English-language course a hit

[soomak]

So I will state my question again....do we think 50% of Thai population have decent English conversation skills...in my opinion of 13 years here...the answer is no...and I would put the number at maybe 10-15%...but of course we are going to debate..what exactly constitutes decent conversation English...

I would put the figure at 5% or less, although "descent conversation skills" is a subjective term.

Let's say that no more then 3% of the adult population can talk about business or politics in English.

If you are talking about (very) basic English, I would agree it's 10-15%.

[willyumiii]

TV, always so negative!

On occasion, I assist the Thai English teacher at my local school.

His English is very good, better than most Thais I know who live in the USA, and I know quite a few there.

He often asks me to proof read his lesson plans and comes to me often with questions about correct pronunciation. It is rare that I find errors in what he has me review.

It seems most TV members are full of criticism for just about anything Thais do or attempt to do. I wonder how much actual hands on knowledge they have about what they criticize.

Also, I know that many students do pretty darn good with conversational English if you make the effort to teach them and make it interesting for them. I see this in the school and also with the children in my village.

If they are interested, and want to learn, they work very hard at it and do well.

I have hands on experience with Thais and the English language...I know!

Please post about what you know...like your Chang Classic vs Import and refrain from the beer soaked rants about what you don't know!

[pookiki]

The 15-hour course offers lessons focusing on conversation and real-life use rather than memorising from a textbook

"saying the words 'beautiful' and 'handsome"'

Sounds like they are establishing a school for Bargirls. I guess the Masters will be when they can link two words together like Handsome man.

this is the most striking "fact" in this piece for me..."More than 50 per cent of around 250,000 Cambodian and Myanmar immigrant workers, 50,000 of whom are not registered, who work mostly in the province's fishery industry are able to speak English"

Can 50% of the Thai population speak English ?...other than "Heeeello...hansome man" of course

Therefore one must conclude the English education programs in both Cambodia and Burma are more effective than what is happening in Thailand, after all if 50% of "lowly" immigrant workers can speak English, most of whom one assumes have not even completed high school, but the average Thai university graduate cannot string a cohesive senstance together in English....this suggests the english language programs in both countries are more effective or the comparable programs in Thailand are complete cr*p

It does not necessarily have anything to do with the quality of the programmes in Cambodia and Burma. I've spent a lot of time in Cambodia, and I can tell you that being able to speak English is seen as a prerequisite for success for the middle class and a prerequisite for survival for the poor. Go to the tourist areas, and you'll come across hordes of multi-lingual kids (it's not just English that they speak). It's all a matter of motivation. Few Thais, relatively speaking, aspire to working outside of Thailand, few grow up wanting to work in the tourism (or related) industry, etc etc. Being able to speak English makes a bigger difference in a place like Cambodia than in Thailand.

When I first met my girlfriend, my Thai was actually better than her English. She said that in school she (and her friends) didn't put much effort into English because, after all, they were living in a farming community in Isaan and why would they need it? [similar to my logic for sleeping during Calculus classes]. Three years later, and her English has far surpassed my Thai simply because she is now motivated and she made the effort to learn (for example, she would write every sms/email message I sent to her in a book as a way of learning new words).

Motivation is the 'key' to learning anything. I agree with your comparison of the relative motivation of learning English of Thais compared to Cambodians. But one's decision to learn a new language must be based on one's environment as well. I am still amazed by the number of migrant workers who cannot speak Thai but are learning English. Their ability to survive and succeed in their work environment would be better served by leaning Thai than English. Unfortunately bias and nationalism is a 'two-way' street. Hubris is often a barrier to improving one's lot in life.

Edited August 25, 2013 by pookiki

[harrry]

The government should ask TESOL to test all Thai national English teachers to see if they are fit and proficient to teach.

Oh, cancel that, the results would be too embarrassing.

It's better to save embarrassment than to actually drive up teaching standards.

