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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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 Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 2:01 am Post subject: |
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Yes I agree LAOS is the new "Land Of Smiles". It's southern neighbour no longer smiles that much anymore these days...lots of EFL backpackers from Kaosan Road moving into Laos...I wonder why???  |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:30 am Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Yes I agree LAOS is the new "Land Of Smiles". It's southern neighbour no longer smiles that much anymore these days...lots of EFL backpackers from Kaosan Road moving into Laos...I wonder why??? |
Ever get that feeling that you've already had it up to here with TEFL and the situation just keeps getting worse and worse? |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Yes I agree LAOS is the new "Land Of Smiles". It's southern neighbour no longer smiles that much anymore these days...lots of EFL backpackers from Kaosan Road moving into Laos...I wonder why??? |
Ever get that feeling that you've already had it up to here with TEFL and the situation just keeps getting worse and worse? |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:24 am Post subject: |
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| Laos is already farked, the nail just hasn't been driven in yet. But remember, you can't have your cake and eat it too. On that note, you can't really be a foreigner teaching English in a place and resent others doing the same. It would be like Neil Armstrong saying, "No Buzz, just stay in that bloody module and wait patiently until I return". |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:30 am Post subject: |
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| bluetortilla wrote: |
| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Yes I agree LAOS is the new "Land Of Smiles". It's southern neighbour no longer smiles that much anymore these days...lots of EFL backpackers from Kaosan Road moving into Laos...I wonder why??? |
Ever get that feeling that you've already had it up to here with TEFL and the situation just keeps getting worse and worse? |
What exactly are you getting at here? Is it a case of Lao employers not caring about qualifications and experience as long as there is a foreign teacher in the classroom? Or do you actually fear a budget traveller as a serious competitor? |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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Today many, many and MANY Budget travelers from Kao Sarn Road in Bangkok moving to Laos are actually would be EFL Edutainment teachers and they number in the hundreds (if not thousands) in Thailand. Most of them are unqualified to teach English and are desperate to find any job teaching English at a school so they don't have to return to their home countries in the WEST and be unemployed. Need I say more...in today's jobless market economics reality hurts and sometimes bites hard!!!!!!!!  |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:58 am Post subject: |
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| kurtz wrote: |
| bluetortilla wrote: |
| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Yes I agree LAOS is the new "Land Of Smiles". It's southern neighbour no longer smiles that much anymore these days...lots of EFL backpackers from Kaosan Road moving into Laos...I wonder why??? |
Ever get that feeling that you've already had it up to here with TEFL and the situation just keeps getting worse and worse? |
What exactly are you getting at here? Is it a case of Lao employers not caring about qualifications and experience as long as there is a foreign teacher in the classroom? Or do you actually fear a budget traveller as a serious competitor? |
No, just addressing EFL ED's obsession with the backpacker competition taking our jobs and lowering our wages, etc.
Anyway, within a week in Laos I was able to get a very modest job for 90 minutes a day. The environment is great, and the students are highly motivated (from high school to professional adults). I could in theory survive on the job.
Sadly, my Laos adventure has been cut short by unforeseen events back 'home' in Japan that need my immediate attention. Too bad, since this thread (for me anyway) was really building up nicely.
But I was here long enough to observe that the demand for English teachers in Vientiane is extremely high and if you have a nice resume you should have no problems getting work, and eventually getting the jobs you want.
If you're a backpacker who doesn't know crap about TEFL or linguistics I have no idea what you're chances are. The couple of interviews I went to hear were pretty serious, conducted by real teachers who knew what was going on and likewise wanted good teachers for their students. I doubt if I would have gotten the job that I did without the field knowledge that I have. |
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likwid_777
Joined: 04 Nov 2012
Posts: 411
Location: NA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:57 am Post subject: |
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| bluetortilla wrote: |
Sadly, my Laos adventure has been cut short by unforeseen events back 'home' in Japan that need my immediate attention. Too bad, since this thread (for me anyway) was really building up nicely.
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Did being bored out of your mind, or seeing the potential to be bored out of your mind soon, assist in the speediness of your decision to bail back to Japan? |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 12:59 am Post subject: |
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| likwid_777 wrote: |
| bluetortilla wrote: |
Sadly, my Laos adventure has been cut short by unforeseen events back 'home' in Japan that need my immediate attention. Too bad, since this thread (for me anyway) was really building up nicely.
