Do Afro American men get treated with respect as teachers in Thailand ?

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Nickelbeer said:

That is debatable. I am as white as I can possibly be and I have had Thai people call me a "n*****r because they know that it is offensive. It is all about insulting you as much as possible.

Never have that problem, must be your lovely character.

[Jingthing]

3 hours ago, Nickelbeer said:

That is debatable. I am as white as I can possibly be and I have had Thai people call me a "n*****r because they know that it is offensive. It is all about insulting you as much as possible.

Seriously? I'm skeptical. Has anyone else had that experience? If so, maybe some kind of new slang is developing to perhaps call very white f-rangs Mayonaisse N-words. That would be amusing.

[Scott]

Troll post removed.

 

[Nickelbeer]

On 1/4/2022 at 7:11 PM, Jingthing said:

Seriously? I'm skeptical. Has anyone else had that experience? If so, maybe some kind of new slang is developing to perhaps call very white f-rangs Mayonaisse N-words. That would be amusing.

The ones who use it, only know that it is offensive.  I don't think it goes much deeper than that. It just surprised me, that's all.

[Berkshire]

On 1/4/2022 at 3:54 PM, Nickelbeer said:

That is debatable. I am as white as I can possibly be and I have had Thai people call me a "n*****r because they know that it is offensive. It is all about insulting you as much as possible.

Bizarre.  I've been in Thailand 15+ years and I've never even heard a Thai say the N word. 

[Berkshire]

On 12/29/2021 at 11:25 AM, Callmeishmael said:

I know about 3 African-Americans teaching here in Thailand and none of them had too much trouble finding a job.  All 3 have University degrees.

1.  A retired diplomat and journalist who taught English at a number of schools until he retired for health reasons.

2. An ex-policeman who taught for a couple of years before getting an non-teaching online job.

3. A young woman who teaches younger learners and is treated well by her employers.

 

One thing that one of them told me, is that when they made if clear that they were American, not African, Thai attitudes toward them became much more positive.  If they think that you are Nigerian, they automatically think that you are a con-man!

I've known at least a couple of African-Americans with good teaching jobs in Thailand.  But they were not English teachers.  The OP should realize that teaching English is not exactly a top tier occupation in Thailand. 

[fredwiggy]

2 hours ago, Berkshire said:

I've known at least a couple of African-Americans with good teaching jobs in Thailand.  But they were not English teachers.  The OP should realize that teaching English is not exactly a top tier occupation in Thailand. 

But it's the most important subject they can learn. Think back, what does primary and high school teach you that you use in everyday life? Not much. Mathematics can always be done faster with calculators and computers. Most other subjects are forgotten besides language skills, unless you take an interest in them, history, sports(from gym class), and a few more. English ,being an international language that will eventually be the most important worldwide , can get them out of their 200 baht to 300 baht a day jobs, where they'll stay in poverty the rest of their lives.

[scorecard]

On 12/29/2021 at 12:18 AM, spidermike007 said:

A dear friend of mine is a light skinned black man, and although he is not a teacher, he does encounter a fair degree of racism here. Not of the nasty sort. More of the preferential sort. People believe what they believe. Whiteness is worshipped in Asia. 

 

I like to like with my Thai wife. Say this ten times. White is bad. Black is beautiful. She won't say it! 

Can be true and there can be exceptions.

 

I worked for a multinational for years across all of Asia.

 

IN Japan the company was quite large (1,000+ employees) and they employed 3 qualified highly credible English language teachers:

 

- A middle aged western woman, not friendly/overconfident.

 

- Two young lighter skin tone black men both about 25 years old, both: very good looking, pleasant, polite, reliable, always well groomed, well qualified and experienced and their classes very popular, always good / above average learning results.

 

Both well respected by all company staff. Both spoke good Japanese but never in the classroom or to their students in any setting. 

 

Both of the men were being 'approached' regularly by young Japanese female staff.

 

Both carefully pushed this aside, reality was they were both happily married to young female Japanese ladies who they had met in the US (the ladies were then students) and both had toddlers.

