Interviews from the Admins! - Future takes and blasts from the past!

Here are the comments from each of the TEFL forum sites:

TEFLGuardian (http://teflguardian.com) (TG)

TEFL School Review (http://www.teflschoolreviews.com) (TSR)

TEFL EFL Watch (http://thaieflwatch.rahost.org) (TEW)

Since one of the admins chose to use this interview to attack me, I thought I’d add my comments to his responses.  My responses will be in red.  Please feel free to comment about my comments as well! 

Remember, your comments and feedback will be appreciated by the admins.  They NEED your comments and feedback to refine each other their sites!

1.  With three competing sites, what do you think makes your site the best site for teachers to exchange information about schools?

·         (TG) My site is set up on a completely different format than the past.  It is designed to be as fair and accurate as possible while providing a real level of interpretation.  The rating system developed will, in my opinion, give each teacher an accurate overview of each potential employer.

·         (TSR) Why do you even care?  You’ve done your level best to destroy any freedom teachers have on reporting bad schools. Now, you’re acting like you are the savior of TEFL sites? Give me a break. You’re a loser. The question should be,. what makes you think anyone trusts you? (the interview isn’t about me.. and now there are 3 sites, it seems my efforts have given teachers more choices, therefore more freedom)

What makes TEFL School Reviews the best? We don’t have a complicated sign up procedure. Just visit an existing review and give a rating. If you’ve got a bit more time, leave a comment. The bar is low for entry so that everyone makes their voice heard, not the loud hecklers who crave so much attention that they start up blogs like TruthinTEFL. (or blogs like yours?)

Oh yeah, and we don’t have a lackey like you selling out teacher personal information for a price. (yawn…you do it for free)

·          (TEW) Firstly … Freedom of speech.  Most of the teachers come from countries where this is a God given right .. Why shouldn’t you have those same rights on the net? We have no power mad mods who get off banning people at the drop of a hat. Of course it goes without saying that the same restrictions that apply in those said countries also apply at Thai EFL Watch .. namely .. no defamation or disclosure of personal information of private individuals.
Secondly .. We are attempting to have a more balanced view. We want to encourage the praising of good schools as well as the inevitable moaning and groaning about bad schools. Also .. if someone complains about a school, I will do my best to email that school and invite them to respond. Let’s see both sides of the coin.

2.  What is your personal motivation for starting your site?  Please give us your “philosophy” concerning your motivations.

 

·        (TG) I wanted information on schools located in one place. When I was looking for a job and tried to find some info on a school, it took hours of internet searching. Most of the information was old or not helpful, hence the formation of TEFLGUARDIAN.

·         (TSR) Philosophy? What kind of interview is this anyways? That’s too big of a word for an old bumpkin like myself. Teachers deserve a place to state their opinions without having some guy on the take selling out the teachers. You know, someone like… YOU! (yawn…same old claims, makes you wonder if the guy is living in the past or looking to the future.)

·         (TEW) I need this site just as much as any other teacher. I’m here in Thailand “on the ground” working as a teacher. I’m not sitting in a “comfy” armchair in front of the fireplace thousands of miles away .. I’m right here in the hot spot with my finger on the pulse. As soon as the post concerning the closure of TEFL Watch was posted on Ajarn.com .. and as soon as I read the wishes of a few people that “someone” has got to “resurrect” it .. I declared my intention to do so and I did!.  I’m not in it for the money .. I enjoy it. I’ll leave the money generating to “Thai Visa Incorporated” .. I think they are even delivering pizzas now according to the latest newsletter (read “sales brochure”) One of the subjects I teach is I.T .. which of course involves website creation .. to me it’s a “love” .. a “hobby”.

3.  What does each of you think is the biggest problem a school reporting site might have?

·         (TG) Honesty and fairness in providing real information that a teacher could use.

·         (TSR) Dealing with jerks like you. Dealing with people like you who sell out their fellow teachers for cash. Dealing with people like you or Richard who seem to have severe mental problems. From my understanding, the old site went swimmingly well until you came along and played your little games.  (goes to show your understanding, doesn’t it?)

·         (TEW) The credibility of the posts. It’s hard to know if the “moaning and groaning” is legit or not. Until you have several posts about a school saying basically the same thing .. then you should take all negative (and positive) posts with a large grain of salt.

4.  As each of you know, trolls are a major problem.  What moderation policies do you have to limit the effectiveness of trolls?

·         (TG) Not being set up on a “forum” format was my first step. Step 2 is my warning level with suspension for a limited time. Step 3 is a complete ban from the web site. I will not say how I will do this, but things are closely monitored on my site.

