Thailand To Hire 300 Native English-Speaking Teachers

[jackinbkk]

I would have liked to teach English myself, had the salary been better. For a farang I would find it hard to survive on the 35k usually offered. Aren't there unpaid holidays at half and full term too? The lure of more money has taken me elsewhere. Free market economics.

England is having similar problems with bad English teachers. When my girlfriend visited me she went for English lessons. I believe the teacher was East European. I never met her but some of the English written on the sheets made no sense at all. I often helped my girlfriend with her assigned homework and the odd thing would be marked wrong.

The other problem was that often the teacher would speak too fast. Thai's being Thais, they were too polite to ask her to repeat herself. The old 'face' mentality.

I hope they really 'vet' these new teachers. There are a lot of English speakers in Thailand that I wouldn't want to see teaching anyone. Regardless of where they are from.

[Jawnie]

Uh.....only 300?

Thais also need to 'get over' the age issue for teachers, as in, "over 50 need not apply".

Edited March 30, 2011 by Jawnie

[dunkin2012]

filipinos english !!!!!!! pipty pibe= means= fifty five

Can you mock some for Thai English?

even worse.... ....

Does anyone know why so often a Thai (or other Asian speakers) reverse the r and l sounds in words? I don't know when I try to speak Thai if I should say it the way it is written or the way the locals say it.

Nope .... As far as I know they don't make any difference.... R and L

Or I don't understand the Language enough...

[dunkin2012]

Uh.....only 300?

Thais also need to 'get over' the age issue for teachers, as in, "over 50 need not apply".

Why not?

To make them become a fool like the Cambodian....... 50 above outlaw + learning ?????

[suzy73]

OMG...I have been teaching in Thailand for the past 4 years and NOW they are deciding to pay more for English teachers. Why didn't they come up with this plan 4 years ago.

[Footloose1949]

I'm not that inspired by the idea of americans teaching their 'brand' of English, although I have to say it's pretty prevalent in Thailand, with US terminologies being used. Maybe they will specify that it's BBC-type English, which I think is what european countries base their English on. I have to say that some european and countries which were british colonies from ww2 onwards, seem to teach english better than schools in england.

With Thailand, you have the added complication of a script rather than the alphabet, which is very difficult to 'translate' and a language which is structured a lot differently to english,

Well, regarding the UK vs US computer technology issue, 1st modern computer, Betchley park, WW2, 1st commercial software, Jo Lyons (The cake and tea-shop business, which also made the first commercially available computers too) The founding father and person who formulated of the Internet, is/was an Englishman. Regarding the dictonaries on MS software, a few years ago, Bill Gates proposed they were going to only US-English and not UK-english ... Until a whole raft of countries and individuals threatened not to use Word if he went ahead with this, because they wanted 'Proper' English! He then promptly abandoned this proposal ....

[61guitarman61]

I have found that the 8, 10, and 14 year old students all have very good written English knowledge. The need is not to teach basic English but rather proper pronunciation and diction. That is where the problem lies with having so many different dialects of the language presented to these poor kids. And in the case of American vs. UK English, there you have two different languages altogether. So if these students have a UK teacher one year and an American the next, they will have to spend the first month unlearning what they learned the last year, not to mention the difference of hearing UK as opposed to American spoken language. I think it makes a HUGE difference where the "native English speaker" comes from. That is not spoken with a racist overtone, simply reality. If you listen to 5 Americans from different regions talk you would get confused on the meanings of some of what is being said. Now add to that the native accents of India, Philippines, UK, Australia, and the USA and what will these students ultimately take away from their time listening to all these different ways of saying what is already only gibberish to them?

I will assume you have or are a teacher. If so what is your syllabus re: English conversation?

The problem with centering the case around accents being easier to understand is that it is a very subjective case. Person A may find an Southern American accent easy to understand, whilst person B does not, but finds a NY accent much easier. this subjectivity is reflected in the teachers who invariably feel their accent is best as it is such a personal thing.

A national syllabus would include a section on correct pronunciation, so that the teachers understand the expectations for the MoE in terms of what they pass on to the students irrespective of their nationality. As opposed to the current jumble that exists with teachers making it up on the fly based on their own subjective accent.

