And so all good things must come to an end. It is now only a couple of days before I start at the new school and confront the chaos that will no doubt confront me.
For the last few weeks I have actually been home to remind myself of what my family looks like and them what I look like. Of course within two days all the old foibles and behavioural traits that make you made at your family start to surface again. For reasons of cost and practicality I was living with my family whcih made it even worse. I couldnt even say "ok, nice to see you, I am going back to my place now." Sometimes even moving rooms didnt help as within a few minutes someone would appear to find out what I was doing. If I went out, I got the where are you going, meeting someone nice, oooh that will be nice, did you have a good time, when will you be back..... interrogation. My god, my family still thinks I am 6 years old!!
Going round the city centre it seems to have changed quite a bit. There seems to be more hotels, bars and restaurants than ever before. The number of national shop "chains" has definately increased and a lot of the independent shops have closed and been replaced with the anonymous corporate brand image. Thankfully the number of "traditionally authentic" Irish pubs have not increased.
One thing I would like to have done was go round to my sisters a lot more because she has got broadband. Hmmm :) Soulseek is all I will say to you. I only had a little time to use it but it seems to be a better altenative to Kazaa and the like. From what I can see, it has no spy or scumware on it. Still, even with that little time, I managed to download an almost full cd of mp3 songs that I only have on vinyl.
In someways going back was great as you didnt need to bother about the language, you knew everything was going to cost X - even if X is a damm sight more expensive than Thailand. People had the same sort of sense of humour, you didnt need to explain any ironic comment. ( How many thais can you say that about?)
British tv hasnt really improved since I left. Satellite ( Sky ) tv is a full time job trying to find something interesting - at least it sometimes felt like that. It seems to be full of reality shows of one sort or another - house makeover, garden makeover, beauty makeover, job reality programs, and the adverts are all about selling ringtones for mobile phones or personal finance loans for debt reduction.
Some of the wierder ones are those selling stuff or quiz channels where you can win 50 pouns or higher if you phone a premium rate number costing you 1.50 pound a time. Of course they say, they only select one or two people every 5 minutes to actually get on air and answer the question and the more times you phone, the higher the chance of getting on air. Yeh right. They are probably making mega profits on the premium rate phone calls and giving away about 10% of revenue for prizes.
Most of the weather was pretty cold at home - a definite change to here. Some of it was the good cold, that crisp cold you get with blue skies and sun. Unfortunately, it was also the other cold. That raw hard cold that comes down from artic and will cold burn your ears off while blasting your face with 45 degree cold sllet or rain. And yes, one afternoon it actually snowed. Not for long or big flakes but it snowed. I must remember that feeling in the next few weeks when I am waiting for a skytrain drenched in sweat from merely being outside.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
The Old School
OK, it's been a while since I have posted but as there is very little going on I haven’t really had a reason to post anything!
But to help fill the gap here is a warts and all analysis of the school I worked at.
Good
The rooms we worked in were ours ( with a couple of exceptions ), so we could kit them out really how we wanted. We could put work up on the walls, change the seating arrangements whenever we wanted and so on without someone coming along the next period and changing it back.
The rooms were all air con. A big plus come well actually all year round but especially in the crucial hot and steamy months of June – August ish.
The rooms did have a tape player, tv and video recorder. So I could, if I wanted, play videos for the kids but also play tapes from the books to save my voice and also reinforce the idea that people can speak English slightly differently from the teacher.
The school was actually near my flat so I didn’t need to bother about traffic jams and the like.
We did have the option of having the free school lunch or buying something out the pay canteen or buying something outside. Sometimes the free lunch was actually pretty nice.
We eventually got 4 pcs that we could use for the internet or typing lesson plans or .. actually mostly just using the internet. Which meant I could download a whole load of programs and stuff for free and more importantly quickly onto my flash drive and then take them home.
Most of the buildings were pretty modern so it wasn’t some Dickensian atmosphere with dark damp dungeons and coal cellars.
Bad
The rooms did have a tape player, tv and video recorder. This sometimes meant that if other teachers were playing videos all the time, my kids would get to know abput it and every time they went into the class they would chant “tv” “tv” tv” and sometimes even start moving all the desks and sitting on the floor in front of the tv.
The pcs were behind the school firewall so sometimes programs like yahoo went down. It also meant peer to peer programs didn’t work so no kazaa, grokster and so on.
The staffroom was a bit cramped so it was sometimes difficult to move around if somebody had moved their chair to talk with someone else.
The staffroom was tucked away in a little corner in the school grounds so there was very little interactivity between us and the thai teachers. As a general rule we didn’t go into their staffroom and they didn’t go into ours. Which was good in a way, as it gave us space but overall probably harmed us more by not breaking down the barriers between us. It will be interesting to see what happens this coming year when the teachers are all together.
Although the buildings were modern they did share a common problem with other thai buildings and architecture. Sound. Everything was bare stone or wood. The concept of sound baffling definitely seems to have escaped thais. Every room, every corridor, every stairwell reflected, increased sound. It didn’t take many kids talking to raise the noise level to what in the uk could be called legally deafening and requiring ear protectors.
Every so often like every other Thai school we would turn up at the classes and find out that there was no one there. They had been called away for a meeting or activity of some sort. This was sometimes 5 minutes or all lesson but usually we had no idea and just had to wing it.
Mixed.
The Thai teachers. This was a bit funny as it depended on the individuals on both sides. As I said before, the location of our staffroom was not the best as it was in a corner away from all the other staffrooms and I think many people walked by the door without realising that we were actually inside. Some of the teachers wouldn’t return smiles, some would totally blank you every day, some would return smiles and nothing else, some would gradually start to talk to you and so on.
But to help fill the gap here is a warts and all analysis of the school I worked at.
Good
The rooms we worked in were ours ( with a couple of exceptions ), so we could kit them out really how we wanted. We could put work up on the walls, change the seating arrangements whenever we wanted and so on without someone coming along the next period and changing it back.
The rooms were all air con. A big plus come well actually all year round but especially in the crucial hot and steamy months of June – August ish.
The rooms did have a tape player, tv and video recorder. So I could, if I wanted, play videos for the kids but also play tapes from the books to save my voice and also reinforce the idea that people can speak English slightly differently from the teacher.
The school was actually near my flat so I didn’t need to bother about traffic jams and the like.
We did have the option of having the free school lunch or buying something out the pay canteen or buying something outside. Sometimes the free lunch was actually pretty nice.
We eventually got 4 pcs that we could use for the internet or typing lesson plans or .. actually mostly just using the internet. Which meant I could download a whole load of programs and stuff for free and more importantly quickly onto my flash drive and then take them home.
Most of the buildings were pretty modern so it wasn’t some Dickensian atmosphere with dark damp dungeons and coal cellars.
Bad
The rooms did have a tape player, tv and video recorder. This sometimes meant that if other teachers were playing videos all the time, my kids would get to know abput it and every time they went into the class they would chant “tv” “tv” tv” and sometimes even start moving all the desks and sitting on the floor in front of the tv.
The pcs were behind the school firewall so sometimes programs like yahoo went down. It also meant peer to peer programs didn’t work so no kazaa, grokster and so on.
The staffroom was a bit cramped so it was sometimes difficult to move around if somebody had moved their chair to talk with someone else.
The staffroom was tucked away in a little corner in the school grounds so there was very little interactivity between us and the thai teachers. As a general rule we didn’t go into their staffroom and they didn’t go into ours. Which was good in a way, as it gave us space but overall probably harmed us more by not breaking down the barriers between us. It will be interesting to see what happens this coming year when the teachers are all together.
Although the buildings were modern they did share a common problem with other thai buildings and architecture. Sound. Everything was bare stone or wood. The concept of sound baffling definitely seems to have escaped thais. Every room, every corridor, every stairwell reflected, increased sound. It didn’t take many kids talking to raise the noise level to what in the uk could be called legally deafening and requiring ear protectors.
Every so often like every other Thai school we would turn up at the classes and find out that there was no one there. They had been called away for a meeting or activity of some sort. This was sometimes 5 minutes or all lesson but usually we had no idea and just had to wing it.
Mixed.
The Thai teachers. This was a bit funny as it depended on the individuals on both sides. As I said before, the location of our staffroom was not the best as it was in a corner away from all the other staffrooms and I think many people walked by the door without realising that we were actually inside. Some of the teachers wouldn’t return smiles, some would totally blank you every day, some would return smiles and nothing else, some would gradually start to talk to you and so on.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Interview Merry Go Rounds
The merry go round continues although it looks like I have landed a decent job at a school. I wont name it for obvious reasons.
People complain sometimes about employers and schools not knowing what they are doing but sometimes teachers really dont help themselves. I went for an interview last week and it tirned out to be an agency who would be employing teachers and then contracting them out to a school.
The first interview was with the agency and the second with the school. During my first interview the woman who was interviewing me kept on answering the phone every five minutes or had people coming in and out of the office to give her things or to take away things. Which meant that it was really really distracting and no real flow happened with the interview. Somehow I passed the test and got the second interview. As it happened it was a group interview. There were five of us who turned up including one guy who was there in a casual shirt, some sort of neck thong thingy with a tribal talisman dangling from it. He also didnt have his passport, original degree or his TESOL Cert despite being asked for it. How do I know he was asked for it? Well, his was one of the phone calls that was answered during my interview.
The agency girl had a chat with him and sent him home and then promtly told the rest of us she wouldnt be asking him back and who did he think he was turning up like that.
That may well of been her thoughts but not exactly professional to share that with us was it? I wonder if anything else was being said behind our backs when we werent there.
