2,000 native English teachers to boost Thai students’ language skills

BANGKOK, 14 March 2012 (NNT) - Education Minister Dr. Suchart Thadathamrongvech said 2,000 English speaking teachers will be hired to teach English language in schools overseen by the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC).

Dr. Suchart said the move is in line with the government’s policy which supports language learning with native speakers. According to the report, the Education Minister has met with Mr. Martin Davidson, the Chief Executive of the British Council, for a discussion over the establishment of English classes in OBEC schools.

The British Council, Dr. Suchart said, will be responsible for recruiting 2,000 native speakers of the English language to teach at the schools. However, they will only be hired on a part-time basis. Each school is expected to pay a partial sum of money to these teachers in addition to the financial support from the Education Ministry if needed.

The British Council will provide electronic course materials which the Education Ministry will then convert to tablet-compatible files. The new teachers are expected to undergo 4 hours of training each day for a period of 10 weeks.

-- NNT 2012-03-14

Let's hope the salaries for these English teachers are adequate for them to live on, if employment is only part-time.

What nationalities under the scheme are considered "native English speakers"? Does it include Philippines, India, etc., where the first language is not English?

Sounds like the British Council may also employ these teachers to make their employment up to full-time, or is the BC merely a subcontractor?

It has all been threatened before and never actually materializes because the Thai MoE could not organize the proverbial p*ss up in a brewery, and have not the slightest idea of how to go about recruiting, and more importantly retaining, competent foreign teachers en masse. Putting in place something like the Hong Kong NET or Japanese JET programmes is totally beyond them, because that would require forward planning, financial investment and ongoing commitment and supervision, not just some vague statement of intent. Of course they won't be paying decent salaries and I sincerely hope that the British Council - funded to a large extent by the hard-pressed British taxpayer - will NOT be subsidizing these (mythical) teachers.

Next week's pronouncement: "MoE to recruit 2000 Indian teachers of English." Again.

Electronic course material converted to tablet form by who? oh boy that will be good.

4 hrs training per day for 10 weeks, and then teach? doesnt sound "part time"

Fantastic...a good start!

What part time means is they are going to work on a 9 month contract. no vacation pay, no pay for thai holidays. This has been tried before , its called the Nothaburi project. they ended up with 90 percent non native speakers teaching at these schools.

Good luck British council finding Native speakers, under those conditions no Native speaker will work. Maybe you can find some out of work Liverpool folks, Those are native speakers right? heh

They will all end up with Philipino teachers who would willingly take up such part-time posts for a pittance.

If the Education ministry was serious in their intentions this could have been sorted out decades ago with native speakers already residing and many working illegally because of the ridiculous buorocracy over work permits. The truth is the Govt do not want a middle class eloquent in English as it will threaten the power elite's grip on wealth.

I am an English teacher in Thailand with three years experience. I have TEFL certificates etc, but no degree. I am now over sixty years old and now no one will hire me. Thailand is a country where age and appearance are more important than anything else. They would rather hire some young blue eyed blonde who frequents ladybars and turns up at class the next morning stinking of smoke and alcohol,rather than an older experienced mature ex pat who knows a lot about Thai culture and also lives in Thailand.

If they were truly serious about this then it seems to me that they already have a pool of semi-qualified amongst the retired folk here. Don't get me wrong, I certainly would not want to teach in a Thai school again, but I am sure there would be others that would do so, if the "no-working" regulation was eased.

I am an English teacher in Thailand with three years experience. I have TEFL certificates etc, but no degree. I am now over sixty years old and now no one will hire me. Thailand is a country where age and appearance are more important than anything else. They would rather hire some young blue eyed blonde who frequents ladybars and turns up at class the next morning stinking of smoke and alcohol,rather than an older experienced mature ex pat who knows a lot about Thai culture and also lives in Thailand.

Yes, all that is true, commonly known and accepted by all. And what?

They could probably get native English speakers that already are living here to help out at local schools if they simply arranged work permits for them... Especially retirees.

OK - I don't know how good they'd be as teachers necessarily, but they'd have a decent chance of getting native English speakers "on the cheap" that way...

(Having a work permit lets you open a bank account more easily, get a mobile phone with a contract rather than pay as you go, etc. and if there's a small amount of money involved too, so much the better. After all, British retirees here don't get the inflation increases in their pensions, etc.)

After I retired from teaching I lived for a while in Slovenia, there I offered my services free to a local polytechnic. They welcomed me with open arms, free meals, free transport, frequent gifts of appreciation, free entry to museums and theaters, free medical treatment including dental, and a free hand with the syllabus and teaching material.

Then I moved to Thailand

What part time means is they are going to work on a 9 month contract. no vacation pay, no pay for thai holidays. This has been tried before , its called the Nothaburi project. they ended up with 90 percent non native speakers teaching at these schools.

Good luck British council finding Native speakers, under those conditions no Native speaker will work. Maybe you can find some out of work Liverpool folks, Those are native speakers right? heh

Good idea La, teech em ter talk laak proper scouzer skallys laak.

But seriously old chap. With 25% of British graduates out of work in UK, they'd have no trouble at all with recruitment. A job with a moderate wage in Thailand beats life on the Dole in Britain.

If they were truly serious about this then it seems to me that they already have a pool of semi-qualified amongst the retired folk here. Don't get me wrong, I certainly would not want to teach in a Thai school again, but I am sure there would be others that would do so, if the "no-working" regulation was eased.

