Farangs need to pass "Thainess" course to get teacher license

[green job]

An English teacher in Thailand might move to at least three other countries so why should he need to speak Thai? Will he have to learn Arabic and Chinese if he teaches in Saudi and China and then learn yet another language if he moves to another country for a better job or more money. English Language Trainers are usually forbidden from using the local language in the classroom.

That may be the case with a hippy type of teacher,good luck to you,have a great time.By the way do you keep a record of your xxxxx or just forget??

We know all about 30k teachers

Have fun while you can, the net is closing in.

[green job]

A guy I know,went over to Thailand,ran out of money,and got a job as a teacher, He came from South Africa and had a broad accent,and said

aye after every sentence, So explain to me how on earth can such people teach business English,or even normal day to day English.

All you teachers are taking the piss out of Thailand,and they are paying you. Well all I can say is stay on the gravy train as long as it runs

but from what i have heard it is running out.

[brewsterbudgen]

A guy I know,went over to Thailand,ran out of money,and got a job as a teacher, He came from South Africa and had a broad accent,and said

aye after every sentence, So explain to me how on earth can such people teach business English,or even normal day to day English.

All you teachers are taking the piss out of Thailand,and they are paying you. Well all I can say is stay on the gravy train as long as it runs

but from what i have heard it is running out.

This thread is about the Thai Culture, or Thainess, course for teachers and not about your views on teaching in Thailand which you quite obviously know very little about. Why not just start your own thread instead of hijacking this one?

[GanDoonToonPet]

It makes me laugh when non-teachers pontificate from personal incredulity, proudly asserting that 'you have to speak the local language in order to teach EFL'. Having never trained as TEFL teachers, they can confidently state how it should be done.

There are 3 aspects of language that need to be taught - Meaning, Form & Pronunciation. Meaning is given through context which only an NES can convey, especially at the higher levels where there are many subtleties.

Form (grammar) is just a system of logic so can be taught by anyone who has a grasp of the system.

Pronunciation can be taught via pictures, gestures (at tug of the shirt) & 'realia', a word CELTA trainers seem to have invented.

I found the comment about NES, who couldn't speak the local language, teaching primary very amusing. How hard is it to hold up a banana or a flashcard with the number 1 on it, then have the students repeat it?

I suppose this will go over their heads, as I suspect they think they're experts on everything they've never learnt or done..

EDIT: Sorry Brewster, didn't see your post. Good call. .

Edited February 21, 2015 by GanDoonToonPet

[brewsterbudgen]

It makes me laugh when non-teachers pontificate from personal incredulity, proudly asserting that 'you have to speak the local language in order to teach EFL'. Having never trained as TEFL teachers, they can confidently state how it should be done.

There are 3 aspects of language that need to be taught - Meaning, Form & Pronunciation. Meaning is given through context which only an NES can convey, especially at the higher levels where there are many subtleties.

Form (grammar) is just a system of logic so can be taught by anyone who has a grasp of the system.

Pronunciation can be taught via pictures, gestures (at tug of the shirt) & 'realia', a word CELTA trainers seem to have invented.

I found the comment about NES, who couldn't speak the local language, teaching primary very amusing. How hard is it to hold up a banana or a flashcard with the number 1 on it, then have the students repeat it?

I suppose this will go over their heads, as I suspect they think they're experts on everything they've never learnt or done..

EDIT: Sorry Brewster, didn't see your post. Good call. .

To be fair, I think Green Job is just a wind-up merchant who's having some "fun" (I guess you could call it "trolling"!). But it's shame that a useful thread is being hijacked. Usually the TV mods reign it in.

[green job]

You are now really on your back feet both of you,,,,,You have been exposed. As English teachers in Thailand China Indonesia or Timbuktu.

You must Speak Read and Write the lokal lingo Period. You Both know this,and also know that you are taking the piss out of the schools in Thailand

English teaching in Thailand has been the last resort for people to stay on in the Kingdom ( in other words get a extension without much trouble )

The Tesol certificate is a joke,online is a fast.

In the next year or two,all will change. answer to brewmaster and gandoontoonpet

[green job]

It makes me laugh when non-teachers pontificate from personal incredulity, proudly asserting that 'you have to speak the local language in order to teach EFL'. Having never trained as TEFL teachers, they can confidently state how it should be done.

There are 3 aspects of language that need to be taught - Meaning, Form & Pronunciation. Meaning is given through context which only an NES can convey, especially at the higher levels where there are many subtleties.

