Working With Philipinos...

[richard10365]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

[maturebrit]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

from my experience in some technical quals I rumbled several filipinos with bent certification.. they gamble and cry and plead when found out...I would hesitate to guess you will find the degrees are about as much use as a chocolate teapot

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[maturebrit]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

from my experience in some technical quals I rumbled several filipinos with bent certification.. they gamble and cry and plead when found out...I would hesitate to guess you will find the degrees are about as much use as a chocolate teapot

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I am not discriminating against any nationality but as Engineering Manager I sit each candidate down and ask them to sit a detailed examination on their discipline. that coupled with an interview and check all quals online while its ongoing. if I find discrepancies I highlight it and depending on circumstances offer them something more commensurate with what real knowledge they have to offer...

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[puchooay]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

from my experience in some technical quals I rumbled several filipinos with bent certification.. they gamble and cry and plead when found out...I would hesitate to guess you will find the degrees are about as much use as a chocolate teapot

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Agreed. There seems to be many with a waiver from the TCT, when quals aren't checked, and not so many with a licence, when quals are checked.

[sirchai]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

from my experience in some technical quals I rumbled several filipinos with bent certification.. they gamble and cry and plead when found out...I would hesitate to guess you will find the degrees are about as much use as a chocolate teapot

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Agreed. There seems to be many with a waiver from the TCT, when quals aren't checked, and not so many with a licence, when quals are checked.

You're right. Only one out of five at our school have a TL. But all have a degree in primary or/and secondary education. Wondering why they don't go for it.

[maturebrit]

now if I was a director at the school I would be scrutinising the quals very closely and downgrade their salary status...see how long they smile after that....Its the getting found out that irks them most..... then explaining to the family at home that they got caught..... OMG...

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[Scott]

I work with a large number of Filipinos and have worked with quite a few over the past nearly 20 years. It is hard to verify a degree from the Philippines, but it can be done. Many have a professional licensing which can be verified on an official gov't website. We do not employ them as English teachers, but as subject teachers who are teaching in English. Right now, about 60% of our teachers have a professional license.

[maturebrit]

yes I get your point.....I had 40 working for me in Oman.... nice enough lads but found 6 didnt have a clue about the job Advanced Ultrasonics on pressure vessels....not one had any cert of competency but broke down in tears when I sussed them..... sad but who said life was fair..... if they screwed up and a vessel exploded and fatalities who would get blamed.. yup me...... they had to be terminated

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[Phatcharanan]

...... they had to be terminated

Why bother doing it yourself? Other posters have already given you the number...........just dial,

007 007 007

[balo]

There are lot of hard working honest Filipino teachers , they receive half the salary of a westerner and do a better job with their students .

[chonabot]

There are lot of hard working honest Filipino teachers , they receive half the salary of a westerner and do a better job with their students .

Define 'better job'?

[culicine]

There are lot of hard working honest Filipino teachers , they receive half the salary of a westerner and do a better job with their students .

If you see how they control classes in my school, you might disagree. And a qualified teacher from the Philippines is far from a qualified teacher from the West. Just look at their PISA results and you will see the quality of the education they provide to their own students. They might be cheaper to employ but it's a false economy in the long run.

[Osiris]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Good schools in Thailand and Thai people, realize that when mommy and daddy show up at the gate and see Philipinos their child will go to a different school. The foreign teachers I know are easy to work with, hardworking professionals. At my school today, two of the men are wearing cheap polo shirt, leisure type pants that resemble jeans and tennis shoes. I have seen one of them lounging in a chair at the front of the room as he taught. This isn't professional behavior that mommy and daddy are going to pay for, not to mention the original reason for posting; they cause problems purposely.

[Phatcharanan]

yes I was only trying to get the Filipinos to behave....but in a way they will understand and trust me I know what I am talking about... and have a lot of filipinos that know me well enough

You may be suffering from ADHD.

[sirchai]

yes I was only trying to get the Filipinos to behave....but in a way they will understand and trust me I know what I am talking about... and have a lot of filipinos that know me well enough

You may be suffering from ADHD.

Autocratic Dysfunctional Horizontally Disorder?

Won't call him hyper though, roughly said.