I am trying to get home at the moment, but its turning out more difficult than I thought. Many Airlines are full and this is the strange thing. It isnt the leg from Bangkok to XXXX Its the connecting leg to get me home. Which is very strange because I wouldnt have thought that connecting leg would be all that busy, so its looks like I might be staying a while longer here and more or less coming back and going straight to work ( give or take a day ). Not ideal I suppose but better than not getting home at all.
People complain sometimes about employers and schools not knowing what they are doing but sometimes teachers really dont help themselves. I went for an interview last week and it tirned out to be an agency who would be employing teachers and then contracting them out to a school.
The first interview was with the agency and the second with the school. During my first interview the woman who was interviewing me kept on answering the phone every five minutes or had people coming in and out of the office to give her things or to take away things. Which meant that it was really really distracting and no real flow happened with the interview. Somehow I passed the test and got the second interview. As it happened it was a group interview. There were five of us who turned up including one guy who was there in a casual shirt, some sort of neck thong thingy with a tribal talisman dangling from it. He also didnt have his passport, original degree or his TESOL Cert despite being asked for it. How do I know he was asked for it? Well, his was one of the phone calls that was answered during my interview.
The agency girl had a chat with him and sent him home and then promtly told the rest of us she wouldnt be asking him back and who did he think he was turning up like that.
That may well of been her thoughts but not exactly professional to share that with us was it? I wonder if anything else was being said behind our backs when we werent there.
I am trying to get home at the moment, but its turning out more difficult than I thought. Many Airlines are full and this is the strange thing. It isnt the leg from Bangkok to XXXX Its the connecting leg to get me home. Which is very strange because I wouldnt have thought that connecting leg would be all that busy, so its looks like I might be staying a while longer here and more or less coming back and going straight to work ( give or take a day ). Not ideal I suppose but better than not getting home at all.
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Strange Feelings In Bangkok
I woke up this morning with a strange feeling.
No, not that sort you smutty dirty minded people!! :)
It is one of these strange feelings that you get when something ends. Something that for all the bitching I did, I sometimes had good times with. Is it relief, is it rapture, is it the absence of stress, the realisation of knowing that you will not put up with that particular set of fuckups ever again, the possibility of a cure to the madness you have suffered from over the previous academic year, a hangover, the lack of a hangover J ?. I really don’t know but there was a void. I didn’t have to get up for work anymore and go to the school or the office of the agency.
What to do? What to do? What can I do that will mean I don’t spend money at an unacceptable rate and will keep my liver intact or at least not decline any further. Stay at home and go to the pub every afternoon and evening and spend money and expand the waistline? Do I just grab some books and head to a beach? Grab a tv guide and stay in my room? Hmm, don’t really fancy any of those things on there own, so it will probably be a mix and match, a bit of tourist stuff in Bangkok, a few days away somewhere, a few days just staying round the neighbourhood, some interviews for new jobs. Of which more later.
Maybe a few days summer camp somewhere but not with the agency who were offering a full time camp at the princely rate of 1000B a day. Only a few hours teaching a day they say to tempt you in. Well, yes but then you have to hang around “supervising” the kids during outings and afternoon activities and then you can’t really go out because usually the camps are 15 miles out of the back of beyond and can’t get drunk as that would be an unacceptable roll model for the kids and you don’t really get any time to yourself as you share a room with anywhere from 1 to 5 other teachers. So maybe not. Then there seems to be an increase in the number of full time camps. By that I mean for the entire summer holidays. Work all year round with kids and then during your holidays work with some more kids? No thanks. I need a break and I don’t mean just a long weekend.
Now back to jobs. To enable me to vent the old spleen during the holiday, what I will do is have a look at ajarn and crucify some of the job adverts.
On a personal front, it seems that I have a job lined up through a friend of a friend deal. Or at least lined up as much as anything can be without me having an interview or seeing the school or ……..
No, not that sort you smutty dirty minded people!! :)
It is one of these strange feelings that you get when something ends. Something that for all the bitching I did, I sometimes had good times with. Is it relief, is it rapture, is it the absence of stress, the realisation of knowing that you will not put up with that particular set of fuckups ever again, the possibility of a cure to the madness you have suffered from over the previous academic year, a hangover, the lack of a hangover J ?. I really don’t know but there was a void. I didn’t have to get up for work anymore and go to the school or the office of the agency.
What to do? What to do? What can I do that will mean I don’t spend money at an unacceptable rate and will keep my liver intact or at least not decline any further. Stay at home and go to the pub every afternoon and evening and spend money and expand the waistline? Do I just grab some books and head to a beach? Grab a tv guide and stay in my room? Hmm, don’t really fancy any of those things on there own, so it will probably be a mix and match, a bit of tourist stuff in Bangkok, a few days away somewhere, a few days just staying round the neighbourhood, some interviews for new jobs. Of which more later.
Maybe a few days summer camp somewhere but not with the agency who were offering a full time camp at the princely rate of 1000B a day. Only a few hours teaching a day they say to tempt you in. Well, yes but then you have to hang around “supervising” the kids during outings and afternoon activities and then you can’t really go out because usually the camps are 15 miles out of the back of beyond and can’t get drunk as that would be an unacceptable roll model for the kids and you don’t really get any time to yourself as you share a room with anywhere from 1 to 5 other teachers. So maybe not. Then there seems to be an increase in the number of full time camps. By that I mean for the entire summer holidays. Work all year round with kids and then during your holidays work with some more kids? No thanks. I need a break and I don’t mean just a long weekend.
Now back to jobs. To enable me to vent the old spleen during the holiday, what I will do is have a look at ajarn and crucify some of the job adverts.
On a personal front, it seems that I have a job lined up through a friend of a friend deal. Or at least lined up as much as anything can be without me having an interview or seeing the school or ……..
Saturday, March 19, 2005
On Parole
And so the end of the prison cell existence has ended and we are out on parole.
I say parole because officially we still work for the agency until the contract ends on March 31st and then we need to wait for the rest of the salary and the bonus. The last couple of days were really dragging and it got to the point where the final morning was just excruciating. It seemed to be that because we were so near release that every second seemed to last hours.
We even had a fairwell party that consisted of pizza and coke. Wow. They really pushed the boat out on that didnt they! What was quite sad was that the bosses all suddenly appeared and dispite the fact that they ( ie King of the Walking Cadavers ) hadnt spoken to us at all for the two weeks we were there they came in and had the pizza and deigned to share the same room. They still didnt speak to us though!!
After that it was the farewell speech and the awards. One for best attendence and one for the teacher of the year. This prize was a 500Baht voucher for a book store. Wow and again I say wow. Their generosity underwhealms me completely. 500B for a "good" years work. Pathetic.
It turns out that nobody has got a job with the agency for next year. They have a couple of vacancies but at the 30 -32k a month level. That would mean a salary cut for everyone and for some, a 10,000 a month cut. Nobody is going to accept that. Which means they are going to have a load of inexperienced straight off the plane teachers working for them. Oh well. Its their funeral.
The next few weeks are going to be fairly quiet. No idea what I am going to do and where I am going to be. Back to square one as that was the situation I faced when I first arrived here all those years ago.
Lets see what happens.
I say parole because officially we still work for the agency until the contract ends on March 31st and then we need to wait for the rest of the salary and the bonus. The last couple of days were really dragging and it got to the point where the final morning was just excruciating. It seemed to be that because we were so near release that every second seemed to last hours.
We even had a fairwell party that consisted of pizza and coke. Wow. They really pushed the boat out on that didnt they! What was quite sad was that the bosses all suddenly appeared and dispite the fact that they ( ie King of the Walking Cadavers ) hadnt spoken to us at all for the two weeks we were there they came in and had the pizza and deigned to share the same room. They still didnt speak to us though!!
After that it was the farewell speech and the awards. One for best attendence and one for the teacher of the year. This prize was a 500Baht voucher for a book store. Wow and again I say wow. Their generosity underwhealms me completely. 500B for a "good" years work. Pathetic.
It turns out that nobody has got a job with the agency for next year. They have a couple of vacancies but at the 30 -32k a month level. That would mean a salary cut for everyone and for some, a 10,000 a month cut. Nobody is going to accept that. Which means they are going to have a load of inexperienced straight off the plane teachers working for them. Oh well. Its their funeral.
The next few weeks are going to be fairly quiet. No idea what I am going to do and where I am going to be. Back to square one as that was the situation I faced when I first arrived here all those years ago.
Lets see what happens.
Monday, March 14, 2005
Almost Free
The days continue to drag as we sit around the office wasting time and waiting for release from the misery.
The agency is being quite sneaky in their attempts to get us to do “make work”. The FUD comes into the room and says the corporate manager is wanting to have a meeting to discuss work. It was phrased in such a way to suggest that it would be work next year. Of course, the more suspicious were saying that it would be not real work but more make work. The key test would be if the boss appeared with lots of papers in his hands.
The meeting starts and the boss has lots of papers and sure enough, that meant make work. He basically wants us to create a new 40 hour course with materials. Not only that we were to give a 1 hour lesson to the other members of staff!! Why we would have to deliver a sample lesson I am not too sure. A couple of people are going to do the silent rebel bit and appear to do something but in the end do nothing. Other tasks that have been invented are laminating worksheets, cataloging text books in the library, organising and putting into binders the worksheets that were taken out of binders when we moved etc etc.
Through the week the boundaries were being gently stretched or in one case being stretched to it's upmost and today was the same. A couple of people basically turned up and then disappeared about 10ish. The FUD then gave them a phone call to find out just where they were and to make a reappearance promptly.
