British volunteer English teachers get ready to take on Thai schools

[drdoom6996]

Good Luck with that!

[tingtongteesood]

There are quite a number of people I know who may come and work here as teachers if they had degrees. Sadly they don't. Despite this, they are very intelligent and hard working people who would do a damn fine job. If they made the rules a bit more flexible....this program would be good if they trained them properly and gave them a decent paying job, then a number of them may choose to stay and try and try and help make a real difference here....

[aechzen]

hahahaha this will be funny for the thai students !!!! hahahaha hahahahaha

[chonabot]

I get a little bored when I read about those individuals who would teach English here 'if' they had a degree.

Why don't they change the situation by getting off their collective backsides and putting the work in?

I managed this myself in my 30's whilst working full time.

Although it took 6 years (OU) it was worth it.

You will learn a lot about your own limitations and abilities as well as time management and setting realistic objectives.

These qualities certainly helped me when I taught here, and they were needed, believe me you

As for these nippers coming over now, will it really do any harm?

And as for the derision that is incoming regarding where these 'teachers' are coming from, would it be more useful if they were French, Ghanaian or perhaps Russian?

Edited August 5, 2013 by chonabot

[Colabamumbai]

Snicker I think that they will be thoroughly disappointed, although it is for the children.

[wolf5370]

Not sure what the students are getting out of it. There are better ways to get such experience AND get paid - or for the money they have had to pay to get here, they could just have a holiday instead - 10k is going nowhere even if they have rent paid (food at the weekends and a few beers and its gone - these are students! - and they are most likely all going to be farmed out to the sticks where there is little support for them). This is all pro for Thailand - dirt cheap wages (10k) which will all come back (and some I'd guess) and everything else - including even the Visas which certainly could be given free without much cost to Thailand! - is paid for by the students.

I have friends that did this in China few years ago - they paid for plane tickets only - all else was covered - food (not just on teaching days), accommodation, sight seeing tours and entertainment (laid on and pre-paid local entertainment venues), travelling, books and other general things that teachers need (photo copying/chalk/whiteboard pens/etc). They even got a choice of districts - and were teaching English, but also other subjects in English - such as maths (obviously a restricted list this being China 15-20 years ago!). There are agencies in the UK that arrange this for countries all around the world.

If Thailand wants free English teachers, then simply allow free work permits to native English speaking expats (many have degrees already too) - that allows them to get 'B' class visas instead of 'OA' for the retirees and they will get the volunteers free. Top this with giving temporary WPs for working holiday backpackers (with the same criteria as to qualifications if needs be) - there are many that do the year out work your way around the world on a one-direction global ticket - but when they get to Thailand they have to work illegally or not at all. Not great for schools, but the only chance some out-of-the-way temple school have of attracting anyone.

[wolf5370]

I get a little bored when I read about those individuals who would teach English here 'if' they had a degree.

Why don't they change the situation by getting off their collective backsides and putting the work in?

I managed this myself in my 30's whilst working full time.

Although it took 6 years (OU) it was worth it.

You will learn a lot about your own limitations and abilities as well as time management and setting realistic objectives.

These qualities certainly helped me when I taught here, and they were needed, believe me you

As for these nippers coming over now, will it really do any harm?

I did an OU BSc many eons ago too - and whilst working (I was in my early 20s then - did 2 units a year so did it in the minimum 3 years - hard work though time wise). Problem would be that these are not cheap - especially when abroad (no UK subsidy if you live abroad). This would probably make teaching for a little extra cash and a visa moot.

They should let/make universities here run a shorter teaching certificate courses for teaching here (along side the usual 4 week TEFL) - for native teachers a degree so they can teach English is overkill (I had an MSc and a BSc, but had only ever taught one on one private lessons to get kids through exams - bumper courses if you like) - I may not have taught at all - yet I could use that with a TEFL to get a job teaching classes of 60+ teenagers. Much better to train people to teach and forget about the qualifications if all they teach is their primary native language - keep the degree requirement for subject teachers of course. Course could be as long as a year if they wanted it - and fees would be payable too of course - a win-win surely???

