British volunteer English teachers get ready to take on Thai schools

[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!

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.

I'm a Second year French and English student at University; so definitely less qualified on the experience! I cannot comment about the choices of the Teachers Council, we are volunteering for the Thai Ministry of Education. Unless they are the same thing?

But yes, for assisting in a classroom I seem to be doing well. All of the students doing this programme are only assisting. I do agree that Thailand is an odd place though! I often am often puzzled about what is happening!

This is only an 8 week, 15 hours a week placement so I do not think we'll take over the English teaching scene. I don't think you are being unkind at all, I completely understand. The system is very bizarre!

[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.

And how will a foreigner fresh from the uni, e.g. no savings yet. survive on 10K a month ?

20 baht a meal where I am. So it's great! Living costs are really low

[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 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?

I don't only socialise with my own age group during day to day life. We are assisting! And despite the simple village life, Thai teenagers do love western music, clothes, tv shows, gadgets etc. My students range from 12 to 19 and I feel I can connect and relate to them all. I am 20...so not that much older.

The use of our shared interests is great for helping them to speak and role-play. Anything to get them speaking really.

The use of football and Mr Bean has been fantastic...haha!

[theblether]

@Vanessa, you'll soon find out that some Thaivisa members are not happy until they are unhappy.

Just sayin'

Edited for spelling, just in case I get in trouble from the teachers.

Edited August 5, 2013 by theblether

[vanessawilson]

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.

Agree with the school's preference to showing off to the government over teaching sometimes! Lessons are 'rearranged' (cancelled) at least once every week for some kind of sports, dance, ecological show! So maybe it's all PR for the school in that respect. But I teach when I can

[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!

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?

Thai teachers are very kind but quite strict with the students, which was shocking coming from the UK. I was told to get the students to repeat words after me but after one lesson I could see they hated it so adapted it into fun things. Some of the teachers have been supportive of my ideas and want to try them in their classes. So that's been good. I never thought I could be so creative!

[vanessawilson]

@Vanessa, you'll soon ding out that some Thaivisa members are not happy until they are unhappy.

Just sayin'

Yes, I know. It's a shame. :/

[Slip]

I hope you're not talking about me blether. I'm perfectly well adjusted I'm pleased to hear all the positive feedback that Vanessa has to offer. As for criticise your spelling? Tut tut, that simply isn't on around here.

[theblether]

^^ Cap fit's and all that, you know

See you know what that means, you're never truly fluent in a language until you understand eh.....

Sorry I've forgotten the word.

[Cuban]

So English student teachers, are you aware that to work normally in Thailand you need a Work Permit, which generally you are responsible for paying. Also you will need to have a salary of 50,000 Baht on which you pay tax, in real life the supervising employer you work for will take 10,000 of that in a service fee.

If you show up the head of the English department by pointing out the errors in their spoken or written English (loss of face), just look at some of the homework questions posed, your contract will be ended.

Being a "good" teacher is about being accepted by your employer - not how well you get on with the students, at 20 do you have the office-politics skills to deal with that?

Also please explain how your sense of British Fair Play will cope when you are told that little Somchai who spends the class room time playing on his phone and can barely string two English words together has passed his English Tests with a high pass mark, because daddy has made a suitable donation to the right pocket?

English for many is just another subject at school that has to be passed, not perceived as a long term skill of value in the workplace.

I am not an TEFL teacher although I have been brought in to schools and colleges as a guest for their lessons. The last college offered 2,000 Baht a day and provided lunch and transport. I have expat friends that teach and have seen how the English spoken in Thai schools still gives room for improvement.

You are a novelty, and I wish you well, not the first and not the last so enjoy your holiday.

[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.

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.....

Fairly small but not tiny. Dong Mafai in the province of Sakon Nakhon. The girls are definitely the keenest. Although the boys that aren't committed to family businesses are keen too. There are so many in each province, we went from being in pairs to on our own to try and cover more schools. Hopefully there's more positive feedback than negative so the programme can expand

[chonabot]

So English student teachers, are you aware that to work normally in Thailand you need a Work Permit, which generally you are responsible for paying. Also you will need to have a salary of 50,000 Baht on which you pay tax, in real life the supervising employer you work for will take 10,000 of that in a service fee.

If you show up the head of the English department by pointing out the errors in their spoken or written English (loss of face), just look at some of the homework questions posed, your contract will be ended.