Apparently he has been getting stick from the MD of the agency and Dracula or King of the Undead or The Corpse, well you get the idea. We are not absolutely sure just what title he has but it's something along the lines of Operations Manager, which essentially means he is No3 or 2 in the business.
This is the twat that supposedly suggested in meetings that we should be forced to sit around in the office doing sod all until the end of contract because “that is what we are paid for”. The thought of us getting paid holidays is appalling him. It's almost as though the money we are being paid is coming directly out of his personal pocket. Which is quite interesting, because according to rumour, he is loaded. Old money i.e. landed gentry. No title but supposedly he has a large income from very expensive London property. He actually talks like an old fashioned toff and a perfect gentleman but he is actually quite a back stabbing, two faced twat. Which is probably why he fits in so well there.
The job hunt continues. Which unfortunately means I am going to have to give up my visa as the school is going to cancel it on March 31. This means I need to reapply for one. I suppose it won't matter that much if the consulate is as relaxed as the last time I was there but its extra money I didnt want to spend and just another added complication.
The agency is being quite sneaky in their attempts to get us to do “make work”. The FUD comes into the room and says the corporate manager is wanting to have a meeting to discuss work. It was phrased in such a way to suggest that it would be work next year. Of course, the more suspicious were saying that it would be not real work but more make work. The key test would be if the boss appeared with lots of papers in his hands.
The meeting starts and the boss has lots of papers and sure enough, that meant make work. He basically wants us to create a new 40 hour course with materials. Not only that we were to give a 1 hour lesson to the other members of staff!! Why we would have to deliver a sample lesson I am not too sure. A couple of people are going to do the silent rebel bit and appear to do something but in the end do nothing. Other tasks that have been invented are laminating worksheets, cataloging text books in the library, organising and putting into binders the worksheets that were taken out of binders when we moved etc etc.
Through the week the boundaries were being gently stretched or in one case being stretched to it's upmost and today was the same. A couple of people basically turned up and then disappeared about 10ish. The FUD then gave them a phone call to find out just where they were and to make a reappearance promptly.
Apparently he has been getting stick from the MD of the agency and Dracula or King of the Undead or The Corpse, well you get the idea. We are not absolutely sure just what title he has but it's something along the lines of Operations Manager, which essentially means he is No3 or 2 in the business.
This is the twat that supposedly suggested in meetings that we should be forced to sit around in the office doing sod all until the end of contract because “that is what we are paid for”. The thought of us getting paid holidays is appalling him. It's almost as though the money we are being paid is coming directly out of his personal pocket. Which is quite interesting, because according to rumour, he is loaded. Old money i.e. landed gentry. No title but supposedly he has a large income from very expensive London property. He actually talks like an old fashioned toff and a perfect gentleman but he is actually quite a back stabbing, two faced twat. Which is probably why he fits in so well there.
The job hunt continues. Which unfortunately means I am going to have to give up my visa as the school is going to cancel it on March 31. This means I need to reapply for one. I suppose it won't matter that much if the consulate is as relaxed as the last time I was there but its extra money I didnt want to spend and just another added complication.
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Head Office Borezzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Our final last two weeks of purgatory has begun and the degradation mounts and mounts.
The 20 or so of us turn up at 8am on Monday for the “welcome meeting” and it turns out to be the FUD going "this is the kitchen", "this is the reception", "this is the toilet", we are shown into the two classrooms we are going to be occupying for the next two weeks. Right. Bets are immediately laid to see how long we get to keep the rooms because of the summer camps over the next two weeks. ( I lost, I thought we would have stayed longer in a room )
We all get sat down and the instructions given for the next two weeks. Well, umm, what you have to um do is ( look at floor ) write two um well um activities that um someone can use ( look at floor again ) next year and two that ( look at ceiling ) need materials right and er um next week you will be doing more of the same.
Believe me this is a shorter and far clearer version than he came out with.
Oh yes, not only that, we were told that we had two pcs that we could use to print out the material. But not yet, they had to tell someone to move out of that room. Good to see they had planned this.
Within a couple of hours two pcs had been changed to one pc. Supposedly this was because of sensitive data on the hard drive. Umm, new windows xp user profile anyone? Then it turns out that the pc isn’t connected to the printer, so we can’t print the materials. Good to see they had planned this part 2.
Yesterday they decided that we couldn’t access the internet through the company LAN because of sensitive data on the network. So what do they do? They buy a pay as you go internet access card from KSC!! Nice to see they trust us so much. Good to see they had planned this part 3.
Meanwhile during the “welcome meeting” it was announced that the two weeks would be full time i.e. no going home early or coming in late in other words the full day 8 til 4. this seems strange as normal practice at school was at the end of the day that people would just leave when teaching was finished and that if people had a big break during the day i.e. teaching periods 1 then 7 and 8 they could leave school and go home, do shopping or whatever they needed to do. Indeed it was OFFICIAL policy that we didn’t need to sign out at the end of the day, that we could sign out the following day when we came in. This soon evolved into not signing out – ever. Of course the previous two weeks we have been turning up 8ish, 9ish and leaving for home at 11ish or 12 ish.
So we have the situation that we are now on the premises longer than we were during a normal working week or the previous two weeks when we have not been working!!!
Now during the day what are we doing? Umm, not a lot actually. In fact absolutely sod all to be honest. The 10 minutes work to produce the worksheets have been done by some people others have been “strategically thinking about the big idea”. In other words sod all until the deadline of Friday when it has to be completed by. Most of us are just reading newspapers, playing computer games on laptops, doing crosswords, seeing how long a lunch we can get away with and so on.
So far, its been 4 room changes, I wonder how many more times we have to move things out the way.
I was talking to another teacher last week and he had a right old go at me for my negative attitude about the agency and the FUD and that I was moaning about having to sit around doing nothing for two weeks. His take on it was basically it was my fault I have a negative attitude to the agency, the FUD and that I carried that into the classroom and the agency had never done anything to him. I should be grateful for the chance to do nothing over the next two weeks and get paid for it. I pointed out that given the choice I would gladly do real and useful training but nope, he wouldn’t have that. He kept on hammering the point that as I was allowing myself to get depressed it was all my fault.
Now to a certain extent I can agree with that, putting the positive spin on things and making the best of what you have etc etc. But, when you have worked for an agency for 2 ½ years you get to see the heart and mind of an operation. This agency has no heart and certainly no mind. It is petty, money grabbing, cynical and you could argue mentally abusive. Now, some may see this as a negative, I tend to see my viewpoint as realistic. I can see the emperors’ new clothes!
This guy makes the claim that he never gets tired of anything, that his daily routine is never boring etc etc. He never lets anyone with a negative attitude change his attitude and no one should allow that to happen. He wouldn’t allow anyone to change his attitude. I asked him, if he had a great boss who was really enthusiastic, knowledgable etc would that raise his game. He said yes. Ah ha! I said so you do allow other people to influence your attitude. Yes, but only the positive ones. So would you allow the concept that a negative boss could influence people? No, it's your fault.
I asked him if he had his favourite meal all the time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, did exactly the same thing everyday would he get bored with it? He answered no. just to check the point I argued that human nature needs change, it needs new things to learn, to prevent boredom etc. He said no, that’s rubbish. If that’s the case why do we move countries to work, why do we go to university, why do we change jobs etc etc. He would just not be having any of that. In the end I almost felt like belting him one, not only for refusing to acknowledge my points but also he was always interrupting me, not allowing me to finish my point and talking over me. That’s what I call a negative approach.
Lets see what the next few days bring along.
The 20 or so of us turn up at 8am on Monday for the “welcome meeting” and it turns out to be the FUD going "this is the kitchen", "this is the reception", "this is the toilet", we are shown into the two classrooms we are going to be occupying for the next two weeks. Right. Bets are immediately laid to see how long we get to keep the rooms because of the summer camps over the next two weeks. ( I lost, I thought we would have stayed longer in a room )
We all get sat down and the instructions given for the next two weeks. Well, umm, what you have to um do is ( look at floor ) write two um well um activities that um someone can use ( look at floor again ) next year and two that ( look at ceiling ) need materials right and er um next week you will be doing more of the same.
Believe me this is a shorter and far clearer version than he came out with.
Oh yes, not only that, we were told that we had two pcs that we could use to print out the material. But not yet, they had to tell someone to move out of that room. Good to see they had planned this.
Within a couple of hours two pcs had been changed to one pc. Supposedly this was because of sensitive data on the hard drive. Umm, new windows xp user profile anyone? Then it turns out that the pc isn’t connected to the printer, so we can’t print the materials. Good to see they had planned this part 2.
Yesterday they decided that we couldn’t access the internet through the company LAN because of sensitive data on the network. So what do they do? They buy a pay as you go internet access card from KSC!! Nice to see they trust us so much. Good to see they had planned this part 3.
Meanwhile during the “welcome meeting” it was announced that the two weeks would be full time i.e. no going home early or coming in late in other words the full day 8 til 4. this seems strange as normal practice at school was at the end of the day that people would just leave when teaching was finished and that if people had a big break during the day i.e. teaching periods 1 then 7 and 8 they could leave school and go home, do shopping or whatever they needed to do. Indeed it was OFFICIAL policy that we didn’t need to sign out at the end of the day, that we could sign out the following day when we came in. This soon evolved into not signing out – ever. Of course the previous two weeks we have been turning up 8ish, 9ish and leaving for home at 11ish or 12 ish.
So we have the situation that we are now on the premises longer than we were during a normal working week or the previous two weeks when we have not been working!!!