[wolf5370]

Learning a second language, especially one that is so different than your own is so overwhelming especially for children. I have been trying to speak the Thai language for many years now and am lucky to get my point across in a restaurant. Most of the volunteers are with some kind of college degree and must have been good students to achieve it. They usually don't understand mediocre students. Most people in the world don't learn by rote. I don't understand how this will work. There is another way to learn a language and it is called “Total Physical Response” (TPR) I think young students as well as their teachers will learn with this system because it makes learning fun and there is a lot of laughing. Laughing is something (Thai) children love to do.

I think learning a second language is much, much easier for children - evidence all suggest this too. My kids speak English with an English accent and Thai with a Thai one - both fluently, both with correct pronunciations (even the difficult L's and R's for Thais and EUR and NG for westerners) - this is because they learned both languages equally (they also speak a little Latin which has been taught to them - by me - as an academic learned language, like when we did French/German/Spanish/Latin/Greek/etc at school).

The aim is to get the kids passable at an early age and then they can learn on their own - I love the fact that often films here are subtitles instead of dubbed - this means as their English improves they can move away from reading to listening and thus enjoy the film more. Books are also much more enjoyable in English (my kids tell me - same story in English is more interesting than in Thai as Thai is more matter-of-fact than flowery adjective laden imagery English). The kids either take advantage or don't, its a life opportunity like any other - one that can help with further education and a better job - or not.

[chrissables]

I get a little bored when I read about those individuals who would teach English here 'if' they had a degree.

Why don't they change the situation by getting off their collective backsides and putting the work in?

I managed this myself in my 30's whilst working full time.

Although it took 6 years (OU) it was worth it.

You will learn a lot about your own limitations and abilities as well as time management and setting realistic objectives.

These qualities certainly helped me when I taught here, and they were needed, believe me you

As for these nippers coming over now, will it really do any harm?

And as for the derision that is incoming regarding where these 'teachers' are coming from, would it be more useful if they were French, Ghanaian or perhaps Russian?

So six years of studying to teach English to then earn next to nothing, as well as dealing with the work permit and associated bureaucracy!

When there are native Thai teachers here teaching English, who can’t speak English.

The problem is also, it seems, the Thai government will give any Thai a degree, so they demand foreign teachers should have too.

If they are serious about educating the children, they would revise the point I made.

[cornishcarlos]

We had two. One female, useless and here for as many shags as possible and the other male anti-social and hell bent on spending time in his room or with fellow ethnically Chinese colleagues. Waste of time.

They were utterly and totally unprepared for life in Thailand, had no idea at all of Thai culture and the vast difference to British culture and generally were more trouble than they were worth. Even for free we didn't get our money's worth.

Unlikely that this lot would be any better.

Who, in Thailand, is making money out of this venture?

Did you

[phuketsub]

I couldn't agree more with the statement "The aim is to get the kids passable at an early age and then they can learn on their own". I have been teaching on/off here for 25 years (B.SC, no Tefl certificate) and the key to success is an early start, then continual exposure in real-life situations in which listening skills and context are key.

I have been fortunate to teach some students whose parents understood this, were able to pay me a reasonable amount and were committed to long-term study, either one-on-one or in very small groups (eg. two siblings), from a very young age through until their graduation from Matthayom. In several cases the result was that when they were old enough they were not only fluent, but able to gain admission to top (Ivy League) universities abroad.

I am not blowing my own horn here; the kids and their parents that deserve most of the credit because they paid attention, put in the hours and paid me for a service.

I have also 'done time' in the mainstream education system, where classes of over 50 are common and real progress almost impossible. I have also witnessed first hand a great deal of corruption, with schools charging parents extra for their 'foreign teachers', then paying out only a very small fraction of what they collected. At one stage, while working for a well-known network of state-financed "institutes" (since upgraded to Universities, but with no real improvement in quality) I was actually forced to read>edit>rewrite doctoral theses for associate professors hoping to get full professorship credentials by graduating from a bogus, mail-order university in the Philippines.

If there is a country on the planet that spends more on foreign, native speakers of English as teachers, and gets back worse results than Thailand, I would like to hear about it.

The program described in the OP appears to have none of the essentials for real success, as far as I can see: class sizes will probably just be too big and difficult to control, especially for an inexperienced, new recruit with almost no training.

That said, that is the status quo already so I don't expect any great outcry.

