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

[paulikens]

21 hours ago, Number 6 said:

There is currently absolutely no shortage of work. In fact there appear to be some decent jobs posted within the last ten days.

 

Harrow

Suankularb

Satit Chula

Wattana Wittayalai

Bangkok Christian

 

Just a few.

 

Plenty of good jobs for GOOD teachers - no matter their ages.

 

try and apply for some of them, it definitely matters what age you are, you'll find out they don't want NES unless you are under 25 and good looking, these schools are deluded

[BRUFC]

5 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

A few years ago there was a big do on the evening news.  Lots of stars , from TV as well as Thai pop stars etc.  The lady outfront as the stars were coming along was dressed to the nines , Behind was written  in large highlighted letters  ' Thai arwads of the year '.  Me thinks it should of been 'Thai awards of the year '.  No award for English at this do.

And here we highlight some difficulties which confuse many of us I suspect. Mr North, are you a 'native' English speaker? Please do NOT take this as a criticism. It's only to show the vagiaries of the language.
Did you mean 'I think it should of been Thai awards of the year'? or 'Me thinks it should have been 'Thai awards of the year'? or 'Methinks it should have been 'Thai awards of the year'?

I am a 'native' English speaker. I go for the third example I've given although 'I' with 'have' would also suit. But what about the y in 'year'? Capital letter or not? I don't know.

[PlastikbinLina]

If the salaries are what I hear to they are I don't like his chances of getting just 1000.

[mushroomdave]

Try dropping the standard of a University degree and likely more would come.  Taiwan only has a 2 year college minimum and their is no shortage there....along with generous pay!  No reason for a University degree minimum.   

[steven100]

oh please .... this is scary .... 10,000 drunk bar stool wannabe english teachers, seen it all before.

[iLuvThai]

I would go through a TEFL course but until they require a BA then it would be a waste of money for me because I don't want to get in trouble for teaching illegally. Man I really want to stay in Thailand. Oh Well.

[cyril sneer]

they should scrap the current teacher license waiver system, i've known good teachers leave because of this - they weren't prepared to do an expensive course to continue doing a low paid job

[steven100]

2 minutes ago, cyril sneer said:

they should scrap the current teacher license waiver system, i've known good teachers leave because of this - they weren't prepared to do an expensive course to continue doing a low paid job

good .....  i've seen too many drunken wannabe english teachers sit at the bars after school every day

[emptypockets]

3 hours ago, dallen52 said:

True.

And then take the TAE accreditations and add the TAELLN which is required for teaching language literacy and numeracy skills to adults, plus most are also academically qualified engineers etc. etc.

I had been delivering multiple discipline training and assessment for almost 45 years globally, designing training courses, and remedial activity plans to bring the less skilled workers up to standard.

But I was told that I needed TESOL, plus the ability to jump through hoops, on one leg and also thai language skills to even do volunteer work here.

Not to mention the correct visa...

Its looking a gift horse in the mouth...

I wonder why we bother sometimes...????

 

 

Gift horse or Trojan horse?

 

[emptypockets]

3 hours ago, plahgat said:

Much cheaper and easier to stop dubbing all English movies to Thai, and introduce more English speaking learning programs and kids programs on TV! ????

I know this might sound crazy but they should consider showing Sesame Street to the young ones. Apparently, since the 1970's, it has been one of the best English (US but whatever) language/conceptual training shows ever.

https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/19/09/sesame-street-meets-appian-way

Edited February 16, 2020 by emptypockets

[marquis22]

A few more Filipina will be happy!