Now during the day what are we doing? Umm, not a lot actually. In fact absolutely sod all to be honest. The 10 minutes work to produce the worksheets have been done by some people others have been “strategically thinking about the big idea”. In other words sod all until the deadline of Friday when it has to be completed by. Most of us are just reading newspapers, playing computer games on laptops, doing crosswords, seeing how long a lunch we can get away with and so on.
So far, its been 4 room changes, I wonder how many more times we have to move things out the way.
I was talking to another teacher last week and he had a right old go at me for my negative attitude about the agency and the FUD and that I was moaning about having to sit around doing nothing for two weeks. His take on it was basically it was my fault I have a negative attitude to the agency, the FUD and that I carried that into the classroom and the agency had never done anything to him. I should be grateful for the chance to do nothing over the next two weeks and get paid for it. I pointed out that given the choice I would gladly do real and useful training but nope, he wouldn’t have that. He kept on hammering the point that as I was allowing myself to get depressed it was all my fault.
Now to a certain extent I can agree with that, putting the positive spin on things and making the best of what you have etc etc. But, when you have worked for an agency for 2 ½ years you get to see the heart and mind of an operation. This agency has no heart and certainly no mind. It is petty, money grabbing, cynical and you could argue mentally abusive. Now, some may see this as a negative, I tend to see my viewpoint as realistic. I can see the emperors’ new clothes!
This guy makes the claim that he never gets tired of anything, that his daily routine is never boring etc etc. He never lets anyone with a negative attitude change his attitude and no one should allow that to happen. He wouldn’t allow anyone to change his attitude. I asked him, if he had a great boss who was really enthusiastic, knowledgable etc would that raise his game. He said yes. Ah ha! I said so you do allow other people to influence your attitude. Yes, but only the positive ones. So would you allow the concept that a negative boss could influence people? No, it's your fault.
I asked him if he had his favourite meal all the time for breakfast, lunch and dinner, did exactly the same thing everyday would he get bored with it? He answered no. just to check the point I argued that human nature needs change, it needs new things to learn, to prevent boredom etc. He said no, that’s rubbish. If that’s the case why do we move countries to work, why do we go to university, why do we change jobs etc etc. He would just not be having any of that. In the end I almost felt like belting him one, not only for refusing to acknowledge my points but also he was always interrupting me, not allowing me to finish my point and talking over me. That’s what I call a negative approach.
Lets see what the next few days bring along.
Friday, March 04, 2005
End of Bangkok Schools Days
And so it ends.
Not with a bang but a whimper and a soft one at that. We walked out of school today never to return again. Not one of the 20 teachers has been offered a job by the incoming administration and it seems not one of the teachers has been offered a job by the agency.
Of course the FUD & little FUD have jobs with the agency. They made damm sure of that, but us? Nah, we are little people, small insignificant little cogs that can be changed and replaced at any time without thought or planning.
It seems that the schools they do have contracts for are small ones with one or two teachers and some are in Nothaburi, Thonburi etc at 30K a month. Nah, not for me. I don’t really want to move out of Bangkok itself. As the FUD admitted himself, at that level of pay they are looking for unqualified teachers who don’t know any better or who cant get anything better. Sums up the whole attitude of the system here in many ways. They want the system to improve but don’t want to pay the money to get proper teachers.
By 10.00am today already half the teachers had gone home and the remainder straggled out until … no idea. I wasn’t the last to depart by any means so it could have been 11am or 12pm or 1pm.
It is going to be interesting to see what they are going to do with us over the next two weeks. Supposedly there is a welcome meeting for us at 8am on Monday in the agency head office. A welcome meeting?!?! Why?? To welcome us to the last two pathetic weeks of make work? Apparently the teams and assignments for the work has already been made up and all will be revealed on Monday. And no slacking off early! We might be allowed like 90 minutes for lunch but it's going to be 8 til 4 every day. Yeh right. Where’s my sarcasm smiley?
Another wonderful suggestion surfaced today. The agency is running a summer camp in the office so if anyone wants to teach 9 til 12 they can then leave for the day. Whooooo!! Yes lets teach a bunch of uninterested kids 3 hours a day UNPAID just so that we can leave at midday.
I think not part 2.
The job hunt continues with no further news.
Not with a bang but a whimper and a soft one at that. We walked out of school today never to return again. Not one of the 20 teachers has been offered a job by the incoming administration and it seems not one of the teachers has been offered a job by the agency.
Of course the FUD & little FUD have jobs with the agency. They made damm sure of that, but us? Nah, we are little people, small insignificant little cogs that can be changed and replaced at any time without thought or planning.
It seems that the schools they do have contracts for are small ones with one or two teachers and some are in Nothaburi, Thonburi etc at 30K a month. Nah, not for me. I don’t really want to move out of Bangkok itself. As the FUD admitted himself, at that level of pay they are looking for unqualified teachers who don’t know any better or who cant get anything better. Sums up the whole attitude of the system here in many ways. They want the system to improve but don’t want to pay the money to get proper teachers.
By 10.00am today already half the teachers had gone home and the remainder straggled out until … no idea. I wasn’t the last to depart by any means so it could have been 11am or 12pm or 1pm.
It is going to be interesting to see what they are going to do with us over the next two weeks. Supposedly there is a welcome meeting for us at 8am on Monday in the agency head office. A welcome meeting?!?! Why?? To welcome us to the last two pathetic weeks of make work? Apparently the teams and assignments for the work has already been made up and all will be revealed on Monday. And no slacking off early! We might be allowed like 90 minutes for lunch but it's going to be 8 til 4 every day. Yeh right. Where’s my sarcasm smiley?
Another wonderful suggestion surfaced today. The agency is running a summer camp in the office so if anyone wants to teach 9 til 12 they can then leave for the day. Whooooo!! Yes lets teach a bunch of uninterested kids 3 hours a day UNPAID just so that we can leave at midday.
I think not part 2.
The job hunt continues with no further news.
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Report Dozezzzzzzzz
Marking Dozezzzzzzzzz Again
The days are really dragging with all the marking finished and only 20 report cards still to mark. My forecast of the amount of time spent in the office is proving to be about right with the vast majority disappearing before lunchtime and not coming back.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Marking Dazezzzzzzzzzzzz
Two days into the marking and it's boring already. It's about half and half who has completed the marking and those who haven’t. So far, I have finished all the marking and made a start on the report cards.
Oh boy, are they a laugh. They always are, trying to think of as many different ways of saying
Somchai is not as thick as two short planks as that would give him more credit that he deserves. He possibly has as much common sense and intelligence as the shoe polish I put on my shoes this morning. Knowing Somchai he would actually probably try to eat the shoe polish thinking it was a new type of sweet cake.
My current favourite at the moment is that Somchai has made steady progress through the year. Of course, this hides a multitude of sins. What I mean on some of them is that he has made progress, at the end of the year he was remembering to bring pencils and books to class. Of course, sometimes I mean he did actually make some progress with his English!
As I said last week we had been told to turn up full time this week and next. I suppose predictably the first day there was a quiet revolt and most folk had departed the scene by about 1.30 in the afternoon.
Today was even worse with a mass disappearance by midday. I think it's going to get worse not better somehow. As well as that we have people turning up late. Surprisingly, the latest I noticed was just after 9.30am. But then again, there are a couple of people who didn’t turn up at all over the last couple of days.
As far as I am aware this still means they get a 2000Baht fine for going over their allotted sick days. This is something I really can’t figure as the couple of people involved are always going on about how much extra money they have to save or spend or their rent or whatever. But then they go and waste 2000B by not turning up in the easiest part of the year. Who knows!
One of the late guys is a guy that in his own words was a “senior manager in the aerospace industry for 20 years”. Unfortunately this guy is one of the most self obsessed individuals I have seen in a while. He seems to be totally self absorbed and unconscious to the effect that he has around him. Among his nicknames are “The Professor” and ‘Mr Slurpee”. He seems incapable of drinking or eating something without giving the full food expert effect of slurping a drink around his mouth or the food before swallowing it. He sometimes sounds like Skippy the Kangaroo. Where or when he got this habit I have no idea but eeeeuuuuuuuucccchhhhh! He also has the habit of sounding so supercilious when he is talking to people as though nobody is worth talking to.
One pleasant surprise was that beside the library rooms where we are based is a computer room that the kids use during term time – which basically means that we can go on the internet. Also because there are about 20 odd pcs it means that there is enough for everybody to go round, so no arguments of the “you’ve been on for 1 hour and I’ve been waiting...” type.
Tomorrow is Maha Bucha Day so an official holiday and see you all on Thursday.
Oh boy, are they a laugh. They always are, trying to think of as many different ways of saying
Somchai is not as thick as two short planks as that would give him more credit that he deserves. He possibly has as much common sense and intelligence as the shoe polish I put on my shoes this morning. Knowing Somchai he would actually probably try to eat the shoe polish thinking it was a new type of sweet cake.
My current favourite at the moment is that Somchai has made steady progress through the year. Of course, this hides a multitude of sins. What I mean on some of them is that he has made progress, at the end of the year he was remembering to bring pencils and books to class. Of course, sometimes I mean he did actually make some progress with his English!
As I said last week we had been told to turn up full time this week and next. I suppose predictably the first day there was a quiet revolt and most folk had departed the scene by about 1.30 in the afternoon.
Today was even worse with a mass disappearance by midday. I think it's going to get worse not better somehow. As well as that we have people turning up late. Surprisingly, the latest I noticed was just after 9.30am. But then again, there are a couple of people who didn’t turn up at all over the last couple of days.
As far as I am aware this still means they get a 2000Baht fine for going over their allotted sick days. This is something I really can’t figure as the couple of people involved are always going on about how much extra money they have to save or spend or their rent or whatever. But then they go and waste 2000B by not turning up in the easiest part of the year. Who knows!