Form (grammar) is just a system of logic so can be taught by anyone who has a grasp of the system.

Pronunciation can be taught via pictures, gestures (at tug of the shirt) & 'realia', a word CELTA trainers seem to have invented.

I found the comment about NES, who couldn't speak the local language, teaching primary very amusing. How hard is it to hold up a banana or a flashcard with the number 1 on it, then have the students repeat it?

I suppose this will go over their heads, as I suspect they think they're experts on everything they've never learnt or done..

EDIT: Sorry Brewster, didn't see your post. Good call. .

To be fair, I think Green Job is just a wind-up merchant who's having some "fun" (I guess you could call it "trolling"!). But it's shame that a useful thread is being hijacked. Usually the TV mods reign it in.

No old chap,I am not a troll. I feel very pissed of about the class of English teachers in Thailand,As I have a son attending a school over there.

The standard of English teaching is atrocious, And not Cheap.

But the school has assured us that things are about to change.

[GanDoonToonPet]

To be fair, I think Green Job is just a wind-up merchant who's having some "fun" (I guess you could call it "trolling"!). But it's shame that a useful thread is being hijacked. Usually the TV mods reign it in.

Agreed. I'll post my information again, for the last time, to see if it generates some normal responses.

There have been articles published on this since the beginning of last year & the TCT have been directly informing waiver / licence applicants about it for over 6 months. I myself was told directly by a TCT rep, in July of last year, not to take the culture course unless I was going to apply for the licence within 3 months. The reason given was that there would be a new 40hr course introduced which would invalidate all previous 20hr courses.

The new course has now been confirmed by the MoE, in the minutes of conference 1/2558

2) Profession teaching licenses for foreigners:

This includes foreigners who have degrees in subjects other than teaching and who passed teaching profession subjects with at least 24 credits from educational institutes that were certified by the Teacher's Council or from higher education institutes whose academic standing was approved by governmental or the relevant professional organizations in each country. The training takes 21 hours and includes 15 hours of Language and Cultural Studies and 6 hours of Law.

3) Foreigners who have degrees in other fields and have teaching licenses from foreign countries must pass a 42 -hour training course (Languages and Cultural Studies for 15 hours, Law for 6 hours, Thailand's education management concept for 3 hours, educational testing and assessment for 9 hours, and the psychology of learning for 9 hours)...

5) Access to the teaching profession for foreign teachers:

- Requests for temporary unlicensed membership of the teaching profession for those who do not have the knowledge or the professional experience required by the Teacher's Council. This permission is for two years per request and cannot be extended for more than six consecutive years.

- Requests to register applications for teaching profession licenses. Applicants have to meet the following qualifications:

- Age not over 20 years old

- Have degrees in educational fields or equivalent, or other qualifications that have been certified by the Teacher's Council, or degrees in other fields but with professional teaching licenses from foreign countries, or certificates in the field of education (study period must be more than one year), or degrees in other fields.

- Have at least 24 credits from studying education-related subjects in educational institutes certified by the Teacher's Council or from higher education institutes that were approved for academic standing from governmental or the relevant professional organizations in those countries.

- Have passed teaching practice in educational institutes of at least one year, according to the criteria and procedures defined by the Teacher's Council.

- have achieved the results in the Language Test for Communication required by the Teacher's Council.

- Have a work permit

- Have passed the 42-hour training course defined by the Teacher's Council.

http://www.en.moe.go.th/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2503:moe-conference-no12558&catid=1:news&Itemid=42

Sorry to burst people's bubbles but K-12 teachers still need a GradDipT or higher, in addition to this new course, to qualify for the Teacher's Licence.

[GanDoonToonPet]

I forgot (again) to give credit to the original source of this information - Stamp from the Thailand Teaching Asia forum:

http://www.thailandteaching.asia/forum/

[The manic]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

[brewsterbudgen]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

Over to you Green Job...

[barry553]

It makes me laugh when non-teachers pontificate from personal incredulity, proudly asserting that 'you have to speak the local language in order to teach EFL'. Having never trained as TEFL teachers, they can confidently state how it should be done.

There are 3 aspects of language that need to be taught - Meaning, Form & Pronunciation. Meaning is given through context which only an NES can convey, especially at the higher levels where there are many subtleties.

Form (grammar) is just a system of logic so can be taught by anyone who has a grasp of the system.

Pronunciation can be taught via pictures, gestures (at tug of the shirt) & 'realia', a word CELTA trainers seem to have invented.