Point taken. The Thai education system however is not that perfect. They actually only want the native English speakers to teach speech. They want mega teacher talk time and entertainment for the kids. Syllabus? Useless drivel in Thailand's school system. The Thai English teacher, the people who are teaching the nuts and bolts of the English language, for the most part, cannot speak proper English. They cannot put together proper sentences. They are unable to pronounce all of the problematic phonemes. And in the ranks of the native speaking teachers from just the UK and USA alone, there are huge rifts in word stress, sentence stress, linking, homophones, phonetic spelling, article use, and even proper spelling, with Oxford, Cambridge and Webster dictionaries having discrepencies. So don't tell me there can be standardization in this matter in this land. And as far as English speakers finding one particular accent easier to understand than another, that is because those people have gotten used to hearing a particular accent relative to their locale and is really irrelevant to this topic as Thai students have never heard ANY proper English let alone any accent. What any teacher is teaching them is truly first line education and if that first line education is not standardized pertaining to accent and pronunciation, then one class with a UK teacher and another class in the next room with an American teacher will show astounding differences from each other at the end of the day. And if these students get together and compare notes, the frustration will stop their progress and/or interest in learning as it will make no sense to them verbally.

Edited March 30, 2011 by 61guitarman61

[laocowboy2]

Or Scots, or Geordie ?

That said I have just finished a three year stint in India and must comment that while English (along with Hindi) is an official language (as in can be used in Parliament or in the courts system), standards are variable. Written English in particular is rather different - not wrong in either meaning or grammar - but certainly in word usage and phraseology. The same applies to spoken English as well - while word usage and phraseology may not differ as much, accents certainly do.

What will be needed is strict quality control in recruitment - using people who speak and write excellent English........... which is where the problem is.

If the PM loses the next election, perhaps he should get the job? Whatever his other virtues or faults, the English is good.

I have met Filipinos that I can understand easier than some Americans.

Obviously, no offence intended.

[61guitarman61]

I hope it will be TEACHERS !!!

Not 3 weeks TFL graduates, that run around the country and call themself teachers !

Thai people who pay for english programs at Thai scholls are being cheated like hell, there is many white that can speak eanglish !! But no teachers !

I know that in Khon Khaen may many at KHON khaen Wittau. school take the last year on the Thai program to be sure they can pass tests for Universities !

Ummm....... say what? Is that English you are speaking?

My rates are very reasonable - 350 baht per hour. I'd be glad to teach you if you like.

Edited March 30, 2011 by 61guitarman61

[tonititan]

I got the impression that the new teachers being hired will be certified teachers in their home country, not TEFL teachers. And those teachers generally make more than 83k in Thailand. So if that is the case, it's really not a salary increase. It's bringing in a different type of teacher.

So they will ne bringing in qualified teachers who are used to teaching native speaker students and expect them to be able to teach second language students. Kids with maybe little of no English. I can't see this helping the problem. Some of the worst language teachers I've seen here have been fully qualified teachers in their home country.

Just because you are certified teacher in your home country doesn't mean you don't have experience teaching 2nd language learners. I don't know what your frame of reference is, but when I worked in the States, over 50% of my students were NOT native English speakers. One school consisted of 85% ELLs. Some were brand new refugees and immigrants. I can't speak for other western countries, but the US is rapidly becoming more culturally and linguistically diverse, forcing teachers to acquire the skills necessary to teach these students. Some areas have been very diverse for a long time, and those teachers already possess a level of expertise in 2nd language acquisition and development. Add that to the skills that most teachers already have in differentiation & making modifications for students of varying abilities.

[Filadog]

US versus the UK or who invented what is not the issue here. Patriotism is merely a tribal instinct beyond reason so screw the pissing contest. Fact of the matter is that the US midwestern accented english has been favored throughout asia for at least 20 years. It has the "flattest" accent and is the most universally understood even amongst other native english speaking peoples of various accents including the deep south in the US, Scottish, etc. That is why "American" english is preferable, not because of who invented the wheel or colonized the globe.

