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Welcome to the Ajarn Forum - Teaching and Living in Thailand!
Established in 2000 with current continuous archives since 2004, we are one of the oldest ex-pat teaching forums in Thailand, and one of the busiest, a community of people who have some kind of tenuous link to or interest in teaching and living in Thailand.

You won't find a better one-stop information site for anyone teaching or thinking about becoming a teacher in Thailand.

Whether it's visa advice you are looking for, looking to rent an apartment, needing to know about TEFL courses, just wanting to vent about your school, or just wanting to socialise we have most bases covered and welcome everyone from the beginners to teaching to the seasoned educators....and even if you're not a teacher....or in Thailand for that matter.

Some absolute newbie tips.
  • LOS = Land of Smiles = Thailand
  • Click the Logo to get to the forum index!
  • See below for previews of our most active threads in the past 2 weeks.
  • PLEASE READ THE RULES BEFORE POSTING!
  • To post you must register. Once you have registered you need to activate your account through email. Only after this will you be able to see the 'post new thread button.'
  • Please contact LDMA with any enquiries about Ajarnforum.net and it's content, by using the Ajarnforum.net Contact Us form.
  • Please note that Ajarnforum.net is not Ajarn.com. The Ajarn.com logo and stylings are used with kind permission of Ajarn.com, but does not infer any ownership or control over the content or policies. Ajarn.com and AjarnForum.net share traffic, however Ajarn.com and it's associates do not own, or have rights over the content of Ajarnforum.net or vice versa. The content on the respective sites derives it's ownship is based on the domain where the content was originally posted.
  • ABSOLUTELY NO NAMING AND SHAMING SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, or ADMIN STAFF. Please be aware that negative consumer/labour opinions, can result in problems both for the original poster and the service provider under Thai defamation law, although Ajarn Forum is currently run from outside the kingdom of Thailand. All comments made are at the posters own risk.
  • Be genuine, read before posting, and don't march in all guns blazing as starting on the wrong foot can be off-putting. This forum's users enjoy a good debate and things can get heated.

To the Golden Mount

May 09, 2013 - 1:25 AM - by Joko
Joko's Avatar
Today was a day of firsts for me.

For lunch, I went to a roadside little restaurant where no one spoke English, nor were there English menus. They had a bunch of stuff and with the help of my Thai phrasebook, I was able to match up the Thai written spelling of what I wanted to what they had posted on the wall, pointed and successfully ordered Kwetiauw Gai, soup with noodles and chicken.

Best one dollar meal I've ever eaten.

Today was almost my first ride on a BKK motorcycle taxi.

My first visit to site with an actual real Buddha relic.

mY first time posting 3 threads in a day on the AF.

And lastly, my first time playing ukulele in a public place in Bangkok. Ako Ako Joko to the Golden Mount, Tour d'Joko a eh. Seasons of the Uke 64ish - YouTube
  59 Replies | 1,270 Views


Achingly Generic SE Asia Trip

May 14, 2013 - 1:02 PM - by Benoso
I'm not quite sure if what I write qualifies here but here's my blog about travelling around Asia (the entries so far have all been about Thailand).

We've got some Bangkok, some Koh Lanta, some Krabi, a lot of Chiang Mai and a bit of Pai. A veritable smorgasbord if you ask me.

There are pictures, and after recent feedback I plan to have a lot more pictures for each entry.

Ben Bails Out | a blog about solo travel and other fly shit

Any comments, critique and/or fawning praise appreciated.
  51 Replies | 612 Views


Oh, so now it's Monday

May 16, 2013 - 10:26 AM - by Joko
Joko's Avatar
Two weeks ago, I was told my teaching assignment was still not finalized, but it's supposed to be in BKK, and we'd know for sure in a few days. A few days later, I was told it would be another 10 days, the final word coming down tomorrow. I'm only booked in my hotel until tomorrow. I went looking at places to live yesterday, which I was somewhat successful at doing, but there were a few listings I simply couldn't find because I am new in town and don't fully understand the whole street address system here yet... I wanted some help today from a local for day 2 of apartment hunting, the deadline being tomorrow for me to find a place...

