What's On This Page?

• Face [more]
• Corrections [more]
• Wages [more]
• Full-time or Part-time? [more]
• Other Money Earning Opportunities [more]
• My Experiences Of Teaching In Thailand [more]
• Teaching Very Young Kids [more]
• My Preferred Students [more]
• Can You Teach My Children? [more]
• Frustrations [more]
• Teaching Techniques [more]

Thailand - Teaching English as a Foreign Language Page 3

Face

I touched on this above but have a few more comments regarding the concept of face and Thai language schools. It's actually a complete farce, as are so many things in Thailand when you understand what is happening.

Every school wants to portray a fantastic image. They order smart uniforms for their full-time employees, splash out for fancy signs at the front of the school and post banners all over the walls telling potential students about their dynamic and efficient teaching methods, etc. That's the image but the reality is slightly different.

It might be a little different in Bangkok, I don't know as I've not worked there, but here is what typically happens in the provinces where not all schools have resident native English speakers. Once they get some students signed up they then panic about getting a native speaker in to teach the course.

When they find someone there is very little vetting, little consultation about what will be taught, and certainly no teaching direction provided. They boast about their teaching methods in order to get business but actually there aren't any. It just depends on the teacher they find to run the course how that person decides to do things.

As mentioned above, a teacher might be encouraged to use text books not because they are any good but because this presents a better image.

Michelle, an English girl teaching in Bangkok, 'blogs' her life there and I happened to see something she had written about her school. The Ministry of Education people were visiting the school library to do a check and she noticed that lots of nice new books had arrived. It transpired that the books had been borrowed solely for the purpose of making a good impression for the inspection and afterwards they would be sent back to the publisher.

No one who understands Thailand will be surprised at this kind of thing. It's a wonderful country in so many respects but this type of Mickey Mouse behaviour will seriously prevent Thailand from progressing in the modern world. Sometimes it seems that everything in society is based on image, lies and deceit.

My experience of Thai language schools is that the only important issue is money. They invest in their image and make an effort to get business. They are good at quoting for new business and billing students and very good at counting money. The quality of what is actually taught is of secondary importance and is left up to the individual teachers, hopefully who will have a conscience and will want to do a good job for the sake of their students.

Reference Material

The Internet is a great source for TEFL reference material these days. First of all though you need to be able to identify a grammar point and know what it is called before you can search for information. That could be a problem for many untrained, uneducated 'teachers' masquerading in Thailand.

Thailand has some good book shops and there is no shortage of English language reference books. I am rather annoyed at myself for leaving my copy of Swan's Practical English Usage (Oxford University Press, 1997) in the UK but it is available in Thailand for just over Bt800. I also spotted a condensed version of this book which looked pretty good and was only Bt299.

Reputable schools should have reference material that you can borrow.

Corrections

It's amazing how many so-called English teachers there are who never make a correction. It's probably because these same people have never bothered doing any kind of education themselves to learn how to teach.

How do students know they are making mistakes if you don't tell them? Worse still, by not saying anything you actually reinforce their belief they are speaking correctly. If I try to speak Thai and no one tells me I am speaking gibberish I think it must be OK. It's the same for them speaking English.

You must correct everything you hear that is incorrect. Everything. Sometimes you just want the students to say something - anything - and when they do there may be a temptation to let them continue without interrupting the flow, even if they are speaking nonsense. This can be especially so in English conversation classes where the emphasis is on conversing. However, it does them no good.

The art is to hear enough to be able to understand what they are trying to say and then to convert what they are trying to say into a coherent English sentence. Once you have done that, get them to repeat the good sentence several times.

I can almost guarantee that in every class of Thai students who have been learning English for many years there will be at least a few who still say, "Where are you come from?" when you do your initial assessment of their speaking ability.

OK, you know what they are trying to say but knowing what they are trying to say just isn't good enough as a teacher. You are being paid to teach them how to speak English. If they've been taught by Thai teachers the teachers probably didn't know any better but if they have been taught by a native speaking teacher and still come out with basic mistakes like this it is inexcusable.

