Whats It Really Like In That Room?

[Dondi]

I have been doing the google searches for a few stories from "teachers" in any Asian country about what they actually do in the classroom in the way of what 'type' of lessons they conduct,etc.

I'm not interested in hearing "Yeh its ok, you get use to it". What im looking for is what style of conversational English is actually taught? I'm looking at the younger students (aged like 5 - 12) just for the fact i think it would be more enjoyable and for a first timer, less demanding in the way of academic standards and i like the excitement little youngster inject into the society.

My English is standard, nothing special yet i'm no professor

What do the teachers out there do in the classroom? is it all verbs and nouns and sentence structure or is it more making the students talk, make them play english games and correct them as they go, give them basic exercises like "here is a picture of an animal, name the animal and put that animal in a sentence." type thing?

I'm no teacher and feel slightly uneasy about jumping the ocean to live in Bangkok. Though it is my dream and so far its my last option until i get the wheels of steel rolling.

Degree has been completed (finally) and the TEFL headache will come when the time is right

Is the dream of living overseas worth the headache of teaching to students (Thats if its really as bad as people say)

[Thaiboxer]

Us foreign teachers who have taught different ages/levels all have different experiences. Some teachers get on really well with kids, others do not. I taught high school at a public school for one year then I did two terms at two different private schools where I taught kindergarten and grade 4. After three tries with kids, I figured out that the younger ones just aren't for me. I now teach adults and it's great. With adults, you don't have the lack of motivation and disciplinary problems you often will encounter with kids, but at the same time adults are more demanding of their teachers than the little ones are.

I would say do this: Take an extended vacation here (three months at least), travel to different regions of the country, visit some schools and offer to do some volunteer teaching to see where it leads. There are plenty of opportunities for volunteers. The extended vacation will also give you and idea of what to expect when living here as your new home will be much different than the West. Only after a good, long visit will you be able to assess whether or not Thailand/teaching here are for you. Good luck!

[Ijustwannateach]

Thailand would be a hard place for a complete newbie to start. If you have an actual degree, Japan will give you a much softer landing where all the rules are fixed, understood, and followed by all parties.

If you're game, though, come ahead.

You'll pretty much find that at all schools where the students are not routinely taught by foreigners (which is pretty much all of the public ones, with a few growing exceptions (e.g., the English programs or EP/MEPs)), the students will barely have any proficiency at all. You can teach simple nouns, verbs, and sentences at almost all levels and find them equally challenging for most students until the junior high school level. Games are a big feature, as are simple role plays and activities. Private schools and schools in Bangkok are a little bit better in this regard, as are schools where all classes are taught in English.

If you're asking about the classroom environments: largely un-air-conditioned, run-down, noisy and dark. Chalkboards will have the texture of corrugated cardboard and chalk will a half-n-half mixture of real chalk and sawdust pressed together. Occasionally colonies of dogs and cats will take root in various floors of the buildings. A lot of Thailand is still the developing world, remember. It's still fun, though, I find.

"Steven"

[Dondi]

Well its not my first option to go teach English. I hate verbs and nouns and stence structure and bla bla bla but i know it. I like the fact that you can role play and do english learning games. Thats more my style of classroom learning. When i was in scholl i remember i had 2 teachers. One was the "Learn how to find the verb and noun and learn about metaphors and crap" the other was more "Learn how to read English by certain games and activites that involves the class and stuff along those lines".

I've travelled Thailand many times and enjoy the vibe alot more then what Japan has to offer. I work in the field of Tourism Managment and really prefer to go along those lines of work with something as little as tour guide to operations manager .. But in Thailand, everyone is doing tourism (not exactly true of course) but you know what i mean ...

Like alot of people here, they love the place. For me it feels like a second home and my first home is well..... becoming a depressing state to say the less. If anyone can help me here. What does Thailand have to offer apart from teaching? any websites with job list that dont involve teaching?

