Obtaining a TEFL...

[nmesparrow]

I plan on relocating to Thailand in the beginning of 2016. I will be sponsored by a friend who owns a company based in Bangkok. He has living arrangements set up for me upon arrival. I will be applying for a NON O Visa for 1 year this week. When I find a job out there I will apply for a B Visa. I would like to teach English and wanted to know if getting a TEFL prior to my arrival would be beneficial. My second question is are there any reputable online courses I can take. I looked at Ajarn and they had a link to one online site, ITTT Online. Would this be reputable and/or be accepted in Thailand. If an online TEFL is not recommended, is there one in Bangkok that is. I have done some teaching to elementary aged kids in after school programs and really enjoyed it. The easy and tough days. Any beneficial replies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Preacher]

A non-O based upon? Why don't you just come on a non-B visa right away, since a company is sponsoring you. You might not even qualify for a non-O, unless for example being over 50 or married to a Thai national.

A TEFL is not an official requirement, but would help. The big question is if you have at least a bachelor degree, if not you will not get a job at a regular school, but are more or less confined to language schools.

But even with a bachelor degree, you will only get a temporary job as you need to get qualified as a teacher with a degree in education.

[nmesparrow]

My friend who owns the company recommended I try for an O first if not a B. I believe I will be limited to language schools as I do not have a Bachelor. I only have medical certifications nationally and in 2 states as I work in the Clinical Laboratories for a hospital. I am currently the Specialty Test send out person for North-Western California for my hospital. I felt while not having a BA that the TEFL would help. Now at a language school would this be desirable and what is a "language school"? Also is online a safe way of obtaining a reputable TEFL?

Edited July 20, 2015 by nmesparrow

[Preacher]

You will not get an "O" visa, as you do not appear to qualify for one. With paperwork from the company you might get a non-B visa.

If you plan on coming in 2016 it is no use to apply for a visa now. The visa validity (the period you have to make use of the visa)starts from the date it is issued, so you lose a lot of time.

A TEFL is not an official requirement, but gives you a small pre when applying for a job. Online will probably not matter.

Without a bachelor degree you are limited to a language schools. That means a tutoring schools, where students and adults go to get (extra) English lessons. As that is after school/work, it means a lot of work in the afternoon/early evening and in the weekends.

[nmesparrow]

Thanks Preacher. So wait on getting the Visa and doing the TEFL online thru a company like the one listed at Ajarn is fine then. This is the link to them https://www.teflonline.net/?r=aja

[Loaded]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Loaded

[lostinisaan]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

[Rhys]

The better preparation you have at home translates to better acceptance over here.. generally.

[Rhys]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

However the best is yet to come.. while on gate duty you smile at a GLM.. Good Looking Mom.. and the GLM smiles back, and her husband's spies are lurking about... the next day, a phone call arrives, some Thai Big Shot is speaking in Bad English.....telling you to get out of town..

Edited July 21, 2015 by Rhys

[Loaded]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

However the best is yet to come.. while on gate duty you smile at a GLM.. Good Looking Mom.. and the GLM smiles back, and her husband's spies are lurking about... the next day, a phone call arrives, some Thai Big Shot is speaking in Bad English.....telling you to get out of town..

and then you wake up, shower and go to work.

[lostinisaan]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

However the best is yet to come.. while on gate duty you smile at a GLM.. Good Looking Mom.. and the GLM smiles back, and her husband's spies are lurking about... the next day, a phone call arrives, some Thai Big Shot is speaking in Bad English.....telling you to get out of town..

....... telling you to get out of town to meet him at a short time establishment to "discuss" the issue.....

[Too]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

I was lucky to walk into a classroom to encounter as few as 36 pupils in P 3 on my very 1st day of teaching,

when I hadn't even been given a curriculum or a textbook.

My school is not generous enough to buy copy paper when it's run out. One of the Thai teachers has

been fed up with this and bought herself her own paper. We have one computer in the teachers' room,

which has been infected with a virus by some teacher now. No one told me about it when I was using it

with my USB in it, which has of course got infected with the virus, too. The Computer teacher is telling

me NOT to use my UBS in any other computer in case the virus should spread from my USB. So I've

been stuck without being able to doing anything with my USB that has loads of files in it!