My students get jumped on very quickly for this kind of mistake. The phrase, "Where are you from, OR, where do you come from?" gets drummed into their skulls and before long I find that they automatically start correcting themselves or correcting each other if someone accidentally blurts out the offending question.

This is just one example but there are many common mistakes made by Thai students which you hear time and time again because teachers don't make corrections.

Correct, correct, correct.

Wages

I am in a southern province which is very different to being in Bangkok. Most English teaching jobs here pay less than Bt30,000 a month. Some schools and universities can provide free accommodation and meals which compensates for low wages if you don't mind living in student accommodation. I choose not to.

Wages are higher in Bangkok but so is the cost of living. Bangkok also offers a completely different living experience to life in the provinces and where you choose to live in Thailand is a purely personal choice. I love the excitement of Bangkok for a few days but have reached a stage in my life where living in Bangkok would be a little too chaotic for me.

My main job pays Bt16,000 a month for working six hours a week but this is very rare and I was fortunate indeed to find it.

My other work pays Bt300 an hour. The money isn't a lot but it certainly helps and working seven hours a week will just about cover my apartment rent so that isn't bad. Bt300 an hour seems to be the universally accepted rate where I am. It's not really worth me leaving the flat if I was earning less and no one - apart from my main employer - seems to be willing to pay more.

If you want to earn and save money as an English teacher, Thailand is not the country for you.

Full-time or Part-time?

This is a personal decision based on individual circumstances. I hated working full-time, it just felt too much like my old life and I'm not in Thailand to resurrect my old life. In the full-time job I was completely taken advantage of though and it was no fun whatsoever. However, I'm sure it was an exceptional case and not all full-time jobs are like that. I know for a fact that in Thai universities full-time positions are very relaxed.

When working full-time you are paid for everything, not just lesson time, so effectively you get paid to prepare lessons. Working part-time I only get paid when I am in class, not for any of the time I spend planning lessons or travelling, and I probably spend more time at home preparing lessons than I do delivering them.

Working full-time requires longer commitments. Many places will want you to sign a contract for a year. What I love about working part-time is having lots of time to myself and no long term commitments. Many courses are just 20 hours total duration. If I want to travel the next month I just decline taking on any additional work so I am free to do what I wish.

Obviously, there is a difference in wages and if it wasn't for the fact I have another source of income I could not afford to live in Thailand just working part-time. In my experience there is no shortage of part-time work and I have had to turn some down. Short (20 hour) English conversation courses are popular and there is always a need for native speakers to run these. Many schools appreciate having part-time teachers to help out when the need arises.

Other Money Earning Opportunities

If money is important to you it may be possible to work full time at a school during weekdays and at a private school in the evenings and at weekends. During school holidays some of the schools arrange English camps for students to attend and of course they need teachers so this is another opportunity.

Occasionally, one-off events come along to earn a few extra Baht such as interviewing and assessing students who have applied for scholarships abroad.

My Experiences Of Teaching In Thailand

This section is in need of an update but I have included a few past experiences.

1. Experience 1
   My first job was at an all-boys school with almost 2,000 students. There is a big difference in attitude between the sexes in Thailand. Girls are generally studious and well-behaved. The boys aren't violent or nasty but many just don't want to learn and, during those awkward teenage years when excess testosterone is kicking in, they can be a nightmare.

   The school I taught at is quite expensive to attend so mainly has boys from fairly well-off families. This creates another problem. Boys from rich families know that they will do OK later in life because money opens doors in Thailand. Therefore, many have a poor attitude towards learning because they don't really have to.

   I took seven different classes for two lessons a week. I was told initially that the class sizes would be around 30 but they were double that and more. In a double-size classroom I had a microphone and loudspeaker to try to keep 60+ unruly boys in order. At times I shouted myself hoarse but it still did no good. The school had teachers assigned solely to maintain discipline but they were ineffectual.

