Thai education embraces UK programmes to boost English language proficiency

[webfact]

 

Thailand has officially embraced programmes initiated by the United Kingdom, designed to boost English language proficiency among Thai students and teachers.

 

The Education Minister of Thailand, Police General Permpoon Chidchob, held a conversation with the UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, to discuss this educational collaboration. The British ambassador, Mark Gooding, was also present at the discussion which took place at the Ministry of Education.

 

Pol. Gen. Permpoon expressed gratitude towards the British government for their assistance in developing an online learning platform for Thai students. This platform would open doors for Thai students to access English classes and online databases globally. He shared his concerns about the numerous students from less fortunate backgrounds in Thailand, who struggle with access to education.

The support from the British government, he believes, would level the playing field, providing equal educational opportunities for students and teachers. Pol. Gen. Permpoon signalled his readiness to glean insights from the UK’s lessons and experiences with both online and on-site learning.

 

by Connor Mitch

Picture of Education Minister Police General Permpoon Chidchob courtesy of Bangkok Post.

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-10-20

 

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[soi3eddie]

Good idea. Hopefully Thailand will improve it's English language ability above Cambodia and Myanmar soon.

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by soi3eddie

[daveAustin]

Ok this is nice for folks in the middle of nowhere, but Level the playing field? I’m not a teacher but how’s about Thailand helping out and giving credit to their foreign language teachers in the kingdom in general? These guys have had f all support or little in the way of wage rise for years. 

[Joe Farang]

I find that UK people have the lowest standard of proficiency in the English language in the English speaking world. I think they assume that they are number one. I have rarely met an English person that knows "lose is not loose" nor " have is not of"

[nglodnig]

Well good idea, innit?

[Clarkey611]

53 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Good idea. Hopefully Thailand will improve it's English language ability above Cambodia and Myanmar soon.

 

You know!

[ChipButty]

I thought there was plenty of English teachers here? pay the them the right money and make it easier to get jobs and they will come, 

[bigt3116]

59 minutes ago, Joe Farang said:

I find that UK people have the lowest standard of proficiency in the English language in the English speaking world. I think they assume that they are number one. I have rarely met an English person that knows "lose is not loose" nor " have is not of"

Bard thinks maybe your English is a little lacking too.

 

"

The grammar of the sentence "I have rarely met an English person that knows 'lose is not loose' nor 'have is not of'" is correct, but it could be improved by making a few changes.

First, the word "that" should be replaced with "who" because it is referring to a person.

Second, the word "nor" should be replaced with "or" because it is connecting two negative statements.

Third, the phrase "have is not of" is a bit awkward and could be replaced with "is not of having."

Finally, the sentence could be made more concise by removing the word "rarely."

Here is the revised sentence:

I have rarely met an English person who knows that "lose" is not "loose" or that "have" is not of having."

[blazes]

The worst mistake one tends to see on comment sites like this is:

 

"would of" when they mean "would've".  There is no such construction in English as "would of been proud  of...."

 

Of course to be absolutely correct, one could simply add two more letters and say "would have".

[AustinRacing]

Police General in charge of education. 💪💪💪

[ChipButty]

Im glad the are turning to the UK to help them, It gets right up my nose listening to a Thai with an American accent

Edited October 19, 2023 by ChipButty

[ChipButty]

1 minute ago, AustinRacing said:

Police General in charge of education. 💪💪💪

what could go wrong? 

[Jack Hammer]

I heard the Thai Government is recruiting English teachers from Yorkshire, Dublin and Glasgow. Is this true? 

[zzaa09]

1 minute ago, Jack Hammer said:

I heard the Thai Government is recruiting English teachers from Yorkshire, Dublin and Glasgow. Is this true? 

Well it might be a step up from Thai, Filipino, German, Japanese, et al English language teachers. 

[kenjinuk]

I read this article and the full story and I still do not know how this will level the playing field or raise standards. Children in my village school cannot read English, their teachers do not speak English. There is a mountain to climb if standards are to improve.

[blazes]

5 minutes ago, Jack Hammer said:

I heard the Thai Government is recruiting English teachers from Yorkshire, Dublin and Glasgow. Is this true? 

Dublin is preferable to Belfast, where "now"  is pronounced "noy".  

A different thread perhaps, but which is the absolute worst English regional accent?