@soutpeel, crap isn't the word. I've only ever met one Thai that taught English, she worked in the local bar as a waitress. I had noted that she was easily the worst English speaker in the place, with an annoyingly limited vocabulary which she insisted on using on me 10 times a night.

I was stunned, absolutely gobsmacked when I was told that she was a full time English teacher. When I incredulously questioned her about it she beamed with pride that she was a teacher and told me all about her day job.

One of the other waitresses had to translate for her.

Seriously.

Ten times a night.....you really do have stamina for your age.

[Soutpeel]

TV, always so negative!

Please post about what you know...like your Chang Classic vs Import and refrain from the beer soaked rants about what you don't know!

I dont see any rant's...I see some people making some quite astute observations...but nice to see your using the classic retort...that if someone disagree's with you...someone must be an alcoholic sexpat, who is not at one with their Thainess.

Its seems to me the negative comments are from those posters who keep suggesting anyone who disagrees with their version of Thai reality has to frequent the beer bars, their only interactions with Thai nationals is via bar girls and they are all drunks...

As regards how much hands experience I have as regards helping Thai nationals with their English communcation skills...everyday mate along with mentoring their engineering and mangement skills...

[pookiki]

The government should ask TESOL to test all Thai national English teachers to see if they are fit and proficient to teach.

Oh, cancel that, the results would be too embarrassing.

It's better to save embarrassment than to actually drive up teaching standards.

@soutpeel, crap isn't the word. I've only ever met one Thai that taught English, she worked in the local bar as a waitress. I had noted that she was easily the worst English speaker in the place, with an annoyingly limited vocabulary which she insisted on using on me 10 times a night.

I was stunned, absolutely gobsmacked when I was told that she was a full time English teacher. When I incredulously questioned her about it she beamed with pride that she was a teacher and told me all about her day job.

One of the other waitresses had to translate for her.

Seriously.

Ten times a night.....you really do have stamina for your age.

When I was in the army and stationed in Bangkok about 45 years ago, I told my friends that all the Thai women I knew thought I was from Scandinavia. When they asked my why I said because they would all ask me, "You Finnish GI, you Finnish?"

[Estrada]

My friend is Chairman if the Senate Education Committee. He has been pressing for changes to the education system to teach Thai children English to a standard at least equal to that of Malaysians. I have discussed this with him as the Thai Rotary Clubs have a project whereby we take Thai English Teachers from the State schools for a week's intensive course on methods of successfully teaching English on a fast track basis. We found that the head English Teacher that we sent on the course came back not able to speak a word of English even to say thank you, even though the method has been very successful in many other countries.

My friend appears to have come under pressure from the old guard in Parliament who still think that Thai's should only speak Thai, as he recently announced a "Speak Thai Day" on behalf of the Government. Therefore there still appears to be a lot of resistance against teaching the populace to speak English as a second language to an acceptable standard.

With regard to the Burmese workers, a German friend has a factory at 3 Pagodas Pass and 30% of the Burmese workers he employs on basic wage (B120/day) speak English. This compares to 0% of the Thai workers he employed in Bangkok on B320/day. My children had learnt English in Thai School, International School and various English Language Schools employing native English Tutors, for 12 years and their English was terrible. I have ended up having to retire and teach them myself at home, and they are doing very well. There appears to be little hope that Thailand will change its attitude to learning English in time for ASEAN.

[pookiki]

TV, always so negative!

On occasion, I assist the Thai English teacher at my local school.

His English is very good, better than most Thais I know who live in the USA, and I know quite a few there.

He often asks me to proof read his lesson plans and comes to me often with questions about correct pronunciation. It is rare that I find errors in what he has me review.

It seems most TV members are full of criticism for just about anything Thais do or attempt to do. I wonder how much actual hands on knowledge they have about what they criticize.

Also, I know that many students do pretty darn good with conversational English if you make the effort to teach them and make it interesting for them. I see this in the school and also with the children in my village.

If they are interested, and want to learn, they work very hard at it and do well.

I have hands on experience with Thais and the English language...I know!

