Thai Education Min to launch training to improve English teachers

[webfact]

Min of Education to launch training to improve English teachers



BANGKOK, 18 November 2015 (NNT) – The Ministry of Education has planned to launch a training course for English teachers to sharpen their skills, who will in turn inspire students to improve their English language proficiency.

Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin said the ministry is developing a training program for English teachers in cooperation with the British Council. Around 500 teachers with high levels of English proficiency across the country will be selected to participate in the six-week course, which will last from March until April 2016. The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Deputy Education Minister Michael David Selby stressed the need for educators to motivate students to learn English. Mr. Selby commented that many Thai people still lack interest in English.

The ministry will assess the program by the performance of students taught by educators who took part in the program. If the training proves successful, the ministry will declare it a policy for the second semester next year. If the project needs improvement, it will be revised until the course achieves its objectives.


-- NNT 2015-11-18

[Rhys]

Well bless them...

[Just1Voice]

The phrase - "An exercise in futility" comes to mind.

[Laughing Gravy]

Well I would really like to see the 6 week program and what it entails. If it has anything that resembles previous attempts of grammar, grammar and more grammar, then it is doomed before it starts.

[jaywalker]

Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin could start by adding his name on his fancy name thingy on his desk in English.

[trogers]

"The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants."

Talking about dilution... lol

[jaywalker]

Well I would really like to see the 6 week program and what it entails. If it has anything that resembles previous attempts of grammar, grammar and more grammar, then it is doomed before it starts.

I never taught English in Thailand, just maintenance training to the RTA. I truly do pity any English teachers, if their experiences were anything like mine.

I gave it up a few years back, after being involved with the RTA off & on for over 10 years.

My last contract was 9 months long. I finished the contract because I said I would, though I was almost ready to go find a tall building with a low balcony.

Never again.

[Cuchulainn]

................Around 500 teachers with high levels of English proficiency .........................

To be a teacher of any subject, surely one must have a high level of proficiency in that subject?

[ldiablo]

Thai teachers can't even inspire students to learn Thai. Good luck with your delusional launch as they're going to need it.

[jaywalker]

"The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants."

Talking about dilution... lol

Kind of like a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy.

When I was in the Army, we tried this once as some sort of training, where the same message got passed around to 20 people, one by one by word of mouth.

The final message was NOWHERE NEAR the original.

[cornishcarlos]

My wife teaches private English lessons, plus she helps her students with their other subjects if asked. She is constantly asking me what are the teachers doing at the schools, as her students seem to not even know basic things !!

Example, yesterday a 15 yr old didn't know the months of the year, in Thai, but expected to know them in English ?

[worgeordie]

Will these be used to replace the native English speakers,they said a few

days ago they did not want !,

regards worgeordie

[ginjag]

Thai teachers can't even inspire students to learn Thai. Good luck with your delusional launch as they're going to need it.

If they were taught at university Properly with good English masters 4-5 years should easily be enough time to produce the perfect teacher.

Many bar girls in 1 year can speak better English than the 5 years teachers at uni.

[Just1Voice]

My wife has a distant cousin who went to work in the bars at 16, with a fake ID of course. She's now around 31 or so and speaks fluent English, Russian and Chinese. She can also read and write them.

[SoilSpoil]

So when the Thai English teachers have their deserved and necessary holiday break, they are required to attend a 6 week cram course?

Save their souls.

[dageurreotype]

Well I would really like to see the 6 week program and what it entails. If it has anything that resembles previous attempts of grammar, grammar and more grammar, then it is doomed before it starts.

An emphasis on pronunciation would be better. And that's not going to happen with the mangled barely intelligible drivel I've heard out of the 'professional' teacher's mouths.

Edited November 18, 2015 by dageurreotype

[kotsak]

This never gets old

[thesetat2013]

Seriously though? Thainglish is what is normally taught and NO 6 week course will ever be sufficient enough to break any Thai teacher of teaching Thainglish. 6 weeks is a holiday were they will be forced to listen to lectures while talking in Thai to the other participants. If they do actually learn better pronunciation they will surely forget it once they get back in their own schools and with their peers.

[Lunchbob]

What exactly is the British Council?

[samsensam]

nice little earner for the BC

[brewsterbudgen]

What exactly is the British Council?

British cultural representation. A throwback to the world's greatest empire.

[connda]

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

- Albert Einstein

[williamgeorgeallen]

"The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants."

Talking about dilution... lol

ha ha, well put. still wondering if all the tourist police now speak English. I read somewhere they were all to speak English in 6 months.

[connda]

Another project destined for failure: The Blind Leading The Blind. Propagating broken English ad-infinitum for generations to come. As always, the 50 'best' teachers will be selected based on status, family-standing, and money.

Here's a better idea. Require native Thai teachers with their Masters Degree in English or Education to take two full years of English language training from qualified Native English Speakers, or require them to attend 'immersion' English language courses in English speaking countries. No exceptions. Hell, that makes way too much sense, now doesn't it.

The ministry's idea may get off the ground, but will have a Hindenburg ending.

[hutchings1963]

To every body it is April the 1st again today

[Thailand]

This never gets old

She will definitely make the top fifty.

[DM07]

"The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants."

...so we start a new round of "Chinese Whispers"...

[Lupatria]

"The 50 best-performing teachers will train the next group of participants."

Talking about dilution... lol

We call it: "Chinese whisper".

[Emster23]

Pouring from the empty into the void. Repeat after me: "No hab"

[connda]

Thai teachers can't even inspire students to learn Thai. Good luck with your delusional launch as they're going to need it.

If they were taught at university Properly with good English masters 4-5 years should easily be enough time to produce the perfect teacher.

Many bar girls in 1 year can speak better English than the 5 years teachers at uni.

There is an ironic truth to what you just stated. Perhaps the MoE needs to recruit their Freshmen English Majors from bars in Chiang Mai, Pattaya, and Phuket. In 10 years, the English proficiency of the average Thai student will increase 5 fold, and bars can add to their revenue by offering English tutorial programs.