Brokering Bad Lessons

[Sunbelt Asia]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Perspective/02Oct2005_pers01.php

BROKERING BAD LESSONS

Some students find English lessons very boring.

Unscrupulous agencies are raking in millions of baht sending fly-by-night foreigners to teach English at public schools, write SONGPOL KAOPATUMTIP and MAXMILIAN WECHSLER

Ivan (not his real name) was walking along Khao San Road, the famous backpackers' haven of Bangkok, when he was accosted by a Moroccan man who asked if he wanted to make quick money teaching English to Thai students.

"You can obtain a long-term visa and a work permit without any supporting documents," said the Moroccan, who claimed he has been teaching and living in Thailand for the past three years.

Ivan did not immediately buy the sales pitch because he was brought up in a communist-ruled country, where everything regarding education for children would be done strictly and according to the law. But because he had little money left and also wanted to stay longer in Thailand, he accepted the offer.

At a four-storey job agency office a few blocks from Khao San Road the next day, Ivan met "Miss Som," who claimed to be the manager.

She asked him where he came from and whether he possessed any educational documents, and told him that Thai schools were experiencing a shortage of foreign teachers. Then _ much to Ivan's surprise _ "Miss Som" asked him if he could start work immediately, with a monthly salary of 26,000 baht.

"I was worried because I don't think my English is up to the task and I only have a tourist visa, which does not allow me to work here," the 37-year-old East European told Perspective.

"She assured me that she would take care of everything. Then she photocopied my passport and told me to come the next day."

Before he departed, "Miss Som" whispered to Ivan that he could also make 1,000 baht in commission for each foreigner he brought to her office.

In early June, Ivan and a female staff member of the company took a van to a state-run secondary school north of Bangkok, where Ivan was officially handed over to the school's head of the English department.

The department head told him: "Parents are paying us, therefore keep the children happy so they don't complain."

Afterwards, when they were alone, the staff member told Ivan to sign an undated "Teaching Experiment Contract" stating that his monthly salary would be 26,000 baht.

It also contained a list of instructions, one of which was that he shall not punish students for "unaccepted reasons."

With such simple arrangements, unscrupulous recruitment agencies are sending fly-by-night foreign "teachers" to teach young students. According to Ivan and some educational officials, the students benefit very little from their endeavours.

The real benefactors of this illegal operation are the dishonest teacher employment agencies who rake in millions of baht each month, and the fake teachers who work here without paying taxes. Some of them may even pose a security threat to the country, as they might engage in some illegal activities under the cover of the schools that accept them.

A CORRUPT SYSTEM

After four months of teaching and talking to a number of fellow foreign teachers, Ivan concluded that the whole system was corrupt.

"This is a huge and lucrative business that generates a lot of money for all parties involved, including teachers, at the expense of Thai kids who will never learn the language properly, and their parents who only waste their money," he said.

"Any foreigners _ regardless of their background, country of origin, education level, ability to teach or speak English properly, not to mention legal status as the majority of them hold tourist visas _ will be accepted by some agencies and sent to mainly government-run schools."

During the job interview, Ivan told "Miss Som" that he was a university graduate and a relative could send her a copy of his degree. When the document arrived a week later _ after he already got the job _ she took it even if she couldn't understand what was written on the paper.

"In fact, I was pretty naive to provide the certificate as other teachers told me later on that the request for supporting documents was only a diversion to make it appear as a law-abiding business, but in reality they don't care and will accept anything," Ivan said, adding that the demand for foreign teachers must be very high as there are several advertisements in the newspapers and on the Internet everyday.

Most of the "teachers" he met came from Ghana, Uganda, South Africa and Algeria, but they told the parents that they were African American or British. One Ghanian told him that Africans often used the teaching job for obtaining non-immigrant visas from a Thai embassy abroad as the school could issue them a supporting letter. After obtaining the visa, they would leave the school and some applied for a one-year extension.

"The teaching job is merely a springboard for them to remain in Thailandand to conduct legal or illegal business activities. Some agencies don't even ask for a passport," said Ivan.

As he later found out, job-seekers can easily obtain all kinds of fake documents on Khao San Road and the job agencies will accept them. They apparently collaborate with the fake certificate makers who charge up to 3,500 baht for a university degree, he added. (See related story on the top of this page.)

Ivan's salary is the minimum that a foreign teacher gets. Some agencies offer up to 37,000 baht per month, depending on how much the school pays them.

Despite the rumour that backpackers are dominating the market, most of the "teachers" Ivan met were middle-aged foreigners who wanted to live in Thailand with their girlfriends or wives.

Sixteen foreigners came and went since Ivan started teaching at the school in June. "I was told by a Thai teacher that about 60 foreign teachers were sent back (to the agency) in the last semester. Some left because they didn't like to teach and some were sent back because they weren't up to the task. Some brought with them bar girls from Pattaya," said Ivan.

Ivan taught 24 hours a week, 12 hours together with Thai teachers and 12 hours alone. He handled six classes per day, starting at 8 a.m. Each class had about 50 students.

"Many of my students who have been learning English for six years or more can only say 'What is your name?' or 'How are you?' and cannot even count from 1 to 20. They know many words but cannot communicate," he said.

In fact, "Miss Som" told him earlier that he should make the children happy. "The boys like to play football, so I play football with them _ after class, of course," he laughed.