   There were a couple of good classes but the majority of the boys wanted to do anything except learn English. They read magazines, listened to their Walkmans, talked, slept, doodled, played board games, worked on other subjects, etc. They didn't even try to hide any of this and carried on with these activities in front of me quite openly.

   From day one the school promised that a new teacher would be arriving and that the classes would be split in two but this never happened. Occasionally one of the Thai teachers came in to assist me and that was good. He was able to keep them quiet and I was able to make a little progress but when I was on my own they showed no respect at all most of the time. After misbehaving all lesson and not paying attention one boy would get their attention. They would all stand up and thank me, "Thank you, teacher." This just made me more annoyed.

   I was told when I started that everything had been prepared and all I had to do was deliver the material. This was a complete lie as there was nothing. My first task was writing a syllabus and then I had to start doing lesson plans in between teaching classes. Even the basic administration of completing class registers had not been done and this was another task given to me. I arrived about seven weeks into the term and nothing had been done. I don't know what they had been doing in their English conversation periods before I arrived but I suspect nothing.

   The seven classes were very mixed ability but all I had time to do was prepare one syllabus and deliver it to all of them. It was good only to have to do one lot of preparation for seven lessons and to be able to refine my plan each time but it fell down because of mixed ability. What was suitable for the less able kids wasn't suitable for the more able ones and vice versa.

   It wasn't all bad. There were a couple of classes with some very good students and I was actually able to make my ideas work in class. That was quite satisfying.

   Ironically, it wasn't any of this that caused me to leave but that's another story. Suffice to say the school were desperate for good teachers but because of unprofessional behaviour could not attract or retain good teachers. An Australian guy who had come to the school prior to me left after a month. He apparently took the work seriously and wanted to do a professional job. I wanted to do the same but, like him, I left after a month. I don't need the money and I'm in Thailand to enjoy life, not waste my time dealing with idiots.

2. Experience 2
   I am glad to say that my next teaching experience in Thailand was very differently. I taught one group of final year Bachelor's degree students and another class of just two PhD students. It was part-time which suited me very much. The University had decided to improve English skills among its students, some money was made available and I happened to know the right person.

   The students were great. They were mixed sex and although the boys were very good some of the girls were excellent. Student numbers dropped in the BSc group shortly after I first started the classes but I honestly don't think it was because of my teaching!

   There were lots of students in the first lesson but I think that some thought they could just turn up, sit there, not do anything and yet they would leave speaking perfect English after my magical performance. When this didn't happen immediately they stopped attending.

   Those students who persevered and attended all lessons made a big effort and made great progress. Many Thais are quite lazy and are just not prepared to put any effort in. As everyone knows, if you don't put anything in you can't expect to get anything out.

   This teaching experience lived up to my expectations of teaching English. I got a lot of job satisfaction when my students made progress and the relationships I developed with them were very rewarding. They were advanced enough that we could have meaningful group discussions and, as someone who is genuinely interested in Thailand, it was nice to hear the thoughts and opinions of educated Thais.

   My two PhD. students were the best of the bunch. It was never necessary to plan any lessons. Their English was quite advanced and their minds very active. We could talk about current events, politics, the environment or anything of general interest.

   Preparing them to defend their PhD theses in English was extremely rewarding. Not only did I teach them English but I shared presentation skills learned in my business life. As the work progressed I learned a lot about their research topics which was interesting for me.

   Teaching tiny tots is definitely not for me, even Thai teenagers can be a real struggle, but once you start dealing with Thais at the higher end of the education system it can be very rewarding.

3. Experience 3
   Teaching English conversation to a brother and sister both in their teens. They were both very nice kids but painfully shy which proved to be the biggest barrier in their progress. As a teacher, you need feedback from students to gauge whether your teaching is working or whether you need to make some changes. When you've done your best but can't get any reaction other than a completely blank stare it can be the stuff of nightmares.