So I call my contact...

Oh, no, Friday is when the paperwork is finalized, she tells me, but the school won't have an official decision until Monday. What if I hadn't called? When was she planning on telling met this? Why do I think Monday will come and they'll still be thinking about it? Arrrgh!!!

I just want to unpack and get my stuff spread around and stop spending 550/night on a hotel room.

What the hell am I doing here???

  49 Replies | 1,033 Views


Top 10 Documentaries

May 09, 2013 - 11:22 PM - by Beavis
Beavis's Avatar
Your top 10 documentaries.

I'll start...

Hoop Dreams
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Grizzly Man
The Last Waltz
Super Size Me
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Bowling For Columbine
King of Kong
Comedian
Zoo
  49 Replies | 862 Views


name your penis with a movie title

May 16, 2013 - 8:52 AM - by you_me_no_savy_talk_talk
you_me_no_savy_talk_talk's Avatar
Just saw this on facebook and thought it was a fairly funny idea...

So, name your penis with a movie title.

Much ado about about nothing
Stuart little
The colour purple
  49 Replies | 594 Views


Thailand teaching agency behaviour

May 15, 2013 - 7:03 AM - by steveo
steveo's Avatar
A famous Thailand teaching agency is famous for printing fake degrees for its teachers now has 25 teachers in BKK that they are unable to place in schools, has taken to threatening a teacher who took off to work directly for a government school (not one that agency introduced the teacher to). Threats include you will never get a Non B, work permit or be able to work in Thailand legally.
  48 Replies | 1,131 Views


Thai music video goes viral

May 14, 2013 - 8:52 PM - by cluezo
cluezo's Avatar
"It is about women who open up their feelings (or breasts) because they experience tightness in their chests." Not sure I follow that ..

9 million hits in two week ain't too bad



'Splash Out' music video gets 8.6m YouTube views

Published: 14 May 2013 at 16.46

"Splash Out", a music video by Thai hip-hop group 3.2.1 and singer Baitoey R Siam, clocked up more than 8.6 million views on YouTube by Monday after it was uploaded on May 1, 2013.... [Read More]
  42 Replies | 809 Views


A New Age Hero

May 19, 2013 - 9:03 AM - by tomcat
tomcat's Avatar
...we need thousands more like this guy: those who will not tolerate the hell of other people:

by Kevin D. Williamson (CNN) I have the great privilege of writing the theater column for The New Criterion, the arts-and-culture journal founded by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer and pianist Samuel Lipman in 1982. Some people have to be in an office at 8 a.m., but I get to be at the theater at 8 p.m. It is a pretty sweet gig.

The power of theater comes from its ability to surprise. Once or twice a season, I am treated to an unexpected discovery: While movies so often are cut, polished, CGI'd, and market-researched to death, even the most commercial piece of tourist-bait theater -- lookin' at you, "Evita" -- contains within it an element of unpredictability.

The audiences, unfortunately, are drearily predictable. It's the old one-in-every-family phenomenon: They will be late. They will talk. Their cell phones will ring, and some of them, by God, will answer them. They will text, and they may even play a few rounds of Words with Friends during the third act. They are the enemy. They are depressing not because their bad manners surprise us, but because they do not surprise us.

I found myself in the news this week after offering a surprise of my own at a New York theater: The woman seated next to me was on her phone throughout most of the show. (It was "Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812," in case you're wondering, a musical based on "War and Peace." You know what show you shouldn't see in New York if you have the attention span of a goldfish? One based on "War and Peace.") When she was not on her phone, she and her... [Read More]
  42 Replies | 509 Views


Fun or quality? What matters?

May 21, 2013 - 11:22 AM - by Gabriel Weide
Hi Forum, I am very new here.

