I just found an excellent

I just found an excellent ESL Blog called An English as a second language blog - ESL blog: TEFL career? The discussion on this link regards a certain Daily Telegraph rant regarding those who choose TEFL as a career.

The job is tedious, the salary appalling and the prospects nil. Sebastian Cresswell-Turner laments that 'no one with a scrap of ambition' would choose to teach English as a foreign language

Utter, utter crap. This article completely generalises the proffession. Sure you get losers like this, who think that just because THEY (or their loser friends quoted) never made it, that no-one else can. It also takes the view that teachers are treated the same the world over, and that every TEFL teacher works for a cowboy language school.
I get very fed up with this attitude. It is clear that this guy wanted an easy life living abroad, didn't get it and came back home with his tail between his legs to whine to the Torygraph.

Well it's not often

Well it's not often I can say this, (so I'll say it cos I can), but I had a truly delightful class today and yesterday. You may remember my earlier displeasure with the fact that we have been given summer classes at a time when I'm more planning to sod off to Koh Samui.

Well, actually it's not been that bad at all, with most of the sullen faces I ususally have to teach absent and replaced with a small gaggle of the more intelligent and thoughtful students in fairly small class sizes. I'm really like teaching the M4-5 class which varies in size from 6-10 people.

It's the kind of class you can really get your fancy lesson plan ideas out, you know, the ones in those expensive Cambridge University Press speaking activity books you bought (or the not so expensive books you photocopied). The ones which sound really interesting were it not for the fact that every one is doomed to fail in the average Thai highschool classroom. The reason being that firstly, the class sizes are way to big to control the activity well, ie give conversaton prompts or just plain ensuring that everyone is speaking the target language and not L1 (that's English and Thai to non-TEFLese speakers).

The other problem is the complete lack in these books of pre-intermediate activities that these books contain. Keep Talking by Friederike Klippel (Author), Penny Ur (Editor) is a prime example of this. I have been using this book all week with my M4-5s, and it's been working like a dream. The speaking activities are creating some fascinating conversations and the kids are all leaving with smiles on their faces, but the problem is that this fatasy world I'm currently living won't live past those heady, glorious (and waaay too humid) days of summer. The reason for this is because these intermediate level activities assume that that the student has the vocab to initiate a conversation to the extent that the activity requires, and that secondly they actually want to do anything but sit at the back of the classroom and pick their nose. It also has next to nothing for pre-intermediate level students and only a couple of activities for elementary students.

The class size issue coupled with this makes meaningful speaking classes a struggle. The best I can hope for in everyday class life is to find the lowest possible denominator and try to ensure that as many of the class can join in on stuff that maybe the cleverer kids will roll their eyes in frustration at, with the only time they get to show their potential is when they are isolated from their dozy peers, and not shy about really showing what they can do as with the recent Youth Guides day when about 15 kids (many are in the group I am teaching at the moment) took some Japanese short-term teaching voulenteers around Songkhla province with commentary from the students. We all had a great day out, and the kids confidence in speaking English can only grow as a result of activities like these.
So this is why it is nice to see a very cozy small class full of the school whizz kids. My contract is up on Monday which will be my last day with these kids but I'll be teaching their class next semester (all 40 of them!). I'm hoping it will be a class where I can raise this common denominator for a change.

Ok well it seems that

Ok well it seems that the awesome little Flash games I've bee cooing over all day are made by a single genius by the name of Chris Manuel. Millions more utterly fantastic and hilarious games over at B3TA. Please do play What's New Pussy Cat? I have been almost crying with laughter as I played it.

An utterly fascinating absoarbing and

An utterly fascinating absoarbing and original set of mind games all following on the same theme that being to use fairly standard mind or concentration games and add surreal extra annoyances. Quality from Channel 4.Distraction

Well, here goes with another

Well, here goes with another set of pristine islands about to be sentenced to Lonely Planet-style doom. Still it increases the holiday options somewhat and it's not that far from me, lets hope these islands handle the increased tourism wisely and don't turn these islands into a Koh Phi-phi style freakshow.
Thai airline to open up Andamans with first charter flights.



Currently accessable through India only, the islands traffic has been restricted up until now to national operators..

One of the world's last outposts of virgin rain forest islands, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a string of 300 odd islands in the Bay Of Bengal. Remote, not easily accessible, it has been preserved the way it had evolved, still inhabited by tribes considered to be the oldest living communities in the world. A fantasy world of silver sands, clear blue seas, coral reefs, swaying palms, tropical forests, volcanic mountains and a gently undulating landscape. Boasting of an idyllic landscape and immense natural attractions, it is one of the popular tourist destinations in the country.

Did you ever wonder why

Did you ever wonder why the power on switch on every electrical device you own is always the same, and just what the hell does it mean. Some intelligent people with way too much time on their hands discuss.
BeatnikPad Journal: The Power On Icon

Thought this article would be

Thought this article would be yet another slagging off of teaching English in Thailand, but it's not, very pro-teacher but don't slack off. This article from the excellent TEFL Asia

Is TEFL Teaching Just a Doss Option? - Robert Crowe

"Must be better than sitting on a deckchair in Bognor Regis modelling the latest in handkerchief adornments for the head and nursing a warm beer."

