Native Speakers

[Scott]

A lot of schools simply will not pay Asian teachers the same wage that they pay to farang teachers. Where I work, even Japanese teachers receive about 1/2 the salary of a farang. I always hate advertising and interviewing Japanese teachers because most of just laugh at the salary offer and it's rather embarassing.

So, if you have good English skills--native, fluent, whatever--you can probably teach here, but it's best that it be because you really want to rather than needing to make a living from it.

Best of luck to you.

[junkofdavid2]

Sorry Sing-man! You gotta come from Romania first and have blond hair!

Tip: I believe you can have the blond hair dye thingy done at pretty reasonable prices in many salons along Siam Square Soi numbers 1 to 3. Buy 2 get 1 free, if you bring other Singaporean (or even Malaysian) buddies along and wear Thai Uni uniforms (black/blue pants and white polo shirt).

nice sarcasm here, but i dont think it's really needed, thanks anyway I'll take it as a light=hearted post there

Of course it's light headed... I find it just as ridiculous as you do! ...when I see the customers preferring non-English-speaking whites over English-speaking Asians such as (some) Singaporeans and (some) Filipinos.

However, they are the customers and they pay the bill... so you can't really fault language businesses... oops! I meant language "schools".

I think it really doesn't matter whether there's an "official" definition of "native speaker" or not... because there isn't any!

The only thing that matters are the (various) definitions of "native english speaker" in the various minds of the various Thai customers.

So to answer you "seriously" this time and not in jest:

To many (most?) Thai customers and therefore also Thai schools, NO, YOU ARE NOT A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER. PERIOD.

(Even if a Romanian dude named Blorkus may be defined as one.)

[jetzie]

A lot of schools simply will not pay Asian teachers the same wage that they pay to farang teachers. Where I work, even Japanese teachers receive about 1/2 the salary of a farang. I always hate advertising and interviewing Japanese teachers because most of just laugh at the salary offer and it's rather embarassing.

So, if you have good English skills--native, fluent, whatever--you can probably teach here, but it's best that it be because you really want to rather than needing to make a living from it.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks scott, i do believe i have relatively standard english skills, fluent with no singlish accent. and honestly, i am pretty flexible on the salary, not too overboard though haha. I understand your irritation on interviewing japanese especially, i have had similar experiences

Edited July 27, 2007 by jetzie

[canadiangirl]

I think a Native English speaker would be an English speaking person from a country that has English....and only English as the official language of the country.

That's the Irish out then and possibly the Welsh.

Canadians too! We have Quebec, where most people's native language is French.

(sorry to be pedantic, I see what you mean by your comment. :-P

[canadiangirl]

Thailand needs fluent speakers whose use of the language is intuitive, who don't say that they go to shopping.

Added: I'm not saying that native speakers of other languages cannot become fully fluent in English. ThaiVisa has many good examples of that, and some Thai EFL teachers speak very fluently (especially if they've studied abroad).

Well, I'm French-Canadian, which in theory makes my mother tongue French. I never took any "real" English classes (as opposed to English as a second language) before college. But people don't usually know English isn't my mother tongue unless they ask; I don't have an accent when I speak. However, I would still hesitate to teach English as I've never myself taken any formal classes about English grammar, etc.

My guess is the average person in charge of hiring doesn't really know how to evaluate subtleties about who is a native speaker, so they seek refuge in the idea of native-speaking countries + a little bit of racist "wanting to see a white face in front of the class" Personally, I would prefer a fluent Singaporean teacher to a native-speaking Scot with an accent that needs subtitles (no offence to any lovely Scots -- you're just hard to understand sometimes! :-P

Plus I think the whole "white face in front of the class" thing is a bit of aspirational psychology as well: wanting to learn English as a way of gaining access to the perceived wealth and status of the West, which is embodied in certain stereotypical "looks": the tall, clean-cut American stockbroker, the distinguished older English gentleman, the blond, smiling mid-Western girl in a university shirt.

[PeaceBlondie]

...the West, which is embodied in certain stereotypical "looks": the tall, clean-cut American stockbroker, the distinguished older English gentleman, the blond, smiling mid-Western girl in a university shirt.

My problem is that I only meet certain disparate parts of the stereotypical looks: such as the clean-cut, American, distinguished older gentleman, blond and smiling, mid-Western ponytail in a Zapatista t-shirt......

[Ijustwannateach]

As far as definitions go...

