Smeg, so who is your IDEAL Tefl-er? What's the "correct" criteria?

[DJ Pat]

You slag off ex factory workers, ex-forklift truck drivers, ex-dole claimers, ex- shelf stackers, ex-minicab drivers, ex-argos staff, and the like.

You claim that it was impossible for Bangkok Phil to be teaching in Thailand whilst living a "wide-boy" lifestyle, as he could never have delivered a decent lesson after preparing the class at his one room apartment along Petchaburi Road the night after having a few beers in the Londoner.

You claim that many teachers in Thailand are running from their own countires, and that they would have pretty much zero career choice in their own countries, you slag off non-degree holders, and you are adamant that anyone who dares to take the TEFL course up at Text and Talk must be a loser in some way.

And what if someone has a degree that is completely irrellevant to teaching? That is the case in many instances.

You take great joy in ridiculing the degree-less amongst us. I have no degree at all, I didn't feel like wasting the time doing one. John Major's government in the early 1990s were literally throwing student loans at people so they could get degrees, even my dad took one as a mature student.

Sadly many of the people I know that took and got degrees in this era are working in fields with no relation to the four years they took out of their lives during that period. Is that maybe a reflection of the company I keep maybe?

So the question is, who would you applaud as a real, genuine TEFL-er?

The ex-hippy who has just spent 3 years stoned in Goa?

The husband and wife team who used to teach at a private school in Dorset?

The female Khao San Road-er with no qualifications other than white skin, blonde hair and an english accent?

The 24 year old male teacher that used to teach at your local primary school?

Just what criteria would anyone need to be accepted in your limited outlook of TEFL-ing? Because apparently everyone is at fault in some way, or on the run.

I'd like to hear your opinions on the subject please. Name names if you have to.

[NokTang]

I'd like to hear your opinions on the subject please. Name names if you have to.

Hi. I'll give my opinion even though you asked the other member. Please don't complain about it, just don't read if you don't want others opinions...

1. A college degree from a real university, one you went to for four or more years as the case may have been. This shows that you have the capacity for college level work. This doesn't mean you are smart or that others without are stupid, but does mean you did it and succeeded.

2. Being a native English speaker generally speaking born and raised and schooled in a native English speaking country. There are exceptions of course to this, family etc., but what I refer to most of all is your upbringing was in English. If your parents didn't speak English but you grew up in say England or the USA it may work. May.

3. The ability to speak in front of people without getting nervous. This is only a "phobia" and most people can get over it if they have it.

4. No smoking or drinking habits. By habits I mean chain smokers or hard core drunks.

5. A grasp of the concept of laundry and personal hygine.

That about it mate, and I refer to Thailand. I know nothing about what you may need in Korea or Japan or Russia.

Nok the Kook and again, sorry for expressing my opinion on your thread.

[Smeg]

You seem quite upset about all this? Why, if you are confident in what you do and get paid?

To me, a professional educator should be someone who is interested in education and educated him/herself to at least the level his/her students will aspire to, not someone who never gave a shit about education before but who becomes desperate to live in Thailand so suddenly develops an interest in being an educator because it is the only way he/she can make a living in Thailand.

How people can stand up in front of students who are relying on that teacher to help them enter a good university etc when they know inside they never went to uni and had no interest in it is beyond me.

[Spin]

How people can stand up in front of students who are relying on that teacher to help them enter a good university

Most kids get their place in Uni based on their parents ability to donate or graft for the placement. It has very little to do with ability.
a kid who is thicker than a cubic meter of pig shit will get right into just about any University if his or her parents are in a position of influence.

You surprise me Smeg, you have been here long enough to know how this place works but you continue to go on about standards that just aint woth attaining on behalf of these kids.
Thailand does not need professional educators, it does not deserve professional educators. Not until those kids in the Uni's are there on merit.

[Sir Burr]

I sort of agree with Smeg here. My only observation would be why would anyone with the correct qualifications as per Smeg's post take such a low paying job in Thailand.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

[Smeg]

Most kids get their place in Uni based on their parents ability to donate or graft for the placement. It has very little to do with ability.