Bilingualism is one of the few phenomena that has been scientifically proven to correlate with a later (statistically-speaking) onset of Alzheimer's disease and which has a number of other positive effects in the workplace, socially and business. I cannot, however, think of even a single case of a student who achieved even a modicum of fluency in any foreign language as a result of study in the Thai mainstream government education system.

In the case of my own child, who I like to think is perfectly bilingual, I view the English-language instruction she receives at her Thai school as generally detrimental.

Learning a second language, especially one that is so different than your own is so overwhelming especially for children. I have been trying to speak the Thai language for many years now and am lucky to get my point across in a restaurant. Most of the volunteers are with some kind of college degree and must have been good students to achieve it. They usually don't understand mediocre students. Most people in the world don't learn by rote. I don't understand how this will work. There is another way to learn a language and it is called “Total Physical Response” (TPR) I think young students as well as their teachers will learn with this system because it makes learning fun and there is a lot of laughing. Laughing is something (Thai) children love to do.

I think learning a second language is much, much easier for children - evidence all suggest this too. My kids speak English with an English accent and Thai with a Thai one - both fluently, both with correct pronunciations (even the difficult L's and R's for Thais and EUR and NG for westerners) - this is because they learned both languages equally (they also speak a little Latin which has been taught to them - by me - as an academic learned language, like when we did French/German/Spanish/Latin/Greek/etc at school).

The aim is to get the kids passable at an early age and then they can learn on their own - I love the fact that often films here are subtitles instead of dubbed - this means as their English improves they can move away from reading to listening and thus enjoy the film more. Books are also much more enjoyable in English (my kids tell me - same story in English is more interesting than in Thai as Thai is more matter-of-fact than flowery adjective laden imagery English). The kids either take advantage or don't, its a life opportunity like any other - one that can help with further education and a better job - or not.

I couldn't agree more with the statement "The aim is to get the kids passable at an early age and then they can learn on their own". I have been teaching on/off here for 25 years (B.SC, no Tefl certificate) and the key to success is an early start, then continual exposure in real-life situations in which listening skills and context are key.

I have been fortunate to teach some students whose parents understood this, were able to pay me a reasonable amount and were committed to long-term study, either one-on-one or in very small groups (eg. two siblings), from a very young age through until their graduation from Matthayom. In several cases the result was that when they were old enough they were not only fluent, but able to gain admission to top (Ivy League) universities abroad.

I am not blowing my own horn here; the kids and their parents that deserve most of the credit because they paid attention, put in the hours and paid me for a service.

I have also 'done time' in the mainstream education system, where classes of over 50 are common and real progress almost impossible. I have also witnessed first hand a great deal of corruption, with schools charging parents extra for their 'foreign teachers', then paying out only a very small fraction of what they collected. At one stage, while working for a well-known network of state-financed "institutes" (since upgraded to Universities, but with no real improvement in quality) I was actually forced to read>edit>rewrite doctoral theses for associate professors hoping to get full professorship credentials by graduating from a bogus, mail-order university in the Philippines.

If there is a country on the planet that spends more on foreign, native speakers of English as teachers, and gets back worse results than Thailand, I would like to hear about it.

The program described in the OP appears to have none of the essentials for real success, as far as I can see: class sizes will probably just be too big and difficult to control, especially for an inexperienced, new recruit with almost no training.

That said, that is the status quo already so I don't expect any great outcry.

Bilingualism is one of the few phenomena that has been scientifically proven to correlate with a later (statistically-speaking) onset of Alzheimer's disease and which has a number of other positive effects in the workplace, socially and business. I cannot, however, think of even a single case of a student who achieved even a modicum of fluency in any foreign language as a result of study in the Thai mainstream government education system.

In the case of my own child, who I like to think is perfectly bilingual, I view the English-language instruction she receives at her Thai school as generally detrimental.

[belg]

vely good

thai student vely good

two months , vely good

will remenbell vely good

do they all have workpermits ?

[ppmacready]

We had two. One female, useless and here for as many shags as possible and the other male anti-social and hell bent on spending time in his room or with fellow ethnically Chinese colleagues. Waste of time.

They were utterly and totally unprepared for life in Thailand, had no idea at all of Thai culture and the vast difference to British culture and generally were more trouble than they were worth. Even for free we didn't get our money's worth.

