yeah me teaching English to Thai university girls. I would taken out in handcuffs the first day.

There's 4 solutions....get rid of everyone in the education department and replace them with smarts....not Thai smarts!

I am a certified teacher ( Masters +120 hours) from the USA that has fortunately taught humanities at five nonprofit, accredited international schools in various countries ( Thailand being my last one before I retired). I do not have a paper saying I can “teach English” to students; for, the international schools I have taught at hired certified EAL teachers with experience and a Master’s degree. -But hiring back packers traveling through Thailand is not a good long term solution. The problem now in most Western countries is that there is a shortage of teachers since the older ones are now retiring or the younger teachers “burn out” after 5-10 years. One solution is to pay more, but that is not going to happen. ????

Perhaps they could exclude for those living in Thailand on Visas the restriction on employment if that was to teach English. 

could be a good command of english, reading lots of books, listening to western men and women discuss world events might somehow 'corrupt' thai youth who then might question traditional thai cultural systems.  neither the army nor monarchy (god save the king) wants anyone to question the status quo.

 

and those are the guys in charge of thailand not some dopey educational minister

It hurts me to read all the comments, but if Thailand wants to address this, the process is quite simple:
 

1. Create an English Teacher visa category and publicize it. 

2. Have people at Embassies abroad screen (and score) candidates with a fluent speaker. 
3.  Match candidates with openings. 
4.  Support part-time positions in order to have an abundance of teachers. There are more people that will do it part time for an “easy visa” than people that want to do it full time, based on my limited experience. 
 

It isn’t rocket science, but it takes an honest, transparent effort. 

 

4 hours ago, 248900_1469958220 said:

Ok, job well done but, I would have thought that was stating the plainly obvious??!!!

The “kids” in her age group (early to mid 20s) are so PC now that they wouldn’t dare “state the obvious” to a woman, and probably dance around the subject when she’s amongst her peers and complains about being single.  I just happened to be the old dude at the table.

pay peanuts, get monkeys

8 hours ago, JustAnotherHun said:

4. Make the world learn Thai. No need for english teachers any more.

Didn't Prayuth declare a couple years ago that Thai language would be the most widely spoken language in the world in 10 years?  Anyone remember that?

Hire as many foreigners as they can, it will not any significant improvement for the system as a whole and for the benefit of the students.  The powers that be like the system just as it IS.  Besides, Thais will not accept solutions from foreigners.  I write this with sadness.

12 hours ago, legend49 said:

Yes correct, little Mr P said Thai was a top world language.

Just confirms his incompetence...... 

10 hours ago, tjo o tjim said:

It hurts me to read all the comments, but if Thailand wants to address this, the process is quite simple:
 

1. Create an English Teacher visa category and publicize it. 

2. Have people at Embassies abroad screen (and score) candidates with a fluent speaker. 
3.  Match candidates with openings. 
4.  Support part-time positions in order to have an abundance of teachers. There are more people that will do it part time for an “easy visa” than people that want to do it full time, based on my limited experience. 
 

It isn’t rocket science, but it takes an honest, transparent effort. 

 

No logical thinking or suggestions, cannot be thought thru', and anyway Thailand is different so farang ideas are useless.... 

11 hours ago, NCC1701A said:

yeah me teaching English to Thai university girls. I would taken out in handcuffs the first day.

You dirty old man, but would the language skills be improved ????

Most native speaking English teachers I knew hit the 6 year visa waiver from Krusapa. After that, they were required to study further (1 year) and pay for the course (up to 160K for the PGCEi) just to keep the same 35K job. No one wanted to do that. They have been replaced by non native English teachers. 

 

A shame because they were good teachers who stayed at the same schools in the town for many years and were well liked by the students. A lot of the new non native English teachers don't last a term, or are not liked by the Thai teachers. But apparently, if they have white skin that's enough to fool the parents and they can pay them less.

Yes, hiring from abroad does work on short term contracts anyway, media kids and a school near mine, hire teachers on 6 month contracts and does it really matter if the teacher changes as long as there is a proper handover. I can tell you that kids forget you quite quickly if you change classes.

 

As for wages staying the same, we were informed  the other day, the thai government had frozen foreigners wages 20 odd years ago, if this is the case, they will never go up, due to local  attitudes about money. Vietnam pays on average about 20,000 baht more however if your looking for  a better lifestyle and good holidays that makes the difference.

 

As I said in another post. Hire from abroad offer perks such as completion bonus and free flight home and stick to it then your foreigners coming in droves for 6 months at a time.

 

If they get a serious girlfriend then they dont leave, how to organise that is another matter, but dating tends to be more straight forward if you can find someone with a real job.

 

You will not get boatloads of foreigners applying unless you make it attractive although 3,000 is probably  about normal per year, but many leave in that year as well.

Edited February 19, 20206 yr by jaffas21

16 hours ago, bobbin said:

Can I ask where you received your MA in Thai?

