Thai tourism personnel urged to improve English skills to tap job opportunities in Asean

[webfact]

Thai tourism personnel urged to improve English skills to tap job opportunities in Asean
By The Nation

 

BANGKOK: -- Thai tourism personnel should urgently improve competency and English language skills to meet Asean standards in order to increase their job opportunities in the Asean region, Wanasiri Morakul, director-general of the Department of Tourism (DOT) at the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said.

 

Thailand has signed the Asean Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA on TP), which allows tourism personnel in 32 work positions to seek employment in all Asean countries, said Wanasiri.

 

“But their qualifications must meet Asean standards, including the requirements on English language skills,” she stressed.

 

English, she said, remains the main weakness of Thai tourism personnel when compared with their peers in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

 

“So if they want to have job opportunities in other Asean countries, they must improve their English language skills immediately,” she said.

 

The MRA on TP, she said, will increase job opportunities for tourism personnel if they pass the Asean standard assessment and receive the required certification.

 

Tourism personnel whose qualifications meet Asean standards, including English language skills, can apply for assessment and certification from the Tourism Professional Certification Board.

 

“Once certified, their names will be included in the Asean Professional Registration System which works as a job-matching platform for employers and tourism personnel to contact one another for further job interviews,” explained Wanasiri.

 

Certified tourism personnel under the Asean Professional Registration System are eligible to work in all Asean member states. They do not need to be reassessed by the host countries, but they would be governed by domestic laws and regulations, said Wanasiri.

 

“Being in the Asean Professional Registration System, therefore, offers great benefits. It is a comprehensive human resources database for tourism operators. And since people in this database system are considered quality tourism personnel by Asean standards, they have more opportunities to get job offers to work in the region,” she said.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/30309918

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-03-22

[Somtamnication]

20 years too late. 

[BigBadGeordie]

 

"Certified tourism personnel under the Asean Professional Registration System are eligible to work in all Asean member states. They do not need to be reassessed by the host countries, but they would be governed by domestic laws and regulations, said Wanasiri."

 

Only a guess, but whats the odds that Thai domestic laws and regulations state that this is a restricted occupation "Thai Nationals only"?

[chainarong]

Dreamin.......................................

[Emster23]

They do have genius level people there.... who would have thought English skills important? I wonder how many conferences at resorts, possible tours to English speaking countries were required to determine this need? OK, I'll be the first (on this post): loosen the odious regs that keep retired teachers from doing some volunteer teaching of Angkrit

[maewang99]

1 hour ago, Emster23 said:

They do have genius level people there.... who would have thought English skills important? I wonder how many conferences at resorts, possible tours to English speaking countries were required to determine this need? OK, I'll be the first (on this post): loosen the odious regs that keep retired teachers from doing some volunteer teaching of Angkrit

 

the resources already available to learn English... in Thailand... are staggering.  they don't need more "teachers" of any kind. just think of Youtube alone on that score let alone all of the after school programs etc.
 

there ****is**** a reason they have fingerprint machines at the "schools" and so you gotta kind of ask what's the difference between "retired" and "active" because by "retired" we presumably subsume that that includes the civil service ajarn ("retired" as not in fired contract workers.... for whom the fingerprint machines are not at all needed for darn sure.. LOL).

maybe something else is wrong?

 

maybe?

 

it's not about more teachers.. or higher teacher salaries.. you know... "education reform"...

 

it only gets somewhere when the language is a ****little**** bit more nuanced.. such as using words as "school decentralization" (putting parents in charge of the staff and curriculum and assessment methods).

oh yeah.

more fingerprint machines? more computers? more money?

 

no.

 

try engaging the parents and community. and the students themselves! just on the incredibly poor and ineffective assessments they use still, in this very day with the results unchanged or worse than ever.....

 

it's really horrid how the system as it is now still "works". what I have seen first hand over and over.... do you know they use short multiple choice (multiple guess) "exams"... with questions and answer totally unrelated to actual course material.. with the graded answers quite often not even being at all correct.... as final exams???? rather than just a quiz as we use them for, to assess student self reading and progress in the classroom... but as final exams and midterms? (because they are easy to score and... put the ajarn in charge of grading because the actual test scores are not useful for a final grading and it becomes so so easy for the teacher to nudge the outcomes as to which students they like for some reason.... subjectively.. just by calling it  "attendance" or "classroom involvement" or something like that).

and English? how to assess each individual students speaking and listening skills with a multiple choice exam that is the same for every student and given to 50 or more students in a single whack in the same room? and speaking and listening in the classroom is rare and when it ain't it's rote repetition... not anything communicative.. let alone beyond very very simple small talk phrases that a parrot could learn in a few minutes.

