Thailand needs 4,000 English teachers

[smotherb]

As a matter of interest what is the Ministry of Education policy on non Thais teaching the Thai language and Thai subjects?

Must be possible and allowable for a non Thai to teach Thai as it seems as if the policy of allowing non native speakers of English and other languages to teach those languages irrespective of their countries of origin is allowable.

I must consult the local car mechanic about this pain I have in my ear.

No doubt his ability to diagnose a cars maladies extend to a humans maladies.

Well that would seem to be so if we use the same yardstick in applying ability to the teaching of English or any other language by non native speakers of those languages.

It is easier and cheaper to get Filipinos who are qualified to teach English than to get Westerners who are qualified to teach English--yeah, yeah, you can argue qualifications; but there are more Filipinos with education and English degrees willing to teach here.

You seem to have forgotten that English is a foreign language here in Thailand. Non-native speaking teachers teach foreign languages in countries all over the world. Why would they need only native English speakers here?.

English is an official language in the Philippines. Having Filipinos, whose school system teaches in English, especially at the university level, teach English here is not much of a logical jump.

You may say Filipinos have an accent. Have you ever heard the numerous accents originating in the UK or the US, or any other country in which English is the de facto language?

[Brer Fox]

Has anyone visited HCMC and mixed with English teachers drinking in district 1. Hanoi the same.

Basically rejects from their own country impersonating qualified teachers. Vietnam could copy Thailand's idea here.

Same in Hanoi for sure. Big-noting dropouts and alcoholics who gather amongst themselves p.ssing in each others pockets about how good they are. Most of them come from countries where English is not the native tongue meaning that they can barely speak English themselves let alone teach it. I am Australian and one time I used to speak with them. Not any more; apart from having to put up with their boorish behaviour I can barely understand them. I have personal experience via a Thai friend regarding Philippine teachers in Thailand and have heard excellent reports about their sincerity and earnestness. Certainly Vietnam could do much better than they do now and should look at recruiting people like these. Vietnamese students are very conscientious and most know English grammar very well. The problem is they cannot speak it. And that problem is further exacerbated when they get overpaid dumbass teachers from all over Europe with all sorts of accents trying to teach pronunciation.

[Transporter]

Is the Thai education system about to suffer the same mentality to hiring as the DIY shops? - It is better to have 200 staff who know nothing than 10 who know almost everything.

[amerasianex]

Ow boy even thought they try to do things correctly. Thailand hiring non native speaking Filipinos to teach English. Is about the dumbest idea i have ever heard of. And shows Thay cant do thing correctly. The effort and the need is there. But the answer is not Filipinos. Right direction wrong Teachers.....

[Scuba 1st]

heres one for you. Im 61 and am a working class boilermaker / welder working in construction. One day this type of work will get to hard to do, so what are the chances of getting this or any type of work in Thailand. I have a home in the Buriram district and will retire there in the future.

[nottocus]

Hopefully lots of those pedo western fake English teachers will be out of a job soon.

[Kannikapor88]

I hope no Filipinos will accept teaching jobs in CM ... They will be fleeced by Immigration ...

[Scott]

By and large, most reasonably good Thai English teachers can get work outside a school system and earn a lot more money and have a lot fewer hassles. The result is that many, many of the Thai English teachers are poor.

Of the Filipinos that I have worked with, and I would guess that is in the neighborhood of over 1,000 in the past 20 years, the majority of them had good English. There was a window in time when I think there were a lot of Filipinos that were sneaking through with less-than-genuine qualifications. A lot of that has been eliminated and more and more are coming with degrees in education.

For those that will be actually teaching English including grammar, they need to look at those who have an education degree with a major in English. We currently have two teaching English because the Thai Admin was unable to find a suitable Thai person to teach the subject. Both are quite good, although the Thai side complains about how they sometimes explain grammar. Of the Thai English teachers we have only one who teaches using English some of the time.

The earlier that Thailand starts introducing students to English the better. If that means using Filipinos, then so be it.

As nice as it would be to have native speakers, there is a dearth of reasonably well trained and qualified teachers in Thailand. Accents are accents and everybody has one.

[toenail]

-- Great, the Thais will all have an English Filipino accent... and learn how to be opportunist every time there is a chance

[AyG]

-- Great, the Thais will all have an English Filipino accent

I think that rather overstates the influence that teachers have upon the pronunciation of their students.

For the most part, pronunciation is limited by the sounds the students have learned as a child. I have yet to encounter someone brought up in Thailand who can correctly pronounce words such as "time", "lime", "slime", or "grime" correctly.

[saakura]

heres one for you. Im 61 and am a working class boilermaker / welder working in construction. One day this type of work will get to hard to do, so what are the chances of getting this or any type of work in Thailand. I have a home in the Buriram district and will retire there in the future.