One of the late guys is a guy that in his own words was a “senior manager in the aerospace industry for 20 years”. Unfortunately this guy is one of the most self obsessed individuals I have seen in a while. He seems to be totally self absorbed and unconscious to the effect that he has around him. Among his nicknames are “The Professor” and ‘Mr Slurpee”. He seems incapable of drinking or eating something without giving the full food expert effect of slurping a drink around his mouth or the food before swallowing it. He sometimes sounds like Skippy the Kangaroo. Where or when he got this habit I have no idea but eeeeuuuuuuuucccchhhhh! He also has the habit of sounding so supercilious when he is talking to people as though nobody is worth talking to.
One pleasant surprise was that beside the library rooms where we are based is a computer room that the kids use during term time – which basically means that we can go on the internet. Also because there are about 20 odd pcs it means that there is enough for everybody to go round, so no arguments of the “you’ve been on for 1 hour and I’ve been waiting...” type.
Tomorrow is Maha Bucha Day so an official holiday and see you all on Thursday.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
Last Day of Teaching & More Contract Details
Last day was spent just playing games with the kids and some of them were alright, some of them were just out of control and didn’t want to listen even to instructions on how to play. Idiots. They knew they would be getting something special as I told them not to bring books., immediately of course they started to go apeshit. As soon as they came into the room they moved all the chairs to in front of the tv. Why they thought they would be getting a video is beyond me as they have never got one all semester and they only had one or two lessons last semester.
It does look as though that will be the last time I ever see those kids as it appears that I am not going to get an interview with the school. Some who have applied have got interviews but I haven’t received a reply. Shame in a way but possibly it's good overall, stops the rut of the same old same old, new school environment etc etc
Drum roll please drummmmmmmmm tksssh!
We had the meeting to confirm what was happening for the rest of the semester and it was, in reality, quite boring with no major riots, arguments, storming of the gates, lynchings etc.
Whether it was deliberate or not it seems to have been that the rumours that were coming out last week were wide of the mark. There is no unpaid leave, no option to get away early etc. But the downside is that for the next two weeks we are going to have work full time in a couple of rooms off the school library. Hmmm. The rooms themselves are nice as meeting rooms but totally unsuitable for 20 teachers for two solid weeks. What are we doing during this time? Doing marking and writing report cards. OK. That takes care of 3 days if it's approached in even a slow but steady manner.
After that we have to work in the main offices preparing “Teaching Portfolios”. These are going to be used for the schools who have no resources or have very few. Riiiiight. Are these new schools? Exisiting schools? If they are existing schools surely the teachers there have created prepared some stuff. Also they know far better than we what year level and language level the kids are, what the class size is, what the school likes the teachers to do etc etc etc. Without knowing that, we could be preparing material that will never be used. In fact odds are, that is exactly what will happen. The work will go into a binder somewhere and never be looked at or used.
Basically the idea is to take the best ideas that we used during the year and write instructions on how to do the exercise. Now the question is, what was wrong with the material that we have been preparing, creating and using and storing in various binders during the school year? Apparently the answer is that they are not specific enough. Huh? They want more specific and detailed portfolios not just a scatter gun approach and the FUD is going to set up teams to create these. Wow, I can hardly wait.
Also because we are going to be in the main office we need to work full time and wear shirts and ties. Shirt and tie? Why? I didn’t wear a shirt and tie when I worked there at weekends. But no biggie I suppose. Full time for two weeks? Why? Again it really would take only a couple of days to do if it's approached in a steady manner. Traditionally the non contact time is reduced hours, something like 9 til 2. Why are they saying full time now? Who knows?
And on March 18 they are going to throw a party for us. A PARTY?!?! It will be interesting to see just how many people turn up as this is the last day of servitude and it will mean freedom – at least as far as turning up goes. They still hold the back pay over us and the end of year completion bonus will get paid at the end of April. So just for the moment, to stop burning bridges I wont name the names yet.
One other thing that came up was the announcement that there could be new schools for us to go to next year and that certain people had already been approached and offered jobs and that in the next couple of weeks more people would be approached. Age old story isn’t it.
The other thing that came up is that the school could and probably will cancel our visas on March 31 which means unless a new school picks us up very soon we need to go through the whole work permit process again and I HAVE to leave the country to get a new non imm B visa. Wonderful, not. Apparently the FUD never thought about what will happen to us. Even the ones who are going to be kept on by the agency!! I suppose I should be shocked but unfortunately I am not, it's just another example of the lack of forethought. It also more importantly shows the effect when people have a 11 month contract. If you have a 12 month contract, the work permit runs to the same date. With an 11 month one you have a gap every year and probably have to do a visa run and scramble around.
It does look as though that will be the last time I ever see those kids as it appears that I am not going to get an interview with the school. Some who have applied have got interviews but I haven’t received a reply. Shame in a way but possibly it's good overall, stops the rut of the same old same old, new school environment etc etc
Drum roll please drummmmmmmmm tksssh!
We had the meeting to confirm what was happening for the rest of the semester and it was, in reality, quite boring with no major riots, arguments, storming of the gates, lynchings etc.
Whether it was deliberate or not it seems to have been that the rumours that were coming out last week were wide of the mark. There is no unpaid leave, no option to get away early etc. But the downside is that for the next two weeks we are going to have work full time in a couple of rooms off the school library. Hmmm. The rooms themselves are nice as meeting rooms but totally unsuitable for 20 teachers for two solid weeks. What are we doing during this time? Doing marking and writing report cards. OK. That takes care of 3 days if it's approached in even a slow but steady manner.
After that we have to work in the main offices preparing “Teaching Portfolios”. These are going to be used for the schools who have no resources or have very few. Riiiiight. Are these new schools? Exisiting schools? If they are existing schools surely the teachers there have created prepared some stuff. Also they know far better than we what year level and language level the kids are, what the class size is, what the school likes the teachers to do etc etc etc. Without knowing that, we could be preparing material that will never be used. In fact odds are, that is exactly what will happen. The work will go into a binder somewhere and never be looked at or used.
Basically the idea is to take the best ideas that we used during the year and write instructions on how to do the exercise. Now the question is, what was wrong with the material that we have been preparing, creating and using and storing in various binders during the school year? Apparently the answer is that they are not specific enough. Huh? They want more specific and detailed portfolios not just a scatter gun approach and the FUD is going to set up teams to create these. Wow, I can hardly wait.
Also because we are going to be in the main office we need to work full time and wear shirts and ties. Shirt and tie? Why? I didn’t wear a shirt and tie when I worked there at weekends. But no biggie I suppose. Full time for two weeks? Why? Again it really would take only a couple of days to do if it's approached in a steady manner. Traditionally the non contact time is reduced hours, something like 9 til 2. Why are they saying full time now? Who knows?
And on March 18 they are going to throw a party for us. A PARTY?!?! It will be interesting to see just how many people turn up as this is the last day of servitude and it will mean freedom – at least as far as turning up goes. They still hold the back pay over us and the end of year completion bonus will get paid at the end of April. So just for the moment, to stop burning bridges I wont name the names yet.
One other thing that came up was the announcement that there could be new schools for us to go to next year and that certain people had already been approached and offered jobs and that in the next couple of weeks more people would be approached. Age old story isn’t it.
The other thing that came up is that the school could and probably will cancel our visas on March 31 which means unless a new school picks us up very soon we need to go through the whole work permit process again and I HAVE to leave the country to get a new non imm B visa. Wonderful, not. Apparently the FUD never thought about what will happen to us. Even the ones who are going to be kept on by the agency!! I suppose I should be shocked but unfortunately I am not, it's just another example of the lack of forethought. It also more importantly shows the effect when people have a 11 month contract. If you have a 12 month contract, the work permit runs to the same date. With an 11 month one you have a gap every year and probably have to do a visa run and scramble around.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
The Beginning of the End
Well, today saw the first of the classes I will not see again.
It was not a sad occasion I have to say. I was actually pretty joyful with one exception. This Prathom 2 kid who is quiet, hard working, clever, listens and has a great attitude. How the hell did he get into the school :) He is actually the ONLY one out of 140 kids I have never had to say sit down or be quiet to at some point over the year. I will miss teaching him. If they were all like him I think my job would be 3 times as hard because they would all want to work and not goof off. But also 3 times more enjoyable because I would actually be teaching. This kid, given a choice between a colouring in sheet or a word search will do the word search first. Everytime. So to mark the occasion, I bought a children's illustrated dictionary and thesaurus and made up a little award certificate for him. Gawd!! I am turning soft!!!!!
I wont be doing that for anyone else. None of them deserve it
Next week we are moving to somewhere new as the staffroom is being refurbished. Don't know where yet though. Someone asked this morning and got told by the FUD that it was somewhere and he would need to find out. Oh, yes, its over there vaguely pointing down the corridor. Where? Its a room just over there. Where? Its a room they have given us ( the school ). Where? I think its near the library. So fucking typical of this guy. Knows fuck all, is sorted in a job for next year unlike most of us, so cant be bothered to do anything. PRAT. When I leave, I am going to name the name so everyone can avoid him as much as they can.
Well, we have a meeting tomorrow to presumably tell us when we are to be released and where we are going next week and indeed what time we need to come in - we normally get cut hours during report card time.
The rumours are still flying with March 18th being the favourite release date but I heard a new one that apparently the school wanted us not only out of the staffroom but also out of the school tomorrow!! This may have been extended by a week to let us do the report cards. But the funny thing is that a lot of the rumours are originating from the FUDS but through different people. So, is the situation changing that fast so when they speak to one person its this and then later when they speak to another its that? Are they making it up as they go along. Do they actually know anything themselves? God only knows! And they are probably trying to keep him off the circulation list.