There are some very fancy language schools in Bangkok (Wallstreet, Boston Bright, to name a few). They especially focus on fun. What is your opinion or expericences with those fancy schools? Do you believe that thai-students make great progress at this kind of schools?
  38 Replies | 474 Views


Geography of hate

May 11, 2013 - 4:34 AM - by cluezo
cluezo's Avatar
No surprise here ...

Where Americans Tweet Messages of Hate


Our friends over at Floating Sheep released a series of fascinating, if depressing, maps today of the "geography of hate" across America.

The interactive maps are based on a keyword search of geotagged tweets. Students from Humboldt State checked each tweet for a negative, positive, or neutral connotation, ultimately identifying more than 150,000 hateful tweets with this location info. Each negative tweet was totaled by county and then normalized by comparing that to the county's total tweets, enabling the Floating Sheep geographers to identify places with "disproportionately high amounts" of hateful tweets.

Here's their map for racism:

http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img...5/10/hate2.jpg

And one for homophobia:
http://cdn.theatlanticcities.com/img...5/10/hate1.jpg

The researchers point out that hateful tweets are
... [Read More]
  32 Replies | 643 Views


In Search of Jok

May 13, 2013 - 9:26 PM - by Joko
Joko's Avatar
As you might be able to tell from my full figured physique, I do love food. I’ve mentioned before how I can occasionally get frustrated seeing all this delicious looking stuff here in Thailand and not knowing the words for it. I get a little shy about ordering because I don’t want to look like an idiot, nor do I want to order the wrong thing and have them bring me a shoe with cheese on it.


Yesterday, I hung out with some new friends and the topic of food came up and one of them mentioned rice porridge. I’ve never had anything similar to rice porridge in America, but I remembered back when I was young in Indonesia and rice porridge was one of my favorite things to eat. It’s delicious; my Filipino friend who was talking about it shared my enthusiasm. Most importantly, he told me not only the Thai word for it: jok, but also where to find it in my neighborhood. I went home counting the hours until breakfast where I could wander over for a nice Bt20 (60 cents) bowl of jok. No chance that I would forget the word; it’s the first three letters of my name!


Well, this morning being Mother’s Day in America, I had an appointment to Skype with Mom. This is the first time we had Skyped, and it was really cool. Technology is wonderful. Again to compare this overseas journey to my last venture to SE Asia in 1990, back then, we exchanged written letters that took 2 to 3 weeks to cross the Pacific.


Anyways, after the call, I headed out in search of jok… You’ll have to watch the video to see what happened next.

... [Read More]
  31 Replies | 1,138 Views


Songkhla International School

May 09, 2013 - 5:50 AM - by chrisoary
Hi, first post here on your very informative site.

I was hoping that there is someone reading this that has some knowledge/ experience with Songkhla International School. I have been looking at their website but would like some first hand opinions from either parents with kids at the school or even teachers at the school.

My plan has always been to go back to the UK for my kids schooling as frankly the costs to put 2 kids through most international schools in Thailand are a little out of my price range.

However I have recently been offered a chance to work out of Songkhla and whilst looking into the area I noticed this school. Its fees are considerably lower than any of the Bangkok school and it got me thinking that perhaps I wouldn't have to head back to cold, wet depressing England?

Its probably a case of you get what you pay for, but i thought i would look into it as an option. Is it comparable to an average UK school?

Obviously I will do whatever is best for the kids

Cheers

Chris
  30 Replies | 1,030 Views


Hello to you all.

May 18, 2013 - 4:57 AM - by Foreverton
I am considering moving out to Thailand next year to complete a TEFL course and then hopefully find a teaching position shortly afterwards. Not really too fussy on where I would teach initially as I appreciate I am getting into this on the ground floor and would be happy to just gain a teaching role to gain experience and hopefully earn enough to cover living costs (I believe 30,000 baht per month is an achievable amount).

I do not have a degree though and I believe this would prevent me from securing the most sought after teaching positions, that's fair enough I wouldn't really be looking to move over for financial reasons it is more of a lifestyle choice. I'm 35 years old and in full time employment in the UK but have been to Thailand a few times now and fallen in love with the place, really fancy trying to combine business with pleasure and taking up a teaching job in the Land of Smiles.

