A Week in the Life of a Language Centre Teacher in Thailand

I previously wrote about a week in the life of a TEFL teacher in Thailand at a government high school. Now this is a week from my previous job at a language school in Thailand.

Note that Monday and Tuesday were my days off and I worked weekends. My hours each day are 12-9pm – which includes six hours of teaching, one hour preparation time, one hour lunch and one hour to help around the centre.

Wednesday

My first working day of the week is Wednesday. Getting in at 11.45am and the whole place is dead. Being inside a shopping mall on the edge of Bangkok I get greeted every day by the security guards who all know me.

I walk into the centre and the staff have the latest Taylor Swift song on. Throughout everyday there’ll be a mix of pop and dance songs on really loudly, they don’t really understand the concept of background music. The music helps the atmosphere, especially during busy times but not so much on midweek mornings.

The teachers room is small but has five computers. I jump on one and check my classes for the day. I’ve been teaching here two years and we teach the same lessons on repeat. I pretty much don’t need to plan anything. Today I have two low level classes and four intermediates. Nothings is too difficult but the beginner classes only have two students in so they can be a bit boring.

After the first class of the week is done I have lunch. I hate this, after lunch I still have seven hours of work left and only minimal time to go out and eat later in the day. Working in a shopping mall does come with the benefit of being able to eat pretty much anything I want. I have three food courts and a whole range of restaurants. Today I go for a KFC.

After lunch I have to do an hour in the centre to talk with students or help out the Thai staff with any tasks. As it’s 2pm on a Wednesday there aren’t many students hanging around so I go hang out with the Thai staff in our study rooms where students can use the computers. It’s quite fun to do as the Thai staff all have fantastic English and are interesting to talk to.

At 3pm I have three intermediate classes back to back. I teach second conditionals in the first class and the past perfect tense in the second. All the classes have four students and everyone is good enough so they can pass to the next level of the course.

From 6-7pm I have my preparation hour but as I have taught every class I use it for dinner. The mall is much busier now so I head to the food court and get some fried rice.

I finish the day with two classes in a row. The first with an advanced student who always studies alone. Her English isn’t up to standard and rather than making her study again management have told us to let her finish her course ASAP as her contract is about to finish. The final class is with a group of eight low level students. It’s a conversation class so we all just talk for an hour.

At the end of the day I have to update the computer system and say who is able to move up to the next level, who needs more practice and if anyone needs to be placed in a different class.

Something great about this job is that quite often a group of people will go out together as we don’t work until late the next day. Tonight I go out with two other teachers and five of the Thai staff for a bit more food and a couple of beers in a restaurant just outside the shopping mall.

Thursday

Looking through my schedule today I can see that I’m teaching all low level classes. These days are normally either super fun or really dull depending on the students. I look through the name lists and can see at least three classes with very weak students. These students have been sold a course which is too difficult for them as the sales people don’t give a shit and will sell any course to anyone just to make money.

My first class is with a husband and wife who want to learn English but can’t read or write English. After 45 minutes I get one of the Thai teaching assistants to come in and we agree that these students need a special learning plan to learn how to read and write first before continuing the main course. The next class isn’t much better with all the students not being good enough and having to repeat the lesson another time.

At 2pm I’m glad to get lunch. I get a salad box from TOPS supermarket. I usually eat lunch in the teachers room. With the computers I can browse the web and chill out for an hour.

After lunch I have another two classes back to back. Thank god these classes are much better. The students are more focused and have prepared for class. All of them can have basic conversations in English and are able to use present continuous and can / can’t sentences which is the aim of these classes.

Next I have to spend an hour in the social area with the students. As it’s 5pm there are a lot of people around and I go from table to table spending five or ten minutes with each group. I’ve known some of the students for over a year and it’s nice to speak with them outside the classroom. It’s probably the best part of the job for me.

At 6pm I have “planning” time so I go and get an omelette from the food court and and get ready for the last two hours of the day.

The last two beginner classes are based on there is / there are. I already know at least two of the students wont be able to do it. In the end six of the eight students are good enough whilst the other two will have to stay behind to get some help from the Thai assistants before trying the class again later in the week.

Before leaving my boss comes in to remind me that I need to wear fancy dress this weekend – our theme is sports.

Friday

Friday is dress-down day at work. Jeans and a T-shirt are fine at work today and it’s something I quite like. It makes things seem a little less formal. A few of the other teachers push it a bit with what they wear on Fridays and some get sent home to change occasionally.

Friday is the mid-point of my working week. I know once it’s done I’m close to my weekend. My schedule today has a mixture of classes of different levels. I also have one special class with all the students in the social area.

As with all midweek classes before 5pm there aren’t many students in my three classes before lunch. On average I have two students per class. All of them are university students who don’t need to be in class today. They are all nice enough and do everything they need to to pass the class.