But, I found the memo they gave us last year for the early release so I will bring that if they try anything stupid tomorrow like let us away early but no pay.
Lets wait and see.
Now, come on folks click that top thai sites blue square on the right, I am still not in the top 100. I mean for petes sake, I only need 42 hits to get to number 100.
It was not a sad occasion I have to say. I was actually pretty joyful with one exception. This Prathom 2 kid who is quiet, hard working, clever, listens and has a great attitude. How the hell did he get into the school :) He is actually the ONLY one out of 140 kids I have never had to say sit down or be quiet to at some point over the year. I will miss teaching him. If they were all like him I think my job would be 3 times as hard because they would all want to work and not goof off. But also 3 times more enjoyable because I would actually be teaching. This kid, given a choice between a colouring in sheet or a word search will do the word search first. Everytime. So to mark the occasion, I bought a children's illustrated dictionary and thesaurus and made up a little award certificate for him. Gawd!! I am turning soft!!!!!
I wont be doing that for anyone else. None of them deserve it
Next week we are moving to somewhere new as the staffroom is being refurbished. Don't know where yet though. Someone asked this morning and got told by the FUD that it was somewhere and he would need to find out. Oh, yes, its over there vaguely pointing down the corridor. Where? Its a room just over there. Where? Its a room they have given us ( the school ). Where? I think its near the library. So fucking typical of this guy. Knows fuck all, is sorted in a job for next year unlike most of us, so cant be bothered to do anything. PRAT. When I leave, I am going to name the name so everyone can avoid him as much as they can.
Well, we have a meeting tomorrow to presumably tell us when we are to be released and where we are going next week and indeed what time we need to come in - we normally get cut hours during report card time.
The rumours are still flying with March 18th being the favourite release date but I heard a new one that apparently the school wanted us not only out of the staffroom but also out of the school tomorrow!! This may have been extended by a week to let us do the report cards. But the funny thing is that a lot of the rumours are originating from the FUDS but through different people. So, is the situation changing that fast so when they speak to one person its this and then later when they speak to another its that? Are they making it up as they go along. Do they actually know anything themselves? God only knows! And they are probably trying to keep him off the circulation list.
But, I found the memo they gave us last year for the early release so I will bring that if they try anything stupid tomorrow like let us away early but no pay.
Lets wait and see.
Now, come on folks click that top thai sites blue square on the right, I am still not in the top 100. I mean for petes sake, I only need 42 hits to get to number 100.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Exam Week Part 3 and Contract Endings
I wasn't too good yesterday so took a day off. Why not, I am entitled to 3 days a semester and this was only my second day.
Anyway, come back and find out someone has given a class an exam in my absence. Bollocks! Now what I am I going to do for the other 2 periods? Teach?! :)
It seems like the scores in the P3 reading and writing are considerably lower than they were last semester. No wonder. It is really a totally new type of exam they got from any others we have given them. I think the average mark will come in about 50-55% which is shocking when you think about it. But it all comes back to the same thing, that if they actually do some work themselves in the class instead of me having to pull them reluctantly in the direction of work, they would be finding things a lot easier.
Now onto another end of term possible horror story. As you know the agency lost the contract with the school as of March 31. Come the beginning of March, the school will be closed. No thai staff, no janitors, nothing and next week we have to leave our staffroom for refurbishment. The agency has no new school positions to offer anyone and only a couple were approached ( quietly ) for corporate full time teaching - and that was only if they were already doing it. So basically the situation is this. Out of 20 teachers here and another 5 at the senior branch of the school, about 4 are staying with the agency in an admin or corporate capacity. No one has been given a job in another school because the agency hasn't got any new contracts.
The ones they now do have are very small, around 5 teachers in, maybe 4 schools. There is a nasty rumour now going around that when the semester ends here in a couple of weeks and all the report cards have been marked Etcetera that instead of - as has been done before - giving a bonus of a couple of weeks holidays and letting people go early, they are instead wanting to make people come into the main office to do "make work". They are apparently thinking that teachers can do this or can leave early but with NO PAY.
So lets clarify
This year. With no job to look forward to, no schools to prepare material for, they want 20 teachers to continue to report for work in the main office after finishing marking and report cards and cut out stuff from newspapers and prepare material for who knows or walk away early without pay.
Last year. With teachers coming back or going back home, we finished the marking, writing report cards and then sat around doing nothing for 3 weeks in our staffroom and they let us away a couple of weeks early.
If this is true and at the moment I don't know if it is for certain, it will be a total slap in the face for everyone who has worked here. The contract is ending so why not end it on a good note with a sense of "you have worked here for 2 or 3 years so thanks and goodbye". THE AGENCY HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR THIS PERIOD. So, this is not a case of them losing out, it will be a case of them been penny pinching bastards. But, I will now hold my ire and fire until I know for certain. A thread on ajarn.com could be soon arriving.
There was supposed to be a meeting today to announce something - probably the end date and the end of term arrangements but it was cancelled. Supposedly because the school hasn't told the agency when it will cancel the work permits. This is the most worrying for me because it goes with the Visas. I want to go home in March if I get away early but I don't want to come back from holiday to find out that I have entered the country on a cancelled Visa.
Anyway, come back and find out someone has given a class an exam in my absence. Bollocks! Now what I am I going to do for the other 2 periods? Teach?! :)
It seems like the scores in the P3 reading and writing are considerably lower than they were last semester. No wonder. It is really a totally new type of exam they got from any others we have given them. I think the average mark will come in about 50-55% which is shocking when you think about it. But it all comes back to the same thing, that if they actually do some work themselves in the class instead of me having to pull them reluctantly in the direction of work, they would be finding things a lot easier.
Now onto another end of term possible horror story. As you know the agency lost the contract with the school as of March 31. Come the beginning of March, the school will be closed. No thai staff, no janitors, nothing and next week we have to leave our staffroom for refurbishment. The agency has no new school positions to offer anyone and only a couple were approached ( quietly ) for corporate full time teaching - and that was only if they were already doing it. So basically the situation is this. Out of 20 teachers here and another 5 at the senior branch of the school, about 4 are staying with the agency in an admin or corporate capacity. No one has been given a job in another school because the agency hasn't got any new contracts.
The ones they now do have are very small, around 5 teachers in, maybe 4 schools. There is a nasty rumour now going around that when the semester ends here in a couple of weeks and all the report cards have been marked Etcetera that instead of - as has been done before - giving a bonus of a couple of weeks holidays and letting people go early, they are instead wanting to make people come into the main office to do "make work". They are apparently thinking that teachers can do this or can leave early but with NO PAY.
So lets clarify
This year. With no job to look forward to, no schools to prepare material for, they want 20 teachers to continue to report for work in the main office after finishing marking and report cards and cut out stuff from newspapers and prepare material for who knows or walk away early without pay.
Last year. With teachers coming back or going back home, we finished the marking, writing report cards and then sat around doing nothing for 3 weeks in our staffroom and they let us away a couple of weeks early.
If this is true and at the moment I don't know if it is for certain, it will be a total slap in the face for everyone who has worked here. The contract is ending so why not end it on a good note with a sense of "you have worked here for 2 or 3 years so thanks and goodbye". THE AGENCY HAS ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR THIS PERIOD. So, this is not a case of them losing out, it will be a case of them been penny pinching bastards. But, I will now hold my ire and fire until I know for certain. A thread on ajarn.com could be soon arriving.
There was supposed to be a meeting today to announce something - probably the end date and the end of term arrangements but it was cancelled. Supposedly because the school hasn't told the agency when it will cancel the work permits. This is the most worrying for me because it goes with the Visas. I want to go home in March if I get away early but I don't want to come back from holiday to find out that I have entered the country on a cancelled Visa.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Can't really think of anything much to say except ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz same old same old.
The biggest announcement was that as of next week the assistant FUD is going to start deleting files off the pcs we use. Why? The pcs aren't ours, they aren't the agencys' so why is he deleting stuff? The only thing that will happen is that the EP teachers who use the pcs next year will get a laugh when they see the amount of crap thats been stored on them - funny pictures, letters home, avatars, holiday pictures and so on. Nothing interesting really.
On that subject the agency is now already starting to clear out the staffroom including all the worksheets and supplimentary material that we use. Ah well, we only have another 6 days teachign. Why would we want to have anythng to give the kids anyway?
And so far still no news on when we will be released from this hell that is called......... The FUD i no doubt enjoying the little sense of power he has in holding that information back.
The biggest announcement was that as of next week the assistant FUD is going to start deleting files off the pcs we use. Why? The pcs aren't ours, they aren't the agencys' so why is he deleting stuff? The only thing that will happen is that the EP teachers who use the pcs next year will get a laugh when they see the amount of crap thats been stored on them - funny pictures, letters home, avatars, holiday pictures and so on. Nothing interesting really.
On that subject the agency is now already starting to clear out the staffroom including all the worksheets and supplimentary material that we use. Ah well, we only have another 6 days teachign. Why would we want to have anythng to give the kids anyway?
And so far still no news on when we will be released from this hell that is called......... The FUD i no doubt enjoying the little sense of power he has in holding that information back.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Exam Week 2
Hey ho and the week progresses.
Its all much of a muchness which the kids trying to cheat - badly. You would think they would at least make an effort to try and hide the fact. Nah, that would mean having some sort of imagination and intelligence. Its just been the usual asking each other what does this mean, what did he say ( in the listening test ), looking at each others papers by blatently looking.
