Happy and exhausted reflections from a newbie teacher
Postbox letter from Jojo Tiger
What an intense year this has been. So many people inspired me along the way, fellow teachers, ex teachers friends and total strangers.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Postbox letter from Russell
Vietnam is a stunningly beautiful country and well worth a visit. But it is 15 years behind Thailand in every sense.
Choice as a source of wealth
Real "wealth" is not primarily about having material possessions or money
Being a native speaker of the language people around the world use gives me wealth as it is an incredible source of international career opportunities.
Thais and speaking English
Postbox letter from Steve
In Thailand they have a genuine disinterest to talk and communicate with foreigners. They're generally not eager to learn about other cultures. They are closed. Why? who knows. Maybe its because its a big country that houses everything that you'll ever need in your lifetime.
Book review
The essential guide to teaching English and living in Thailand
As they neared the end of their first year in Thailand, Michael and Sarah suddenly realized that while chatting with new arrivals, they were answering the same questions over and over again. So they began to compile a guide to help others who might want to give TEFL in Thailand a try.
A Guinness book of records candidate?
I know a man whose worked for 19 schools
Ben said that he didn't plan to hop from one school to another. It just happened. From the time he started teaching at age 20 - but now in his 60's - he had taught in 19 schools (excluding tutorial centers). He taught in thirteen schools in the Philippines, five in Thailand and one in Afghanistan.
Happy hour at the ESL bar and grill
Amusing the students to death
Students are being scammed out of their money by an industry that is content to amuse the students to death by turning English language education into a perverted version of happy hour at Joe's Bar. Teachers and students deserve better than that.
Small talk with big results
The art of teaching English forwards
"Hi, how are you?" "I'm fine thank you, and you?" "I'm fine thank you." Now, where have we all seen and heard this longwinded, nigh on nonsensical way of communicating before?
Get with the program or fall off the bus
Postbox letter from Dave
The writing has been on the wall since 2006. Six years after the fact there is no excuse for anyone to not have a degree if they want to be a teacher.
Stay positive
Postbox letter from Steve B
I had tremendous trouble finding a decent job when I first arrived, in fact it was two months from the time of arriving in Thailand to my actual first day as a teacher.
