Are Lanaguage Schools/centers The Wave Of The Immediate Future For Efl Teachers?

[PeaceBlondie]

I taught in matayom and a little bit in a commercial college. You know, 25 to 55 disinterested adolescent Thais forced to sit through introductory basic elementary "I'm fine, thank you" conversation. You know, clueless Thai administrators who knew how to wai, collect fees, inflate grades, pass non-performing students, let students cheat, send their Benz out for a wax job, and not know the first thing about how to hire or manage decent farang teachers. You know. And if you got real lucky after five years of putting up with that nonsense, you got classes of 22 half-interested Thai students who approached intermediate understanding and could pass a second grade English test from Wales.

But if you find yourself in that situation now, you are doomed to take a pedagogy/educational theory course or test which nobody can pass, until the TCT wakes up in 2018 and smells the hairspray. So, why not teach in a language center, even if they spell it centre? Students who pay big bucks for really small classes, TOEFL/IELTS prep instruction, etc., are more motivated.

Okay, so I don't know that much about language centers, and I am sure there are some bad ones out there. But they could hardly be any worse than the runt-of-the-mill prathom or matayom schools.

[oldtimer]

The easiest classes I have found to teach are small multilingual classes of motivated adults in which English is the only lingua franca. The more challenging classes are the exact opposite: large mononlingual classes of demotivated children in which English is not the only lingua franca! I'll stick with

[Scott]

I've taught in all those settings. Language centers are OK, small classes and quite a few motivated students. Personally, I think I prefer the regular school settings, but then I've only worked at private schools where discipline was rather strict. Plenty of unmotivated students, inflated grades etc., but the daily exposure to language gives them a chance to learn and you a chance to get to know and understand how they learn best.

If the T.L. regulations go through, this will be the main venue for learning correct English, and I am not talking about accents or dialects.

[007]

IOkay, so I don't know that much about language centers, and I am sure there are some bad ones out there. But they could hardly be any worse than the runt-of-the-mill prathom or matayom schools.

Well, I work part-time at one well-known language center with head office in Switzerland, for the diddly base rate of 320 baht an hour plus a small bonus for weekend work. Last month's pay didn't even include that bonus, so now I'm thinking about quitting. It's not really worth travelling for hours to the other end of Bangkok, paying a red banknote for public transport, teaching for one or two hours, while being paid less for that work than a Beach Road hooker in Pattaya gets for short-time.

Edited July 15, 2008 by 7

[Unfaithful]

Yes there are language centres that pay poorly.And Thai schools that pay lousy.Likewise working conditions.I will take my chances with a good centre any day, whilst making good money teaching private lessons with non-Thai students who really are motivated.The <deleted> that you have to put up with in 99% of Thai schools is not worth it even if they paid double.

[mizzi39]

Yes there are language centres that pay poorly.And Thai schools that pay lousy.Likewise working conditions.I will take my chances with a good centre any day, whilst making good money teaching private lessons with non-Thai students who really are motivated.The <deleted> that you have to put up with in 99% of Thai schools is not worth it even if they paid double.

I have worked in both settings and it honestly comes down to personal preference. Language centres and EP's (government or private) both share one major component and that is they are both businesses that teach English for a price. I guess if you can get hired at a good language center (centre) making a good wage, flexible (convenient) hours, plus WP, visa, etc. it might be OK, but nine times out of ten the pay is <deleted>, hours totally inconvenient, and as far as WP and visa go, well you are pretty much on your own. I am very happy with my EP job since I only work 14 contract hours a week (Mon.-Fri), public holiday's off, have my visa, and WP taken care of, can leave after my last class (1:30pm), and have a very nice director (boss). Now is a language centre a more effective setting than a government or private school for learners of L2 ? That depends on the individual, I mean after all this is Thailand and many students need to learn the word "motivation" before moving on to even simple expressions no matter what setting you put them in.

I understand that there has been such a big deal placed on the culture course and TLT and I must ask are we "making mountains out of mole hills" by flogging this issue to death? Sure it may be insulting to our "upstanding farang community" in the LOS, but I have sat through many worthless "in-services" in the States solely because my job required me to do so. The culture course (which I am taking next month) is only 20 hours and any good program (a program worth signing a contract with) will cover the expenses for both. All farangs in my EP received 2 year exemptions for the TLT from the Teachers Council and I assume that others have received this exception too, so I think that I might have stated this on another post, "forget about it!" at least for now, I mean after all things change in Thailand like the wind.

Edited July 18, 2008 by mizzi39