Teacher Candidates Demand English Requirements Be Reduced

[snoop1130]

Teacher Candidates Demand English Requirements Be Reduced

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter

 

Photo: Matichon

 

BANGKOK — An internet discussion about teacher candidates trying to petition for lower English language requirement sparked arguments over their necessity on social media this week.

 

Taking over Thailand’s online discussion for nearly a week, the matter gained attention after some candidates of an initiative which recruits local teachers to work in their hometowns, rallied online to lower the required Test of English for International Communications, or TOEIC, score from 400 to 250.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/culture/net/2017/07/06/teacher-candidates-demand-english-requirements-reduced/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-7-6

[Orton Rd]

It's mostly grammar that English natives could not pass so they have a point, you can read and speak English very well and still fail this test

[speedtripler]

Lower quality English teachers required to teach English, am  I reading this upside down? LOL

[Moonmoon]

Of cos English is not needed in Thailand 4.0. Generalissimo says that " Thai could be the World's new English".

[darksidedog]

I am yet to meet a local Government school teacher who can actually speak good English, or a non farang student from a Government school that can either. Lowering the criteria is not going to improve the situation. The best teachers of any language are of course native speakers, but schools here are not prepared to either pay for them, or give the work permits. Thailand is not investing properly in their children's future, unlike Cambodia, where the kids even at 10, speak English well.

[tartempion]

Still have not met the only English knowledgeable teacher or person in my daughters school. All other personal in that school does not understand a single English word.
She does get one (1) hour of English though. Why would Thai teachers need English anyway? There is no use/need for English in this country.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[Mister Fixit]

Christ, the current level is only a 400 score  TOEIC??!!    From a total of 990??  That is pretty well elementary or pre-intermediate 1 level.

 

And they want to reduce it to 250, which is beginner level?  

 

I thought it couldn't get any worse already, but obviously they prefer the very lowest common denominator.  

[carlyai]

IELTS 3.5 is not that high a standard for a teacher.

Chinese students I taught required 6.0 or better to be accepted into Aussie universities.

Thai students I taught needed 5.0 to undertake external diplomas in Electronics and Computers.


Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[Mister Fixit]

5 minutes ago, tartempion said:

 There is no use/need for English in this country.
 

 

There would be if more than a tiny minority could actually speak the language halfway intelligibly.  

[z42]

Embarrassing. Ever trying to move the goalposts and even with the ridiculously low requirements you would bet your house on a healthy % of the candidates butchering the tests.

Where i work currently is reputed to be one of the best schools in the region, yet 90% of the staff have absolutely no English ability at all.

Face saving and doing everything the Thai way shows that it is merely turd polishing. Many of my students however have English skills to die for. And a good chunk who got into the school "Thai style" are an utter embarrassment. 

The rot starts at the top and nobody gives a flying one.. TIT  ?

[ben2talk]

21 minutes ago, speedtripler said:

Lower quality English teachers required to teach English, am  I reading this upside down? LOL

I once saw 'English' material from Ramkhamheang University. Multiple choice questions were written with errors, so that they were ambiguous with conflicting elements. Of the answers (I can't remember, I think there were 5 choices and you must only choose one) there were either none or sometimes two errors. 

 

There were so many errors that any results are pretty much rendered insignificant. The same applies to the English language content taught in Kindergarten.

 

If you write 'It's a pencil' or 'There is one pencil' then it's the wrong answer because the first answer is correct.

 

It matters not whether the teachers are native speakers of English or completely incompetent - as long as they rigidly teach stupid vocabulary and declare any alternative answer as being incorrect (e.g. a picture of a pencil, if you write 'This is a pencil' the answer is ticked.

 

So this news is completely irrelevant - the level of English ability is quite irrelevant as long as they don't have enough intelligence to open a crisp packet without reading instructions in Thai.

[trogers]

Lowering the standard so that graduates of Pattaya, Phuket and Nana qualify?

[speedtripler]

12 minutes ago, tartempion said:

 Why would Thai teachers need English anyway? There is no use/need for English in this country.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

There would be a good incentive to not fall  any further behind the rest of the developed world... 

 

Medicine and the sciences are usually taught in English and I  feel more confident in a doctor that studied medicine the west than  bought his degree in a Thai institution...

[carlyai]

Embarrassing. Ever trying to move the goalposts and even with the ridiculously low requirements you would bet your house on a healthy % of the candidates butchering the tests.
Where i work currently is reputed to be one of the best schools in the region, yet 90% of the staff have absolutely no English ability at all.
Face saving and doing everything the Thai way shows that it is merely turd polishing. Many of my students however have English skills to die for. And a good chunk who got into the school "Thai style" are an utter embarrassment. 
The rot starts at the top and nobody gives a flying one.. TIT  [emoji30]

Yes, rot from the top.
I filled in at a good Thai school years ago.
The lady that was in charge of the English department was not great with her English skills, then one day I read a thesis written by her for her master's degree obtained in the USA. Brilliantly written. Great command of the English language and great intuition.
Sad to say they couldn't be the same person.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[trainman34014]

Lets face it; many Thai's can't even read or speak their own language properly !

