Bad experience teaching in Thailand

[Liverpool Lou]

22 hours ago, bimbumbam said:

it seems more than what locals get but in reality for all this BS this is a crap salary

The crap salary is obviously commensurate with the ability to do a crap job.

[steven100]

I'll take ' your English is not that great '  for 500 Tony ....

[G_Money]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

these people get paid 30K ?

Approximately, give or take a few thousand 

[Italian guy]

This is what teaching in Thailand means in most places but not everywhere. I've been teaching here for almost 18 years and I've seen enough to write a novel. In my early days I used to keep quiet and bear the unbearable most of the times.

Now, I reached the point where I simply show them the middle finger if I have to.

I understand Thai and if they try talking bs about me I fight back on the spot. I'm fully qualified and have the Thai teaching license, so finding another place to teach isn't a big issue. 

They tend to behave like this especially with young, newly qualified or underqualified teachers (no judgement here, no one was born fully qualified) or with those who struggle to find a job because of their nationality or color (yea, Thais are extremely racists). 

In the end, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Time to move on.

[bimbumbam]

On 12/1/2024 at 11:57 AM, Italian guy said:

This is what teaching in Thailand means in most places but not everywhere. I've been teaching here for almost 18 years and I've seen enough to write a novel. In my early days I used to keep quiet and bear the unbearable most of the times.

Now, I reached the point where I simply show them the middle finger if I have to.

I understand Thai and if they try talking bs about me I fight back on the spot. I'm fully qualified and have the Thai teaching license, so finding another place to teach isn't a big issue. 

They tend to behave like this especially with young, newly qualified or underqualified teachers (no judgement here, no one was born fully qualified) or with those who struggle to find a job because of their nationality or color (yea, Thais are extremely racists). 

In the end, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Time to move on.

You are right…it was my first job experience so perhaps this is why I feel like a failure

 

i found rural thai to be unpleasant, the agency told me they liked foreigners…that itself was a red flag, how can you like a whole category of non defined people?

[youreavinalaff]

6 hours ago, bimbumbam said:

You are right…it was my first job experience so perhaps this is why I feel like a failure

 

i found rural thai to be unpleasant, the agency told me they liked foreigners…that itself was a red flag, how can you like a whole category of non defined people?

How can you not like a whole area of Thailand, an occupation and a whole group of non defined people based on one experience?

[Sydebolle]

Do-gooders and tree huggers; just make sure you hug the right tree then 😉 

[john donson]

so spanish with a strong accent?  I plan to move to spain...at least free healthcare...

[jippytum]

For an educated person to relocate to work and live in a foreign country without a modicum of preparation or research had a  predictable outcome. 

[TheFishman1]

If you don’t like a situation get out of the situation if you don’t like being in Thailand then leave if you don’t like teaching find something else to do TIT

[Umlungu]

Ignore your experience, put it out of your mind, look for a position elsewhere, preferably in adult education. I lasted three days in my first job (high school) in Bkk, threw in the towel even though the principal begged me to stay. Tried primary school level, which was even worse. It's all politics in Thai schools, utterly and totally disgusting conduct towards foreigners, jealousy and covering up their incompetence. It is all about show, appearance, fun and frolic, entertainment, games - like eternal play school. It is not about teaching and serious learning - and the general educational outcome level proves that, not only in regard to English language acquisition where Thailand ranks last in ASEAN.

 

After a bit of experience you should try private students, online or in person. Companies also pay well, you are teaching adults, who are occasionally more motivated because English language might be an obligatory qualification for career advancement.

 

Thailand doesn't deserve foreign teacher input, effort and commitment. Pity the kids, though, they are missing out big time, with a bad education system and very questionable tertiary qualifications.

[ericbj]

The reason many Thai, and Burmese, pupils and students have poor spoken English, despite in some cases having years of learning the subject, can be attributed to:

 

teachers who cannot enunciate clearly and correctly (whether native or non-native)

 

lack of motivation, from boring classes

 

For about half of each year for a dozen years, my job as an unpaid volunteer was to teach exiled Burmese, mainly, by choice, adults and older teenagers.  In some cases their knowledge of vocabulary was quite good.  But initially, when speaking, I could not understand them and they could not understand me.

 

Their previous teachers had been unable to speak the language.  But classes of such students, some with Burmese university degrees, with strong motivation to improve their knowledge in the broadest sense, made impressive progress.

 

On one occasion, twenty-two years ago, the headmaster of a large Thai school, adjacent to where I was teachng, asked that I take his senior class (standard 12) once a day.  A sort walk across the playing field.