I found the comment about NES, who couldn't speak the local language, teaching primary very amusing. How hard is it to hold up a banana or a flashcard with the number 1 on it, then have the students repeat it?

I suppose this will go over their heads, as I suspect they think they're experts on everything they've never learnt or done..

EDIT: Sorry Brewster, didn't see your post. Good call. .

To be fair, I think Green Job is just a wind-up merchant who's having some "fun" (I guess you could call it "trolling"!). But it's shame that a useful thread is being hijacked. Usually the TV mods reign it in.

No old chap,I am not a troll. I feel very pissed of about the class of English teachers in Thailand,As I have a son attending a school over there.

The standard of English teaching is atrocious, And not Cheap.

But the school has assured us that things are about to change.

The standard of English teaching is atrocious? Maybe. But in my experience the Thais are largely to blame for their poor standards of education. Usually the foreign teachers have to contend with chronically distracted kids who have been brought up in this bizarre culture. They often have to resort to poor standards or focus on entertainment at the expense of real learning because the kids (collectively) are incapable of concentrating.

[micmichd]

The kind of courses you held were probably so boring that no Thai kid found it worth to concentrate.

Don't blame your pedagogical incompetence on Thai kids, please.

[barry553]

The kind of courses you held were probably so boring that no Thai kid found it worth to concentrate.

Don't blame your pedagogical incompetence on Thai kids, please.

Whereas you are just completely ignorant and rather boring yourself...

[barry553]

The kind of courses you held were probably so boring that no Thai kid found it worth to concentrate.

Don't blame your pedagogical incompetence on Thai kids, please.

Whereas you are just completely ignorant and rather boring yourself...

[micmichd]

Mai pen rai, if you think you think so

[green job]

It makes me laugh when non-teachers pontificate from personal incredulity, proudly asserting that 'you have to speak the local language in order to teach EFL'. Having never trained as TEFL teachers, they can confidently state how it should be done.

There are 3 aspects of language that need to be taught - Meaning, Form & Pronunciation. Meaning is given through context which only an NES can convey, especially at the higher levels where there are many subtleties.

Form (grammar) is just a system of logic so can be taught by anyone who has a grasp of the system.

Pronunciation can be taught via pictures, gestures (at tug of the shirt) & 'realia', a word CELTA trainers seem to have invented.

I found the comment about NES, who couldn't speak the local language, teaching primary very amusing. How hard is it to hold up a banana or a flashcard with the number 1 on it, then have the students repeat it?

I suppose this will go over their heads, as I suspect they think they're experts on everything they've never learnt or done..

EDIT: Sorry Brewster, didn't see your post. Good call. .

To be fair, I think Green Job is just a wind-up merchant who's having some "fun" (I guess you could call it "trolling"!). But it's shame that a useful thread is being hijacked. Usually the TV mods reign it in.

No old chap,I am not a troll. I feel very pissed of about the class of English teachers in Thailand,As I have a son attending a school over there.

The standard of English teaching is atrocious, And not Cheap.

But the school has assured us that things are about to change.

The standard of English teaching is atrocious? Maybe. But in my experience the Thais are largely to blame for their poor standards of education. Usually the foreign teachers have to contend with chronically distracted kids who have been brought up in this bizarre culture. They often have to resort to poor standards or focus on entertainment at the expense of real learning because the kids (collectively) are incapable of concentrating.

So there we have it......... If you are unable to get the student to concentrate,you are in the wrong job. In the UK you would be out on your ass.

[green job]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

Over to you Green Job...

Well they are wrong..

[The manic]

Long distance dead beat dads have little of worth to offer their kids least of all their demonstrable ignorance of contemporary successful ELT methodologies. Nor do some deluded posters here seem to understand that 30000 baht is not a gravy train salary. It's a pittance.

[micmichd]

If your methodologies are so successful, then kob cun kap for teaching English to Thai kids so well

[Neeranam]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

Yet many EFL teacher who learn Thai want a Thai who speaks English

[Neeranam]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

I was an EFL teacher for 13 years and even still do a bit here and there. The ability to speak fluent Thai is a HUGE advantage in teaching English to Thais in many different learning places.

What message does it give to the students when the teacher can't even learn the language of his place of work.

I knew a teacher of 17 years here once not know the months of the year in Thai.

[cumgranosalum]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

I was an EFL teacher for 13 years and even still do a bit here and there. The ability to speak fluent Thai is a HUGE advantage in teaching English to Thais in many different learning places.