·         (TSR) Simple, I won’t approve comments made by you or your lackey. 100% of the problems then go away.  (So much for freedom of speech! I guess you can only post on TSR if you agree with the admin and moderators.)

·         (TEW) Just ignore them. I don’t think trolls are really all that much of a problem. I hate forums where everyone is so paranoid about trolls. The “knee jerk” responses from certain members at certain forums to label somone a troll is more annoying to me. Like the saying goes “Don’t feed the trolls” Trolls are inevitable in forums .. the same as dog crap in a Soi .. just don’t step in it! .. no big deal. Sometimes a trolls posts can be funny! .. in that light .. they can actually have some value .. to the horror of the troll of course.

5. The former admin of the defunct TEFLWatch made the following statement in his Hot Seat interview on Ajarn.com  (http://ajarn.com/Hot%20seat/hotseatgreg.htm):

“Anyways, I think any other site would see scant long term success without having an admin on the take.”

How would each of you respond to that comment?  What are your long term success plans?

·         (TG) That is one persons thinking about the current situation. It would not benefit anyone from trying to “buy” me, as I cannot change the school rates on my site. It is impossible for me to manipulate the rating system. My long term plans will be to have an honest and legitimate school rating site that people will know and trust.

·         (TSR) Well, judging from your use of Thai EFL Watch, I think it’s safe to presume that you have a hand in that site. How much are you getting paid for your involvement there? How much are schools paying you to get on your Hall of Fame? My long term success plans revolve around not letting you or Richard ruin the site. Simple, right?  (Nope, no hand or any other part of me is involved with ANY forum, other than as a simple poster. No pay involved either.  Open to bids though from the admins! J)

·         (TEW) It depends on the admin of the site. If he/she is in it for the money they will try their best to make it succeed. But basically I think that statement is total crap! There are God knows how many non profit sites on the net that have been going for years! With a statement like that .. it’s not hard to see what his motivation was for creating “TEFL Watch”

6.  What is the biggest problem facing teachers in Thailand today?

·         (TG) That is a tough question and one I can only answer from my own experience.

1.      Low wages

2.      Poor communication

3.      Constantly changing rules

·         (TSR) Dealing with lackeys like you who sell them out when they need help. Other than that? Who cares. Why should I care about other “issues” affecting teachers, all I am doing is providing teachers a safe venue to give ratings and comments about schools, good or evil.

(seems to me an intrinsic part of working for a school is all the other “issues” that revolve around working at a particular school or in a particular country)

·         (TEW) Obviously the ridiculous amounts of paperwork and multiple government departments you have to deal with. Come on!  This is 2008 for God’s sake! Get it together! When you compare Thailand with Cambodia for example , the differences are huge. You pay $25 odd dollars for a business visa .. no work permit rubbish .. the business visa covers that .. 3 months later .. you hand over a few more dollars for a 1 year business visa .. all done! Now I know why there is never any paper in public toilets in Thailand .. the government uses too much of the stuff and there is a shortage! Of course the other problem is the one all these “EFL Watch” type sites are trying to address. Of course the other problem is the one all these “EFL Watch” type sites are trying to address. Dishonest employers and schools. It doesn’t matter if you have a “contract”, a work permit and a Non B Visa .. when the crap hits the fan with an employer or school .. you usually don’t have a leg to stand on.

7.  There have been several comments about advertising on teacher’s websites.  What are your views about advertising on your site?

·         (TG) It will never happen. In the beginning I had Google ads, but removed them.

·         (TSR) What kind of BS question is this? Be up front what you are asking. Am I gonna take an advert from a school just to give them a clean break? No way, I am not like the interviewer. How much did you take from that school? And this a good point to bring up Faith Christian Academy. You were promoting it on the Siam Pinoy forum. You made several statements about the schools, but you have been unwilling to back it up. You said this:
Faith Christian Academy of Bangkok.   It is run by two very experienced management/teachers and have experienced staff, all Filipino.  They ran a school in the Philippines and have since moved to Thailand to help with the many Filipino children here needing an education the students can understand.  They are acreditted by several worldwide organizations and have been teaching in Thailand for over 4 years.
Its near ABAC Ramkhamhaeng so its easy to get to from most parts of the city.
If you would like, PM me and I’ll send you the phone number of the manager/director.
You have several outstanding questions about that school:
a) How can a school have 100% Filipino staff in Thailand?
b) What worldwide organizations are they accredited by?
c) Why are they not listed with the MOE as a registered school?
d) What is the exact address of the school?
e) Why are YOU promoting an illegal school?

