Need to prepare mid-term exams this week!

[Kf6vci]

Unknown to me, I've been scheduled to teach some "reading & writing" classes. First time I heard about it was this morning, when the HoD asked me to prepare exams!

Am not amused!

How screwed up can this get, I wonder? How about not telling a teacher what to teach?!?

[casualbiker]

And this is the first time it's happened to you! You're lucky. Almost every month this happens .. and to think they want us to have a BA'ed just to get a teaching license ..

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[Scott]

Oh, welcome to the world of education in Thailand. We have a rather good teacher for Social Studies. He is a qualified teacher, with a TL from his home country. The previous teacher left, so he had to take over the classes. All is well except for a complaint about one of the grades being noisy and that he needed to 'learn' a better technique to keep them quiet.

The class is a mini-English (read: not the best students). They are Mathyom 6.

The class has no book and the teacher was never given a curriculum of what was to be taught.

Since he is an experienced teacher, he did mange to come up with some stuff, but the school doesn't allow worksheets or print outs, so it was all chalk and talk.

Now, he has to do an exam and they are wondering what is going to be on the exam.

They have also indicated that maybe he isn't a 'good; teacher.

.....Only in Thailand.

[lostinisaan]

Oh, welcome to the world of education in Thailand. We have a rather good teacher for Social Studies. He is a qualified teacher, with a TL from his home country. The previous teacher left, so he had to take over the classes. All is well except for a complaint about one of the grades being noisy and that he needed to 'learn' a better technique to keep them quiet.

The class is a mini-English (read: not the best students). They are Mathyom 6.

The class has no book and the teacher was never given a curriculum of what was to be taught.

Since he is an experienced teacher, he did mange to come up with some stuff, but the school doesn't allow worksheets or print outs, so it was all chalk and talk.

Now, he has to do an exam and they are wondering what is going to be on the exam.

They have also indicated that maybe he isn't a 'good; teacher.

.....Only in Thailand.

Amazing Thailand, indeed. There's really nothing more left that would surprise me anymore. They know that speech and other competitions are coming up beginning of August.

The head of the English department was asking me today, if I'd have an idea whom to choose. Still waiting for the topics to clean them up.

Insanity becomes reality.

Only in Thailand........

[stubuzz]

He is a qualified teacher, with a TL from his home country. The previous teacher left, so he had to take over the classes.

The class has no book and the teacher was never given a curriculum of what was to be taught.

They have also indicated that maybe he isn't a 'good; teacher.

I'm not surprised the previous teacher left. Maybe "they" should take a look at their own conduct before passing aspersions.

[inzman]

It's always the foreigners fault. Thais cannot do wrong, don't you know that.

[Scott]

I was rather forceful...actually, I completely lost my cool with the Administration over these remarks and I left the school for the day. The same teachers has a bunch of other classes, which they said were just fine.... no problem. They all have books. I asked them if they thought that perhaps the reason why ALL the other classes were OK had anything to do with the fact that they had a book and a curriculum!

It is difficult to believe the things that come out of people's mouths sometimes. I asked the admin person "Do you ever think before you speak?"

[lostinisaan]

I was rather forceful...actually, I completely lost my cool with the Administration over these remarks and I left the school for the day. The same teachers has a bunch of other classes, which they said were just fine.... no problem. They all have books. I asked them if they thought that perhaps the reason why ALL the other classes were OK had anything to do with the fact that they had a book and a curriculum!

It is difficult to believe the things that come out of people's mouths sometimes. I asked the admin person "Do you ever think before you speak?"

"Do you ever think before you speak?"

Guess we all know that the answer would be negative.

[aidenai]

Unknown to me, I've been scheduled to teach some "reading & writing" classes. First time I heard about it was this morning, when the HoD asked me to prepare exams!

Am not amused!

How screwed up can this get, I wonder? How about not telling a teacher what to teach?!?

Guess your school didn't hire a qualified teacher or at least a teacher with skills to explore required knowledge.

[Kf6vci]

I was rather forceful...actually, I completely lost my cool with the Administration over these remarks and I left the school for the day. The same teachers has a bunch of other classes, which they said were just fine.... no problem. They all have books. I asked them if they thought that perhaps the reason why ALL the other classes were OK had anything to do with the fact that they had a book and a curriculum!

It is difficult to believe the things that come out of people's mouths sometimes. I asked the admin person "Do you ever think before you speak?"

First day on the job (am not a qualified teacher). Asked "is there a book...?". A: "Do what you want!". So I did. A few weeks later, while I took an impromptu test to assess a class' ability and find individual student's weaknesses... 2 students run out and fetch the HoD.

She came and lambasted me for not using the book. ** I felt like resigning on the spot. But have learned to roll with the punches and take myself less seriously.