I'd say the following are good candidate qualifications for what constitutes a "native speaker":

1. Your mother tongue (i.e., the first language(s) you learned from your primary caregivers) was English.

AND

2. You attended and graduated from a primary school and a high school where most teachers and other students were considered native speakers of English, in a country whose primary official language was English.

The first by itself is not sufficient because you could have a mother tongue of English but be raised in, say, a Thai or Japanese school system. The second is not sufficient because the first 5-6 years before schooling are still very important.

From a bureaucratic point of view, only the second one is truly documentable.

"Steven"

[Ijustwannateach]

I'm cutting off a certain topic of discussion on this thread because it is flamebait. Let's stay on topic.

[patongpanda]

List of countries where English is an official language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rank Country (*= widely spoken but not an official language) Population[1]

1 India 1,103,600,000

2 United States* 300,007,997

3 Pakistan 162,419,946

4 Nigeria 128,771,988

5 Philippines 87,857,473

6 United Kingdom* 60,441,457

7 South Africa 44,344,136

8 Kenya 33,829,590

9 Canada 32,300,000

10 Uganda 27,269,482

11 Ghana 21,029,853

12 Australia* 20,800,000

13 Sri Lanka 20,064,776

14 Madagascar 19,280,000

15 Cameroon 16,380,005

16 Zimbabwe 12,746,990

17 Malawi 12,158,924

18 Zambia 11,261,795

19 Rwanda 8,440,820

20 Hong Kong [2] 6,898,686

21 Sierra Leone 6,017,643

22 Papua New Guinea 5,545,268

23 Singapore 4,425,720

24 Republic of Ireland 4,130,700

25 New Zealand* 4,108,561

26 Puerto Rico [3] 3,912,054

27 Liberia 3,482,211

28 Jamaica 2,731,832

29 Namibia 2,030,692

30 Lesotho 1,867,035

31 Botswana 1,640,115

32 The Gambia 1,593,256

33 Mauritius 1,230,602

34 Swaziland 1,173,900

35 Trinidad and Tobago 1,088,644

36 Fiji 893,354

37 Guyana 765,283

38 Solomon Islands 538,032

39 Malta 398,534

40 The Bahamas 301,790

41 Belize 279,457

42 Barbados 279,254

43 Vanuatu 205,754

44 Guam [4] 168,564

45 Saint Lucia 166,312

46 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 117,534

47 U.S. Virgin Islands [5] 108,708

48 Micronesia, Federated States of 108,105

49 Kiribati 103,092

50 Jersey [6] 90,812

51 Grenada 89,502

52 Seychelles 81,188

53 Northern Mariana Islands [7] 80,801

54 Isle of Man [8] 75,049

55 Dominica 69,029

56 Antigua and Barbuda 68,722

57 Bermuda [9] 65,365

58 Guernsey [10] 65,228

59 American Samoa [11] 64,869

60 Marshall Islands 59,071

61 Cayman Islands 44,270

62 Saint Kitts and Nevis 38,958

63 Gibraltar 27,884

64 British Virgin Islands 22,643

65 Cook Islands 21,388

66 Turks and Caicos Islands 20,556

67 Palau 20,303

68 Anguilla 13,254

69 Montserrat 9,341

70 Saint Helena 7,460

71 Falkland Islands 2,967

72 Norfolk Island 1,828

73 Christmas Island [12] 1,600

74 Tristan da Cunha 273

75 Pitcairn Islands [13] 67

[mopenyang]

As far as definitions go...

I'd say the following are good candidate qualifications for what constitutes a "native speaker":

1. Your mother tongue (i.e., the first language(s) you learned from your primary caregivers) was English.

AND

2. You attended and graduated from a primary school and a high school where most teachers and other students were considered native speakers of English, in a country whose primary official language was English.

The first by itself is not sufficient because you could have a mother tongue of English but be raised in, say, a Thai or Japanese school system. The second is not sufficient because the first 5-6 years before schooling are still very important.

From a bureaucratic point of view, only the second one is truly documentable.

"Steven"

Given that the U.S. doesn't have an official language, that would leave out a whole lot of people who presently consider themselves native speakers.

I'd leave out the "official" and replace it with "spoken."

[Ijustwannateach]

Fine by me- I'd still say the "common sense" definition works as above, but as you've pointed out, getting it down to a bureaucratic standard is the hard part.

[garro]

mopenyang said

Given that the U.S. doesn't have an official language, that would leave out a whole lot of people who presently consider themselves native speakers.

I'd leave out the "official" and replace it with "spoken."

The official language of the Republic of Ireland is Irish even though it is only spoken by a handful of people.

