Experiences Of The Now Finished 10K Baht Program

[scooterboy]

Well, the 10K Baht subsidy period has now officially finished - and just how did it go?

As we all know, the application papers were signed back in the darker months of the year with nobody quite knowing exactly just what they were signing. Not that it mattered, as nobody in the school administration departments knew, either - it was all guesswork from all sides.

I waited and waited - and waited some more, but nobody called and the phone remained silent. I got the wife to call the education center - they seemed quite disinterested and certainly didn't know anything

about if or when the support program would be implemented.

After a couple of months I reckoned my papers had been lost along the way or I wasn't one of "the chosen".

Never mind - and I started to make other plans. I went out to a local school and chatted to the assistant principal - a very friendly guy who said I was just what he needed and I'd soon be working at his his school!

Great - and I went back home and waited - and waited. Nothing. In the end the wife called the school, but

nobody picked up the phone. After calling a couple more times without any answer, the message was painfully clear - no 'working soon' at his school!

I sent emails to a couple of other schools, mostly just to let them know that I was around, should they need somebody. We got a reply from one school and that led to further email exchanges and replies. The friendly woman asked me to send some info to another teacher at the school - and after that we just didn't hear anything again.

Well, well - whaddya know! The phone rang and it was the Education Center - they asked (ordered, almost) me to go to one of the schools that I'd applied to (back in the darker months), to talk to the principal.

I changed clothes and we drove to the school. Sure enough, the principal was there and he talked about

the job.

Back home and there was another few weeks of waiting. The news finally came through that it was to be a 50 hour a month, 200 baht an hour program, which put me (and others) right off. I was again called to the principal's office and he was told that I'd only work 6 hours a week for the 10K that we'd originally discussed - take it or leave it. He took it, knowing full well that nobody else was going to be available. It all sounded okay - and then the education center was suddenly on the phone, asking (almost demanding) to know if I wanted to work at the other schools I'd applied for. Hang on! - I'm still talking with the principal and I'd need to know a few more things before deciding anything else. No, they couldn't wait. They had to know my decision here and now, as they were to inform Bangkok immediately. In that case, I wouldn't accept any other schools. No way I was going to commit myself any further, when not knowing anything about the final working hours, days or contract period.

After much (government) time wasting and general cock-ups, the program finally started - much later and

for a much shorter period than originally intended.

On 17th of July I started as a NES teacher. And how did that go?

The kids were great, eager and willing to learn English - after the initial 'dead scared' looks at the first

lesson. As expected, there was seldom any Thai teacher in the classroom while I taught - and when there

was, they used the time to literally "steal" my teaching ideas and methods. I wasn't too put out, though, as

the kids were happy enough - and maybe the teachers would use some of my ideas later on.

The English teacher gave me a whole lot of grammar books that the kids used - plus some books in Thai, which I took home and stuffed into a drawer. I looked at the grammar books - if the kids were using these books then they all ought to be pretty fluent in English. Not so, as P1 were excellent, P2 very good, P3 very noisy and almost uncontrollable, P4 eager but not too good, P5 very good - and the dreaded P6, who were horrendous at English.

They, P6 that is, knew very little vocabulary and after asking a couple of the more clever pupils, I was told that hadn't ever learned any verbs (to be, to have, etc). Another teacher later said that this class had "only" been learning English for 3 years, as there hadn't been a (Thai) English teacher at the school before then. The teacher said that the P6 class couldn't be taught much English, as they didn't know any basics of the language. I thought that it'd be hell for them when they have to go to Mathayom school next year.

I did my stuff and the kids were terribly shy at first. Nobody really wanted to say anything at all, until they found out that I didn't complain if what they said was wrong. After two one-hour lessons they all started to talk quite freely, still making many mistakes. That is, except for P6, who still struggled - and badly, at that - with the same program I'd made for the P1 class.