I know you won’t answer these questions, they’ve been dogging you for months. I’ve even heard information that you are an owner of this school. So why should anyone trust you about truth in tefl when you are advertising an illegal school that you have a part interest in? (Wow, so interested in me!  I’d post the answers to your questions on TSR, but I’m not welcome there…too bad. But if anyone else is actually interested, let me know!   (hint..hint!)

·         (TEW) At the moment my site is on a “free host”. No advertising needed. But as soon as the Bank of Ayutthaya gets my debit card together .. I’ll be changing the site to a regular “dot com” or dot org” or whatever. That costs money. I already have a few Google Ads in place .. and from past experience from another site I have it generates just enough to pay for the sites expenses. Of course if anyone is REALLY annoyed at the ads .. they are welcome to donate the $100 odd dollars a year it takes to host the site and I will remove all the ads.

8.  In another quote from the Ajarn Hot Seat interview, the former admin of TEFLWatch, he said the following:

“I think the schools that have been actively trying to get information off of TEFLWatch will consider this a victory, but for the majority of schools, they will not care one iota either way. And why should they?”

What are you going to do to get the school administrators interested commenting on your site?  What methods are you going to use to help them understand that it’s beneficial to show that it helps their school if the teachers are happy?

·         (TG) This is something that will take time and a lot of work. It may be that most school administrators don’t care. Hopefully, the teachers will start spreading the word and that’s all it will take to get the ball rolling.

·         (TSR) Experience has shown that the only teachers who talk about positive experiences about specific schools in a forum environment are ones that are pushed to do it. The same applies for those talking about negative experiences. They are pushed by situations to leave their experiences.
For example, the old TW forum only had two positive reports. One was from someone working as a recruiter for their university and the other was you! And we both know that you are on the take from at least one school. If someone is talking on a forum how great there school is, I wonder how much they are getting paid.  (yawn….)
TEFL School Reviews does something different. The forum is there an archive of the past. The main site is still under heavy development, but it’s simple. Rate schools and leave comments if you want. If you find it useful, great, if not, then good luck

·         (TEW) Like I said above. I’ll try to find their email address and invite them to come online and put their two cents worth in. As for trying to make them understand the “logic” of keeping their teachers happy .. well that’s a tough one. Thai “officialdom”,employers,schools and “logic” mixed together is an oxymoron.

9.  In the past, I’ve been a member of several forums where teachers complained about a particular incident or school for literally years.  What is each of you going to do to limit this kind of poster?

·         (TG) See answer # 4.

·         (TSR) You believe that someone shouldn’t have the right to talk about a school for too long? How long is too long? Do you honestly think that people should have their speech curtailed when they talk bad a school? What about the school admins, and I know one in particular, that continually posts about how great their school is. Should they be allowed to as well? (you seem to think curtailing freedom of speech is perfectly acceptable…refer to your answer to question 4.)
By the way, you say several forums. Can you name the several forums?

(Namtok/Yanqui/RetiredStillTeaching on AjarnForum and TEFLWatch.  How’s that?)

·         (TEW) I could create a special member group called “Chronic Whingers” and place them into it. Their member group would be viewable to all beneath their nick. Then all other members and guests can view their posts with another large grain of salt.

 

10.  What do each of you think that the future holds for the teachers in Thailand and how do you think your site will help teachers in this uncertain future?

·         (TG) Difficult to say what will happen here in the future. It is on a constant rollercoaster ride now and not sure when it will stop.

My site will only help teachers in their decision to work at a school or not. It is up to them to read any information and make an informed decision.

·         (TSR) Markets change. Who really cares about Thailand? The only people who care about Thailand are those with a family there or those who can’t live without vice in their lives. The world doesn’t revolve around Thailand. Believe it or not, most TEFL teachers are not teaching in Thailand.
I’ve got better things to do with my life than play little games with a little man who thinks he is something because he trolled for several months and made a good man take down a useful site. Was the payoff worth it?   (yawn)

·         (TEW) I think things will just continue as they always have. We can’t move the mountain .. so we just have to find the best way to get around it. I hope my site can provide a place for suggestions on the best way to do so.

Gentlemen/Admin of TSR

Thanks for your time.  I’m sure many teachers are looking forward to reading your comments!

 

Topper

 

Change in Direction

I’ve decided that a change in direction for this blog is needed to continue to help teachers.  I will try and focus more on the vast number of TEFL sites/forums out there and present a more balanced view of what’s out there for teachers to use as a resource.