Thailand's need for foreign teachers and the spread of Covid-19 a "balancing act" - Thai media

[Venom]

Teaching the peasants English would give them access to the outside world which might not be in everybody's best interest. 

[EvetsKram]

Many foreigners living here,  willing,  able & qualified but ageist Education Dept refuses them.  Yes,  I'm one

[Grusa]

4 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

was there not a wonderful project to teach the teachers so farang english teachers would never be needed again ?

 

wait, I got a thai solution to this problem :  NO MORE ENGLISH teaching in schools allowed, only THAI

I have a better one, already endorsed by great leader.

Make Thai the international language of diplomacy. Now.

[tso310]

Special flight from London announced a couple of days ago. This flight is not for Thais. Thais cannot register for this flight.

 

Registration form for international teachers / non-Thais to travel from London to Bangkok by special flight TG917 on 31 Aug 2020

The flight is organised by Department of Consular Affairs (DCA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

This registration will secure your seat on the flight.
The registration will be closed on 18 August 2020 and the DCA will finalise the passenger list and get back to the registers (via registered email) on 20 August 2020 so that the registers can make the payment with Thai Airways.
Please note that, all the seats are on first-come-first-served basis.

**PLEASE REGISTER ONLY ONCE PER PASSENGER**

After registration, DCA will hand over the list to Thai Airways.
Thai Airways will contact you directly (via your registered email) to process your flight reservation and payment.

For payment details, please visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSp3ITXAMU7hKlfqGPSuo-vCocfBSnDY/view?usp=sharing

For more inquiries, please contact (+66) 02-203-5000 ext. 33104 or [email protected].

[Sydebolle]

National Languages .......

In the Philippines it is Tagalog, followed by English with possibly one of the planet's worst accents. Would I hire Lao teachers if I want to learn Thai - certainly not, although all those Laotians understand and speak Thai - with an equally illustre accent. 

If you want to teach English; take native English speakers from preferably the UK. If you want to teach American, then the US has plenty of young teachers who would love to have a chance to expand their horizon and teach here. 
Russian is best taught by a Russian, although most Ukrainians speak Russian. 
The Swiss are multi-linguistically gifted, yet French spoken in Paris is not the same as spoken in Geneva (or Quebec/Canada, Bruxelles/Belgium or many African states). 
German is the language of the Germans and the Austrians, Liechtensteiner or Swiss (from the German speaking part) can all speak and fluently understand German - yet it is not the real German as spoken in Hannover.

So, for the sake of the next generation, get UK teachers in; you've been cheating generations of Thai students with all sort of funny decorated nonsense, certificate graduation exercises worse than on an army campus - for once! 

[Bangkok Barry]

I have a nephew staying with me at present. He has been learning English in a private school for six years, and all he can do so far is speak and spell individual words. Maybe in another six years he might be able to construct a sentence, but I'm not holding my breath. Thai English teachers, of course.

[Eddy Ozark]

Teaching is not a job that everybody can do well. People with an academic background would mostly be better suited to this job than artisans or mechanics, for example. But there would be exceptions. One problem with education here is cultural. It is the belief that if something looks good, then it is good. Surface appearance is more important than essence. As an example of this, a teacher who dresses well is viewed as a better teacher than one who doesn't.

[Madeline Thompson]

I know for a fact there are many international school teachers desperately

trying to get into Thailand, have been trying for three months - there's a pile

of them hanging on in Vietnam alone, with a sympathetic Thai embassy

doing what they can.  But they are simply shut down on the issue of letting

any foreigners into Thailand, even if they have family here.  The Thai

government only wants to entice very very wealthy foreigners into the

country (the elite, super elite entry visas) - which is going to add very

little to  the dying economics of this country.  It is heartbreaking to watch

this happen. 

 

[sungod]

4 hours ago, brimacthai said:

When they enforced the "must have a degree" in anything to teach (for a work permit), they greatly reduced their access to good teachers.

Teachers generally have degrees dont they?

[sungod]

4 minutes ago, Madeline Thompson said:

I know for a fact there are many international school teachers desperately

trying to get into Thailand, have been trying for three months - there's a pile

of them hanging on in Vietnam alone, with a sympathetic Thai embassy

doing what they can.  But they are simply shut down on the issue of letting

any foreigners into Thailand, even if they have family here.  The Thai

government only wants to entice very very wealthy foreigners into the

country (the elite, super elite entry visas) - which is going to add very

little to  the dying economics of this country.  It is heartbreaking to watch

this happen. 

 

Its getting better, met 3 people this weekend with family in Thailand who have returned.

[arun1]

Hello fellow members. I've been told by 3 schools now I'm too old to teach..10 years of teaching in Thailand. But now I'm on the scrap heap. Even many Thai teachers have told me that I'm the best teacher they have seen teach. I know I'm past the retirement age. But I'm ready willing and able to still teach.

[SVC Porter]

29 minutes ago, tso310 said:

Special flight from London announced a couple of days ago. This flight is not for Thais. Thais cannot register for this flight.