I would still class Irish as native English speakers.

[varun]

As you may have realized from prior postings, you needn't split hairs over whether you're a native speaker or not.

By proper definition, you're most definitely a native speaker.

By thai definition, not being caucasian, disqualifies you from the category regardless of your English speaking/writing ability.

I have a handful of Singaporean friends in Bangkok and none of them are in the teaching profession.

Frankly, I'd advise you to look into alternate means of sustainence.

Coming from Singapore, teaching English here would be a waste of time.

You'd might want to look into full-time translation / interpreter jobs since they're a lot of businessmen here from Mainland China.

If you can speak Cantonese / Mandarin / Hokkien / Malay then you're good to go.

Your command of English would give you the extra edge.

Btw, what is your background ?

[jetzie]

Just replied you via PM

[rogerman]

There is one snag........The "Wonderful Thais" only class a native speaker if ur white..... I know that is very wrong as there ARE some genuine native speakers that are only getting paid as if they are filipinos....... Now thats a classic example of NON- NATIVE SPEAKER

[junkofdavid2]

A significant number of Filipinos (the ones from the upper class) speak English as their first language at home, and only learn Filipino language in school and only use it to communicate with their servants. (They normally have between 2 to 5 servants at home).

However, Filipinos from that group are normally NOT the (plentiful) ones who come here to teach English, because they'd just laugh at the salary given to the non-whites and to their fellow (poorer) Filipino countrymen.

You will however, find a lot of Filipinos from that upper social class who speak English flawlessly, but they are here in Thailand in top executive positions for multinational companies such as Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Proctor and Gamble, earning between 40,000 (for fresh college graduates) to 400,000 baht per month (for top management).

Ironically, many of the Filipinos who come here with the intention of "teaching" English do not belong to that Filipino upper class whose first language is English.

I know a few from such upper class who teach English after work as a "hobby", usually to their upper classed Thai friends (like as a great way to get close to a Thai-chinese chick!), or office subordinates privately, and not in language schools.

Edited August 5, 2007 by junkofdavid2

[realthaideal]

You gotta be like, fully from some country, where like, they fully speak English all the time. You know what I'm saying ? I mean, like, you fully gotta speak how they speak in the streets, and also be able to sound like some full-on smack 'n stuff who could do some business or something. You know? If you can do that, you could fully be a teacher n stuff.

[fennielyn]

You gotta be like, fully from some country, where like, they fully speak English all the time. You know what I'm saying ? I mean, like, you fully gotta speak how they speak in the streets, and also be able to sound like some full-on smack 'n stuff who could do some business or something. You know? If you can do that, you could fully be a teacher n stuff.

What realthaideal says is like totally foreals. I'mma spread the word. No, I mean, like seriously man!! Because ya know like how the media and the TV and the radio and the movies teach us how to, like, speak? And hey I'm down with that! Coz, dude, who can deny such a totally awesome truth, yo.

Heck, chyeah.

AND if you've got a somewhat *White* look to go along with that then hurrah!, completely *white* looking, even better! I guess then, we don't need anymore evidence to reinforce the fact that this weird-ass, reverse semi-racism is rampant in the teaching (English) realm in Thailand, things ARE just the way they are and I don't see the situation taking a turn for the better anytime soon. Having said that, somehow I can't seem to work up any sort of genuine indignant outrage as I normally would under similar circumstances. It could be that I've grown up, grown older, grown tired of the constant struggle, grown resigned...or it could simply be that I've fallen irrevocably in love with my very real and very sweet Thai friends whom I know don't have a single prejudiced bone in their bodies. What they do have though are some very deeply ingrained ideas and ideals about certain things and how they *think* should be done. Even if they understand how wrong these concepts are, it's hard for them to actually FEEL the wrongness of it and believe me, I've tried to explain so many freakin' times and given so many freakin' examples. After much gnashing of teeth, I gave up. I still love them though despite the mulishness. They honestly can't help it. =( A little anecdote. For illustration purpose only. =P A few weeks ago I tried to explain to this Thai guy whom I'm rather close to how ridiculous I think it is HE thinks that he is *allowed* to have another girlfriend if he happened to fall in love or whatever, with another girl while still in a relationship but a girl, say maybe me, is completely forbidden to see 2 guys at the same time, well just make dam sure he doesn't find out coz he'll freakin' KILL the guy. His words, not mine. (And I know he would too.) Then something about Thai men being warriors blah..blah it's how they've been for hundreds of years, they will not stand to be cuckolded etc..etc..

