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

[EricTh]

6 minutes ago, Deerculler said:

No good.

They only want to employ them and pay peanuts.

Plus there english is not good enough.

I am not knocking the PH people. 

I like them.

Their English isn't as good as native speakers but it's still much better than Thai people so they are qualified to teach the language at the basic and lower intermediate level.

 

I keep saying that it's the ability of teachers to teach that is most important.

 

The standard of Thai students' ability to speak even at the basic level is appalling at the moment and they had native English speakers as teachers.

[GalaxyMan]

17 minutes ago, 248900_1469958220 said:

No, its true. I went to Vietnam next week and I got double the price for 3 times the value. It all worked out well. 

Wait a minute...you went next week? Are you a time traveler? If you're teaching English, I feel for the poor students. ????

[DiJoDavO]

3 hours ago, Thian said:

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....

 

Mostly this is the case with plurals. Not pronouncing the -s. 

 

This is just because they don't have Thai words for certain things and borrow them from English but make them sound a bot Thai. E.g computuueh, hamburguueeh, wad (instead of 'was'). 

 

Not sure if they do this everywhere. At least in the Netherlands we do it with some words. Eg. Wifi becomes weefee. 

[248900_1469958220]

I isnt teachings Englishes because are kids are learnin froo compooters theez days

[GalaxyMan]

12 minutes ago, DiJoDavO said:

Mostly this is the case with plurals. Not pronouncing the -s. 

 

This is just because they don't have Thai words for certain things and borrow them from English but make them sound a bot Thai. E.g computuueh, hamburguueeh, wad (instead of 'was'). 

 

Not sure if they do this everywhere. At least in the Netherlands we do it with some words. Eg. Wifi becomes weefee. 

That's because in Dutch the letter 'i' is often pronounced as a long e (ee). It's also the name of the letter in Dutch, 'ee'. In Thai, they very often drop the last syllable sound of a word. They extend this practice to English.

[BritManToo]

21 minutes ago, EricTh said:

That's why you see many foreigners who have been in Thailand for umpteen years but still can't speak Thai fluently even after attending numerous Thai classes.

I always put that down to the general incompetence of the Thai language teachers.

The language schools have the same recruiting policies as the high schools, namely who'll work for the least money.

And the old fools who clutter the class asking for the tone of each word ..............

[DiJoDavO]

18 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

That's because in Dutch the letter 'i' is often pronounced as a long e (ee). In Thai, they very often drop the last syllable sound of a word. They extend this practice to English.

In Thai they never pronounce the s when it's at the end of a word. So it's kind of the same, isn't it? Not sure but I guess in every language they do this in some way or another. 

 

Since a while I moved from Matthayom to Prathom. Way better, because there it's still possible to change it. At Matthayom schools, you can't save them anymore. 

[paulikens]

4 hours ago, jlwilliamsjr18 said:

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.  

If you're retired stay retired

[GalaxyMan]

1 minute ago, DiJoDavO said:

In Thai they never pronounce the s when it's at the end of a word. So it's kind of the same, isn't it? Not sure but I guess in every language they do this in some way or another. 

I just asked my wife about this. She says that the Thai letter 'S' is never used at the end of a word (mai mee), therefore it doesn't exist as such to be pronounced.

[paulikens]

48 minutes ago, Suradit69 said:

Yes a variety of accents may or may not flummox another NES, but they make it especially difficult for someone just learning English. 

so what are you saying don't hire NES!! <deleted>

[JesseHumphry]

You have to fix so much before "getting more teachers" fixes your problem. 

First, stop allowing Thai administration in these schools to fleece the teachers and force them to write the curriculum without properly paying. 

Second, allow students to fail, even in private schools. 

Third, stop letting the Filipinos convince you that their English level is just as good as a native speaker. It is not, and it likely never will be. 

Fourth, show all of the teachers more respect than just having a "teacher day". Pay them well, listen to them when they tell you what they need, and stop expecting them to be infallible and mechanical. 

[rumak]

I don't see what the problem is.   They all seem to answer me just fine.