 

[Cat ji]

On 12/29/2021 at 3:54 AM, Surasak said:

With respect, he is not a native English speaker. He is an American by his own admittance. From a personal point of view, reading his post, I get the impression there is a chip on his shoulder. I hope I am wrong, but just how I read it.

Well, that was one thought while i've been reading here - that the one thing i'd be concerned about if I were a parent is whether he has that whiney accent that is so usual [with brothers] in Hollywood films.

[Cat ji]

On 12/29/2021 at 12:43 AM, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

In BKK, on the other hand, I saw much fewer of them, mostly in language schools, rarely in formal schools. I once worked at a famous big name BKK private school, with a huge foreign teaching staff, and the lack of any black people was quite noticeable.

Don't bother looking for Thai or any SE Asian teachers in Africa.

[TheScience]

The Black-chip-on-shoulder even makes it 1000s of miles from home country to parade here as well.

 

Are Blacks discriminated against? Yup.

 

Are whites? Yup.

 

You want to experience discrimination? Wait till you're looking for work 60+.

 

Deal with it or go home. One of the great things about being in Asia was once upon the time >  leaving all the woke, complainy  baggage from home - at home.

Edited January 26, 2022 by TheScience

[Neeranam]

Dark skinned people are represented in the media as the baddies. This is true about the recent movie the tax authority made, which they show in the tax office. 

I would not advise a black teacher to come to Thailand.

In 1995, I worked for ECC who hired a black teacher from the UK, who spoke like Trever McDoughnut. 

He was hired from a telephone interview and when he arrived here was taken to all 20 or so branches and not one would take him, He already had a contract an ended up doing some radio work. 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Neeranam

[BritManToo]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:28 PM, fredwiggy said:

what does primary and high school teach you that you use in everyday life? Not much.

Reading and writing is quite useful.

[Neeranam]

I've seen Thai apartment blocks tell young black teachers that they had no rooms available, when they had. 

 

[Neeranam]

On 1/26/2022 at 5:28 PM, TheScience said:

The Black-chip-on-shoulder even makes it 1000s of miles from home country to parade here as well.

 

Are Blacks discriminated against? Yup.

 

Are whites? Yup.

 

You want to experience discrimination? Wait till you're looking for work 60+.

 

Deal with it or go home. One of the great things about being in Asia was once upon the time >  leaving all the woke, complainy  baggage from home - at home.

Teacher who can't be bothered to integrate and learn the language are also discriminated against. ???? 

[TheScience]

24 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Teacher who can't be bothered to integrate and learn the language are also discriminated against. ???? 

Having worked at the cream of Thai public and private schools I'd say you could not be more incorrect.

But really? Message me your resume in the next hour and prove me wrong. How your Thai language skills landed you fabulous jobs with great pay.

 

Fact is the teacher-fools that blabber on in atrocious Thai only do so for their own selfish gratification. Students learn zero English while you have silly, meaningless conversations in Thai.

 

Send me a video of you teaching a mixed conditional. I'll take it all back.

 

This is just a jab at me from a past discussion. You're searching for that recognition that all the time you wasted somehow paid off. It didn't.

 

Not integrate lol. Judge much?

[Neeranam]

1 minute ago, TheScience said:

Having worked at the cream of Thai public and private schools I'd say you could not be more incorrect.

But really? Message me your resume in the next hour and prove me wrong. How your Thai language skills landed you fabulous jobs with great pay.

 

Fact is the teacher-fools that blabber on in atrocious Thai only do so for their own selfish gratification. Students learn zero English while you have silly, meaningless conversations in Thai.

 

Send me a video of you teaching a mixed conditional. I'll take it all back.

 

This is just a jab at me from a past discussion. You're searching for that recognition that all the time you wasted somehow paid off. It didn't.

 

Not integrate lol. Judge much?

Every post, you have a little dig at the end, maybe to raise your self-esteem.

You can't integrate if you can't speak the language, full stop. 