After Belfast, I'd vote for Liverpool and Yorkshire.  (Sorry if I've offended anyone here.)

[Bobydog]

2 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Good idea. Hopefully Thailand will improve it's English language ability above Cambodia and Myanmar soon.

 

So nice to see a productive report for a change, Philippines are way ahead of Thailand in this area so why focus on Britain when the Philippines are an ASEAN member.

[HappyExpat57]

<kidding>

 

And could we PLEASE teach these kids it's SOCCER, not FOOTBALL?!?

 

</kidding>

[captnhoy]

Having associated with "loso" types for my twenty-some years here, I believe it will take untold generations before the "Thaiglish" version dies out. For example for them to say "house" instead of "hou". Or temple instead of tempen. And on and on and on. Considering the complexities of grammar, English is not a simple language. As far as British accents go, I had a friend in the US who had been there more than 30 years. Sometimes I asked him to repeat as many as three times before I understood him.

[fluffs]

2 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Ok this is nice for folks in the middle of nowhere, but Level the playing field? I’m not a teacher but how’s about Thailand helping out and giving credit to their foreign language teachers in the kingdom in general? These guys have had f all support or little in the way of wage rise for years. 

Most of the so called foreign teachers I've come across are no more teachers than I am.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Pol. Gen. Permpoon expressed gratitude towards the British government for their assistance in developing an online learning platform for Thai students. This platform would open doors for Thai students to access English classes and online databases globally. He shared his concerns about the numerous students from less fortunate backgrounds in Thailand, who struggle with access to education

So not every day in the classroom then?

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

I thought there was plenty of English teachers here? pay the them the right money and make it easier to get jobs and they will come, 

English teachers whose English is a second language maybe.

My neighbours daughter has an English teacher from Cameroon, she cahoot understand a word he says due to the dialect. 

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The Education Minister of Thailand, Police General Permpoon Chidchob

Is he a serving officer?

[bigt3116]

1 hour ago, blazes said:

Of course to be absolutely correct, one could simply add two more letters and say "would have".

Just to clarify "would've" is absolutely correct also.

[fdimike]

14 minutes ago, kenjinuk said:

I read this article and the full story and I still do not know how this will level the playing field or raise standards. Children in my village school cannot read English, their teachers do not speak English. There is a mountain to climb if standards are to improve.

It will do nothing but add more smoke & mirrors to make it look good.  I've been a volunteer teacher in Isaan for close to 20 years trying to help Thai teachers teach English.  I've assisted in numerous rural schools over the 20 year period (primary - secondary levels). There are many problems to overcome but the primary one is the lack of anywhere to use English consequently students may learn in school but quickly forget once they leave the classroom.  Once home they typically speak Thai or the Isaan dialect with their family/friends.  Granted there are a few students who like the English language and will increase their proficiency on their own using free online resources like YouTube etc. 

One should remember that Bangkok schools & the rural Isaan schools are no where near the same.  Rural schools lack resources and quality teachers who can speak English much less teach it.  Teaching equipment which is broken will typically lay in a pile under a stairwell due to a lack of funds to repair it.  Many classrooms are still relying on greenboards with chalk with little by way of more modern teaching equipment and the list goes on and on.  

[Muhendis]

37 minutes ago, blazes said:

Dublin is preferable to Belfast, where "now"  is pronounced "noy".  

A different thread perhaps, but which is the absolute worst English regional accent?

After Belfast, I'd vote for Liverpool and Yorkshire.  (Sorry if I've offended anyone here.)

The flexibility of the English language is really quite amazing.

With so many different dialects and accents and yet we all understand what is meant.

[kentrot]

[jacko45k]

22 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

English teachers whose English is a second language maybe.

My neighbours daughter has an English teacher from Cameroon, she cahoot understand a word he says due to the dialect. 

I was watching  You Tube recordings taken at various places around the UK... same same!

[bob smith]

Them pesky farangs again eh.

 

they never do ANYTHING to help the locals 🙄

 

 

[2baht]

2 hours ago, Joe Farang said:

I find that UK people have the lowest standard of proficiency in the English language in the English speaking world. I think they assume that they are number one. I have rarely met an English person that knows "lose is not loose" nor " have is not of"

Was you sat over there or was you stood?