Tips for new teachers coming to Thailand
Postbox letter from Cary, Ed and James
Usually your experience doesn’t matter too much as long as you’re likable, preferably younger and enthusiastic towards the students.
Farang, Farang, Farang
Postbox letter from Winston
I understand if someone calls me farang in the street, outside the school, that they don't mean to be rude. It's just what Thais call us. But it's not appropriate to use this word at school.
It takes all sorts
There's nowhere like an ESL staffroom when it comes to a crazy and diverse range of characters
People become ESL teachers for all kinds of reasons. Nowhere else will you find such a mélange of backgrounds, attitudes and beliefs, which is what makes the ESL staffroom like no other you’ll ever work in.
Some more reasons why you'll quit teaching in Thailand
Six more reasons why you'll be heading home before too long
The frustration of having no real authority over your students, interference from Thai teachers, the thankless task of morning gate duty and more!
A rare combination of education and fun
The story of how I got my full-time teaching break
After three months as a part-timer, my chance arrived when two of my fellow full-time teaching colleagues, Big Barry, a former scaffolder, and Londoner Jeremy, an ex-soldier and former plumber, both failed to turn-up.
Strange encounters of the foreign kind
Amusing recollections of foreign teaching colleagues
I thought I should write about some of the more interesting or obscure behaviour, that I have witnessed from foreign ex-pats living in Thailand, or have had related to me by others. Although I'm going to travel back a bit in time, so as not to put anyone's nose out of joint that I know at present.
My experiences of working in a college in Bangkok (part 4)
Settling in to my apartment and meeting my wacky teaching colleagues
The apartment had no windows, though a sliding glass door leading to a tiny balcony funneled in a trickle of sunlight. Worse than its size was its smell.
Different teachers, different styles
Sometimes showing the students tough love doesn't work.
My teaching colleague was just a bully who could only intimidate the younger students. ‘Find something unique that the kids are interested in, then you will be halfway there’ was some of the best advice I ever got.
The staffroom
Why do so many schools not recognize the importance of a good teachers' room?
It's in the staffroom that teachers grow their own skills, expand the range of the school curriculum, coordinate their efforts, and construct a coherent school culture. School administrators (who don't teach) are not aware of the power of a good staffroom.
A year in Ubon (part three)
The concluding episode from a first year teacher in Thailand
After work, late in the afternoon - back in my bungalow having packed my saggy suitcase with the few items I was going to need. I sat on one of the two chromed chairs in my compacted kitchen and couldn't prevent myself from thinking about the possible impending events of this coming evening.