 

On my first visit there I was greeted by one of the three teachers of English, a Thai woman.  Most embarassing.  Not a word of what the other spoke was understood.

 

The class members sat rigidly at their desks.  I had them push the desks aside and sit in a semi-circle.  Impossible to get any response from the students.

 

I moved us all following day to the neighbouring single-storey teak building, where classes were held on the large verandah.  The six boys sat on chairs at the back, the six girls on the floor in front.

 

They became relaxed enough to constantly interrupt me to chat amongst themselves in Thai.  My other students intervened to shut them up.  But I asked them to desist.  I had achieved my first objective, of getting the class to feel at ease.
But how I hated taking this class !

 

However, over the next few days things began to improve.  They were beginning to take an interest at last.  It reached the point where, when the boys at the back began to chat amongst themselves, the girls would turn round and tell them to shut up.

 

Afterwards, as they walked back to the school, chatting and laughing amongst themselves, my ABSDF friends on occasion remarked how much the youngsters were enjoying themselves.

 

And we made good progress with English.  The headmaster wanted me to take more classes.  But I declined.  It was a long way to Mae Sariang where I was staying.

 

He then asked me to take an improver-class for the three teachers of English.  To this I agreed, as any improvement in their English would be passed on to many pupils.  But despite them being scheduled to come several times, they never turned up.  It would doubtlesslly have resulted in loss of face to admit their English was inadequate to the task.

 

[FritsSikkink]

On 11/29/2024 at 4:46 AM, Tokyo Dodge said:

Jaysus, I thought she was writing her biography, almost dozed off reading it !

She should have read it to the kids when they couldn't sleep.

[FritsSikkink]

On 11/29/2024 at 8:31 PM, bimbumbam said:

Eh you are right

 

it seems more than what locals get but in reality for all this BS this is a crap salary

Crap experience results in crap salary.

[recom273]

On 11/29/2024 at 11:29 PM, bimbumbam said:

Eh i don’t know

 

the woman from the agency told me to avoid but everyone else including the preferred teacher did, he even picked the kids up which I didn’t 

 

i thought they didn’t like them getting too close to foreigners tbh, they want you there for status  and that it

 

Sorry, I didnt read all the post but Just to say, keep on going - you got this, you just haven't found the way yet.

 

Your experience is very similar to a lot of people. I got the boot from my first 3 jobs after a term. 

 

You will experience a lot of politics, a lot of prejudice. You are a female and that's a good thing in Thailand, you are a rare commodity and will never be without a job!

 

You are correct, you know you shouldn't be touching kids, some teachers get away with it, these are the teachers who speak more Thai than English, who everyone mumbles about in the staff room, who run about the class not really teaching anything but make the kids laugh, they have a stamp pad with little stars and cartoon characters when they mark the kids books and TT's won't have a bad word said against them.

 

Kindergarten is difficult, I prefer P1, the kids understand a little more. After primary schools, I went on to teach older Mathayom, classes which is alright. I then went on to teach Tech college, which was even better, there was less of the ceremonial crap and more "teaching". The older kids are more about the relationships you build.

 

Find somewhere you feel happy. Dont' let it get you down.

 

 

 

[recom273]

On 11/29/2024 at 11:29 PM, bimbumbam said:

Eh i don’t know

 

the woman from the agency told me to avoid but everyone else including the preferred teacher did, he even picked the kids up which I didn’t 

 

i thought they didn’t like them getting too close to foreigners tbh, they want you there for status  and that it

 

Sorry, I didnt read all the post but Just to say, keep on going - you got this, you just haven't found the way yet.

 

Your experience is very similar to a lot of people. I got the boot from my first 3 jobs after a term. 

 

You will experience a lot of politics, a lot of prejudice. You are a female and that's a good thing in Thailand, you are a rare commodity and will never be without a job!

 

You are correct, you know you shouldn't be touching kids, some teachers get away with it, these are the teachers who speak more Thai than English, who everyone mumbles about in the staff room, who run about the class not really teaching anything but make the kids laugh, they have a stamp pad with little stars and cartoon characters when they mark the kids books and TT's won't have a bad word said against them.

 

Kindergarten is difficult, I prefer P1, the kids understand a little more. After primary schools, I went on to teach older Mathayom, classes which is alright. I then went on to teach Tech college, which was even better, there was less of the ceremonial crap and more "teaching". The older kids are more about the relationships you build.

 

Find somewhere you feel happy. Dont' let it get you down.

 

 

 

[bimbumbam]

1 hour ago, recom273 said:

 

Sorry, I didnt read all the post but Just to say, keep on going - you got this, you just haven't found the way yet.