OVERWHELMING DEMAND

Each public school can employ foreign teachers of English and other languages without approval from the Ministry of Education. As demand is currently outstripping supply _ and there are not enough qualified teachers _ it is not hard to imagine the predicament many schools are facing.

At the secondary school where Ivan taught, each parent pays 500 baht per semester to the school to hire foreign teachers. "They want the best for their children. They think the presence of foreign teachers adds prestige to the school as well," explained a school administrator, who talked to Perspective early this week.

The school has a one-year contract with an agency in Bangkok, which was chosen from several companies which tendered their bids to supply foreign teachers to teach 2,500 students, he said.

According to the administrator, the school pays 40,000 baht a month for each teacher supplied by the agency.

"Most of our foreign teachers are black Americans and Middle Eastern," he said. "Some of the teachers we had were unqualified, some left the school after a few weeks. But we can ask for new teachers from the agency."

"What can we do?" he added. "We would like to have good teachers from America and England, but we cannot afford to pay more than 40,000 baht a month for these teachers."

Some other public schools have had similar problems, and switched to reputable agencies.

Sai Panya School in Bangkok now has a two-year contract with a well-known teacher employment agency after facing a lot of problems with other agencies.

Under the contract, the agency will supply three foreign teachers per semester, each teaching 25 hours a week.

The school does not double-check the qualifications of the teachers because "we have to trust the company," said a school official.

"At the end of each semester, the students will evaluate the teachers," he added.

The official said each parent pays 390 baht per semester for the English course. She does not know how much each foreign teacher is paid.

Bodin Decha, one of the top public schools in Bangkok, has nine foreign teachers of English. One is directly employed by the school and the rest are sent by a teacher agency.

The school declined to disclose the name of the agency or how much the school pays to the foreign teachers.

The school signed a contract with the agency two years ago.

Each parent pays 500 baht per semester for this programme.

Under the contract, each teacher is required to teach no more than 25 hours per week for 90 classes. They teach English reading, listening, writing as well as speaking.

"Before accepting any foreign teachers from the agency, the school has to check their qualifications. They must have at least a bachelor's degree in education. Those with degrees in other fields must have a certificate in teaching," explained a school official.

"So far, we are quite satisfied with their performance.

"We do need foreign teachers to teach English conversation."

Bangkapi School in Bangkok also needs foreign teachers, but parents cannot afford to hire them.

"We used to have volunteers from the US, but just for a short period of time," said Mr Padej Keowthong, head of the school's English department.

"It would be great if the Education Ministry coordinates with foreign government organisations to send teaching volunteers to Thai public schools. We can provide accommodation and a monthly salary of 12,000-15,000 baht," he added.

Mr Padej's view is shared by a number of teachers who think the Education Ministry should take legal action against recruitment agencies which pay no attention at all to the qualifications of "teachers" they send to Thai public schools.

According to Ivan, some of the Thai teachers of English he met are good and dedicated.

They can be trained to improve their skills and become good teachers.

"Right now, these Thai teachers feel disheartened.

"They are jealous of the foreigners who earn a much higher salary than they do," he added.

"If the Thai government really wants their children to learn English, they have to overhaul the whole system. How can Thai students not be able to speak English after nine years of learning the language?

"Parents are now wasting their money, which goes into the pockets of some cheaters. If an agency has 100 fake teachers and gets a cut of 14,000 baht per teacher, it will pocket 1.4 million baht each month.

"The government must stop it."

[Ijustwannateach]

If this article had simply been about the fake teaching industry, I could have found little in it with which to argue.

However, associating the poor performance of these teachers with being "boring" gives the show away a bit too early. Are the darling little munchkins failing to profit because their English teachers have fake credentials, or because the little dears have failed to learn how to learn from their genuine fake school systems and lack both attention span and self-discipline? After all, everyone passes.

"Steven"

[DavieA]

[

How can Thai students not be able to speak English after nine years of learning the language?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Because the standard of the Thai teachers is in the majority of cases appauling. I think that a Thai uni degree in teaching qualifies them to simply learn how to use a photocopier and take a cat nap on the desk at every possible opportunity while the kids fill in the blanks.

Added to this is there inability to organise to get drunk in a pub. And yes, their corruption activities always come before the kids.

I'm getting a bit board with the whole "are you qualified to teach English in Thailand" topic. IMHO I've seen some pretty bad, drunk, dogey foreign teachers in the last 2 years, degrees and no degrees, and in most cases they're still better than the Thai so called qualified equivalent.

Degree or not, what does Thailand want for 25-30000 baht a month.

[Spit the Dog]

Degree or not, what does Thailand want for 25-30000 baht a month.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They seem to want experienced English teachers with a Masters degree in English. But then again, I want to shag Beyonce and that ain't going to happen either.

I don't know why Thailand thinks they can attract the cream of English teaching when they pay a pitance of a salary, usually with no additional benefits and place more importance on saving face instead of what is better for the students education.

It's even funnier when Thailand starts complaining about 'cowboy' teacher with fake degrees.

In Thailand if there is something inadequate the blame is usually past as far down the line as it can. Unfortunately, the blame for poor English seems to have been passed down to us English teachers. We can only work with what we are given.

[Khutan]

If this article had simply been about the fake teaching industry, I could have found little in it with which to argue.<snip>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Funny; there was a thread on this subject last month. I can't help but wonder where the idea for the story came from.