Topic: Ajarn.com hot seat interview with someone from Bangkok Christian College

[JJ]

Well, I was just informed of the feedback on my interview here.  First let me begin by saying thank you to all who have posted their opinions.  Second, whoever 'Accurate Reporting' is, never worked with me as I have never left any job during the first two weeks of any term, much less without sufficient notice.  There are no doubt other people on this planet with the same name as mine. 
As Phil said, during his editing, he put in the words ' I remember', not me, and a few other punctuations as well, but I think you get the gist of the interview.  And I'll say again, thank you to all of the good teachers that worked here before I got here that fought to have all these changes made, and everyone is invited to come by for a visit anytime.
Cheers........

[NukeThemSlowly]

So, uh, are you going to reply to any of the feedback?

What "changes" have occurred?  Does BCC still routinely fire people right before the between-term break?  Does BCC still consider itself "above" the labour law regulations on probationary periods of employment?  Are teachers still forced to attend religious revival sessions? 

I don't think it's from a lack of "visiting" BCC that it has such a poor reputation among so many.  I would say that reputation is formed from prior experience at the place. 

[RobRoy]

First, I got to give JJ credit for having the guts to do the interview after all the stuff that has been said here.  I interviewed at BCC during the "agency" period and although offered the interview with the "council" I decided I didn't feel comfortable working there, especially after reading the beginnings of this thread. 

One of the posters suggested that JJ is reinterviewed in a few months.  I agree.  Remember, he's only been there a couple of months and any changes, if any have been hard.  So, lets wait and see what happens there.  Or doesn't happen.  As long as we can get a honest report, from someone CURRENTLY working there, that should let us know whats up with the school.  Give him a chance to get some time under his belt and lets really see whats going on there today, as opposed to old whining from months/years ago.  Lets see what has changed.  Realistically how can he answer the question about teachers being let go before the break when he hasn't been there for the event?

[NukeThemSlowly]

^agree that it's hard for a newbie to answer these questions (if JJ is really a newbie, which I now consider open to doubt).  Then again, why was he the one who was interviewed?  You don't interview the teacher who's barely started working to find out what the school/job is like- as your post makes clear, RR.

[NamTok]

   Yeah, accepting JJ as a newbie becomes an increasingly difficult thing to do. Any purported changes at BCC certainly would need to be specificially pointed out and itemized. I'm beginning to think seriously that JJ's statements are those of another lawless and fraudulent Thai school ownership. JJ's statement below to TeflWatch (posted July 5th) certainly is mild and polite. Politeness is nice and desired. However, the presumptive burden is on BCC to make its case, specifically and in detail. We need some hard facts from BCC which would need to be verified by its knowledgable and legitimate teachers. That's a fair and reasonable standard, is it not?!?
 

[DW]

Well, I suppose its nice to know that the "martyrs" are appreciated by the new teachers.  But do they realise how much shite the martyrs went through to get any improvements?  In some cases it wasnt improvements, it was just getting what they had been promised!

And to say some of the stuff like, if you yell at people you deserved to have paperwork lost or you have to complain properly is frankly brown nosing.  if someone makes an arse of a job, they DESERVE to be shouted at.  But, if that is his real name I wouldnt blame him for doing that in his position.  Mind you it would have been better if one of the two bosses in IEP section had made a post.

Overall it read just like every government or big business speech after there has been some scandal or design fudge up causing people to be ill or injured.  Lessons have been learned, changes have been made, but if you were right and were fired or inconvenienced tough shit.

It wasnt our fault it was that big bad agency that hired the nasty people!  Oh PLEASE!!!!   

Appointees still had to see the school board, they still had to see the paperwork person ( admittedly, I am not sure if he would have had the power to change an appointment decision )   The two folk in charge could have fired the people before the start of school.

etc etc

[Harry]

Furthermore, he's completely new (since May 2006?!?  WTF, Phil, can't you find anyone there who's been working longer than that to interview, or is it that they simply know better?)

[Speaksoftly]

I was wondering- does this thread belong here, or in the subforum about schools in Thailand?  Surely this thread refers to a specific school?

[blackmail]

Interesting interview.  I would have added the following questions:

1.  Have you been hit in the face with a soccer ball, yet?

2.  Does the female half of a teaching couple still come to school with an occasional black eye?

3.  Does the workroom still smell like a dirty jockstrap?

4.  Did they tell you to be there at 7:15, even though your contract says 7:30?

5.  How much of your time is spent breaking copyright laws?

6.  Is the nipple tickler still there?

7.  How many teachers are wearing earplugs at assemblies?

8.  Do the male students still walk around holding hands?

9.  Did you know that your "good insurance" will require you to pay hospital bills in full during the first year and wait
     for reimbursement, which could be as low as half of your bill?

