TEFL Int'l EXPOSED!!! Supplement

[gummigut]

This is written as a supplement to the TEFL International Exposed Series by ITSMEDAVE.

This should be read AFTER reading the previously mentioned series.

This is something I forgot to write and am posting this now as the resurgence of the previously mentioned thread reminded of my obligation.

ONE-ON-ONE's

Our first day we had our one-on-one with actual Thai students because TEFL International did not foresee the Thai national holiday and had to alter the schedule last minute and the only way to fit in the one-on-one was our first day of the course. It is very daunting to be told on your first day that you have the morning to prepare for your first one-on-one with a thai student that afternoon. You will also have another one-on-one with the same student the next day as well.

This is unacceptable. TEFL International is not a fly-by-night organization. The professionals have been operating in Thailand for years. If anyone at the school is expected to know about the national holidays I would expect it to be the staff responsible for scheduling!

My first meeting with a student was a total bomb. Albeit afterwards, I was told that I had the hardest case because my student had a particularly hard time growing up. Don't want to go into particulars here about that. Second day I was determined to have a fun time. Didn't start out to auspicious as my student probably talked to the school about me. My one-on-one started with the student's teacher monitoring my one-on-one. My student quickly grabbed her friend to join us if I bombed. Well, it went smashingly well. The teacher left after 10 minutes and came back to compliment me after the session. Was tons of fun with all of us laughing and hopefully learning a bit.

BOTTLED WATER

The bottled water that the head teacher said may give urinary infections is what I drink every day. No problems (knock on wood). There are interesting myths out there. I remember one student who didn't even use the tap water to brush her teeth because of the "known" water pollution in Thailand. Taking paranoia a bit to far. I didn't drink the tap water in Ban Phe but had no qualms about using it for brushing my teeth. I even drink the tap water in BKK once in awhile. It is pretty clean (note to self, make sure to check yourself in the mirror at night to make sure you're not glowing). The bkk tap water. The Ban Phe water is a bit too hard for drinking.

ANIMALS

Seems every room had a dead dried out gecko that got itself trapped between the bathroom window and screen. Geckos are in every room or will travel your room. Can't help it. I was very paranoid though of a gecko getting into my luggage and not finding the way out. Dying and stinking up meez stuff. Well, it didn't happen but still, it made me paranoid.

There's also one or two big lizards that live off the back wall of the school. Cool dude.

Monkey(s). Yes. Supposed to be a monkey or two in the area and sometimes it visits the school.

There are pictures but I looked and looked and didn't see the monkey. If you take the course,

you may be luckier than I.

GRAMMAR

Head Teacher Dave's perspective I believe is that grammar rules are innacurrate at best as there are always exceptions and teaching is unnecessary as it will be instilled with practice. It is helpful though to have the basic terminology to discuss specifics with other teachers.

JOB PREPARATION

True there was a large notebook on the front desk with ads from different schools and listing of schools. Most of the ads were not current. If one just came in and look at the ads I don't think they would have found it very promising but it really isn't that hard to find a job in Thailand. It is hard finding a good job. Legwork is necessary. A job won't land in your lap by doing nothing, but it doesn't take much to get a job. Having said that, I will state as of this time, four months post course or whatever and I haven't done jack in looking for a job in the educational sector but getting to know people I have been asked if I was looking for work by several folks in the industry after learning I took the course at Ban Phe. Hmm, that was a really bad example of a sentence.

Okay, as Dave mentioned, a goober recent past graduate came to the school to lecture about job Opportunities in Bangkok. I have not mentioned it, but I'm a banker by profession. I do my due diligence before a make a major decision like moving to Thailand. I quickly ascertained that this guy was bullshitting and while I'm sure some of the information was accurate it was impossible to discern what was actual information from what he was conjecturing. I could not confront him directly as my information in the educational sector was second hand from folks I have been conversing with over the net but have years of experience in Thailand. I could confront him on Visa misinformation he was disseminating. Specifically about expiration of the Non-Immigrant B Visa. When questioned, he adamantly claimed that he was correct and that I was wrong. Basically I have a multi-entry Non-Imm B visa. I was stamped for 90 days upon entering Thailand. Goober said that when my 90 days are up, my visa expires and I have to go to a consulate to get a new one. Blatantly false, Visa is good to enter Thailand up to it's expiration date. My expiration date is past 90 days, so all I have to do is exit and enter Thailand to get another 90 day stamp.

The weekend this goober came down to give us his useless lecture, there was a school expedition to JJ, the weekend market (chatachuk in BKK). Goober hitched a ride back to BKK in the van. He was so insulting to the driver I literally had to "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" him from the back of the van for almost a minute. All the thais and fellow students fell silent before he would shutup and let the driver drive. It was very embarrassing to be a farang with this guy.

This was not the only misinformation and/or obnoxious behavior. After four months there are a number of items I could list but there would not be any point.