   In Thailand a completely blank stare doesn't mean the students don't understand. Quite often they do but their inherent shyness prevents them from responding. It's so frustrating. You just want them to do something, anything. Smile, growl, tell me you understand, tell me you don't understand, tell me my lessons are a waste of time, just do something, say something, please.

   These two kids weren't at the lessons because they wanted to be there; their parents had made the decision. This is another problem I have found in Thailand. Often it is parents, teachers or mentors that decide the students need lessons but the students themselves aren't really motivated. If they aren't motivated and they are only there to satisfy the whims of someone else it is a waste of time.

4. Experience 4
   Teaching conversation classes to a group of employees working for the same company. In this type of situation it is one of the company bosses who has decided that English conversation classes for the employees is a good thing. Some of them will be happy about it but others won't. The ones that aren't happy aren't motivated and this is a problem.

   Another problem is that often the employees have very mixed ability. How do you plan lessons? If the level is too high you alienate the weak students but if it is too low the better students get bored. I have found that getting the more able students to help the weaker ones works quite well.

   English conversation classes, by their very nature, are only suitable for intermediate or advanced learners but many students who have been sent by their companies aren't good enough for conversation classes so it turns into a basic English class.

   Then what happens is they want to run before they can walk. They start complaining that they want to learn English which is appropriate for their jobs despite the fact they can't speak even the most basic of phrases.

   Adult learners who can't keep pace with the class react differently to youngsters. School and university kids just switch off. They will go to sleep, talk with their friends, play games or listen to their Walkmans. The adults are more mature so don't switch off but they get very frustrated because they can't understand.

   The frustration becomes quite evident in their facial expressions and body language. The symptoms are different but it means the same thing. It's time to ease up a little, review what has been taught and start to try to understand what is causing them problems.

5. Experience 5
   This was a repeat performance of the lessons I had done for the previous Bachelor's Degree students but for the year below. It was a nightmare. Their advisor started the nightmare by telling me they were very able students and that they all had to give presentations in English. He requested that the first subject I teach should be presentation skills.

   Now, presentation skills is a subject all in itself and is quite difficult even for native English speakers. But I had been told what to do. I gave them handouts and explained how to break a presentation into different parts. I tried to explain to them how to create a snappy opening to get the attention of the audience and went through various presentation pitfalls.

   At each stage I tried to get them involved but it became obvious after a while that they didn't have a clue. Their English just wasn't good enough and they had hardly understood a word. I should add that I asked continually whether they understood and not once did anyone say no but this is the Thai way.

   With me being a 'superior person' in their hierarchical world they were exercising greng jai so as not to cause me any offence. Crazy.

   The presentation techniques I taught them was all good stuff but they just weren't ready for it - thanks to the bad advice I got from their advisor. I decided just to go back to basics but by that time a lot of them had decided not to turn up for lessons any longer.

   For those that remained I tried to concentrate on things that would be of real-world value to them. When asked what they planned to do they all planned to find jobs after finishing their degrees. I brought in some job adverts from the newspaper and the first thing I pointed out to them that almost every job asked for good English skills. I thought it might motivate them but it didn't.

   I assumed that as they would all be applying for jobs soon they would need CVs so I spent time teaching them how to write an effective CV and covering letter. It was something I thought they would really want but they weren't interested.

   When I eventually got their CVs back to mark they were all the same where one person had done the work and everyone else had copied it.

   They messed me around no end. Time and time again I turned up to teach but they didn't. On the few occasions when they told me there wouldn't be a class it was always for pathetic excuses. Plain and simply, they had no interest in learning English, despite the fact they would all soon be looking for jobs where good English would be an advantage.

   I fell out with them and I fell out with their advisor who, at the time, was also my landlord and was trying to take advantage of me on two fronts - as an employee and a tenant. It all got quite nasty. He decided to give me a load of negative feedback saying the students couldn't understand me. This, despite I have no problems with any of my other students.