 

Registration form for international teachers / non-Thais to travel from London to Bangkok by special flight TG917 on 31 Aug 2020

The flight is organised by Department of Consular Affairs (DCA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

This registration will secure your seat on the flight.
The registration will be closed on 18 August 2020 and the DCA will finalise the passenger list and get back to the registers (via registered email) on 20 August 2020 so that the registers can make the payment with Thai Airways.
Please note that, all the seats are on first-come-first-served basis.

**PLEASE REGISTER ONLY ONCE PER PASSENGER**

After registration, DCA will hand over the list to Thai Airways.
Thai Airways will contact you directly (via your registered email) to process your flight reservation and payment.

For payment details, please visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rSp3ITXAMU7hKlfqGPSuo-vCocfBSnDY/view?usp=sharing

For more inquiries, please contact (+66) 02-203-5000 ext. 33104 or [email protected].

Economy seat £780

Business£2900

ASQ £1500+

 

They can get in the sea! lol  Are the International schools going to foot this bill?

[Advocatus Diaboli]

20 minutes ago, sungod said:

Teachers generally have degrees dont they?

Some do. But then there are those that have teaching skills from other professions. For example trades like electrical and IT, or even the military. I wonder how many of those people are present in thailand currently but maybe hindered by the limitations of the immigration visa system.

[CygnusX1]

A friend of mine’s married to a Filipina, and although she’s a lovely lady, I do have to concentrate very hard to understand her speech. I know, doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone from the Philippines.

[CorpusChristie]

43 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

I have a nephew staying with me at present. He has been learning English in a private school for six years, and all he can do so far is speak and spell individual words. Maybe in another six years he might be able to construct a sentence, but I'm not holding my breath. Thai English teachers, of course.

Why dont you spend you time talking to him for him to get some practice at speaking English ?

[Foghorn]

It ain’t just foreign teachers that they need , they also need foreign police because the ones that they have are so c@#£#t that the truth is in the hand of the biggest p@#£@

[Pique Dard]

am i wrong to assume only foreigners are infected by the covid as far as thais are concerned? i read somewhere a restaurant's thai owner prohibited farangs to enter his restaurant because of the covid-19, indeed!

Edited August 15, 2020 by Pique Dard

[LogicThai]

Native English speakers are definitely useful for practicing English, but they may not be ideal for teaching English in the first place. Being a native speaker is not enough. One also needs teaching skills, obviously, which is not innate, and perhaps more importantly one needs to have a serious grasp of grammar, which most native speakers simply don't. They might know how to say something the proper way, out of a lifetime habit, but they really don't know why, and therefore they cannot explain it properly for students.

In addition, specifically for Brits, there are many regional accents in the UK, that foreign students might rather not get exposed to in their learning years.

[ChipButty]

I'd make a good teacher, I could teach them how to hot wire a Ferrari and how to cut up a 9 bar

[Raphus]

Yes. I have been waiting for the doors to open for teachers. It is only. A matter of time. I think November when the schools really start shouting at the government. 
but let’s wait and see.

vietnam is now collecting all data on teachers in the immigration ministry. They are ready to send out offer letters for visas as soon as the government gives the go ahead. They are proactive, have started the process and are ready to get teachers into the country. I know this as I have also applied there. Thailand is just a whisk of wind in my ears at the moment and will be for some time to come. As it seems the people at the top are completely lost in direction for the country as a whole.

shame

[Miami007]

4 hours ago, hobz said:

Ok, Thailand might not survive without foreign teachers.. 

But how in the world is Thailand supposed to survive without tourism? 

Won't the economy completely collapse soon?! Can someone explain this to me? 

Thailand can survive without tourism. They would just lose about 15% of GDP, if no foreign tourists are coming into the country. Plus the money that is generated in other sectors by tourism... So around 20-25% loss in total. That can be survived.

But in addition to tourism, who would buy a lot of these new condos? Many target foreign buyers or Thais who rent them on Airbnb. 

Which country will open or invest in factories in Thailand, if managers or owners can not supervise operations on site?

Exports will eventually suffer as no Thai companies can send staff abroad to meet with customers.

Closing borders will shrink total economic outputin the long r - especially once other countries open and the world passes on bothering with nations which continue closures

 

Returning to an economic model seen in the middle ages (Or before 1900) is possible, but maybe not what the modern Thais who are middle-class to HiSo prefer. Definitely will get rough for most expat in the country when the economy collapses

 

[hobz]

3 minutes ago, Miami007 said:

Thailand can survive without tourism. They would just lose about 15% of GDP, if no foreign tourists are coming into the country. Plus the money that is generated in other sectors by tourism... So around 20-25% loss in total. That can be survived.

But in addition to tourism, who would buy a lot of these new condos? Many target foreign buyers or Thais who rent them on Airbnb. 

Which country will open or invest in factories in Thailand, if managers or owners can not supervise operations on site?

Exports will eventually suffer as no Thai companies can send staff abroad to meet with customers.

