Thai English teachers visit Brunei

[webfact]

Thai English teachers visit Brunei



BANGKOK: -- A delegation of 126 Thai teachers are in Brunei this week, visiting local schools and other sites of cultural interest to view its teaching methodology in schools as well as to experience the local culture of its ASEAN partner as the 2015 deadline for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) approaches, The Brunei Times reported.

The delegation – made up of teachers from 30 schools involved with Thailand’s English Programme from the Central and Eastern provinces of Thailand – made its first stop at the Chung Ching Middle School (CCMS) in Seria yesterday to observe classes in progress.

“We want to look for ideas to improve our own English programmes in Thailand by looking at Brunei’s teaching system. Next year, we will be coming into the AEC and we want to visit all ASEAN members by then,” said Dr Ngampit Lawakorn, Deputy Director of Secondary Educational Services (Area Office 1), Thai Ministry of Education.

CCMS principal Loo KuanLein reflected that the observations from a private school such as CCMS might differ from those made at a government school.

Thailand views English as critical to the success of its AEC plan and was the first ASEAN member to present a comprehensive action plan for meeting its targets by the 2015 deadline. All ten member states have agreed to use English as the language for business under the AEC.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-english-teachers-visit-brunei/

[thaipbs]2014-08-13[/thaipbs]

[khwaibah]

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waste but a crime.

Edited August 13, 2014 by khwaibah

[pinkpanther99]

What they should probably do is just give every kid in Thailand a tablet computer.

 

Oh wait....

Edited August 13, 2014 by pinkpanther99

[robblok]

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

Sorry, you can be a native speaker and a lousy teacher. Just try to get a Thai to teach you Thai and you will see. 

 

Teaching if done correctly should NOT only be based on being a native speaker. I have had a native speaker teaching me English the guy was good but became upset when I told him he was wrong (i was correct I was just a kid). Later on I had a Dutch teacher teaching me English and h is teaching skills made up for the fact he was not a native speaker. I learned a lot more from him.

 

Just imagine all the horrible accents there are in English, plus some have absolutely no skill in keeping a class interested and under control. Sorry for not agreeing.. and I am not a teacher but smart enough to know that knowing a language does not make you a teacher you need to know how to transfer your knowledge to others in an good way.

[aarontendo]

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

 

and  a thick waist is truly a crime

[khwaibah]

 

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

 

and  a thick waist is truly a crime

 

[clockman]

126 teachers! How to waste money, Thai style.

[robblok]

126 teachers! How to waste money, Thai style.

 

I do wonder how good the English was of those teachers, and yes such a big group is a waste of money. I was thinking just a few select teachers picking up some new things and then transferring the knowledge to others.

[transam]

 

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

Sorry, you can be a native speaker and a lousy teacher. Just try to get a Thai to teach you Thai and you will see. 

 

Teaching if done correctly should NOT only be based on being a native speaker. I have had a native speaker teaching me English the guy was good but became upset when I told him he was wrong (i was correct I was just a kid). Later on I had a Dutch teacher teaching me English and h is teaching skills made up for the fact he was not a native speaker. I learned a lot more from him.

 

Just imagine all the horrible accents there are in English, plus some have absolutely no skill in keeping a class interested and under control. Sorry for not agreeing.. and I am not a teacher but smart enough to know that knowing a language does not make you a teacher you need to know how to transfer your knowledge to others in an good way.

 

 

I had a lousy English teacher in England over half a century ago, he must have been cos I failed English. ................... ...................
 

[aarontendo]

 

 

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

Sorry, you can be a native speaker and a lousy teacher. Just try to get a Thai to teach you Thai and you will see. 

 

Teaching if done correctly should NOT only be based on being a native speaker. I have had a native speaker teaching me English the guy was good but became upset when I told him he was wrong (i was correct I was just a kid). Later on I had a Dutch teacher teaching me English and h is teaching skills made up for the fact he was not a native speaker. I learned a lot more from him.

 

Just imagine all the horrible accents there are in English, plus some have absolutely no skill in keeping a class interested and under control. Sorry for not agreeing.. and I am not a teacher but smart enough to know that knowing a language does not make you a teacher you need to know how to transfer your knowledge to others in an good way.

 

 

I had a lousy English teacher in England over half a century ago, he must have been cos I failed English. ................... ...................
 

