Amazing Thailand

I am a TEFL teacher in Thailand. I teach English here and I teach Mathematics. It is a fun job, but sometimes I am a little amazed by things in Amazing Thailand. My students can surprise me and frustrate me at the same time, but they are always great. For example, we have just finished final exams here at the school and students are very interested in their grades, as all students are throughout the world.

Doing final grades is always tiring. For one thing, everyone must pass the class. There is no other way, everyone passes the class. Most teachers opt for retests and the like. I don’t. I just make the minimum grade 50% and even if someone gets 23%, they still get 50% but I will usually make them do extra homework to make up the difference. It keeps everyone happy.

Final grades are a real crapshoot as well. For instance, if a student has 79 out of 100 points for the semester then the teacher is obligated to increase their score to 80% unless there is very convincing evidence that they do not deserve a better grade. In that case, the grade will be reduced to 78% so that the student will not feel bad about themselves and their parents will not raise a fuss.

In other words, make everyone feel good about themselves. Yes, yes, yes, yes. At least my job is finished here and I am proud of moving onto bigger and better things though I will miss my students.