I've had it.

[lostinisaan]

Hello and Sawadee khrap,

Just wanted to wish all "Windmill Warriors" out there a Very Happy New Year.---

[Scott]

Thanks. A Happy New Year to you and all our members.

[aidenai]

Happy New Year. I read you've had it. What are you up to then in 2015?

[lostinisaan]

Happy New Year. I read you've had it. What are you up to then in 2015?

Guess, I'll bite my tongue and if things are not changing and the director doesn't register "his Anuban" as an institution at the SS office, he might have to look for one more new teacher in May.

It's a Thai law that such an institution has to be registered and I think it's disgusting that directors here can do what they want. I had good luck that I could continue paying in alone, by only paying 432 baht/month.

But my colleague from the Philippines, plus eight teacher assistants do not have an insurance.The director had promised me three times that he'd register the school, but it seems that a couple of hundred baht a month are more suitable in his wallet, then some ordinary folks having an insurance.

It isn't big news that most of them "Ginn Tang", ( eat money). But too much is too much. Almost everybody tries to get a piece of the cake,coming from Bangkok in form of money, which isn't always used for educational purposes.

I prefer to teach older "kids" and once the EP is set up and functioning, I might consider to resign, as too many things are just empty words.

In my contract are 20 contact hours, but I've got between 25 and 34 hours/week,, without counting any preparation for four different levels, creating worksheets, checking them and always doing extra-curricular stuff such as writing a thesis for a Thai teacher going for a Master's in English and other time wasting "activities", which are not my business.

But when you say no, the gossip machine starts spreading rumors about you. The last thesis I wrote for a teacher was a lot of work. She finally gave me five donuts for it, but freaking hate donuts.

They got in touch with me, as they couldn't find the right teacher who'd be capable setting up an EP without having any plans, curriculum, ideas, etc..

Beside my real job, I’m the one who’s got to make sure that the computers, printers are running, which includes a pretty good knowledge in computer technology.And of course sometimes very time intensive changes of programs, hardware fixes and other bs.

Once they figured my “special skills” out, a lot of others come with their non-functioning machines to me and ask for help.

I still have to create a curriculum that has to be approved by our superb educational area two office in only a few days.

If they don't pass, they'll blame me. If they do pass, they won't even say thank you to me.

They paid half of expenses for visa and work permit for the only Filipino who isn't liked by the director, but don't reimburse one baht for me, because "I make more money." I'm pretty sure that the director doesn't even know about this fact, but won't act like a beggar.

It all depends on how the TCT will change their attitudes regarding foreign teachers.

I'm financially not able to spend a lot of money for an online degree in education.

If various seminars for Thai English teachers how to teach English successfully, plus three day seminars for Thai school directors, to prepare them for the ASEAN community don't mean anything to the TCT, I might have to rethink the whole teaching situation and look for a different way to have an income.

Plus ten years of teaching all levels from grade one to twelve should be enough proof that somebody's capable of teaching, don't you think so?

Would an online degree in education really make somebody to a better teacher? Not in my opinion, it's all about money.

And the one "online university" from the Philippines, which is accredited by the TCT, with their headquarter in Bkk, must have found a way by using some cash to be able to offer such courses.

I've never "lost" a teaching position, quit two jobs and I do know many school directors who'd be happy if I'd work for them.

I was certain that there couldn't be a worse school than my former one, but had to find out the hard way that I was wrong.

Wish you guys a nice and long holiday and A Happy New Teaching Year.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Scott

[kaorop]

i am a 1 in ten

well the ratio of good places to work to bad ones

imo of course, and its pot luck as picking them is tricky.

but never ever ever take on unpaid work, "when i did i say i was charity?"

good luck,

[lostinisaan]

i am a 1 in ten

well the ratio of good places to work to bad ones

imo of course, and its pot luck as picking them is tricky.

but never ever ever take on unpaid work, "when i did i say i was charity?"

good luck,

Having a salary includes some extracurricular activities. I don’t mind to help my colleagues, but when you get the feeling that something isn't quite okay,then it’s time to rethink all.

Please try to teach grade ones English, science, math and computer, but you've got students from being really good in all subjects and those who can’t accomplish easiest assignments.

And you've got to teach ordinary grade one classes, grade three and six as well.

Then you know what I mean.

P.S. I'm not whining about my personal situation, just trying to find the easiest way to be successful. And I'd made a commitment when I signed my contract.

It's not the kids' fault, it's the system that sucks. And the uniform wearing guys, who think they're right next to god.

[aidenai]

Happy New Year, LII. I hope you're gifted with great coronary blood vessels.

[aarontendo]

Agreed on a little give and take in these situations, but they're asking an awful lot. Once they went that much over your contracted hours that's a full stop right there, and that's not even getting into all the other things.

Writing someone's thesis? Forget about it, it's not only immoral to education (but what here in Thailand isn't, right? ;p), but there are also folks who will do it for a nice sum of money.

Hopefully things get better in the coming year, but I think you may need to put the brakes on all these extra duties, which may be harder to do as you've already been doing them...

[Squeegee]

Sorry to be so blunt but you're a fool if you stay there. They have been thoroughly shafting you and it will never end until you do something about it.

