Thai education: 500 top teachers to attend English course run by British Council

[webfact]

EDU UPDATE
500 top teachers to attend English course run by British Council
KETKAN BOONPEN, THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- To improve the quality of English-language teachers, the Education Ministry is selecting 500 Thai teachers to undergo a six-week intensive training programme, after which their teaching would be studied and assessed in the first semester of the 2016 academic year.

Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, deputy education minister, accompanied by Michael David Selby, his adviser, presided over the project launch on Tuesday. Teerakiat said the six-week training programme would be held next March and April.

Selby said the programme would require 500 Thai teachers, who also had good English skills, to communicate only in English with 50 foreign mentors/trainers from the British Council, who also have teaching experience in various different countries. Besides improving their English skills, the teachers would learn new teaching techniques. The top 50 Thai teachers selected from this training course would also serve as trainers for the next generation of teachers, Selby added.

After the teachers return to their respective schools, Teerakiat said, a follow-up assessment would be conducted during the first semester of the 2016 academic year. This performance review will show if the teachers can manage their classes better and if their English-language teaching methods had improved - in comparison with their peers who did not attend the training.

If the project proves successful, the ministry will announce it as a policy for the second semester of the academic year. If it is not, they will adjust the training programme to eradicate flaws until it becomes successful before declaring it a policy.

The selection of teachers to attend the programme required test results of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) from the Office of Basic Education Commission, Teerakiat explained.

Only six of the teachers passed the exam in the Mastery Level C2 (very close to native speakers), |while 900 other teachers obtained the Vantage Level |B2 and the Effective Operational Proficiency Level C1, |he revealed. The method of training the selected teachers is being formulated, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/500-top-teachers-to-attend-English-course-run-by-B-30273530.html


-- The Nation 2015-11-23

[thesetat2013]

So out of all the teacher who actually took the test only 6 passed enough to achieve level c2. So how do they expect all of the other teachers going to this 6/week course to actually improve their skills within such a short time frame? And then go on to teach other teachers???

This plan which was probably initiated by the British Council and approved by the ministry is doomed from the beginning. Anyone who has worked as an English teacher in Thailand knows the difficulty and even defiance of Thai teachers willingness to change what they think they have been teaching as proper English. Can you imagine the loss of face for a Thai teacher going back to a class room and telling her students she was mis-pronouncing words. It would never happen. Most likely this course is viewed upon by those 500 as a free trip to Bkk with pay and after it is done they will go back to their school doing and teaching the same as before. You simply can not just take 6 weeks to teach a language no matter how good the British Council thinks they are. This is a good example of how to waste the Education budget.

[Seastallion]

So out of all the teacher who actually took the test only 6 passed enough to achieve level c2. So how do they expect all of the other teachers going to this 6/week course to actually improve their skills within such a short time frame? And then go on to teach other teachers???

This plan which was probably initiated by the British Council and approved by the ministry is doomed from the beginning. Anyone who has worked as an English teacher in Thailand knows the difficulty and even defiance of Thai teachers willingness to change what they think they have been teaching as proper English. Can you imagine the loss of face for a Thai teacher going back to a class room and telling her students she was mis-pronouncing words. It would never happen. Most likely this course is viewed upon by those 500 as a free trip to Bkk with pay and after it is done they will go back to their school doing and teaching the same as before. You simply can not just take 6 weeks to teach a language no matter how good the British Council thinks they are. This is a good example of how to waste the Education budget.

Yep.

There's also the attitude.

I've got my degree, I've got my teacher's cert, I've got my government teacher's cert, and I've got my salary, so why do I have to learn ANYTHING more for the next 30 years until I retire on a pension?

[NongKhaiKid]

Potentially big face to be selected which doesn't mean anyone remotely deserving a place will get one, too many other considerations come into play.

[Seastallion]

Potentially big face to be selected which doesn't mean anyone remotely deserving a place will get one, too many other considerations come into play.

Yep, and then there's the age cut-off. I doubt anyone over 40 will get chosen.

