Teaching In Thailand: A Practical System

Teaching in Thailand:

A Practical System

Written by Davis Pisarich, with M. Schwartz

~~~

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2014, ThailandTeaching.org

Davis Pisarich

info@ThailandTeaching.org

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or media information storage or retrieval systems now known, or to be invented, without written permission from the writer and publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in an educational publication or radio or TV broadcast.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

* This is the standard version of the book. It is an extremely thorough system, and easily the best of its kind. It is also the perfect starter for new or aspiring teachers. There is an extended version of the book available at:

www.ThailandTeaching.org

Alphabetical table of contents

About me and my book and the allure of Thailand

Before you get started: a things TO HAVE, things TO GET, and thing TO DO checklist

Choosing a school: types of schools in Thailand

Determining documents and delivering decisions: how to write a TEFL resume and 15 key interview questions

Every day is an adventure: a typical day for an English teacher in Thailand

Finding common ground: Thai students, Thai administration, Thai staff and foreign staff

Getting your questions out of the way: FAQ

Highly effective classroom management: Controlling your class

Just TEFL: A TEFL teacher’s guide and a crash course in TEFL

The best games and activities for all age levels

You have reached the end, my friend! Do I regret my decision to come here? Final thoughts

Acknowledgements

I want to briefly share my gratitude with the generous people who made this book a collaborative effort. Before I even wrote this book, I sought out some of the best names in the TEFL industry today to get tips on becoming successful at my new trade. After seeing how hard it was and eventually deciding that I wanted to do it forever, I owed it to myself to learn from the best.

First and foremost, I want to thank Dr. Gregory, Dr. Harvey and Dr. Eugene for their expert feedback and analysis. Considering the extent of their teaching backgrounds and educational achievements, their professional consultation was invaluable to me. These three people truly opened my eyes and taught me was effective teaching was, and how to do it in Thailand. I could not have asked for better mentors. I hope to one day become as great of an educator as they all are.

I want to thank Kruu Julia, Kruu Graham, Kruu Davor, and Kruu Ron for their critical and honest feedback on the book and for contributing their own ideas. I actively sought all of these people for their wisdom because they were the best teachers I had come across over the years. These are teachers that I once envied, and over the years, I learned a lot from them and their knowledge that was shared has become a part of my own teaching persona.

Finally yet importantly, I want to thank Mike for doing all the dirty work for me to get this book on the virtual shelf.

Having the book critiqued by veteran teachers who are all Thailand expatriates has greatly improved the overall quality of the book and I can say with confidence that the knowledge presented here has been subjected to criticism and altered where necessary. Without these people, the book would not be the same. People will be glad to know that this has been a culmination of teaching ideas from a group of people and that they can be guaranteed genuine, academic information.

I chose to have the book reviewed by these people specifically, because they know me personally and more importantly, they can relate to actually living and teaching in Thailand.

Thank you for opening my eyes with your wisdom and guidance. I am forever grateful.

About me and my book and the allure of Thailand

First, let me tell you a little about my teaching background, what brought me to Thailand, and my current situation. I graduated from college in the United States with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology. I was also a writing lab assistant at the university I attended. After that, I worked as a learning support specialist at a day facility for developmentally challenged children and adolescents. I did that for a year and then planned to go to medical school to become a psychiatrist. Although, I knew I did not want to wait until I was old and retired to travel the world. My job freedom and flexibility were too important to me to take on the responsibilities of a doctor. So in 2007, I moved to Thailand to become an EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher. I took a TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) course in Chiang Mai and then proceeded to gain seven years of EFL teaching experience throughout Thailand.

I started working at a language school and teaching private lessons for my first two years in Chiang Mai, Thailand. During this period in my teaching career I taught in an array of setting and too many different levels, from kindergarten, primary, secondary, university, and adult. More importantly, I discovered in the beginning that teaching EFL feels like an impossible endeavor. I was absolutely shocked by the education system in Thailand and how difficult it was to work with Thai people. I went through countless times of trial and error, and I was amazed by how little actually worked. I wondered at times why I was even here. I did not know for sure if I could be a teacher. Some days were horrible and I considered giving up and moving on to another gig, but some days I felt like I was in the right place.

I decided I wanted to continue down the TEFL career path, so I then I moved to Mae Hong Son and taught at a government school for a year where I immersed myself in Thai language. Shortly after that, I moved to Bangkok and taught private lessons, and worked part-time for an international school helping students in an after school program. I stayed in Bangkok for two years before deciding to move back to Chiang Mai, where I taught at a private school for two years. Currently, I am residing in the United States, studying to get my US teaching license and a master’s in education before returning to Thailand to work at a top-tier international school in Bangkok. I am working my way up the ladder and on track to becoming an administrator.

