Foreigners, Their Reputation And Teaching In Thailand....

[aridion]

I had worked in a large number of countries and had come back to Thailand on a holiday and was involved in an accident that left me temporarily unable to resume my normal overseas postings--most of these were in rather dangerous places at that time such as Iraq/Bosnia etc. I took a teaching job here and have been doing so ever since.

--I had the joy of briefly working with 'swirly face'.

--I worked with a guy who put a hammock on the roof of the school and used to smoke pot.

--I worked with a guy who used to head to the little restaurant during the afternoon break and have two 'quick beers.'

--I worked with a lady who peed in the bushes outside at the school--for quite a few people to see.

--I worked with a native speaker who couldn't read (couldn't read a memo) and couldn't pronounce the 'th' sound.

--I worked with some strange acting behavior (later found out they were meth addicts).

--And the alcohol related instances are too numerous to mention--although one teacher informed me that if you are drunk and fall out of the back of the Songtaew, they don't charge you!

Most of these people got the book relatively quickly, but years ago the pool of applicants was really quite bad. In the past about 10 years, I run into very few of these types, thank goodness.

By the way, the parents were largely unaware of many of the transgressions of the foreign teachers. Even the Thai Admin was not aware of some of the stuff.

Quite a circus troupe there Scott. At least old Swirly face was caught and banged up. I found it quite interesting working with all the characters that I came across when I taught English in Bkk. The ones, like you mention don't seem to last too long. I also came across a few teachers that were meth addicts in my time. They weren't the worse of blokes, but boy did that stuff mess them up. They would come into work after a weekend of no sleep, no food and probably hadn't even been home. Some were dam_n good teachers, but the yaabaa took its toll.

[sushi5734]

Unfortunately most Thai schools are not willing to put in the effort to properly recruit for foreign teachers, even less are willing to pay the appropriate wage. I keep on seeing job adverts asking for Native English speakers with a degree in education and experience paying 30k a month, what planet are they on!? Despite this many teachers here are committed to their work, but this is negated by the appallingly inadequate education system, which is completely unwilling to accept and advice or criticism .....in fact it's positively hostile towards it.

The awful truth is that most schools aren't really interested in putting in the effort, that is required to produce fluent or even vaguely competent English speakers, they only want to be seen to be doing something. Its the same as in every other field, which is why Thailand is going to be raped by more developed countries in ASEAN

[Kilgore Trout]

For every MRx there is a honest hardworking person trying there best with the tools they have.

The vetting of teachers does need improving,but who's to blame not those willing to take the spots.

Blame the schools who employ them, and the parents who pay no attention to there kids education.

Agreed, if the schools and parents put up with this crap then they are to blame, not the so called "teacher."

[lostinisaan]

For every MRx there is a honest hardworking person trying there best with the tools they have.

The vetting of teachers does need improving,but who's to blame not those willing to take the spots.

Blame the schools who employ them, and the parents who pay no attention to there kids education.

Agreed, if the schools and parents put up with this crap then they are to blame, not the so called "teacher."

How much do you know about the ordinary schools and the parents? Guess not too much.

Edited January 15, 2013 by lostinisaan

[MegaRanter]

I know of a Canadian bloke, he had no fixed address, owned 2 shirts, had no passport so visa was obviously waived in his mind, but still had jobs teaching English in schools around Bangkok.

He calls me one evening saying he is in police cell somewhere in Dusit, I struggled and found the station, the cops let me see him. He tells me he kissed a girl in his school and a Thai teacher caught him and reported him. I fling him 500 note, and wish him luck, three days later he is out and calls me, his parents sold something and sent 300K thai large ones, with which he made bail..He tells me he is going underground. He is back in the teaching circuit.

[chonabot]

I know of a Canadian bloke, he had no fixed address, owned 2 shirts, had no passport so visa was obviously waived in his mind, but still had jobs teaching English in schools around Bangkok.

He calls me one evening saying he is in police cell somewhere in Dusit, I struggled and found the station, the cops let me see him. He tells me he kissed a girl in his school and a Thai teacher caught him and reported him. I fling him 500 note, and wish him luck, three days later he is out and calls me, his parents sold something and sent 300K thai large ones, with which he made bail..He tells me he is going underground. He is back in the teaching circuit.

The bloke is obviously a scumbag - I've seen them in many professions sadly - I'd love to see these schools that employ foreigners without a passport/WP/Visa.

I can only imagine his track record back home - name and shame?

[Yooyung]

If you took a sample of two groups of individuals teaching english over there, one group of degreed and one group of non degreed.....I would put a bet that the pool of individuals with no degree would contain more dodgey buggers. I have had to really focus and work consistently over the past 3 years to get my quals. I should have done it years ago, before going to Thailand but alas..A lot over there have no intention of bettering their quals, they will just contiually whinge about having to do yet another border run or signing up for another dodgey thai language course that they arent the slightest bit interested. My mate is the classic example, non native speaker, no degree, no TEFL and he complains that "its getting harder to get good jobs" This guy has been there for 12 years!

A lot over there just take the whole english teaching gig as a joke, it can be like that to an extent. I was one to start with...guilty as charged. I soon realised that teaching 50 mathayom students in a room with 3 broken fans on the roof wasnt the way it had to be, The guy up the hall in the mini English program had 20 kids in his class, airconditioning, had a real cirriculum to follow, had students that at least looked polite and got ten to fifteen grand a month more than me. Sure, he could have been on a dodgey degree but I doubt it. I wanted to work in those kind of conditions. Dont get me wrong, I had some great jobs but the 8 to 4 grind of the Mon to Fri gigs seemed to follow a similar pattern. I didnt have a degree, I didnt want to bulls**t my way into a position so I was left with the scraps.

Some of the most untrustworthy, lowlife scum I have ever met in my time over there was at a language school that sounds a bit like a big tobacco company. I started there as a young naive trooper but soldiered on. This place specialised in taking on pretty much anyone with a pulse. There was the Spanish guy that literally couldnt speak english, the guy that got kicked out for kissing a teenage student in the class(very admirable of them), the guy that ate pot in the staffroom for breakfast, the guy that exposed his penis at a bar just a stones throw from the place...I could go on but many of you would have similar stories. I was an interesting place to work, to say the least.

I think it has changed a bit since then though. I certainly hope so anyway. You dont have to be straight out of a disney channel special to teach over there, but a certain amount of decorum goes a long way. I would like to try and get away from that kind of crowd, but I know I will cross paths with them, its inevitable.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Yooyung