Looking for some English Teachers who have reasonable grasp of Thai

[skippybangkok]

Hope to give a few hope in this world of Covid. 

 

I have been working on a project since May 2020 importing an award winning play based English learning programme from the US for kindergarten children, and converting it into Thai and localising it. Might sound unbelievable, but Thai teachers with little to now English skills are confidently teaching English to rural / poor kindergarten children. We are not focusing on pitch perfect pronunciation, rather the ability to communicate with English language speakers.

 

Pre vs post lecture assessment results on our 4 point scale go from "mostly wrong" to "mostly correct" ( ie lecture on my five senses ).

 

We have worked closely with the MoE, have run it in 10 rural schools, and are on the verge of getting official certification for the programme.

 

Things are moving very fast, and the model is we train thai teachers the vocab / pronunciation used for the Course, and how to deliver the online  / offline content in a class room environment.  Over the last few days we have had more enquiries than people we have to train thai teachers.

 

Am looking for people who speak good English, but more importantly also speak thai and can run a training course in Thai Language. For the next few months it would be part time, but will migrate very quickly to a full time role ( with WP if needed ).

 

We have a proper image to maintain with the MoE, and they will want to see the back ground of our trainers, so please ensure you CV could stand up to some scrutiny.

 

Thanks.... and I really hope this could be a big change for poor / rural thai children. 

 

p.s. I visited many schools personally all over the country during the trial - it works, and works well

 

Message me if you would like be a part of this

 

 

[simon43]

Kudos to you for this initiative.  But I see some problems:

 

- I suspect that most native English speaking teachers can't string more than a few words of Thai together.

- You offer a WP only for full-time positions.  Who would risk jail and deportation for working without a WP?

- I suspect that many teachers are rather 'weary' of teaching initiatives.  Thailand has a well-known history of failed English language teaching initiatives...

 

Not trying to be negative - just realistic ????

[puchooay]

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

suspect that most native English speaking teachers can't string more than a few words of Thai together.

From my experience I would disagree. Some but not most.

 

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

You offer a WP only for full-time positions.  Who would risk jail and deportation for working without a WP?

Agree mostly but jail is unlikely. There is a limit on the hours that must be worked in order to get a work permit. I think it's 15.

 

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

I suspect that many teachers are rather 'weary' of teaching initiatives.  Thailand has a well-known history of failed English language teaching initiatives...

Most would be Thai run and would fizzle out quite quickly, if it even hot off the ground. This one will likely be run differently, seems they already have a good following with MoE. It has s better chance of success although there will be some Thai teachers that will not be happy about being shown what to do br a foreigner.

[skippybangkok]

9 hours ago, puchooay said:

From my experience I would disagree. Some but not most.

 

Agree mostly but jail is unlikely. There is a limit on the hours that must be worked in order to get a work permit. I think it's 15.

 

Most would be Thai run and would fizzle out quite quickly, if it even hot off the ground. This one will likely be run differently, seems they already have a good following with MoE. It has s better chance of success although there will be some Thai teachers that will not be happy about being shown what to do br a foreigner.

 

Always appreciate views and I can only learn from constructive guidance 

 

I have been in Thailand for 26 years so have a good grasp of the country and its challenges. Came out of early retirement for this project as it was an opportunity to do something for poor children - rich children can get all the English tutoring they want.  

 

It doesn't look like its fizzling so far, more enquiries than I can poke a stick at - happy problem, but one never knows where it will end up.  I just finished a 167 page report in Thai to the MoE detailing activities and results which has been well received, mainly because of the very positive feedback from teachers / principals and the results at the child level. 

 

Thanks Poochooay for sharing your experiences. I think there are 2 factors, the teacher and the trainer. For the pilot programme, we interviewed 100 applicants and chose 10. Criteria was not English skills ( our preference was poor / rural school with little to no English ) , rather how motivated were they. Can teach knowledge, not motivation. Second factor is the trainer - we have a young, thai, degree holder, with near perfect English is training people twice her age and has been well received.  So I think its the combo of selecting motivated teachers with trainers who have decent credentials which makes it work. 

 

As the teachers are spread out all over the country, our only approach is online (not zoom, but similar ). As such, people based outside of Thailand can teach if it fits them.

 

I have a few options for finding people, either Thai or non-thai, but thought it would be good to post here are there are  / were many foreign English teachers in Thailand. Maybe I am out of date ????

[skippybangkok]

some kind soul sent me a message.... and its gone. Please resend - thanks