I didn't bother reading beyond this. Albsolute crap. I'll bet that about 1% of university applications are corrupted in this way

[Smeg]

I sort of agree with Smeg here. My only observation would be why would anyone with the correct qualifications as per Smeg's post take such a low paying job in Thailand.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

Precisely. I doubt many professional educators have a craving to live here and are thus willing to substantially drop their standard of living to achieve it, hence Thailand doesn't get them.

[The Gentleman Scamp]

I just greened Smeg and Spin both with exactly the same comment which was ... Indeed (capital 'I') - so what does that mean?

First time I have agreed with both sides enough to actually green both sides - both with same comment and both members with 4 letters in their name not that that means anything.

But the fact I have a divided opinion does mean something, for I am The Gentleman Scamp.

[ChiangMai noon]

My only observation would be why would anyone with the correct qualifications as per Smeg's post take such a low paying job in Thailand.

for me burr, it was never a pro active decision.
it was reactive totally.
i never planned to be still here at 37, but i am.
i love Thailand in the main, have got married, and i can afford to live pretty well.
granted i didn't come here with nothing and I think coming here and working for very little is difficult, but with the exorbitant housing prices in the UK now, it is very difficult for a teacher in the UK to get themselves onto the housing ladder on a salary of 20,000 pound odd a year gross.

I get to play golf here and stuff.

[Smeg]

deleted by accident. Anyone got it on their browser history?

[ChiangMai noon]

So you are effectively an economic migrant, moving to somewhere you quite like mainly to improve your standard of living?

not really, but sort of.
i really like it here but think it would be difficult for me to have this sort of lifestyle in the UK.
in fact I know so, it would be impossible.
i like the weather.
i like my new house, i am enjoying my badly built bamboo outhouse.
i have good friends, enough money to do the things I want, as paltry as it maybe.

i can buy koy carp to put in my new pond for less than a pound.

[Sir Burr]

I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about the TEFL scene. I was just looking at it from an economic viewpoint. ie. a qualified person coming to Thailand especially to teach.

I do realise that many people came to Thailand first, fell in love with the place and got into the teaching as a way to stay.
Good luck to them, I reckon.

I do know that the best teachers are the ones that make teaching fun and can get the message across. This has a lot more to do with personality than formal qualifications. I see qualifications as equiping the person with tools, but, if you don't know how to use those tools, then all the qualifications in the world won't help. They certainly don't garuantee that the person will be a good teacher.

To use an analogy, some of the best mechanics and technicians I have ever worked with, don't have the best qualifications, they are the type of people that have tinkered since childhood, yet many times they are better at their jobs than people who do have the qualifications.

[Smeg]

I think coming here and working for very little is difficult, but with the exorbitant housing prices in the UK now, it is very difficult for a teacher in the UK to get themselves onto the housing ladder on a salary of 20,000 pound odd a year gross.

This is a massive issue. But is it the answer to not go back to the UK because it is too competitive for you to cope, instead living in a country where housing is cheap because the local people are uneducated and thus can't afford to compete with you? That is a great from a purely financial point of view, but it entails spending the rest of your life as an immigrant in a country of uneducated people. That prospect has never appealed to me. Harsh as it sounds, I don't enjoy being surrounded by simple incapable people, it's too annoying and frustrating. Plus the fact that 10 minutes ago the owner of the cafe I'm in, who knows me well, told two schoolkids sitting next to me to be quiet because "farang" is using the net. It wasn't used in a nasty way, just a dumbarse non-thinking typical Thai way.

[ChiangMai noon]

That is a great from a purely financial point of view, but it entails spending the rest of your life as an immigrant in a country of uneducated people

you haven';t spent much time in the Rhondda valleys i take it.

who knows me well, told two schoolkids sitting next to me to be quiet because "farang" is using the net.

don't get me started on the farang word.
i think maybe you missed my rant thread.
i will never find it acceptable.

[Smeg]

don't get me started on the farang word.
i think maybe you missed my rant thread.
i will never find it acceptable.

