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[own_king]

Working at Lertlah (Bangkok, Thailand) �Teaching in Hell�

Now let me start off by saying that I love Thailand, Thai culture, and to some extent Thai people, but working at Lertlah International Program School has been a year of Hell and here�s why . . .

Extra Work

- Staff meetings every week until 6:00 (a little much I think).
- Lunch duty every week expected to actively supervise. Thais just sit and eat and talk and never reprimand the kids for unaccepted behavior.
- Expected to clean own air conditioner filter because it is not in the cleaning staff�s contract, even though it was not in our contract either.
- Parent/teacher meetings until 6:30 PM the day before holidays begin to get every last possible minute of work out of you.
- Must work camps in October and April and stay until 4:30 even though the kids go home at 2:15 to get every last possible minute of work out of you.
- Required to attend Saturday events like concert, anniversary show, etc although our work week is supposed to be Monday to Friday and get severely reprimanded for being late.
- My visa expired April 24th because I came a few days early to travel before I had to begin. But rather than letting me go when my visa expired, they expected ME to pay for my own visa extension and work until April 30th even though by their own admission they did not tell me not to come early or the school would not be responsible for my visa expenses. The Principal just said "Maybe we should tell people in the future." Well that really helps me. So I left the country at Songkran (middle of April) and came back on a 30 day tourist visa, which took me well past April 30.
- The school hires people to work illegally. See above. I was even encouraged to do this by the Principal
- Admittedly, the pay is good for Thailand, but they expect a lot for their money - the workday is 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM which is just too long for kids never mind the teachers, you must conduct homework classes everyday from 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM, you are expected to submit a weekly plan and yearly plan, make work booklets perfectly bound every month.

Lack of Resources

- Internet access 11:00 AM � 12:00 noon and 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM is very limited if at all to research resources you may want to use with your kids. If it does not get turned on that day, that is too bad because it is a privilege.

Lack of Focus on Academics

- More emphasis on activities for kids rather than education. The only time any academics is done at this school is when there is absolutely nothing else to do. School work takes a backseat to everything else.
- Photocopies will be rejected if there is a black spot on the page or if is not cut to be perfectly square, but will never be questioned with regards to educational value or relevance.
- Presentation is all that counts not education. The principal checks to make sure all photocopies look perfect because they know that no sane teacher will go to all this nonsense.

Contract Violations

- Can be fined for leaving light or a/c on all night
- Teacher was fired before October holidays so they would not have to pay him for them and he had to go to court to get a month�s pay in lieu of notice. And he was not fired because of incompetence, but because he was not liked by the �more popular teachers� on staff.
- If you don�t agree to stay a second year, they make life for you very hard for the rest of your first year, like moving you to a new location a half hour away from the apartment the school moves you into.


Thai Staff

- Lunch duty every week expected to actively supervise. Thais just sit and eat and talk and never reprimand the kids for unaccepted behavior.
- The Thai is staff unsupportive, uncooperative, unfriendly, and incompetent.
- Cameras in the classroom - you're spied on by the Thai staff and office staff at different intervals throughout the day, waiting for you to make a mistake. Sometimes they sit in the TV room for hours at a time. It's not just for parents to see their kids in class.
- You are always spied on by Thai teachers, other foreign teachers, the supply person, and of course the Principal and her minions to make sure you are following protocol.

Disorganization

- Things constantly change at the last minute. Memos are put into a binder hours before something changes and you are expected to have read it even though you might have already checked in the morning
- Memos are never put into the teacher�s mail box which would be a better place that most experienced teachers are accustomed to looking.
- The area in terribly boring and very far away from the city, although the handbook describes it as being close.

Administration

- The new Principal who will be taking the helm starting May 2004 tells his teachers that they disgust him and make him sick, brags about it to other teachers, and threatens to beat them up (physically) in the parking lot while yelling at the top of his lungs in front of parents.
- When the current principal was told about the incident she just said that �you got what you deserved for being late.�
- Most teachers in LIPS program have a B.ED, but next principal does not, although these qualified professional will be required to take orders from him.
- The new principal of the bilingual program has never taught a day in his life before coming to Thailand this year, and only got the job because he made friends with the current principal and the new one.

Kids

- On one occasion a grade 1 student hit a female teacher in the stomach in front of the other students and was not punished for it. She was just told to not do it again.
- The kids are sometimes argumentative and Thai staff would take the side of the students against a foreign teacher like if there was a disagreement because they are afraid of the kids and parents.
- The Thai staff will interrupt your lesson and talk to the kids in Thai while not telling you what is happening. They also allow them to go to the nurse�s room and not tell you where they are.

(Un) Professional Treatment

- They expected qualified professional teacher to hand their students homework books in to a Thai teacher who can barely speak English to make sure we are correcting and marking them consistently.
- Photocopier is only to be used by Thai staff which means you can not make your own photocopies even though you may be accustomed to doing so.
- All photocopies are to be submitted to be approved by the principal because nobody believes that you are a qualified professional who is able to choose reasonable material for your students.

Hypocrisy

Two phrases most constantly heard from Principal sometimes in the same breath.
- If you were back home you�d have to do this
- Well now you�re in Thailand and that�s the way things are done here
- huh? Which is it?