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Did being bored out of your mind, or seeing the potential to be bored out of your mind soon, assist in the speediness of your decision to bail back to Japan? |
No, a family crisis demands my attention. I hope to be back once it's over.
Over the long run, I would not see boredom as a problem and that whole observation seems overblown. Laos has tons to offer and you can get bored anywhere after all.
The two things that got to me when I was here were the traffic (more buses PLEASE Vientiane- this place is turning into a mini Jakarta) and the police corruption (well, corruption at all official levels). The latter did not affect me, but I know others who were. Still, it's nothing like South America!
Laos is a very interesting place, and if you can find work here (and you're qualified for it), I would wholly recommend it (at the risk of spoiling a good thing by blabbing about it). I wasn't too worried about backpacker teachers though because I definitely felt my skills and experience to be preferred by employers. The two interviews I had (one I didn't get as they had already hired someone) were both conducted by fellow teachers, not business people. You couldn't really fake anything.
That could very well change in the future, but for now Laos remains a small, tight knit place, not likely in my opinion to attract that many people. If you don't like the countryside and prefer night clubbing, you're not going to like Laos. As for me, Laos was never a dull moment. I find it hard to understand why people demand so much in the way modernity and 'urbania' to keep them going. |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:38 am Post subject: |
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| Many of us on this board do hope Laos maintains its charm and does not become like ita aouthern neighboor. Sabai dee LAO! |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Many of us on this board do hope Laos maintains its charm and does not become like ita aouthern neighboor. Sabai dee LAO! |
Aside from the traffic problem (friend got cut off and took a spill just last night so it is a real problem), I don't see anything that would change all that. Laos will remain agricultural, rural, and not very accessible for years to come. Don't let talk of that big Chinese highway scare you- it will only impact immediate areas I think. Also, I believe it's mostly planned to go through LOS south, not Sabai di Lao.
My friend is OK but there's accidents here all the time. |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 6:42 pm Post subject: |
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| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Many of us on this board do hope Laos maintains its charm and does not become like ita aouthern neighboor. Sabai dee LAO! |
Perhaps you mean its northern neighbour.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/757862.shtml |
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bluetortilla
Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 815
Location: Henan
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| Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 9:01 am Post subject: |
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| kurtz wrote: |
| EFL Educator wrote: |
| Many of us on this board do hope Laos maintains its charm and does not become like ita aouthern neighboor. Sabai dee LAO! |
Perhaps you mean its northern neighbour.
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/757862.shtml |
Yeah well things may be headed that way but I found the article a gross exaggeration, describing the situation in places like Dali than Vientiane. Even Jinhong, slated for tourist rape, has turned out to be a disappointment to investors.
If China can't make money there won't be much of a scene. Sure they can build stuff- they already have built the largest real estate bubble the world has ever seen- but they can't make people want to go there. And sorry- but Laos just doesn't have that much to offer in that sense.
Laos like Thailand is an ASEAN member. I have never heard that Lao was a 'vassal' of China but whatever- it's sensitive territory and China has ticked off a lot of ASEAN members lately. Having said that, Chinese investment here has been negative. And don't think the people of Yunnan are thrilled either. |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2014 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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I understand there are more Thai investors thsn Chinese investors on the Mekong Delta then ever before...mostly investing in construction and entertainment projects like hotels, resorts, casinos, bars, restaurants, nightclubs and massage parlours. All I can say is that I pray that Laos does not lose its identity and culture and become an extension of its southern neighbor...and please keep the backpackers from creating another Kao Sarn Road on the Mekong River.I can only hope Laos attracts qualified, serious EFL instructors who wish to educate Lao youth and teach them proper English so they can enter the 21st century. Sabai Dee Lao!!!!!!!.  |
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kurtz
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Phaic Tan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 5:08 am Post subject: |
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I am more familiar with the north. It seemed to me that the northern border was quite porous with Chinese coming across the border for the day and out competing the locals at the market. The Lao don't seem capable of findinga pair of flip flops in Kuta, Bali; let alone having the know how and money to start any kind of industry; they seemed such a passive bunch; it wouldn't surprise me at all if the Chinese slowly took iver the place.
Can someone start up a decent school in Luang Prabang?; I was gutted at the quality of the staff at my boutique guesthouse. These people need English and customer service training; surely there is an opportunity there for someone to put their hand up. |
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