| Q |
Lindsay, always nice
to welcome an Aussie to the ajarn hot seat. You spent ten years holidaying
in Thailand before settling here and teaching English. Do you think Thailand
is much nicer viewed through the eyes of a tourist? |
| A |
Most definitely, and for 2 reasons - annoyances &
money.
As a tourist I was never particularly bothered by the Thais propensity for
mistakes and tardiness. If I ordered a breakfast set based on fried eggs and
was given scrambled eggs I wasn't bothered. If the tour guide or other Thai
arranged to meet me at 9:00 am and arrived later at 10:00 am I wasn't
bothered. However, the repetition of these minor annoyances on a day-to-day
basis became a major annoyance for me.
As a tourist I had a very large spending budget - an average of 60,000 baht
per two-week holiday, after airfare and hotel costs. In Thailand if you have
ample funds you can buy almost anything, do almost anywhere and overcome
almost any problem. Flash money around and Thais treat you as if you were
royalty! |
| Q |
I presume in all that
time spent lying on a Pattaya beach, your job in insurance was making you
more money than you would make here as a teacher? |
| A |
In Australia, I can earn AUD $50,000 per year
(approx.120,000 baht per month) + expense account + superannuation + company
car. However, Loss Adjusting is a very stressful job - dealing with people's
problems such as house fires, burglaries, interior flooding caused by burst
water pipes, etc and dealing with people's misunderstanding about the nature
& extent of their insurance policy cover. Many claimants view me as the bad
guy, the person responsible for not fulfilling their expectations.
By contrast, if one has the right attitude, teaching English to Thais (at
least at a language school) can be fun & rewarding. |
| Q |
You worked for British American in
Bangkok for one year. Did you make it to academic director? |
| A |
No. The branch manager often spoke to me about the
prospects and benefits of becoming a branch manager "one day". However, for
me, 1 year with them was enough. Also, at that time, my salary was 21,000
baht per month for a 6 day week and the manager wasn't receiving a great
deal more. |
| Q |
You worked in both Baeng Saen and
Pattaya. I can see the advantages of working in Pattaya, but Baeng Saen...bloody
hell!? |
| A |
I lived in Pattaya when I worked in Bang Saen and
commuted (45 minutes each way), initially on a motorcycle and later I bought
a second-hand car. AUA Bang Saen is located within Burapha University and
around 60% of the students were university students whom I considered to be
"high quality". They were very motivated and not excessively shy. Also, I
was able to
teach the full range of (AUA) levels - A through to 15.
In Pattaya a significant percentage of the students were Thai women residing
with "farang" men who had been coerced into learning English. Their
eagerness to learn wasn't always noticeable. Additionally, they're not as
polite or reserved as, hmmm, Thais who are not living with "farang". |
| Q |
What's the cushiest teaching number you
ever landed? |
| A |
After I had been in Thailand for 2 years, and in
Pattaya for 1 year, I advertised in the Pattaya Mail offering day-time
private tuition and I landed a job with a German engineering company as
their English Language Consultant, for a stated period of 3 months, which
lasted 3 ? years. I conducted some formal English lessons for their sales
staff (erratic times) and was otherwise just on hand to assist staff with
e-mails, faxes and correspondence with European companies. I spent at least
30% of my time surfing the internet.
I worked from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm, Monday to Friday and received a salary of
40,000 baht per month plus the company paid an additional 2,000 baht (5%)
per month income tax on my behalf. I was paid for all Thai public holidays
and 10 days annual leave at Christmas / New Year.
At the same time, I was working at AUA from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm Monday to
Thursday & 8:30 to 3:30 on Sundays for additional remuneration of 25,000
baht per month.
As an aside, AUA provided me with a work permit. I did not have a work
permit for the engineering company. At one stage AUA gave the Soi 8
Immigration Office a number of "scholarships" and I had the good fortune of
teaching a Police Lieutenant Colonel, who was second-in-charge at Soi 8.
He told me that if immigration police ever officially became aware that I
was working at a second job they would be duty-bound to investigate and if
they caught me working at the engineering company, I would be arrested and
charged with working without a work permit, regardless of my AUA work
permit.
The Lieutenant Colonel told me that I could have my AUA work permit endorsed
to cover my second job, providing AUA agreed, which they did. However, the
engineering company already had their quota of farang employees and so the
Chonburi work permit office would not endorse my work permit.
As a second aside, AUA were deducting 3% income tax from my salary and the
engineering company were paying 5% on my behalf, but the combination wasn't
enough. In the first year that I held both jobs, I calculated that I owed an
additional 65,000 baht in tax. The manager of the engineering company told
me I could use the company's (external) accountants to prepare my income tax
declaration. The accountants told me that "consultants" in any field, are
entitled to deduct 30% of their consultancy fees as general expenses. All I
needed was a written consultancy agreement with the engineering company
which referred to me as a consultant and specified that I was responsible
for my own expenses (of which I had none).
The accountants gave me a copy of a page from a Thai tax law book, together
with a covering letter. At the Chonburi tax office several staff had a
lengthy discussion about the accountant's letter. One staff member went off
and fetched some books and after further discussion they agreed that I could
deduct 30% of my income from the engineering company. My additional tax bill
was reduced from 65,000 baht to 25,000 baht. Each subsequent year they
accepted my income tax assessment without question.
Incidentally, when I first applied for my tax card I had to show my work
permit but not at the time of each tax assessment submission. The tax office
were totallyunconcerned about me having a second job. |
| Q |
You decided to return home to Oz in
2003, after 8 years or so here. What made you do that? You couldn't have
been missing the food? |
| A |
Australian food isn't so bad!
