Thai officials to slash number of foreign English teachers

[yellowboat]

It just means parents will have to pay privately for decent English tuition. What about Chinese or Bhasa Indonesia teachers ? What other important languages are there to mastered and then taught in Thailand ?

[oneday]

I guess they want to rank at the bottom of all ASEAN countries...par for the course.

[Phuketboy]

Yes, the Thai teacher stating to loose face.

So the only option for Thais is to eliminate the competition. Since this is thailand and no one is facing the music, what easier way to just kill the band.

Politics never cares about education only power. How to stay in power? Make the people happy. Promise them something .

Set the date in the near future. Aaaaaaaaaaand voilà you have nice obidient people how give a flying ? .

How do you keep control of the people? Easy, keep them from becoming too educated, block internet sites, cut funding or provide very little to education. If people don't know any better, it's easy to control them. Educated people will stand up and voice their opinions, they will ask questions and determine what's right and wrong, know their rights and fight for them. The government doesn't want and never has wanted this.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Phuketboy

[menzies233]

The standard of "Spoken English" by Thai teachers is a complete joke where I am - my son spoke better English at the age of 4!

You can see where this is going, they are slowly closing things down here for westerners and siding up with China, just wait for the changes in obtaining visas and extensions of stay, I predict that retirement extensions will soon be modified and require an increase in funds, probably not grandfathered.

The way this place is going it will soon be like a psuedo Buddhist / Animist North Korea.

I am convinced that because of the naming and shaming that goes on with Thailand over human rights, trafficking, murders, scams that they are losing so much face that they would rather close the country off entirely and live in their own little "Eutopia"

This by the way is a personal opinion, nothing more than that.

[Nip]

Just seen a report. Out of 43,000 Thai English teachers. Only 6 were fluent in English!

That many?

[schondie]

My wife does training seminars for other Thai English teachers and she knows most just of them are useless and lazy. They make no effort to improve their English.

You just couldn't make this sort of story up. I had to check the link and make sure it wasn't an article from The Onion.

[givenall]

Lunacy

I am Never surprise about the government actions. Always illogical and foolish

[shamrock09]

Frankly, you have hit the nail on the head! I believe Thailand still knows it needs help in this area. As of 1st January 2016 the ASEAN floodgates are supposedly opening. The Phillippines boasts that it is the second largest English speaking country in the world. Already Thailand employs scores of Phillipinos and Phillipinas as English teachers. Why not replace all the expensive farangs with far cheaper Philippinos? It saves a bucket of money, but the real question is does it solve Thailand's lack of English proficiency?

ASEAN countries, enjoy, no competition here!

[DM07]

So let me get this straight: they are taking the guys, who can actually speak English and replace them by guys, who can't ...really...at all, but who had a 6 week- crash course...and they expect things to improve!?

Yep...makes a lot of sense to me!

[ratcatcher]

This whole topic of foreign English teachers has been done to death over the last few years, every time some announcement is given birth from The Thai Ministry of Educachun.;

Thai teachers from my experience (somewhat limited) is that they are good at the grammar and teaching students to read and write English.

The foreign teachers are usually hired to assist the students with conversation which is, after all, the main means of communication among humans. Most Thai people who I have met are terrified of trying to have a basic conversation in English because they are afraid they will make a mistake. At school, they are not encouraged to say "I don't understand" That would imply a weakness on the part of the teacher.

We all laugh about bar girls and their slangy limited English, but there are a good many who have become very proficient in communicating beyond the usual "phrases" we all know. They learned from patrons of their establishments and listened and repeated.

Many on this forum have probably spent much time chatting to BGs and frankly with some of them, their English skills are far superior to people working in banks, supermarkets, dept. stores and most large offices.

Go into Central, Robinsons, Home pro, Do-Home, Tesco and find an English speaker. There are usually one or two, invariably stacking shelves.

English, for some nationalities, can be a confusing language to learn, what with all the different pronunciations etc.

Thais must find English as difficult as foreigners find learning Thai with all the subtle tonal differences.

Reducing the number of dodgy teachers is commendable, but hiring some really good quality native speakers who can engage in basic conversation with students, in small groups, to give them confidence, would be invaluable

[realenglish1]

Thais teaching Thais to speak English

This is the best laugh I have had in 3 years. How in god name can they teach English when it is not their mother tong .

