The Journey(s) of Ian

(posted on linkedin.com) Teaching in Thailand is not a rewarding experience, neither financially or career wise. There are better alternatives, including the new option of online teaching. Test these before heading to the Land of Smiles, but if you go this is what you need to know. The first hurdle is visa paperwork. Mere words do not suffice to describe the complexity—the ever changing and growing complexity. To start, you must spend a few days at your school getting all the various bits of paper together, having them photocopied, signed, and verified, next visit several different government departments, and then leave the country(!), travel to a Thai embassy, and then wait for the Thai officials to process your ‘paper’ and return a work visa. All with lots and lots of ‘stamps’—just make sure that the correct colour is used. This usually goes ok, but not always. To add insult to injury Thai schools expect you to pay for this. A week and $1,000. Having secured your coveted...

Online teaching is a recent and promising medium of instruction that has created promising teaching opportunities for educators and learners, however, equally new ideas and new approaches are needed to make best use of this medium.  Here are ten techniques I now use in my online teaching. These are aimed at western teachers who teach school aged Chinese students, however, they can be applied in varying extent to different students and different ages. One. Chat at the beginning of the lesson Before you dive into the lesson spend one to two minutes talking to your student about her or his day, and yours—the idle chitchat that people do. Discuss the weather, school, and friends.  For regular students keep track of what your student tells you, don’t forget any essentials (see point seven below). A month later, if you can refer back to the time your student lost her kite in the tree, you will make a long-standing favourable impression. This practice is good wit...