What the <duck> should I say?


I'm in my eleventh year of teaching English in lower northeast now. When I settled down in a city of the lower northeast more than 14 years ago, i was never thinking about teaching English and German to Thai kids and adults.

So many people approached me and I gave it a try. Bad luck for me that I started 4 months too late, otherwise I'd be "grandfathered" and wouldn't have the problem to come up with a degree in education. My degree in social pedagogy doesn't seem to be "good enough" for the Khurusapa. ( TCT) And all the years doing my job do not seem to count either. 

Even after plenty of seminars for the whole staff of educational area xxx offices, primary and secondary Thai English teachers, school directors and of course the usual English camps.

After three years at my first school, a "friend" ( he received 10 K finder fee for me after one year) called me and was asking me if I wouldn't like to work for an agency and make 12 K more per month. I was on a holiday when he phoned me and all i had to do was to drive to Bangkok, without having any documents with me and signed a contract after only one hour of some nonsense bla bla.

 After three years, this well-known agency then lost their contract with the school, I had a big bike accident and was screwed twice. The operation was a joke and after eight months on crutches, I decided to go to Europe, to the country were I was born, to get the right surgery.

But they ( the hospital was diseased)  gave me a Staphylococcus Aureus infection and nobody, except an older nurse, knew anything about the destruction inside my right leg, which had already destroyed most of my tissue and flesh near my new artificial knee joint. What then came was a nightmare......

I had six more OP's and almost lost my leg,but definitely lost my ticket, freaking Lufthansa told me that I could buy a new ticket, but no way to change the date of my return. Even with a doctor's note.

I came back, found a school in Ubon, where i soon became the head teacher and even making shitty money, I could feed my family. After one year they gave me a house on campus and I could save a lot of money because I could stay in Ubon from Monday to Friday. Life was great, okay the salary was not really enough to live a decent, or comfortable life, but with the right woman on your side enjoyable.That was also something that kept and still keeps me going................

Then, one of my biggest mistakes in my life. I was listening to a friend, who told me that I'd be stupid not to take my current job. Well, sleeping at home every day and 4 K more a month seemed to be the enough to resign, short before ( one day) signing my contract for my fourth year.

I left my former director in the rain, we had a great relationship and i had a very save position. I also left some good Thai colleagues who counted on me.

But i must have made the food without the chef, or so. Nothing was and is how they told me it would be. Not even a freaking SS insurance, because the director prefers to pocket this money for another foreigner and me and eight Thais, who're employed as teacher's assistants. You know the ones who wipe asses clean, while the teachers update their facebook pages......

Already last year, it turned out that i started to hate my job. My life changed in a way that I even switched my music off on my way home, after school. No assistant, completely left in the rain, teaching grade ones math, science and of course English.This year, they added a new class, but the new teacher(s) they'd promised were never hired and all in a sudden, i found myself in a weird situation. Teaching a grade one and a grade two class also subjects in English, plus keeping the computers and printers running, preparing worksheets, checking them and the noise every day seemed to kill me slowly but surely.

I've changed many things, but it's still the same, a freaking nightmare. I wasn't born to be a babysitter and dealing with kids who're shitting their pants, which isn't my taste, to be honest.

At my former school, I only had 17 hours of grade six, could sit in my house on campus when I had no lessons, which even had a car port, the biggest on campus, worth 6 K/month. The internet was free and came from a nearby hotel, using a USB antenna.

Now I've got 20 hours, two classes of the "special program a' nine hours, pus two grade six classes make my work to something I can't enjoy anymore.Of course will i not get another waiver from TCT and I need to keep my mouth shut and stay under the radar, to be able to keep my position.

It's also driving me crazy that i have to give those kids a "good grade" who never ever listen and prefer to give me a hard time, running around, fighting and causing other problems. If there'd only be an assistant to keep them quiet would be enough, but....................

The Thais I'm working with are only able to do their job by hitting the kids and if nothing will change, I'll have to quit my job, before I'm doing the same. I won't beat kids. never, ever.....

I can't wait for the midterm break and will try to find a job teaching high school kids. But there's the Damocles sword in form of the TCT....

I really enjoy the two hours teaching grade six on Friday, it's like a piece of cake. I also have to "help" the school to find new teachers, but got nothing to say who will be hired.

They just hired a 46 year old Filipino with a lot of experience and a degree in English. She'll start this Tuesday and she might be of great help.

What started so nicely, became a nightmare. I do not wish that my enemies have to encounter such problems, the whole school's just a shithole in a little town.

My five baht to your topic. Wish all the guys in a similar situation best of luck. Better to make some research before you make such a commitment.