The manager of a private school I intended to work for, had to show up at the administration in Songkhla with the complete balancing sheets of the last five years, and a drawing where the premises are located at. The school had to rise its capital up to two million, and finally the manager had to proof, that they could not hire a local Thai teacher for the same position, as they did not have four Thai teachers on their payroll yet. A diploma in social education plus experience abroad, plus the fact, that I lived in the U.S. for some years did not help either.

That happened in Songkhla about five years ago. We skipped the process and found a different solution.

I'm retired,( native English, well, from London!!) have done a short TEFL course and would be willing to teach locally part time for very little but of course I am not allowed to as i am on a retirement visa.

Any chance the ministry will pick up on this idea? there must be lots of us.

OOPS sorry Dr G see you already said the same thing

Does this mean they will be exempt from the new laws brought out last month that stated all English teachers must have a real degree and all non natives must pass the toeic test?

As well as all the ongoing TCT testing for teachers licenses.

What part time means is they are going to work on a 9 month contract. no vacation pay, no pay for thai holidays. This has been tried before , its called the Nothaburi project. they ended up with 90 percent non native speakers teaching at these schools.

Good luck British council finding Native speakers, under those conditions no Native speaker will work. Maybe you can find some out of work Liverpool folks, Those are native speakers right? heh

Good idea La, teech em ter talk laak proper scouzer skallys laak.

But seriously old chap. With 25% of British graduates out of work in UK, they'd have no trouble at all with recruitment. A job with a moderate wage in Thailand beats life on the Dole in Britain.

Your absolutely right, I served 6 years in the Royal Navy left it for pastures new and a promise of some good money only to be left on the dole thinking how the hell did I get here??

Now I've been living and teaching in Thailand for a year on the 5th April and fingers crossed will never go back to work in the UK. Brittish council should throw some weight about recruiting in Britain, only an idea but like you say TantraMantra could be a good thing.

hi , i have been thinking of doing a TEFL course out here.

i have only just moved to los ( hua hin ) i'm 46 years old so i would hope age would not be a problem to me finding work as a part time teacher, i dont have any other qualifacations.

i really need to supplement my income in some form , does anybody know if i am likely to find work with the TEFL certificate ( before i throw my hard earned cash away ) or any other ideas for legal income , even an extra 10,000 baht a month would be great !

cheers for any help !

If they were truly serious about this then it seems to me that they already have a pool of semi-qualified amongst the retired folk here. Don't get me wrong, I certainly would not want to teach in a Thai school again, but I am sure there would be others that would do so, if the "no-working" regulation was eased.

Reading the OP, I was thinking the same. The British Council should get the addresses of all UK and US nationals on retirement extension from the Immigration Bureau and inform them about this part-time job opportunity.

hi , i have been thinking of doing a TEFL course out here.

i have only just moved to los ( hua hin ) i'm 46 years old so i would hope age would not be a problem to me finding work as a part time teacher, i dont have any other qualifacations.

i really need to supplement my income in some form , does anybody know if i am likely to find work with the TEFL certificate ( before i throw my hard earned cash away ) or any other ideas for legal income , even an extra 10,000 baht a month would be great !

cheers for any help !

I got a TESOL certificate with ATI's Special Thai project 2 years ago... It included a guaranteed 1 semester job placement. I was 45 yo. It was a good deal and I have been working steady for 2 years. I think you could certainly get some work with a TESOL certificate... maybe even without one. It does help to have a University degree. You could also offer private tutoring. Knock on some school doors in your neighborhood... see what they would require. If a school wants you I believe there is some leeway in the requirements.

I think it will take a lot more than 2000

Several off-topic posts have been removed. The tendency to make fun of a particular accent within a country which starts out humorously, tends to get nasty rather quickly.

Let's stick to the topic.

The Education Minister needs to talk to the Immigration Department and to the TCT.

Fantastic...a good start!

Yes.

Fantastic.

Good start as always.

Talk, talk, talk......

I say screw the work permit process and give people a green card, if a school wants to hire them and those looking accept whatever it is the school wants to pay them, then great! The "green" card is so they can pay taxes just like any other person living and working here. All this 'us' and "them" is what makes it so difficult. Just have a policy, if the school will hire you then great, pay taxes and live like the rest of the Thai people just as the Thai people do in your country.

Off-topic posts removed. Racial remarks against groups is not permitted. Let's not single out particular nationalities. The discussion is about 2,000 native English Teachers.

They could probably get native English speakers that already are living here to help out at local schools if they simply arranged work permits for them... Especially retirees.

OK - I don't know how good they'd be as teachers necessarily, but they'd have a decent chance of getting native English speakers "on the cheap" that way...

Doing things on the cheap is a major part of the problem, not a solution, and is the reason why pie-in-the-sky schemes like this never actually get off the ground.

I enrolled one of my Thai wife's relatives (14 year old girl) in English school and told them I wanted her to start with conversational english, the school wanted me to enroll her in the more complex class that teaches the technical english.... I said NO! She needs to learn to converse like any child does before they go to school. Two Australians waiting for a Thai language class interceded and said they agree with the American. "the girl would be confused with the technical part and learning would be more difficult".

So she is in the conversational class now, and when she can carry on a conversation at a 5 year old level then she can go on to the technical part. I will pay for more classes to get her to that level.

That is one of the biggest problems in the school system. They go right to the hard part and that makes it more difficult for the students. I have discussed this with other students (Chinese, Viet Namese) and they all agree as well.

Conversation first then technical.......

Well How long will this last? I guess it is like all conserning education, they will last for a day or two and then that school will stop.