Towards the end of my first year teaching in Thailand, I decided that I wanted to become the best I could be at teaching EFL. I struggled through the challenges. I remember searching for teaching English in Thailand tirelessly and feeling depressed at the realization that nothing existed to satisfy my thirst. Teaching can be rough in the beginning. I went into it like everyone else and saw how difficult it actually was and at the same time seeing how rewarding it could be. Some people just go into coast mode and become complacent, but I did not accept that. I learned from the best out there and I put in my time. Sometimes I could not get a sufficient answer or help when I needed it, and in those cases, I only had the option of trial and error and learning through experience. So, without a proper guidebook out there, I had to put together my own. Over the course of seven years, I put together a system for teaching English in Thailand that actually works. This book is a reflection of that system and I sincerely believe that it can and will make beginner level English teachers immediately efficient, and also help those who are already teaching improve and add to their arsenal. If you read this book, you will skip that first year or two of learning the hard way. You will not be afraid and you will know exactly what to expect and consider after reading this. If you buy this book, you will learn about:

• Choosing a school

• Finding a job

• Interacting with Thai students, Thai staff, Thai admin, and foreign staff

• The basic take-away from a TEFL course

• Managing a Thai classroom

• Loads of games and activities for the Thai classroom

• Seeing through the eyes of your Thai students

• Making lessons plans, worksheets, and tests

• Simplifying difficult teaching topics

• How to teach speaking, listening, reading, and writing

• How to teach English the fun way, and with confidence

• And everything else you will need to know

There are many questions you may have and if you ask them on a forum, you will get vague, useless answers or none at all. You may even end up insulted because you will find that too many people are quite bitter on forums. Why? Because they put the time in and learned the hard way and they expect you to do the same. I wish that there was more of a comradery among teachers, and I wish the goal was for everyone to help chip in to make the English teaching programs across Thailand better. If that was the case it would be easy to get help from veterans and the Thai students would be better off. But, unfortunately that is not the way things are. It is actually a little bit cutthroat and you will sense a dog eat dog mentality. Most teachers are not rooting for other teachers to make it, they are only worried about their own jobs.

I will be concise and straightforward about all of this. I have experienced it and I have seen countless colleagues experience what it is like to teach here and I have constantly collaborated with them through the entire process. I am not going to get into theoretical things and overwhelm you, because I have found practical information to be more useful. I am not going to try to be a grammar professor because it is not important. You do not have to be an English expert to understand this book. Of course, you need to know the basics, but it does not have to be so complicated. Most of what I am giving you will make your classes more controlled and more fun, and in turn making you happier, which is what every teacher in the world wants. If you do NOT buy this book, you will more than likely:

• Struggle a lot in the beginning

• Find yourself lost in the classroom

• Find yourself screaming every day and coming home stressed out

• Feel frustrated, confused, and full of complaints

• Fall victim to trial and error

• Be blind to the shortcuts presented here

• Feel like teaching English in Thailand is hopeless

• Never fully realize how to reach your students

• Have boring, uninformative lessons

• Become highly unorganized

• Decide that teaching EFL in Thailand is not for you

• Give up and move back home

I was reluctant to write some of the information presented in this book; the information is the product of my personal niche and so important to me that I pulled my hair out wondering whether or not I should even continue the book at times. Will I be making it too easy for everyone and increasing the competition here for teaching jobs? Will I flood the job market here? Will some of my very best friends hate the fact that I have exposed every hard-earned step they have taken to become an effective, successful teacher in Thailand? Maybe, but the way I see it, there are more than 60 million people in Thailand, so there are plenty of students. Either way, this book is the very best I have in me; I have been obsessed with making it perfect and I have left nothing of importance out.

When I decided to make the move, I was reading and researching everything I could find about teaching English in Thailand. It could not be that hard, right? You speak English fluently so you should be able to teach it, right? No, not exactly. You might be doing the same thing right now, that is, tirelessly searching the internet for bits of wisdom about how to go about this. It is almost impossible to find worthy information on this subject because, as I said, anyone who has done well for himself or herself teaching in Thailand knows they are better served keeping quiet about their secrets to success. I have not just crossed that line - I am erasing it, and not only for me, but also for all the teachers I know who have it good here. I am bringing each and every one of their strategies and techniques to the surface. You have found what you needed, and my book will be like a shortcut for you because I