Please post about what you know...like your Chang Classic vs Import and refrain from the beer soaked rants about what you don't know!

Interesting post. Where did you learn English. In Thailand or in the USA? If your teacher is relying on you to 'proof' his lesson plans and 'check' on his pronunciation, are you saying you are more competent than he is? In my experience, a non-native speaker can in no way compete with a native speaker in teaching his/her own language. Just too many idioms, etc. I have lost track of Thais teaching English that cannot correctly say the 'v' sound or the 'th' sound that exists in English. Why? Because, they were taught incorrectly from a non-native speaker.

[pookiki]

My friend is Chairman if the Senate Education Committee. He has been pressing for changes to the education system to teach Thai children English to a standard at least equal to that of Malaysians. I have discussed this with him as the Thai Rotary Clubs have a project whereby we take Thai English Teachers from the State schools for a week's intensive course on methods of successfully teaching English on a fast track basis. We found that the head English Teacher that we sent on the course came back not able to speak a word of English even to say thank you, even though the method has been very successful in many other countries.

My friend appears to have come under pressure from the old guard in Parliament who still think that Thai's should only speak Thai, as he recently announced a "Speak Thai Day" on behalf of the Government. Therefore there still appears to be a lot of resistance against teaching the populace to speak English as a second language to an acceptable standard.

With regard to the Burmese workers, a German friend has a factory at 3 Pagodas Pass and 30% of the Burmese workers he employs on basic wage (B120/day) speak English. This compares to 0% of the Thai workers he employed in Bangkok on B320/day. My children had learnt English in Thai School, International School and various English Language Schools employing native English Tutors, for 12 years and their English was terrible. I have ended up having to retire and teach them myself at home, and they are doing very well. There appears to be little hope that Thailand will change its attitude to learning English in time for ASEAN.

Thank you for two things: 1) Discussing the barriers to Thais learning English; and 2) documenting that Thai employers ruthlessly exploit migrant workers from Burma by not paying them the statutory minimum wage! The discrimination is deplorable.

Edited August 25, 2013 by pookiki

[Soutpeel]

My friend is Chairman if the Senate Education Committee. He has been pressing for changes to the education system to teach Thai children English to a standard at least equal to that of Malaysians. I have discussed this with him as the Thai Rotary Clubs have a project whereby we take Thai English Teachers from the State schools for a week's intensive course on methods of successfully teaching English on a fast track basis. We found that the head English Teacher that we sent on the course came back not able to speak a word of English even to say thank you, even though the method has been very successful in many other countries.

My friend appears to have come under pressure from the old guard in Parliament who still think that Thai's should only speak Thai, as he recently announced a "Speak Thai Day" on behalf of the Government. Therefore there still appears to be a lot of resistance against teaching the populace to speak English as a second language to an acceptable standard.

With regard to the Burmese workers, a German friend has a factory at 3 Pagodas Pass and 30% of the Burmese workers he employs on basic wage (B120/day) speak English. This compares to 0% of the Thai workers he employed in Bangkok on B320/day. My children had learnt English in Thai School, International School and various English Language Schools employing native English Tutors, for 12 years and their English was terrible. I have ended up having to retire and teach them myself at home, and they are doing very well. There appears to be little hope that Thailand will change its attitude to learning English in time for ASEAN.

But isnt English a "first language" in Malaysia ? so one suspects this concept was flawed from the start...I remember a proposal in Thailand some years ago wanting to make English an offical 2nd language and the nationalist got hold of it and started bleating on about colonialism and the whole idea was scapped?

Also how can you "fast track" teaching someone a language ? and even more troubling is that those who have been fast tracked are being tasked with teaching other people ?

It seems to me that the best way to get at least basic english across to people would be to use the media..ie TV, I know there are English instruction programs on thai TV but for the most part from what I have seen they are cr*p...ie this 30 second English thing ? thats one of them

with a bit of effort on the media front, they could set a whole series of English instruction programs, which are fun, stay away from grammar and focus on conversational/day to day stuff....Get some of the Thai Hi So celebs who can speak good English involved presenting them etc etc...

