The anatomy of a teachers room
What goes on in that cramped, airless little room?
For all those who have ever taught in Asia - laugh along at 'the anatomy of a teacher's room' from the water-kettle that's never full to the pot-plant that always needs watering.
Notes on a semester
What can you do when teaching starts to get you down?
How can I or any teacher that feels he's underachieving turn things around? I doubt there is any magic formula, but I've come up with a few ideas. Many of them are blindingly obvious but it's often the easy points we miss during difficult classes.
Moans and groans
Postbox letter from Jeff V
I have "some" moaning and groaning to do, so I guess I'm here at the right place to do so!
A very bad day indeed
Today was one of the most unpleasant in my four years plus of teaching
My problem was discipline. You see, I've been teaching for over four years and until today I had only received two complaints.
An Indian teacher in Thailand
Bobo Meitei faces the perils and pitfalls of finding a teaching job
Bobo gets to grips with sliding pay scales and agents bemused by his pseudo-American appearance. Well worth a read!
Nothing but disrespect
Postbox letter from
For those foreigners willing to devote their time and energies to quality teaching, it can be a bitterly disillusioning experience. With the salaries going lower and the benefits (medical and other insurance, housing, etc.) fewer, and the cost of living increasing, teachers who have been here for years are now leaving the country.
What hope for a superficial education system?
The joys of being part of the system
Being a foreign teacher is again another superficial and costly exercise. They want to show you off like a new piece of gold jewelry or a good photograph. Relatively speaking it costs a lot to employ a foreign teacher in Thailand.
Are you certified?
Finding your way through the TEFL course maze
Teaching was no longer challenging. I was stagnating. Sure, I could always shake my life up with a weekend of debauchery, an occasional fling with a sexy female expatriate, or by traveling to a different city – and, truth be told, I often tried combining all three. But, at my core, I knew that I wasn’t growing productively. As a teacher I wasn’t developing. My methodologies had become stale. I needed a new bag of tricks. I needed rejuvenation.
The teacher's diary
One teacher's descent into madness
The diary is the sad and heartbreaking four-week journal of Mr Jim Elmdon - a teacher who came, saw, and failed miserably. Keep a box of tissues handy.
Act professionally please
Why don't teachers act like teachers for a change?
Start looking at things from an employer’s point of view. Start thinking like a teacher, teaching isn’t a 9 - 5 job, it’s a profession taken up by people who want to educate young minds.
