Christmas in Thailand

Christmas in Thailand

I'll shamelessly admit it. I'm one of those people that loves a cheesy Christmas. When I was a kid, I wouldn't sleep at all on Christmas Eve. My parents would leave a stocking and "The Beano Annual" outside my door, as soon as they turned in, I'd grab it, read it, and then bug my parents every ten minutes from 5am onwards until they agreed to start opening presents.

It won't be long before I play the dad's role in that commotion I guess, but the last few years have not felt like Christmas at all. Thailand is of course, a Buddhist country but like most of the world they have jumped on the idea of shop sales and an excuse to dress up. It's just not the same though. Christmas day is another working day, the temperatures are high and there is no spirit.

This year things have been different. My new school attempts to teach students the cultures of Buddhist and Christian religions. As such, last Friday was Christmas party - complete with a Santa and hundreds of excited kids - as the pupils were dismissed for ten days holiday. Even more amazingly, the temperatures have dropped. Yes it's true, Bangkok has been almost as cold as London in the mornings at least. It's all added up to a bit of a Christmas feel.

My new years resolution - I'm one of the few that sometimes keeps them, I even gave up smoking one year - is to get my finances in order. Tough but doable.

So whoever you are, wherever you are, happy Christmas. May 2007 be a year of less deaths in the name of religion.

All Thai schools are not the same....

So in Thailand, there are four types of school. Now that I’ve worked in all but one of these different types of establishments, I feel I’m qualified to make some comments.

Government schools. As you may expect, government schools tend to be the least equipped. Class sizes are big – often in excess of fifty students per class. Some of the better schools in this group can offer modern classrooms and a decent salary though. Beware; many government schools have very old fashioned teachers and attitudes to foreigners.

Bi – lingual schools. Just like where I work now. Bi –lingual schools are usually modern in architecture and attitude. Facilities are good. Plenty of employment opportunities exist for foreigners here though salaries are usually not higher than the better government schools.

Private schools. These establishments usually exist on high streets and in shopping malls. They provide tailored lessons in private classrooms. They usually have a high turnover of staff and pay pretty low rates but they are a good source of temporary or part time work or a good start for new teachers.

International schools. For the real teachers, It’l schools provide a high salary. Most of them expect applicants to have a legitimate .degree in education. Needless to say, they have high expectations in terms of work rate and performance. Thai International schools still have a surprisingly high turnover of staff.


I don’t want to name names. Anyone spending more than a day outside tourist Bangkok will find at least one example of each of the above establishments. If you are really looking for work it’s best just to drop in. make sure you are dressed as a worker and not a tourist though. I know from my days of head teaching that appearances mean a great deal to Thai staff.

Right now I’m working in a bilingual school. I’ll provide more details on everyday life there soon.