"Hey You Farang", or are you really a human being at your school?

[Scott]

We have a Thai teacher who absolutely hates foreigners. Nobody even knows her name. She is just referred to as "She Who Never Smiles". She never even acknowledges any foreigner under any conditions. She occasionally opens the door to the Foreign Teacher's office and yells 'no teacher in G.3' and then turns and leaves.

I am happy, it's one less person I have to deal with.

[lostinisaan]

We have a Thai teacher who absolutely hates foreigners. Nobody even knows her name. She is just referred to as "She Who Never Smiles". She never even acknowledges any foreigner under any conditions. She occasionally opens the door to the Foreign Teacher's office and yells 'no teacher in G.3' and then turns and leaves.

I am happy, it's one less person I have to deal with.

My ex-neighbor had a similar behavior and told everybody how much she'd hate foreigners.She'd her tutoring little kids thingy on weekends, but finally lost them all, because her English was "too good.".

She borrowed a lot of money from the hood and all in a sudden disappeared to Pattaya to look for a foreigner and left a lot of lost faces behind her.

All in all, she "borrowed" 435,000 Thai baht, but never paid it back. She found a way to retire in the age of 58 and moved to another province in an overnight action.

Of course would my neighbors be happy to find out where she's at now. But we're all happy that she left. Oh my Buddha.-

[ldiablo]

I am very much a human being. I know all 400 of my students by name. I've learned Ss names each year, but of course! Any teacher that does not know their students by name is a fraud. How can you spend weeks on end together, an entire year sff and not bother to learn their names?! That's a lack of respect. Students love and respect me for it. Outside class, they enjoy quizzing me, T Mencken..my name?!??

I chat with them on campus as well as coming and going to school. I feel I'm by and large quite liked and respected by most of my students. I'm very attached to some of my better kids, I almost think of them as extended family.

Even kids I don't teach smile, wave, say hello and wai me.

It's about who you are, what you project, are you a winner or loser? Are you a teacher or a joker? Do you project energy or exhaustion?

Thai teachers, especially younger ones often wai me first. We ng treated well is all about being engaged. If you are not engaged, just give it up, you're not fooling anyone, least if all the kids.

If you have been in Thailand over a year and still lost or don't care (not my culture) do us all a favor and go home.

Mencken, it seems that you've underestimated the length of the runway with your post. Any teacher "that does not know"?

It seems that you're very good at speaking lower northeast Isaan, where "mann" refers to a husband who isn't there when women have a chat. "Mann Bai Sai?" Mann= it, the thing. "Where's the thing?"

BTW, I can help myself and the OP wasn't about students at all. We've got 1,200 of them....

Nobody wanted to read your opinion how your students see you. They might have a totally different opinion about you.

The post was about "educated educators" who aren't educated at all, with the tendency to cover their ignorance with gossip.

I'm willing to send you a pair of brand new reading glasses as a Christmas present. Please page me your address.

He obviously felt it necessary to give himself a pat on the back. I'm sure no one else is.

[lemonjelly]

Favourite Kru Farang lessons: idioms, eg, "making mountains out of molehills".

[lostinisaan]

I sympathise.

There was an old bag like that at my last school in Thailand. The P5 'English' teacher who could barely string a sentence together in it. She would completely ignore me and refer to me as the falang to students so I pulled her aside and told her I am a human being with a name. Her thunderous face thereafter was a real pleasure.

I hope that you didn't marry her. Here's my new trick how to deal with such unpleasant colleagues. .....

Edited December 20, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Singerman]

I have never been addresses as "Farang" within my hearing range !

How does one achieve this honour ?

The Thai people I have met are always anxious to know my name................................

[puukao]

EXPERIMENT:

i walked into a room of thai teachers with no shirt, shoes, and ripped dirty jeans.

they yell, 'farang, get out you loser!!'

i then pull out 1000 baht from pocket. they are quiet

then i pull out 100,000 more baht...

they get me coffee

then i show them 10,000,000 bank statement

they get me clothes

easy...

Edited December 20, 2015 by puukao

[Singerman]

EXPERIMENT:

i walked into a room of thai teachers with no shirt, shoes, and ripped dirty jeans.

they yell, 'farang, get out you loser!!'

i then pull out 1000 baht from pocket. they are quiet

then i pull out 100,000 more baht...

they get me coffee

then i show them 10,000,000 bank statement

they get me clothes

easy...