So that's when the indignant outrage spilled over and threatened to flood my insides with pure rage. We argued back and forth and he even admitted to how UNFAIR the whole debacle is and in my fury I said then the girl should dam well have another bf too if she so fancies and he said, "Mai dai...you're a girl, people will not respect me if my girl has another guy, means you really look down me. I understand that it's not fair, that you will be mad and I don't blame you but cannot. YOU don't understand coz you from farang country." I'm like," ...the hel_l?? I'm as bloody asian as you are!" Guy getting all exasperated, " Mai chai! Your country already like farang one, cannot compare with us, so you won't understand" Uhm..kay. And that was that. It slays me still when the memory of that comes back as it does now...but there really wasn't anything I could do to make him FEEL and not just know that it's unfair and so so wrong. I learned a couple of things that day. That you could argue til you're blue in the face and you could patiently smile until your lips drop off but you can never convince a Thai who's dead set in his/her ways and ideologies of the truth in yours. I'm still trying to deal with that.

All this crap has been passed down from generation to generation and also perpetrated by the people they have the utmost respect and love for: the people running the country. How can I possibly hold this against them then? And so I don't. But God, don't even think for a moment that I'm not thoroughly pissed off, because I AM. There is a whole lot of anger and frustration in me, I just don't know WHO and WHERE to direct it at anymore which probably explains the drunken stupor I find myself in more and more each night. SO, moving along now...

I know that try as I might, it'll probably be a bloody hard, uphill task finding any sort of teaching assignment even if I were passionate about and am completely dedicated to the job AND have a truckload of experience to boot. Who gives a rat's ass that I don't speak with any discernable accent and the darn pronunciation is crisp and the only language I dream in, think and speak with is English? In fact, I'm sorely ashamed of the fact that I'm not as effectively bilingual as I should be, considering that I studied my 2nd language for ONLY a good 10 years. If I choose to be completely honest, I really shouldn't consider myself even remotely bilingual. Yea, it really is *that* bad, the 2nd language.

Perhaps I'm just not much of a linguist or perhaps it's just that my heart and my mind recognized and fell in love with what I was truly in tune with. I remember also always being singled out by my 2nd lang. teacher who took un-natural pleasure in taunting me with my lacklustre grades and interest. Maybe I found the contempt in her eyes when she looked at me a turn-off that I started hating the lang even more and in doing so become so caught up in my 1st lang. that I had no eyes or heart for anything else. Literally. Who knows.

But because I've been cursed with the ass-luck of NOT bearing even the slightest bit of Caucasian likeness, I'm forever deemed not quite worthy of teaching a language that sounds *that* much more palateable coming out from Drew Barrymore's pretty lips than say...Lucy Liu's little pout. `So yea, I'm still trying to make peace with that and come to terms with the fact that I may never be able to do what I love to do in a place that my heart wants to be because of an outdated stereotype, so bear with me here if you detect a whiff of bitterness. I'm completely counting on "And this too, shall pass". Maybe schedule a colonoscopy to take the mind off such tiresome thoughts and oh to make sure that I don't DIE from the ass-cancer. See, it's working already.

(I'll be needing that single-malt now, yo)

[DragonQuest]

Filipino upper class? phillipines is a 3rd world country, no filipino wants to work there, so thats why they leave for work , Ive been there and never going back, its like cambodia, crazy. I can understand why a filipino wants to leave, I agree with them.

and to fennielyn:

thank you for your long messege , you must be a NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER

as for the topic, I heard of and saw during my travels DUAL-citizenship passports, can those peolpe take advantage of a job offer if they hold a passport from a country they werent born in , but still try to pass off they were NATIVE?

Edited September 24, 2007 by DragonQuest

[fennielyn]

As God is my witness, I am. I'm just not white, is all. Grrrl...why couldn't my mom have married that nice English bloke who was pining for her, instead of my Dad! Asian+Asian do not a white girl make. Maybe I'll just marry a farang and be done with it, ya know, so I can get a Native Speaker's Passport. Yes, I'm in that perfect state of drunkardness right now. It gives me the ability to conjure up grand and mighty schemes that I'd never think of when sober. Woe is me.