I made a point to discuss this with everybody, staff and students, so hopefully this guy will not return.

ANNOYING REQUESTS TO PAY THE BALANCE

It was announced that the school would like you to pay your balance by a specific date. Don't remember the actual date, but I do remember it was three days from when they first requested balance payments. Well, the day they made the request (the first of the three days) I was asked no less than five times in a matter of a few hours if I had the last payment. I found this truly annoying and patronizing and made me wonder if this was really a fly-by-night outfit. Had the money in my room so I just paid it but it was very annoying. The school is not a fly-by-night outfit but was just unorganized.

MARKET

The Monday market in Ban Phe is cute but it's not 10 times smaller than jj (chatachuk). It's a gadjillion times smaller. JJ is just plain huge.

RAYONG

Hehe, Dave says Rayong is like a little suburb. Rayong is a major industrial town in Thailand.

You can lookup the actual city stats if you like but they have one huge ass mall. I didn't partake but being the dirty minded type of guy I did ferret out a few high-end MP, a low end place, local karaoke, and some interesting thai/japanese (?) type karaoke places, and some real dumps in Rayong. Places seem to be in disparate locations and you have to travel from one type of place to another. Really need a local to help you or just lots of time to walk around. Never felt unsafe in Rayong but I walked the city at night and notice places where I would feel uncomfortable if I didn't fit in.

It is extremely easy to get to Rayong and very cheap. Just take the songthows. Need to take two songthows to get to the mall but it is real easy and they can tell you how to do it at the school or just go with someone.

INSTRUCTORS

Buried here in the middle but hey, it's my supplement and not yours.

Head Instructor Dave: I feel the success of the school is largely due to this individual's efforts. It is evident he likes his subject and it reflects in his lessons. He makes it enjoyable for his students and it is a pleasure rather than a chore to go to class. He is current in the latest discussions in the industry. There is not much more praise I can place on Dave. The only criticism I have is that he can be a little less adamant about following the methodology towards the end of the course and let the students feel free to experiment.

Dave has set hours. If you don't do your stuff on time and need to ask him a question outside of his set hours, you are out of luck. Dave does communicate the hours he's around so I have no problems.

Steve: Okay, no bones about it, Steve can't teach this course for beans. Instruction largely consists of reading off a paper. Disorganized droning monotony gives you a good idea of how his lessons went. Interestingly enough, when you observe Steve with a Thai class, he was literally great. The ideal you would want to emulate. In front of us though, it was a different story.

Steve on the other hand lives at the school. Was available at all times (even when he wasn't supposed to be). One-on-one Steve was very good as you could narrow down and focus on what needed to be worked on. Many (most?) of the students were extremely glad to have Steve as many procrastinated or underestimated their time requirements and encountered problems during homework. Steve was almost always around to help out.

Erica: Dave covered that pretty well.

TEACHING PRACTICE

The schools inability to predict the Thai holidays (which I do assume are announced ahead of schedule) played havoq on our scheduling. Another example of disorganization. It is very sad that this place which I feel is a good value and solid in almost every way demeans itself by not being able to predict Thai holidays. Makes the school look shabby when it isn't.

All your teaching practices are monitored. 2 of your classes are videotaped and what happens is that you watch your videotape and critique yourself. So you really "monitor" yourself. I find this is bogus. I feel one should watch their video, write up their evaluation and then meet with staff (who also viewed or watched your class) to discuss the Teaching Practice.

SCHOOL FLEXIBILITY

Our class finished courses early. There were requests on supplemental lessons that the head teacher could teach us. We thus got an abbreviated course on Business English in Thailand. This was awesome. Whereas ItsMeDave did not feel he got a lot out of the 5-hour lesson, I felt I got alot as it gave me confidence to do my own thing with Business English if I so desired.

CONCLUSION

Have no regrets taking the course. Recommend it for anyone who is looking to change professions. Probably a waste for folks with professional teaching experience. A bit like high school and college. What you learn is generally not what your going to use in your job but it gives you the confidence and prepares you to stand in front of the class! Gives you tools you can work with albeit you probably will use other tools. All up to you. Definitely worthwhile. Very curious though that rough edges haven't been polished. Most especially scheduling. I can easily hypothesize why but it doesn't detract from the experience.

Side note, we had several professionals who actually currently teach in the US. They found the course beneficial. Interesting to see these professionals as they attempted to bring U.S. teaching SOP and utilize it in a Thai classroom. Some things worked and some things just didn't click.

Any questions, please feel free to contact me. Any critiques, go away. lol

<<burp>>

[CosmicSurfer]

Great... Thanks for the added info.

As I get closer to taking the next step in my new life any info that helps guide the way sure helps.

Khup Khun Krab

CS

[Guest]

Ditto what CS said. That was a very interesting piece, and so far everything I've heard from both Dave and you just gives me more confidence in the course, warts and all.

Thanks a lot.