British graduates to help students in 45 Thai provinces speak better English

[MaxYakov]

Thailand need look no further than their native speaking English expat community if they want to find teachers. Many retired farang would be only to happy to volunteer to assist in classes. It need not need just be English as there is a wealth of expertise and experience out there just waiting to be tapped.

Most of them are too focused (obsessed) with tapping our wealth than picking our brains.

Edited July 6, 2015 by MaxYakov

[MaxYakov]

The schools will take pictures of the classes and declare the program a success.

PS: The best way for Thai students to learn English is to send them to the UK.

Best way to give them PTSD, maybe.

[quandow]

Thailand need look no further than their native speaking English expat community if they want to find teachers. Many retired farang would be only to happy to volunteer to assist in classes. It need not need just be English as there is a wealth of expertise and experience out there just waiting to be tapped.

The problem here is the administrators need to feel control. Volunteers are loose cannons and can't be controlled through fear of dismissal. I even tried volunteering at The Father Ray Foundation and was denied because the Thai teachers were jealous because the students would like us more - they told me this right to my face!

Hubris, jealousy, inability to embrace critical thinking - these cultural characteristics are bringing Thailand to its knees.

[lildragon]

English in schools needs a dramatic over haul if Thailand is to catch up with its neighbors in the level of English fluency. The Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore have little issues with English (ok, it could be argued they had a 'head' start) but I have also found the level of English in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam to be slightly better. Laos is like here and I can't comment on Myanmar and Brunei.

For so much of my career here I have basically been paid to be a white face in the classrooms. It seems most schools are not interested in actually gathering together good tools and resources for teaching English, they'd rather make it appear that English is being taught by having foreign staff.

There are more issues. The no fail system, endless shows and award ceremonies cutting into class time. Not to mention forever changing obstacles for people actually wanting to teach here. It's a mess and Thailand will continue to lag behind its neighbors until they have a drastic overhaul. That hasn't happened in 6 years of me teaching here so I won't hold my breath on that happening even after ASEAN is fully formed.

[allan michaud]

So a few students in 2 schools in ach of the provinces will recieve assistance. That's really going to have a big impact. Pathetic but I guess better than nothing. I hope they picked students that actually wanted to learn English because the average Thai student seems to have little or no interest.

[TEFLKrabi]

I flew over with a load of these guys last year. They're not trained teachers but very enthusiastic young people looking for a fun time and to experience a new culture. What is does is to give some Thai students more exposure to English and that can't be bad. When the Thai kids meet young English people they can relate as they are closer in age and enjoy the same things. Maybe, just maybe, that will enthuse more people to want to learn. If only 10% of the students change their attitude and really start learning because of this programme, I would consider it a success.

[DLang]

Would of thought they would be best learning chinese lol.

Would have.....

The article is trumped up marketing. Some people are making nice money off this, no doubt.

A 9 week program.... wow.

Allow native speakers, with a TEFL cert and police clearance cert. teach in local schools and get a simple Visa Extension allowing them to stay here as long as they are teaching, no visa runs, no nonsense, even paying peanuts the kids would have native speakers speaking with them everyday.

Now that would be productive.

[tx22cb]

Meanwhile, my daughter was just offered an English teaching job at a salary that's over 40% less than other NES teachers because, in the words of the interviewer, she's "not a real farang".

This is despite having British citizenship, being educated overseas in the Britsh system and spending the first 24 years of her life outside of Thailand.

That's sad to hear, and discrimatory. If her formative years were all spent overseas in international schools, she'd probably make a better English teacher for Thai children, as her English would be perfect and she can speak some Thai.

[BigBadGeordie]

When I was at school, my French teacher was a French native, my German teacher was a German native.

However I had no such luck with the teachers in my Latin and Ancient Greek classes.

[Pimay1]

I expect few if any of these graduates speak any Thai. They are not going to be able to rely on the local English teachers to translate so how is this lofty goal going to be accomplished?

[scorecard]

Wow! Are they really putting a spin on this article. Thailand is allowing recent British graduates to teach with no pay in Thailand.

Thai students are not inferior to those of other countries heeeheee.

And they actually this this will give motivation and enthusiasm for learning english. This whole article reeks.

I can't see any reference to 'no pay' in the article.

[mmh8]

learn how to say hello my name is, i come from ? i want to be? I am then English teachers leave. no different to any other tefl teachers.

this will have no impact on teaching in the country, but some ,may be getting a nice holiday type experience.

the government will be able to say it is taking steps of becoming the hub of all hub teachers.

[mmh8]

Meanwhile, my daughter was just offered an English teaching job at a salary that's over 40% less than other NES teachers because, in the words of the interviewer, she's "not a real farang".

This is despite having British citizenship, being educated overseas in the Britsh system and spending the first 24 years of her life outside of Thailand.