I really didn't want to go near the Filipinos thing coz I have a really dear friend who's one and she's got a uni degree but has been working in my country for the past 8 years as a maid and no, her English isn't all that but I can deal with it. A fair number of them despite being graduates and some even with honours, have resorted to working as domestic helpers in other wealthier Asian countries because there's just such a shortage of jobs back home. I don't know how high up the ladder you have to climb to be in Super Upper Class rung but I've met IT engineers, computer science majors and even architects (major props to them coz I can't draw to save my ass) whom I've sometimes strained to understand and to be understood and no, it's not a matter of accent. Hardly. In fact many of them tend to speak with an American accent, at times heavy-handed, oftentimes inconsistent and hilarious (mean I know) but that's beside the point. They're just so much more comfortable in their native tongue which is almost always Tagalog, unless they happen to meet someone from the same province, then they'll use the province's particular dialect. An aside, the regular Filipino who is educated locally pretty much speaks with an accent similar to that of the Latinos. However, their level of written and reading of English is many times better than their spoken one. I guess it's just from lack of practice and the opportunity to use it. I think I've belaboured this subject enough.

Going back to the whiskey now.

[Loaded]

I don't agree Thais view native-speaker as white only. I've known quite a few black native-speakers from the States and UK and all of them were accepted without reservation as native-speakers. The only comments I've heard are innocent un-politically correct Thai comments which sympathise with them for not having phiw suai (beautiful skin). Without exception every black teacher I've known has been successful and respected in Thailand and the only comments about racisit Thais have come from whites. Thais think white skin is beautiful that doesn't equate as racism.

Not one Black Teacher I've known has been a drunk or a bolshie 20 year old who thinks he knows how to run the school.

One other comment: bloody sad that as human beings we should even be discussing this.

Edited September 25, 2007 by Loaded

[Ijustwannateach]

An off-topic post has been removed- let's keep the discussion at least marginally related to schools and teaching. Feel free to start a general discussion of Asian racial and psychological makeup in the General Forum.

[alaina]

I have heard that Thais that hire in schools are racist against non-whites, but I don't think that holds true in many cases. The Thais that I have worked for have studied overseas and hired African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians from North America. One school I know hired an woman from Malawi that went to primary school in the UK and International school after. There are people that know that native English speakers aren't all white.

There may be some debate about Singaporean English though. Some schools order English language textbooks from Singapore because the books are cheaper. The grammar usage in these textbooks in some instances is not considered correct by US or UK standards. Some Singaporean books may be better than others, but the books have a pretty poor reputation with the native speaking teachers I know. Unfortunately, this reputation may carry over to Singaporeans, but that may not always be the case.

[midasthailand]

As God is my witness, I am. I'm just not white, is all. Grrrl...why couldn't my mom have married that nice English bloke who was pining for her, instead of my Dad! Asian+Asian do not a white girl make. Maybe I'll just marry a farang and be done with it, ya know, so I can get a Native Speaker's Passport. Yes, I'm in that perfect state of drunkardness right now. It gives me the ability to conjure up grand and mighty schemes that I'd never think of when sober. Woe is me.

I really didn't want to go near the Filipinos thing coz I have a really dear friend who's one and she's got a uni degree but has been working in my country for the past 8 years as a maid and no, her English isn't all that but I can deal with it. A fair number of them despite being graduates and some even with honours, have resorted to working as domestic helpers in other wealthier Asian countries because there's just such a shortage of jobs back home. I don't know how high up the ladder you have to climb to be in Super Upper Class rung but I've met IT engineers, computer science majors and even architects (major props to them coz I can't draw to save my ass) whom I've sometimes strained to understand and to be understood and no, it's not a matter of accent. Hardly. In fact many of them tend to speak with an American accent, at times heavy-handed, oftentimes inconsistent and hilarious (mean I know) but that's beside the point. They're just so much more comfortable in their native tongue which is almost always Tagalog, unless they happen to meet someone from the same province, then they'll use the province's particular dialect. An aside, the regular Filipino who is educated locally pretty much speaks with an accent similar to that of the Latinos. However, their level of written and reading of English is many times better than their spoken one. I guess it's just from lack of practice and the opportunity to use it. I think I've belaboured this subject enough.

Going back to the whiskey now.

I'm placing my input on this thread here because I am in awe of your written English, it is better than most of the "white" posters on this forum. My take on the OP's problem is this: The reason that most schools hire white/caucasian teachers of English is because that is what the parents of the students want to see standing at the front of the classroom. For some reason, they are unable to accept that a non caucasian is more than capable of providing first class English language instruction to their little darlings. As far as recruitment companies go, one must recognise the fact that Singapore along with the Phillippines is considered a country that requires teachers of English as a second language, whereas Thailand is a country that requires teachers of English as a foreign language.

I hope you are able to get over the rage Fennielyn, if not you could always change boyfriends, or drink more whisky, or both!