Thai has helped my career in many ways. I have done a lot of translation work, for starters. I never spoke Thai in the classroom. I got many great teaching jobs in the corporate world, as a result of being able to communicate in Thai. I used to teach a culture course to foreign teachers when I worked at a university.

Saying that being able to speak Thai doesn't help understand how Thai students learn English says a lot. 

[scorecard]

On 1/26/2022 at 5:28 PM, TheScience said:

The Black-chip-on-shoulder even makes it 1000s of miles from home country to parade here as well.

 

Are Blacks discriminated against? Yup.

 

Are whites? Yup.

 

You want to experience discrimination? Wait till you're looking for work 60+.

 

Deal with it or go home. One of the great things about being in Asia was once upon the time >  leaving all the woke, complainy  baggage from home - at home.

"The Black-chip-on-shoulder..."   What does that mean?

[TheScience]

Just now, Neeranam said:

Every post, you have a little dig at the end, maybe to raise your self-esteem.

You can't integrate if you can't speak the language, full stop. 

Thai has helped my career in many ways. I have done a lot of translation work, for starters. I never spoke Thai in the classroom. I got many great teaching jobs in the corporate world, as a result of being able to communicate in Thai. I used to teach a culture course to foreign teachers when I worked at a university.

Saying that being able to speak Thai doesn't help understand how Thai students learn English says a lot. 

You are so small and petty. This thread has absolutely nothing to do with Thai language skills but here you are parading your fragile yet self inflated ego despite that fact

 

You called me out. You are 1000% dead wrong. You do not need ANY Thai language skills to have a fabulous career here in Thailand.

 

Why don't you just take your bruised ego over to the grandpa forum or the i-got-a-pinkcard-you-dont-nanananana forum - or the loser forum.

[Neeranam]

19 minutes ago, TheScience said:

You are so small and petty. This thread has absolutely nothing to do with Thai language skills but here you are parading your fragile yet self inflated ego despite that fact

 

You called me out. You are 1000% dead wrong. You do not need ANY Thai language skills to have a fabulous career here in Thailand.

 

Why don't you just take your bruised ego over to the grandpa forum or the i-got-a-pinkcard-you-dont-nanananana forum - or the loser forum.

Bruised ego?

 

Probably better I ignore you. Trolls like you bring out the worst in me. Bye.

I don't have a pink card btw, but a blue one.

[Gecko123]

1 hour ago, TheScience said:

Fact is the teacher-fools that blabber on in atrocious Thai only do so for their own selfish gratification. Students learn zero English while you have silly, meaningless conversations in Thai.

 

I find your posts on this subject to be insufferably arrogant and disrespectful.

 

The ability to speak Thai can be of enormous benefit in the classroom:

• establishing rapport with students
• classroom discipline and management
• explaining grammatical concepts
• understanding why Thais pronounce English the way they do and using this knowledge to target pronunciation problems
• interfacing with other non-English speaking teachers, parents, and staff

The fact that you don't seem to appreciate any of this makes me seriously wonder about your qualifications as a teacher.

Edited January 29, 2022 by Gecko123

[Neeranam]

On 1/6/2022 at 11:05 AM, Berkshire said:

Bizarre.  I've been in Thailand 15+ years and I've never even heard a Thai say the N word. 

Double that and same.  However, they have their own derogatory word. 

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

3 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I worked for ECC who hired a black teacher from the UK, who spoke like Trever McDoughnut. 

He was hired from a telephone interview

Long ago I was referred to the ECC in Central Ladprao. Didn't know the area, why not bring the GF along? Tho at the time she was a tall ladyboy, in booty shorts, spaghetti strap top, looked fresh off of Sukhumvit. The look on the receptionists' faces was priceless. They still went through all the docs. I bet if you know anyone who worked with them they'll still remember it. I did not get a call back. I doubt my skin colour was the issue. ????