I felt that the kids were generally improving - and it was a delight to see many parents' face light up when they brought their little ones to the school on the one day a week I did gate duty. I'd greet their kids with a loud "Good Morning" and they'd more often than not stop and reply - and sometimes even chat for a few more seconds. Things were going well and even the P6 class was gradually getting better.

I was pleased with the progress and decided to come a bit earlier in the mornings and teach the kindergarten kids - just for the fun of it. They loved it and we had a load of fun for a short while, twice a week.

Word soon gets around when you're a real live English teacher - and soon there were a few job offers coming in. I fitted two more gigs into my weekly schedule - one at a school out in a very remote area and one at a temple. Other jobs I turned down, as I had more than enough work to do.

The main school gig started to turn sour after about 6 weeks. Classes were changed without notice and occasionally a class due to be taught had left school on some trip or other. Nobody took the effort to give any notice beforehand. Classes were often left without a teacher for hours at a time, though I was told that it was completely "normal".

I felt I was finally getting somewhere with the P6 guys - then one day a teacher thrust an ONET exam book into my hands and I was told that I'd have to go through the whole book with the P6 guys, so no more of my own teaching for the rest of the term. Another teacher also popped up and said I had to make a mock-exam for the P3 class. At the same time other teachers seemed to be "avoiding" me - and I idly wondered if I'd done something wrong. The answer soon came - it appears that the teachers at this particular school think they are God's gift to education. Nobody in the area had expected me to last very long at the school, as all the "good" teachers had left long ago - and any new teachers rarely lasted more than a semester or a year. Right on - though I'm never too bothered about that sort of thing - there was only a few weeks left of the gig and I could certainly put up with it all.

The Kindergarten teacher then wanted me to teach the P6 kids extra in my own time (without any payment), which I thought was just too much and told her so. And the result? I stopped teaching her kids from that moment on. I had my own in and out times at the school and I stuck rigidly to them, not coming before time or staying any longer. The kids were really great and I was having a ball of a time with them all. As is the case with government schools, the salary for July was paid out towards the end of August - and the salary for August hadn't arrived by the time the contract finished. The wife was livid, as "it was no way to treat people that want to help out". Myself, I wasn't one bit surprised - but still slightly disappointed, mostly as the school staff didn't seem to give two hoots.

Things were going well at the other schools, too.

The country school was simply amazing - here was a place where the teachers actually cared about their kids! It was like one big family and pure enjoyment to help teach there - everybody was so friendly, too. They had a kindergarten, too, so it wasn't long before I was teaching the little ones for an extra 10 or 15 minutes before teaching the older kids.

A new girl came to the country school - she was from Burma, unable to speak Thai. Some other girls immediately took her under their wings, helping her with some basic Thai words. She was a very shy girl, but every time she actually said a word in Thai, she'd get a big hug and an even bigger smile from one of the other girls. She couldn't speak any English, either - but I was pleased to hear her able to quietly say "thank you" after a few lessons. At the end of my gig she'd join in with the others with the words she'd learned and knew, which made the teaching really worth it all....

The temple school was - well, a temple school. Not the easiest place to teach, as many of the students

have no real education. However, for me it was invaluable experience, so I was quite happy working there.

I went to an inter-school competition day, just to see what it was all about. The country school Por-Or was there and he insisted on showing me around the school (which was in another town) and he was amazed at one point to see a large bunch of kids come screaming and running towards us. It was a bunch of my students, both from his and the main school - they were all participating in the various competitions.

They were shouting greetings and chatting loudly away (in English). Other teachers were taken back by all the noise - and Por-Or was soon surrounded by teachers asking him what school all these English speaking kids were from. Naturally, he was almost bursting at the seams with pride, being able to say that they came from his and another school. Since then, his reputation has rocketed, as these are the only two schools in the area with a farang teacher. Good for him - and just to "up" his reputation even further, I told people that I taught at his school, when asked - and only mentioned the main school name if asked if I worked at any other schools. Too, I added that I'd been personally invited to the competition day by the country school Por-Or - a bit psycho, perhaps, but what the hell...