Closing borders will shrink total economic outputin the long r - especially once other countries open and the world passes on bothering with nations which continue closures

 

Returning to an economic model seen in the middle ages (Or before 1900) is possible, but maybe not what the modern Thais who are middle-class to HiSo prefer. Definitely will get rough for most expat in the country when the economy collapses

 

I wasn't clear enough in my question I think.... 

The economy is like a house of cards. If 20% of business suddenly shut down, it means millions of people will start defaulting on all types of debts. Rents will no longer be paid etc etc. This creates a domino effect. Eventually it goes all the way to the banks ... The banks start to get in trouble etc.. u k ow what I mean? Won't this happen in Thailand too? This much be way worse than the 2008/2009 financial crisis, and banks went bankrupt then and had to be bailed out etc.

[tso310]

35 minutes ago, SVC Porter said:

Economy seat £780

Business£2900

ASQ £1500+

 

They can get in the sea! lol  Are the International schools going to foot this bill?

This has been discussed in the Thai Visa section. I know some of the English teachers in the state schools of the small dusty southern Buriram town we are in and there is no way they, the teachers, could afford it and I doubt that state schools would be allowed to pay. Even some of the small private schools in this type of province wouldn't have the resources to stump up the money for ASQs.

Another aspect that is not known is how many existing teachers returned back to Europe when the schools shut and how many were told contract were being terminated and thus left the country. I don't think anyone expected the international quarantine to last as how long it has.

[Bangkok Barry]

21 minutes ago, CorpusChristie said:

Why dont you spend you time talking to him for him to get some practice at speaking English ?

i do, and more so my wife who is a qualified English teacher. It was interesting that when she was studying at uni to be an English teacher, most of what she was being taught was very technical and not really of much use in teaching basic English.

 

Also, she brought home some forms, instructions for something or other (it was a while ago so I don't remember now) and there were something like 25-30 errors. I went through and corrected them, she gave it to the lecturer trying to be helpful, and the lecturer threw it in the bin.

[oompie69]

Forcing returning teachers and new hires into laying out money for inflated repatriation flights and price gauging ASQ Hotels is no way to get the problem of too few teachers solved. How desperate must you be to have to pay up-front the equivalent of more than two months salary before you can even begin working and earning. And with so few flights, how many teachers who eventually make it into Thailand will still have a job when they get there?

How is it possible that the various government departments that need to co-ordinate to make this work cannot sit down and fix this mess? Oops! Forgot.TIT. Make the possible impossible, thereby not suffering loss of face if anything goes wrong.

[FangFerang]

6 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

A smart Thai in power would ask for help from the ex-pat community to get qualified English speakers into schools...just for one year till the Wuhan China virus silliness is over. Immigration and Educators work together to smooth the way.  There would be enough Aussie's and British ex-pats out there in the community.  No sense in bringing in Flippers who speak American English, all those lovely kiddies need to learn the Queens English so they can get ahead in life.  

American English has become the defacto standard because...no one can understand a Geordi, and the English cannot even spell aluminum (named by its discoverer and lacking a second "I" in any respectable Chemistry text).  The Queen's English is derived from the 13th century occupation of England by France, when no one in London could get a job without speaking French. Further, the English accent is not popular in Asia, simply because it uses an extra phoneme, and places bizarre stresses on unrelated vowel sounds, which is why 'mate' is mispronounced as 'mite', and accepted in the UK.  Adieu, mate!

[sungod]

1 hour ago, Advocatus Diaboli said:

Some do. But then there are those that have teaching skills from other professions. For example trades like electrical and IT, or even the military. I wonder how many of those people are present in thailand currently but maybe hindered by the limitations of the immigration visa system.

Sorry, you are correct. I was hinting at the 'English speakers' masquerading as English teachers.

[swerve]

6 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

A smart Thai in power would ask for help from the ex-pat community to get qualified English speakers into schools...just for one year till the Wuhan China virus silliness is over. Immigration and Educators work together to smooth the way.  There would be enough Aussie's and British ex-pats out there in the community.  No sense in bringing in Flippers who speak American English, all those lovely kiddies need to learn the Queens English so they can get ahead in life.  

Not sure what a Flipper is. This is the funniest TV post I have seen this year.  

Edited August 15, 2020 by swerve

[DavisH]

4 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

The Philippine education system seems to work much better than Thailands ...

Not according to PISA results, it doesn't.

[DavisH]

53 minutes ago, FangFerang said:

American English has become the defacto standard because...no one can understand a Geordi, and the English cannot even spell aluminum (named by its discoverer and lacking a second "I" in any respectable Chemistry text).  The Queen's English is derived from the 13th century occupation of England by France, when no one in London could get a job without speaking French. Further, the English accent is not popular in Asia, simply because it uses an extra phoneme, and places bizarre stresses on unrelated vowel sounds, which is why 'mate' is mispronounced as 'mite', and accepted in the UK.  Adieu, mate!

The discoverer, Humphry Davy, later renamed it aluminium, which is the more widely used slepping of the word, and was renamed to match many other -ium elements. The Americans and Canadians did not catch on...