Unlikely that this lot would be any better.

Who, in Thailand, is making money out of this venture?

'Ave U got that birds number?

[Ianatlarge]

haha I will say one thing about thaivisa members, an idea will be kicked around, and kicked over. If it survives this experience what is left must be worth something.

So, the eager beaver kiddies are current uni students, and will be working in the boonies, not the big mango. Lets say a third are dysfunctionally unsuited, another third stuff up, and a third actually carry their weight. Not entirely bad.

One thing—I would insist on awarding the boys a bag of condoms. I can see it now: village girl—"We don't need to use a condom. I love you. It will be ok." And bang (in more ways than one), UK visa.

[vanessawilson]

I am one of these volunteering students! I do not understand why people are being so quick to criticise and be negative about this programme. It's a great opportunity for UK students to spend their Summer doing something productive and also fantastic for the Thai students. So far the students have been really keen to learn English and converse with me as much as possible. I really think teachers closer to their age helps them to relate to the topics.

We are here to assist the English teachers in lessons not to conduct them on our own. Accommodation and lunch is provided and I have been lucky enough to have a fantastic mentor who has helped me to make the most of my time here in Thailand and see as many sights as possible. Yes, some English Teaching Assistants have found this trip to be challenging but the majority have settled in and are enjoying the country, the work and the new culture.

The Thai ministry of Education and the British Council organised this trip so I can assure all all the proper visa/permits etc. routes have been followed!

People on this post have been very quick to point out the negatives or the problems with this placement but I (as someone actually on it!) could not recommend it more! It was hard to adjust but we're halfway through now and it has been worth it! The students are already progressing rapidly and I am definitely considering returning to Sakon Nakhon as soon as possible!

[vanessawilson]

Had 10 such "volunteers" working for me about 5 years ago. Half, but certainly not all, were right off the very bottom of the barrel.

The British Council programme has only been running for two years, so these volunteers were not related.

[vanessawilson]

Not sure what the students are getting out of it. There are better ways to get such experience AND get paid - or for the money they have had to pay to get here, they could just have a holiday instead - 10k is going nowhere even if they have rent paid (food at the weekends and a few beers and its gone - these are students! - and they are most likely all going to be farmed out to the sticks where there is little support for them). This is all pro for Thailand - dirt cheap wages (10k) which will all come back (and some I'd guess) and everything else - including even the Visas which certainly could be given free without much cost to Thailand! - is paid for by the students.

I have friends that did this in China few years ago - they paid for plane tickets only - all else was covered - food (not just on teaching days), accommodation, sight seeing tours and entertainment (laid on and pre-paid local entertainment venues), travelling, books and other general things that teachers need (photo copying/chalk/whiteboard pens/etc). They even got a choice of districts - and were teaching English, but also other subjects in English - such as maths (obviously a restricted list this being China 15-20 years ago!). There are agencies in the UK that arrange this for countries all around the world.

If Thailand wants free English teachers, then simply allow free work permits to native English speaking expats (many have degrees already too) - that allows them to get 'B' class visas instead of 'OA' for the retirees and they will get the volunteers free. Top this with giving temporary WPs for working holiday backpackers (with the same criteria as to qualifications if needs be) - there are many that do the year out work your way around the world on a one-direction global ticket - but when they get to Thailand they have to work illegally or not at all. Not great for schools, but the only chance some out-of-the-way temple school have of attracting anyone.

Being one of these students in the North East of Thailand believe me I know I could have been at the beach instead! However, this experience is not something you can do whenever you like! it has been amazing for me to both do something productive with my Summer and experience the real Thailand. It has cost a lot of money and was hard to adjust for the first few days, but after that the majority of us have thrown ourselves into our teaching and the culture. We meet up at weekends and are able to travel so it's great!

Yes, it could be cheaper but I can assure you that students like myself are getting lots of experience both in the classroom and new life experiences. It's been great so far, and already proud of my classes as they are progressing very quickly!

[vanessawilson]

Kids being thrown in to Thai provincial schools armed with 2 days training. I hope the schools have confiscated their passports because I don't think many will stay long otherwise.

Actually over half way through and only 2/197 have gone home. One due to a family emergency. So I think we've managed it a lot better than people think! .

My students are rowdy yes but they are also keen to learn! It's been great!

