No effort can still mean a good grade
Postbox letter from Brian
Smart kids who don't make the effort know they can just do well in the exams and their final score will still be good.
Top grades for slackers
Postbox letter from Micky
It is time for Thai parents to realise they pay for the teaching and not the grades.
Sneaky little cheaters
The joy of midterm exams
Midterms means a week of sitting bored out of our minds in classrooms with students that usually aren't ours. I feel bad for the students; I'm bored, and they're having to sit there and take test after useless test.
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
Things I'd do differently
How am I going to get the best out of my students next term?
It's the last week of school, and I find myself thinking of ways to conduct my classes better than I have during this term. It's not that I think I've done a poor job, but I know there's always room for improvement. Besides, I'd hate to get bored; a bored teacher equals bored students. Bored students don't learn.
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
Thai education shambles
Postbox letter from Ajarn Jim
Outside of MEP and EP programs, why are government schools fixated on NES teachers doing so much conversation? From what I understand, the English section of the university exams covers reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar.
Culture of insouciance
The Cambodian rubbish dump, and my not so final, final exam
Many of the students in my class with their fancy clothes, laptops, I-phones, and I-pads, rarely experience an atmosphere where true learning takes place. Outside of the odd serious teacher they may have encountered along the way, they also live and learn in a rubbish dump, an educational one.
The dreaded letter grade
The anguish of having to evaluate progress with a single letter
I teach Pre-School, Kindergarten and Prathom 1, 2 and 3 and while I find it easier to dole out letter grades to my Prathom students, giving A,B,C's to my Pre-School and K's is much more difficult.
Failing students and the failing ESL industry
Failing young students is simply a poor strategy
Without a doubt the ESL industry around the world is primarily a scam that is governed by unscrupulous business people that rarely have any pedagogical knowledge or academic backgrounds in the field of education