[CM Dad]

Nothing will change as long as the focus is on grammar and as long as class sizes are 30 to 60 students.  Foreign teachers are always told that they need to make their lessons "fun".  That is why the Thais like to hire teachers who just joke and play games.  I taught in English programs at both government and private Thai schools for more than twenty years.  I was luck that I was allowed to plan my own lessons and use my own material.  I was also lucky that I was in English Programs where the classes were much smaller.  When I meet my former students today, they all speak English to me even though they know I can speak Thai.  Several of them have even become English teachers and they tell me that they are constantly butting heads with the "senior" Thai teachers who refuse to change their grammar approach and only speak Thai in their classrooms.  The focus on learning any language needs to be on usage - first hearing it, then learning vocabulary and using it through speaking.  Grammar can be learned by reading and writing, the last two of the four necessary skills needed to master a language.  The Thais like to use the unworkable grammar approach simply because it makes it easier for them to give their never-ending multiple choice exams that they can then take home with their cutout answer keys and have the student's answer sheets marked by their family members and maids.  No thought is given to whether or not students really learn English.  All that matters is the score.  Students are not even given back the exams with their answers to see where they were right and where they were wrong.

[Andycoops]

22 hours ago, darksidedog said:

This subject comes round and round and never gets anywhere because they are not prepared to pay the money required to get decent staff. They always cheap out and employ those for whom English is often a second or third language. The other issue of course is one of face and paying a farang more than Thai teachers who in their minds are superior causes a problem. Those looking for teaching work need not get excited. This will go no further than the countless identical promises made over the years and the kids in ten years still won't be able to speak English to anything close to an acceptable standard.

Absolutely correct.

[emptypockets]

3 hours ago, baansgr said:

I'm from.an age where only 3 people from my year of 290 students went to university...throughout the past 30 years or so I have seen what education level post grads have from the UK...shocking and a lot can't even work a call centre.,.a degree used to be reaching a certain level...today people do it to get out of working for three years....honestly, when you can obtain a B.A in Facebook or social media studies...who are they kidding

Yes I often hear Arts graduates asking me if I want fries with that.

[Maxwadd]

I had a Filipino friend who came to work as an English teacher in a Thai school

Her average workload was 16 units 

The tha teachers did 5 units 

Hmmmm

[ttrd]

23 hours ago, Number 6 said:

A teacher doing 18-22 contact hours does not have time to teach to additionally teach teachers. Nor would I expect schools would pay - but that is teaching as well.

 

Newly hired teachers from God only knows where will have scant ability to teach anyone. Students and teachers alike.

 

It's only the cream of Thai teachers in the best schools that might be interested in learning something from foreigners but with due respect - you need to know something to teach something.

 

Most Thai teachers have taught with their teaching staff for years. No offers made by either parties.

 

Most Thai professional teachers have little respect for foreign staff. They are oblivious shirkers who are paid 28k-40k and it's too much.

 

Old Thai teachers cannot be trained up. They are already dreaming of retirement.

 

Retirement should be based on 25 years of service then OUT. Not to return for $pecial cla$$es. Out.

 

The hugely expensive and quite ridiculous British Council massive teacher training sessions did what? Nothing.

 

Thailand needs to get thousands of students interested in teaching. That's the answer. It's not an easy one. The US and many countries have the same problem.

 

But if you're looking to a TEFL flunkie in Chaing Mai or Brighton to solve this thing, you're gonna have a bad day.

 

RE - Thailand needs to get thousands of students interested in teaching. That's the answer. It's not an easy one. The US and many countries have the same problem.

 

* Increasing interest is fine, but unfortunately not enough. The answer to the challenge is:

 

To be able to adequately learn a foreign language both orally and in writing you need first of all to master your mother tongue grammatically - with other words, they should start there and not continue with shortcuts which has failed again and again over decades due to a total lack of the understanding and the importance of lessons learned ...

 

Edited February 16, 2020 by ttrd

[FritsSikkink]

23 hours ago, Puchaiyank said:

Pray that many will come from Mexico...so there can be a few decent Mexican restaurants around...

Native English speakers from Mexico?

[DrTuner]

Thais are not interested in learning English. You have to either send them to a gulag and force them to learn a new language, in which case they will learn Chinese or Russian, or accept that Thai is the world numbah one language. They are DOOMED.

[P100]

23 hours ago, spinner2020 said:

They'd be too expensive (fortunately!). Think Filipinos instead. "Native" speakers.