Hey Scuba, retired boilermaker/welder? No problems at all. As long as you have white skin, you can pick your choice of an uneducated and impoverished young bride and a poorly paid english teaching job in Buriram. The poor uneducated will look upon you as a hero and messiah who will enhance their social and economic status. The rich will snub you and look down upon you as an outcast from your own country.

Then in due course of time, you can join in the thai bashing on TV.

[sawadee1947]

I've been to Philippines a few times and never had problems with their English abilities. I also like their accent (and EVERYONE speaks with an accent). Recall staying in Vietnam, got to be friends with desk manager. He said to me one time "I think I speak English pretty well, but when Mr. X speaks, I can't understand him". I told him not to worry, I couldn't understand him either (Mr. X spoke Cockney). I'm an American, btw. Recall BBC report stating now more people speak English as second language then those who speak it as first. Only to be expected that Taglish, Japlish, Singlish etc would evolve. Philippines part of ASEAN, so perhaps some advantage in learning their style of English. UK and USA not part of ASEAN, last time I looked...

I agree with you. For me it makes sense to employ some Philippine teachers who will teach BBC English with the right grammar than some Native Speakers from UK , AUS or US with their slang which nobody except themselves can understand.(Scots,Outback,texan)

As OP said before: I don't want my kids using words as Lad and Lassie

[alphaflight]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

Sure they are!

[Torrens54]

They are JOKING....aren't they ?

[John1012]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

I think the Philippino English teachers would make an excellent contribution to Thailand. They often speak better English than SOME or the expats from native English speaking countries.

Have conversations here with UK teachers here in los and depending where they are from....I can hardly understand them.

You can hardly understand them because you can't be bothered!

By the way Filipino not Philipino

If they spoke standard English (what used to be call 'the Queens English') then there would be no problem, but some reagional dialects in England are very difficult to understand without practice, and the accent and diction from these speakers will not enhance their ability to teach spoken English. It is not a question of bothering to understand, it's NOT English , it's a reagional version of the language and should not be used to teach English. If you want to teach English, first learn to speak standard English.

[casualbiker]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

I think the Philippino English teachers would make an excellent contribution to Thailand. They often speak better English than SOME or the expats from native English speaking countries.

Have conversations here with UK teachers here in los and depending where they are from....I can hardly understand them.

You can hardly understand them because you can't be bothered!

By the way Filipino not Philipino

If they spoke standard English (what used to be call 'the Queens English') then there would be no problem, but some reagional dialects in England are very difficult to understand without practice, and the accent and diction from these speakers will not enhance their ability to teach spoken English. It is not a question of bothering to understand, it's NOT English , it's a reagional version of the language and should not be used to teach English. If you want to teach English, first learn to speak standard English.

And Filipinos speak "standard" English?

It's not just the accent or pronunciation, it's understanding English in the context it's spoken and used. Many Filipinos don't use English in their daily lives and don't fully understand it's use.. Obviously not all but certainly the vast majority I've interacted with. For grammar etc the make great teachers (but then so do the Thais)

It's going to happen but please don't think that they are near native speakers. The majority are not!

[robertthebruce]

Filipinos accents are Cringeworthy....

[Sviss Geez]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

But not near enough.

[darren84310]

Whilst there are a few good Filipino teachers around, most of them are horrendous.

About time the Thai people woke up and realised that they are being farmed off with sub-standards, whilst the powers that be are creaming the system for personal benefit. At the same time some Thais are paying for private education to make up for the poor education their children receive at school as a result of corruption. It makes you wonder if they realise the irony of it all.

For example:

They could pay 4,000 native speakers 50,000 baht per month for 25 years for around the same amount wasted on the infamous Rice Pledging Scheme.

Yeah, or using that money to hire 12,000 qualified teachers from the Philippines. See what I did there?

Qualified in what?... The Philippines is somewhat similar to Thailand as in that degrees can easily be bought.... I've heard as much from the horses mouth.

[casualbiker]

Whilst there are a few good Filipino teachers around, most of them are horrendous.

About time the Thai people woke up and realised that they are being farmed off with sub-standards, whilst the powers that be are creaming the system for personal benefit. At the same time some Thais are paying for private education to make up for the poor education their children receive at school as a result of corruption. It makes you wonder if they realise the irony of it all.

For example:

They could pay 4,000 native speakers 50,000 baht per month for 25 years for around the same amount wasted on the infamous Rice Pledging Scheme.

Yeah, or using that money to hire 12,000 qualified teachers from the Philippines. See what I did there?

Qualified in what?... The Philippines is somewhat similar to Thailand as in that degrees can easily be bought.... I've heard as much from the horses mouth.

Even when not bought they can be amazingly cheap. A four year Bachelors in Elementary Education from The Polytechnic university of the Philippines only costs the equivalent of 10,000 Thai baht for the whole 4 years!

Actually revise that.. They can get it free!

http://www.finduniversity.ph/search.aspx?sch=1&ca=6&dlev=UnderGraduate&orderby=TuitionFeesBachelors

Edited September 1, 2015 by casualbiker

[aarontendo]

Whilst there are a few good Filipino teachers around, most of them are horrendous.