[maturebrit]

yes I was only trying to get the Filipinos to behave....but in a way they will understand and trust me I know what I am talking about... and have a lot of filipinos that know me well enough

You may be suffering from ADHD.

Autocratic Dysfunctional Horizontally Disorder?

Won't call him hyper though, roughly said.

hahahaha very good.... heres 5 baht.... go phone someone that actually gives a shit...

advice is free... take it or leave it...

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[Phatcharanan]

We left it

[MrWorldwide]

I've never wanted to teach in Thailand - too old now anyway (over 50) - but reading the thread about the guy who was physically assaulted by a Thai teacher was enough for me. Allegedly broad daylight, a wound serious enough to require stitches, in front of other Faculty members and the Thai teacher remains on the staff - <deleted> ? Not looking to demonise anyone here, but who the hell would work in an environment like that ??

If the only thing the Filipinos are doing is bad-mouthing the OP, I think he is doing OK .... just my two bahts worth.

[Scott]

A post containing a racist slur has been removed. Here's the rule:

7) Not to post slurs or degrading comments directed towards any group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

[otherstuff1957]

I have worked with several Philipino teachers over the years and found that they vary from being very good to being awful. Although I have heard lots of stories about how difficult they are to work with and how untrustworthy they are, I have never had any troubles with any of my Philipino co-workers myself. However, I have never been in a situation where they outnumbered the Farang teachers.

[richard10365]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Good schools in Thailand and Thai people, realize that when mommy and daddy show up at the gate and see Philipinos their child will go to a different school. The foreign teachers I know are easy to work with, hardworking professionals. At my school today, two of the men are wearing cheap polo shirt, leisure type pants that resemble jeans and tennis shoes. I have seen one of them lounging in a chair at the front of the room as he taught. This isn't professional behavior that mommy and daddy are going to pay for, not to mention the original reason for posting; they cause problems purposely.

If this were true we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[mrtoad]

Had experience of working with Filipino teachers a few years back, whilst they weren't the most sociable and kept themselves to themselves, I never experienced what the OP has mentioned. However, other people that I know have encountered this on an all to frequent basis.

I currently employ 20 foreign staff (Not in a school), in particular UK, USA, Australia, India and several European Countries. I also have 3 staff from the Philippines. I have found the Philippine staff to be excellent and certainly the opposite to what the OP has described, and they are very much part of our multinational staff team. As a Brit, I reckon those from my own country have been the most difficult to work with.

Either way, in any large staff team you're always going to get dynamics.

[candypants]

my experience is as a parent whose child attended a small international kindergarten until grade 1 (age 6).

In meeting fellow parents (Aus, UK. USA, Canada) we were all blown away by what they had achieved most of our kids were reading independently by age 5 and placing very high when it came time to move on to grade 1. This was a common topic during birthday parties and school events when we found ourselves in one place.

So they may be a pain in the ass to work with, but the group i encountered were certainly conscientious and cared for their students. My kid absolutely adores thm, and asks if she can visit the school on her holidays and days off.

And you can rest assured that they aren't shitfaced all weekend.

before some here knock the impression folks here have of philpinos, perhaps its time to revisit the image of western teachers in thailand.

Edited February 2, 2013 by candypants

[Osiris]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Good schools in Thailand and Thai people, realize that when mommy and daddy show up at the gate and see Philipinos their child will go to a different school. The foreign teachers I know are easy to work with, hardworking professionals. At my school today, two of the men are wearing cheap polo shirt, leisure type pants that resemble jeans and tennis shoes. I have seen one of them lounging in a chair at the front of the room as he taught. This isn't professional behavior that mommy and daddy are going to pay for, not to mention the original reason for posting; they cause problems purposely.

If this were true we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The discussion has been had before by the administrators of my university, so it's quite true. They have told me that they are aware of their behaviors and that they try to push out the foreign teachers for three reasons. First, so their accents are not compared to ours. Second, the difference in salary levels. (I didn't make the rules here) And finally, so they can get one of their friends hired instead of me. At my uni the salary is higher for the Phils than the typical market rate, and the workload is lighter. It's a drawing factor.

