Thailand to recruit 10,000 foreign teachers to boost English standards of Thai kids

[Borzandy]

17 hours ago, Denim said:

 

By lowering the bar.

 

There is a big pool of untapped chavs cluttering up the UK who will jump at this......innit.

I know an English teacher from Australia. When I asked him what did you do in Australia before being teacher in Thailand, he told me ha was working in construction field.

[FinChin67]

They will need a lot more BMW "Genius cars" to check on so many farangs wandering around... Great boost for economy.

 

How about just teaching Chinese because thats from where the money is rolling in? Can start from "wu mao" ..

[SuwadeeS]

This will not work for many reasons.

1. Thailand discriminates foreigners in many ways. They get angry when you criticize then. There are a lot of dual prices and scam of foreigners.

2. Thai people only think of Thai, Thai and Thai. They are so self-centered, think they are the most important.

3. The people are much too lazy to learn. I often hear. I get headache from touch thinking. Many foreigners get excited to learn something new.

4. I have just seen all the tons of paperwork for foreign teacher.  That is totally insane. Foreign teachers need to spend a fortune to get all this done.

Absolutely, unreasonable.

5. Thai students are a different world. I would never do this again.

6. The payment. The government requires an income of approximately 64.000 Baht to get a visa, work permit etc. But the most school are to stingy to pay some proper wages.

7. And so on and so on. 

There are too many things to adjust, before that plan could be success.

[from the home of CC]

16 hours ago, Kelsall said:

From what English teachers here have told me, schools prefer American teachers over other nationalities.   True?  I can't see them getting many Americans to fly this far to teach for what is considered low pay in the US. 

it's a lot easier to understand without the heavy accents,  in 4 different countries I was told the same thing as a Canadian..

[connda]

Wanted: Highly qualified Native English Speakers to teach Thai school children.
Qualifications:
Bachelors Degree (Masters of Education preferred)
Not more than 35 years old

Willing to work long hours and commit to overtime with little or no notice

Willing to work for low wages which haven't changed in 15 years or more
Willing to teach severely overcrowded classrooms
Willing to pass all students and fail none

Must be deferential to Thai authority figures without question

Must never offer critique of any Thai person or institution

Must never offer solutions to improve Thai educational system (as that would be deemed criticism)
Must be willing to work without a work permit

 

17 hours ago, rooster59 said:

They said that the education minister felt that if the foreign teachers he hires teach the Thais to be better English teachers, then by three years time he won't need so many foreigners to teach in Thai schools.

...and must accept that there is no 'job security' for any foreigners teaching in Thailand.

  Yeah!  Sign me up!

[Pedrogaz]

Total waste of time. With the main emphasis on grammar, and the text books, homework and exams full of errors, hiring more teachers is a monumental waste of money. The triumph of hope over experience. 

 

The kids need to be taught to speak English, not learn about subjunctive tenses and the like.

[Rhys]

It is the time already, this must the previous MOE dude, play book gambit... yada yada...

[somtumwrong]

16 hours ago, Kelsall said:

From what English teachers here have told me, schools prefer American teachers over other nationalities.   True?  I can't see them getting many Americans to fly this far to teach for what is considered low pay in the US. 

When I was selecting a kindergarden for my kid, we first visited a kindergarden with 'native English' speaking teachers from the UK. They did not even try to speak the international version of English but sounded like merry sailors or drunken Irish. Went to another kindergarden where the teacher spoke perfect English - she is a Filipina, and chose it. But yes I prefer 'American' over the UK version of 'Pirates of the Caribbean English'

[tonysilly]

does not matter how many teachers they bring.  Most Thai students don't care about learning English and the parents don't care.  I was a teacher for 1 day.. what a waste of time.  sad that these students did not pay attention and only talk with each other about nothing.  Home room teachers did not care.  No fail policy. 

[Colabamumbai]

Should have paid me more when I was. Some respect may have helped. 

[Lacrimas]

They should enforce a minimum salary of 50k but instead we see schools offering salaries of 25k. How can you expect quality if you don't pay for it? 

[spidermike007]

Let us hope this is true. It would be nothing short of a miracle. Most Thai teachers barely can speak english here. Much improvement is needed to give the kids enough confidence to actually go out and use what they are learning. Foreign teachers would help. Now, if only they can get past the mind numbing hurdles of this immigration department. 

[soalbundy]

17 hours ago, Acrylic said:

As long as Thai doesn't change their attitude regarding English language, I doubt it would be effective. 

I can teach but I can't make you listen. To learn a language you have to love it, want it, try hard. When I set about learning German it was a work of love, sweat and tears but I persevered, self teaching with many many text books, I read 'The godfather' in German without any formal teaching before I went to Germany and had to start anew gaining an ear for Bayerisch on the outskirts of Munich. I became so fluent that Germans refused to believe I was British. A language is not like mathematics or chemistry, it has to be like a love affair. Thais aren't in love with English or any other language, not even Thai, I have yet to find a Thai who reads for pleasure. I taught my Thai/British son to speak and read fluently but even for him reading is considered a punishment.

[alien365]

My local university is going to be four native speakers down in one faculty alone at the end of this semester. The insistence on a master's degree while working for peanuts makes the positions unfillable. I have no qualms with the expectation of qualified teachers but the pay is a joke. They can't even pay peanuts and get monkeys anymore.