[Alwyn]

The government should ask TESOL to test all Thai national English teachers to see if they are fit and proficient to teach.

Oh, cancel that, the results would be too embarrassing.

It's better to save embarrassment than to actually drive up teaching standards.

@soutpeel, crap isn't the word. I've only ever met one Thai that taught English, she worked in the local bar as a waitress. I had noted that she was easily the worst English speaker in the place, with an annoyingly limited vocabulary which she insisted on using on me 10 times a night.

I was stunned, absolutely gobsmacked when I was told that she was a full time English teacher. When I incredulously questioned her about it she beamed with pride that she was a teacher and told me all about her day job.

One of the other waitresses had to translate for her.

Seriously.

lol, I can beat that one! a high up government official in Phuket arranged something for me once and he sent a guy who could speak English to join me and help me out. The chap's English was really really bad. He is a retired head teacher (or headmaster for us older types) and i asked him what he taught before becoming the headmaster - yup, you got it, he was an English teacher. His English language skills were inferior to coffee shop workers I've met! Guess it's because he doesn't get to talk conversational English. But here's the thing - the kids in school get taught to say things like "same same but different" as there's no word for similar and phrases like "three times worse" they are taught "more worse three douben" etc. not much chance for the kids really...

[therealjride]

Tired of lurking all these years... So: 16 hours of English nearly equates to one semester of English in a typical Thai government school. Were this condensed into a shorter time span with well-structured material and interested students, then I do believe you could teach a Thai learner rudimentary English. Thais often show up late to the game, but that's their disposition. This program gets two thumbs up.

[asupeartea]

The first thing to teach should be, "Farang, you ARE ATM. Give me money."

[Soutpeel]

The first thing to teach should be, "Farang, you ARE ATM. Give me money."

No No....first thing is "Hey you Farang"

[klauskunkel]

English-language course a hit

More like a hit and run

[dao16]

Just motivation. In Cambodia, it isn't necessarily any teaching method that is doing anything. Their public schools seem to operate like most schools in the region. Talk to the little kids and ask them how they learned English and the typical response is "My friend and I bought an English book and we read it and practice our English every night. Yes, sir, every night for 2 years." It is just these little kid NEEDING English, Thai, Korean, Japanese and a ton of other languages to sell stuff to tourists so they can eat.

I assume Thais would suddenly become motivated when they really, really needed English. Until then,, don't hold your breath.

[kuiburi]

Guess it's all about the will to learn .I have a low education levell . The way i learned English was listening to music and watching movies that where not sychonized . Just eager to understand . I learned my mom English this was and now do the same with my kids . For an english student thats insecure about his or her skills its hard to speak in public because they are shy . Singing some favorit songs in public is much easier . BTW. Asians love karaoke , like "countly load" and stuff like this .

Let me ask you this...how useful was learning English grammar...if in fact you were taught any ?...

Very usefull , I taught it myself . Like try to read the lyrics of songs that i liked , and then write them down . I know my English is far from perfect , But with what I learned myself I can manage pretty well .

[backtonormal]

"There are no doubt other facets that could be considered as to why Thailand has sustained from joining the AEC for the time being but the dilemma remains as to whether the Thai Government really wants to educate the people sufficiently in order to compete with other AEC member states.

Many have considered the possibility that those in power really don’t want the masses to be educated for this often breeds’ opinions, leading to debates, leading to the insistence of change."

Its as simple as this.... and Thailand will opt out again when the ASEAN deadline approaches

[Thai at Heart]

15 hours.

Indeed.

[maybefitz]

I taught English on a voluntary basis, 10 hours or so a week, at a local school for 5 years. I gather now it was probably illegal, but no one said anything at the time. Just to give a personal perspective on a number of points raised.

a). All, but all the children from P4 to M3 wanted to learn English, they were keen and well motivated.