I'm living in one of the Director's houses now but a few weeks ago a red poisonous millipede bit my bum and

finger while I was sleeping on the floor. It hurt me so much I couldn't even go back to sleep again. This is such

a pain in the arse! 555 What is worse, a few days ago I saw a long black snake right in front of my house after

the rain. I talked to the Thai teachers about it, most of whom answered with a big smile on their face that it would

be such a deadly one I could be dead only 5 minutes after I got bitten by it so I wouldn't even have to go to hospital

then.

My salary for teaching Monday through Friday will be paid direct into my bank account but I've not yet been

paid by the Director to teach on Saturday for two months now, an allowance he has to spend his own money

to pay to me.

We have a volunteer teacher from England at our school now who has been sent here by British Council. She

teaches with our Thai English teacher 10 hours a week. One day she told me that the Thai English teacher would

never ever assist her in class. Yes, the English woman has to teach the Thai kids alone and that in chaos! What

she added was that the Thai English teacher would sometimes put into Thai what she said that the kids couldn't

understand but they still couldn't understand it after her interpretation.

You can't apply for a Non-B for teaching unless you've got a degree, which means that you can't teach at schools

in Thailand legally, basically speaking.

Good luck

[lostinisaan]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

I was lucky to walk into a classroom to encounter as few as 36 pupils in P 3 on my very 1st day of teaching,

when I hadn't even been given a curriculum or a textbook.

My school is not generous enough to buy copy paper when it's run out. One of the Thai teachers has

been fed up with this and bought herself her own paper. We have one computer in the teachers' room,

which has been infected with a virus by some teacher now. No one told me about it when I was using it

with my USB in it, which has of course got infected with the virus, too. The Computer teacher is telling

me NOT to use my UBS in any other computer in case the virus should spread from my USB. So I've

been stuck without being able to doing anything with my USB that has loads of files in it!

I'm living in one of the Director's houses now but a few weeks ago a red poisonous millipede bit my bum and

finger while I was sleeping on the floor. It hurt me so much I couldn't even go back to sleep again. This is such

a pain in the arse! 555 What is worse, a few days ago I saw a long black snake right in front of my house after

the rain. I talked to the Thai teachers about it, most of whom answered with a big smile on their face that it would

be such a deadly one I could be dead only 5 minutes after I got bitten by it so I wouldn't even have to go to hospital

then.

My salary for teaching Monday through Friday will be paid direct into my bank account but I've not yet been

paid by the Director to teach on Saturday for two months now, an allowance he has to spend his own money

to pay to me.

We have a volunteer teacher from England at our school now who has been sent here by British Council. She

teaches with our Thai English teacher 10 hours a week. One day she told me that the Thai English teacher would

never ever assist her in class. Yes, the English woman has to teach the Thai kids alone and that in chaos! What

she added was that the Thai English teacher would sometimes put into Thai what she said that the kids couldn't

understand but they still couldn't understand it after her interpretation.

You can't apply for a Non-B for teaching unless you've got a degree, which means that you can't teach at schools

in Thailand legally, basically speaking.

Good luck

Just download a tool from Kasperskky's website: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool?form=1

Once the PC is clean, download the 30 day Trial version with all features. Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-free-trial ( you can type in any e-mail address, even a non existing one. A friend told me that there's a Trial re setter available, no idea if it's true, please ask Mr. Google.

Once you've installed and updated all virus definitions, you're free to clean up your memory stick immediately.

You shouldn't worry about animals that much, I never got bitten by a snake in 14 years...

Please make sure that they pay you the money for your weekend tutoring, if not then you'll have to tell them that you won't do it anymore.

Of course in a way that nobody's losing face.

Regarding your British colleague, please tell her that simultaneous translations do not work, when teaching Thai kids, there're various researches about it.

Some words, yes, but not whole sentences. Learners have to learn a language in the language they're learning, the Thai language structure is very different and will be more irritating for students than not understanding the British teacher.

Have a good one.

[PattayaPhom]

150 hrs online courses available at only $199, bargain. You got the paper but no classroom experience, however seeing some of the absolute idiots that are so called teachers here you stand as good a chance as anyone.