[jetzie]

I'm placing my input on this thread here because I am in awe of your written English, it is better than most of the "white" posters on this forum. My take on the OP's problem is this: The reason that most schools hire white/caucasian teachers of English is because that is what the parents of the students want to see standing at the front of the classroom. For some reason, they are unable to accept that a non caucasian is more than capable of providing first class English language instruction to their little darlings. As far as recruitment companies go, one must recognise the fact that Singapore along with the Phillippines is considered a country that requires teachers of English as a second language, whereas Thailand is a country that requires teachers of English as a foreign language.

I hope you are able to get over the rage Fennielyn, if not you could always change boyfriends, or drink more whisky, or both!

Yeah, i suppose so, it's more of an acceptance by the locals rather than the actual meaning of "native speakers"

[fennielyn]

As far as recruitment companies go, one must recognise the fact that Singapore along with the Phillippines is considered a country that requires teachers of English as a second language, whereas Thailand is a country that requires teachers of English as a foreign language.

I hope you are able to get over the rage Fennielyn, if not you could always change boyfriends, or drink more whisky, or both!

Not being sober, contrary to the lofty notions held by most alcoholics, isn't always the best place to be. Like now. I can't quite wrap the inebriated mind around this. Are we talking about the language schools that hire English teachers in Singapore? I mean, English is taught in our schools (regualr schools that is) as a first language and every other subject, save for our second language (be it Chinese, Malay or whatever) is taught in English. How do I go about changing a non-existent boyfriend? Oh, believe me, the whiskey is never out of sight. Nor the bourbon. Which is why you have to pardon me if I sometimes come off looking like the bumbling imbecile that I am most assuredly most of the time, not.

And on a tangent here and to clarify a point, one's mother tongue is *usually* the one that is spoken by one's mother to one when one is born or in some cases during the 9-months of gestation and thereafter. So yea, my mother tongue is English. However, everything is moot coz this girl just ain't white yo.

[fennielyn]

The reason that most schools hire white/caucasian teachers of English is because that is what the parents of the students want to see standing at the front of the classroom. For some reason, they are unable to accept that a non caucasian is more than capable of providing first class English language instruction to their little darlings.

My edit button is broken. (Stolen from an Amazing race buffoon who once complained that his ox was broken when it refused to move) You are completely right about the folks needing a Caucasian-like face to go along with that Caucasian-like voice in the English classroom before they feel that all is right with the world again and oh, hello, they're only getting what they paid for. Which of course boils down to age-old beliefs and a dash of blissful ignorance which I don't and will never fault them for coz I just don't see how they can be blamed for things they're not conscious of.

I wonder though if this situation (where white equals fantastical teaching prowess of monumental proportions) is only prevalent in countries which don't use English very much and is not widely spoken...because in all my life as a student, a teacher and human I have never seen it here or anything remotely like it. Being very result-oriented (way too much if you ask me) parents here will hire an Ah Meng the ape if it could produce all As in their kids' report book. Their modus operandi? "Do whatever it takes to wring out geniusness in their child." Tis a pity they don't realise that geniuses are born and rather difficult to make.

[junkofdavid2]

Filipino upper class? phillipines is a 3rd world country

Yes, Filipino upper classed. Very similar in wealth and stature to the Thai upper classed. Among the "officially known" wealthy, 3 Filipinos made it to the Forbes Billionaires list this year.

"Officially known" because there are many more hiding their wealth for tax evasion purposes (which, believe it or not, is even more rampant in the Philippines than in Thailand among the elite).

Kidnap-for-ransom of members of rich families is also a very rampant occurrence in the Philippines, which is another reason why wealth and wealth exposure is hidden at all cost.

Lived there for a couple of years too.

no filipino wants to work there, so thats why they leave for work ,

Using your logic... then no Farangs want to work in Farangland... that's why they leave to work in Thailand.

Edited October 9, 2007 by junkofdavid2

[exexpat]

I agree that it is up to the school to decide if you are "native" or not.  However, there are tons of schools using Filipinos.  I think with the crackdown on farang teachers, degrees, etc etc coupled with low pay, Filipinos are gonna come to dominate English teaching in Thailand, as they will be the only ones who will tolerate such demands.  Maybe that's thailand's idea...using cheaper and more compliant labor.

[PeaceBlondie]

Filipinos are gonna come to dominate English teaching in Thailand, as they will be the only ones who will tolerate such demands. Maybe that's thailand's idea...using cheaper and more compliant labor.

Perfect summary.