[puukao]

i just got my ranking.....i'm 501.

[NongKhaiKid]

What's the bet in the not too distant future it will be announced the courses were a raging success, everyone passed of course, and the standard in classrooms has gone through the roof.

Just don't try having a conversation with the teachers though.

[Snackbar]

The CEFR test is available online. There is an 80 question multiple choice grammar test. A prepared candidate can ace this. There is also a listening test that is quite difficult/impossible for non native speakers.

[Somtamnication]

Potentially big face to be selected which doesn't mean anyone remotely deserving a place will get one, too many other considerations come into play.

Yep, and then there's the age cut-off. I doubt anyone over 40 will get chosen.

And darker skinned teachers are automatically exempt!

[thhMan]

Wouldnt it be easier to just get Native English speaking teachers to teach their native language?

I know that obvious to most people, so perhaps what Thais should be taught is.... The "obvious", if there is such a class....

[cmiuc]

this has failure written all over it...

1) 6 weeks? Most if all teachers went to a University for 4 or 5 years to learn to teach english... and what is the current results?

2) If the course is too complicated, you will see most is not all teachers ignoring the seminar and just showing up for the BC certificate so the can say... the rest of the time playing with their smartphones.

3) While they will feel so great that they got to attend a "true English Seminar" and a month later, will have forgotten it all..

4) will the students benefit? nah... thai teachers don't change what they already have done... most of them use their lesson plans of many years now.

In our school, we have 2 teachers who went to USA and UK to study for 1 year in a university... do they teach in English? is their speaking english good? is their teaching based on what they learnt while abroad for a year... answer: NO... the one ladyboy teacher gave his speaking test, in Thai, and coached the students so as to get it over with, or let the students go to the other students and ask them how to say it "Thai" correctly...(not English correctly)... result... just another test to say, "I did it and got it over with... "

Unless they fire all the current Thai english teachers, and put in the new grads who would follow the correct way of teaching with firm strict adherence, things are not going to change. in fact, if it wasn't for the native speaker today... none of these students would be able to speak anything at all... as most of us teachers have seen... this is pretty much the truth...

then we have to examine... AEC community standards being met? not if they really revert back to the old ways.

If i am not correct, it seem Thailand had this same dilemma a few years ago... wanting to kick out all the NES teachers out of the country and do it themselves...

now, consider this... leading to 0 baht return... how much will they pay to have this done through all this waste of time?

(the price of 2 submarines from china?) hehe

(oh someone should follow up on the Successful or non-successful 2 hours a day activities)?

[brewsterbudgen]

Wouldnt it be easier to just get Native English speaking teachers to teach their native language?

I know that obvious to most people, so perhaps what Thais should be taught is.... The "obvious", if there is such a class....

Too expensive and most native speakers won't be keen on upcountry school conditions.

[Loaded]

How many threads does there need to be on this? Is this the 4th?

[BKKdreaming]

Hi.....are they going to learn BBC English or ?????

And the same would be if they are going to learn MidWest USA English if the next idea is to give the contact to the USA

I knew a German who lived by a US army base near Frankfurt , never set foot in the USA but talked perfect english if you lived in the Bronx New York City,

I think they need to broadcast these lessons on Thai TV

[KIWIBATCH]

The CEFR test is available online. There is an 80 question multiple choice grammar test. A prepared candidate can ace this. There is also a listening test that is quite difficult/impossible for non native speakers.

Multiple choice or multiple guess..?....

So following completion of the 6 week course " Choon" the Thai teacher returns to his school...full of enthusiasm new ideas, and speaking English like a NES.......then within a week "Choon" realises that he is a tall poppy amongst the 30 odd other thai teachers...and his newly learnt ideas are not fitting in with what the school requires or what the school director wants...

Choon then quickly reverts to his old teaching methods to comply.......

[diehard60]

All will have the great Briton accent that many students will not understand.

[Norcan]

All will have the great Briton accent that many students will not understand.