 

Need a native speaker, go American next time

[transam]

 

 

 

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

Sorry, you can be a native speaker and a lousy teacher. Just try to get a Thai to teach you Thai and you will see. 

 

Teaching if done correctly should NOT only be based on being a native speaker. I have had a native speaker teaching me English the guy was good but became upset when I told him he was wrong (i was correct I was just a kid). Later on I had a Dutch teacher teaching me English and h is teaching skills made up for the fact he was not a native speaker. I learned a lot more from him.

 

Just imagine all the horrible accents there are in English, plus some have absolutely no skill in keeping a class interested and under control. Sorry for not agreeing.. and I am not a teacher but smart enough to know that knowing a language does not make you a teacher you need to know how to transfer your knowledge to others in an good way.

 

 

I had a lousy English teacher in England over half a century ago, he must have been cos I failed English. ................... ...................
 

 

Need a native speaker, go American next time

 

 

But they cannot spell English words...........
 

[scorecard]

From the OP:

 

"CCMS principal Loo KuanLein reflected that the observations from a private school such as CCMS might differ from those made at a government school."

 

Did they also visit a government school?

 

One of the visit aims was to learn about different teaching methodologies, so how long was the visit this school / other schools? Ten minutes, 2 hours, one week?

 

126 teachers need to visit every other country in ASEAN before AEC starts.

 

A lot more planning needed I'm afraid.
 

 

[scorecard]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

 

126 teachers! How to waste money, Thai style.

 

I do wonder how good the English was of those teachers, and yes such a big group is a waste of money. I was thinking just a few select teachers picking up some new things and then transferring the knowledge to others.

 

 

Agree.

 

To take it further, are these the Thai English teachers who focus on teaching English grammar with zero conversation practice, often because they can teach English grammar (often quite well) but in reality they can't speak English at all and therefore cannot conduct spoke conversation practice.

[Borzandy]

I didn't know Thai English teachers can speak Brunei language....    

 

[lostmebike]

&nbsp;

I didn't know Thai English teachers can speak Brunei language....    
 

&nbsp;

A lot of them can't speak decent Thai either!

[transam]

I didn't know Thai English teachers can speak Brunei language....    

 

 

Hmmmm, strange they didn't take them to Oxford or Cambridge in England, the home of the correct language..........
 

[Bcgardener]

Singapore is closer and probably a far better example of an ASEAN based English program

[lostmebike]

@Bcgardener ... they thought about Singapore but had been there already.

[Maroon Watcher]

I have been a Native speaking teacher in ASIA for many years - I always categorically state,
"I'm not here because I'm the best teacher, [not better than local teachers]
I'm here because I speak English" -

(with a professional accent and utilising 20 years of Training/teaching + International business experience and quality work experience)

 

You pays you money you takes your choice!

 

 

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waist but a crime.

Sorry, you can be a native speaker and a lousy teacher. Just try to get a Thai to teach you Thai and you will see. 

 

Teaching if done correctly should NOT only be based on being a native speaker. I have had a native speaker teaching me English the guy was good but became upset when I told him he was wrong (i was correct I was just a kid). Later on I had a Dutch teacher teaching me English and h is teaching skills made up for the fact he was not a native speaker. I learned a lot more from him.

 

Just imagine all the horrible accents there are in English, plus some have absolutely no skill in keeping a class interested and under control. Sorry for not agreeing.. and I am not a teacher but smart enough to know that knowing a language does not make you a teacher you need to know how to transfer your knowledge to others in an good way.

 

 

[simon43]

I wonder if there were any NES teachers on that junket to Brunei.

 

Or were onlt the Thai teachers invited?

[timmyp]

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waste but a crime.

 

I strongly disagree with this obsession of "native speakers." 

You need to higher qualified teachers. If the English level of the Thai teachers is low, then they need to get it higher, not hand off teaching to unqualified "native speakers." 

 

Who makes a better physics teacher: Albert Einstein, or a high school physics teacher???

You need someone who knows how to teach and knows the topic they are teaching. Native speakers usually don't have a clue about their own language.

A Thai native teacher is far more likely to know 1) how to run the classroom, 2) the challenges the learners are going to have with pronunciation and grammar

 

Native speakers just have good pronunciation, and that is only a part of what the learners need.

 

It makes more sense for the Ministry of Ed to invest in teacher training and getting the language skills of the Thai teachers up rather than wasting it on unqualified farang who don't have a clue how to teach.