[vanessawilson]

"This is a great opportunity for volunteers to not only gain work experience, but to also have an increased understanding of a different, non-European culture," Gibson said.

"This is definitely one of my favourite projects," Bute said. "For many Thai students, this will be their very first time meeting and listening to a young native speaker communicating with them in English. They will also learn firsthand about life and culture in the UK."

Is there something wrong when listening to 'older' native speakers of English? They'll learn firsthand about life and culture in the Uk.-

Hope it's not raining too many cats and dogs in their time in Thailand .Jindee Dhorn Lhaab.-

I suspect the problem with listening to 'older' native speakers of English is that they cost a heck of a lot more than 10k baht a month.

Or maybe it's because the students enjoy talking to us more than older teachers. We can talk to them about things they are interested in and therefore they are keener to learn!

[Cuban]

It's a PR exercise, little to do with education.

The fresh graduates might learn a little but most will come thinking they are the great-white saviour and have every native in praise of their self-less contribution.

It will be a wake up call for them.

300 Baht a day?

[vanessawilson]

Typical Thai government. Unqualified, inexperienced English teachers are good enough for Thai students in state schools because they're cheap - even cheaper than Filipinos.

I rather doubt that Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana would be happy having such people teach his children.

As one of these students at a school right now the Thai Ministry of Education has placed all 197 of us in schools all across Thailand including Private and State schools. While yes we may be inexperienced some of us lacking a teachers degree, we are all enthusiastic and able to speak good English. As classroom assistants this is sufficient!

In my school and many others the level of English is very basic so any contact with native speakers is great for students. 4 weeks in and my classes have progressed already! They are keen to learn and want to talk with me all the time! It is fantastic!

Yes, we're cheap but we're all working extremely hard to help our students and also experience the Thai culture! We had to do tests and interviews to get the placements it's not just anyone that signs up.

A little more positivity would be nice.

[vanessawilson]

My understanding is that they are actually still students at University, and have volunteered their time. They are not fresh out of University, but are actually still there. I was asked by my old University Alumni Society to offer assistance and support for students if required, which I was happy to do - then the British Council wanted to formalise it all, which meant filling out more paperwork (which I wasn't happy to do, as I don't have the time). I have spoken to a couple of the students who are on placement - I think they are experiencing some quite interesting stuff. Either way, I think the scheme is good, in that it gives the foreign student some experience of being overseas in a work environment, and it also gives the Thai students some exposure to overseas students who have given up their time to do this. I am sure that the calibre of these students is a lot higher than some of the TEFLER's that are floating around in Thailand.

I am curious however about the WP and visa, which I am pretty sure none of them have.

I'm one of the students, this placement has been amazing! So thanks for the positive post!

[Scott]

Vannesawilson, thank you so much for the posts and the input. Thailand is quite lucky to have you and many of the others in this project. Please keep us updated on how it is going.

Many of our posters are viewing this through the jaundiced eye of previous gov't programs. The criticism that you will see is mostly aimed at the gov't, not at the people who are participating in the program.

Best of luck.

[plopmeister]

Learning a second language, especially one that is so different than your own is so overwhelming especially for children. I have been trying to speak the Thai language for many years now and am lucky to get my point across in a restaurant. Most of the volunteers are with some kind of college degree and must have been good students to achieve it. They usually don't understand mediocre students. Most people in the world don't learn by rote. I don't understand how this will work. There is another way to learn a language and it is called “Total Physical Response” (TPR) I think young students as well as their teachers will learn with this system because it makes learning fun and there is a lot of laughing. Laughing is something (Thai) children love to do.

I, however, do speak Thai, Isaan Kmer and Isaan Laos, I have lived in different villages for 20 years. I am an NES.......but I don't have a degree or workpermit so lets just let a bunch of youngsters in that will further <deleted> up village education.....but of course they won't be sent where they are really needed..

[Slip]

I am one of these volunteering students! I do not understand why people are being so quick to criticise and be negative about this programme. It's a great opportunity for UK students to spend their Summer doing something productive and also fantastic for the Thai students. So far the students have been really keen to learn English and converse with me as much as possible. I really think teachers closer to their age helps them to relate to the topics.