Today was one of the worst, I had one kid who actually held his paper up in front of his head to try and hide the fact that he was turning round to ask someone what the answer was. So, little clues on how not to get caught -
no 1, dont hold up bright white paper at head level. It shows up nicely in peripheral vision.
no 2, if you need to copy dont copy from the guy behind you. Turning your body kind of gives it away
no 3, dont try and stand up and walk over to another desk to borrow a pencil. Especially when I can see your pencil case full of them on your desk. DOH!
no 4, dont sit next to the dumbest kid in class and copy from him. A monkey has got more chance of writing the correct answer.
no 5, when you ask someone what the answer is, try to whisper not speak normally. Not all teachers are deaf.
no 6, at least try and see where the teacher is. Trying to copy when I am right behind you looking to see how you are doing is not a good time.
The job hunt continues with a couple of applications sent away today and a couple of rejections back, Hey ho.
Its all much of a muchness which the kids trying to cheat - badly. You would think they would at least make an effort to try and hide the fact. Nah, that would mean having some sort of imagination and intelligence. Its just been the usual asking each other what does this mean, what did he say ( in the listening test ), looking at each others papers by blatently looking.
Today was one of the worst, I had one kid who actually held his paper up in front of his head to try and hide the fact that he was turning round to ask someone what the answer was. So, little clues on how not to get caught -
no 1, dont hold up bright white paper at head level. It shows up nicely in peripheral vision.
no 2, if you need to copy dont copy from the guy behind you. Turning your body kind of gives it away
no 3, dont try and stand up and walk over to another desk to borrow a pencil. Especially when I can see your pencil case full of them on your desk. DOH!
no 4, dont sit next to the dumbest kid in class and copy from him. A monkey has got more chance of writing the correct answer.
no 5, when you ask someone what the answer is, try to whisper not speak normally. Not all teachers are deaf.
no 6, at least try and see where the teacher is. Trying to copy when I am right behind you looking to see how you are doing is not a good time.
The job hunt continues with a couple of applications sent away today and a couple of rejections back, Hey ho.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Exam week Over - Part 1
Well, the first week has gone by.
Yesterday, 4 days into it, the FUD tells us that the speaking tests and listening tests are to be out of 10 marks, except the P3 which are 15. Oh goody and what happens if you have already done those tests? Ah well, never mind.
The writing test for P2 is so easy they are finishing it in about 3 minutes. No I am not joking. 3 sections where the have to put a tick or a cross into a box in part 1 a single word, in part 2 rearrange a body part name, so a single word and then in part 3 write a single word - name the object. 15 questions.
The writing test for P3 is 35 questions long. The quickest I have had someone do it is 23 minutes.
The first section they have to match a picture and a word to a definition sentence. Now, you would think that because the pictures and sentences are on different pages that they would be facing each other. Logical yes? Umm, too logical. The pages are on opposite sides on one sheet of paper.
The second section is a picture and then a series of questions about the picture. Now, you would think that because the pictures and questions are on different pages that they would be facing each other. Logical yes? Umm, too logical. The pages are on opposite sides on one sheet of paper.
And so the stupidity continues.
The next section gives a sentence and then 3 possible replies. They have to pick the most appropriate one.
The last section is a series of paragraphs and they have to answer questions by reading the paragraphs. Nothing in the book we use really prepares them for this, so most haven't a clue.
As someone else said to me when I asked the question why did they ( our management ) do this, why didn't they think? Thinking is not required here.
Now, you could say that they don't know how to do this as I haven't prepared them through the semester. A fair point to a certain extent but then since we the teachers, don't actually see the tests until about a week before the tests start and the exam we do is from a different syllabus, then I don't think we can really be held accountable.
Oh yes, please click the little blue box on the right, I would like to see if it works. If it does, this site would get into the top 100 thai sites.
Yesterday, 4 days into it, the FUD tells us that the speaking tests and listening tests are to be out of 10 marks, except the P3 which are 15. Oh goody and what happens if you have already done those tests? Ah well, never mind.
The writing test for P2 is so easy they are finishing it in about 3 minutes. No I am not joking. 3 sections where the have to put a tick or a cross into a box in part 1 a single word, in part 2 rearrange a body part name, so a single word and then in part 3 write a single word - name the object. 15 questions.
The writing test for P3 is 35 questions long. The quickest I have had someone do it is 23 minutes.
The first section they have to match a picture and a word to a definition sentence. Now, you would think that because the pictures and sentences are on different pages that they would be facing each other. Logical yes? Umm, too logical. The pages are on opposite sides on one sheet of paper.
The second section is a picture and then a series of questions about the picture. Now, you would think that because the pictures and questions are on different pages that they would be facing each other. Logical yes? Umm, too logical. The pages are on opposite sides on one sheet of paper.
And so the stupidity continues.
The next section gives a sentence and then 3 possible replies. They have to pick the most appropriate one.
The last section is a series of paragraphs and they have to answer questions by reading the paragraphs. Nothing in the book we use really prepares them for this, so most haven't a clue.
As someone else said to me when I asked the question why did they ( our management ) do this, why didn't they think? Thinking is not required here.
Now, you could say that they don't know how to do this as I haven't prepared them through the semester. A fair point to a certain extent but then since we the teachers, don't actually see the tests until about a week before the tests start and the exam we do is from a different syllabus, then I don't think we can really be held accountable.
Oh yes, please click the little blue box on the right, I would like to see if it works. If it does, this site would get into the top 100 thai sites.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
More Exam Stuff & Moving
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Oh dear, 4 days of exams done. What is the boy zz doing zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Saying that stupid question again and again is doing my head in. Some of the kids have caught on and are talking about the test. IN a way I am actually quite pleased as it does show at least some level of intelligence is out there :)? I had one kid come out, sit down where I am doing the test and said "Beach". Good answer and one of the first I ask. But I hadn't asked him a question yet and the flashcard was upside down so he could only see the white backing!!!
Other beauties today. A kid that said yes or no to everything. I mean everything.
"what is your name?"
yes
"what is your name?"
no
"how are you?"
yes
"how are you?"
no
etc etc etc
oh dear. And of course you had the ones who went
"where are they?"
The mother, father, and two children are at the beach.
"what is he doing?"
he is sleeping on a towel on the beach
"what is he doing?"
He is swimming and looking at the shark coming towards him
Oh to have some sort of graded class. I would love to have a class of roughly the same level. It would be so much easier to teach. You would know exactly what the expectations would b. You could plan so many more interesting activities and challenges for the kids or basically go "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" "MY NAME IS________" and give them colouring in to do.
But of course that wont happen. It would be to much against the whole notion of not being noticed, not sticking your neck out, not being different from the rest. Screw the education just be the same as everyone else.
As markign comes up, I am so tempted to grade accordign to how much I liek the kid. But I don't. I do give them a fair crack. Maybe on half points, if the kid is a trier I will give a bit more leeway but I don't turn a wrong answer into a right one. I will just get them on the report card sections for attitude, behaviour and other comments.
Seeing as how this is the last time we see the kids ( maybe ) a few of us are being really tempted to give a real report rather than a "positive" one. I would love to see the faces of the parents and school when we write something like " Although Somchai can produce high quality work, this only happens when he can shut up for more than 30 seconds at a time, isn't running around annoying the teacher or other students or isn't doing something he thinks is more important like cutting his rubber in half with his ruler. He will make a fine Minister for Education someday."
Our jobs have been advertised in the papers, so if we want to work at this school again, we need to reapply for them. Could be interesting. Anyone who is staying on will be working in the Thai staffrooms next year. Our staffroom is going to be renovated before the start of next term for the EP program teachers who will then take it over. They have in fact started already by demolishing the little store room we had across the way.
The discussion is now when do we need to leave the staffroom and how long are we going to be held to our contract. Depending on what version you hear, the school want us out of the staffroom by Feb 18 ( the last day we see the kids ) or the following week. The agency want us to move to the school library to work on report cards and do marking. Hmmm Is it secure, does it have a phocoto copier to help us copy our cvs and stuff as we are looking for new jobs - note to self, look at ajarn tomorrow - does it have a computer or computers to share amongst 20 teachers, does it have a secure area to store the report cards and papers etc etc
If the agency has their way, they will hold us til the last possible moment. I dare say the school couldn't be arsed one way or another as long as the report cards were done. So anything from March 4th to March 31st could be the release date. And oh yes, the agency is still not officially offering anyone any work for next year. BWAAHHAHAAAHHAAA!!!!!
It has offered work and some have accepted it. But not officially. Enough to make you sick.
Oh dear, 4 days of exams done. What is the boy zz doing zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Saying that stupid question again and again is doing my head in. Some of the kids have caught on and are talking about the test. IN a way I am actually quite pleased as it does show at least some level of intelligence is out there :)? I had one kid come out, sit down where I am doing the test and said "Beach". Good answer and one of the first I ask. But I hadn't asked him a question yet and the flashcard was upside down so he could only see the white backing!!!
Other beauties today. A kid that said yes or no to everything. I mean everything.
"what is your name?"
yes
"what is your name?"
no
"how are you?"
yes
"how are you?"
no
etc etc etc
oh dear. And of course you had the ones who went
"where are they?"
The mother, father, and two children are at the beach.
"what is he doing?"
he is sleeping on a towel on the beach
"what is he doing?"
He is swimming and looking at the shark coming towards him
Oh to have some sort of graded class. I would love to have a class of roughly the same level. It would be so much easier to teach. You would know exactly what the expectations would b. You could plan so many more interesting activities and challenges for the kids or basically go "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" "MY NAME IS________" and give them colouring in to do.