[Deli]

Maybe they wanted to learn about Shariah law ?

For English there are better places and to S'pore they could have gone by bus...

[wwest5829]

You need to start by hiring native speaking english teachers only. BTW wasting money on paid junkets as such are not only a waste but a crime.

Junkets exist, without question. I would submit, however, that there might be real value in having Thai English educators being exposed to the English teaching programs in other ASEAN countries. If, as is generally addressed on TV, the Thai system has much improvement needed, then having front line Thai educators face the realities, well..... Edited August 13, 2014 by wwest5829

[SOTIRIOS]

....sad......

[Nobleman1]

It is hilarious that so many people believe that Thais can not speak English because of the teacher. In our western countries we would blame the students. Why has this perception changed? Thais can not speak english because they dont want to learn or try in school. Their parents are fine with this. It is very easy to get a B in an english class and not be able to speak 2 sentences. Cheating and grade fixing is rewarded in this country.

[transam]

It is hilarious that so many people believe that Thais can not speak English because of the teacher. In our western countries we would blame the students. Why has this perception changed? Thais can not speak english because they dont want to learn or try in school. Their parents are fine with this. It is very easy to get a B in an english class and not be able to speak 2 sentences. Cheating and grade fixing is rewarded in this country.

 

Yep.............

[Scott]

The problem with these junkets is that the Thai teachers will view it and discuss it among themselves.   They will listen politely and not question anything.  They will not do much of a comparison and probably won't learn much.  

 

I visited a very well run program with a group of our teachers.   Rather than asking questions and trying to get their head inside what and how the school operated, they dismissed much of what they saw.   They did however, comment about how nice the grounds looked and that the lunch was good.  

 

 

[Fookhaht]

The problem with these junkets is that the Thai teachers will view it and discuss it among themselves.   They will listen politely and not question anything.  They will not do much of a comparison and probably won't learn much.  
 
I visited a very well run program with a group of our teachers.   Rather than asking questions and trying to get their head inside what and how the school operated, they dismissed much of what they saw.   They did however, comment about how nice the grounds looked and that the lunch was good.  
 
 

Another problem with these junkets is that they are a façade for having a group holiday.

Our entire department of 30 Thais who teach English, took our students' university tuition money and went to France for 10 days a few years ago. France?

After hitting all the tourist sites and spending about 5 million baht of public money, we were short of funds for paper, whiteboard markers, and photocopy supplies for the entire semester. The unabashed excuse from the department secretary was, "Sorry, the money was spent on the teacher trip!"

Side note: None of the eight foreign teachers were allowed to join the trip. My guess is that the Thais are a little touchy about the actual character of these "seminar" trips.

[Scott]

I would tend to agree with your assessment.   The little tour that I was referring to was a local one and it had a very specific agenda which was to help us learn about setting up a new program.   Not a single question from any of the Thai staff -- but then the entire meeting was conducted in English (although there was someone to translate, if needed).  

 

The school we visited went to great pains to explain their philosophy of education, their curriculum, their selection of teachers, the class size, grading, exams,  dealing with special needs children, behavioral problems and a host of other things, including security, parent access etc.  

 

Most of the staff just sort of turned their noses up.   

[TPI]

 

The problem with these junkets is that the Thai teachers will view it and discuss it among themselves.   They will listen politely and not question anything.  They will not do much of a comparison and probably won't learn much.  
 
I visited a very well run program with a group of our teachers.   Rather than asking questions and trying to get their head inside what and how the school operated, they dismissed much of what they saw.   They did however, comment about how nice the grounds looked and that the lunch was good.  
 
 

Another problem with these junkets is that they are a façade for having a group holiday.

Our entire department of 30 Thais who teach English, took our students' university tuition money and went to France for 10 days a few years ago. France?

After hitting all the tourist sites and spending about 5 million baht of public money, we were short of funds for paper, whiteboard markers, and photocopy supplies for the entire semester. The unabashed excuse from the department secretary was, "Sorry, the money was spent on the teacher trip!"

Side note: None of the eight foreign teachers were allowed to join the trip. My guess is that the Thais are a little touchy about the actual character of these "seminar" trips.

 

 

Shopping, eating, sightseeing, photo (group) (individual), repeat ad nausium. It's very like the trips to Singapore and NZ and OZ nothing learnt, nothing passed on, photos photos photos photos lunch!