It will be much appreciated

Matt

[PeaceBlondie]

... What im looking for is what style of conversational English is actually taught? I'm looking at the younger students (aged like 5 - 12) just for the fact i think it would be more enjoyable and for a first timer, less demanding in the way of academic standards and i like the excitement little youngster inject into the society.

My English is standard, nothing special yet i'm no professor

...

Dondi,

Prathom schools are probably even worse than ijustwannateach has already described it. Your working colleagues may be Thai teachers who don't speak English; earnest native speakers of English who are overwhelmed by the challenges; a few alcoholic Thais and farang; staff that don't have a clue how to help you; dictatorial directors; etc. Then again, you may find a paradise of a perfect school full of well-educated, clever-thinking, problem-solving, good-hearted, consensus-deciding Thais and farang.

The first day of school is amazing. You walk in, all "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" as the Americans say, and even the Thai geniuses on the front row have a working knowledge of English that consists of 37.5 words and four phrases, two of which are featured in the new Yamaha Fino advertisement: "I'm Fino." "And youuuuu?"

Since the teaching of English is not your first choice (third? fourth?), you might consider teaching tourism management in a lower university setting.

[Boatabike]

All the above and other surprises along the way. Fun is the key factor. My students learn far more through my personality than they do through my knowledge, Mr. Bean has a big role to play in a Thai class. I teach age 12 - 19 and the younger ones are, to be honest, a pain. Love them dearly but classroom control CAN be a nightmare, depending on how much support you get from the school. I get a lot of support from a few of the teachers, and none from the rest. I have one class that I refuse to teach without a Thai teacher sitting at the back of the class, she doesn't do anything, except mark her other students work, but with her there the class behaves very well. Take her out of the room and the only way to control the class is through a lot of extremely hard work and the risk of throwing them out the window (joke, I think). I also have students this year at M-6 level who have 6 / 7 years of English study behind them, and yet struggle to tell you their name or age in English (I have been there a year).

I have no access to any form of teaching material from the school itself, but the internet and a good imagination get past that to a certain level. I am constantly searching for good material for 750 students a week, and that I find is the hardest part of the job.

A few weeks ago I had a heart to heart with our head of department about the frustration level of teaching kids who do not wish to think, let alone learn (with exceptions). I was told not to take it so seriously, and at first I felt that was a bad attitude to take with the future of young lives. But she is right, I cannot make them learn, I can only encourage them to want to, so now if a lesson all goes to pieces I play a word game and keep them interested and stop myself going mad. To date the pleasures of the job outweighs the downs. There are many problems within the Thai educational system, as there are in most countries, but you really do need to roll with the blows.

Did I mention that Mr. Bean has a very important role to play in a Thai class? The kids will love you if your fun, if they love you they will learn with you. If you’re serious and no fun they will smile at you at take little notice.

Gosh I was only going to write a sentence or two.

Try it if you don't like it move on.

[Thaiboxer]

I have also found Mr. Bean to be a great "teacher" Tom & Jerry are valuable tools too. Like boatabike says, it keeps them occupied and that keeps you from going crazy in the classroom in front of 50 kids.

[Dondi]

This information is exactly what im looking for guys, much appreciated indeed.

When we're talking Mr. Bean.. we're talking about them watching the show? This is something i wouldnt have imagined. In my mind its all typical English stuff that i was taught in school which also lead me to my fantasy world of looking out the window for 2 hours of each 2 hours lesson

I never even thought of teaching my degree to others, specially in university. I know the tourism industry is a large part of the Thai economy but truth be told, it looks like they are born with the knowledge ....

I love Asia alot and would do anything to allow myself to have the pleasure of living there if it's only for a year. So if worst comes to worst , ill start another threat soon about what episode is most educational of Tom and Jerry

Thanks again

[PeaceBlondie]

I think they mean that you have to be Mr. Bean, and Tom, and Jerry, and Wiley Coyote, and the Roadrunner, and Tweety Bird....you be the clown.

[Sporting Dog]

You could consider teaching other subjects in an EP. I taught science (mainly), plus some math, health and computing - the actual content isn't that difficult for levels up to about M3. It will take a little while to figure out the 'way' to teach them.