[bangmai]

One of the benefits of actually having a degree is that you have spent enough time in various classrooms to have a pretty decent idea of what is/should be going on. I think some free grammar courses would be helpful, perhaps a few free online education courses, but I wouldn't pay for the online TEFL. When they really need you, you will be thrown to the sharks, and it will be sink or swim. About half will be able to swim, but then you have the sharks to deal with. I recall one of the reviews of the pay to volunteer and obtain your TEFL stated that on the second or third day, they were sent out to teach (for free, while their teacher collected money).

[Too]

I was lucky to walk into a classroom to encounter as few as 36 pupils in P 3 on my very 1st day of teaching,

when I hadn't even been given a curriculum or a textbook.

My school is not generous enough to buy copy paper when it's run out. One of the Thai teachers has

been fed up with this and bought herself her own paper. We have one computer in the teachers' room,

which has been infected with a virus by some teacher now. No one told me about it when I was using it

with my USB in it, which has of course got infected with the virus, too. The Computer teacher is telling

me NOT to use my UBS in any other computer in case the virus should spread from my USB. So I've

been stuck without being able to doing anything with my USB that has loads of files in it!

I'm living in one of the Director's houses now but a few weeks ago a red poisonous millipede bit my bum and

finger while I was sleeping on the floor. It hurt me so much I couldn't even go back to sleep again. This is such

a pain in the arse! 555 What is worse, a few days ago I saw a long black snake right in front of my house after

the rain. I talked to the Thai teachers about it, most of whom answered with a big smile on their face that it would

be such a deadly one I could be dead only 5 minutes after I got bitten by it so I wouldn't even have to go to hospital

then.

My salary for teaching Monday through Friday will be paid direct into my bank account but I've not yet been

paid by the Director to teach on Saturday for two months now, an allowance he has to spend his own money

to pay to me.

We have a volunteer teacher from England at our school now who has been sent here by British Council. She

teaches with our Thai English teacher 10 hours a week. One day she told me that the Thai English teacher would

never ever assist her in class. Yes, the English woman has to teach the Thai kids alone and that in chaos! What

she added was that the Thai English teacher would sometimes put into Thai what she said that the kids couldn't

understand but they still couldn't understand it after her interpretation.

You can't apply for a Non-B for teaching unless you've got a degree, which means that you can't teach at schools

in Thailand legally, basically speaking.

Good luck

Just download a tool from Kasperskky's website: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool?form=1

Once the PC is clean, download the 30 day Trial version with all features. Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-free-trial ( you can type in any e-mail address, even a non existing one. A friend told me that there's a Trial re setter available, no idea if it's true, please ask Mr. Google.

Once you've installed and updated all virus definitions, you're free to clean up your memory stick immediately.

You shouldn't worry about animals that much, I never got bitten by a snake in 14 years...

Please make sure that they pay you the money for your weekend tutoring, if not then you'll have to tell them that you won't do it anymore.

Of course in a way that nobody's losing face.

Regarding your British colleague, please tell her that simultaneous translations do not work, when teaching Thai kids, there're various researches about it.

Some words, yes, but not whole sentences. Learners have to learn a language in the language they're learning, the Thai language structure is very different and will be more irritating for students than not understanding the British teacher.

Have a good one.

Hi lostinisaan,

Thank you for giving me the website to clear up my memory stick. I'll try it!

As for the volunteer teacher, she is good enough. I assist her in class for 4hrs a week by putting English into Thai

and vice versa for them so the kids in P 4 and P 5 can understand the questions she asks them and answer them

to her in English no problem. Our Thai English teacher is just poor at English listening comprehension. I'll even

speak to her in Thai, but she's proud enough to answer me in broken English.

As for the animals and insects, there won't be anything I can do about them if they bite me while I'm sleeping! 555

Edited July 23, 2015 by Too

[lostinisaan]

I was lucky to walk into a classroom to encounter as few as 36 pupils in P 3 on my very 1st day of teaching,

when I hadn't even been given a curriculum or a textbook.

My school is not generous enough to buy copy paper when it's run out. One of the Thai teachers has

been fed up with this and bought herself her own paper. We have one computer in the teachers' room,

which has been infected with a virus by some teacher now. No one told me about it when I was using it

with my USB in it, which has of course got infected with the virus, too. The Computer teacher is telling

me NOT to use my UBS in any other computer in case the virus should spread from my USB. So I've

been stuck without being able to doing anything with my USB that has loads of files in it!