Props for seeing out your contract, that's a decent thing to do and it helps all of us foreigners here to be professional, even if the school owners themselves are not, but at the first chance you get you don't take it to get out of that awful situation then frankly you deserve everything you get from then on.

Based on what you've said, I see no hope of there ever being a good situation at that place, no matter what concessions they might fob you off with later.

Good luck!

[Kf6vci]

Happy New Year. I read you've had it. What are you up to then in 2015?

Guess, I'll bite my tongue and if things are not changing and the director doesn't register "his Anuban" as an institution at the SS office, he might have to look for one more new teacher in May.

It's a Thai law that such an institution has to be registered and I think it's disgusting that directors here can do what they want. I had good luck that I could continue paying in alone, by only paying 432 baht/month.

But my colleague from the Philippines, plus eight teacher assistants do not have an insurance.The director had promised me three times that he'd register the school, but it seems that a couple of hundred baht a month are more suitable in his wallet, then some ordinary folks having an insurance.

It isn't big news that most of them "Ginn Tang", ( eat money). But too much is too much. Almost everybody tries to get a piece of the cake,coming from Bangkok in form of money, which isn't always used for educational purposes.

I prefer to teach older "kids" and once the EP is set up and functioning, I might consider to resign, as too many things are just empty words.

In my contract are 20 contact hours, but I've got between 25 and 34 hours/week,, without counting any preparation for four different levels, creating worksheets, checking them and always doing extra-curricular stuff such as writing a thesis for a Thai teacher going for a Master's in English and other time wasting "activities", which are not my business.

But when you say no, the gossip machine starts spreading rumors about you. The last thesis I wrote for a teacher was a lot of work. She finally gave me five donuts for it, but freaking hate donuts.

They got in touch with me, as they couldn't find the right teacher who'd be capable setting up an EP without having any plans, curriculum, ideas, etc..

Beside my real job, I’m the one who’s got to make sure that the computers, printers are running, which includes a pretty good knowledge in computer technology.And of course sometimes very time intensive changes of programs, hardware fixes and other bs.

Once they figured my “special skills” out, a lot of others come with their non-functioning machines to me and ask for help.

I still have to create a curriculum that has to be approved by our superb educational area two office in only a few days.

If they don't pass, they'll blame me. If they do pass, they won't even say thank you to me.

They paid half of expenses for visa and work permit for the only Filipino who isn't liked by the director, but don't reimburse one baht for me, because "I make more money." I'm pretty sure that the director doesn't even know about this fact, but won't act like a beggar.

It all depends on how the TCT will change their attitudes regarding foreign teachers.

I'm financially not able to spend a lot of money for an online degree in education.

If various seminars for Thai English teachers how to teach English successfully, plus three day seminars for Thai school directors, to prepare them for the ASEAN community don't mean anything to the TCT, I might have to rethink the whole teaching situation and look for a different way to have an income.

Plus ten years of teaching all levels from grade one to twelve should be enough proof that somebody's capable of teaching, don't you think so?

Would an online degree in education really make somebody to a better teacher? Not in my opinion, it's all about money.

And the one "online university" from the Philippines, which is accredited by the TCT, with their headquarter in Bkk, must have found a way by using some cash to be able to offer such courses.

I've never "lost" a teaching position, quit two jobs and I do know many school directors who'd be happy if I'd work for them.

I was certain that there couldn't be a worse school than my former one, but had to find out the hard way that I was wrong.

Wish you guys a nice and long holiday and A Happy New Teaching Year.

Cui bono - who benefits?

One can love and loath this job at the same time. Ranting helps me cope with the daily frustration.

We face issues which are truly bizarre.

- Got an assistant who refuses to speak English or cooperate in any way, not even for 5 minutes.

- The HoD at a "world class standard school" having no curricular? You bet! (decades on the job and at the same school).

- HR?

OP, you can do better. How many schools are within driving distance? You having a family and a house (?) makes changing jobs more problematic?

YMMV, but you might want to force them to treat you equal. But you will be on their shit list and may regret having fought for a few thousand Baht. Take the SS issue. That's a government school! (I worked at such a place where they never reported the illegals they employed as "teachers". Preoblem solved. No B-Visa, no WP, no names sent to the Regional Education office. And when a problem arose, they would invent some "foreigners were hired by the hour" b.s. With impunity!

Doubt that many colleagues know how bad things are at such schools where they won't even register for SS.

May this be a better year for the OP and all others!

[SlyAnimal]

You got a 3rd waiver last time right? Because they believed that your degree from Germany was in Education? (Even though it was something a little different, which was lost in translation with them lol). But I assume they didn't give you your 5 year licence, else you wouldn't be as worried about a BEdu/MEdu etc.

Assuming that you're therefore on your 3rd waiver, you'll probably have to just endure the circus at your current school, and hope that the situation changes, as otherwise you won't be able to get another waiver if you change schools.

Although I guess if you're on a marriage extension, then you could still work as a trainer.