Being a "good" teacher is about being accepted by your employer - not how well you get on with the students, at 20 do you have the office-politics skills to deal with that?

Also please explain how your sense of British Fair Play will cope when you are told that little Somchai who spends the class room time playing on his phone and can barely string two English words together has passed his English Tests with a high pass mark, because daddy has made a suitable donation to the right pocket?

English for many is just another subject at school that has to be passed, not perceived as a long term skill of value in the workplace.

I am not an TEFL teacher although I have been brought in to schools and colleges as a guest for their lessons. The last college offered 2,000 Baht a day and provided lunch and transport. I have expat friends that teach and have seen how the English spoken in Thai schools still gives room for improvement.

You are a novelty, and I wish you well, not the first and not the last so enjoy your holiday.

A glass half empty kind of chap

Why mention your 2,000 baht fee, are we supposed to be impressed?

I did challenge my head of department's usage of vernacular and my contract did not burst into flames.

Essentially you are outlining a career choice that only a fool would accept, how do you think a 1st or 2nd year Uni student can get any value out of your posting?

Let people make their choices and continue making yours, life goes on..and on..and on....

Edited August 5, 2013 by chonabot

[asupeartea]

BC has been in China for years. 2005-2006 ten volunteers and only 2 worked out. 2006-2007 9 of 10 good. 2007-08 4 of 10 good. 2008- program terminated. Even the strongest Anglophiles had to give up due to such poor quality of volunteers. It was a bitter experience that left a very bad taste in many people's mouths. Hope the program here turns out better.

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.

[asupeartea]

For everybody's sake I hope it's a good experience, though my experience with BC volunteers was very mixed. In three years of dealing with them I had less than 50% decent people in the program. Must admit that one lovely 30-ish Jamaican-British volunteer was probably the best ambassador Britain could ask for.

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?

[Suradit69]

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.

If they function in English like the majority who post on TV this should be an exercise in futility.

[26vinny]

Having spoken to a lot of teachers in Thailand, they get fed up quickly, because they get the students for 1 hour a week per class, then are taught by Thai teachers English for the rest of week, so in the main Thai teachers have most of the student teaching times, then the English teacher (farang) is dragged in front of the board and called useless.

Good luck to the volunteers

[bigbamboo]

It seems (especially from Vanessa's excellent input here) that everyone benefits from this scheme, quite an achievement in itself.

My only concern would be what happens after the volunteers have gone.

[Maestro]

I should like to express my appreciation to vanessawilson for participating in this topic. It is very refreshing to hear from somebody on the inside, so to speak.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CBR250]

So what country would you prefer to see as the one offering "standard" English? USA? (Then do you choose Texas or New York or Chicago as your "standard")? Or maybe Jamaica or Australia?

And if you have difficulty understanding native English speakers, which variety were they? From the midlands? Yorkshire? Cornwall? London (and them which part of London)? You will find a huge variety of accents on that little island. But for me it is still the home of pure English - and I would suggest the BBC is the home of the clearest accent.

[Scott]

I think a few posters can get off their high horse soon. The people in this program are volunteers and there is no need for them to have a work permit if the gov't decides they don't need a work permit. Any country can waive any regulations it wants to.

The volunteers are not 'teachers' in the strictest sense. It does not sound like they are responsible for designing tests, giving grades or meeting the requirements of the Ministry of Education regarding the classes. They may do some student assessments, but I doubt this is a formal part of the program.

I doubt that they have replaced anyone. They are supplementing the English programs.

[Ianatlarge]

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!

Sadly, as we grow older we tend to grow more cynical, or at least gain a measure of experience. So many things which look good on paper turn out to be scams, at least in part. Good luck and have fun.

[mrtoad]

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!

You are welcome - a lot of the negativity will be from posters who a) haven't got degrees, but constantly moan about not having one those that have been in Thailand too long, and are bitter about people having positive experiences c) failed TEFLers

I am not surprised by the negativity about this, considering the demographic of posters. Think this whole scheme is a positive experience for all concerned, but for the Chang drinking experts that would mean having to give some credit to people prepared to get off their own backsides.

[ProudETA]

The majority of the comments on here are absolutely appalling. Why are you all such cynical snobs? 200 English students pay their way to come to a country to help improve the levels of English and we all get completely attacked for it? I'm disgusted!

