Three quarters of Thai English teachers are only at elementary level - or worse

[connda]

In my experience having taught Thai English teachers remedial English, imho, "-or worse" is closer to reality.  

[duanebigsby]

15 minutes ago, My Thai Life said:

You are absolutely right Duane.

 

Japan and Thailand both have similar kinds of difficulty in getting beneficial results from their investment in English. There are many reasons for these problems, but I don't think serious discussion has ever been the way of this sub-forum.

I've had some disagreements with you on a few of the many facets of this issue.

I don't know the solution, but I would suggest it's getting better.

In the 6 years I've been teaching English, the Thai English co-teachers are getting better. The interns serving their graduate year at schools are much better at English.

Overall I think schools are placing greater value on English learning.

[marcusarelus]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

How much do they pay you as their private consultant?

It is the wife's company.  I'm kind of like slave labor. 

[connda]

6 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Some 30 "master trainers" - Thais who have good ability in English - are being employed to train 17,000 of the nation's 40,000 English teachers at Primary and Secondary level. 

Student / Teacher ratio of 567 to 1.  That's rich. 

[marcusarelus]

35 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

 Ouch ! 

 

In ( yellow or not ) submarines, maybe ; but on education.....I had a dream ...

Education in Thailand 4 per cent of GDP, 20 per cent of the government budget.  Compare to your country and let us know.

[Assurancetourix]

9 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Education in Thailand 4 per cent of GDP, 

 

 

 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

This one will run and run. I'll get m'pipe.

[marcusarelus]

5 minutes ago, Assurancetourix said:

The godwin point of the year ...

Education budget UK 4.4% of GDP Thailand 4. % GDP.

[Kieran00001]

6 hours ago, missoura said:

My very first job in Thailand was at prestigious university in Bangkok. I lasted a year before I quit and here is why. Everybody passed and very few students or staff could speak passable English.

 

The first time I was introduced to my peers the conversation lasted just a few minutes. At that time, my Thai skills were non-existent and the Thai professors struggled with English. Initially, I put the lack of English conversational skills down to embarrassment, but sadly that was not the case.

 

Most of these teachers had gone through years of the Thai educational system and had graduated their respective universities with an advanced degree in English. And they couldn't carry on a conversation.

 

But they had all passed…

 

I am sorry but your experience does not sound like one of either of the two Bangkok universities that could be considered prestigious, however it would be typical of one of the others.

[atyclb]

7 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Three quarters of Thai English teachers are only at elementary level

 

 

i thought that was good news, things improving

[Spidey]

38 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

Education budget UK 4.4% of GDP Thailand 4. % GDP.

 

A much more meaningful figure would be Baht/child and percentage spent at the coal face rather than senior hangers on in Bangkok who've never seen the inside of a classroom.

[marcusarelus]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

 

A much more meaningful figure would be Baht/child and percentage spent at the coal face rather than senior hangers on in Bangkok who've never seen the inside of a classroom.

i don't know what a coal face or senior hangers on are.  Maybe write in English? 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Some 30 "master trainers" - Thais who have good ability in English - are being employed to train 17,000 of the nation's 40,000 English teachers at Primary and Secondary level. 

And therein lays the problem.... 

[KKr]

8 hours ago, damascase said:

That sounds like a good initiative! I have no personal experience with Thai English language teachers but I know a couple of Thais - one at University entrance level, the other one studying English at a university (3rd year) to become a teacher - who, after six and more years of English, still are not able to conduct a simple conversation. It is all about correct grammar etc., but nobody teaches them to actually speak the language.

I know people that finished University and in almost all sentences miss the verb and articles, and usually have the word order wrong.
i.e. they speak Thai using English words.
So, as for correct grammar, not where these persons studied, and they went to Bangkok where it is assumed Uni education is better.
Would not pass a secondary school final examination on the subject.

so, a good idea to try to fix the issue.
but maybe would be better to improve the education in the first place, and read a book or a newspaper with sentences longer than five centimeters. 

 

[marcusarelus]

12 minutes ago, KKr said:

I know people that finished University and in almost all sentences miss the verb and articles, and usually have the word order wrong.
i.e. they speak Thai using English words.
So, as for correct grammar, not where these persons studied, and they went to Bangkok where it is assumed Uni education is better.
Would not pass a secondary school final examination on the subject.

so, a good idea to try to fix the issue.
but maybe would be better to improve the education in the first place, and read a book or a newspaper with sentences longer than five centimeters.

My children speak French and English and Japanese and Spanish.  They took French and English in school from first grade on.  The drastic speaking improvement took place when they lived in France and Japan and Mexico.  My wife and her staff speak Thai, Lao, Khmer English and Korean.  The they all studied English at the University but improved greatly when they used English daily at work.  I find that Thais who have learned to speak English at a university and then use it daily at work speak pretty good English while the University teachers do not. 

[KKr]

1 minute ago, marcusarelus said:

My children speak French and English and Japanese and Spanish.  They took French and English in school from first grade on.  The drastic speaking improvement took place when they lived in France and Japan and Mexico.  My wife and her staff speak Thai, Lao, Khmer English and Korean.  The they all studied English at the University but improved greatly when they used English daily at work.  I find that Thais who have learned to speak English at a university and then use it daily at work speak pretty good English while the University teachers do not. 

Practice makes perfect , as long as one practices with a native / fluent speaker.

[marcusarelus]

3 minutes ago, KKr said:

Practice makes perfect , as long as one practices with a native / fluent speaker.