10. How many of the teachers are working on tourist visas?

11. How much did you spend obtaining your Non-Immigrant B?

12. Did the people at the Thai Embassy laugh in your face?

13. Are they still using the police to threaten, coerce, and blackmail teachers?

14. How many of the teachers actually have experience in their home countries?

15. How many of the teachers make more at BCC than they did in their own countries?

16. Did they ever buy any toilet paper or soap?

17. Do they still have one 30 dollar printer, with no ink, in the workroom?

18. Did they give you a copy of your contract?

19. Did they tell you that you will have to sing Hanukah songs at the Christmas party?

20. Are the teachers still getting massages from students in the workroom, even though there are 200,000 professional massage therapists in Bangkok?

21.  Are the students still cheating their tails off?
 

Surely, you are still reading this thread JJ.  How about a few answers.  Don't worry, they won't deport you; they will just say they will.

[bigman]

Hi,

I just wanted to say something in JJ's defense.

This is my third year working in the IEP department.  This year I have met JJ and am working directly with him in his learning stage. He is more than fully qualified to teach.

He told me about the hot seat interview that he was doing for Ajarn and I read the interview before he sent it back to BP.

He is not an Admin patsy.  I think that the article is fair considering he is only new to the school.

I have to say honestly that this year has started a lot smoother than the last couple of years.
I haven't heard any horror stories yet.  The actual attitude from the Board towards us has been noticeably different.

I will also tell you I am not an Admin patsy either.

Regards,
George.

[DW]

I was wondering- does this thread belong here, or in the subforum about schools in Thailand?  Surely this thread refers to a specific school?

Thats what I was thinking, it is about a specific school and should be moved back to the main section.  My first reaction was the thread had been removed because of pressure and the second one was wondering if the board had crashed again and posts had been lost.

bigman - I think that the criticism of JJ was more that by being a new person he is being set up by admin as a patsy rather then him being a patsy.  We all know it is difficult to come on a high profile board like this and give your real name ( assuming that is his real name ) and criticise a school while you are still there.

Nice to see its improved though, shame they couldnt have sorted it out in the first place and then there wouldnt have been any martyrs.

[Uncle Che]

I wish I didn't need to talk, but since the point was brough up twice, I will comment. I think BCC would love to have this thread combined with the other thread, it is very long thread already and ideas can be lost easily. From the get go this thread seemed more about the interview itself, what it said and didn't say more than a thread about the school, that is why it was never combined with the other thread.

No nefarious dark forces at work, just trying to make the board flow better. I just wish users could read between the lines a little better. 

No posts were lost, that little post loss shouldn't happen again. I set things up so that our host makes a daily backup of the entire site every day. Added to that I have the mysql database server do a backup every 12 hours. The backups coincide at opposite sides of the day. If that isn't enough, every few days, I download to the computer a complete database backup. 

[blackmail]

Hi,

I just wanted to say something in JJ's defense.

This is my third year working in the IEP department.  This year I have met JJ and am working directly with him in his learning stage. He is more than fully qualified to teach.

He told me about the hot seat interview that he was doing for Ajarn and I read the interview before he sent it back to BP.

I will also tell you I am not an Admin patsy either.

Regards,
George.

OK George, since you edited JJ's answers to the interview, you would be a good candidate to answer the other 21 questions (see above).  Most of them only require a simple "yes" or "no" answer so I would think that a BCC "Teacher," would be able to complete this task.

[Speaksoftly]

    Sorry, Unka Che!   

[samvimes]

"Bangkok Christian College seeks to promote four essential
qualities: Loyalty, Responsibility, Honesty, and Unity."

Talking to a few ex teachers and some of the teachers still there would indicate that the school don't seek to promote their own core values.

"The IEP department hasn't lost anyone this year" - it has now , they are advertising on ajarn.com again! (and JJ was only talking about the first two months of the year in any case)

http://www.teflasia.com/ajarn/jobs/00013752.html

Intensive English Program is now seeking a Year 4 and 5 teacher of English to start on Tuesday 15th August


And as for the annual salary increase, the board will never tell the teachers the salary bands and in any case promises of increases sometimes fail to manifest in an actual pay rise.

"The Employee will receive a monthly salary increment in accordance with the relevant salary scale upon renewal of his/her Contract for a further year, Where the Employee is placed at the top of a scale, or has reached the top of a pay scale, no increment will be payable. " 



"I started in Thailand 8 years ago at 25,000 baht a month and a 6 day work week with 7 days vacation a year and a few years and a few schools later, have well over doubled that salary and work 5 days a week with 40 days vacation a year.....not too bad I think. "

Sorry "JJ" that is pretty dire and shows that you are not exactly the high flier you think you are, it's a shame that you seem to be proud of it....

There is no way that you are a qualified teacher. You and BCC; it's a shame, but in a way you two deserve each other. Let's hope you don't hire any professional teachers by accident because that can cause problems due to the fact that a professional won't put up with the sham of education offered at BCC!