Lunacy. Now they will introduce me to someone in the future that was schooled by these teachers and I have come across others schooled the same way and

to be honest they such in English Can read but their pronunciation is terrible

[kiwikeith]

Country nearly closed.

At least, the inhabitants of this country will not be able to communicate with the other persons living on the planet. Thus, they'll not be touched by "bad ideas".

They can learn english in bar.

One step forward and two steps backward.

[GAZZPA]

Only 6 teachers in 43,000 were able to speak English at a fluent, native standard!

How can they possibly think that this is a solution, Thailand is falling behind the rest of the world in this aspect so where they should be investing they want to cut costs. Whether people like it or not English is and will continue to be the International business language.

So, they want to train 500 teachers with people who speak English? Looks to be the case, how ironic will that be that the best people chosen to teach the teachers are from the English Council (I am assuming they will be native English speakers)

So, whilst everyone else is investing in this area, Thailand is cutting back..

Dear oh dear, was someone else using the official braincells the day this was decided. You could not make this up could you.

[godden]

me think not know we thai understand all english help us need no.

[reptile91602]

Finally I get people that are having problems accepting this government. I have a son at one fo the top international universities in Bangkok and he has to deal with many of the Thais teaching the classes at a college level and even though he is half Thai but speaks perfect English he can hardly understand what the hell they are saying at times. This is the funniest story I have heard all year in thailand and there have been some doozies.

[gleeglee]

Lunacy

just provided food for 10 weeks to a university doing a TOEFL seminar, for 300 future teachers, Our English Teacher did some of this training out of 300 student my English teacher informed me that 80% could not communicate in English so what were they doing on a TOEFL course and out of 300 only 3 took the TOEFL exam the other 297 did the Thai English test probably in Thai

[lovelomsak]

What difference does it make who fills the time in an english study class, the students donot bother to learn english be it an native english speaker a filipino or a thai. The teacher is not the problem the whole system is screwed. kids pass without learning a thing. Why pay high salaries for nothing.

My stepson is a prime example. the wife had him in classes to learn english when he was 4 years old. He studied english all through school at school and sometimes with tutors, He is now 21 and in university and cannot sat anything other than" hello" and does not understand one word I say when I talk english with him

Why should the schools waste money to turn out people like that. Let the Thai teacher baby sit the kids till they are out of the system and let it go at that.

Also if the kids get proficient in english they may start to get smarter from reading english articles on the web. Which will make it harder to keep them under the military's thumb.

[Denim]

When I taught English here a couple of decades ago at the AUA there were very few Native English language teachers here outside the big international schools and Embassy affiliated ones. English proficiency was very low...especially in the provinces.

Now , a couple of decades later with a native English teacher in most government schools ........ the situation is the same. Not much progress despite the large number of native teachers.

It is easy to place the onus on learning on the teacher , be they foreign or Thai , but in reality it will always be the student who has to make the effort and sadly Thais are not the most motivated students you could meet. Perhaps , never being colonized they can't quite grasp the real usefulness of a foreign language when their own horizons and aspirations are not especially high.

As far as I know , Thailand still does not have a well thought out national curriculum for English language study and so not everyone is reading from the same page ...so to speak. Schools often expect more progress than is reasonably possible given the large number of students per class. A solid foundation in the basics would be better rather than trying to attain any kind of higher fluency.

Until these fundamental necessities are tackled things are unlikely to improve regardless of how many native teachers you throw at the problem

[Emster23]

They should hire older bar girls, give them a "certificate of competency" for their on the job learning experiences. Would be a good transitional career move if they failed to land a sugar daddy.

[JHolmesJr]

Is that guy in the original pic a real farang english teacher? If so LOL.

He looks like a guy who's just here to shag thai women.

[NoshowJones]

Never met a Thai teacher yet that has above average English language proficiency! Sheer madness!

I have to say that I have met one or two Thai English teachers with above average English language proficiency.

I was an English teacher here for three years.

[chainarong]

Another bad decision from a third world thinking country, however APAC and ASEAN require good understandable English , it is doubtful if a Thai doing a crash course in English could in fluent English ask their way to a sh!!t house and that's where this plan belongs, in the dunny...............

[SPB65]

Moved my Thai daughter to UK this year. In terms of education and development it's the best thing we could have done for her. Thais teaching English is laughable. It's got nothing to do with education, more to do with budgets/profits.