At the end of September the final teaching week came around. The week started off teaching at the country school - and both the school and I were more than pleased to hear that I'd be staying on for an extra week.

They'd just 'presumed' I'd come the following week, not knowing that the contracts with other schools finished this week.

Would I work at the same schools again, given the opportunity ?

The main school ? No, unless there was nothing else available. I'll def miss the kids, but I won't miss

many of the staff. They seem mainly to be interested in their own welfare.

The temple? No. The experience was great, but the students don't have much enthusiasm for anything. I'd rather teach where there's more reaction and inter-reaction.

The country school ? Yes, yes, yes! Absolutely! Amazing place and I'll certainly miss all the kids and all the staff - even the cook. A great bunch! They've already suggested that I just pop by and teach off the cuff for an hour if I have some spare time - and I'll probably take them up on the offer, too!

And my opinion of the government program ?

Complete rubbish, although the original idea was a very good one! Get the farangs already living here to

help teach at school - great! A lot of farangs would definitely go for the idea - and did, too. It was just a pity that the government screwed up badly along the way but not having any real idea, plan or ready information for the schools, the government people involved - and the farangs. As is the way of anything governmental - "Why make it easy when you can make it impossibly difficult for everybody?". It all ought to have gone off much more smoothly. Too, a 10 week (or thereabouts) period to teach any reasonable amount of oral English to kids that are scared to open their mouths is certainly better than nothing - but rather a total waste of time in the end, if there's no continuous follow-up to the program. Too, the many administrative hiccups could have been avoided with just a minimum amount of advanced planning. As one (or maybe several) posters have said in other threads - "let's face it, they couldn't organize a piss-up at a brewery". And it's so very true !!

I know of some other NES teachers that were very pleased with their school(s) - and others that regretted they'd ever agreed to teach under the program.

And how did you others get on???

Edited September 28, 2012 by scooterboy

[SlyAnimal]

Great report on your experience, it's really good to hear feedback with such a positive attitude, I often get really sick of reading posts from whingers and moaners, so your post was a breath of fresh air (While also not simply completely overlooking the bad, but rather looking at it constructively).

For myself, I teach fulltime, so the 10k scheme was simply "sign this page 20 times, then this one 20 times, then this one 20 times, then this one 20 times" lol. Since I guess they didn't want to photocopy 80-90 pages from the teachers sign in book, just to get my legitimate sign ins lol.

I hope that people have had positive experiences teaching for the first time, I personally think that the scheme was brilliant, and with just a bit more support and information provided to the schools it could be that much better/more effective. Although, if any of the teachers are like the OP, and want to continue teaching & open a dialogue with one or more schools to that effect, then that'd be brilliant. Also even just for 4 months, I think it's great for some of the countryside kids who have never seen/talked to farang before, as I think it increases their interest in the English language.

[chowny77]

I totally agreed. The MOE idea was a wacky one but it worked.........for four months. No real planning and no research. I worked at 2 out of the way kind of schools. My first school is a joy because they are still young enough to grasp new ideas. My second school was alittle different as they were high school kids. What I can not understand is while I was signing documents for my pay, a school in the main town I live with a bilingual course was also asking for this money. I feel this is wrong as the students parents are already paying for the bilingual program, why should this center of town school be getting anything. Their teachers are not going out of town to help educate other less fortunate schools. The school is milking the system and taking money from schools that need it.

[scooterboy]

Thanks for the comments - and I know the original post was rather a lengthy thing to get through......

Yes, I've heard and read several times of people working for a much longer period than myself.

Both 4, 5 months and even longer - and it got me wondering. The final details from the government were only in place around the middle of July, before the program was actually "allowed" to proceed, so just who subsidized the people working, before July?

Agreed - and I'm quite surprised to hear that bilingual schools could participate in the program. Likewise, I'm just as surprised to hear of at least one private school in this area receiving the new tablets from the government - though perhaps that's a different thread.