For quite some time I held the idea that I should return to Australia and
resume my insurance career before I reached the age of 45. In Australia it
is
illegal to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of age however
the reality is that finding a job after you have turned 45 is very
difficult. I was 43 in September last year when I returned. |
| Q |
Complete the sentence. I'd rather die
than teach........? |
| A |
Maybe I was lucky during my time in Thailand because I
never had any teaching encounter that would make me say "I'd rather die than
teach …..". |
| Q |
You said that you're now teaching in
China. How does that compare to Thailand? |
| A |
Firstly the positive aspects:- My salary is equal to
31,000 baht after tax. I am provided, free-of-charge, with a very nice, very
large, 150 square metre fully furnished apartment complete with computer,
printer, scanner & 24/7 internet access. I am entitled to 3 free meals per
day in the teacher's cafeteria (Asian food for breakfast - yuk!). I am
provided with medical
/ accident insurance. The school is responsible for my work permit and all
associated costs. I have twenty-two 40 minute classes per week (Monday to
Friday). I have Wednesday afternoons & Friday mornings off. I do not have to
remain at the school in between my class times.
On the negative side:- there are 80, yes eighty, students in each class. The
students are crammed into the classroom like a can of sardines.
My usual modus operandi is to introduce the subject matter outlined in the
study book, explain the vocabulary, role-model the conversation / questions
& answers with one student and then get the students up out of their chairs
to walk around and practice the conversation with each other.
With 80 students in the class there is simply no room to move. The students
have permanent seating positions (students remain in one room all day, the
teachers go from room-to-room) so practicing the conversation whilst seated
means they talk with the same person each time. Also, there is no room for
me to walk around and monitor every student.
Nearly all of games and supplementary activities I have collected over the
years require the ability for students to be able to freely move around the
classroom. I need to come up with some new ideas. |
| Q |
You're still a regular on the ajarn
discussion board. Do you still feel that Thailand's your spiritual home? |
| A |
Well, I returned to Thailand for a 1 month holiday in
January and will do so again in August. As to whether I will ever return to
live & teach in Thailand, I'm really not sure at this stage. A lot will
depend on whether & how the "climate" for farangs changes. Personally, I
think that experienced, qualified,
professional TEFL teachers will be able to get work permits in Thailand for
a long time into the future. |
| Q |
How difficult was it
to adjust to life back in Australia after 5 years away? |
| A |
The biggest issue for me was "price shock". TVs, DVD
players, nearly all appliances and household items were as cheap as
Thailand. However, day-to-day purchases, food, bottled water, cigarettes,
newspapers, petrol, etc are very expensive. Two sandwiches for lunch cost
200 baht +. A can of
coke cost 60 baht. A "counter-meal" dinner at a suburban hotel cost 330
baht. A vodka and orange or gin & tonic cost 240 baht. The Sunday newspaper
cost 60 baht. Cigarettes were costing me 240 baht for a
pack of 20.
The main reason I did leave Australia again, after only 3 months, is that
life there was so familiar, so unremarkable, so boring. I missed the
liveliness, the spirit, of Asia. |
| Q |
You worked for AUA for
many years. Do you still see pages of Interchange during particularly bad
nightmares? |
| A |
The monotony was in teaching only the yellow and red
books of the Interchange series. At Pattaya, each term we had high numbers
of levels A & B (the yellow book) and the majority of students dropped out
by level 4
(the red book).
I haven't taught Interchange for more than a year but I still remember, from
the red book, "Hey Paolo, who's that over there? That's my dad and that's my
mom with him." and "Whitney Houston? You've got to be kiddin'". |
| Q |
Why did you choose to
do a TESOL certificate in Australia rather than in Thailand? |
| A |
It's in my nature to prepare myself for any event or
occasion. Doing a TESOL course in Thailand never entered my thoughts. I
wanted to be fully prepared
before I arrived. |
| Q |
Where do you stand on
the degree vs no degree debate? |
| A |
knew a 68 y.o. gentleman in Bangkok who was working
part-time as a TEFL teacher just for fun, he didn't need the income. He was
on a "retirement" visa and did not have a work permit, nor did he have any
qualifications. He had been a factory worker all of his life. He was always
cheerful and I never heard him say a bad word about anyone or anything. His
students loved him. They would be laughing and chatting away on exiting the
classroom after each lesson. I saw for myself that, after one term studying
with this man, their confidence when speaking English with myself and other
teachers had greatly increased.
I knew a man in Bang Saen who was a career educator. He had a Master's
Degree in Education and had been teaching for many years in his home
country. He usually referred to his students as morons & idiots. He was
apparently a strict disciplinarian inside the classroom. Many students told
me they were scared of him and they were scared of making mistakes when
talking with him. I think that the attitude, demeanor and ability of a TEFL
teacher are far more important than formal qualifications. |
| Q |
Do many students ask
you to teach them Australian English? Personally I think it'd be cool to
have Thais walking around saying "no worries mate - chuck me a tinny" |
| A |
I have developed a very neutral accent
and I do not use Australian vernacular in the classroom:- "She'll be right
mate!" Ava go yer mug!" G'dai mate, owsit goin?" I reckon…", etc. However, 2
students, a tour guide and a receptionist at a hotel favoured by
Australians, asked to explain these, and other, Australian sayings. |
| Q |
Australians aren't
that well catered for in Bangkok. Apart from Big John's in Soi Thonglor,
which does a fine pie floater' I can't think of one Australian restaurant. |
| A |
I spent only 1 year in Bangkok and I
mostly cooked for myself in my apartment. However, in Pattaya there is an
abundance of restaurants serving inexpensively-priced, English-style food
which is akin to Australian food. |
| |
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