That's sad to hear, and discrimatory. If her formative years were all spent overseas in international schools, she'd probably make a better English teacher for Thai children, as her English would be perfect and she can speak some Thai.

yeah I'd agree with that, and hope your daughter took herself to a better potential employer after ticking this one off the list

[sawadee1947]

wow, 9 weeks. Sure after that long time they speak fluently English.

Similar to the Government program some month ago for officers: 15 HOURS English lessons. Amazing!

[scorecard]

Why not have a continuous program of say 1000 English teaching graduates each year. Yes English people from the UK.

Pay for their flights and pay them a reasonable wage. About 30k baht a month. This could benefit both peoples. English programs here would see a huge boost here year on year out. The English students would gain experience which would help them in the years to come. The cost would be very small as part of the Thais education budget.. A proper program could then be implemented across the country.

Yes Americans could be involved too. The biggest problem I see is the ever changing teachers of English in the classrooms. No set programs etc. Stability would help.

In other words, a properly structured program which has the needed resources including the specific required qualifications, and works within some agreed and clear goals, standards, and boundaries.

And all of the above operating on a full time basis basically forever and accepted as one of the permanent elements of the overall curriculum, not a once a year splurge.

And perhaps this could mean, in terms of qualified resources, a 'top-up' of teachers from an annual contingent organized by The British Council and similar, but requiring that the contingent members; must have some prior training in teaching English as a second language and the whole thing must fill a quite specific slot in the whole English teaching / learning structure.

And for the activity about to happen, is The British Council, or some other suitable body preparing any guidelines in terms of what functions of English to focus on, specific areas for vocabulary building, teaching hints, student handouts, etc?

By the way, I noted from the OP "............... director of the Education Ministry's bureau of international cooperation."

Anybody ever heard of this office or it's activities or it's track record?

[graemeaylward]

"The programme aims to build up motivation through new styles of teaching. The students can enjoy classes while learning. "

Now that really would be something, students enjoying classes! Perhaps the new-style of learning actually involves the students, allowing them to participate and actually ask questions!

-- The Nation 2015-07-06

[BigBadGeordie]

Wow! Are they really putting a spin on this article. Thailand is allowing recent British graduates to teach with no pay in Thailand.

Thai students are not inferior to those of other countries heeeheee.

And they actually this this will give motivation and enthusiasm for learning english. This whole article reeks.

I can't see any reference to 'no pay' in the article.

Please see http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/teach/our-work/language-assistants-thailand

You will need to cover:

TET placement fee: 250 GBP for one-term placements

return airfares UK-Thailand-UK

cost of Thai visa

travel to UK pre-departure briefing

travel and medical insurance

vaccinations

cost of DBS (criminal record check) in the UK

In return,

you will be provided with:British Council training programme to prepare you for your role

orientation programme in Bangkok with accommodation

transport between Bangkok and your workplace at the start/end of contract

accommodation at or near your workplace

lunch during school days

a monthly allowance to offset your costs in Thailand

[scorecard]

wow, 9 weeks. Sure after that long time they speak fluently English.

Similar to the Government program some month ago for officers: 15 HOURS English lessons. Amazing!

Another example, many years back one of the main stream Thai banks asked one of the better language schools to conduct a 20 hour course, 2 X 1 hour lessons a week for about 20 senior bank staff who had been selected to attend an international banking conference abroad. None of the participants had any English skills at all.

The brief from the bank: 'We don't want them to learn real English, just teach them many sentences so they can converse with other people at cocktail receptions etc., and talk about world events'.

The language school responded with 'sorry we can't help you, we're too busy'.

Edited July 6, 2015 by scorecard

[scorecard]

Wow! Are they really putting a spin on this article. Thailand is allowing recent British graduates to teach with no pay in Thailand.

Thai students are not inferior to those of other countries heeeheee.

And they actually this this will give motivation and enthusiasm for learning english. This whole article reeks.

I can't see any reference to 'no pay' in the article.

Please see http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/teach/our-work/language-assistants-thailand

You will need to cover:

TET placement fee: 250 GBP for one-term placements

return airfares UK-Thailand-UK

cost of Thai visa

travel to UK pre-departure briefing

travel and medical insurance

vaccinations

cost of DBS (criminal record check) in the UK

In return,

you will be provided with:British Council training programme to prepare you for your role

orientation programme in Bangkok with accommodation

transport between Bangkok and your workplace at the start/end of contract

accommodation at or near your workplace

lunch during school days

a monthly allowance to offset your costs in Thailand

Thank you.

[thesetat2013]

Local schools employ Russians,Ukranians, folk from Cameroon and Filipinos to teach Thais English

Ask yourselves Why and then answer and you understand how important learning English is here in Thailand.