I'm living in one of the Director's houses now but a few weeks ago a red poisonous millipede bit my bum and

finger while I was sleeping on the floor. It hurt me so much I couldn't even go back to sleep again. This is such

a pain in the arse! 555 What is worse, a few days ago I saw a long black snake right in front of my house after

the rain. I talked to the Thai teachers about it, most of whom answered with a big smile on their face that it would

be such a deadly one I could be dead only 5 minutes after I got bitten by it so I wouldn't even have to go to hospital

then.

My salary for teaching Monday through Friday will be paid direct into my bank account but I've not yet been

paid by the Director to teach on Saturday for two months now, an allowance he has to spend his own money

to pay to me.

We have a volunteer teacher from England at our school now who has been sent here by British Council. She

teaches with our Thai English teacher 10 hours a week. One day she told me that the Thai English teacher would

never ever assist her in class. Yes, the English woman has to teach the Thai kids alone and that in chaos! What

she added was that the Thai English teacher would sometimes put into Thai what she said that the kids couldn't

understand but they still couldn't understand it after her interpretation.

You can't apply for a Non-B for teaching unless you've got a degree, which means that you can't teach at schools

in Thailand legally, basically speaking.

Good luck

Just download a tool from Kasperskky's website: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool?form=1

Once the PC is clean, download the 30 day Trial version with all features. Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-free-trial ( you can type in any e-mail address, even a non existing one. A friend told me that there's a Trial re setter available, no idea if it's true, please ask Mr. Google.

Once you've installed and updated all virus definitions, you're free to clean up your memory stick immediately.

You shouldn't worry about animals that much, I never got bitten by a snake in 14 years...

Please make sure that they pay you the money for your weekend tutoring, if not then you'll have to tell them that you won't do it anymore.

Of course in a way that nobody's losing face.

Regarding your British colleague, please tell her that simultaneous translations do not work, when teaching Thai kids, there're various researches about it.

Some words, yes, but not whole sentences. Learners have to learn a language in the language they're learning, the Thai language structure is very different and will be more irritating for students than not understanding the British teacher.

Have a good one.

Hi lostinisaan,

Thank you for giving me the website to clear up my memory stick. I'll try it!

As for the volunteer teacher, she is good enough. I assist her in class for 4hrs a week by putting English into Thai

and vice versa for them so the kids in P 4 and P 5 can understand the questions she asks them and answer them

to her in English no problem. Our Thai English teacher is just poor at English listening comprehension. I'll even

speak to her in Thai, but she's proud enough to answer me in broken English.

As for the animals and insects, there won't be anything I can do about them if they bite me while I'm sleeping! 555

I'm really totally irritated by your post. You're hired as a foreign English teacher, but you translate all what the British woman is saying into Thai, then into English and tell the students in your English what the British woman said?

Or are you telling the students in Thai what the British volunteer said? And vice versa.......

And you wrote that the volunteer teacher is good enough? Good enough that students don't understand her and you translate all for her?

Come on and vice versa.

A good English teacher's teaching in English and might explain a few words in Thai to make teaching English more efficient.

I'm trying to understand what you're doing to the Thai English teacher. You speak Thai with her, she answers in "broken English", maybe because she wants you to teach in English and speak in English?

Finally, I feel very sorry for your Thai English teacher.

Edited July 23, 2015 by lostinisaan

[tonray]

If the objective of taking a TEFL is to be trained, it won't happen online; buy a book instead, it's cheaper.

A good TEFL course will equip you with practical classroom skills, the ability to 'explain' using only English (context, visualization etc) and experience of the Thai classroom. You'll know what to do and how to do it.

Close your eyes for one moment and imagine walking in to a class of 40 kids who don't understand your language. What do you do?

Many teachers leave or are never happy as they don't know what to do.

Yep, but it could be worse. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a classroom with 55 kids in it, 40 degrees and,no fan for you, neither a curriculum,nor an office.

Nobody tells you anything what to do.The copy machine's broken, the only existing PC deletes all your files you've got on your memory stick....the Internet isn't working, no copy paper available, the kids do not understand a word you're saying and go back to what they're good at. Updating their farcebook pages.....

And you'll have gate duty on three days from 6.30 - 8.20. Loaded is right that many are leaving, some even without picking up their salary.....

