Thread: Living in Suratthani

Originally Posted by dallia

Really I just don't want to be taken advantage of as a farang teacher, thats all.

I'll just repeat the mantra I've just been incanting on your other threads: come here and give yourself a month or so to see what this planet is like. Visit a bunch of schools, a bunch of areas. Rushing in "right off the boat" is the BEST way to put yourself in a compromising position, because you'll be disoriented, I promise you that.

I lived there seven years ago. Surat Thani wasn't my cup of cha yen. Perhaps you might like it. Go and see.

Originally Posted by stfranalum

even handed response

teflwatch is hardly balanced mate...

a teacher with a grudge and a long history of being unprofessional and unemployable can go on there and talk shit about an excellent school. how is that 'even-handed'?


anyhoo, all good advice here. as mat said, go check the town out, spend a few weeks chilling there, see what you think. schools-wise it'll be the same as everywhere; some good some bad. see if you can meet any of the staff from the school. failing that, if you wanna stay, stay. as taf said, get stuck in, if it turns out awful c'est la vie, move on.


best of luck eh!

I lived and taught English in Surat Thani for 8 months from Sept 1998 to May '99 so my experience might be more or less dated.

1) I don't know or remember the school you're asking of.

2) Enuff people in ST know enuff English there so that one doesn't much have to be concerned about learning Thai. Many people want to speak English. Some speak it well.

3) I had a two room apartment for Bt 2,500 a month. Small living room, huge bedroom, small veranda, hot water shower, no cooking facilities, small tv provided but I had to pay for UBC. Residence internet very probably is available by now.

4) Many excellent, pleasant outdoor restaurants which locals are enthusiastic about showing off to the farang. It's well worth the while. Indoor restaurants have a good variety of farang and Chinese food as there is a significant Chinese population there.

5) It rains most of the year and rains hard, hard as hell. The pattern is that torrential rain begins late afternoon, continues throughout the nite and into mid morning. Then the sun comes out. Because of the torrential rain, getting about on a motorcycle is a disaster as you have to wear clothes you can discard at school. You have to carry under careful protection the clothes you wear at school during the day. Even in a tuk-tuk you get wet. The wetness permates everything to include the pillows of your bed. Cool too.

6) The ST waterfront is ugly and the water greenish black with odor. However, it's about a 20 minute drive to a fine beach.

7) Convenient train station, bus station, airport.

8) I agreed to teach evenings to professionals at a rubber processing plant where I needed a gas mask even in the classroom. It seemed not to bother the Thais, tho.

9) Koh Samui is a pleasant ferry trip from ST, but for the past several years the island has been and continues to be raped by developers. Superb restaurants at the main beach area which offer a rich and delicious variety of farang food...best Mexican food I've had in Thailand.

That's some of the good, the bad and the ugly. PM me if you think I can help but you'd need to remember I haven't been to ST in 7 years. It was cheap then, probably still is at least fairly cheap.

or contact LeedsLeedsLeeds, he lives there.

TeflWatch has been mentioned here. I was a "Teflwatcher" for a year but recently left because it's become so badly led, the Mods are weak and the active membership has dwindled to a dozen or so who spend most of their time attacking one another.

However, when several teachers and former teachers make posts to TeflWatch about a school there usually is something to it. Trouble is, with schools threatening teachers who post at TeflWatch and the infighing among members, the place has become unreliable. Add to that that few teachers have confidence in the site, it has become clear that TeflWatch has to make changes and I understand some are in the offing. I hope so and I hope the changes are substantial and significant enuff to reverse the rapidly declining fortunes of the site.

Ajarn and TeflWatch seem to be thesis and anthesis. I understand ajarn refers teachers who come to this site to air a grievance to TeflWatch. I agree this is good policy and a viable approach. This thread, for example, can offer teaches what hopefully would be helpful balanced information which might help to minimise negative experiences with schools. This site can be proscriptive; TeflWatch willingly takes on the headache and risks of trying to sort the wheat from the chaff as far as complaints against a school are concerned.