[Neeranam]

18 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Long ago I was referred to the ECC in Central Ladprao. Didn't know the area, why not bring the GF along? Tho at the time she was a tall ladyboy, in booty shorts, spaghetti strap top, looked fresh off of Sukhumvit. The look on the receptionists' faces was priceless. They still went through all the docs. I bet if you know anyone who worked with them they'll still remember it. I did not get a call back. I doubt my skin colour was the issue. ????

lol, I don't remember, it was 27 years ago I worked for them. 

 

I remember similar things when I worked in Siam Computer, with the legendary Mr. Michael, when guys would come in for interviews with their gfs, their sandals and Hawaai shirts.

[Scott]

Numerous off-topic, inflammatory, abusive posts and replies removed, along with one member.   

 

Keep it civil.

[scorecard]

On 1/29/2022 at 11:40 AM, Gecko123 said:

I find your posts on this subject to be insufferably arrogant and disrespectful.

 

The ability to speak Thai can be of enormous benefit in the classroom:

• establishing rapport with students
• classroom discipline and management
• explaining grammatical concepts
• understanding why Thais pronounce English the way they do and using this knowledge to target pronunciation problems
• interfacing with other non-English speaking teachers, parents, and staff

The fact that you don't seem to appreciate any of this makes me seriously wonder about your qualifications as a teacher.

There's also the school of thought that language teachers should never divert away from the new language.

[BangkokReady]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:59 PM, The Hammer2021 said:

'Constanant clusters' are a problem and require special attention  which Thai students don't get in school.

While Thais do have a problem with consonant clusters, that isn't what is being discussed in the comment you are replying to.  It's simply syllable/word ending/final sounds and their correct pronunciation.

 

Consonant clusters are sounds like "bl" "br", etc., where two consonants combine to make a different sound.  What the user you are replying to is talking about is where a Thai attempts to pronounce a word like "six", but pronounces it as "sic", due to the different pronunciation of ending/final sounds in Thai.

[KhaoNiaw]

4 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

While Thais do have a problem with consonant clusters, that isn't what is being discussed in the comment you are replying to.  It's simply syllable/word ending/final sounds and their correct pronunciation.

 

Consonant clusters are sounds like "bl" "br", etc., where two consonants combine to make a different sound.  What the user you are replying to is talking about is where a Thai attempts to pronounce a word like "six", but pronounces it as "sic", due to the different pronunciation of ending/final sounds in Thai.

"Six" does have a consonant cluster at the end /-ks/. You're confusing spelling and sounds. 'x' is not a final sound in English, just a spelling that covers the cluster. So it is a cluster problem for Thais.  

[BangkokReady]

50 minutes ago, KhaoNiaw said:

"Six" does have a consonant cluster at the end /-ks/. You're confusing spelling and sounds. 'x' is not a final sound in English, just a spelling that covers the cluster. So it is a cluster problem for Thais.  

You're confusing an example with being a complete account of the problem.  (Possibly in haste to get to correct someone.)

 

Thais also have a problem with sounds like "t", "p", "d" and "s" at the end of words.  It's a final sound problem, as I said.

 

I don't know the exact term for it.  Maybe closed or unaspirated consonants.  Basically most Thai syllables end in a kind of closed or muted way, so they have difficulty with the way English syllables end because we don't "close" them off or "silence" them in the same way as they do in Thai.

[KhaoNiaw]

31 minutes ago, BangkokReady said:

You're confusing an example with being a complete account of the problem.  (Possibly in haste to get to correct someone.)

 

Thais also have a problem with sounds like "t", "p", "d" and "s" at the end of words.  It's a final sound problem, as I said.

 

I don't know the exact term for it.  Maybe closed or unaspirated consonants.  Basically most Thai syllables end in a kind of closed or muted way, so they have difficulty with the way English syllables end because we don't "close" them off or "silence" them in the same way as they do in Thai.

You're over-explaining now I think. But I'm not going to disagree that the lack of final 's' in Thai is a contributory factor. Of course when a language doesn't use final clusters, then there is also a cluster problem. Rarely do linguistic problems come from a single contributory factor. The only thing I was actually trying to correct was the suggestion that 'six' doesn't contain a consonant cluster - but you're right, I haven't followed the discussion so probably missed the point.