Greetings from a very hot Bangkok (there was no so-called winter thus far).

As promised, I’m going to tell you more about my experiences in an English class in Thailand. Right at the beginning I want to mention that it is not nearly as rosy as some people may think. Sometimes it is a war zone; you have to choose carefully and you might get bruised, your honour might be damaged and you might be left tired of fighting. All of us working here had to learn the hard way.

If you are lucky like me, you get a job where you can live to the full and where you can be relatively happy. You keep yourself aside, do your job and, as I always say, play their game your way. Thais play games with us for their own entertainment. Very few Thai teachers like the “foreigners” and it is very difficult to share a classroom with them, because they regard us negatively.

Where I work in the International English programme at a private school, I am the teacher (not a Thai) and I have a Philippine assistant. It is very nice because the Philippines’ English is very good and most of them can speak Thai as well. Our students follow an intensive English programme where they mostly may speak English only; only in the Thai language classes and during breaks they are allowed to speak Thai. It is a very effective way to learn English.

When I got the new Kindergarten 3 group (five and six year olds) at the beginning of the year, their English was limited to a few words and (perhaps) the alphabet. We are now done with three quarters of the year and they never stop speaking English. What is nice is that they sound exactly like ordinary English children when they sing. It is fun to teach this age group because they want to learn. This is my second group. Last year’s group has successfully concluded the year and this year’s group will be outstanding. I teach two Kindergarten 3 classes (K3) and together they are 43 students. Quite manageable.

Here I have to interrupt myself. There are broadly three types of schools: Government schools, private schools like mine (which are managed like businesses, with directors who want to see profits and who do not care for actual teaching) and real international schools (with foreign influence although the managers are still Thai).

It is not nice to work at government schools. Their teaching methods are outdated, there is no progress in classroom equipment and they regard people like us as an irritation rather than help. Thai teachers often do not speak proper English, or they do not speak it at all. They teach the students English grammar and then the “foreigners” have to teach them conversational English. The problem is that the children can read, but they don’t understand what they read because the Thais cannot teach meaning. The students also do not learn to write English on their own, because in the Thai’s classrooms they just copy everything from the board without explanation – pages and pages. So you have to have nerves of steel when working for a government school.

At the schools where we work, we are treated like slaves. You are expected to work, but you are almost never provided with any information about events before it is too late. You often find out accidentally what you have to do or should have done. In the classrooms where we are class teachers, we are free to present lessons as we may think fit. We have a TV screen for showing videos related to the lessons. It is a valuable tool for teaching vocabulary and I don’t know if I will ever be able to teach without it again. Government schools don’t have it at all. Most of them still have old-fashioned blackboards; in all our classes there are whiteboards. The Thais are very strict about marking books as soon as lessons are over. You have to use your free periods for marking books, planning lessons and performing other tasks imposed on you.

However, I found my feet; I stand aside and do what the students’ parents expect me to do – I teach the students to speak English. This is my second year at the same school and I really enjoy the kids. I teach Science, English grammar simplified for the Thai children and Drama. These subjects are actually used to expand the students’ vocabulary, but it also extends their general knowledge. It is not easy to win Thai children’s goodwill, but if you make the classes interesting and prevent them from getting bored, you win. Our students’ parents pay a fortune to get their children in the programme, therefore there is pressure on them to perform. There is not even one full-fledged Thai child in my group of 21. They are half Chinese, half Japanese and half Indian; therefore they are totally different from the Thai children. They are curious and motivated, while the Thai children are often lazy, want to be spoon-fed and have no motivation to learn English.

My spouse and I came here in 2012 as part of a group of 22 South Africans. Only six of the group are still here in Thailand. It is not easy, but if you can ignore the Thai’s cultural narrowness, overlook their attitude towards you and only focus on your students, then you will be able to survive for a while. Most people get tired of the constant tension because you never know what is happening from day to day. The only sure thing is your lessons, because at schools like ours you get proper books from which you can plan lessons. In government schools you only get vague guidelines. Furthermore, you should not expect things to be done as in the West. One of the subjects at the college where we study deals with the differences between Eastern and Western civilisation. It provides insight into the huge difference between the two groups. If you understand that the two are as far apart as the North and South Pole, then you can start living a pretty balanced life here.

I enjoy going to work every day because I know I can make a difference, albeit on a very small scale. In the afternoon when I go home, I know I did my best under very difficult circumstances. I focus on the positive and do not kick against the pricks. The children are very cute and we give them everything they do not get at home because of their culture. In our classrooms they are allowed to ask questions and they may differ from the teachers if necessary. They are not psychologically bullied and they are taught that it’s okay to sometimes make mistakes. You learn from your mistakes.

A complex society like the one in Thailand teaches you that every country and culture has its problems and that people every day try their best under their own unique circumstances.

My feeling is that people like us will not do this job much longer. There is great pressure on the Department of Education to rather train Thai to teach English. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), similar to the European Union, was established this year and the general feeling is that more Filipinos, who are part of ASEAN, should be used to fulfil this role. Most Filipinos have degrees and many of them are trained teachers.

We therefore prepare ourselves to move on. In 2016 we will finish our studies and will then investigate other possibilities. We are following a nice adventurous way.

I hope you found this short series interesting.

Also read:
How to become an English teacher in Thailand