Most students and teachers have Facebook, Line and other social media apps. Not difficult to set up video chat.

 

 

They certainly do...on their mobile phones!

 

And I can't imagine teaching and learning 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, via mobile phones...

[DavisH]

3 hours ago, Brunolem said:

They certainly do...on their mobile phones!

 

And I can't imagine teaching and learning 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, via mobile phones...

I will be having less video conferencing contact with them than what I would in the classroom. The rest of their time will be spent doing the work I send them or asking me for help on Line. They will send me their work via google classroom. 

They will need a tablet or pc/laptop to to the work. A phone will be useless. 

[Brunolem]

42 minutes ago, DavisH said:

I will be having less video conferencing contact with them than what I would in the classroom. The rest of their time will be spent doing the work I send them or asking me for help on Line. They will send me their work via google classroom. 

They will need a tablet or pc/laptop to to the work. A phone will be useless. 

The problem is that most children don't have a laptop, and won't buy one because they'll need it for a month or so.

 

This system could work for the private schools, because the concerned families have enough money, but forget about it for public schools.

 

Probably, sometime in the middle of June, the government will come up with a plan for the schools...full of unexpected ideas as usual...

 

[gimo]

On 5/6/2020 at 5:26 PM, Keyser Soze666 said:

I'm talking about private schools, a chums school have told them they have a week off in Oct, my school are currently saying no break in Oct. Sorry, didn't realise this thread was for the gov schools only, thankfully my kids don't have to be exposed to that.

            My son went to a govt school in Thailand kinder 2 years and pratum 2 years , after moving to Thai when he was 8 months old .

 He started P3  at a school here in NSW , Australia a week ago .. I was worried that the standard of teaching might be different , however ,  despite him being one of the youngest in the class due to his birthday in November , and the fact that the other kids in his class are doing their 2nd semester of 3rd grade , I've been told by his teachers that he is a more than competent student . I won't have any problem sending him back to the same school when he returns after the CV19 problem has gone . He was in a special class in Thailand and I only spoke English to him at home as he was growing up .

[puchooay]

11 hours ago, Brunolem said:

They certainly do...on their mobile phones!

 

And I can't imagine teaching and learning 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, via mobile phones...

I have been teaching online for over 5 years. A very large percentage of my students do indeed use a mobile phone. It's really not that difficult.

[anchadian]

Richard Barrow in Thailand 

 

@RichardBarrow

 

Ministry of Education has unveiled a new plan for the school year which will give everyone a break:

 

Term 1: 1st July-13th November (93 days)

 

Holiday 17 days

 

Term 2: 1st December-9th April (88 days)

 

Holiday 37 days * In this plan we somehow have to make up 19 lost days

____________________________________________________________________

You need to follow Barrow for any further updated info.

[Brunolem]

11 hours ago, puchooay said:

I have been teaching online for over 5 years. A very large percentage of my students do indeed use a mobile phone. It's really not that difficult.

I wonder how it is possible to stay focused for hours while watching such a small screen.

 

I couldn't do it, but probably these children are better than me at concentrating...

 

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, anchadian said:

Richard Barrow in Thailand 

 

@RichardBarrow

 

Ministry of Education has unveiled a new plan for the school year which will give everyone a break:

 

Term 1: 1st July-13th November (93 days)

 

Holiday 17 days

 

Term 2: 1st December-9th April (88 days)

 

Holiday 37 days * In this plan we somehow have to make up 19 lost days

____________________________________________________________________

You need to follow Barrow for any further updated info.

I wonder how they are going to make it in classrooms with no aircon until April 9th...

[saakura]

On 5/6/2020 at 10:41 AM, Brunolem said:

 

No child, and no adult, has an attention span long enough to learn new things 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, without ever taking a break...

Correct, that is why they get the weekend off. 

[Brunolem]

12 minutes ago, saakura said:

Correct, that is why they get the weekend off. 

This is far from enough.

Schools have had long holidays dating back from long before I was born...probably for good reasons.

 

[puchooay]

8 hours ago, Brunolem said:

I wonder how they are going to make it in classrooms with no aircon until April 9th...

How many schools nationwide do you think have aircon in every classroom?

 

I was a teacher for 21 years. I had aircon for 2 terms. One term was only 2 hours aircon per day. That was bearable. The other term I had my own classroom for every class. That classroom had aircon. I lasted 2 weeks before I asked to be moved. It made me very sleepy.

 

I guess everyone is different but I found that myself and my students were more focused in a natural environment. The classrooms with fans and open windows were better. I even had 2 terms without fans. That was HOT.

[Scott]

I  don't do well without A/C, but I seldom had the luxury of A/C in the classrooms and even in the teacher's office for two years we didn't have it.  

I didn't have much trouble teaching without A/C.   I suspect I was more focused and paying attention to what I was doing.   The office was not tolerable.   If the fan was on, papers were blowing around and concentrating on checking notebooks, etc., was difficult.  

The big disadvantage to NOT having A/C in the classrooms was the level of noise and distraction from nearby classes and activity.   Extraneous noise is very detrimental to learning.  

 

[Brunolem]

7 hours ago, Scott said:

I  don't do well without A/C, but I seldom had the luxury of A/C in the classrooms and even in the teacher's office for two years we didn't have it.  

I didn't have much trouble teaching without A/C.   I suspect I was more focused and paying attention to what I was doing.   The office was not tolerable.   If the fan was on, papers were blowing around and concentrating on checking notebooks, etc., was difficult.  

The big disadvantage to NOT having A/C in the classrooms was the level of noise and distraction from nearby classes and activity.   Extraneous noise is very detrimental to learning.  

 

And I suppose you were not teaching in March and April, the two hottest months of the year...

 

[Scott]

6 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

And I suppose you were not teaching in March and April, the two hottest months of the year...

 

Yes, I was teaching in both March and April.   April is our summer session.   I am not sure what your point is though.   I think classrooms should have air conditioning, otherwise the big problem at our school is the noise from outside which at times was very, very distracting.  

 

 

 

[Brunolem]

1 minute ago, Scott said:

Yes, I was teaching in both March and April.   April is our summer session.   I am not sure what your point is though.   I think classrooms should have air conditioning, otherwise the big problem at our school is the noise from outside which at times was very, very distracting.  

 

 

 

My point is that it is not too difficult to be in a classroom with no aircon from October to February, the second term, but not so easy in March and April when temperatures outside are soaring.

 

There is a good reason why Thailand has a 2 month break in March and April: the heat...