One advantage is that you don't have to be an 'entertainer' for every class. I taught a few English classes and sometimes it can be a real pain to create another dynamic, sanook AND educational lesson.

Teaching science, the kids expect to have to do a bit of book/board work. Plus you can always go back and revise, reinforce, quiz etc when you haven't got a lesson fully ready.

[Boatabike]

Indeed you are the Bean, but having read this again has given me an idea, Most Mr. Bean movies have little or no speech, get them to watch the movie then they have to fill in the voice parts. Second thoughts, they would flounder after Hi my name is Mr. Bean (raspberry).

Forget everything you think will work, come here with some well thought out FUN games then go from there once you have evaluated the level of the kids at what ever school your at.

My first lesson was a telling the time bingo game, it worked with all ages, was great fun, easy to teach, they learnt something, and being able to teach it across all classes it gave me time to get to grips with the situation I found myself in. Unless your in a school that can boast a good level of English the best you can start to do is give them a reason to learn. I can give you an excellent example of this.

Last month in one of my M-4 classes (16ish years old) I had a student say to me, 'why should I learn English? I'm Thai, in Thailand' (spoken In Thai language). He is the type of student you will see serving at petrol stations in 10 years time, or arrested for some stupid crime he didn't think about. But the following week I took 2 blonde, female, teenage, tourists with large breasts into the classroom to help practice English, and the first person to speak up was him. Hello what's your name, I love England! In perfect English! Now I don't wish to say that breasts teach English better than I but that was the key to get a totally uninterested student to sit up and wish he could speak better English. For others its music, sports, travel. What ever. He spent the rest of that lesson lurking at the back of the class trying to get his head around how he could talk to those large breasts. So at the end of the lesson he wished he could speak English, even if it was just to try to get an opportunity to chat up a foreign girl. (I hope I don't cause any ladies reading this offence, it is not meant to, and is only a true account of situation that gave a bad student the desire to learn.)

Rewards. It is very easy to find fault with students as they very often have so many, but rewarding them is often over looked. I designed and print out at my own expense a set of 5 certificates, awarded for a 5 level spelling test I set over the full term. They are quite nice, but the difference that small half A4 sized piece of paper makes to the effort given is amazing. They want to get the certificate, their friend got one, and they want one. Plus there is a set of 5 different coloured certs. They can take home and say “look mom aren't I a smart bugger". Carrot and stick, carrot and stick. I also buy a prize for the best student in each class per term, I only spend about 100B on it x 20 but that also helps them want to do well, to push them that little further, to make that little bit more effort. Not the Mr. Breasts of the class but the better students can aim a little higher to get the prize. I am sure most teachers have their own ways to encourage, but Mr. Bean, carrot and stick are very effective aids if you wish to do the job as well as you can given the problems thrown in your path daily. I took a lot of photo's of my M6-2 class this sports day, the girls all dressed up and the boys were wearing traditional Thai costumes, they looked amazing. So I printed out 30 A4 sized full colour prints on expensive photo paper with the new printer I bought for the job and used them as blackmail to get better work out of the students. Shown these pics a week before an oral exam I set and the comment of if you do well........ Every one of the students in the photo's passed with flying colours because they knew the only way I would give them a copy was if they passed and did well. They worked for it and they got their carrots! They know I reward if they work, they also know I fail them if they don't. I play it straight with them, and they appreciate, are learning to appreciate that.

Its Sunday, must have time on my hands lol.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Boatabike

[Dondi]

Its Sunday, must have time on my hands lol.

Well i broke my foot at the beach 3 days ago. So its online surfing and movies for me . Waaaaaaayyyy too much time on my hands! but its a good chance to get other things done like reasearch this.

Your ways of teaching give me more inspiration to give it a go. Don't ask me why or how i got this in my head but i thought its like a sort of 'taboo' for certain things to happen in the class, ie. rewards, laughing and stuff like that. Maybe i was reading for a different country but i heard it was straight on the line. Go in, act like Mr Teacher and demand the students to listen. If activities and fun is allowed without judgement then i believe its alot better for motivational learning.