[cmsally]

Score of 250 on TOEIC is beginner level !!!

[ratcatcher]

22 minutes ago, trogers said:

Lowering the standard so that graduates of Pattaya, Phuket and Nana qualify?

Ironically, those places, along with a few others are exactly where you will find the largest collection of Thais that speak English. People working in the "hospitality" industry are often quite capable of carrying on a basic conversation that your average, bank staff/manager, department store employee would be struggling with, if they could speak at all. Yes, I know all about the usual cliches, "You want some dink" "You hansum man", " Where you come from" etc, but there are many on this forum would agree that in comparison to the average Thai they are ahead  of those who have had English lessons at school for years and whose retention level is dismal.

Edited July 6, 2017 by ratcatcher

[sweatalot]

They want to be teachers  - 

and want to reduce their already unusable English requirements? !!!

 

Their face should be red with shame

 

do they want  to teach goldfish ? Then this would be ok with me

Edited July 6, 2017 by sweatalot

[seajae]

another thai group demanding something, why is it when it involves money or knowledge these people demand things. Here we have teachers wanting the scores lowered because its easier for them  and they do not have to learn, thai is not a language used around the world so learning to speak English is important for anyone wanting a good education. Really shows how bad thai education is with this sort of attitude but then again  many think that thai is the best language and refuse to speak english as they think it is beneath them

[debate101]

To be fair, it doesn't make sense to have an across-the-board English requirement for teachers of all subjects. Better to make it a requirement for only English teachers at first and then incentivize teachers of all subjects to study and get higher scores for raises and promotions. That would make too much sense (and too many poo yais who can't speak a word and couldn't be bothered to learn would lose face), so it isn't going to happen, but of course there should be some reward for achievement rather than just punitive requirements that encourage teachers to cheat to get around because they (rightly) see them as unfair.

[KhaoNiaw]

46 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

The best teachers of any language are of course native speakers,

I would challenge you to find a single piece of research that reaches that conclusion, especially in the case of English.

 

Thai teachers of English are actually the solution. I could introduce you to several who speak English very well, three with TOEIC scores over 850, and two with master's degrees from good UK universities. The problem is that teachers anything like this are few and far between. They are not targeted for recruitment and the pay and conditions are unlikely to attract this type of graduate who could make a better living and career doing something else. Until that changes they're stuck with the current situation. 

[Mister Fixit]

10 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

 

I would understand only if their job would be to teach goldfish

 

I thought that was they WERE teaching ...

[Tilacme]

I applaud any initiative to broaden the English language.

[ramrod711]

Screw ASEAN, to hell with the students, I need a job!

[Bluespunk]

"The position requires a score of 400 out of 990 for TOEIC, 3.5 out of 9 for the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, or 40 out of 120 for the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test, or TOEFL"

 

Hardly challenging. 

[Jeremy50]

1 hour ago, tartempion said:

Still have not met the only English knowledgeable teacher or person in my daughters school. All other personal in that school does not understand a single English word.
She does get one (1) hour of English though. Why would Thai teachers need English anyway? There is no use/need for English in this country.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

Well, let's be blunt, she's probably is not going to learn well spoken, or well written English from you, so the local schools is still probably her best bet.  It was decided many years ago that English would be the common language  for ASEAN nations, but perhaps that information just passed you by.

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, trogers said:

Lowering the standard so that graduates of Pattaya, Phuket and Nana qualify?

The position requires a score of 400 out of 990 for TOEIC, 3.5 out of 9 for the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, or 40 out of 120 for the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test, or TOEFL iBT.

 

Those working in the areas you mention would probably achieve these low standards. 

[observer90210]

Teaching is a science in itself...you can be fluent, highly cultivated in the language of Shakespeare, but remain an utter dud to teach!

 

Proper access to quality education is a solid investment for the future generations, as knowledge is power.

 

It needs to be dispensed by fully qualified and educated professionals....free for anybody to lower the standards, but ultimately the whole country would suffer with inadequate prepartion in a very challenging world.

[DavisH]

29 minutes ago, KhaoNiaw said:

I would challenge you to find a single piece of research that reaches that conclusion, especially in the case of English.

 

Thai teachers of English are actually the solution. I could introduce you to several who speak English very well, three with TOEIC scores over 850, and two with master's degrees from good UK universities. The problem is that teachers anything like this are few and far between. They are not targeted for recruitment and the pay and conditions are unlikely to attract this type of graduate who could make a better living and career doing something else. Until that changes they're stuck with the current situation. 

Fluent or competent english speaking Thais are everywhere. They are just not teaching english in schools as the work conditions and salary are dismal....they are employed in industry/research and higher levels of government. Most of them have studied overseas, though this does not guarantee they will maintain their english skills once they return. use it or lose it, as the saying goes. Currently, my wife is on her third European overseas trip this year as part of her work. She would not have such opportunities as a school teacher. 

[robsamui]

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

Lets face it; many Thai's can't even read or speak their own language properly !

One day I had to go online to find the address of a Thai bank - it was written in Thai. I went next door and asked the guy's Thai wife if she could help me. She called her daughter, as she wasn't able to read Thai . . . .