[anon467367354]

After buying missiles they'll never use, no money to improve the level of education. Another thing they'll never use.

[StevieDee]

Just another very clear message that Thailand only wants 'tourists'. Their "arrogance to their ignorance" is the new Thainess and if allowed to develop at the rate it currently is will see the country implode. The foreign influence that helped get the country to where it is now, compared to only 30-40 years ago, has, by the look of it, served its purpose in their eyes. Knew this a while ago which is why this will be my 14th and last year here.

[Caitrin]

This is a pretty good idea. As if the British Council is doing the intensive 6 week training course I'd imagine that it'll be CELTA or similar that the Thai teachers are going through. Not only will it improve their English significantly, but it'll teach them how to teach more effectively.

As it's meant to be for the best English teachers at each school it'll likely be heads of department, or teachers who have the full support of the head of dept, and so they'll have the authority/status required to teach the other teachers.

"Slashing" the number of foreign teachers wouldn't be a good move at this stage, but long term that's where Thailand needs to head to. Also they didn't say if by foreign they meant NESs or non-NESs. As they need better Thai teachers, they can't rely on every school having foreign teachers, there simply aren't enough to go around, and so it just increases the inequality between the rich & poor schools.

My personal view is, and has been for a long time, that Thailand needs to spend money on teaching the teachers if they want to be successful. Foreign NES teachers are more expensive and often only stay teaching in Thailand for a few years. Comparatively Thai teachers start on less than half of the salary most foreigners are paid & can increase their ability over a career of 30-40 years, rather than just 1-5.

The current problem is though, that they start at such a low level that even after 30 years they're usually not as effective at teaching as a NES is after 3 years experience. Which is why the teachers need to have their level increased, courses like this one will help, but it's only (hopefully) the first step, the next step being reassigning foreign teachers from high schools to universities where they can teach the teachers. Thailand needs to look forward to the next generation, as it's already too late for this generation.

Frankly, the problem with all countries I've taught in or been to, including my current one where I'm obviously staying forever is that the countries don't have any interest in actually creating students who can communicate. It's all about "internationalisation."

Frankly, it's no different than the 8 years of French I took, with two major differences: 1) English really is the global language, at least for now, and my students really need English for opportunities where as a native English speaker, I did not need French 2) My teachers of French were fluent in both French and English, either because they were French individuals who naturalised, OR they had studied French for large parts of their lives, lived in a French speaking country for years, and usually spent significant if not all their university education in a French speaking curriculum. They were also certified/licensed/degreed.

I've an English education degree, am a career teacher, but also have other skills (most notably, I'm a journalist, and have been for a while). Along with graphic design and video editing skills, there are a number of industries I could work in aside from English teaching. I just happen to actually consider myself a teacher based on who I am, not on what I do to pay for beer money. This is in stark contrast to many of my "peers." As you say, Animal, many come to various countries (Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand) with the plan to only stay a few years, and with the intention to continue their uni days as much as possible. Given that they aren't really intended to create any kind of fluency, the system encourages this, which drops prestige, salary, and benefits for everyone.

I say, the "gap year teaching abroad" idea should end. It's bad for educational systems, it's bad for students, it's bad for career teachers. Thinking of "teaching abroad" for a year? Don't.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Caitrin

[Petchou]

Country nearly closed.

At least, the inhabitants of this country will not be able to communicate with the other persons living on the planet. Thus, they'll not be touched by "bad ideas".

It's easier to find thais who speak more than one language than in England, USA, France etc... And probably than you too and the country you come from.

[UPDEHSOI]

Such negativity. The students will finally be able to say "I fine thank you love you" after being asked how old they are.

And with a little ( a whole lot ) more training they MAY be able to say, " fine n you?"

[NoshowJones]

Hopefully they will get rid of the trashy teachers trying to teach English when English is not their first language. Half the time I can't even understand when the Filipino English teachers at my son's school try to talk to me in English.

I agree with you're first sentence, but I taught with two Filipino English teachers, and they spoke as if English was their first language.

[ldiablo]

I wont be popular but given the quality of a large percentage of the foreign teachers here I cant blame them. Yes there are very good committed teachers here from all backgrounds but unfortunately we all know that most are here for the booze and hookers and nothing else.

Maybe where you're living.