A Thai friend has talked about wanting to teach English and asked if I could get another point of view on what would be the basic qualifications he would need. He can talk English and also write English reasonably well. Has a degree in computing (though that is now about 8 years old).

What qualifications.....

How long would it take....

How much would it cost.....

Where in Central Thailand would be best....

Any grants available for a Thai to learn English ....

Any age barriers? ( he is in his 30's now) ...

Thanks for any help.

Check out the endless comments in the pinned topic at the top of the Teaching in Thailand forum, called Questions About Qualifications, into which this topic may eventually be merged.

Native Thais who wish to teach English generally get a degree in education and English in Thailand, but you never know.

At my school, he would be considered overqualified. As far as I know, there are no qualifications, other than a willingness to work for 7000 baht/month.

The Thai English teachers at my school do share some common traits: laziness, a refusal to give anything but true/false and multiple-choice tests, a refusal to fail students and have to come in after the term ends for retesting, and a refusal to teach anything outside the assigned student book.

At my school, he would be considered overqualified. As far as I know, there are no qualifications, other than a willingness to work for 7000 baht/month.

The Thai English teachers at my school do share some common traits: laziness, a refusal to give anything but true/false and multiple-choice tests, a refusal to fail students and have to come in after the term ends for retesting, and a refusal to teach anything outside the assigned student book.

The Thai teachers at the school I used to work at did a bit more than you mentioned, but I still saw the prescence of the lazy gene in mosty of them

At my school, he would be considered overqualified. As far as I know, there are no qualifications, other than a willingness to work for 7000 baht/month.

The Thai English teachers at my school do share some common traits: laziness, a refusal to give anything but true/false and multiple-choice tests, a refusal to fail students and have to come in after the term ends for retesting, and a refusal to teach anything outside the assigned student book.

The Thai teachers at the school I used to work at did a bit more than you mentioned, but I still saw the prescence of the lazy gene in mosty of them

Being relaxed (sabai jai) is a very postive state in Thai culture. 'It doesn't matter' (mai pen rai) is positive and often used when work hasn't been completed but 'you think too much' is negative and should be avoided. Added together it's part of the charm of living here. Little stress is involved living here unless you create it yourself, and many farangs love to create their own misery. The only people who seem upset with the laidback nature of Thais are foreigners; and sometimes Thais married to foreigners will agree to anything to avoid confrontation so it appears they agree with the foreigner but they don't!

He has the basic qualifications to work at a Language Center now, however, most of the Language Centers would rather hire a Russian who barely speaks English than an Asian who is fluent.

In order to teach at a MOE licensed school, he will need (in theory) need a BEd or a BA in English and a one year Graduate Diploma in Education. Given the current shortage of teachers he might be able to get a temporary dispensation to teach with his current qualifications, but will probably have to look for work in a small, poor school out in the boondocks rather than in Bangkok.

.... however, most of the Language Centers would rather hire a Russian who barely speaks English than an Asian who is fluent.

That makes my day. Laughed out loud for a long time.

But for the record, I know a language center that employs a Singaporean and a Burmese, both of whom have nearly no accents.

Anyway, that gives me hope for my friend from the former Yugoslavia.

A Thai friend has talked about wanting to teach English and asked if I could get another point of view on what would be the basic qualifications he would need. He can talk English and also write English reasonably well. Has a degree in computing (though that is now about 8 years old).

What qualifications.....

How long would it take....

How much would it cost.....

Where in Central Thailand would be best....

Any grants available for a Thai to learn English ....

Any age barriers? ( he is in his 30's now) ...

Thanks for any help.

Not much I know an English girl who is teaching English in Pattaya who used to be a bar maid in Stoney Stanton just outside Leicester and poeple pay money to be tought by her

I believe the OP was what is required for a THAI to teach English not a native speaker.

For a Thai non-native speaker of English to work at the university level, he/she will need a Phd to obtain a full-time position, or at least a Master's degree, preferably in TEFL or a related area to teach as a non-contract part-timer. They should probably also have some relevant experience teaching English (obviously). I know these are the minimum qualifications for Thais to teach at Chulalongkorn university in Bangkok. Other univesities may be more flexible about these requirements, but that would be determined by each institution. At the least, a Master's in (English language, English as an international language)education or TEFL(applied linguistics) or Linguistics, etc. would be a reasonable expectation for a Thai national to teach (non-contract) in most universities. Some institutions may also require a TESL certificate depending on the Thai applicant's area of study.