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Thailand 2019

Big Changes in Little Rayong

Tranwit Kittisantaropas. Or ‘Teacher Film’.

The  weasel is well among the chickens with the news that my Thai co-teacher  ‘Film’ , left,  is leaving RayongWit.

And it may be gunning for this particular rooster – me, not him.

It  seems likely that my  teaching workload will now crank up beyond a manageable 22 teaching hours a week classtime * ( schedule ) .

Officially, Film and I are sharing teaching duties, with him in the class alongside me teaching. Unofficially, I teach nearly all my classes alone, and he takes two or three of the younger classes by himself.

Reports from other teachers suggest that the school will want me to fill the extra hours.  Its track record thus far with me suggests that I’m unlikely to be offered more money.

So I’ve been girding my loins. It happens that I updated my CV anyway, and now I’ll be sending it hither and yon. Fore-arming myself against “trouble at mill” if and when it comes to that.

Film – who as with many Thais uses his nickname bestowed at birth, as opposed to ‘Tranwit’ in his case – leaves on August 26 for another teaching job in Chonburi.

I found this out not because he told me but via ‘Som’ ( Her Who Must Be Feared ) late on Friday afternoon. I guess I will soon find out how the school plans to fill his boots.

Pros and Cons

Without knowing that, an upside of Film’s departure is that I no longer have to share a teaching station. All our classes are in the same room ( 7209 ), and the desk is officially Film’s.

I may also escape  being so closely … policed. Although a young guy, Film is totally dedicated to rule-following. He’s 100% by the book .

At a recent gala day, he seriously expected me to be in the classroom ‘supervising’ along with him and his wife while students played video games. No other NES teachers were assigned jobs.

An additional class needed scheduling recently for students to sit exams. Film  expected me to start work at 7am ( i.e. be there at 6.30 or so ) to accommodate students. OK, I said, but that will mean I leave work an hour earlier than the regular 8am – 4.30 timetable. No dice.

If there is more than one way of doing something, he’ll always plump for the most time-consuming method. The one which involves time-consuming or  mind-numbing repetition, rather than  an alternative using better technology.

Another area of difficulty is that Film’s English is not as good as some other Thai teachers. It’s way better than my Thai, but I’m not employed as a Thai speaker.

A downside is I’ll miss out on his teaching experience. Two or three times, he has suggested good lesson plans when I’ve been stuck. A handful of times in the early days, he rescued me when I’d exhausted my lesson material.

He also has a good sense of when students are struggling, and occasionally  summarises a lesson in Thai.

He is well liked in the office. He’ll be missed, but more by some than others. Ahem.

*

That’s actual contact time, in the classroom. I’m doing at least 50 hours a week. That includes 40 hours where I’m obliged to be at at the school. Then at least another 10 hours a week outside school hours in class preparation, and marking assignments.

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