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At the age of 32 I decided to set aside my career as a journalist and web editor and come to teach English in Thailand. As you can imagine, stepping into a foreign culture, having never taught before, and without speaking their language was a daunting prospect. My first month has been an exhausting learning experience. And I thought I was the teacher!

Busking it!
I soon discovered that English teaching in Thailand is, like many other Asian countries, quite an informal arrangement. As long as you are a native speaker and reasonably-well educated anyone will take you on. But without any formal teacher-training, and no set structure or curriculum, the task has so far been quite challenging. The school is happy for me to simply walk into the class and talk away to the students hoping some of it will rub off on them.

Without experience, I often find I'm blindy feeling my way and sometimes busking through a lesson when my preperation work turns out to be too difficult or too easy for the students. Teachers who have been here longer will no doubt have more accurate comments to make regarding this. But the point is you probably won't have the benefit of clear instructions from the department head, such as you would in a typical Western school. In the first two weeks I did the rounds of every age group, ranging from 5 - 15, simply to judge what level each had reached. This is of paramount importance to ensure your lessons are effective.

Culture vulture
Fortunately the Head Teacher at my school is exceptionally astute and experienced with maintaining quality education. Her English is excellent and I discuss all my plans with her first. On the other hand the English teachers clearly haven't had the benefit of using the language in constant every day use. Their grammar knowledge is sound but their conversatoin ability is limited. Sometimes it's difficult to establish with them what you are intending to do. All the same it's useful to have them in the classroom to translate vital instructions to the students. I'm constantly reminding myself that they are highly qualified individuals and I have to tread carfully to avoid them losing face over poor-pronunciation. This is an important cultural consideration in Thailand.

Culture is clearly an obstacle. As a new teacher I find it frustrating that some seemingly simple 'concepts' appear to be beyond their comprehension. Fortunately the teachers are really accomodating and particularly fond of new foreign teachers who make a big effort to fit in. Before the term started we all went off on a teacher's seminar, no English was spoken for two days but I gained a lot of respect by whole-heartedly throwing myself into a karoake evening!

No one here will tell you where you're going wrong, because it's simply not done in Thailand. It's difficult to know if the students really did understand you, or if you have upstaged the teacher (by being more fun), or compromised his/her lesson plans. I'm constantly aware that I'm getting paid at least twice as much as them despite being totally unqualified.

Now into my fourth week, I'm settling in with the students, picking up on what holds their attention, how to humour them, and most importantly how to maintain discipline in the class. Thai kids (in my school anyway) are well behaved, but you quickly realise that some classes are just much more lively than others and are easily over-excited. You set out being a fun teacher and they soon push their luck with your authority. Some are so shy then can't even tell you their own name, but the more they get to know you the less subdued they are. I'm extremely lucky in that I have the advantage of many resources and excellent advice from my colleague Ajarn Richard Barrow. After 8 years he has developed some very useful internet aids.

You've been Sa-nookered!
I kept hearing that everything in Thailand must be 'Sanook' (fun), and this certainly applies in the classroom. I'm quickly realising that having an imagination is important for inventing little word games to beat late afternoon lethargy. Skill at being an entertainer has proved to be vital. Luckily I was treated as a novelty from the start but a little bit of acting and clowing about certainly helped me liven up some of the older, more reserved classes. This means I'm forever cracking jokes, acting out verbs, impressing them with appropriate Thai idioms, using a falsetto voice for women when reciting dialogue and so on. They love it! I would say that confidence is one of the most important virtues of a new teacher.

What's less fun is the inability of some students to learn and pay attention. I was immediately impressed at the extent of their vocab and accuracy of their spelling, but the moment you call them up to speak, their tongue (and brain) turns to sticky rice! As I gain more experience I hope to think of novel ways to encourage them to speak, I would say this is their biggest deficiency. Using a PA system is really helpful. You quickly realise that education in Thailand places more emphasis on rote learning than initiative.

Tongue Thai'd
Does it matter that I don't speak much Thai? No, I fortunately have the benefit of the Thai teacher, as any new teacher would. I've learnt all the calssroom instructions and vocab in Thai but the less of their language you speak the better. From Prathom 6 upwards you can survive with English alone. I was admittedly a little nervous about the language barrier but in the end I got by.

Finally, it's not difficult to step into a teaching job in Thailand, provided you are aware that there are differences in culture and methodology. In hindsight I would've taken a proper TEFL course first. Many teacher's in Thailand feel it doesn't guarantee you'll be a good teacher but I certainly would've benefitted from the methods they teach, besides it forces you to re-assess your knowledge of grammar. I think a combination of a TEFL certificate, experience, entertaining skills and enthusiasm would be most desirable. In every class I learn something new, but this requires plenty of experimenting and preparation. Every successful lesson is preserved, and I look forward to the day when I can start recyling them.

I'm having fun, the students are having fun and everyone is learning. Everyone is happy.