That's where the teaching system fails.  The teachers need to practice with a native/fluent speaker. I remember the high school girls on my soi got a hold of a bar girls English book and wanted to practice with me.  They learned at an amazing rate. 

[Rhys]

Money Makers....  CEFR... what a joke..... based on what criteria again...555   Don't have a designation for A-1 BELOW Non-Functional Academic English coordinators, who do not hold any degrees in EFL...

[gk10002000]

13 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Some 30 "master trainers" - Thais who have good ability in English - are being employed to train 17,000 of the nation's 40,000 English teachers at Primary and Secondary level. 

You can't train people to teach something they do not know!  If the person is not proficient in English, case closed.  Sure some english can be taught, but it is broken english at best.

[SuperTed]

Thailand spends more money on education than most countries.
 

Statistics and sources please


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[SuperTed]

You are absolutely right Duane.
 
Japan and Thailand both have similar kinds of difficulty in getting beneficial results from their investment in English. There are many reasons for these problems, but I don't think serious discussion has ever been the way of this sub-forum.

Education levels and the seriousness with which education is taken differ drastically Japan v Thailand.

Thailand is a place You come to relax, not to be blown over by academic or professional accomplishment of the populace. It is a cultural thing, driven not in small part by the tropical climate and military security of the nation.

Thailand is an easy place to live, not just for us portly, lonely expats, but for Thais as well. Why try too hard? Why get upset when the locals don’t?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, SuperTed said:

 

Education levels and the seriousness with which education is taken differ drastically Japan v Thailand.

Thailand is a place You come to relax, not to be blown over by academic or professional accomplishment of the populace. It is a cultural thing, driven not in small part by the tropical climate and military security of the nation.

Thailand is an easy place to live, not just for us portly, lonely expats, but for Thais as well. Why try too hard? Why get upset when the locals don’t?


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

Thanks, very good perspective. No, I wouldn't want Thailand to become another Japan. I'm blissfully happy living my life out in this quaint global backwater. Long may it remain so.

 

Be careful what you wish for.

[My Thai Life]

4 hours ago, SuperTed said:

Education levels and the seriousness with which education is taken differ drastically Japan v Thailand.

Exactly, but the reults for English are very similar. Therefore Thai bashing is not going to address the issue.

 

 

[Scott]

4 hours ago, SuperTed said:

 

Statistics and sources please


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

There was a thread some time ago that stated that Thailand spent more per GDP on education than any other country.   I will try to find it.   Here is one article about how much they spend:

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Thailands-education-spending-above-6-of-GDP-30259814.html

 

The point is, there is a lot spent, but the outcome is not particularly good.  

 

[duanebigsby]

5 hours ago, SuperTed said:

 

Statistics and sources please


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Thailands-education-spending-above-6-of-GDP-30259814.html

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/thailands-educational-spending-highest-in-the-world.html

https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/thailand/public-spending-on-education

[Cereal]

20 hours ago, darksidedog said:

The problem is that the country does not want to invest the money needed to really educate their children, or admit that they really need foreign staff to be able to do it properly.

Sorry, but no. The problem is, as George Carlin put it, we the proletariat are not part of the club. The elite want us just smart enough to run the machine but not smart enough to realize we're wasting our time and lives. It's always been this way. 

 

The only country on this planet where you have a legitimate chance to be successful on your own through hard work and some luck is the USA. Even then it's mostly illusion.

 

Every other country I can think of, no matter how hard you work if you don't have the right connections you'll never see your full potential.

[Retiredandhappyhere]

20 hours ago, damascase said:

That sounds like a good initiative! I have no personal experience with Thai English language teachers but I know a couple of Thais - one at University entrance level, the other one studying English at a university (3rd year) to become a teacher - who, after six and more years of English, still are not able to conduct a simple conversation. It is all about correct grammar etc., but nobody teaches them to actually speak the language.

When I tried to hold a simple conversation in English with my son's English teacher, she could not understand me, so my Thai wife had to translate for her and I could only catch the odd word the teacher said.  Her school asked me to assist her in class, free of charge of course, but the moment I stood in front of the class, the teacher walked out, leaving me just to ad lib for about an hour.  After that one lesson, which the kids seemed to enjoy enormously, I learned that, although I was not being paid, I was still breaking the rules since I had no work permit. so I could not continue.  

[anon2736434]

7 hours ago, Spidey said:

 

Thanks, very good perspective. No, I wouldn't want Thailand to become another Japan. I'm blissfully happy living my life out in this quaint global backwater. Long may it remain so.

 

Be careful what you wish for.

Well isnt that nice, good for me but screw the Thai childrens future. How selfish can one be ? 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30348167

[Lupatria]

Teachers fail exams on own subjects. This is what the Office of the Basic Education Commission found out in 2010: up to 88% of 3,973 teachers who specialise in computer sciences failed the test. High numbers of failing teachers were also found in biology (86% of 2,846), maths (84% of 5,498), physics (71%... of 3,487), chemistry (64% of 3,088) and astronomy and earth sciences (63% of 529). 

[Spidey]

13 minutes ago, Notagain said:

Well isnt that nice, good for me but screw the Thai childrens future. How selfish can one be ? 

 

Yes that could be seen as selfish but as I'm a guest in their country (as TVF members keep reminding me) it's not my place to right the wrongs of Thai society. I just sit back and enjoy the benefits of living in a laid back, quaint, little country, with laid back, quaint, little people.