. The Thai teacher for English was also keen for me to help him, he would check with me on a number of points. In 5 years he improved a lot, went to another school eventually as deputy head.

c), I tried, with some success, to make learning English as fun, joking a lot - they loved it. Over time, I had most of the teachers at the school just come and watch me in action; my teaching practice was totally different from the Thai 'talk-n-chalk; approach. I gather my different approach had some impact throughout the school, much closer interaction with teacher/pupil participation.

d) Although unpaid, one of the best moves I have ever made - I am socially accepted throughout the Tambon as the Farang that helped the children.

e) I have now great joy in having ex-pupils now at University coming up to me and chatting in English about how they are getting on, delightful.

So, I am not pessimistic like some previous posters on Thais learning English - they'll get there eventually,

[Thai at Heart]

My friend is Chairman if the Senate Education Committee. He has been pressing for changes to the education system to teach Thai children English to a standard at least equal to that of Malaysians. I have discussed this with him as the Thai Rotary Clubs have a project whereby we take Thai English Teachers from the State schools for a week's intensive course on methods of successfully teaching English on a fast track basis. We found that the head English Teacher that we sent on the course came back not able to speak a word of English even to say thank you, even though the method has been very successful in many other countries.

My friend appears to have come under pressure from the old guard in Parliament who still think that Thai's should only speak Thai, as he recently announced a "Speak Thai Day" on behalf of the Government. Therefore there still appears to be a lot of resistance against teaching the populace to speak English as a second language to an acceptable standard.

With regard to the Burmese workers, a German friend has a factory at 3 Pagodas Pass and 30% of the Burmese workers he employs on basic wage (B120/day) speak English. This compares to 0% of the Thai workers he employed in Bangkok on B320/day. My children had learnt English in Thai School, International School and various English Language Schools employing native English Tutors, for 12 years and their English was terrible. I have ended up having to retire and teach them myself at home, and they are doing very well. There appears to be little hope that Thailand will change its attitude to learning English in time for ASEAN.

It's like plaid cymru expecting everyone to deal in Welsh. Basically, they are getting nowhere fast in teaching English in Thailand.

Problem is, OK first they learn English, then they have to learn that contracts often stand up in court, telling a white lie to hide a problem doesn't help, and that the world isn't flat.

[besth]

Why is it then that Bank staff, including tourist areas, and who have all been to Uni are so poor at communicating in English? Even basic banking terms seem to be beyond them and usually they have to call for the one person in the branch who can at least understand what is being said in English. Go outside and market staff, tuk tuk drivers and waitresses can all communicate, bank staff -forget it.

Because the bank staff will get their salary at the end of the month no matter what.

The market stall owners, tuk tuk drivers, waitresses and so on, have the incentive to learn

and use English to make more money.

I agree that 15 hours is almost nothing, but it may get a lot of these people motivated

to continue learning and improving after this course. A step in the right direction, just

over publicized as something it is not, as so often happens here.

[ebonykap]

Here's the solution:

How many NES retirees without degrees living in Thailand?

How many of those would like to teach English to Thais?

How many of these are capable of teaching, or have the ability to teach?

I was thinking at least hundreds, perhaps thousands.

Formulate an "English Teaching Entrance Test" to determine their suitability/aptitude for teaching. Those that pass the test get a special "Retirement Teaching Visa" and work permit, and are able to commence teaching subject to a successful interview.

Alternatively, simply scrap the degree requirement and make the TEFL qualification mandatory. Keep the entrance test which would cover things like aptitude and behavioural qualities relevant to the job description. Having a Degree in Economics simply does not suddenly make you a good English teacher.

If you think my ideas are self-serving, yes they probably are to some degree. However, I think this is an opportunity to utilise an existing resource in Thailand, at a low cost for the government (except for the face-factor, I guess!)