Firstly, the suggestion that we have not organised visas for our stay is absolutely ridiculous. Of course we have got visas, we are here working in Thailand for 2 months and its an official, organised project! We also paid for them ourselves, shock horror, along with our flights, CRB checks and many other OFFICIAL things needed for enduring a project such as this.

Surprisingly, most of us English Teaching Assistants did actually come here to teach, NOT "find the nearest bar" and go into school unable to teach as one of you so bluntly put it. Most of us, such as myself, have actually been placed in very rural parts of Thailand where public transport is barely available, let alone a bar! I think I speak for all 200 of us when I say that we came here to offer just as much as we can gain ourselves; an insight into another's culture and the motivation to learn more.

As for suggesting most of the Thai students will be 'sleepy' or 'bored' by our presence... what planet are you from?! My students are absolutely thrilled to have me, they are always trying to start a conversation with me and I can reassure you that the quality of these conversations have improved so far in my time here. They want to learn English, they want to get to know us and we as human beings with the motivation to teach and with more common sense than most of you on here, most definitely have the ability to do that!

Stop and think before you so quickly judge. It's pathetic.

[DonaldBattles]

What kind of evidence is there that a small population on a small british island developed the English language. Is it possible that the Romans brought it along with many other languages.

The word English has to do with a language that is spoken by many countries in the world. Who is the rightful owner?

[Madgee]

The modern day English language derives from a mix of many languages from different countries. Northern Germany and France are the leading contributors, add to that the Roman influence and Latin from the influence of the church and now you can see why English is such a hard language for non-speakers to learn.

Who is the rightful owner of the English language?

The Angles = British!

[theblether]

No one is the rightful owner. The language developed from many influences. The greatest strength of English is it's adaptability. The way we speak now is nothing like how we spoke 50 years ago.

Metaphors flow, words arrive, the dictionary grows and we all move happily on. We even adopt words from plainly foreign sources and adopt them into our lexicon.

Fabulous.

[SlyAnimal]

Vanessa, please don't take the posters comments here too personally, as the negative comments only represent a very small section of the community (And are mostly not from other teachers).

For myself, I started teaching in Thailand via a similar program, where I did a 1 term internship via Maha Sarakham University on a similar deal. It was my way of finding whether I enjoyed teaching or not, and it turned out I really enjoyed the experience, so decided to stay on here as a fulltime teacher.

I think what you guys are doing is awesome, you'll get such a great experience out of living, and teaching, in Thailand for 2 months. For most of you, it'll likely be the most awesome experience you've ever had, while also being extremely intrinsically rewarding, as teaching kids gives soo many warm fuzzies, and learning to communicate in basic Thai can give you such a huge sense of achievement. Of course some of the students who came over will have a horrible time if they're placed in the countryside and can't live without the comforts of home, but hopefully they'll learn to appreciate just how good life is back in England, as things like toilet paper, hot water and being able to communicate with others, are things which we often take for granted.

Either way, I wish you all the best, and hope that you can continue to post up a few updates with how you're finding the experience. As I think there will likely be some posters who come here, as I initially did 3 years or so ago, wondering about what it'd be like to teach in Thailand, and when they see your posts about what you've experienced, it might help them with deciding whether to give it a shot as well.

[louse1953]

I have a few concerns with this, but there is one which has not been mentioned previously. These people are volunteers, interns, working for free, while there are a fair number of farang who make a living in Thailand by teaching. While I do like to see people helping people, are these volunteers being used to save money by Thai schools? In reality, while Thailand is not Singapore, it is not a poor country either. Thailand can afford to pay for the teachers that it needs (I mean, the mil budget got a kick in the arm, so why not edu?).

This is a complex question, but volunteers should supplement, not replace paid workers.

10k baht + board is not free,however your points are valid.

[Scott]

For those that are antagonistic about this program, you might want to remember that rather than taking away jobs, it is more likely to create a demand for more English.

[attrayant]

I'll admit to being a bit sour on this program before I had a chance to really think about it (unfortunate knee jerk reaction). But having seen one of the volunteers respond, I now think it's a net positive for everybody involved (except maybe for a few of the resident sour pusses here). The only negative is the short duration of the program.

I am most impressed to see how well-written Vanessa is. Not a single errant apostrophe or inappropriate use of reflexive pronouns. It kind of puts some of our resident "teachers" here in their place.