   I was told they wanted to go back to being taught by a Thai teacher which totally defeats the purpose of being taught by a native speaker. If they can only understand the English spoken by another Thai they may as well speak in Thai.

   Because they kept failing to turn up to lessons it became impossible for me to deliver the originally requested amount of lessons. This was no fault of my own. When I first mentioned this I was told I would be paid the full amount anyway. I wasn't. I was just paid for the hours I taught which was nothing taking into consideration all my preparation and the times I had turned up to teach but the students hadn't.

   The whole thing was a nightmare and made me very wary about Thai university students.

6. Experience 6
   While attempting to teach the students in Experience 5 above I was coerced into teaching another group of final year Bachelor's Degree students. The other ones had already started messing me around so I wasn't keen and had originally refused but their advisor, a very strong-willed Thai lady, talked me into it.

   It turned into a good experience. The two groups were as different as chalk and cheese even though they were at the same level of education. Attendance was good and remained high throughout the 10 two-hour lessons.

   They were bright kids with a couple of very able students in the group. But what was best was their attitude. Even the ones that weren't that hot wanted to learn and it was rewarding for me.

   In many ways this group saved me. Had I just been teaching the nightmare class I might have though it was my fault but the fact that I had a group that were making very good progress told me that the problem with the other group wasn't mine.

7. Experience 7
   Three girls in a conversation class and it really is what I call conversation. Two are PhD students (one of whom also lectures at the university) and one is a Master's Degree student. They pay for the classes out of their own pockets and do them in their own time.

   They are good girls. The hourly rate isn't a lot and makes little difference to me financially. I teach in the evenings when, quite frankly, I would rather be at home sometimes but they are very rewarding students and money isn't my only motivation for teaching.

   Sometimes I do a little work for this group in my own time but generally I just walk in with no preparation. They are at a level where they can discuss most subjects and they also bring in their own material.

   I help them with academic papers and proposals they are writing. The proposals are for study grants to enable them to continue doing research. They give me an incredible amount of information about Thailand - from a Thai perspective, of course - and I find this invaluable helping me to understand Thailand and Thai culture.

8. Experience 8
   Thais are very keen on 'word-of-mouth'. If you wanted to find teaching work and posted adverts all around the place you might not have much success. However, if you do a good job teaching it is likely that your phone will soon start ringing with more offers. This is what happened to me.

   I started to get offers and it started to become known around the university who I was and what I did. I got a call one day from a friend who had heard about a job at a local hospital teaching the staff. I went along really just to find out more.

   The first obstacle I had was finding who exactly to talk to but the reception staff pointed me in the right direction. When I finally got to meet the man responsible for hiring I really took to him. Some people I like straight away and others I don't, but he made a great impression on me and I wanted to work for him.

   It's a dream job in Thailand and I get paid very well for the hours I have to work. I have fantastic, professional level students who are great to teach and a lot of fun. I get treated incredibly well. Anything I want in the way of teaching materials I can have, the facilities are great and I always get iced-coffee and water when I teach.

   I even get invited on weekends away with the full-time staff despite being a part-time employee. It's a great job and I am very happy working there. In a way, the previous bad experiences have highlighted just how good the job is so I definitely don't take it for granted.

   I have to do a lot of work preparing material in my own time. The first course I ran was a basic English course which only needed one lot of preparation to deliver to the six different groups. However, the second contract I was given involves teaching different types of staff English suitable for their specific role.

   What I have to teach secretaries is very different to what I have to teach X-Ray technicians so there is more work involved.

Teaching Very Young Kids

This is something I have never done and would never consider doing. I have turned down work teaching a class of four year-olds as it would just be a complete joke. Some people refer to teaching kids in Thailand as babysitting and they have a good point. Whatever it is, it isn't teaching and unless I feel that I am teaching it is a waste of my time.