Really ?

A farang "teacher" with a 10M bank balance ?

Take the nonsense elsewhere !

[DogNo1]

Just curious- How did you find yourself in Isaan?

[Loaded]

If you are tall, you are tall; if you are fat, you are fat; if you are a farang, you are a farang.

I don't understand why people get upset about this word. Leave your politically correct sensitivities at home where they belong.

[eldragon]

I don't like this word either. But I think we're applying our western idea of political correctness to a nation that typically doesn't have any, at least not with regards to this issue. I've spoken to many Thais about this word and- while the more sophisticated ones call us 'tang chad'- I don't think any offense or derogatory meaning is intended. The times it sounds absolutely ridiculous is when one is communicating in English, yet opts for 'farang' over 'foreigner'.

[Scott]

I don't like the word farang either, but I never say anything when I hear it used.

Like a lot of words, it is a short-cut to knowing what/who they are speaking about. I have enough trouble with the Thai language, if I want them to start being politically correct, I will never know what is being said.

[maewang99]

wow!!!! there is a lot of confusion here. first off, farlang means white person but it doesn't mean it in a western way. it is simply an easy way to refer to someone who is white. some Enghlish names are difficult for Thai to pronounce i.e. they don't pronounce 'v' but you are an "ajarn" so you do know this right? nothing more or less than that. this is not the problem word for the farlang in question though... the Mr. Ajarn Farlang that is. did you also notice that some of the temporary contract workers at the school do not have genuine educational degrees or even a TEFL certificate? did you know that the Ministry of Education recently began having to issue fake "teacher licenses" to cover this issue? did you notice that no one hardly ever even reads a book, other than a comic book, except to copy something from it or to hide a cell phone? and about a thousand other things such as at my local schools, fingerprint machines to keep tabs on the Civil Service ajarn because only a Certain Kind of Farlang, or a Civil Service wannabe, could stand to be at the school one minute more than necessary unless they absolutely had to and that includes the Kru Yai most of the time too, which is why the fingerprint machine, eh? and the Kru Yai too except when he or she is doing side business at the "school". so when the heck are you gonna figure out that the word "school" in Thailand doesn't mean anything similar to even the lowest level of a school in even the worst neighborhoods of the western world's scummiest places??? in other words, stop singing Happy Birthday to Kim Jung Un and as for 'farlang' forget about it as you can't change that either.

Edited December 21, 2015 by maewang99

[lostinisaan]

I have never been addresses as "Farang" within my hearing range !

How does one achieve this honour ?

The Thai people I have met are always anxious to know my name................................

Be happy that you don't know what they call you, Mann.Are you for real, or a spam mail sent by a Nigerian?

[lostinisaan]

wow!!!! there is a lot of confusion here. first off, farlang means white person but it doesn't mean it in a western way. it is simply an easy way to refer to someone who is white. some Enghlish names are difficult for Thai to pronounce i.e. they don't pronounce 'v' but you are an "ajarn" so you do know this right? nothing more or less than that. this is not the problem word for the farlang in question though... the Mr. Ajarn Farlang that is. did you also notice that some of the temporary contract workers at the school do not have genuine educational degrees or even a TEFL certificate? did you know that the Ministry of Education recently began having to issue fake "teacher licenses" to cover this issue? did you notice that no one hardly ever even reads a book, other than a comic book, except to copy something from it or to hide a cell phone? and about a thousand other things such as at my local schools, fingerprint machines to keep tabs on the Civil Service ajarn because only a Certain Kind of Farlang, or a Civil Service wannabe, could stand to be at the school one minute more than necessary unless they absolutely had to and that includes the Kru Yai most of the time too, which is why the fingerprint machine, eh? and the Kru Yai too except when he or she is doing side business at the "school". so when the heck are you gonna figure out that the word "school" in Thailand doesn't mean anything similar to even the lowest level of a school in even the worst neighborhoods of the western world's scummiest places??? in other words, stop singing Happy Birthday to Kim Jung Un and as for 'farlang' forget about it as you can't change that either.

I still don't understand why you hijacked and then hacked your fingerprint scanner? You should consider posting in the computer forum.

BTW, your first sentence is confusion pure, or is it an on Sensimelia based "recreational thing?" I'm lost by your post in Isaan.