Also parents pay alot more for mini English programme because teachers are native speakers - Yes native speakers from Moscow and Kiev

Spot the deliberate mistake - oh no it is c*********

it is not where they are from that is important. It is color of skin and hair and appearances which motivate the schools to hire you. If anyone were to ask which country has native speakers, nobody could answer you. If a parent looked in on a class with a russian teacher, they would not know the teacher mispronounced every word.

[NongKhaiKid]

"The programme aims to build up motivation through new styles of teaching. The students can enjoy classes while learning. "

Now that really would be something, students enjoying classes! Perhaps the new-style of learning actually involves the students, allowing them to participate and actually ask questions!

-- The Nation 2015-07-06

I'm sure the average Thai ' English ' teacher involved with he programme will ensure their authority in class isn't usurped in any way and that there's no lasting ' adverse ' ideas passed on by the native speakers.

For their part the graduates will have to ' trust ' their input is faithfully translated which for several reasons is unlikely.

[watso63]

Wow! Are they really putting a spin on this article. Thailand is allowing recent British graduates to teach with no pay in Thailand.

Thai students are not inferior to those of other countries heeeheee.

And they actually this this will give motivation and enthusiasm for learning english. This whole article reeks.

I can't see any reference to 'no pay' in the article.

Please see http://www.britishcouncil.or.th/en/teach/our-work/language-assistants-thailand

You will need to cover:

TET placement fee: 250 GBP for one-term placements

return airfares UK-Thailand-UK

cost of Thai visa

travel to UK pre-departure briefing

travel and medical insurance

vaccinations

cost of DBS (criminal record check) in the UK

In return,

you will be provided with:British Council training programme to prepare you for your role

orientation programme in Bangkok with accommodation

transport between Bangkok and your workplace at the start/end of contract

accommodation at or near your workplace

lunch during school days

a monthly allowance to offset your costs in Thailand

Sounds like rich kids with bank of mummy and daddy's support only, need apply

[Suradit69]

Wow! Are they really putting a spin on this article. Thailand is allowing recent British graduates to teach with no pay in Thailand.

Thai students are not inferior to those of other countries heeeheee.

And they actually this this will give motivation and enthusiasm for learning english. This whole article reeks.

9 weeks holiday for some Brits whose command of English, let alone ability to teach it in any meaningful way, is probably dubious at best. I wonder if any pre and post measurement of language skills will be done or published.

Probably English language colloquial vocabulary was enhanced more effectively for Thai students by the visit of the Leicester football players.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Suradit69

[kaiyaibob]

Typical Englash Program (thx to IK TiT)

Edited July 6, 2015 by kaiyaibob

[wabothai]

Seems to me start with the teachers.

And i hope they will teach English spoken around the world like American English.

Many times it is difficult to understand English with its many accents spoken. Kind of like Australian accent.

In my eyes the international English is American English.

Sorry folks !!

[xisa]

Offence:
Working without a work permit in Thailand

Punishment:
Imprisonment for up to 5 years
Fine ranging from 2,000 Baht to 100,000 Baht
Deportation
Blacklisting

[xisa]

In return,you will be provided with:

British Council training programme to prepare you for your role

orientation programme in Bangkok with accommodation

transport between Bangkok and your workplace at the start/end of contract

accommodation at or near your workplace

lunch during school days

a monthly allowance to offset your costs in Thailand

It'd be nice if the hundreds of workers were provided with work permits to avoid the previously delineated punishments.

[JAG]

When I was at school, my French teacher was a French native, my German teacher was a German native.

However I had no such luck with the teachers in my Latin and Ancient Greek classes.

Well old "Pop Willett" (God rest his soul) who started me on Latin was rumoured to have met Julius Caesar!

[harrry]

Local schools employ Russians,Ukranians, folk from Cameroon and Filipinos to teach Thais English

Ask yourselves Why and then answer and you understand how important learning English is here in Thailand.

Also parents pay alot more for mini English programme because teachers are native speakers - Yes native speakers from Moscow and Kiev

Spot the deliberate mistake - oh no it is c*********

it is not where they are from that is important. It is color of skin and hair and appearances which motivate the schools to hire you. If anyone were to ask which country has native speakers, nobody could answer you. If a parent looked in on a class with a russian teacher, they would not know the teacher mispronounced every word.

My niece goes to a school with an English program. A very good one too. This term she had a Science teacher that no one could understand. It turns out he is french. It was claimed that he had a doctorate and had degrees from the UK. A little suspect for 35000 a year, Anyway he is leaving at the end of the month.

[JAG]

learn how to say hello my name is, i come from ? i want to be? I am then English teachers leave. no different to any other tefl teachers.

this will have no impact on teaching in the country, but some ,may be getting a nice holiday type experience.

the government will be able to say it is taking steps of becoming the hub of all hub teachers.

Your post would have a "tad" more impact if it were written in better English!