They don't like canibalised English by Filipinos, to me very understandable. But.... I wish Thais could speak at least that Filipino type English ... which would be a lot of progress given how bad the situation is...

[emptypockets]

14 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Native English speakers from Mexico?

Si Senor.

[ChaiyaTH]

So they had native speaking 'teachers' willing to work for only 30-35K baht a month on tourist visa's, who are now all kicked out.
Then they now do want 3000 extra teachers, for a really low salary and no pension savings (do most teachers above 30 here even think about that at all?). 

At the same time those teachers would lose a part of their social welfare pensions as of living abroad many years.
To then be kicked out when getting old (and not having been able to save up 800K / too little pension as well).

If you ask me their only chance is to get Filipino's... Unless it are International schools paying natives better, but as far I know they do not cover a pension too.

I mean, one would need to set aside 20K baht a month to build up a very basic pension already (as the schools do not do a thing for you).

Edited February 16, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[newnative]

   Another poorly composed and deceiving headline. There are already 7000 teachers according to the minister so they are only recruiting 3000 new ones to reach the 10,000 goal.  Still, a tiny step forward but much more is needed.

[ChaiyaTH]

2 minutes ago, newnative said:

   Another poorly composed and deceiving headline. There are already 7000 teachers according to the minister so they are only recruiting 3000 new ones to reach the 10,000 goal.  Still, a tiny step forward but much more is needed.

That is like 1 teacher per 1000 students with 10K of them hehe.

[Destiny1990]

Broadcast English educational cartoons and tv shows everyday on the local tv. Eventually level will climb.

[JAG]

3 hours ago, Monkeycity said:

They need to be taught bilingually, where they are taught science, maths or a couple important subjects in English. Just having a few English lessons a week is not enough. It needs to be 50/50 if you want good English speakers.

Howcome Scandinavians can speak English almost perfectly?

That is what happens at the school I teach at, Maths and Science are taught in Thai and English to primary classes.. Funnily enough all the Filipinos and West Africans (all with 4 year degrees in Education - at least one with a Masters) complained it was too hard, so I get to do it as a mere TEFL Mong!

[ChaiyaTH]

8 minutes ago, JAG said:

That is what happens at the school I teach at, Maths and Science are taught in Thai and English to primary classes.. Funnily enough all the Filipinos and West Africans (all with 4 year degrees in Education - at least one with a Masters) complained it was too hard, so I get to do it as a mere TEFL Mong!

I stopped attaching value to anyone saying to have a degree from SE Asia / Africa etc. The level often seems the same as high school in EU.
Was very misleading in the beginning, I thought to knew all these super smart people with degrees hehe. 

Edited February 16, 2020 by ChaiyaTH

[phantomfiddler]

Teach Thai teachers how to teach English ??? I foresee the "Noseeum Bird" that flies in ever decreasing circles until it flies where the sun never shines. I could not understand a word that a Thai English teacher spoke to me, so how can anyone possibly learn from anyone other than a native English speaker ?

[MRDave]

23 hours ago, phuketsub said:

I really hate the term 'jao khong phasa' for 'native speaker', because it literally means 'owner of the language', which is patently absurd.  English, like any language, is a dynamic, constantly evolving tool for communication, not a commodity that can be owned by anyone.  Sadly, I think the term's entrenched usage in Thai is an indicator of the cultural barrier Thais have to learning the current lingua franca.

 

And it really doesn't have to be that way at all.

If I own a guitar and I make copies of it and I give it to my non-English friends, then they will all own a copy of the guitar but the original will always be mine.

[emptypockets]

10 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Teach Thai teachers how to teach English ??? I foresee the "Noseeum Bird" that flies in ever decreasing circles until it flies where the sun never shines. I could not understand a word that a Thai English teacher spoke to me, so how can anyone possibly learn from anyone other than a native English speaker ?

I learnt French from a native English speaker.

[Humpy]

Please select English speaking teachers without an English regional accent , good diction and no American twang !!.... or am I asking too much ?