[Pawpcorn]

Why would a society of "haves" want to empower their subjects to understand world opinion and differing points of view, not to mention enable them to increase their value in the workplace or to travel interntionally? A hotel owner up north, when given the offer of teaching her employees computer and English skills, said, "You must be crazy. If I do that they will be able to go work for somebody else who will pay them more." She was paying staff around 4,000 per month, managers upwards of 10-12K, and this is a famous hotel.

I think this point above is really well written, concise, to the point, and most of all... 100% spot on accurate.

This thinking is in play very strongly, in virtually all aspects of Thai society, and may go a long way toward explaining most everything that seems bizarre to Westerners, at first glance.

From the "Haves", or "HiSos" lifestyle [and many farangs, for that matter] there's a lot to be said for keeping the class system in place, and deeply entrenched in this country from now, into the foreseeable future... I can't really picture anyone managing to change the status quo, can you?

[tonglen]

Thai's being paid Baht 9k compared to Westerners paid over Baht 80k?

What a travesty.

There are some Thai's that speak better English than me.

[Farangdam]

There is allot of farang housewife who is can speak good english more better than those university graduate most of them has been staying overseas for a while.

they will be glad to serve the country if any chance exist with a certain education requirement required. no problem with calture shock whatsoever and better from taking

expatriate teacher.

just a thought....

[Lodestone]

I'm not that inspired by the idea of americans teaching their 'brand' of English, although I have to say it's pretty prevalent in Thailand, with US terminologies being used. Maybe they will specify that it's BBC-type English, which I think is what european countries base their English on. I have to say that some european and countries which were british colonies from ww2 onwards, seem to teach english better than schools in england.

With Thailand, you have the added complication of a script rather than the alphabet, which is very difficult to 'translate' and a language which is structured a lot differently to english,

Well, regarding the UK vs US computer technology issue, 1st modern computer, Betchley park, WW2, 1st commercial software, Jo Lyons (The cake and tea-shop business, which also made the first commercially available computers too) The founding father and person who formulated of the Internet, is/was an Englishman. Regarding the dictonaries on MS software, a few years ago, Bill Gates proposed they were going to only US-English and not UK-english ... Until a whole raft of countries and individuals threatened not to use Word if he went ahead with this, because they wanted 'Proper' English! He then promptly abandoned this proposal ....

I haven't gone further than Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia....of_the_Internet (and linked articles) ), but the only Englishman of note I've found in the pre-1980 history (note, I'm referring to the history of networking computers and not a prior computerless form of communication like telegraphy) is Donald Davies. In the early 1960s, Paul Baran, a Polish-American, invented a technology where a decentralized network sent data using 'message blocks.' A few years later, Davies independently came up with pretty much the same thing. The notable difference in terminology was Davies's use of 'packet switching' instead of message blocks, with Davies's term eventually being adopted as standard. If you're referring to Davies above, I'll grant he made very important contributions, but to call him 'the founding father' is a great overstatement, at least from what I've read so far. Did you have someone else in mind?

I've not taken the time to check any of your other claims.

[GuyL]

I'm not that inspired by the idea of americans teaching their 'brand' of English, although I have to say it's pretty prevalent in Thailand, with US terminologies being used. Maybe they will specify that it's BBC-type English, which I think is what european countries base their English on. I have to say that some european and countries which were british colonies from ww2 onwards, seem to teach english better than schools in england.

With Thailand, you have the added complication of a script rather than the alphabet, which is very difficult to 'translate' and a language which is structured a lot differently to english,

Well, regarding the UK vs US computer technology issue, 1st modern computer, Betchley park, WW2, 1st commercial software, Jo Lyons (The cake and tea-shop business, which also made the first commercially available computers too) The founding father and person who formulated of the Internet, is/was an Englishman. Regarding the dictonaries on MS software, a few years ago, Bill Gates proposed they were going to only US-English and not UK-english ... Until a whole raft of countries and individuals threatened not to use Word if he went ahead with this, because they wanted 'Proper' English! He then promptly abandoned this proposal ....