Hmmm, so I get to

Hmmm, so I get to the end of semester and I'm thinking ahhh, no work, Koh Samui, and drinking cocktails, when this morning the bombshell gets dropped that the school want us to do summer courses till the end of March. Wasn't happy. Fortunately I remembered my contract mentioned something about paid holidays, and I rushed to get it and lo and behold there was the offending clause. Boss didn't like that but as a contract's a contract and she wants me back next semester, so she couldn't argue, only to say that this clause would be removed in future contracts. THe problem was that they couldn't be bothered to write their own contract and borrowed the one from my wife's University. University have 12 month contracts, our school has 10 month contracts so the theory goes that we have our holidays unpaid, but thanks to this over sight I have 2 weeks paid plus the unpaid month in April. Sweet.

I really cannot believe I

I really cannot believe I just wasted 4 minutes of my life at this site, but the thrill I got from knowing that I did better than 42.4% of people was interesting. I wonder who actually sits on this all day.
HoldTheButton.com - How Long Can You Hold It?

Here's one of those 'I'm

Here's one of those 'I'm a jaded TEFL teacher' sites in a similar vein to the great Simon Barnes' I hate Teaching English. This isn't half as proffessional or funny as that long lost site, but the Teechurz Tipz are pretty good and ring true to some extent. I shouldn't laugh but I do.Check out English Teacher X

I have previously waxed lyrical

I have previously waxed lyrrical about the very splendid Grey album, a mash-up between the lyrics of JayZ's Black Album and the Beatles' White Album. Ok so it's possibly not the greatest album ever written, remixed or whatever, despite 99 Problems, which is awesome. What's making this one of the most important albums of the year is the fact that hundreds of websites are all hosting this album tomorrow after EMI ignominiously sent cease and desist letters banning it's sale.Grey Tuesdayis the site that seems to be organising it, though it's possibly an offshoot of Downhill Battle, music activists, and all-round fuck the riaa good eggs.

Meanwhile the BBC has this report on the persistent saga of the Grey album

Ok so whilst I'm banging

Ok so whilst I'm banging on about Google today, and lets face it, who isn't, check out Wireds excellent and very comprehensive guide to Google.. Catchily titled The Complete Guide to Googlemania!

Eeh the things you can

Eeh the things you can do with Google these days. I wonder how long it will be before Google hating will be as popular as AOL or Microsoft hating. The upcoming stock exchange float may be a good point as any to begin the speculation. Nothing stays THIS popular forever. For now try this out. It's a google search which adds a random word to make your results more interesting. It's name? BananaSlug

Asian people love our fair

Asian people love our fair language, don't they? I guess so, because teaching it seems to keeps me in sticky rice. This site is all about inappropriate uses of English on mostly Japanese products.Welcome to Engrish.com!

Just so Floozy Charlotte doesn't

Just so Floozy Charlotte doesn't feel left out, here's a pic of her too.

Here in Thailand there are

Here in Thailand there are a few things I really miss about life in the UK. One of the more obscure ones is that I miss the righteous indignation of the Daily Mail. Can't stand the ridiculous right wing claptrap it spouts of course, but it's just one of those things one scoffs at before reaching for the Guardian or Independant.
Anyway for your entertainment this is the daily mail-o-matic. I thank you.

Now I like this, but

Now I like this, but then again I'm someone who likes boring people with my photos. It's kind of a flash-based chatroom and realtime picture sharing service. It's still in beta and important things such as the ability to save pics to harddrive are thus far absent, but definately worth watching, and it's fun to play with. Check out Flickr!

Just got to give a

Just got to give a shout out to my man Big C, one of the few lads at this school who is actually quite funny. The guy's name stems from one particular class where I was elliciting things in English that the students associated with England. After the predictable Man Uniteds, and Britney Spears(?), I suddenly heard a deep male voice shout out.......

BIG COCK

Apparently he meant Big Ben, but the damage had been done. I was crying with laughter and so were his classmates, who had quickly figured out what he said. One of this semester's comedy highlights.

Well, I dunno what happened

Well, I dunno what happened to picture bucket, but I found a really cute replacement for it.
UPL is a very nice, simple, and quick to set up, upload service. Only 4 meg but hey it's free. Just to give it the blog test here's a pic of my colleagues Jane and Aaron running a game of charades at our school's recent festival.

UPDATE. Just took the link down....UPL has vanished.

Yay, here's today's strangely coloured

Yay, here's today's strangely coloured animal.



BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Polar bears turn green in Singapore

The ultimate place for teachers

The ultimate place for teachers looking for work in Thailand, or if you're not looking to work as a teacher in Thailand a good place to argue with jaded ex-pats.
Ajarn.com - living and teaching in Bangkok

I cannot rate this site

I cannot rate this site highly enough. Enough surreal phoshop tat (or is that art?) to keep your desktop unsettling forever.
Worth 1000.....they gave me 10 credits for me birthday too

Oh Christ on a bike!

Oh Christ on a bike! Looks like the Thai obsession with NW English Football teams is going a bit far. Waiing scousers is the odd picture that just popped into my mind
Thaksin eyeing Liverpool, says Thai national coach

Sodding exam week is very

Sodding exam week is very very dull. So much so that I got really into this Psychology textbook on perception. Interesting stuff. Makes me wish I'd followed all those intense people at college who were into analysing you, and done a course in it. This shot taken from Mars Odyssey