I think if you reread the post you can see I never said they could not be good teachers, and I'm sure some are. The ones I work with are not, and they are not always professional. Furthermore, they created a toxic culture, purposefully, that I am embarrassed about. My school has been very kind welcoming and generous.

Since I was told by two Thai students last week that they don't understand the Phil's accent, no matter how well meaning they may be, they are not imparting knowledge. Would you pay for your child to have this kind of education? Not if you loved your kids and cared about their future!

[sirchai]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Good schools in Thailand and Thai people, realize that when mommy and daddy show up at the gate and see Philipinos their child will go to a different school. The foreign teachers I know are easy to work with, hardworking professionals. At my school today, two of the men are wearing cheap polo shirt, leisure type pants that resemble jeans and tennis shoes. I have seen one of them lounging in a chair at the front of the room as he taught. This isn't professional behavior that mommy and daddy are going to pay for, not to mention the original reason for posting; they cause problems purposely.

If this were true we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The discussion has been had before by the administrators of my university, so it's quite true. They have told me that they are aware of their behaviors and that they try to push out the foreign teachers for three reasons. First, so their accents are not compared to ours. Second, the difference in salary levels. (I didn't make the rules here) And finally, so they can get one of their friends hired instead of me. At my uni the salary is higher for the Phils than the typical market rate, and the workload is lighter. It's a drawing factor.

I think if you reread the post you can see I never said they could not be good teachers, and I'm sure some are. The ones I work with are not, and they are not always professional. Furthermore, they created a toxic culture, purposefully, that I am embarrassed about. My school has been very kind welcoming and generous.

Since I was told by two Thai students last week that they don't understand the Phil's accent, no matter how well meaning they may be, they are not imparting knowledge. Would you pay for your child to have this kind of education? Not if you loved your kids and cared about their future!

I know for a fact that some of them are very uncomfortable to talk to you. Here's one example of misunderstanding each other:

I had to see our principal, one from the islands saw that and he's asking me:

" Where you go"? I replied: " I had to see the director." The guy: " What she say?" My reply: " Our director is male." End of discussion,no more questions afterwards.

They're always acting pretty busy when somebody comes in, are good in making boards ,etc. but when it comes to any academical stuff, they're just not able to do it.

The Thais at my school know the difference, does your director know what's going on? You might find a way to let them know what's going on.

Here's my input regarding salary. Well, a garbage collector in Europe makes more money than most of us teaching English in LOS.

A real teacher in the Philippines makes around 6,000 baht. We foreigners (non Asian) do spent our salaries here and many of us like to eat some food that's mostly expensive.

Foreigners from Europe, the States, Australia, etc. do have a higher social standard and they could not live in a room with 8 others.

[sikishrory]

they just sound like a bunch of pricks to me.

I've been working with thai people and burmese people for the last year.

The burmese mess around a lot and act like 10 year olds which can be annoying but they are generally good to me. Sometimes they laugh and talk in burmese and I know it's about me but I just pay no attention. that seems to be the best. I don't think there saying anything incredibly bad about me perhaps just making fun or something.

There was a new burmese guy a while ago that was saying some bad things about me constantly (googled swear words) to make himself look cool in front of the others. if it were australia I no doubt would have decked the guy but not here. So I just told the manager and he hasn't said anything since.

The thai people are a bit different. I wouldn't know how to explain it and I guess it's irrelevant anyway.

It sounds like you just work with a bunch of idiots and you shouldn't tolerate it or you will become very unhappy I reckon. Your manager should really deal with this! I'd be telling him I can't work like this and he either needs to change something or I leave. You have to show some balls or they will eat you alive.

[sirchai]

they just sound like a bunch of pricks to me.

I've been working with thai people and burmese people for the last year.

The burmese mess around a lot and act like 10 year olds which can be annoying but they are generally good to me. Sometimes they laugh and talk in burmese and I know it's about me but I just pay no attention. that seems to be the best. I don't think there saying anything incredibly bad about me perhaps just making fun or something.

There was a new burmese guy a while ago that was saying some bad things about me constantly (googled swear words) to make himself look cool in front of the others. if it were australia I no doubt would have decked the guy but not here. So I just told the manager and he hasn't said anything since.

The thai people are a bit different. I wouldn't know how to explain it and I guess it's irrelevant anyway.

