I post tell-it-like-it-really-is messages here mainly because what I see contradicts what I was told back when I was getting into TESOL. But I also post supposed 'negative' testimonies because of the type of teacher I am and what I intend TESOL to be for me personally.

Lots of guys have posted what I deem "polyanna" posts, those sappy, syrupy, "feel-good" posts because of who they are and what TESOL is for them. I understand, sure.

Most of these folks are people who have gotten into TESOL with the intention of teaching only temporarily. They want to take a semester off from college and go dick around in the tropics, that sort of thing. These guys usually have a blast in TESOL. They come to places like Thailand, hook up with a school, and have a good ol' time. They then get on an airplane and go back home, convinced their excursions were pretty cool and their students learn LOTS. This is one of the main types of teacher I see here in Thailand.

The other main type is a guy like me. A guy who looks at TESOL as potentially a career move. We're very serious about TESOL and all its problems. To us, we're not here for fun and games. We're definitely not here to be lied to, stolen from, or cheated. Unlike the other type, the tourist/teacher mentioned above, we are personally offended if our students pay good money for our salaries only to be mildly interested in learning English at best. We turn into angry hornets if we run into liars, theives, or cheats. And we especially don't like the non-teaching roles we have to play, such as going behind the tourist/teachers and cleaning up the intellectual messes they've made.

Yeah, I've played the 'clean-up' role a few times, and I definitely don't appreciate it. Tourist/teachers who've come here in the past will go back home after a short time, brag about how good they were, and claim/post they had a great time. Meanwhile, I'm back here coming behind those pretenders testing their kids and discovering that during all their fun times, times these slackers put smiles on faces, their students learned nary a thing. Now stuck with illiterates, who shouldn't be illiterates according to the polyanna posters and their 'great teaching', I have to pull out my intellectual broom and clean up their messes.

There is definitely a dichotomy when it comes to teachers in Thailand. I really wish the posers would go elsewhere or simply stay home. I don't like pushing brooms. I definitely don't like reading their posts. Posts that tell half-truths at best, but are simply lies most of the time.