Oh and the promised "flat" on campus turns out to be a little room occupied by cockroaches, you'll have to sleep on the floor, but they promise to buy all for you, which never happens.

P. S. Forget the online TEFL and TESOL bs, it's only a money making scam. You'll need to have live experience in a classroom with real students, even when you're on a life experience degree.

.

Utter nonsense ! I have never seen it go past 39 degrees in any of my classrooms.

[Too]

I was lucky to walk into a classroom to encounter as few as 36 pupils in P 3 on my very 1st day of teaching,

when I hadn't even been given a curriculum or a textbook.

My school is not generous enough to buy copy paper when it's run out. One of the Thai teachers has

been fed up with this and bought herself her own paper. We have one computer in the teachers' room,

which has been infected with a virus by some teacher now. No one told me about it when I was using it

with my USB in it, which has of course got infected with the virus, too. The Computer teacher is telling

me NOT to use my UBS in any other computer in case the virus should spread from my USB. So I've

been stuck without being able to doing anything with my USB that has loads of files in it!

I'm living in one of the Director's houses now but a few weeks ago a red poisonous millipede bit my bum and

finger while I was sleeping on the floor. It hurt me so much I couldn't even go back to sleep again. This is such

a pain in the arse! 555 What is worse, a few days ago I saw a long black snake right in front of my house after

the rain. I talked to the Thai teachers about it, most of whom answered with a big smile on their face that it would

be such a deadly one I could be dead only 5 minutes after I got bitten by it so I wouldn't even have to go to hospital

then.

My salary for teaching Monday through Friday will be paid direct into my bank account but I've not yet been

paid by the Director to teach on Saturday for two months now, an allowance he has to spend his own money

to pay to me.

We have a volunteer teacher from England at our school now who has been sent here by British Council. She

teaches with our Thai English teacher 10 hours a week. One day she told me that the Thai English teacher would

never ever assist her in class. Yes, the English woman has to teach the Thai kids alone and that in chaos! What

she added was that the Thai English teacher would sometimes put into Thai what she said that the kids couldn't

understand but they still couldn't understand it after her interpretation.

You can't apply for a Non-B for teaching unless you've got a degree, which means that you can't teach at schools

in Thailand legally, basically speaking.

Good luck

Just download a tool from Kasperskky's website: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-removal-tool?form=1

Once the PC is clean, download the 30 day Trial version with all features. Link: http://www.kaspersky.com/antivirus-free-trial ( you can type in any e-mail address, even a non existing one. A friend told me that there's a Trial re setter available, no idea if it's true, please ask Mr. Google.

Once you've installed and updated all virus definitions, you're free to clean up your memory stick immediately.

You shouldn't worry about animals that much, I never got bitten by a snake in 14 years...

Please make sure that they pay you the money for your weekend tutoring, if not then you'll have to tell them that you won't do it anymore.

Of course in a way that nobody's losing face.

Regarding your British colleague, please tell her that simultaneous translations do not work, when teaching Thai kids, there're various researches about it.

Some words, yes, but not whole sentences. Learners have to learn a language in the language they're learning, the Thai language structure is very different and will be more irritating for students than not understanding the British teacher.

Have a good one.

Hi lostinisaan,

Thank you for giving me the website to clear up my memory stick. I'll try it!

As for the volunteer teacher, she is good enough. I assist her in class for 4hrs a week by putting English into Thai

and vice versa for them so the kids in P 4 and P 5 can understand the questions she asks them and answer them

to her in English no problem. Our Thai English teacher is just poor at English listening comprehension. I'll even

speak to her in Thai, but she's proud enough to answer me in broken English.

As for the animals and insects, there won't be anything I can do about them if they bite me while I'm sleeping! 555

I'm really totally irritated by your post. You're hired as a foreign English teacher, but you translate all what the British woman is saying into Thai, then into English and tell the students in your English what the British woman said?

Or are you telling the students in Thai what the British volunteer said? And vice versa.......

And you wrote that the volunteer teacher is good enough? Good enough that students don't understand her and you translate all for her?

Come on and vice versa.

A good English teacher's teaching in English and might explain a few words in Thai to make teaching English more efficient.

I'm trying to understand what you're doing to the Thai English teacher. You speak Thai with her, she answers in "broken English", maybe because she wants you to teach in English and speak in English?