Female teachers take to the kids and mother them. I think that having breasts is a big advantage when teaching babies. I observed one class of kids and could hardly believe my eyes. At the start of the class some English board games came out. The kids played with the games while the 'teacher' sat back and read a book. At the end of the lesson the board games were put away. Not a word of English was spoken the whole time. In another class I observed, the kids just watched 'Looney Tunes' cartoons on TV.

They have the attention span of ants. Even kids who are supposed to be good are very poor. For example, a mother will tell me her young daughter speaks good English and will prompt the kid to speak to me. This normally always results in, "Hello, how are you? I'm fine, thank you." When I try to ask other simple questions I just get a blank look. Even older kids are the same. The result of ten years of Thai education in the English language is, "Hello, how are you?" "I'm fine, thank you."

The youngsters really are treated as babies. It's a gentle environment which helps to bring up gentle people but as a learning environment it's totally ineffective. At that age I was getting drilled with times tables and competing in spelling tests. I guess that's why I work out prices in my head in shops while the Thais are still searching around for their calculators. It's probably why so many Thais can barely speak a word of English despite having been taught for years.

A young male teacher I spoke to who was teaching kids alerted me to another hazard. He said he suffered from constant colds as they are always ill and bring their germs into the classroom. Sorry, no kids, it's not my idea of fun at all. The unfortunate thing is that because Thais grow up so slowly even kids of 13 and 14 can act the same way.

My Preferred Students

I really don't care who I try to teach as long as they are motivated to learn. That is all I ask. A problem when I taught at the school was trying to teach boys who had no interest in learning. I understand because I felt the same way about French and German lessons when I was at school. But even though I understand, if they don't want to learn it is no fun for them or me. This is a problem in Thai schools, particularly with boys.

Older students are generally better because they are more mature but this isn't always the case. Even if they are in their early 20's and find themselves in a class they don't want to be in it will be a struggle. You might think that private language institutes would be better because the students are paying to be there and surely wouldn't want to waste their time or money but this isn't always the case. Sometimes, over-ambitious parents pay for their little darlings to have extra tuition but the kids repay their parents' good intentions by playing around and not learning.

The best students I ever had were preparing to defend their PhD dissertation defences which had to be presented in English. Presentations are scary enough but doing one in another language must be particularly daunting. They listened intently to everything I said and soaked up information like sponges. It was extremely satisfying to teach them, not just because they were such motivated students but because it was very interesting for me.

Rather than go through modal verbs and idioms for the umpteenth time I got to hear about their PhD research which they had been carrying out for several years and which was very interesting. My job was to figure out what they actually wanted to say and then put their thoughts in to good English. It was quite a challenge for me but was easily the most rewarding teaching assignment I have had to date.

Can You Teach My Children?

I get asked this question about once a week and it comes from a variety of sources. I talk to a lot of people and they ask me what I do. I tell them I teach and then they ask where. I teach at one of the highest educational establishments in southern Thailand and the answer normally draws gasps of admiration. Then the inevitable question comes my way.

Depending on who is asking, and what kind of mood I'm in, I answer in different ways. Sometimes I just say no. Other times I lie by saying I'm too busy (= no). Sometimes I lie and say, "Not now but maybe later." (= no). Sometimes I say no and give my real reasons.

The most difficult aspect of teaching in Thailand is not that the students lack ability, but because they lack motivation and are lazy. When a parent makes this request there is an immediate problem. Who wants the kids to learn? The parents do. Will the kids themselves be motivated to learn? No.

In schools, English is just part of the curriculum - something they have to study - and students aren't really interested. Even at language institutes it is often the parents' idea to send their kids so the same problem exists. If teaching employees of a company, it is probably their boss who made the decision that they should study English.

Whenever it is a case of someone other than the actual student making the decision for the student to study there will be big problems.

The other problem is money. There is an attitude in Thailand that if something is arranged informally by word-of-mouth, rather than through a proper organisation, it will be done for next to nothing. I spent over US$1,000 on a TEFL course, I have always had a good grasp of English, I can speak some Thai, and now I have quite a bit of experience teaching Thai students of varying abilities up to PhD level.