What message does it give to the students when the teacher can't even learn the language of his place of work.

I knew a teacher of 17 years here once not know the months of the year in Thai.

Sadly you don't seem to understand TEFL - there is a HUGE difference between knowing the language and using it in class. In many schools around the world you'd be dismissed if you continued that practice

[brewsterbudgen]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

I was an EFL teacher for 13 years and even still do a bit here and there. The ability to speak fluent Thai is a HUGE advantage in teaching English to Thais in many different learning places.

What message does it give to the students when the teacher can't even learn the language of his place of work.

I knew a teacher of 17 years here once not know the months of the year in Thai.

Sadly you don't seem to understand TEFL - there is a HUGE difference between knowing the language and using it in class. In many schools around the world you'd be dismissed if you continued that practice

Indeed. Any decent TEFL teacher using the 1st language of his students wouldn't last long in the places I've taught at.

[Neeranam]

EFL teachers are not required to use the local language. In fact it is considered to be an impediment to second language acquisition. They are required to demonstrate cultural sensitivity. Adult language learners will complain if an EFL teachers speaks the local language resulting in the teacher being warned and possibly fired.

I was an EFL teacher for 13 years and even still do a bit here and there. The ability to speak fluent Thai is a HUGE advantage in teaching English to Thais in many different learning places.

What message does it give to the students when the teacher can't even learn the language of his place of work.

I knew a teacher of 17 years here once not know the months of the year in Thai.

Sadly you don't seem to understand TEFL - there is a HUGE difference between knowing the language and using it in class. In many schools around the world you'd be dismissed if you continued that practice

Firstly, it is purely your perception that I don't understand TEFL and secondly - how would that be sad?

You misunderstood my point - I didn't mean speaking the Thai language a lot in an actual class.

One thing I did/do, for example, was/is to transcribe certain words on the whiteboard which helps students pronounce a certain word. This is a huge advantage as how many Thai students have you taught who know the international phonetic system.

Classroom management can be difficult at times and being able to get a clear message across to a bunch of 7 year olds is a huge advantage.

Dealing with parents or being able to speak to anyone is a huge benefit in marketing, arranging classes.

One reason I quit years TEFL years ago was due to the number of teachers, ,fresh with their mickey mouse TEFL certificate from Pattaya, thinking that they are some kinda language acquisition guru. Constantly going on about how never to speak Thai in class basically because none of them could.

Trust me, developing a good rapport with students is increased dramatically when they realize you took the time to learn their language.

Learning the language also means that you can understand the culture easier. I know some who learn many things about Thai culture but the understand nothing.

[The manic]

EFL teachers travel all round the world teaching in as many as 10 countries in their life. They are not expected to teach in those languages or speak those languages in class- ever. Over 60 years of intensive analysis of the language aquisiton process has not highlighted the need for teachers to speak the learners' native language. That is it green jobby. You are mindlessly repeating an assumed conventional wisdom but ignoring that facts based on exploration of countless bodies of research. You talk too much about that which you know nothing.

[green job]

EFL teachers travel all round the world teaching in as many as 10 countries in their life. They are not expected to teach in those languages or speak those languages in class- ever. Over 60 years of intensive analysis of the language aquisiton process has not highlighted the need for teachers to speak the learners' native language. That is it green jobby. You are mindlessly repeating an assumed conventional wisdom but ignoring that facts based on exploration of countless bodies of research. You talk too much about that which you know nothing.

Utter rubish, If that is true, I will eat my goddam hat! If you cant understand the local lingo,and talk to your employers and students and explain their mistakes in their lingo, you are a 3rd class teacher,and only worth 30 k bt a month Period .

[micmichd]

If you don't know Thai culture, you'd probably nod if you mean "yes"

[brewsterbudgen]

EFL teachers travel all round the world teaching in as many as 10 countries in their life. They are not expected to teach in those languages or speak those languages in class- ever. Over 60 years of intensive analysis of the language aquisiton process has not highlighted the need for teachers to speak the learners' native language. That is it green jobby. You are mindlessly repeating an assumed conventional wisdom but ignoring that facts based on exploration of countless bodies of research. You talk too much about that which you know nothing.

Utter rubish, If that is true, I will eat my goddam hat! If you cant understand the local lingo,and talk to your employers and students and explain their mistakes in their lingo, you are a 3rd class teacher,and only worth 30 k bt a month Period .

And here you are....

[stickylies]

farang no understand...