[nong38]

The 15-hour course offers lessons focusing on conversation and real-life use rather than memorising from a textbook

"saying the words 'beautiful' and 'handsome"'

Sounds like they are establishing a school for Bargirls. I guess the Masters will be when they can link two words together like Handsome man.

this is the most striking "fact" in this piece for me..."More than 50 per cent of around 250,000 Cambodian and Myanmar immigrant workers, 50,000 of whom are not registered, who work mostly in the province's fishery industry are able to speak English"

Can 50% of the Thai population speak English ?...other than "Heeeello...hansome man" of course

Therefore one must conclude the English education programs in both Cambodia and Burma are more effective than what is happening in Thailand, after all if 50% of "lowly" immigrant workers can speak English, most of whom one assumes have not even completed high school, but the average Thai university graduate cannot string a cohesive senstance together in English....this suggests the english language programs in both countries are more effective or the comparable programs in Thailand are complete cr*p

Would that KFC version handsome man?

[nong38]

I wonder why we are so cynical, is it because we have experienced Thai teaching habits and the most wonderful education system the world has ever seen?

Edited August 25, 2013 by nong38

[nong38]

I taught English on a voluntary basis, 10 hours or so a week, at a local school for 5 years. I gather now it was probably illegal, but no one said anything at the time. Just to give a personal perspective on a number of points raised.

a). All, but all the children from P4 to M3 wanted to learn English, they were keen and well motivated.

. The Thai teacher for English was also keen for me to help him, he would check with me on a number of points. In 5 years he improved a lot, went to another school eventually as deputy head.

c), I tried, with some success, to make learning English as fun, joking a lot - they loved it. Over time, I had most of the teachers at the school just come and watch me in action; my teaching practice was totally different from the Thai 'talk-n-chalk; approach. I gather my different approach had some impact throughout the school, much closer interaction with teacher/pupil participation.

d) Although unpaid, one of the best moves I have ever made - I am socially accepted throughout the Tambon as the Farang that helped the children.

e) I have now great joy in having ex-pupils now at University coming up to me and chatting in English about how they are getting on, delightful.

So, I am not pessimistic like some previous posters on Thais learning English - they'll get there eventually,

You were lucky and had a good experience, when it comes down to it most Thais dont want to lose face in the classroom where they are number 1 and a foreign presence might mean number 2 and that cannot happen, so the students will suffer so number '1' does not lose face. That is the way it is in 99.9% of places. They just cannot accept that we are here to help, they seem to think we are a threat to their job and position. It is a different culture.

[SOTIRIOS]

............they have a much bigger motivation..........$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.....

[Krataiboy]

Those taking this course are encouraged to speak English even outside classes, or with family members or to each other while in the school compound.

This is good to hear. Even after many years of allegedly learning English at school, most Thai children I come across may have an inkling of English grammar and even be able to read write simple sentences. But their English conversation is negligible or non-existent. That is because they spend too little time practicing what their teacher preached.

I learned this the hard way. My Thai wife was keen for me (an Englishman) to supplement my five stepchildren's school learning with home schooling at weekends. My step children's reading and writing skills were very limited and they had NO English conversation at all. I started trying to teach them using my limited Thai. But this simply encouraged them to talk back to me in their native language and was counter-productive.

In the end, we made our home a Thai-free zone. Within its walls everybody had to speak in English. It was tough at first and as you can imagine the kids spent a lot of time hiding in their rooms or going out to see friends. But the touch love paid off in the end and now they can all read, write and speak English pretty well. Our oldest boy got a job as an electrician in a local hotel and ended up as an unpaid unofficial interpreter sorting out problems with English speaking guests. My 13- year-old stepdaughter regularly represents her school at English competitions and our youngest girl, aged six, is already bi-lingual.

The concentration in Thai schools on written English and grammar is understandable, but in my view unhelpful to most Thai children who are not going on to universities and would be better far better off learning English conversation - particularly if, like mine, they live in a tourist resort. I find it hard to believe, but even at my local bank (part of a large national chain) hardly any of the smartly-uniformed and apparently well educated staff can speak other than a few stilted words of English.

Using English at home as well as in the classroom is not only desirable, but essential. Otherwise, it simply doesn't "stick".