 

Your experience is very similar to a lot of people. I got the boot from my first 3 jobs after a term. 

 

You will experience a lot of politics, a lot of prejudice. You are a female and that's a good thing in Thailand, you are a rare commodity and will never be without a job!

 

You are correct, you know you shouldn't be touching kids, some teachers get away with it, these are the teachers who speak more Thai than English, who everyone mumbles about in the staff room, who run about the class not really teaching anything but make the kids laugh, they have a stamp pad with little stars and cartoon characters when they mark the kids books and TT's won't have a bad word said against them.

 

Kindergarten is difficult, I prefer P1, the kids understand a little more. After primary schools, I went on to teach older Mathayom, classes which is alright. I then went on to teach Tech college, which was even better, there was less of the ceremonial crap and more "teaching". The older kids are more about the relationships you build.

 

Find somewhere you feel happy. Dont' let it get you down.

 

 

 

I always tried to make the kids laugh and happy and it worked as there were easy to please…the other guy was known bu the parents, spoke a little more thai and generally put on a scene everytime a parent came

 

 

i was new so i was not familiar with people, so i just wai and smiled

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

14 hours ago, bimbumbam said:

i was new so i was not familiar with people, so i just wai and smiled

30K a month sounds too much.

[simon43]

It sounds like teaching younger students might not be the best use of your qualifications.  Additionally, many teachers prefer not to teach the younger kids because it can be like herding cats 🙂  Plus you need to understand that young kids are not going to sit quietly for any length of time.

 

I teach KG and primary, mostly in Burma.  I 'fell into' this role, and the ease of the teaching appeals to me. (No difficult questions from some smart high school students!). 

 

As for not touching the kids, (I mean in a motherly or fatherly way), here in Burma the teacher takes the role of parent while the young student is at school. So if you're not happy doing this, (which is totally the opposite of UK/EU attitudes), then you might appear standoffish.  I'm one of the most popular primary age teachers at my school, and in 6 months I'll be 66 years old.... 

 

Simon (father/stepfather of 8 kids!)

[khunJam]

3 minutes ago, simon43 said:

It sounds like teaching younger students might not be the best use of your qualifications.  Additionally, many teachers prefer not to teach the younger kids because it can be like herding cats 🙂  Plus you need to understand that young kids are not going to sit quietly for any length of time.

 

I teach KG and primary, mostly in Burma.  I 'fell into' this role, and the ease of the teaching appeals to me. (No difficult questions from some smart high school students!). 

 

As for not touching the kids, (I mean in a motherly or fatherly way), here in Burma the teacher takes the role of parent while the young student is at school. So if you're not happy doing this, (which is totally the opposite of UK/EU attitudes), then you might appear standoffish.  I'm one of the most popular primary age teachers at my school, and in 6 months I'll be 66 years old.... 

 

Simon (father/stepfather of 8 kids!)

Wow fascinating. It must be very rewarding!

[simon43]

12 minutes ago, khunJam said:

Wow fascinating. It must be very rewarding!

Yes it is!  Especially because the students are desperate to learn/improve their English, since this can be a gateway to a job in hotel and tourism etc, and a means to provide for their families. (There seems to be a big difference in students' attitudes when comparing Thailand and Burma).

[bimbumbam]

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

It sounds like teaching younger students might not be the best use of your qualifications.  Additionally, many teachers prefer not to teach the younger kids because it can be like herding cats 🙂  Plus you need to understand that young kids are not going to sit quietly for any length of time.

 

I teach KG and primary, mostly in Burma.  I 'fell into' this role, and the ease of the teaching appeals to me. (No difficult questions from some smart high school students!). 

 

As for not touching the kids, (I mean in a motherly or fatherly way), here in Burma the teacher takes the role of parent while the young student is at school. So if you're not happy doing this, (which is totally the opposite of UK/EU attitudes), then you might appear standoffish.  I'm one of the most popular primary age teachers at my school, and in 6 months I'll be 66 years old.... 

 

Simon (father/stepfather of 8 kids!)