My brain-jury is out on whether it will ever stop. When the woman said it I asked why she said that rather than use my name or a polite word to refer to her customer. She immeditaly corrected herself and told the two kids to be quiet because of "khun smeg". This shows that they know how to do it, but I always get that "this is Thailand, Thais do what the hell we want and anyone else likes it or leaves" attitude.

I bet she'll do exactly the same thing again in the future, hence her correction was just an instantly forgotten quick-fix gesture to keep her customer happy.

[ChiangMai noon]

This shows that they know how to do it, but I always get that "this is Thailand, Thais do what the hell we want and anyone else likes it or leaves" attitude.

finally I agree with you.

edit.

see you found my thread.
no need for a link.

[The Ghost Of The Moog]

But the fact I have a divided opinion does mean something, for I am The Gentleman Scamp.

.

What a peculiar thing to say

[NickA]

I'm like CMN, but slightly better at building shacks..... more handsome, younger, cleverer and not Welsh

[ChiangMai noon]

I'm like CMN, but slightly better at building shacks

just wait for the thread tomorrow.
mind blowing it will be.

[Garuda]

So the question is, who would you applaud as a real, genuine TEFL-er?

well....

[Smeg]

You claim that it was impossible for Bangkok Phil to be teaching in Thailand whilst living a "wide-boy" lifestyle, as he could never have delivered a decent lesson after preparing the class at his one room apartment along Petchaburi Road the night after having a few beers in the Londoner.

Do you know what a wide boy is?

Wide boy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term "wide boy" first appeared during the Second World War in the United Kingdom. Some enterprising people took it upon themselves to exploit rationing and do deals with American servicemen to supply locals with much coveted luxuries like chocolate and nylons. Such characters were referred to as wide boys. More recently it has come to mean a working-class male (often a cockney from London) who lives by his wits and his wheelings-and-dealings. The type is sometimes, but not always, associated with various forms of petty criminal behaviour. Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, Flash Harry from the St Trinian's books and movies, Private Walker from Dad's Army, Arthur Daley from Minder and Harry Robinson from The Ladykillers are all fictional examples of the wide boy type.

[DJ Pat]

To me, a professional educator should be someone who is interested in education and educated him/herself to at least the level his/her students will aspire to, not someone who never gave a shit about education before but who becomes desperate to live in Thailand so suddenly develops an interest in being an educator because it is the only way he/she can make a living in Thailand.

How people can stand up in front of students who are relying on that teacher to help them enter a good university etc when they know inside they never went to uni and had no interest in it is beyond me.

Fair points.........

BTW, I am not upset but was just curious and had a couple of hours spare on the net at home earlier this afternoon..

Do you know what a wide boy is?

Oh and as for the term "Wide boy" ....you used that in your criticism of Phil last week sometime.

[Hootad Binky]

I'd like to hear your opinions on the subject please. Name names if you have to.

Hi. I'll give my opinion even though you asked the other member. Please don't complain about it, just don't read if you don't want others opinions...

1. A college degree from a real university, one you went to for four or more years as the case may have been. This shows that you have the capacity for college level work. This doesn't mean you are smart or that others without are stupid, but does mean you did it and succeeded.

2. Being a native English speaker generally speaking born and raised and schooled in a native English speaking country. There are exceptions of course to this, family etc., but what I refer to most of all is your upbringing was in English. If your parents didn't speak English but you grew up in say England or the USA it may work. May.

3. The ability to speak in front of people without getting nervous. This is only a "phobia" and most people can get over it if they have it.

4. No smoking or drinking habits. By habits I mean chain smokers or hard core drunks.

5. A grasp of the concept of laundry and personal hygine.

That about it mate, and I refer to Thailand. I know nothing about what you may need in Korea or Japan or Russia.

And a TEFL Certificate! Hello!

Not having a recognised one (120-hour course with observations and practicum such as a CELTA, etc.) is a bit like having an engineering degree and being asked to replace a transmission; despite your aptitude, you can't do it because you lack the specialised training.

[Spin]

Albsolute crap. I'll bet that about 1% of university applications are corrupted in this way

You of all people know how corrupt Thailand is.

Only an idiot would bet that anything in Thailand is 99% corruption free.

On reflection, do you stand by your claim?

[DJ Pat]

I know nothing

Now he admits it.