If your contract didn't say that you'd be reimbursed for 50% of your WP/Visa costs, then I probably wouldn't worry about what's happening with the Filipino teachers, their contracts are different, and so it's not really comparing apples with apples so to speak. Their packages includes 50% of their visa/WP costs, your package includes an extra 10,000 THB or so per month. Although of course, if you can get them to pay 50% (or more) of your visa/WP, that'd probably save you around 2000-3000THB per year, so would be nice, but at the end of the day, it's only a small amount per year (And wasn't in your contract, so shouldn't really be expected).

With the thesis, can't you just tell them that you can't/won't do it? My boss asked me to check the English blurb on his Thesis, which I did for free (Although wouldn't have agreed so quickly if I knew he'd be writing in real academic English lol), and he suggested that my wife and I could maybe translate his thesis from Thai to English, and offered to pay us what we felt it was worth, but he wouldn't even dream of asking us to do it for free, as he knows it'd be 10,000 - 20,000 (or more) worth of work. We turned him down though, and suggested that going to a professional would be a better option, he wasn't offended though, as understood it was a pretty big task.

Thus, if your boss is asking you to check it, then he'll likely realise the enormity of the task, and that getting a professional to do the same job, would be quite expensive (I assume you're checking the thesis's English, rather than writing it? As he'll have written the original in Thai himself, and then maybe gotten the Thai teachers to translate and then you to check it? As having not studied whatever subject it's in, it'd be too difficult for you to write a quality thesis on it).

[lostinisaan]

You got a 3rd waiver last time right? Because they believed that your degree from Germany was in Education? (Even though it was something a little different, which was lost in translation with them lol). But I assume they didn't give you your 5 year licence, else you wouldn't be as worried about a BEdu/MEdu etc.

Assuming that you're therefore on your 3rd waiver, you'll probably have to just endure the circus at your current school, and hope that the situation changes, as otherwise you won't be able to get another waiver if you change schools.

Although I guess if you're on a marriage extension, then you could still work as a trainer.

If your contract didn't say that you'd be reimbursed for 50% of your WP/Visa costs, then I probably wouldn't worry about what's happening with the Filipino teachers, their contracts are different, and so it's not really comparing apples with apples so to speak. Their packages includes 50% of their visa/WP costs, your package includes an extra 10,000 THB or so per month. Although of course, if you can get them to pay 50% (or more) of your visa/WP, that'd probably save you around 2000-3000THB per year, so would be nice, but at the end of the day, it's only a small amount per year (And wasn't in your contract, so shouldn't really be expected).

With the thesis, can't you just tell them that you can't/won't do it? My boss asked me to check the English blurb on his Thesis, which I did for free (Although wouldn't have agreed so quickly if I knew he'd be writing in real academic English lol), and he suggested that my wife and I could maybe translate his thesis from Thai to English, and offered to pay us what we felt it was worth, but he wouldn't even dream of asking us to do it for free, as he knows it'd be 10,000 - 20,000 (or more) worth of work. We turned him down though, and suggested that going to a professional would be a better option, he wasn't offended though, as understood it was a pretty big task.

Thus, if your boss is asking you to check it, then he'll likely realise the enormity of the task, and that getting a professional to do the same job, would be quite expensive (I assume you're checking the thesis's English, rather than writing it? As he'll have written the original in Thai himself, and then maybe gotten the Thai teachers to translate and then you to check it? As having not studied whatever subject it's in, it'd be too difficult for you to write a quality thesis on it).

Yep, you're right about my situation, as I had to go for another provisional TL when I resigned my contract. It seems that they were really irritated ( as usual), because the German degree in social pedagogy ( translated into Thai and certified seemed to be the first they'd seen.

And I still had one year on my second waiver. Sad was that I had no chance to see the friendly girl again who'd told me that I'd be entitled for a 5 year TL. The "gloved freak" didn't let me talk to her, gave me my two year permit and that's already the end.

No way to ask some more questions. Regarding the reimbursement of visa and work permit, it seems that I should explain what i was on about. It's a principle, they pay for all, they pay half, or they pat nothing.

No cheap excuse that "I'm making more money. I'm not a cheap Charlie and fought a long time at my former school that they finally paid the full amount. And I used something that makes sense, telling them that it shows a lot about the school, how welcome foreigners really are.

Regarding the thesis, it's not a he, it's a she. This woman is a grade six English teacher and was asking me if I would know a way to change a PDF file into a MS office one, which I did on the same day.

Three days later, I received the first batch of unbelievable weird English, almost all wrong. Her topic is to search for common and proper nouns on an English online website. Here's apart of her "research" and you might understand that ALL has to be rewritten. And I mean all, there's no way to "fix" it.

Please see:

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapterpresents the results and discussion of the study after the 40 news from Breakingnews English.com were analyzed.

The analysis of common noun and proper nouncover only noun of people, place, thing and animal.

I had to do my own research, checking the website and 40 stories of it to be able to write it in a way that it makes at least "some sense."

Scary is that this woman, ( she speaks even worse than she writes) will soon have her Master's, I'd bet on it.

She's one of the few guys who're okay, so I'll do it for her and might even get a box full with donuts for it. Happy Windmill fighting for all!!

Sly, I'm aware that you took a one year break from teaching. Be happy and enjoy it.

Cheers-