[mrwebb8825]

I taught English on a voluntary basis, 10 hours or so a week, at a local school for 5 years. I gather now it was probably illegal, but no one said anything at the time. Just to give a personal perspective on a number of points raised.

a). All, but all the children from P4 to M3 wanted to learn English, they were keen and well motivated.

. The Thai teacher for English was also keen for me to help him, he would check with me on a number of points. In 5 years he improved a lot, went to another school eventually as deputy head.

c), I tried, with some success, to make learning English as fun, joking a lot - they loved it. Over time, I had most of the teachers at the school just come and watch me in action; my teaching practice was totally different from the Thai 'talk-n-chalk; approach. I gather my different approach had some impact throughout the school, much closer interaction with teacher/pupil participation.

d) Although unpaid, one of the best moves I have ever made - I am socially accepted throughout the Tambon as the Farang that helped the children.

e) I have now great joy in having ex-pupils now at University coming up to me and chatting in English about how they are getting on, delightful.

So, I am not pessimistic like some previous posters on Thais learning English - they'll get there eventually,

I applaud you sir. This is the style of teaching and results I strive for in my classes.

Here's the solution:

How many NES retirees without degrees living in Thailand?

How many of those would like to teach English to Thais?

How many of these are capable of teaching, or have the ability to teach?

I was thinking at least hundreds, perhaps thousands.

Formulate an "English Teaching Entrance Test" to determine their suitability/aptitude for teaching. Those that pass the test get a special "Retirement Teaching Visa" and work permit, and are able to commence teaching subject to a successful interview.

Alternatively, simply scrap the degree requirement and make the TEFL qualification mandatory. Keep the entrance test which would cover things like aptitude and behavioural qualities relevant to the job description. Having a Degree in Economics simply does not suddenly make you a good English teacher.

If you think my ideas are self-serving, yes they probably are to some degree. However, I think this is an opportunity to utilise an existing resource in Thailand, at a low cost for the government (except for the face-factor, I guess!)

I agree that this could work very well as long as it is NOT organised or ran by Thais (especially the government).

I also agree that a piece of paper that says you studied something once do NOT make you a qualified teacher of anything. Teaching is an aptitude and natural ability above and beyond what you can learn from a book.

My grandmother was a wonderful "teacher" and never set foot in a college until she went to work for 1 at the age of about 55.

[Thai at Heart]

Those taking this course are encouraged to speak English even outside classes, or with family members or to each other while in the school compound.

This is good to hear. Even after many years of allegedly learning English at school, most Thai children I come across may have an inkling of English grammar and even be able to read write simple sentences. But their English conversation is negligible or non-existent. That is because they spend too little time practicing what their teacher preached.

I learned this the hard way. My Thai wife was keen for me (an Englishman) to supplement my five stepchildren's school learning with home schooling at weekends. My step children's reading and writing skills were very limited and they had NO English conversation at all. I started trying to teach them using my limited Thai. But this simply encouraged them to talk back to me in their native language and was counter-productive.

In the end, we made our home a Thai-free zone. Within its walls everybody had to speak in English. It was tough at first and as you can imagine the kids spent a lot of time hiding in their rooms or going out to see friends. But the touch love paid off in the end and now they can all read, write and speak English pretty well. Our oldest boy got a job as an electrician in a local hotel and ended up as an unpaid unofficial interpreter sorting out problems with English speaking guests. My 13- year-old stepdaughter regularly represents her school at English competitions and our youngest girl, aged six, is already bi-lingual.

The concentration in Thai schools on written English and grammar is understandable, but in my view unhelpful to most Thai children who are not going on to universities and would be better far better off learning English conversation - particularly if, like mine, they live in a tourist resort. I find it hard to believe, but even at my local bank (part of a large national chain) hardly any of the smartly-uniformed and apparently well educated staff can speak other than a few stilted words of English.

Using English at home as well as in the classroom is not only desirable, but essential. Otherwise, it simply doesn't "stick".

My kids are completely bilingual. They never hear me speak Thai. What would be the point?