More foreign English teachers set to be hired as Thais aim for better than basic English

 

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More foreign English teachers could be hired next year as Thai educationalists attempt to improve English language abilities in schools nationwide. 

 

The Thais want to see levels among M6 students (the last grade in high school) rise from basic levels to those of "independent users" of the language, a mid range of ability according to an international scale.

 

More budgets could soon become available for schools at a district and provincial level to fund special English classes. 

 

Dr Amnat Wichayanuwat of the Office of the Basic Education Commission was speaking to Daily News after the latest meetings to improve English standards in Thai schools. 

 

Measures expected to be announced by the end of the year will allow schools to increase the amount of English being taught in the next academic year. This will be nationwide at district and provincial level schools. 

 

The aim is to boost the English levels of M6 students to level B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. The "A" scales indicate basic usage of English, "B" refers to independent users and "C" to proficient users and speakers. 

 

B2 is thus at the better end of the B scale. 

 

Discussions are still underway as to where the teachers will come from. Some will probably be Thai but there is every likelihood that budgets will be available to employ more foreign teachers. 

 

There is still the possibility that there are enough in Thailand already as the discussions are ongoing.

 

It is still being discussed as to who would source the new teachers; this might be down to individual schools though it might be under the remit of Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan though contact with foriegn consulates and embassies. 

 

Measure on how to finance the new teachers are being discussed with proposals set to be in place for the next budget round allowing matters to proceed. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

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What I read from this is that very little, if anything is going to be done or achieved, as they have the wrong priorities in mind, face and cost.

If you want the kids to learn English, it is far more likely when said teacher is a native speaker of it.

There are nowhere near enough positions taken by those that are, and highly unlikely that their meager numbers are likely to grow significantly.

There is a reluctance from those calling the shots to admit the obvious,  and open the doors to the right level of teacher, and they wouldn't want to pay them even if they acknowledged the need.

Bridge that hurdle and they might start to get somewhere.

This will be a great, indisputable success. Me no have doubt.

 

 

I'm a British native speaker of English with an MA in TEFL. I do a lot of academic proofreading for non-native speakers/teachers of English doing MAs, PhDs etc. Some of them are very good, some less so, but there's definitely an important role for native speakers, though they're not going to work for peanuts.

BP reporting that the Phillipines Embassy has been consulted with a view to bringing in more Filipino English speakers as teachers.

Sadly, "foreign English teachers" means very little unless you are talking about native English teachers from countries where English is the main language.

I like Filipinos, and I hear they are far cheaper and far less trouble than Western employees, but there is nothing standard about the English they speak. The same goes for Indians, Africans and West Indians.

I have often thought that native English speakers should do a better job of clubbing together and highlighting the difference. A natural flow with a language puts you on a different level for many jobs: teaching, marketing, copy-writing, sales etc.

Even 30 years ago, I thought it sad that innocent Thai kids were getting short-changed because their headmaster hired Poles to teach English on the basis that white faces would be enough to impress the parents.

Used to have a nice young couple a cross the street. Both graduates with Masters in English from Chula. English teachers, both of them.  Neither one of them could hold an intelligent 2 minute conversation in English. 

They even learn to not speak the last letter which is very annoying.

 

Look at how this student has to pronounce liver , without the r....

 

Nigerian English speaker seeks  employment

One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. 

 

Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them...

3 minutes ago, Just1Voice said:

Used to have a nice young couple a cross the street. Both graduates with Masters in English from Chula. English teachers, both of them.  Neither one of them could hold an intelligent 2 minute conversation in English. 

Fairly normal, when the level of English is, good morning - sit down - open your books - and be quiet. 

Is immigration on board for this? Have they even been consulted?

How about cutting through red tape and rip offs and allow retired native English speakers to teach part time? I was a teacher in USA & native English (okay, American) speaker. I don't need the money and would enjoy maybe 10 hrs a week... but I would not put up with ignorant administration making money off of my free time, among other things.

Decades ago had a Scottish friend who taught American English in KL. Wonder how they sounded? I'm sure she did well with structure and comprehension, but would have loved to hear them speak.

Why do they need foreign teachers? Thai students are not allowed to fail subjects or exams, and Thai teachers are known to manipulate their students' low grades by giving every student, automatically, a 50 or 60% score, whether he or she, after studying English for 12+ years, can string a sentence together, or not. - On paper, all Thais can speak English well.

