Degree In A Box

[Boatabike]

Greetings to the world of teaching in Thailand. After 15 years of saying i will never teach English in Thailand i am about to take the plunge. I am hoping that it turns out to be something i can do successfully. But who ever knows till one tries these things. I am due to give a demo. on Tuesday with a class of unknown size, age, and talent, hurrah! The school in question has never had a forang teacher before so they and i are in for a shared headache for sure,but hey it's all part of life’s rich pageant is it not?

My questions have proberly been asked a thousand times before in one form or another but anyone with time to regurgitate the answers be sure they will fall on grateful ears.

First how many teaching hours are you to be reasonably expected to do a week? Wages will be no more then 25k in gov. school outside in the country a bit.

I, with great insight, did do a TEFL course a few years ago (& have the cert. to hand) so this is not a prob. But... my degree certificate is burried some where in a box, some where in a loft, some where in the UK. Extracting this so called Certificate as proof of my brilliance in the field of model making, which is going to be a great boon to my English teaching skills, is going to be tricky to say the least. Do i need to show it to get the WP? Is the fact that location and low wages compensation enough to not need to go to the hassle of asking friends to root through personal stuff looking for a single certificate? Is it set in stone that i need the origional cert? Who ultimately needs to actually see it? If i were in the Uk it would be a simple task, but to expect friends to do it when they will have to go through so many things to find it is i feel asking a little to much, not that they wouldn't if asked.

many thanks in advance for any useful regurgitations.

[PeaceBlondie]

Greetings to the world of teaching in Thailand. After 15 years of saying i will never teach English in Thailand i am about to take the plunge. I am hoping that it turns out to be something i can do successfully. But who ever knows till one tries these things. I am due to give a demo. on Tuesday with a class of unknown size, age, and talent, hurrah! The school in question has never had a forang teacher before so they and i are in for a shared headache for sure,but hey it's all part of life’s rich pageant is it not?

It ain't gonna be no rich pageant.  Are you fully fluent in Thai?  Assume none of them speak much more than "Good morning, teacher."  Including the English teachers.  40 hours to go - and you don't know squat about your demo.  That's an omen, not a good omen.

First how many teaching hours are you to be reasonably expected to do a week? Wages will be no more then 25k in gov. school outside in the country a bit.

Let's assume you're doing all your own lesson plans and getting no real help from anybody.  20 hours is way too much for your first full-time gig; 15 may be a lot.  Shoot for 12.  I've taught for that wage, that kind of school, boondocks, etc., two schools in two years.  First year, 10 hours per week, easy.  Second year, up to 19 hours, gruelling.

I, with great insight, did do a TEFL course a few years ago (& have the cert. to hand) so this is not a prob. But... my degree certificate is burried some where in a box, some where in a loft, some where in the UK. Extracting this so called Certificate as proof of my brilliance in the field of model making, which is going to be a great boon to my English teaching skills, is going to be tricky to say the least. Do i need to show it to get the WP?

Yes, almost surely, unless this is a remote province where all the officials eat lunch together and they're grateful to have a farang teaching.  Almost surely, you need the sheepskin, either to get a teacher's license (which you may not need) or the WP.  Nothing is certain - after all, this is Tie-Land.  Always wear a tie.

Is the fact that location and low wages compensation enough to not need to go to the hassle of asking friends to root through personal stuff looking for a single certificate? Is it set in stone that i need the origional cert? Who ultimately needs to actually see it?

Apparently the ministries of labour or education.  Photocopies or good stories don't work.  However, if you must tell a tale, pump it up: "Well, you see old chap, Mick and I were at a reunion for Bianca at the mansion of Ringo when the butler spilled cherry on my BA (hons.) from Oxford.  Sticky wicket, eh guv'nor?

  If i were in the Uk it would be a simple task, but to expect friends to do it when they will have to go through so many things to find it is i feel asking a little to much, not that they wouldn't if asked.

many thanks in advance for any useful regurgitations.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, that's my regurgitation. Thaivsa.com is too couth to have an emoticon that vomits, so we'll try these:

Good luck, stiff upper lip, old school tie, Cheerios and Wheaties.

Edited May 29, 2005 by PeaceBlondie

[kayo]

Above responses sound fairly correct, in my -as you know- limited experience.

12-20 hours first year, for that salary.

Image wise, the kids will want to be able to respect you as if you are say, in the top ten list of most revered people, despite being a farang.

Neat and tidy, fresh breath etc.. Be an example. The kid`s likely spend more time in and out of schools with teachers or tutors than they do with their own parents.

Have fun. Don´t take things to heart when the Thai Education system makes things frustrating for you. No matter how involved you get, you`ll always be the outsider.

DO push them for the paper work, or else you`ll be doing visa run`s for as long as the school admin can delay doing it all. They used to be (i don`t know now) responsable for gathering all the documents, contracts, etc... and geting it sorted, with the odd appearance and lots of signatures being your contribution to the effort.

And as you well know, be patient, relaxed. Smile.

Chok Dii, Boatabike.

Edited May 29, 2005 by kayo

[otherstuff1957]

The actual sheepskin isn't that important. I lost mine years ago! An original transcript is much more useful. I'd recommend getting in touch with your old Uni and having them send you a coupld of copies.

[PeaceBlondie]

And if you can get in touch with your uni, they may issue you another sheepskin. Mine did, on the name of the new university which it had morphed into.

[Boatabike]

Thanks for the replies. I guess i kind of knew the answers to a lot of my own questions, but the work hours was a good bit of new info for me. wanted to go in armed with that awareness before i agreed to anything. Contacting my old Uni may be a prob as i know they discontinued that course several years ago. The Uni is still there but will they keep records for a degree no longer taught? I guess i will need to get in touch to find out. Anyway thanks for the info, haha got more info here than i did from the school Still tomorrow i will find out a bit more and if i dont think its a good idea i will walk away from it, there are a few schools in the area.

[PeaceBlondie]

Degrees and courses change, but at least in the USA, they seem to keep records forever (maybe not for pre-1990 transcripts in the UK, though). I earned my degree in 1971 and got the replacement in 2003, no problem, just paid about (gulp) US$50.

A school that gives you very little information at the beginning, isn't likely to suddenly become very informative. I interviewed today and got more information before telling them if I'd take the job, than my first school gave me in 1.5 semesters. At my first two schools, I literally went for days without knowing where the men ajarn's toilet was. Or where the clinic and nurse were, or how to get copies made on my own, or where to pick up the copies, or..or...or...or...or

Some Thai schools are incredibly non-informative.

Edited May 30, 2005 by PeaceBlondie