 

I ask :  "how old are you?"    and almost all of them can answer.  "fine, thank you"

[paulikens]

3 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

It's not just them;
I remember meeting a London Englishman who pronounced sunday or monday like that: sundaille, mondaille, ...

 

It will therefore be necessary to find teachers of English native English with the pronunciation of Oxford and nothing else;
Australians, New Zealanders or English-speaking Canadians who are native English are excluded?

so according to you if they want to hold a conversation with someone who is English it will only be able to be with someone who talks with a posh accent,so they are never going to encounter someone with a accent? what nonsense is being spouted on here.

[DiJoDavO]

1 minute ago, GalaxyMan said:

I just asked my wife about this. She says that the Thai letter 'S' is never used at the end of a word (mai mee), therefore it doesn't exist as such to be pronounced.

In our own letters, sometimes the Thai words are written ending with an s. But when you say the word, the s will be a silent letter. In Thai writing, there won't be an s at the end of the word. Maybe this is done to make other letters sound different which otherwise you can't write well in our letters. 

I'll have a better answer when the wife is home haha. I'm 100% sure I've seen it before in names but not sure why they do it. 

[RPCVguy]

Having arrived in my town when only one of the Secondary School English teachers was able to converse in English, I've seen the benefits that Native English contract teachers bring. Sure, they are usually the young ones looking for a way to see Thailand on weekends, and SE Asia on extended breaks. But after a few years of having these youngsters spend a year at the school helping with conversational skills, the other English teachers (and faculty in general) have become more fluent conversationally as well.

There is definitely an advantage to seek TEFL trained speakers. I taught in the USA and as Peace Corps in Africa, but it was math and science to students who spoke English. If I were even wanting to go back into teaching, I'd not want to do it unless I took a training course in TEFL first. Additionally, as many have commented, simply being from an English speaking country doesn't guarantee a prospective teacher's language proficiency or accent is of the quality needed. One teacher who was hired had so rough (vulgar) a use of the language as to make her suspect of being on the run. (fortunately, she thought our town too quiet so breaking the contract was mutually agreeable.)

I agree that it would help to either subtitle more TV channels in English, or not dub them and add subtitles in Thai. But beyond all the intentions, there is a cultural impediment to learning English. For most Thai, there is too high a risk of losing face, of making a mistake - and too little reward for breaking through and experimenting with spontaneous expression. Who learn? Usually it falls to the merchants, hotel staff and others whose income is immediately affected by their language skills who then break through the fear of making a mistake. They learn quickly from what mistakes they do make and become quite proficient compared to many academics.

Build in a way to get students to get past their fears in the classroom and more progress is possible, especially when combined with the other ideas just stated.
 

[cyril sneer]

4 hours ago, bkkdawg said:

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. 

even if they did this, the Thai teachers would still treat them with nothing but (if not more) animosity over the higher pay, and try everything they could to make their job miserable and slander where possible

 

so better qualifications/experience/wage would be meaningless

 

it also doesn't solve the problem of: -

 

frequently cancelled classes

students paying their way to the top

students must all pass, and the ones that try get only a slightly higher grade

75% of the foreign teachers have mental health issues

 

it's like trying to fix the road carnage problem by simply throwing more money at it

[DiJoDavO]

15 minutes ago, GalaxyMan said:

I just asked my wife about this. She says that the Thai letter 'S' is never used at the end of a word (mai mee), therefore it doesn't exist as such to be pronounced.

There are many words which are written with an ส=s at the end. 

When talking about writing there certainly are words ending with an s. But talking about pronunciation, no. Because the s will get the sound of a d. Or more like a sudden stop. 

These words are mostly borrowed from another language, but why the s is not pronounced, I'm not sure. ????

[Suradit69]

10 minutes ago, paulikens said:

so what are you saying don't hire NES!! <deleted>

No, what I am saying is that accents should be considered.

 

If a child starts learning English with an Irish teacher, s/he shouldn't be subsequently or simultaneously subjected to a series of Australian, Yorkshire, Scottish and American teachers, which would be an additional learning burden.