It sounds like you just work with a bunch of idiots and you shouldn't tolerate it or you will become very unhappy I reckon. Your manager should really deal with this! I'd be telling him I can't work like this and he either needs to change something or I leave. You have to show some balls or they will eat you alive.

It's pretty much annoying and disgusting, when they speak Tagalog all day long. To the OP:

If they speak their language n their lunch break, up to them. You don't have to have lunch with them, I guess.

The problem is that they might get orders, but they don't tell you what's going on. .

I'm trying to make them understand that they have to speak English, at least in the English department. Will change the ERIC sign to TRIC, let's see if they get the message.

The new name for our ERIC department is "PEER", ( Primary English Education Resources), could change it into "PTER".

It's as some have already mentioned. They want you out and a brother, sister, nephew, cousin, or hell knows who in.

You need the director's and/or the Thai head teacher's back up. They could badmouth you about almost anything, six of them say it's true.

So who'd believe you then? I know that it's a daily torture for you to go through such miserable circumstances. Please don't give up, show them that you're somebody, not a Pussy.

Would they be successful and you'd look for another job, it would never stop. Good luck!--

.

[NoshowJones]

In my experience Filipinos can be a bit "catty". They certainly stick together and they dislike NES's because of the salary gap. Most Filipinos think they speak perfect English and thus should be paid the same as an NES.

I worked with Philipino teachers who were on 25% less than me, after two years, they replaced me with a Philipino also on 25% less than me. I was the only Farang teacher there. At the school where I worked before that with another three Farang teachers, they replaced us with Philipinos for half our wages. In saying that, I have to admit that the Philipino teachers are very good at their jobs, and I also have to say they were a joy to work with, and the fact that they are not English native speakers hardly makes a difference, they speak English as well as we do.

[NoshowJones]

The last school I worked at had 2 filipino teacher's and then me...the lone falang teacher. I was very nice to them...and at first they were friendly...but they talked in their native language ALL the time, even when I was eating lunch with them (they can speak English perfectly fine,) so I was always left out of the conversation. If I tried to ask them something in English or talk with them in English, they would bluntly answer me and then revert back to talking to one another in their native language. The school did not want to hire me for another year...to this day, I still don't know why...but I have this feeling that one of the filipino's had something to do with it. She was always "kissing ass" as you say....I think they do feel threatened sometimes by the NES teacher's. But now I am at a better school and they have a Chinese teacher (no filipino's) and I must say that the Chinese teacher's I have encountered are SO much more friendly than the filipino teacher's I have met.

Note to any filipino's who may read this: In no way do I mean to say that ALL filipino teacher's like to "kiss ass" and are unfriendly...just the ones I have encountered seemed to be this way....I am sure there are many awesome filipino teacher's out there!

It's obvious why the school would not hire you for another year, the Philipinos are probably working for about half your'e salary. It happened to me, I was the only Farang English teacher with two Philipinos. They got kept on and my contract wasn't renewed after two years, and another Philipino took my place.

[NoshowJones]

I think you should get use to working with Filipinos if you want to keep teaching English in Thailand. They are part of ASEAN and soon they will be much easier to hire than you are. One of the benefits to the free movement of labor is for Philippine English teachers to move freely into Thailand and take your job. I think Thai people are starting to realize farang teachers are just too difficult to work with. With so many different English accents (American, UK, Australian, New Zealand), Thai schools don't really care if the Filipino has an accent as long as their grammar is decent. The money they save on hiring Filipino teachers can be spent on other things.

However, I'm not sure if these Filipino teachers have teaching and English degrees. I am curious, is this the case? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Good schools in Thailand and Thai people, realize that when mommy and daddy show up at the gate and see Philipinos their child will go to a different school. The foreign teachers I know are easy to work with, hardworking professionals. At my school today, two of the men are wearing cheap polo shirt, leisure type pants that resemble jeans and tennis shoes. I have seen one of them lounging in a chair at the front of the room as he taught. This isn't professional behavior that mommy and daddy are going to pay for, not to mention the original reason for posting; they cause problems purposely.

If this were true we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Richard, can you tell a Philipino from a Thai by looking at them? I know I can't, although the Thai parents will know there are Philipinos at the school through their children.