...or spell.

[daiwill60]

Hi.....are they going to learn BBC English or ?????

And the same would be if they are going to learn MidWest USA English if the next idea is to give the contact to the USA

I knew a German who lived by a US army base near Frankfurt , never set foot in the USA but talked perfect english if you lived in the Bronx New York City,

I think they need to broadcast these lessons on Thai TV

Have you ever watched the Thai TV channel, DLTV14? It appears on page 199 on my True vision package. It is an all day English Channel, presumably sponsored by the Gov't ( maybe ) and full of minor mistakes.

[chrisinth]

Still at odds with the wisdom of all this.

500 teachers selected for a 6 week (crash) course to improve their English language & teaching skills. Dubious to say the least.

"The top 50 Thai teachers selected from this training course would also serve as trainers for the next generation of teachers...."

What happens to the establishments that were home to these teachers? If a good school produces say, 10 of these 'exceptional' teachers, what happens to their (the school's) English program?

Diluting the system............................

[Usernames]

All will have the great Briton accent that many students will not understand.

That is a fact. The language of international popular culture, business, technology, and civil infrastructure is American English. These student teachers will need subtitles to understand what is being said.

[NongKhaiKid]

All will have the great Briton accent that many students will not understand.

What is the ' great Briton ' accent ?

Britain has four constituent countries each with different accents and regional accents.

Edited November 23, 2015 by NongKhaiKid

[FangFerang]

Same same, but different.

To me, another related issue is the "Ghost Foreign teachers" on the payrolls nationwide. Many have died, or gone on to other work, or died, and "someone" in each of the schools is still collecting their salary. Also, "agencies" bid bribes to the administrators of schools who, on paper, are paying much more than the teacher's salary. Further, Thai graduates have to pay for their jobs...if they want a public school position, it's usually around 55,000 baht, cash.

If you never heard about this and were teaching you weren't paying attention. That's where all the education funding is going...and it makes the tea money cops collect look like a ten cent slot machine compared to a high stakes baccarat game where everyone wins except the students.

[nikmar]

Facebook's gonna be inundated with photos of groups of teachers waving "v" signs and various other hand signals.

[Cake Monster]

You may call me a synical old scrote if you will, but to have an " intensive " 6 weeks course in English, AND to also have instruction on teaching techniques and methods in situ.

Now that just isn,t going to work, whether the instruction comes from the British Council, or the Wandsworth Council.

However, if there were courses run at reputable Universities over a period of maybe a year, then there would be some small chance of advancement in the system.

[Linky]

Thought learning chinese would be more appropriate.

[BKKdreaming]

How do the Mormons learn Thai ?

Hire the Mormons to Teach English to the Thai teachers ,

Win Win.........

[Lupatria]

What's the bet in the not too distant future it will be announced the courses were a raging success, everyone passed of course, and the standard in classrooms has gone through the roof.

Just don't try having a conversation with the teachers though.

Why does your post remind me of the badly needed aircraft mechanics and air traffic controllers that will appear with new certs in a few weeks?

[Mudlover]

So, the participants will learn English and teaching techniques in classes with an ideal teacher-student ratio of 1:10. Then they have to go back to their schools and face 50-60 students in cramped, uncomfortable classrooms. How likely are they to implement these new approaches? I expect that many of them will continue to do what they're doing now: sit at their desk, hunched over the textbook, reading aloud into a microphone while their students muck about on their mobile phones. Can't blame them, really.

[ebonykap]

A song from one of my favourite bands, Supertramp, comes to mind when thinking of this MOE "policy".

Dreamers......stupid little dreamers..................

[ParadiseLost]

Someone should turn this into a reality tv show!

The 'contestants' would take it a little more seriously if the opportunity to earn big bucks and fame in front of the nation was presented. It's not as if their audience could be hyper critical as they don't understand anyway! and, those losing face would still be miles above their watchers...

Could start a new English channel with all the follow-ups and success/failure clips.

Better way to spend the money, I say.