About time the Thai people woke up and realised that they are being farmed off with sub-standards, whilst the powers that be are creaming the system for personal benefit. At the same time some Thais are paying for private education to make up for the poor education their children receive at school as a result of corruption. It makes you wonder if they realise the irony of it all.

For example:

They could pay 4,000 native speakers 50,000 baht per month for 25 years for around the same amount wasted on the infamous Rice Pledging Scheme.

Yeah, or using that money to hire 12,000 qualified teachers from the Philippines. See what I did there?

Qualified in what?... The Philippines is somewhat similar to Thailand as in that degrees can easily be bought.... I've heard as much from the horses mouth.

Qualified as in having a teaching license from their country for starters. Something that 99% of the native teachers here don't have. Or having a bachelors degree (in any subject), something of which a significant number of native teachers here don't have. I'd spitball a figure being at least a third of the teachers, but that's just a guess.

We can argue rigor all day long, the point is that a significant number of people here don't have *any* qualifications. Furthermore, and once more this bears repeating, the Filipinos come at a cheaper price. So, considering a cheaper price and an actual teaching qualification, is it any surprise that they'll bring more of em here? Now of course many schools, if they can afford to, will continue to want native teachers. This is fine but it's out of reach of many schools when you look at it from a cost perspective. I won't get into the issues of corruption or skimming by directors, because, well, Thailand. What can be done on that front, right?

[gerryBScot]

The fact that there is such an acute teacher shortage in Thailand is the issue. Importing even more filipino teachers may provide a partial solution equivalent to filling gaps but it hardly addresses the problems that have led to the shortage in the first place. Bringing in more filipinos is attractive because they are cheap and unlikely to dig their heels in. The one thing no one wants here in Thailand is a debate or a consultation process - the equivalent of a commission on education is long over due. I don't doubt the general has been in consultation with the private sector. Many of the schools in this sector would love to replace their established and expensive NES teachers with NNES imports. The parents won't wear this right now because many of them want their children to be educated by NES, preferably white. Let me add I disapprove of this but this is how it is here. It will be easier to ease out the core of good quality NES teachers if the market is flooded by more imports. Sadly it is not going to change a damn thing - the downward spiral will continue along its merry way...

Edited September 1, 2015 by gerryBScot

[metisdead]

An offensive post has been removed as well as the replies.

[Denim]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

Is they ? Well ........ fancy that.

[BaldPlumber]

Quote epic failure by me.

Edited September 2, 2015 by BaldPlumber

[Scott]

More off-topic posts and replies removed.

[MRDave]

In my experience, the Indians are just as easy to understand, and will work for the same bag of peanuts, but you don't see them mentioned much. Is it the turbans, the body odor, or something less subtle? The Spaniards were in the Philippines four times longer than the US; India only had the Brits.

You obviously don't have the experience of using an Indian call centre. The Thais are trying to do this on the cheap so they can pocket even more money! But as the saying goes if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Edited September 2, 2015 by MRDave

[MRDave]

The fact that there is such an acute teacher shortage in Thailand is the issue. Importing even more filipino teachers may provide a partial solution equivalent to filling gaps but it hardly addresses the problems that have led to the shortage in the first place. Bringing in more filipinos is attractive because they are cheap and unlikely to dig their heels in. The one thing no one wants here in Thailand is a debate or a consultation process - the equivalent of a commission on education is long over due. I don't doubt the general has been in consultation with the private sector. Many of the schools in this sector would love to replace their established and expensive NES teachers with NNES imports. The parents won't wear this right now because many of them want their children to be educated by NES, preferably white. Let me add I disapprove of this but this is how it is here. It will be easier to ease out the core of good quality NES teachers if the market is flooded by more imports. Sadly it is not going to change a damn thing - the downward spiral will continue along its merry way...

One of the main reason's for the shortage of teachers is that people who study for a 3 or 4 year degree and then do a Celta or Tefl do not want to work for 30.000 baht per month and I don't blame them.

There are so many better places to work in terms of pay and career development. Thailand has counted on the fact that a lot of teachers go to Thailand because of the nightlife. Well 30.000 baht a month wont buy you much nightlife nowadays and if your going to be stuck in your apartment drinking Leo into the small hours you may as well be somewhere else like China or Korea. Even Vietnam would give the average teacher a better standard of living.

[bangmai]

My next teaching job will likely be in China. Thailand will still be my home base, and I will maintain my retirement visa, here, but haven't been close to being tempted enough to change my visa to work here, as if they would even care.

[Mencken]

Philippinos are nearly english native speakers..more than half of their school programs is taught in english

The accent is atricious and the last thing any Asian shouls want is to be taken for a broke.ass Philippino.

I knew this was coming years ago. But it begs another question, why in 2015 dies Thsiland not have far more teachers with English abilities.