ILoveDogs

I have to stick up for the OP and what I have read here seems to go along with what I have experienced. Although I have lived here for a number of years, one day, I saw an ad for the TEFEL deal at CMU. I always thought, maybe one day I will need to teach English, either for extra money, or just to keep busy. What I had read in the past about schools in CM, lead me to believe there was not a credible place to take a Tefel course here. But when I read the CMU was offering one, I was more interested.

Now, the biggest thing that has got me about this situation is that when I called the number, and spoke to Dr. Matt, he said the next class was starting in about a week, and because I was not ready to take a class that soon, I asked about the next one. HE TOLD ME THAT THE NEXT TWO CLASS PERIODS WERE ALREADY FULL AND THAT I NEEDED TO TAKE THIS ONE OR FORGET IT FOR 6 MONTHS.

So I did sign up. What is the problem with this? Well, I have some health problems and at this time, was not really ready to take on 12 hours a day of work, 7 days a week. He did not make it sound like the class was too much work either. So I paid the money, and dropped out after about the first week or two, because I felt that I could not keep up.

Am I just an idiot? No, first of all English is my first language, second of all I have a BA already, and went to 2 years of one of the most difficult graduate programs in my country, and did pretty well, even though in the end I had to drop out due to the same health problems I still have.

If I had been able to take the time, to prepare better, like for 6-8 weeks when the next class was starting, I would have probably done fine. I have to take some medications that make me sleepy and stupid, and have to manage that well, when I want to be productive. When I have the time to prepare my body, I am okay, and have been pretty successful in life, since I dropped out of my grad school program, with this illness.

However, having only one week or less to prepare, I was not able to handle it well. I have thought many times, since I quit, that it must have been a lie that the next classes were full, and this was a sales technique to get me and my money now. For one, because they don't seem to have a limit on how many people can take the class. For another, when I met the people taking the class, they were not a bunch of people who just arrived here, but were mostly people who had lived already for a long time in Thailand, and +/- 2months to take the class would have no problems for them. I mean, if you have lived here for 10 years already, for 3 years already, and decide to take this class, it probably isn't an emergency that you take it now, and everyone I met in the class seemed to have good ways of supporting themselves in Thailand, and teaching was only going to be for "fun money" or to keep busy.

Several people did not even live in Northern Thailand, but were taking the class because they finally (thought they had found) a class with some credibility.

Then, once the class started, they divided it into two groups, and although they didn't say how they came up with this, it was soon obvious. All the people who had a university degree, got paired with the teacher who was younger than all of us, and had no teaching experience. The ones who only had a highschool diploma got paired with the teacher who was really good. Why? Because I suppose they thought that people without previous experience needed a better teacher, and those of us who had made it through school already, could figure it out on our own.

The teacher that I had, made a comment one day, about how "old time schools" actually deduct points for writing papers that have spellling and grammar errors, and how stupid this teacher thought that was, how old-fashioned, etc., and how those people in Ivory Towers should just go screw off and die somewhere, because they are not current with university life.

And this person really had a degree in teaching language, but doesn't think spelling or grammar should have an effect on your grade? Well, what should? Your good looks, you sex abilities, what???????????? I don't think I have ever taken any level of class that didn't take these things into account, to a large extent.

And why was it when this teacher taught, I seemed to not be able to latch on to any regular path, could not take notes, didn't find something worthy of writing down, and the lectures did not remind me of the 4 hours of reading I did the night before? But one day, when we switched teachers, the other teacher, the old guy, lectured exactly per the notes and my memory of what I had read, and that he presented it just like I was used to after 7 years of univeristy studies?

But that guy wasn't teaching my class. (But he is the guy who writes about his experience at CMU on the link the OP or someone mentioned above.)

I was immediately ready to blame myself, my medications, my health problems for making me too stupid. After the fact, I realized that Dr. Matt surely lied to me about the class being unavailable later, and probably I had legit complaints about the teacher I was given. I had already decided that if I took the class again, I would request the "old guy" teacher, not the young person just out of some (maybe not legit) school.

I am happy to read this today, which verifies for me that I am not totally crazy, or totally a loser, and that some people at CMU may have the real problems, and at best are probably scam artists. What is new really? Thailand specializes in these kind of people. Probably the main reason I haven't thought up any good business ideas while I have spent many years here, is because I am a very honest person, and can't/won't think up the bullshit that many will and that I won't act like an idiot just to get some money. ( I may act like an idiot for no good reason, but it will not be to steal money from people or to mislead them.)

Anyway, I would like to thank the OP for writing this story and sharing what he/she knows.