We are here to assist the English teachers in lessons not to conduct them on our own. Accommodation and lunch is provided and I have been lucky enough to have a fantastic mentor who has helped me to make the most of my time here in Thailand and see as many sights as possible. Yes, some English Teaching Assistants have found this trip to be challenging but the majority have settled in and are enjoying the country, the work and the new culture.

The Thai ministry of Education and the British Council organised this trip so I can assure all all the proper visa/permits etc. routes have been followed!

People on this post have been very quick to point out the negatives or the problems with this placement but I (as someone actually on it!) could not recommend it more! It was hard to adjust but we're halfway through now and it has been worth it! The students are already progressing rapidly and I am definitely considering returning to Sakon Nakhon as soon as possible!

So what are your credentials Vanessa? My (English) partner, who has 11 years of experience teaching Kindy in a single school here, is now longer welcome to work in that Kindy because of the way that the Teachers Council of Thailand have decided she isn't qualified anymore. She certainly was was qualified in the old days, as she had work permits for years.

She is no longer employable, of course, as she doesn't have a degree, but do you think you are better or more poorly qualified than her?

Sorry to sound so jaded, but that's life I guess

On the up side, as you say, you assist as opposed to teach. Do you know if that is peculiar to your school or happening nationally? Actually as a teaching assistant programme, as opposed to a teacher programme, it sounds a great idea.

Someone said before that this is being rolled out in areas that don't have foreign teachers too.

OK sold. Where do I sign up?

I don't mean to be unkind to you and I'm pleased that you are getting the most out of the experience along with most of your peers. If the kids are getting into it too, it seems hard to critcise. However, Thailand's treatment of their existent experienced teacher base has been pretty poor in the last few years. and they seem happy to throw the baby out with the bath water, repeatedly.

[Slip]

"This is a great opportunity for volunteers to not only gain work experience, but to also have an increased understanding of a different, non-European culture," Gibson said.

"This is definitely one of my favourite projects," Bute said. "For many Thai students, this will be their very first time meeting and listening to a young native speaker communicating with them in English. They will also learn firsthand about life and culture in the UK."

Is there something wrong when listening to 'older' native speakers of English? They'll learn firsthand about life and culture in the Uk.-

Hope it's not raining too many cats and dogs in their time in Thailand .Jindee Dhorn Lhaab.-

I suspect the problem with listening to 'older' native speakers of English is that they cost a heck of a lot more than 10k baht a month.

Or maybe it's because the students enjoy talking to us more than older teachers. We can talk to them about things they are interested in and therefore they are keener to l

No- it's the money. Do you know many 40 year old's? We're not granpaw you know. What do you have in common with a village boy or girl that you can interest them in? Your knowledge of K pop? Pleease.

Again, I'm not meaning to be rude but what I'm hearing doesn't really gel. Maybe if they got 15 year old teachers?

[plopmeister]

Typical Thai government. Unqualified, inexperienced English teachers are good enough for Thai students in state schools because they're cheap - even cheaper than Filipinos.

I rather doubt that Education Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana would be happy having such people teach his children.

As one of these students at a school right now the Thai Ministry of Education has placed all 197 of us in schools all across Thailand including Private and State schools. While yes we may be inexperienced some of us lacking a teachers degree, we are all enthusiastic and able to speak good English. As classroom assistants this is sufficient!

In my school and many others the level of English is very basic so any contact with native speakers is great for students. 4 weeks in and my classes have progressed already! They are keen to learn and want to talk with me all the time! It is fantastic!

Yes, we're cheap but we're all working extremely hard to help our students and also experience the Thai culture! We had to do tests and interviews to get the placements it's not just anyone that signs up.

A little more positivity would be nice.

Are you teaching in a small village?? The girls are the ones that need protection. They want to learn so much to get out of their future as a 14 year old Mother or 18 year old hooker..The boys just disrupt the class because........well .....they are Thai village boys and don't give a toss.....A couple of hundred of you are being placed ..where?? It wouldn't even cover state schools in Bangkok.....

[wolf5370]

Not sure what the students are getting out of it. There are better ways to get such experience AND get paid - or for the money they have had to pay to get here, they could just have a holiday instead - 10k is going nowhere even if they have rent paid (food at the weekends and a few beers and its gone - these are students! - and they are most likely all going to be farmed out to the sticks where there is little support for them). This is all pro for Thailand - dirt cheap wages (10k) which will all come back (and some I'd guess) and everything else - including even the Visas which certainly could be given free without much cost to Thailand! - is paid for by the students.