Have you ever had a student ask you how to spell something but you just couldn't due to whatever reason? under pressure i tend to slip as alot of people do and if i get asked a question like "how do i spell ......." yet i know how to just can't... what do you do? i feel thats my worst nightmare, being the teacher yet being stupid also

Anyways .... The boredom is killing me

[Boatabike]

Classroom control is an issue, you do need control. You do need to be Mr. Teacher but after u have established who the boss is then Mr. Bean can play his role. A common mistake seems to be I want them to like me, so you play the friendly teacher part. Wrong. You can become that only if the class has respect for you. Start strict then soften, as trying to wrestle control back after an easy start is rather trying. At my school the Thai teachers get control with a piece of bamboo. Personally I feel hitting kids is neither a good thing nor effective. I simple write out a sentence on the board and get any noisy, playful student to copy it out 50 times, the next student gets it 60 times etc. I never get above 70 times these days. In extreme cases I just hand them over to the head of department, they tend to return with tail between legs and a very big apology!

You need control before you play the clown.

edit

Your question about making mistakes, or bad spelling. We all make mistakes and one of the biggest problems the students have is the fear of making them. If I get caught out I use it to make them aware that mistakes are ok. Learning anything involves making mistakes, yet they really do have huge problems with accepting this. I come for England I am your teacher and I make mistakes, you can make them too it's ok. I would rather my student’s spoke badly than didn’t speak at all, that way they can improve, if they are too scared to speak they can never improve.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Boatabike

[Dondi]

Its an interesting concept people have on teaching. Bamboo stick? gosh, didnt that go out the door in what? well.. Its before my time is there any limit you can go? i mean, do the head of studies come in and say "yes , yes , no , yes, no and no" to your teaching skills?.. I ask so many questions because the internet is a poor resource for general information of classroom standards. I just want to know whats different from our level of 'english classes' when we were running around like headless chickens at 15 compared to the so called 'conversational' English classes that people do for the second language.

I can always make the big leap over there and if things sour out ill just spent my time living it up in bangkok with firends and staying off the completely, outragous and overcrowded things people call the Thai islands.. (yeh , dont like what happened to those place at all)

I have a good 'Thai' friend who works in tourism managment over there... i would prefer that but hey, you guys have given the information i was looking for.. But in return i can't hand out any rewards or certificates for most useful informative post .....

[Ijustwannateach]

If you have insecurity about your spelling/mechanical/grammatical issues, it would probably be best to stay out of the private schools and MEP's where the teaching is more academic and the students (and their parents) may actually be rather good at the various subjects. Stick with TEFL and stay in the public schools, for preference outside of BKK where costs are lower.

"Steven"

[Munted]

...

Is the dream of living overseas worth the headache of teaching to students (Thats if its really as bad as people say)

Go with the dream. And it's not as bad as people say. You have to be quite thick-skinned ( if a lesson works with 8/10 of your classes - it's not a trauma if it doesn't work with the other two). If you're sensitive to noise - get over it. You'll learn to differentiate between "getting on with lesson activity" noise and "bored, like, let's talk about anything else" noise. Work very hard at not becoming a teacher cynic. It's a trap many fall into here, and will do your teaching practice not one whit of good. Always look for ways to improve your instruction, don't settle for the rut. Expect a tough and stressful time during your first and second term at a govt. school. No materials, no air con, 50 plus students etc; as mentioned by others. But your second year will get better! Basically it will be the repeat of the first. Treat the first couple of years really seriously, that's if you really want to be in the profession for a long time. That means not doing what a lot of the crowd here do. Staying up late, doing short time or long time with whores, and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Instead, get yourself a good web link and a few good books and take on-board the responsibility of being the best teacher you can. Go 100% and then after a couple of years you might be able to, with integrity, call yourself a teacher.

Edited September 24, 2006 by Munted