[thaiduncankk]

The word 'farang' is not always derogatory, but in no way is it complementary.

When I first came here years ago, it used to get to me a lot of the time.

Now I just live with it.

If it keeps them happy using it directed at me, let them get on with it.

[Rob13]

Posted Today, 05:29

If you are tall, you are tall; if you are fat, you are fat; if you are a farang, you are a farang.

I don't understand why people get upset about this word. Leave your politically correct sensitivities at home where they belong.

What if one of your teachers in school referred to another teacher as The Oriental instead of saying Mr Hong?

Edited December 21, 2015 by Rob13

[Somtamnication]

Lost, anxious to hear about the meeting.

[LukKrueng]

Thailand is, ostensibly, a caste society, just like India. There are levels. If you have white skin, money and you're from Bangkok, then you are at the top of the pile of dung. If you're dum dum (black skinned) and from Issan You're at the bottom of the pile of dung. If you're a farang, they will always try to position you somewhere under the pile of dung.

Then there is the ever present mao mao mao (trash talking) where they jockey for a higher position or status. This is achieved, for example, by having a car with a red plate and gaining 'face', which in their eyes, lifts them up. Or, they talk badly about another person, to put the person down so they can feel better about themselves. (Image/face is more important than substance in LOS)

You are never going to change this horrid culture. Why try? You can suffer in silence, or if you have any self respect, remove your self from the situation/Thailand.

Wow, what a great and deep understanding of Thais and Thai society....

I hope you took your own advice and removed your self from Thailand...

[BrainLife]

You are to sensitive, grow some backbone or a smoother back.

This just reminds me of all the nonsense the Muslims pull, getting upset over every little fart.

[recom273]

I used to work at a bi-lingual school where we were 'dang-chart' or 'dang-Prathet' .. It's all down to education and social standing, just take it that the teacher who referred to you with the f-word may have a Honda Jazz on the drip and a salary triple of most locals, but bottom line, is just a hick from the village with a pony degree.

After all these years here and all your great contributions to this forum are you letting silly things like this get to you.

Just take what she said, they are letting the kids go home early, didn't you get an early day too ? I know lots of TT's that consider that to be good luck.

[LukKrueng]

That teacher should have referred to you as kru xxx or just as kru, not because the term farang is derogatory (which by itself it is not really), but just to show respect to a fellow teacher.

Bringing your wife to school to "fight" for you seems very odd to say the least. If I was a teacher / staff / pupil at that school and saw your wife coming to argue your case, I'd lose all respect for you, not only as a teacher.

If I was in your shoes, I'd approach that teacher privately, and respectfully ask her to refer to me as kru xxx or kru when she speaks to the students about me. I'd probably do it right there and then - outside the classroom of course.

[razer]

Explain to students that the word farang is impolite and is disrespectful.

[BlindMagician]

Big picture: Thailand's official position is to move towards a modern global player. But until they address the limitations imposed by certain cultural elements, they can never hope to make it work. We are, and have been for some years, seeing symptoms of the internal stresses of such a battle.

[bangkapi]

Get some self esteem and let them have their fun without taking everything so personally.

[Colabamumbai]

I am fortunate, in five years of teaching from the outset I told the students, my name is not teacher, it is Alex and I am not a "farang" I am a person like you.

At all of the schools I was addressed as Alex both by staff and students, not ferang and not teacher.

You have to set the rules.

[csabo]

Shocking that teacher did not recognize you as an equal! You better send your wife in there to handle that immediately!

[georgemandm]

Hi can't stand the word f????? Have been saying it for years it is a racers word and many time on this sit tv have complained about it and get shot down by western man , I ask my thai lady friends to not use it with me and the lady respect me and not say that word at all when I am around.

The thing is lots of western man here who use that word have no respect at all for race , like the word w?g that I have had to put up with for years in my country grower up but now you can't use that word here the best thing that has happened in Australia get Reid of the racess words .

[Trentham]

You should of just chided in something like...

"The Farang, by the way, is paid higher wages...for a reason".

Wouldn't it be great if Thai Teachers could earn the same?

If the poster chipped in with a retort like you suggest he would be making a serious and dangerous enemy. Not good advice.

[DrTuner]

What's this, a farang OP? Ignore.