   

Edited March 23, 2017 by maewang99

[jaltsc]

"Thai tourism personnel should urgently improve competency and English language skills to meet Asean standards in order to increase their job opportunities..."

 

They seem to be doing perfectly fine with "I wuv you foewer". I don't think they could increase that opportunity any more without breaking their backs. However, I never heard of them being called "Thai tourism personnel" before. 

 

Considering these might be the most proficient speakers of English in Thailand not in corporate management positions, I doubt they would leave their present jobs to teach English and receive a giant pay reduction in an archaic education system, be looked down upon and be abused by the dinosaurs running that system.

 

Once again, I read the word "should" as though that will magically change things without a well thought out and implemented program to achieve the desired results.

 

 

Edited March 23, 2017 by jaltsc

[fruitman]

Yup but Thai pilots don't need to speak english, Air Asia will still hire them and when they speak "english" through the speakers of the plane nobody understands them cause they all can't speak english 55555.

 

Also in the malls, when there's an announcement in english i have no idea what they're trying to say.

[jonclark]

"Certified tourism personnel under the Asean Professional Registration System are eligible to work in all Asean member states. They do not need to be reassessed by the host countries, but they would be governed by domestic laws and regulations, said Wanasir"

 

So basically Thais can join the system and work in other ASEAN countries, however people from ASEAN countries that join the system ,  can not work in Thailand as domestic laws have ring fenced tourism as a profession reserved for Thais. 

 

 

 

Edited March 23, 2017 by jonclark

[maewang99]

notice also that this is a problem for... oh my gosh!!!!!! tourism!!!!!!!!

but everywhere else on planet Earth... English is important for lots of stuff....

even if your L1 is German Chinese Japanese or French....

let alone.... your L1 and maybe L2 also.... is a phonetically written language without even spaces between morphemes.... in a "culture" of functional illiteracy... just a coincidence.

what we need is more teachers.. and more money.....

really?

 




 

[12DrinkMore]

Out of interest I created a profile on the website.

 

https://atprs.org/

 

It felt very lonely.  Maybe I made some mistake, but not a single job came up across the whole of Asean.

 

I do not think this is going to be a winner.

[Happyman58]

20 years to late The problem in Thailand is the teachers teaching English cant speak English themselves No win situation 

[jerojero]

How about urgently reforming Education system and make English a genuine priority. And allow qualified outsiders to help shape Education that would benefit the entire nation.

[rijb]

9 hours ago, maewang99 said:

 

the resources already available to learn English... in Thailand... are staggering.  they don't need more "teachers" of any kind. just think of Youtube alone on that score let alone all of the after school programs etc.
 

there ****is**** a reason they have fingerprint machines at the "schools" and so you gotta kind of ask what's the difference between "retired" and "active" because by "retired" we presumably subsume that that includes the civil service ajarn ("retired" as not in fired contract workers.... for whom the fingerprint machines are not at all needed for darn sure.. LOL).

maybe something else is wrong?

 

maybe?

 

it's not about more teachers.. or higher teacher salaries.. you know... "education reform"...

 

it only gets somewhere when the language is a ****little**** bit more nuanced.. such as using words as "school decentralization" (putting parents in charge of the staff and curriculum and assessment methods).

oh yeah.

more fingerprint machines? more computers? more money?

 

no.

 

try engaging the parents and community. and the students themselves! just on the incredibly poor and ineffective assessments they use still, in this very day with the results unchanged or worse than ever.....

 

it's really horrid how the system as it is now still "works". what I have seen first hand over and over.... do you know they use short multiple choice (multiple guess) "exams"... with questions and answer totally unrelated to actual course material.. with the graded answers quite often not even being at all correct.... as final exams???? rather than just a quiz as we use them for, to assess student self reading and progress in the classroom... but as final exams and midterms? (because they are easy to score and... put the ajarn in charge of grading because the actual test scores are not useful for a final grading and it becomes so so easy for the teacher to nudge the outcomes as to which students they like for some reason.... subjectively.. just by calling it  "attendance" or "classroom involvement" or something like that).

and English? how to assess each individual students speaking and listening skills with a multiple choice exam that is the same for every student and given to 50 or more students in a single whack in the same room? and speaking and listening in the classroom is rare and when it ain't it's rote repetition... not anything communicative.. let alone beyond very very simple small talk phrases that a parrot could learn in a few minutes.

   

Good stuff.  But, not relevant here.   Laziness and looking for easy shortcuts are what it's about for Thai students (and their parents).

[Rhys]

9 hours ago, maewang99 said:

 

the resources already available to learn English... in Thailand... are staggering.  they don't need more "teachers" of any kind. just think of Youtube alone on that score let alone all of the after school programs etc.
 

there ****is**** a reason they have fingerprint machines at the "schools" and so you gotta kind of ask what's the difference between "retired" and "active" because by "retired" we presumably subsume that that includes the civil service ajarn ("retired" as not in fired contract workers.... for whom the fingerprint machines are not at all needed for darn sure.. LOL).

maybe something else is wrong?