Exam time. The same HoD messed up my class's exam by pulling something off the internet. written by some Thai professor, no less - but not what I had been doing that semester (using a book). 100% irrelevant stuff. and the best did poorly in this test. Bizarre questions about "Jurassic Park", the movie etc.

Once it's established which book to use - or not, then they may still mess up things by choosing an exam.

I returned after 4 am by bus from a visit to Kurusapha. Then had to supervise a M6/6 class and prepare those exams. Mission accomplished. But I am still reeling from what kind of exam my HoD did o=with my M2 class on Monday (when I was absent).

^^^

As I have all these different codes in an intensive program, I asked "will there be an exam for each and every code?". No, only 1 per class.

Having taught the wrong stuff for half a semester: words fail me to describe my feelings.

[lostinisaan]

Unknown to me, I've been scheduled to teach some "reading & writing" classes. First time I heard about it was this morning, when the HoD asked me to prepare exams!

Am not amused!

How screwed up can this get, I wonder? How about not telling a teacher what to teach?!?

Guess your school didn't hire a qualified teacher or at least a teacher with skills to explore required knowledge.

How about not telling a teacher what to teach?

Let's see what the dictionary says. A teacher is a person who teaches, usually as a job at a school or similar institution.

​Isn't "reading & writing " a part of teaching? How can that be difficult to create something by yourself, or find something on the net, that's suitable for them?

Edited July 23, 2014 by lostinisaan

[Scott]

I know a school where they exchanged the exams with another, sister school. What a mess, the exams from the other school weren't even from the same books. The curriculum was supposed to be the same, but the books used were different.

[harrry]

Not only here that happens. In Australia I was connected with a TAFE in a regional town. Two colleges in the state did the Diploma of Engineering in Computer Technology. We followed the syllabus exactly. Two days before the exam we got the centrally administered examination and were astounded to find it was totally different. After a flurry of calls we found that the other collage had changed the syllabus without telling anyone, Further top level discussions occurred and we were told to give our students the answers. . We did not do that we gave them in class practice questions exactly the same with further homework questions.

When the kids sat the exams we were rather surprised to find that the scores and distribution followed the same pattern as the previous scores. The capable ones did well as they had studied the new work, the others did not as they had binned the work. It is not just here.

Edited July 23, 2014 by harrry

[Eddy B]

Maybe its time for the non-thai teachers to unite and explain to the Thai head of departments to learn what their jobs are, then tell the admin department to shut up and march to the gates of the MOE and tell them to sort their shit out!

[lostinisaan]

Maybe its time for the non-thai teachers to unite and explain to the Thai head of departments to learn what their jobs are, then tell the admin department to shut up and march to the gates of the MOE and tell them to sort their shit out!

Indeed a great joke in a country where even people from the UK do have huge problems with each other.

Then adding Americans, Germans and other nationalities to it. Go and figure.

I'd sign up for a "go against this bs now" within an blink of an eye.

Just imagine, all foreigners here united. AOFET Association Of Foreign English Teachers.

I had a dream..........

[Eddy B]

Maybe its time for the non-thai teachers to unite and explain to the Thai head of departments to learn what their jobs are, then tell the admin department to shut up and march to the gates of the MOE and tell them to sort their shit out!

Indeed a great joke in a country where even people from the UK do have huge problems with each other.

Then adding Americans, Germans and other nationalities to it. Go and figure.

I'd sign up for a "go against this bs now" within an blink of an eye.

Just imagine, all foreigners here united. AOFET Association Of Foreign English Teachers.

I had a dream..........

Anyone else wishing to sign-up for this???

[Kf6vci]

Unknown to me, I've been scheduled to teach some "reading & writing" classes. First time I heard about it was this morning, when the HoD asked me to prepare exams!

Am not amused!

How screwed up can this get, I wonder? How about not telling a teacher what to teach?!?

Guess your school didn't hire a qualified teacher or at least a teacher with skills to explore required knowledge.

Excuse me? I'd been told to teach something else instead. Not sure what you are implying? Say your school told you "teach communication" and it turns out to be "reading and writing"? Would you accept blame for this situation?

[BruceMangosteen]

In a related context....we have a teacher who uses her "own stuff" regardless of what book they give her. She doesn't have to write new exams, just teaches what she knows and has in her computer. The tests are already there from years past. One might think this is wrong but she's also the most liked teacher by the Thai staff. They have no clue she doesn't follow the curriculum they have given her not to mention the books. The books BTW are the inexpensive ones that I think the schools get for free from Bangkok. I on the other hand try and adapt and use the every changing books, chosen without asking me of course, and create new tests each year based on actual content taught. Yep, I'm hated because I don't interact with them at lunchtime.

[BruceMangosteen]

xcuse me? I'd been told to teach something else instead. Not sure what you are implying? Say your school told you "teach communication" and it turns out to be "reading and writing"? Would you accept blame for this situation?

You can easily bluff this situation. Giving a written mid term and final on "listening" isn't exactly an easy task.