Finally, I feel very sorry for your Thai English teacher.

Hi lostinisaan,

To be honest I have no idea why you're so irritated. You sound a bit intimidating, too.

Some students are good at English, but others not at all, so I try my best to help them

out with as much as possible. The English woman even told me she has to gesture when

teaching alone in class. What can they do if she speaks only English and the kids don't

understand what she's teaching? I'll never ever help any students who are good at it.

Yes, I'm so sorry for our Thai English teacher, too.

[SheungWan]

if the OP has got the time in BKK then sign up for the F/T TEFL course run by International House in Bangkok.

[Mencken]

My only comfort with these sorts of posts is knowing the types of schools that these guys end up in.

Its so funny, a lifetime with no degree and now with nothing left at home, why not try your luck 'teaching' English in a country with low enough standards that he too might be able to hook up a b30k job.

Thailand really needs to clean house on the non degreed. Sure, ten percent are diligent enough. The other 90% here for all the wrong reasons and attempting oattempting just fake it.

Please just stay away, Thai kids already have enough lazy, degreeless drifters in their midst.

Hopefully you are at least a white collar worker so as to at least bring a modicum of professional behavior with you. Doubtful.

Living the dresm....

[Mencken]

BTW, you cannot legally teach on that O. Further, this also presumes you are +50 and have 800k funds in the bank.

After much hassle and you move to an B, if you leave the school (and you will!), your visa is done. Please research the complications and expense of this and how it will impact your life.

A move to Thailand, bad job (how? lol)....could end up costing thousands.

With no degree you will get work, somewhere. You will always be offered the worst wages, conditions and you will have zero mobility.

Welcone to hell can I get you an ice water?

Edited August 13, 2015 by Mencken

[puukao]

Try to get a salary of at least 60,000 baht. That is only 25,000 USD...and an 18-year old kid can easily get that salary now. College students are getting 40,000 easy....and they do nothing all day.

once you get the easy 60,000 baht, do some private classes at 500 baht an hour, which is also what an 18-year old kid can get with a year of experience.

Maybe get an online degree for cheap, rent out your place for 15,000 a month, and in a few years you should have saved 50,000 baht. which is nothing......hmmmm....

OK, for retirement reasons, you need at least 800k baht or one million USD to retire in America....

so just find a job that allows you to save about 3,000 USD a month for only 25-years.........easy in America, maybe not easy in Thailand...

OK, for 800,000 baht and about 60,000 monthly income forever......you need to have about 10 million baht saved........

OK, how about this......start an online teaching community and get 10 million followers on youtube..

that is your best bet

[Walter Travolta]

If you are dead set on being in BKK/Thailand then I guess what I have to say will have no clout, but, after spending some time in VN in April this year, Saigon/HCMC seems the best and easiest place to teach English and at your own leisure/pace and choose your own hours/days (not working in school). You advertise your services in schools, offices, coffee shops etc and let them come to you. You charge by the hour and take adult classes and child/teenager classes. Can earn $2000 at your own pace

[Walter Travolta]

If you are dead set on being in BKK/Thailand then I guess what I have to say will have no clout, but, after spending some time in VN in April this year, Saigon/HCMC seems the best and easiest place to teach English and at your own leisure/pace and choose your own hours/days (not working in school). You advertise your services in schools, offices, coffee shops etc and let them come to you. You charge by the hour and take adult classes and child/teenager classes. Can earn $2000 at your own pace

Having a TEFL certificate will also give you the edge on someone who has not got one.

[Mencken]

The above post is pure fantasy.

40k to start for a degree from Wassamatta U in basket weaving or social relationships from some for profit 'school' teetering monthly on bankruptcy because of the wads of cash the stockholders send overseas into offshore acct.

60k is about the limit for those with solid degrees, experience at the bottom tier intl schools. 60k to start at a govt school AND with no exp or degree. Too lol.

[Mencken]

if the OP has got the time in BKK then sign up for the F/T TEFL course run by International House in Bangkok.

My hunch is he has nothing but time.

No money, but loads of time. Do in reality, no time ☺ strp off the plane and into the classroom. Beg for an advance as his life savings couldn't buy a ticket home. But maybe I'm projecting 90% of other teachers situation on him. He did mention an O visa.