Soi Bangla

All the above posts appear to come from folks who have worked or had experience in the education field and there is an impressive unanimity that it is a broken system that the Thai authorities really have no intention of changing in a significant way-merely yet another cosmetic touch-up as usual.

 

A much better explanation than the usual blame game that goes on (Geordie, Antipodean,American accents,unmotivated teachers etc) whenever this topic is raised.

While we are in a thread of utopian and ideal solutions ,I will raise another one..(ok, it's two)

Raise the IQ and learning drive of students.

 

 

I'm thinking more Cameroonian and Filipino teachers are the answer. Once the government sees the financials on that, I expect they will agree.

The easy answer to you guys who are teachers, why bother with Thailand? many other place around the world where you would be appreciated

Even Vietnam seems to be offering better deals

Edited February 20, 20206 yr by ChipButty

34 minutes ago, LomSak27 said:

I'm thinking more Cameroonian and Filipino teachers are the answer. Once the government sees the financials on that, I expect they will agree.

Jamaicans can speak good English

1. Cut out the middleman

Yes! So many agencies have their own agenda. They tea bag directors and Head teachers with perks... they are very selfish and look to make trouble to teachers because usually the school treats the teacher good and want to keep them... then because in Thailand, many foreigners are whiny people... it becomes impossible to please them and please the school by doing your job for the school. So they are not mature business people... 

20 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

inaccurate generalisation; just within my family and friends, all native english speakers, i know people who speak; french, spanish, german, italian, thai and russian, some speaking more than one second language...

Absolutely a stereotype. 
 

I am a NES and I speak six languages. 
 

I am a published writer in three of those languages. 
 

I have edited other writers in two. 
 

But I have no college degree, so clearly my English skills are sub-par. 

13 hours ago, Airalee said:

The “kids” in her age group (early to mid 20s) are so PC now that they wouldn’t dare “state the obvious” to a woman, and probably dance around the subject when she’s amongst her peers and complains about being single.  I just happened to be the old dude at the table.

As a member of generation X I find a lot of millennials  to be intolerable. I occasionally meet some that seem to be able to use logic over emotions regarding 'their' truth but.....it seems to have been beaten out of a lot them by the people that believe men, with beards and terrible makeup  should be able to pee pee in the same toilets as girls, your daughters perhaps.  Just a guess. I miss the 'Malborough man' personally. 

Edited February 20, 20206 yr by 248900_1469958220

19 hours ago, Airalee said:

I was having a conversation with an attractive “white woman teacher” one evening where she was complaining that her fellow “white male teachers” showed no interest in her.

 

I told her that the primary reason that these guys were here was because of Thai women.  She thanked me profusely for being the first white male to tell it like it really is.

Had the same conversation with a 40+ year old infants school teacher a few months back.

Recently divorced, moved to Thailand after getting a teaching job, wondered why no men seemed interested.

I pointed out she was competing with Thai women in their early 30s.

Shame really as she was quite attractive (for a 40+yo) and seemed nice.

44 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Had the same conversation with a 40+ year old infants school teacher a few months back.

Recently divorced, moved to Thailand after getting a teaching job, wondered why no men seemed interested.

I pointed out she was competing with Thai women in their early 30s.

Shame really as she was quite attractive (for a 40+yo) and seemed nice.

Send her on over....Though I am actually in my mid 40's I still consider women over the age of 35 to be 'milfs' My small head still thinks like a 22 year old. My large head still seems to be able to pay the bills and clean behind my ears. It seems to work.

Coming from a different direction: Why should the government waste the money it has at its disposal to pay for English teachers?  Afterall most of the kids don't need, or want, to speak English.  So, of the ones who want to speak English.....let the parents pay for private tuition.  And the plus side is the money is then free to be used elsewhere.  Another submarine would be handy......just in case the first one breaks down.....again and again.  And they do.  For example the Australian Collins class submarines which have cost the taxpayers a huge sum of money over the years. 

I'm pretty sure my grandchildren will be reading about these suggestions, recommendations and plans in a 100 years from now. 

The image of a hamster on a running wheel comes to mind - around and around and around but never actually moving forward. 

 

2 hours ago, 248900_1469958220 said:

As a member of generation X I find a lot of millennials  to be intolerable. I occasionally meet some that seem to be able to use logic over emotions regarding 'their' truth but.....it seems to have been beaten out of a lot them by the people that believe men, with beards and terrible makeup  should be able to pee pee in the same toilets as girls, your daughters perhaps.  Just a guess. I miss the 'Malborough man' personally. 

I’m Gen X (51) too and feel the same way.  I can get along with anyone for the most part but find that conversations with most millenials seem to be one loaded question after another.  They don’t seem to want to get to know me as much as find a reason to hate me.

Just now, Airalee said:

I’m Gen X (51) too and feel the same way.  I can get along with anyone for the most part but find that conversations with most millenials seem to be one loaded question after another.  They don’t seem to want to get to know me as much as find a reason to hate me.

You bother talking to them? They're there for pleasure, nothing more