I am not an ignorant, unqualified sexpat or backpacker desperate to earn some more beer money who can't spell. I know what I'm doing and I know my value. Unfortunately there is a big gap between what I think I'm worth and what the local som-tum lady who wants me to teach her son thinks I am worth.

On one occasion I almost started teaching some young girls this way but first I insisted on interviewing them to assess not only their ability, but more importantly, their motivation and aptitude. Our schedules clashed so I didn't teach them after all but if I ever considered teaching someone's kids again I would go through a similar vetting process.

Frustrations

In all aspects of Thai life, not just teaching, try not to use Western logic because most of the time using Western logic in Thailand just doesn't work. The culture is completely different and can make seemingly sensible things appear crazy.

I was hired to teach a group of final year undergraduates general English conversation but was told by the head of department to concentrate at first on teaching them how to make presentations. This is a skill that my previous company regarded very highly and I have been through a fair amount of training myself. I therefore felt quite confident about teaching them some basics.

The lessons were a disaster. Every time I tried to tell them something about presenting their eyes glazed over and they switched off completely. However, from assessing them I knew they didn't have a clue how to present and I also knew that they had to give a 15 minute presentation in English very soon.

This was something I couldn't understand. They had to do something they weren't really capable of doing, that is, making a presentation in English. They had a native speaking English teacher who not only could teach them English but could also teach them how to present and was very keen to help them. Their reaction to this was to just switch off. Why?

The problem was that the material was too difficult for them to understand. I would never normally begin a general English class with students I didn't know by teaching them presentation techniques. However, their professor was trying to help them by asking me to teach this subject. They had been taught English by a Thai teacher before and his assumption was that they were able to comprehend quite a difficult subject. They weren't.

The major problem though stemmed from cultural differences. Not once did they tell me, or give any indication, that the subject matter was too advanced. They just looked like they were completely disinterested. Thai students will not tell a teacher that he has got it wrong, which basically I had, although it wasn't entirely my fault.

After having a chat with their professor I dropped the subject and went back to teaching normal English conversation type topics. The interest level suddenly picked up again and all was fine.

Teaching Techniques

I did my TEFL course in the Czech Republic and when I started teaching in Thailand I had no idea of student strengths and weaknesses. I have never been in a job in Thailand where I have been told exactly what to teach. Perhaps if you work at a language school you will be told which modules to teach from which text books but that has never applied to me.

I started off trying to teach using situational role plays. For general English classes the role plays would be things like going shopping, eating out, going to the Post Office, airports, etc. For work related teaching I would try to find out about the students' jobs and invent role plays for situations they might encounter in their work.

My reason for doing this was an attempt to make what was being taught relevant and, hopefully, interesting. After a while though I realised it wasn't working. What would happen was there would be intense concentration initially as the students wrote down an exact script of the role play.

They would commit it to memory and then repeat what they had written down parrot-fashion. When performing role plays with them, if I stuck to the exact script it would all sound quite impressive but if I deviated even slightly they would look lost.

In real life, of course, none of us talk in set scripts so the process of creating parrots is a waste of time.

It is necessary to first understand student strengths and weaknesses. The Thai education system is not ideal but it isn't useless. Basic reading and writing isn't a problem for the majority of Thais. Even if they can barely speak a word of English they will probably be able to read and write to a basic level without any problems.

Their English vocabulary isn't bad and this includes the verb conjugations. In their school text books you will see pages of verbs listing out the infinitive, past tense and past participle versions for each verb. In Thai they refer to these as channels 1, 2 and 3 - chong neung, chong sawng, chong saam.

The unfortunate thing, however, is that most haven't got a clue how to actually form proper sentences using the different verb conjugations. All you ever hear is the infinitive. "Yesterday, I go shopping." "Last week I am sick, I go to doctor." They only use one tense regardless of when the action takes place.