I haven't gone further than Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia....of_the_Internet (and linked articles) ), but the only Englishman of note I've found in the pre-1980 history (note, I'm referring to the history of networking computers and not a prior computerless form of communication like telegraphy) is Donald Davies. In the early 1960s, Paul Baran, a Polish-American, invented a technology where a decentralized network sent data using 'message blocks.' A few years later, Davies independently came up with pretty much the same thing. The notable difference in terminology was Davies's use of 'packet switching' instead of message blocks, with Davies's term eventually being adopted as standard. If you're referring to Davies above, I'll grant he made very important contributions, but to call him 'the founding father' is a great overstatement, at least from what I've read so far. Did you have someone else in mind?

I've not taken the time to check any of your other claims.

I am not a Briton (actually, I'm French), but at least, I know who is Tim Berners-Lee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

"Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost two decades, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s. On 6 August 1991, CERN, a pan-European organization for particle research, publicized the new World Wide Web project. The Web was invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989."

[mark45y]

If you speak English like the Queen of England or my grandmother that is perfect. My English is American/Canadian and is close if I make a speech.

The best English teachers I have ever met in Thailand were a Swiss brother and sister who were raised in an American school high school and later went to University in Thailand. They spoke English like American natives and German and French and Thai all fluently. But almost as importantly they could dance and sing.

Singing and dancing is very important in teaching English in Thailand. If you can't sing and dance forget about it.

To those people who think one can be an effective teacher in a government school without speaking Thai I wish you good luck.

You also have to have your own printer and source of lesson plans in colour. The kids don't like black and white. You will pay the costs of ink and paper yourself.

Then you have to decide on how many words you will teach them to say per year. Currently the average is two. I think the two words come more from TV commercials than school but be that as it may you should have a target. As a first year goal I would suggest going out on a limb and try and teaching the whole class to say, “I want to go to the toilet.” Year number two I would suggest trying something more complicated like, “What time is it?” I will write some more tips in the morning.

[Scuzzy]

Hi my name is Oliver.

I am English, 61 years old with a Thai wife and live in Mae Sariang in the Mae Hong Son district. Despite having no official teaching qualifications, I have the commitment and patience and would love the opportunity to teach English to the Thai children at a local school. How do I make contact with the authorities to apply for a teaching post ?

Many thanks.

I am sorry you are not qualified to teach English. Being English is not a qualification. Thanks for the offer.

[Scuzzy]

It's amazing how many of you go on about pronunciations but don't realise your grammar is up the pole. Take a chill pill you guys, most Indians living here would snigger at the 83,000 baht. It's what they give their kids as pocket money. So if any of the "native" English speakers/backpackers/sex tourists/geriatrics want the job, you are more than welcome to have them. Peace out!

[NanLaew]

I'm young (24), smart, reasonably good looking, and I dress nicely (as we know these things can matter a lot in Thailand).

It's very difficult to believe a good looking American guy in his 20s with a masters degree and teaching experience was unable to find a job teaching English in Thailand.

He tried... for a whole month.

But he did get a Thai girlfriend!

[jadedpanda]

It's amazing how many of you go on about pronunciations but don't realise your grammar is up the pole. Take a chill pill you guys, most Indians living here would snigger at the 83,000 baht. It's what they give their kids as pocket money. So if any of the "native" English speakers/backpackers/sex tourists/geriatrics want the job, you are more than welcome to have them. Peace out!

Amen! I wonder if any of them is even literate enough to spell "hypocritical tool," what with one of them being a rather polysyllabic word.

[a99az]

This is so funny. In the last week, three good English teachers I know of have gone to China to teach, because of the problems with getting a teaching license, and being messed about having to report to immigration every three months.

About time the Thai government took a good look at what they can do to improve the lot for the teachers that are here now, before they need another 300 teachers.

Think it's time to ask for a rise, 89,000tb sounds very good, my wife just said "if they pay that much we should stay here". Wonder how much of that the school will scrape off.

[NanLaew]

.......".......hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools.......

300 teachers for primary and secondary schools in a country with 66 million people ?

A drop in the ocean...

LaoPo

Its a start though....................lets be positive.