Any thoughts or views would be appreciated.
  29 Replies | 509 Views


Should I come back to Thailand?

May 19, 2013 - 3:15 AM - by wally raffles
Hi guys,

I know it is ultimately my own choice.

I have been pondering with the idea for a while now.

I have been back in Japan for 2 years now. I had planned to make open a backpacker's lodge, but the earthquake hit, I wasted a lot of time and money, and ended up teaching.

I teach in private high schools. I commute long hours on crowded trains. My wage is not so bad, and I have 4 months paid holidays per year. But I am just not happy here.

Tokyo is so hectic. The winters here really suck. Those things would not be so bad, but I broke up with my girl a few months ago - who had a 4 year old daughter who i adored. Since then, I really do wonder why i am here.

I am 45 now (yep! it was 10 years ago when i first posted here!) and although i have a bachelors degree, i have no certificates in education. that has never been a problem in japan getting teaching work - though of course, i can't get the top paying jobs in universities, etc. i know that Thailand is a lot more strict when it comes to being employed in schools, without education certificates.

so i am thinking of re-starting my private tutoring for japanese expats. i actually found it rewarding - more so than any other time i have taught before. i visited my students homes, and was free to teach them what i liked - and as it was up to me to get as many students as i could (and keep them) i used what i had learned in my earlier teaching years in japan, and developed other ways, which proved to work really well. i have learned a few more tricks since being back here, and feel i could do even a better job this time around.

can anybody give me any info on... [Read More]
  29 Replies | 510 Views


Pizza at 1 AM?

May 09, 2013 - 12:57 AM - by Joko
Joko's Avatar
Way up here in Ramkhamraeng, I can't imagine it's possible, but I thought I'd check nevertheless. Other than the microwaveable pizza-food stuff they have at the FamilyMart across the street, I'm hungry. It's the middle of the night. What are my options?
  29 Replies | 1,310 Views


The most mentaly stable teacher in the entire kingdom

May 19, 2013 - 8:59 PM - by pathumseb
pathumseb's Avatar
https://www.facebook.com/AjarnDotCom...0&notif_t=like

I seemed to upset him a bit. Dudes a loon, his FB is mainly him arguing and talking to himself 5555
  29 Replies | 566 Views


Is Service Included?

May 08, 2013 - 5:26 PM - by kingdomcome
kingdomcome's Avatar
Foreigner Beaten by Tuk-Tuk Drivers after not Paying Extortionate Fee at Karaoke Bar – A word of warning if you ‘want to do it your way’


CityNews – A foreign man was badly beaten by tuk-tuk drivers late April after the driver had taken him to a karaoke bar where he was charged 17,000 baht for a few drinks and forced to pay lest he suffer the consequences.

The man, a Chiang Mai long-term expat, explained that on the night, “I had a tuk-tuk driver, one man from the karaoke and two girls – one being the manager – escort me to the ATM. After some polite bartering I paid the karaoke place 4,000 from the 17,000 they had asked, a bit over priced but I thought a payment I could do for me being silly enough to get myself into that situation.”

But he then says the tuk-tuk demanded 2,000 for his fee. A fee that had not even been discussed.

“The next thing his friend turned up and they said they would escort me to the police station.”

They took him into some land nearby the karaoke bars on Chang Klan Road (close to Chiang Mai Land) and beat him up.
“It was all captured on a CCTV camera and I have got the option to press charges,” he says, “but retribution does not thrill me. I just want to warn others.”

He was fortunate that a local rescue worker, as well as workers from nearby bars, saw what happened. He was picked up by the rescue team worker (Koh) shortly after he was beaten up.

Koh, who is also a teacher at Rajabhat University, told CityNews:

“I was driving out of my house in Chiang Mai Land to work a night on the rescue shift when I saw him running away from somewhere covered in blood. I
... [Read More]
  28 Replies | 927 Views


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