I have friends that did this in China few years ago - they paid for plane tickets only - all else was covered - food (not just on teaching days), accommodation, sight seeing tours and entertainment (laid on and pre-paid local entertainment venues), travelling, books and other general things that teachers need (photo copying/chalk/whiteboard pens/etc). They even got a choice of districts - and were teaching English, but also other subjects in English - such as maths (obviously a restricted list this being China 15-20 years ago!). There are agencies in the UK that arrange this for countries all around the world.

If Thailand wants free English teachers, then simply allow free work permits to native English speaking expats (many have degrees already too) - that allows them to get 'B' class visas instead of 'OA' for the retirees and they will get the volunteers free. Top this with giving temporary WPs for working holiday backpackers (with the same criteria as to qualifications if needs be) - there are many that do the year out work your way around the world on a one-direction global ticket - but when they get to Thailand they have to work illegally or not at all. Not great for schools, but the only chance some out-of-the-way temple school have of attracting anyone.

Being one of these students in the North East of Thailand believe me I know I could have been at the beach instead! However, this experience is not something you can do whenever you like! it has been amazing for me to both do something productive with my Summer and experience the real Thailand. It has cost a lot of money and was hard to adjust for the first few days, but after that the majority of us have thrown ourselves into our teaching and the culture. We meet up at weekends and are able to travel so it's great!

Yes, it could be cheaper but I can assure you that students like myself are getting lots of experience both in the classroom and new life experiences. It's been great so far, and already proud of my classes as they are progressing very quickly!

This is good - thanks for the feedback. If you feel you are gaining out of the experience then it is worthwhile.

How did you find the Thai English teachers and the teaching methods here?

[chonabot]

"This is a great opportunity for volunteers to not only gain work experience, but to also have an increased understanding of a different, non-European culture," Gibson said.

"This is definitely one of my favourite projects," Bute said. "For many Thai students, this will be their very first time meeting and listening to a young native speaker communicating with them in English. They will also learn firsthand about life and culture in the UK."

Is there something wrong when listening to 'older' native speakers of English? They'll learn firsthand about life and culture in the Uk.-

Hope it's not raining too many cats and dogs in their time in Thailand .Jindee Dhorn Lhaab.-

I suspect the problem with listening to 'older' native speakers of English is that they cost a heck of a lot more than 10k baht a month.

Or maybe it's because the students enjoy talking to us more than older teachers. We can talk to them about things they are interested in and therefore they are keener to l

No- it's the money. Do you know many 40 year old's? We're not granpaw you know. What do you have in common with a village boy or girl that you can interest them in? Your knowledge of K pop? Pleease.

Again, I'm not meaning to be rude but what I'm hearing doesn't really gel. Maybe if they got 15 year old teachers?

As a 40 something NES teacher I agree with Vanessa here

The kids in M1-M6 will definitely connect more with a Brit Teenager/Early 20's than myself.

Of course the experience is lacking regarding teaching, but when you're in a 50 plus class of 15-18 year olds, it's not a bad trade off to have them

enthusiastic about something relating to a different culture.

My son also attended the school that I taught at last year.

Needless to say, when he acted as a mini teaching assistant, the class paid a little more attention than usual.

In a smaller class, perhaps things would have been easier, but sometimes you have to work with what advantages you have

In terms of 'damaging' the education of Thai students, have you seen the amount of non-educational tripe they actually have to endure in a semester of government schooling? Most of it is directly aimed at boosting the coffers of the Director and the school's slush fund.

This is angelic by comparison.

Last year, my last 3 weeks of lessons where wiped out by sports week, ASEAN competitions and various dancing events.

Edited August 5, 2013 by chonabot

[wilgoster]

There's too many young teachers out of work in the UK, the British government should take this one step further and issue one year contracts to teachers that are prepared to go overseas and teach, with the promise that they will be given priority when they return to the UK job market.

To me it's a win win situation all round.

Great idea- something like a British Peace Corps, and when they return, they could be commissioned as a domestic British Peace Corps, teaching ...