[Peter60]

There are many english speaking farangs who would be willing to assist in schools in their neighbourhood but they are not recruited.   This is partly because schools cannot afford to pay them or have no one to be able to assist them in the classroom.

The attitude of some, but not all Thais who teach english is that they do not want a native speaker to raise the standards for "village kids". Lets hope this new initiative will get off the ground. 

[holy cow cm]

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Truly one of the more risible examples of virtue signaling I've seen on this forum.

1. Farang does not mean foreigner.

2. It is actually a Persian word that has been used for centuries in many different countries, cultures, and languages. It qualifies as an adopted word in the English language, with over a century of both common and print usage.

3. Practically everyone using this forum knows exactly what it means, no politically correct replacement comes anywhere close.

It depresses me that people increasingly feel it is acceptable to attack others to demonstrate their own virtue, and that they do so with so little hesitation and so little self-consciousness about how little they themselves know.

 

 

 

Wrong! But Thanks for the laugh. 

[SupermarineS6B]

Oh <deleted>..... not more teachers ...... Can't we just bring back the drunks and funny people that made the place fun........  

[saengd]

1 hour ago, donnacha said:

Truly one of the more risible examples of virtue signaling I've seen on this forum.

1. Farang does not mean foreigner.

2. It is actually a Persian word that has been used for centuries in many different countries, cultures, and languages. It qualifies as an adopted word in the English language, with over a century of both common and print usage.

3. Practically everyone using this forum knows exactly what it means, no politically correct replacement comes anywhere close.

It depresses me that people increasingly feel it is acceptable to attack others to demonstrate their own virtue, and that they do so with so little hesitation and so little self-consciousness about how little they themselves know.

 

 

 

That's so funny as to be embarrassing, have you considered taking a Thai course from somebody who knows the language.

[yogavnture]

the level of english spoken here is horrendous.........i go to neighboring countries where its more english................here they dont know even one word of english except NO

[ChipButty]

52 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

My eldest daughter in England is a part time stand in teacher , she is going to university as well to become a full time teacher later this year.  I said ( as she like it here ) she could teach here. But with only knowing about 6 words of Thai now could she get by teaching  here without speaking Thai ? So my point is how many English teachers are fluent in Thai ?

How many English teachers are fluent in English?

[milesinnz]

Chinese English teachers anyone ???

[crickets]

Only bottom of the barrel work at public schools now. Pay is to little and visa is still a commando course.

[Joker Man]

17 hours ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

Very true and I suspect all those schools are in the private sector. It is the Government schools where the overwhelming majority of kids are educated which is the point under discussion here though. The pay gap between private and government is astronomical. 100K+ for a good private school, 30 if you are lucky in Government and who that is any good is going to work in a poor environment on less than subsistence wages? Monkeys only, which is who they have largely been employing to date, and will continue to do so, and the reason why kids for average schools can't string two sentences together after years of learning. Hell, most of the teachers can't either.

And one might say Sickos and Pedophiles can work in a good environment and later prey on the peaceful loving kids which is very disgusting. 

[Moti24]

What's needed are students with more incentive to learn, and don't give-up when the going gets tough.  Getting-rid of the "Every student will pass" <deleted> might help.

 

There's no quick fix, unfortunatly, without a completely new education system phased-in over the next 50 years.

 

TiT.....

 

[FinChin67]

I need to say, even as non-native speaker of English, that Malaysia is heaven compared to China, Hong Kong or Thailand.. Thailand rates worst of these three. Impossible to do business with Thais. I have tried few times to purchase items for my projects but trying to communicate them - if they even reply phone or email, is a joke. Might depend on industry but in "old fashion kind" like I'm in it really is pain in the rear. I stopped few years ago my efforts.

You should always hire a really smart person (has brain that functions) who answers the phone - who speaks fluent English. That is the first impression you get from the company. If there is someone dumb you know how it is run... At least in Asian countries.

I doubt that teaching Thai's English changes anything much..

[finnishmen]

i looking before same work, my local school go ask me come you teach, i say no, because how teach if not can communicate whitchildrens, i not speak thai. and childrens not speak english, not possiple teach anythink ,how say this word mean xxxx etc. or how you say this word. or tell me /speak me thats.... etc. not  easy if no can teach,speak whit childrens thai.

 

[Joker Man]

30 minutes ago, alien365 said:

teachers but the pay is a joke. They can't even pay peanuts and get monkeys anymore.

They will get Sickos and Pedophiles..Don't worry.. okay 

[Swedenlars]

I hope they will not recruit them in Birmingham ????

[donnacha]

17 minutes ago, saengd said:

That's so funny as to be embarrassing, have you considered taking a Thai course from somebody who knows the language.

Well, neither you nor your other identity have explained what you think is incorrect. Your original post (posting as holy cow cm) made the common mistake of presuming that farang means foreigner in Thai. It does not. It refers to a subcategory of foreigner, namely white Westerners.

As you are too lazy to spend five minutes researching the etymology of words, but all too eager to attack other members for their correct usage, your kind suggestion that I take a course in the Thai language is really not all that persuasive.

[Elfin]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Is China a better option for English teachers?

My salary in China is 4 times the average Thai NES salary, plus I get a free 3br modern apartment, 10 weeks fully paid leave + public holidays, end of year bonuses/travel money, free comprehensive health insurance, subsidised meals and RP and medical exam paid for. I teach 16 hours face to face per week, sometimes without office hours.