We educated the british born Prime Minister. Now we educate he's people. Its in our blood. History and all that stuff

I can clearly see the problem now. Messing up the natives' English language skills by English plumbers.

No such thing as an English plumber is there? They're all Polish

It's the former truck drivers that have buggered up the English as she is spoke in Thai schools.

And the brickies.... and cabbies....

[a99az]

Things must be bad, my boss just employed a french Canadian to teach English. His English is so bad, I can't understand much of what is said, and the accent is sooooo heavy. Should be funny when the students start talking English like him.

Like the scene in The Pink Panther where inspector Clouseau is trying to learn an American accent, but to no avail.

[a99az]

.......".......hire 300 native English-speaking teachers for its primary and secondary schools.......

300 teachers for primary and secondary schools in a country with 66 million people ?

A drop in the ocean...

LaoPo

Its a start though....................lets be positive.

We educated the british born Prime Minister. Now we educate he's people. Its in our blood. History and all that stuff

I can clearly see the problem now. Messing up the natives' English language skills by English plumbers.

No such thing as an English plumber is there? They're all Polish

It's the former truck drivers that have buggered up the English as she is spoke in Thai schools.

And the brickies.... and cabbies....

You forgot to include former Marine Biologists.

[Pawpcorn]

The total chaos in the environment was simply unbelievable. Students felt at ease getting up and leaving (or climbing out the windows(!) anytime they wanted! Other students from other classes would come in to visit with their friends and have loud conversations,k with the same disregard for any semblance of a learning or teaching environment.

The final straw was another intense day of complete chaos, where students turned off the breakers to the classrooms maybe a total of 10 times, killing the fan, but more importantly, killing my microphone (needed to overcome the constant din of totally disinterested students holding loud conversations throughout the room). I gave up, at that point, feeling like I was teaching in "The Blackboard Jungle"... pointless, stressful, and dangerous.

And this is the reason why they need qualified teachers instead of just another "native" speaker.

A qualified teacher should have no problem at all to handle these kind of small problems.

I see, oh wise one!

And your solution for the kids tripping the breakers (located outside the classroom, down the hall, and down the stairs would be...????

I'd LOVE to see you in that environment. I really really mean it.

[bangkokeddy]

The total chaos in the environment was simply unbelievable. Students felt at ease getting up and leaving (or climbing out the windows(!) anytime they wanted! Other students from other classes would come in to visit with their friends and have loud conversations,k with the same disregard for any semblance of a learning or teaching environment.

The final straw was another intense day of complete chaos, where students turned off the breakers to the classrooms maybe a total of 10 times, killing the fan, but more importantly, killing my microphone (needed to overcome the constant din of totally disinterested students holding loud conversations throughout the room). I gave up, at that point, feeling like I was teaching in "The Blackboard Jungle"... pointless, stressful, and dangerous.

And this is the reason why they need qualified teachers instead of just another "native" speaker.

A qualified teacher should have no problem at all to handle these kind of small problems.

Exactly.

[cdnvic]

I've removed some troll posts. Refrain from bashing each other, and each other's countries please.

[bumpkin]

Indian and Phillapinos ? You ever noticed the heavy , over-riding accents these people have ? They are being considered to teach English , let the people pray it is understandable spoken English .

Maybe you should think again considering the fact you can't even spell. Have your heard the heavy over-riding accents that some people from the UK speak with... haha

.............. such as ending sentences with a preposition ? Or, maybe we should not be too pedantic about spelling and grammar in these days of computer-speak and TXT MSGNG. However, I agree with your implication that enunciation and pronunciation should be highly regarded.

[61guitarman61]

It's amazing how many of you go on about pronunciations but don't realise your grammar is up the pole. Take a chill pill you guys, most Indians living here would snigger at the 83,000 baht. It's what they give their kids as pocket money. So if any of the "native" English speakers/backpackers/sex tourists/geriatrics want the job, you are more than welcome to have them. Peace out!

Amen! I wonder if any of them is even literate enough to spell "hypocritical tool," what with one of them being a rather polysyllabic word.

Forgive me, but I think you might mean "I wonder if any of them ARE even literate..."