I went on a job interview at a reputable language school a few weeks ago. They allegedly had a number of positions open for English teaching at a government school which had received a special bilingual program grant from the MOE. Not more than 5 minutes into the interview, the subject matter changed from my qualifications and the position for which I was interviewing, into a sales pitch for a culture course being offered at the end of February. Of course, the interviewer exerted the usual pressure of insisting that you couldn't get a WP without having completed the culture course. He kept touting how great his school was in being able to offer the culture course and showed me all the materials that they forward onto the MOE upon their student's completion of the course. ...

Yesterday a student of mine came to me with a speech she was supposed to present at the opening ceremony of our town's Tomato Festival. Written by her Private teacher it was the usual concoction of over formal English with inapproriate long words. The student, new to my school, has been studying with this private tutor for 2 years which probably explains why she is 23rd out of 24th in my M3. anyway I sat with her and simplified the whole thing so at least she could read it and wouldn't lose her face.
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(Bangkok) Phil has commented about Thai reluctance to respond to emails...here's a possible solution:

NOT too long ago, a magazine in Manhattan invited me, by e-mail, to interview for a job. After meeting with me, the managing editor and the director of human resources asked me to take home the standard editing test and return it ASAP. I dutifully obliged.

And then I waited. One day. Two days. A week. A month. Two months. Three … well, you get the picture.

Not only was there no word on whether I would be offered the job — nobody at the magazine even bothered to e-mail me to say that my completed test had been received!

Back in the good old days, people used to duck your phone calls. Or just not return them. But in this, the electronic era, a whole new brand of disdain has come into vogue. The age of the e-snub is upon us.

I have grown weary of this kind of “dissing.” People who seem to go blind, mute and limp when all you are seeking are a few keystrokes in reply. Prospective employers whose computers appear to crash when asked to give something resembling a definitive answer, one way or the other.

Annoying e-mail messages plague all of us, but those of a more legitimate nature are surely deserving of a simple reply. Unfortunately, basic e-courtesy is in short supply. So, having been burned in the past by e-boors, I decided that enough was enough. The magazine had left me in limbo. I was going to have my revenge.

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So I have this Sundays gig at the Andrew Biggs Academy which I think is a fine little school down on Rama the Fourth. The materials are fun and the students are motivated and bright. The atmosphere is casual and as laid back as a new language school scrambling to get everything together prolly can be.

So I set up in my class and met my students and got started. They've got one area with a huge room that can be divided into three with sliding folding room divider thingies. They do funny aerobics stuff with the kids when they open it up.

So I'm teaching in one of these half-rooms. Not five minutes into my lesson it becomes clear that I'm being overshadowed, somehow.
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