Whinging farangs

Foreigner moans and groans

I have started to realise that a considerable part of the Western community in Thailand thrives on complaining and grumbling about the way things are done in the Kingdom. Is their moaning justified? Do expats have a right to criticise everything they don’t like about Thailand? Do they have any rights at all?

Parent power

Postbox letter from Keith Evans

We are currently halfway through the mid-term exams. Yesterday, a colleague and I were called into a meeting with some of the senior secondary students' parents, and the assistant director and a few of his cronies

Stop this no-fail policy

Postbox letter from Dr John Smith

I have many students that fail and one particular class I was supposed to teach had never turned up to a class, never took a test or exam and I failed them all. I was told that I could not fail them by the head of year and by the director of the school and that I would have to give them minimal scores.

Help urgently required

Postbox letter from Jojo Tiger

I'm a teacher at the end of my tether with the situation I currently find myself in.

Aiming high for o-net

Changes that should be made in preparing students for the o-net

February 2, 2013 is the date for the O-net examination in Thailand (Ordinary National Education Test). This is the day that level 6 and 9 students' are assessed in their proficiency in all subjects. That's why nowadays all Thai schools prepare intensively to improve their students' performance.

Christmas and mid-terms at school

A relatively carefree couple of weeks at school

The Foreign Language Department put on a nice 2-hour long show for the entire school the Thursday before Christmas. I'm not sure why this date was chosen instead of Friday, but I do know that during Christmas itself, midterms were in session. It was quite nice, and I think the kids generally enjoyed it. But then again, who doesn't enjoy getting to miss two hours of class first thing in the morning?

Teaching one-on-one and agency issues

Preparing a student for an important exam and the joys of being paid late

Aside from keeping busy with school and extra lessons, it's been an interesting week. There's no point in going into details, but I will say this: do be careful what agency you sign up with. Things can easily go wrong. Our salaries were paid to us several days late, and this is after the agency changed the pay date stated on our contracts after we had already signed them

Mid-term prep and a week in review

You have to go with the flow in Thailand

Here's another example of why you must roll with the tides here in Thailand, too. I spent a good two hours making a 40-question midterm for my Mathayom 2 class. My paperwork shows that the M2 class I have is divided into Science 1 and Science 2, but the curriculum is identical for both

Why teach in Thailand?

Postbox letter from James

Let’s be honest and say that professionally qualified or not, we are/were here because it’s a great place to live and let’s not pretend that altruism in helping children, or to improve the Thai education system is why we came here.