For lunch I go to a Japanese curry place. For 99 baht you get an imitation Japanese curry which is just about passable. On the weekend this place is packed. After lunch I do a bit of shopping, one of the benefits of working in a mall!

At 4pm I need to go cover the front desk as the Thai staff have a meeting. I basically greet students as they come in, scan their ID cards and help them book classes. I also have to answer the phones which is fun. We have caller ID so I can see who is calling and what level they study but most of the students struggle to speak in English on the phone.

At 5pm I have my special class with all the students in our social area. 45 people turn up which is fantastic. I’ve planned a special class all about science which will end with the students doing a serious of small scientific experiments. In the end everything goes well and as I leave to teach my next class the students are still doing experiments.

My class at 6pm is with four new students. Like most new students they’re all really nervous. It takes about ten minutes to get them out of their shells but in the end they’re a talkative bunch. They really enjoy this first lesson and it’s something we have to focus on as teachers – to make sure students are happy from day one.

I then have planning time at 7-8pm and as I know the mall will be packed I stay in the centre and plan to eat after work. The last class of the day is with three of my favourite students. They’ve been studying at my centre for three years and have gone from complete beginners to advanced speakers in that time. We just talk for an hour and tick off the skills they should’ve learned for this level and it’s a fun class.

Saturday

Every month we have a theme in our centre. This month has been all about sports. On the last Saturday of each month all staff members (and students if they want) have to dress in fancy dress based on the theme. One of my ex-colleagues hated this and didn’t last long in the job! I’ve never been a huge fan of it but have done just enough to get through it without embarrassing myself too much.

This month our theme is sport. This is great for me, I just wear the clothes I normally do for when I play golf. Smart trousers, a golf polo and a golf glove. It ticks all the boxes and I don’t feel as stupid as I did when I dressed up as Harry Potter, a clown or a vampire in previous months.

On Saturday and Sunday I will teach 6 hours but the boss does the teachers a favour and only makes us stay in the centre for seven hours. We teach three hours, get an hour for lunch, teach three hours then can go. It means we are all done by 7pm. Some teachers start at 11am and finish by 6pm.

The weekend classes are much busier and almost every seat is taken in every class. The first three classes are all with intermediate students. There are a lot of young professionals in these classes. They only have time on the weekend and the sales team pressures the teachers to let the students pass every class or the learners will get angry about “wasted time” studying again. In the end unless they are terrible I let everyone pass the classes on the weekend as quite often students complain and the boss lets them pass anyway.

My first three classes go well with the old classic coming out where a student mixes up the word “kitchen” and “chicken” – “I like to eat in the chicken” she says and the rest of the class think this is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard.

Weekends in the shopping mall are hell. During the week I can get lunch in peace but today there is no chance. I waste about 15 minutes just trying to walk past the slow moving hordes. I make it to TOPS and get some garlic pork with rice to take back to work. As Saturday is busy it means all the staff are in and there aren’t any seats in the staff room so I end up eating in the social area with the students.

I hear that tomorrow there will be a sports show in the center and my boss has cancelled one of my classes tomorrow so I can take part in the event…

My three classes are pretty simple in the afternoon. I never have problems with behavior and it certainly helps the day go faster. Come 7pm I’m happy to be leaving. A few of the teachers decide to go into central Bangkok and watch the football, I join them and get home at midnight. As I don’t work until midday next day I should be recovered in time!

Sunday

Working at midday means I can still go out on Friday and Saturday night if I want. Being a bit hungover isn’t a problem but as a teacher it isn’t fun. By about 11am I’m feeling ok and head off to work.

I teach one class then have to join in the monthly show. As the theme is sports all of the Thai staff have come dressed in sorts gear again and will put on a cheer-leading show for the students. Every month the Thai staff put on a show and the students go crazy for it. It isn’t uncommon to get 200 students show up for the show (and snacks). Today I have to teach the students some words about cheer-leading and sports and be the judge at the end to see which cheer team were the best. It’s a bit of a laugh and something different to do. In the end I chose the blue team as they got the most screams from the audience.

Whilst the event is going on the music is up to 11 on the dial and I can see the other teachers have given up teaching and their classes are watching the show too.

As the centre buys food and snacks for students who come to the party it usually means there is a mountain of pizza and KFC left over for all the teachers to eat for lunch.

After lunch and it’s three hours left until the weekend. By about 5pm the student party has died down and everyone is in a sleepy Sunday mood. My last class is with three high school students. I can tell their parents make them come and none of them seem bothered about learning. To be fair if my mum made me go study on the weekend I wouldn’t be happy either…. In the end the last class drags so much and I just go on auto pilot to get through it.