Teaching Conversational English

[jasreeve17]

Waza,

I'm not trying to be mean; I'm simply offering my advice based on experience, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.

I'd suggest you find a way out of it.

. Working illegally in a foreign country may cause you a major problem.

. The chances of this being a success are remote.

. Without knowledge of the students and their requirements (often very different from the office manager's viewpoint) you cannot run a good class.

. Without preparation and some knowledge / experience you are unlikely to run a good class.

. Entering your girlfriend's workplace to do a job you're untrained for is senseless and could cause her a serious problem.

Frankly, I'm shocked by the previous poster and some others who are offering you truly awful and hypocritical advice.

If you want informal chats to practise English then meet them at a coffee shop. Going into an office, illegally, with limited skills to perform a tough job that you have no training for, without pay, is insane and unethical, in my opinion...

I'm sure your girlfriend had the best of intentions, but be smart, take charge and opt out.

[elkangorito]

Waza,

I'm not trying to be mean; I'm simply offering my advice based on experience, so please don't take my comments the wrong way.

I'd suggest you find a way out of it.

. Working illegally in a foreign country may cause you a major problem.

. The chances of this being a success are remote.

. Without knowledge of the students and their requirements (often very different from the office manager's viewpoint) you cannot run a good class.

. Without preparation and some knowledge / experience you are unlikely to run a good class.

. Entering your girlfriend's workplace to do a job you're untrained for is senseless and could cause her a serious problem.

Frankly, I'm shocked by the previous poster and some others who are offering you truly awful and hypocritical advice.

If you want informal chats to practise English then meet them at a coffee shop. Going into an office, illegally, with limited skills to perform a tough job that you have no training for, without pay, is insane and unethical, in my opinion...

I'm sure your girlfriend had the best of intentions, but be smart, take charge and opt out.

I would do what is quoted below:

I'm sure your girlfriend had the best of intentions, but be smart, take charge and opt out.

[femi fan]

If you want informal chats to practise English then meet them at a coffee shop. Going into an office, illegally, with limited skills to perform a tough job that you have no training for, without pay, is insane and unethical, in my opinion...

I'm sure your girlfriend had the best of intentions, but be smart, take charge and opt out.

In the OP the poster talked about doing this english conversation in an 'informal voluntary setting'. This does not sound to me at like being in a classroom doing official lessons.

And so I took that to mean not at the company, and in fact my first post talked about it happening over dinner without his girlfriend being there if possible. Or was it my second post, not important.

I would not recommend he go into the company itself, but there again i would think it would be QUITE as terrible as some are making out, including yourself.

Perhaps this thread has two kinds of advice being given the OP, the sort i've given, ie based on the informal setting the OP talked about, and the other sort based on him doing lessons like normal teachers.

In addition, all those thais involved including his girlfriend see no problem with this, but many farang on this thread do see a problem. TIT, no? Way too serious some farang are.

And, if you're inclined to do so, perhaps you can tell me what makes you frankly shocked about my truly awful advice and my hypocritical comments.

Edited September 18, 2009 by femi fan

[Scott]

This is the final reminder to stay on topic. The OP did not ask for information about the ins and outs of a work permit. There has been some very good advice given and more will be appreciated.

The laws pertaining to volunteering/working have been stated.

We are now moving into the area of actively discussing ways of circumventing the laws in Thailand and that is not permitted under forum rules.

Further mentioning of work permit regulations will result in deletions.

[elkangorito]

Allow me to reveal the "truth". Below is what happens, in sequence:

1] A Thai person sees you & through minor investigation, finds out that you are a Native English Speaker (NES).

2] Thai person then approaches you with an offer. The offer is to teach some English for the Thai staff of a Thai COMPANY.

3] A smart foreigner then asks; when & how often, what is the required result & of course, money (pay).

This is where I end my monologue. If one can answer the questions in 3] & can;

a] operate within the confines of the law &;

b] be confident about one's teaching abilities,

there is no problem.

[Scott]

Post deleted for discussing other posters sentence structure when they can't spell the word 'together' correctly.

Topic closed as flaming and off-topic responses are more prevalent than assistance. If someone has something constructive, PM me and I'll add it to the thread.