 

Wonder, why, reportedly, Thai pilots (and other specialists) find it hard to get hired abroad...

1 minute ago, hakancnx said:

One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. 

 

Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them...

Subtitles are much better, that's how i learned inlit.  From the Jerry Springer show!

We've heard this before, yet the enthusiasm dies like a flame in the wind.  

Relax your no work policy for retirees. This would help. 

There are many of us, who are retired teachers. Yes, I know, there are many who work anyway.

But, I don't but would consider if allowed.  

17 minutes ago, donnacha said:

Even 30 years ago, I thought it sad that innocent Thai kids were getting short-changed because their headmaster hired Poles to teach English on the basis that white faces would be enough to impress the parents.

On the contrary, many of the adverts that I saw do specify 'native English speakers' only.

 

The problem is that most native English speakers don't know how to teach English to a non-native speaker. They teach the same way as 'back home' to native English speaker and this method causes a lot of confusion for Thai students.

 

It's the same as native Thai speakers who teach Thai language to English speakers. Most of them don't know how to teach in a way English speakers can understand beyond the basic level.

Since the illustrious PM said that Thai will be the number 1 language in the world one day, I can only assume that this is a program to teach students English so that can go out in the world to spread the Thai language to the 6-7 billion populace

Article based solely on speculation..

It’s gonna be tough for them to find teachers that are able to properly mispronounce English in the “Thai way”.

 

For example...if I write my name using the Thai alphabet using the letters that create the proper pronunciation of my name, they can pronounce it, but tell me that it isn’t correct because it’s not the Thai way of pronouncing it.  They then go on to tell me how it is supposed to be spelled in Thai in order to have their misspelling match their mispronunciations.

 

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, strawpanda said:

I'm a British native speaker of English with an MA in TEFL. I do a lot of academic proofreading for non-native speakers/teachers of English doing MAs, PhDs etc. Some of them are very good, some less so, but there's definitely an important role for native speakers, though they're not going to work for peanuts.

I was faced with a dilemma as the Thai teaching English, had great writing skills, barely no mistakes but when I try to speak to him, the guy couldn't keep a normal/basic conversation, he had not speaking vocabulary, should he keep teaching or should he stop and get conversational skills

Who will vet the "native English speakers"? How many people in the Thai education system has the skills to identify a proficient English speaker, let alone a competent teacher?

9 minutes ago, EricTh said:

On the contrary, many of the adverts that I saw do specify 'native English speakers' only.

 

The problem is that most native English speakers don't know how to teach English to a non-native speaker. They teach the same way as 'back home' to native English speaker and this method causes a lot of confusion for Thai students.

 

It's the same as native Thai speakers who teach Thai language to English speakers. Most of them don't know how to teach in a way English speakers can understand beyond the basic level.

Another problem is that they aren’t allowed to teach English, lessons are forever interrupted by events and activities, special day or weeks lot to meaningless tests.

Start P1 students early

hire older teachers not the young ones 

teach English no games in class!!

this is what’s wrong now!!!!

 

Get rid of the degree requirement and make it a celta or something actually useful for teaching English. Take experience into account and pay a liveable salary, then you might see more teachers that are employable. Invest like the Chinese have done and results will start to show. 

that horse bolted long ago...teach them chinese, there are 1.4 billion who will need you to translate chinese to thai.

21 minutes ago, hakancnx said:

One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. 

 

Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them...

Why do the Dutch speak English well?

Simply because English films are never duplicated;
such a thing with films of other nationalities.
French films remain in French,
German films are in German ..
and at the end , you meet a lot of Dutch people who know or even speak many foreign languages (for them)

1 minute ago, recom273 said:

Another problem is that they aren’t allowed to teach English, lessons are forever interrupted by events and activities, special day or weeks lot to meaningless tests.

Most of the problem is the teachers they hire not speaking English well.

It should be restricted to foreigners from countries that speak English as their first language.

Not Filipinos, African, Russians, Dutch, etc. who either speak English badly or with incomprehensible accents.

Well, get rid of the agents and school directors; then we'll talk!

This headline implies that Thai in general already have basic English. No they do not.

The Thai government should consider employing ethnic Chinese teachers from Malaysia. They can teach English, Chinese and Malay as most Chinese Malaysians are trilingual.