 

maybe?

 

it's not about more teachers.. or higher teacher salaries.. you know... "education reform"...

 

it only gets somewhere when the language is a ****little**** bit more nuanced.. such as using words as "school decentralization" (putting parents in charge of the staff and curriculum and assessment methods).

oh yeah.

more fingerprint machines? more computers? more money?

 

no.

 

try engaging the parents and community. and the students themselves! just on the incredibly poor and ineffective assessments they use still, in this very day with the results unchanged or worse than ever.....

 

it's really horrid how the system as it is now still "works". what I have seen first hand over and over.... do you know they use short multiple choice (multiple guess) "exams"... with questions and answer totally unrelated to actual course material.. with the graded answers quite often not even being at all correct.... as final exams???? rather than just a quiz as we use them for, to assess student self reading and progress in the classroom... but as final exams and midterms? (because they are easy to score and... put the ajarn in charge of grading because the actual test scores are not useful for a final grading and it becomes so so easy for the teacher to nudge the outcomes as to which students they like for some reason.... subjectively.. just by calling it  "attendance" or "classroom involvement" or something like that).

and English? how to assess each individual students speaking and listening skills with a multiple choice exam that is the same for every student and given to 50 or more students in a single whack in the same room? and speaking and listening in the classroom is rare and when it ain't it's rote repetition... not anything communicative.. let alone beyond very very simple small talk phrases that a parrot could learn in a few minutes.

   

Courses in Tourism,  English for Tourism, is taught in Thai...5555...

Course syllabus, fill in the blanks, type of learning... more interesting Tourism English course may use project based learning, using English as way to solve their task and use English to solve it.

 

..yes.. the poor English teachers Thai/NEST have to deal with large classes, so MCQ rule the day..

 

...lastly, the students themselves ( you guess the percentage), poor motivation,  lack of goals don't want to make the effort because it  "too hard", they want it easy...sadly, academically many are not at standard..

 

However, the cream of the students does rise and the  Tourism and hotel industry snatches them up.

 

Retired teacher just keep trying until they find some school that will take them... of course it is a big drop off.

 

State of affairs in English Language Learning...will not change...

Edited March 23, 2017 by Rhys

[fruitman]

5 hours ago, Happyman58 said:

20 years to late The problem in Thailand is the teachers teaching English cant speak English themselves No win situation 

Actually it's good that not many thai can speak real english cause they will all go abroad to find work there. Or they'll catch a westerner and won't work anymore.

 

But sometimes i get surprised in a 711 or departmentstore when i meet somebody who does speak good english...it doesn't happen often though.

 

In our big moobaan NOBODY of their staff speaks a word english but of course there are english texts all over the place. Even salesmanagers can't speak a word.

 

I was looking for a house in one of BKK's most expensive moobaan's one day and there was a very fat malaysian lady for sales...she spoke english yes but the looks of her were far from nice.

 

Thailand still doesn't see how important speaking english is...also internet without english is soooo small...

[Eligius]

There is one very real and over-riding reason why the Thais are never ALLOWED to learn good English en masse (even if they wished to): because if they had command of this language, they could read the TRUTH via the English-language Internet about what's really going on in this country (at stratospheric levels) and by God, that would blow their hats and heads off. Cannot be allowed at any cost. 

 

Good English skills open up a liberating portal to truth. Think of all the articles that the Thais could then read and all the murderous FACTS they could learn about what is going on in this 'elite'-run country. But access to such facts is permanently verboten in this beyond-autocratic society ...

[maewang99]

not just about Thailand.... we do not appreciate how very important reading is.  

 

we even tend to think of it as "intellectual" rather than what it really is..... the most important social thing we do.... not the reading.... but putting yourself into someone else's head.. and then sharing what you learned.

just one novel... Cry The Beloved Country.. required in New York in the 1970's... where the reader's surrogate is a black man. how do you read a book like that and not be changed at all? give me a break. 

but to never read at all? nor your family or friends? as it is for many Thai folks?

 
that is really sad. it really is.

         

 

[Sydebolle]

Why should a hospitality entity in, say the Philippines, hire a Thai? 

Tourism is protected in all countries so Thais will not work as tour guides anywhere - because they don't allow alien tour guides as well. 

I would have had all my staff in service from the Philippines and cooks from Indonesia but the Thainess in bureaucracy - despite ASEAN and AEC2015, both being just farces - brought this to a screeching halt. Legally not possible unless you're in either Bangkok or a border province - Cholburi is neither.