But of course that wont happen. It would be to much against the whole notion of not being noticed, not sticking your neck out, not being different from the rest. Screw the education just be the same as everyone else.
As markign comes up, I am so tempted to grade accordign to how much I liek the kid. But I don't. I do give them a fair crack. Maybe on half points, if the kid is a trier I will give a bit more leeway but I don't turn a wrong answer into a right one. I will just get them on the report card sections for attitude, behaviour and other comments.
Seeing as how this is the last time we see the kids ( maybe ) a few of us are being really tempted to give a real report rather than a "positive" one. I would love to see the faces of the parents and school when we write something like " Although Somchai can produce high quality work, this only happens when he can shut up for more than 30 seconds at a time, isn't running around annoying the teacher or other students or isn't doing something he thinks is more important like cutting his rubber in half with his ruler. He will make a fine Minister for Education someday."
Our jobs have been advertised in the papers, so if we want to work at this school again, we need to reapply for them. Could be interesting. Anyone who is staying on will be working in the Thai staffrooms next year. Our staffroom is going to be renovated before the start of next term for the EP program teachers who will then take it over. They have in fact started already by demolishing the little store room we had across the way.
The discussion is now when do we need to leave the staffroom and how long are we going to be held to our contract. Depending on what version you hear, the school want us out of the staffroom by Feb 18 ( the last day we see the kids ) or the following week. The agency want us to move to the school library to work on report cards and do marking. Hmmm Is it secure, does it have a phocoto copier to help us copy our cvs and stuff as we are looking for new jobs - note to self, look at ajarn tomorrow - does it have a computer or computers to share amongst 20 teachers, does it have a secure area to store the report cards and papers etc etc
If the agency has their way, they will hold us til the last possible moment. I dare say the school couldn't be arsed one way or another as long as the report cards were done. So anything from March 4th to March 31st could be the release date. And oh yes, the agency is still not officially offering anyone any work for next year. BWAAHHAHAAAHHAAA!!!!!
It has offered work and some have accepted it. But not officially. Enough to make you sick.
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Exams & Other Stuff
Well, got a phone call last night from one of the corporate jobs I was after.
Big multinational, looks good. Ish. Go in for the interview today having bought new trews - smart as anything they look. And yes I am wearing a belt with them ( Private joke ). Get to the interview and am given an english test. Right, without looking it up who can give me a sentence in the
simple present tense - easy isn't it.
simple future
simple past No problems !!
present perfect er ok
future perfect
past perfect
present progressive huh?!
present continuous
future perfect progressive
past perfect progressive
Yeesh, that had me struggling. I can never remember all of them, never use all of them more importantly. As well as that proof reading, inserting the right preposition, suffix, prefix, describing what the most important things about teaching corporate english are ( I was tempted to say the fat wedge at the end of the month but resisted successfully), give the comparative and superlative forms of words. Ye gads it was worse than my English Higher all those years ago. 9 bloody pages of test!!!
The interview was a bit wild - unstructured and all over the place. Typically Thai I suppose. By the sounds of it, it will be half proofreading and being the pet native speaker and half doing in house training. Hmmm Need to see what sort of salary they offer, if they offer me the job. They were quite cagey about that, wanting to know what I am on and not saying what they would offer.
As well as that I splashed out on a new electric shaver last night, so I don't need to suffer the Jack the Ripper look each morning.
And speaking of tests, the little darlings continue on their merry way to destroying all hope and feeling of humanity I have towards them.
How are you? I say.
Nine years old, they say.
DOH!!!!
and again I say
DOH!!!!
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v167/ultras67/Humour/pic06868a.jpg[/IMG] height=100 width=100 align=left hspace=6
Big multinational, looks good. Ish. Go in for the interview today having bought new trews - smart as anything they look. And yes I am wearing a belt with them ( Private joke ). Get to the interview and am given an english test. Right, without looking it up who can give me a sentence in the
simple present tense - easy isn't it.
simple future
simple past No problems !!
present perfect er ok
future perfect
past perfect
present progressive huh?!
present continuous
future perfect progressive
past perfect progressive
Yeesh, that had me struggling. I can never remember all of them, never use all of them more importantly. As well as that proof reading, inserting the right preposition, suffix, prefix, describing what the most important things about teaching corporate english are ( I was tempted to say the fat wedge at the end of the month but resisted successfully), give the comparative and superlative forms of words. Ye gads it was worse than my English Higher all those years ago. 9 bloody pages of test!!!
The interview was a bit wild - unstructured and all over the place. Typically Thai I suppose. By the sounds of it, it will be half proofreading and being the pet native speaker and half doing in house training. Hmmm Need to see what sort of salary they offer, if they offer me the job. They were quite cagey about that, wanting to know what I am on and not saying what they would offer.
As well as that I splashed out on a new electric shaver last night, so I don't need to suffer the Jack the Ripper look each morning.
And speaking of tests, the little darlings continue on their merry way to destroying all hope and feeling of humanity I have towards them.
How are you? I say.
Nine years old, they say.
DOH!!!!
and again I say
DOH!!!!
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v167/ultras67/Humour/pic06868a.jpg[/IMG] height=100 width=100 align=left hspace=6
Monday, January 31, 2005
The Start of Exams Weeks
Yes, I have got that right.
It is the start of exams weeks. We have three weeks to finish all our exams. I and some of the other teachers have started doing the speaking tests with the flashcards that have been provided.
Already my enthusiasm of asking "what are the differences?" "what is she doing?" has departed the scene by taking the first flight out of the country. I have 60 tests at one level to do and 80 of another. It looks like at the moment that the P3 test - of which there are 80 - may take 5 lessons to do, they are being incredibly slow so far. I am only getting 4 or 5 done in each lesson. Because the P2 test is so much easier I will have that finished in maybe two but definately 3 lessons ( 1 week ).
Its a bit of a joke. The P3 test has 2 cards and one of them is a little cartoon strip. In theory the kids are supposed to give me a story about the pictures. Fat chance. So far the results have not been encouraging. How are you I asked them to settle down. Monday replies one. DOH !!!!! I ended up giving a kid 3 marks just because he managed to walk from the class to the test area without falling over. It certainly wasn't because of any english ability he showed. Mind you, if he had been chewing gum at the same time, I am not sure if he could have got to the test area.
The behind the scenes politicking and manoeuvering is coming more and more to light and those who have been quietly offered jobs on the full time corporate side of things reveal their status. To be honest, that would be my preference as I think I said last week and as I did say to the senior FUD here but "he can only pass on wishes" BS.
It is the start of exams weeks. We have three weeks to finish all our exams. I and some of the other teachers have started doing the speaking tests with the flashcards that have been provided.
Already my enthusiasm of asking "what are the differences?" "what is she doing?" has departed the scene by taking the first flight out of the country. I have 60 tests at one level to do and 80 of another. It looks like at the moment that the P3 test - of which there are 80 - may take 5 lessons to do, they are being incredibly slow so far. I am only getting 4 or 5 done in each lesson. Because the P2 test is so much easier I will have that finished in maybe two but definately 3 lessons ( 1 week ).
Its a bit of a joke. The P3 test has 2 cards and one of them is a little cartoon strip. In theory the kids are supposed to give me a story about the pictures. Fat chance. So far the results have not been encouraging. How are you I asked them to settle down. Monday replies one. DOH !!!!! I ended up giving a kid 3 marks just because he managed to walk from the class to the test area without falling over. It certainly wasn't because of any english ability he showed. Mind you, if he had been chewing gum at the same time, I am not sure if he could have got to the test area.
The behind the scenes politicking and manoeuvering is coming more and more to light and those who have been quietly offered jobs on the full time corporate side of things reveal their status. To be honest, that would be my preference as I think I said last week and as I did say to the senior FUD here but "he can only pass on wishes" BS.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
New Teachers
Today was just another boring day trying to get the kids to behave and do mock listening tests with the same results as before. Ho Hum.
The last lesson I spent 30 minutes waiting for the class to line up properly, stop playing and stop talking, finally they almost managed it but I had wasted too much of my patience to try anything so I just got them to be quiet and put their heads down on the desk for the rest of the period. At least it gave me a chance to sit down.
We have a new teacher here for the rest of the very short year and well, its just as well its a short year. He is already causing problems with the way he takes the kids to and from class. He just lets them run riot, running ahead into other class group, then when he lets them out he just opens the door and lets them loos to create havoc on the rest of the world. Then again, he is covering the class on the gay yank who had similar problems getting control. So it might not be his fault entirely but he is not helping matters. Earlier in the week he used someone elses classroom and by all accounts the place was a complete and utter shambles with worksheets that had been stored in cupboards, desks were all over the place and so on.
Ah well, only teaching/exam 3 weeks to go.
The last lesson I spent 30 minutes waiting for the class to line up properly, stop playing and stop talking, finally they almost managed it but I had wasted too much of my patience to try anything so I just got them to be quiet and put their heads down on the desk for the rest of the period. At least it gave me a chance to sit down.
We have a new teacher here for the rest of the very short year and well, its just as well its a short year. He is already causing problems with the way he takes the kids to and from class. He just lets them run riot, running ahead into other class group, then when he lets them out he just opens the door and lets them loos to create havoc on the rest of the world. Then again, he is covering the class on the gay yank who had similar problems getting control. So it might not be his fault entirely but he is not helping matters. Earlier in the week he used someone elses classroom and by all accounts the place was a complete and utter shambles with worksheets that had been stored in cupboards, desks were all over the place and so on.
Ah well, only teaching/exam 3 weeks to go.
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