 

I would certainly not automatically assume that a NES was automatically a good teacher of English. Many of the people posting on TV who make a point of their British or American roots can barely cobble together a coherent sentence. And, even someone who has a decent grasp of English learned as a native tongue  isn't necessarily going to be a good teacher of same.  And of course emotionally unstable persons who can only communicate using words that are automatically deleted are probably best kept at a distance from young students.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Since a lot of native English speakers with a teaching degree might read this thread, I might be able to offer a small job if anybody have the skills or know a speech therapist. Preferable in the Central Bangkok area (Chitlom).

My 5 year old daughter have problem pronouncing certain words and letters.

 

[djayz]

I feel it's too little too late (yes, I know, better late than never). 

 

[stubuzz]

1 minute ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Since a lot of native English speakers with a teaching degree might read this thread, I might be able to offer a small job if anybody have the skills or know a speech therapist. Preferable in the Central Bangkok area (Chitlom).

My 5 year old daughter have problem pronouncing certain words and letters.

 

There are a lot of free resources here: http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?page_id=55

[mduras01]

Time to put the overstayers into forced labor/teaching.

[daywit]

I am a native English speaker living in Thailand since 1986.  For more than 30 years I have read and heard about these regular announcements about the need for improved English teaching in Thai schools and the government's commitment to improving the situation.  

My personal observation is that nothing has ever yet been done about this situation.  I have zero hope that this most recent announcement will have even the slightest impact.  Another classic example of making an announcement for the sake of public relations without the will to make any actual changes.  Move along, nothing to see here.  
 

[Denim]

2 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

I went to an open day this morning at a fairly expensive Satit Demonstration schools attached to a well known rather good university. One of their aspirations was that all students should communicate in excellent written and spoken English. But English Language wasn't one of their highly focused on core subjects. Just teaching in English and requiring students to use English won't achieve the desired outcome. And as you point out, a noticeable number of teachers were Filipinos.

 

There is this strange idea in Asean countries that people from the Philippines are native English speakers. They aren't.

 

Bakit ?

[connda]

Your not going to pay Native English Speaking teachers slave wages and get quality instructors. 

[Number 6]

5 hours 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. 

Maybe you weren't worth their time. I'd interviewed at CULI and many of the teachers English quite good especially the Director. Their writing impressed me.

 

Incidentally I halted the process and subsequent job offer because I had just started another job and did not want to bolt leaving my students in the lurch.

[wgdanson]

4 hours ago, realenglish1 said:

Native speakers are from Australia the UK and the USA and Canada People from the Philippines are not native speaking To then English is their second language If you want improved  English then hire people from a native speaking country as listed above otherwise you are only going to learn "Pass the sugar"

US Canada and Aus speak English...hmmmm

 

Most of UK dont either.

 

 

[moe666]

They are just in the planning stages but you folks have them in failure 101. Come on folks give it a break so much negative thinking and communicating.

[Number 6]

17 minutes ago, connda said:

Your not going to pay Native English Speaking teachers slave wages and get quality instructors. 

The teachers making 30-39k that's precisely what they are worth.

 

I teach late teens and a fair amount have overall IELTS of 7.0 but to get a sizable portion of M6 students even in the best of public schools to B2 will be a sizable task. Most diligent students headed for best universities are a minimum of a weak B1.

 

Writing is very difficult to improve without lots of study. Reading, writing, writing skills. It's the most difficult skill and Thais really struggle with it.

 

B1 is the current standard of most public schools. The books they use. Just switching to higher books won't work hahaha.

 

Only NES and a few Scandanavians can teach at this level. Many NES can't. Most are also pretty lazy as well. Thailand will imo need to build a workforce out of the best NES in the region BUT Vietnam already pulling teachers from Thailand.

[DiJoDavO]

People complaining about low salary while they chose to move to Thailand themselves. Didn't you all know that in other countries salaries might be lower? 

And don't you all know if your salary is 30k ish, you are way better off than your Thai colleagues in school who have way more work to do compared to the foreign teachers. 

You all have nothing to complain about.