This is their biggest weakness and one that I have tried to address but it has not been an easy task. I tried with some students to go through every tense but unless they are quite advanced it is a waste of time. For the majority of students it needs to be kept very simple.

In order for them to visualise the concept I use timelines quite a lot; something like this:

The first two tenses to tackle are simple present and simple past. Try to explain to them that when talking about 'general time' or things that happen regularly or habitually then can use the present tense.

Examples. "I live in Thailand." "Every weekend I go to the market." It's important to keep the examples as simple as possible. Next, simple past, which is used for any action in the past that is finished and has no connection with the present.

"Last weekend I went to the market." "This morning I played tennis." Again, keep it simple and very importantly, make sure you keep correcting them. This is so important. Even when I am talking with my students outside the classroom I correct them. It really does work and if you don't correct them they won't have any idea that what they are saying is wrong. Correct, correct, correct.

For future tense I draw a graph which has the degree of certainty expressed as a percentage on the vertical axis. Tell them that if they are 100% sure of something to use 'going to'. "This evening I am going to play tennis."

Give them some other expressions to indicate different degrees of certainty. I tell them that 'will probably' is about 80% and 'might' is about 50%. It's important to tell them these figures aren't accurate but at least it explains the concept. "This evening I might play tennis. "This evening I will probably play tennis." "This evening I am going to play tennis."

Also, with future you can teach them 'about to' for things they will do in the near future. "I am about to go to lunch." If you know some Thai you can give them the Thai expression which, in this case, would be gumlung ja.

Already, what I have covered so far is enough to confuse the hell out of most Thai students and I haven't even covered present perfect yet which isn't the easiest of tenses to teach or learn.

Using the timeline you can tell them that present perfect can be used for actions that have finished recently. 'Has' or 'have' + 'just' + V3. "I have just eaten." Also, it can be used for actions started in the past that continue up to the present or which have a connection with the present. "I have been writing a report."

The last example was present perfect continuous and it is normally at the point of beginning to teach present perfect that the confused faces start to appear in earnest. I have had moderate success with past perfect which is best explained as a 'double past' and future perfect, "Next year I will have been working here for 20 years."

The danger with trying to teach this stuff is that if you aren't careful it just gets labelled as 'grammar' and there is no worse word in a classroom full of Thais. They hate the thought of learning grammar and just switch off.

They want to have wonderful conversations in English but don't want to learn any grammar. In situations like this I usually go into a question and answer session along the lines of, "What do you require in order to be able to converse in English?"

First, you need to know English words - let's call it vocabulary. Second, you need to know how to put those words into the proper sequence to form sentences - let's call it grammar. How they expect to learn English conversation without learning any grammar is beyond me but that's how it is.

Advanced students are a lot easier to teach. They will normally have very clear ideas about what they want to learn and some will even bring their own material. If they are preparing to sit some kind of an English exam they might bring sample exam papers from previous years or other reading material.

The first advanced students I taught were preparing to defend their PhD theses. They went through their presentations as I corrected their written and spoken English. It's good to have work where there is a very clearly defined goal.

After starting to teach a couple of very bright girls who were preparing to sit a TOEFL exam, I realised that their reading, writing and vocabulary skills were extremely strong but their speaking skills needed honing and the weakest skill of all was listening.

I downloaded some BBC podcasts to my iPod and, using a loudspeaker base, used this system to play them the podcasts. I wasn't sure how successful this would be but it worked well. The first time I did this I played them the complete extract and they understood about 10%.

After playing it again several times in short sections they understood everything by the end of the lesson. In subsequent lessons they started to understand a lot more on the first playing.

Advanced students will be very strong in certain areas so it is necessary at first to determine their strengths and weaknesses and then focus on ways to improve their weaknesses. Also, because of their strengths it is advisable to have a good grasp of grammar in order to answer some of the questions they will ask.