I feel like i was almost too parent-y with them and I believe this is what the teachers didn’t like. The other preferred teacher was also better at discipline 

 

i was always chasing them to clean their face, making sure they didn’t injure themselves, sometimes the thai teacher didn’t even bother chasing after them. I was always paranoid they would get harmed and i could get blamed (thinking about it now I had a good reason for that)

 

i also made them wash their hands, or even washed their face, gave them extra water, played with them etc, the kids were happy and wanted to hold ny hands and hug me…i was probably not smiley enough for the staff…

[Hawaiian]

1 hour ago, bimbumbam said:

I feel like i was almost too parent-y with them and I believe this is what the teachers didn’t like. The other preferred teacher was also better at discipline 

 

i was always chasing them to clean their face, making sure they didn’t injure themselves, sometimes the thai teacher didn’t even bother chasing after them. I was always paranoid they would get harmed and i could get blamed (thinking about it now I had a good reason for that)

 

i also made them wash their hands, or even washed their face, gave them extra water, played with them etc, the kids were happy and wanted to hold ny hands and hug me…i was probably not smiley enough for the staff…

Once you have the trust of the kids it becomes easier to motivate them into wanting to learn from you.  I am not a teacher, but get along with kids because I engage them in conversation in things they are interested in.  Some are surprised that I even listen to what  they have to say. 

Don't give up.  It may take awhile, but there is always some place you will fit in.

[Luuk Chaai]

On 11/29/2024 at 1:03 PM, brewsterbudgen said:

I've been teaching TEFL in Thailand for nearly 20 years, also after completing a CELTA.  Not sure why you went down the kindergarten route, as the CELTA course is specifically for teaching English to adults.  There are lots of language school opportunities in Bangkok and in other provinces where you can focus on teaching adults (sometimes older teenagers) rather than young children.  You won't earn much to start, although my starting salary back in 2005 was 34,000 baht a month, which is what some places seem to be paying now.  The higher quality language institutes (British Council, AUA, ECC, Wall Street, New Cambridge) will start you on a much higher rate.

17 years ago  .  I sent my wife to a language scool to learn english .. in Bangkok

there were only Filipino and or British teachers   

had to wait until we got to the States to send her to English  ESL classes so she could speak proper english without some bad accent

[bigt3116]

On 12/4/2024 at 10:36 AM, Umlungu said:

nd the general educational outcome level proves that, not only in regard to English language acquisition where Thailand ranks last in ASEAN.

 

Except Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos come below Thailand in the rankings.

[camilla99]

On 11/29/2024 at 7:57 AM, Jonathan Swift said:

I've been here 11 yeaRS. I'm not a teacher so this will be an outsider's view. First of all you're not an idiot. Sounds you had a legitimately hard time. And don't worry about the length of your post, you had to express a lot and did it as best you could. Dexxter provided a good condensed summary. I would say that you certainly didn't fit in with the status quo, but I don't think it was your fault. I would have a chat with as many other teachers here to get a larger point of view. I suspect there are better teaching opportunities, I see a lot of foreigners here in Bangkok and elsewhere teaching English. They seem to be doing OK. Thailand is a different experience for different people. Some people fit in like they were born here, others struggle and some give up. It's a strange culture in many ways. Social "rules" can be baffling. I struggled a bit but I have the advantage of Social Security from the US. As to "chronic fatigue and brain fog" that sounds serious enough to possibly be a fundamental factor in your ability to interpret, adapt and stay balanced. On the other hand, much of this sounds like things I've experienced in my previous life in the US, some very bad jobs, and I vowed never to work for a boss but to become fully self employed since 1988. There is nothing in your narrative that doesn't sound legitimate from an objective point of view. I urge you to seek other viewpoints and to not give up on the idea unless you absolutely have to. This is a great place and worth staying for those of us who adapted. But my final take is that it sounds like you got yourself into a regular 3 ring circus, and I can't help thinking that you could find better jobs if you hung it there and looked elsewhere. Chok dee.

It sounds like a tricky situation, but you're not alone. Keep exploring other options, and don’t lose hope. Things can improve!

[Minnierogers]

On 11/30/2024 at 1:26 PM, Bundooman said:

I too, read your post, start to finish. I have been a teacher here in Thailand, for 19 years. I had previously taught in the UK for 2 years and underwent 3 teaching courses to arrive where I am today.

 

Your experiences are not unusual and I too have seen just how bad some schools are and have been. It is part of the learning curve.

 

It was a public school; they are envious and wary of someone who is different from them, expressing enthusiasm and a desire to teach properly. I can see how and why you appear to have been treated so shabbily. I don't agree with it, but that is how it is here.

 

Just keep on looking. If you are meant to become a teacher here in Thailand, you can make can success of it. Private schools are far more pleasurable and friendlier than government schools. Teaching in Thailand isn't for everyone - you can see that by some of the above comments.
 

 

The kids will love you for who you are, what you say and how you are in your classroom. It is trial and error until you reach the stage that you are comfortable. It takes time.

 

Good luck.

Thank you for sharing your insights. Your perspective on teaching in Thailand is encouraging, and I’ll definitely consider private schools. Appreciate it!