webfact Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 More foreign English teachers set to be hired as Thais aim for better than basic English File photo More foreign English teachers could be hired next year as Thai educationalists attempt to improve English language abilities in schools nationwide. The Thais want to see levels among M6 students (the last grade in high school) rise from basic levels to those of "independent users" of the language, a mid range of ability according to an international scale. More budgets could soon become available for schools at a district and provincial level to fund special English classes. Dr Amnat Wichayanuwat of the Office of the Basic Education Commission was speaking to Daily News after the latest meetings to improve English standards in Thai schools. Measures expected to be announced by the end of the year will allow schools to increase the amount of English being taught in the next academic year. This will be nationwide at district and provincial level schools. The aim is to boost the English levels of M6 students to level B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale. The "A" scales indicate basic usage of English, "B" refers to independent users and "C" to proficient users and speakers. B2 is thus at the better end of the B scale. Discussions are still underway as to where the teachers will come from. Some will probably be Thai but there is every likelihood that budgets will be available to employ more foreign teachers. There is still the possibility that there are enough in Thailand already as the discussions are ongoing. It is still being discussed as to who would source the new teachers; this might be down to individual schools though it might be under the remit of Education Minister Nataphol Teepsuwan though contact with foriegn consulates and embassies. Measure on how to finance the new teachers are being discussed with proposals set to be in place for the next budget round allowing matters to proceed. Source: Daily News -- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-12-03 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksidedog Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 What I read from this is that very little, if anything is going to be done or achieved, as they have the wrong priorities in mind, face and cost. If you want the kids to learn English, it is far more likely when said teacher is a native speaker of it. There are nowhere near enough positions taken by those that are, and highly unlikely that their meager numbers are likely to grow significantly. There is a reluctance from those calling the shots to admit the obvious, and open the doors to the right level of teacher, and they wouldn't want to pay them even if they acknowledged the need. Bridge that hurdle and they might start to get somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowofacloud Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 This will be a great, indisputable success. Me no have doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawpanda Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 I'm a British native speaker of English with an MA in TEFL. I do a lot of academic proofreading for non-native speakers/teachers of English doing MAs, PhDs etc. Some of them are very good, some less so, but there's definitely an important role for native speakers, though they're not going to work for peanuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
champers Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 BP reporting that the Phillipines Embassy has been consulted with a view to bringing in more Filipino English speakers as teachers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnacha Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Sadly, "foreign English teachers" means very little unless you are talking about native English teachers from countries where English is the main language. I like Filipinos, and I hear they are far cheaper and far less trouble than Western employees, but there is nothing standard about the English they speak. The same goes for Indians, Africans and West Indians. I have often thought that native English speakers should do a better job of clubbing together and highlighting the difference. A natural flow with a language puts you on a different level for many jobs: teaching, marketing, copy-writing, sales etc. Even 30 years ago, I thought it sad that innocent Thai kids were getting short-changed because their headmaster hired Poles to teach English on the basis that white faces would be enough to impress the parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just1Voice Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Used to have a nice young couple a cross the street. Both graduates with Masters in English from Chula. English teachers, both of them. Neither one of them could hold an intelligent 2 minute conversation in English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thian Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 They even learn to not speak the last letter which is very annoying. Look at how this student has to pronounce liver , without the r.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chazar Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Nigerian English speaker seeks employment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hakancnx Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artisi Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 3 minutes ago, Just1Voice said: Used to have a nice young couple a cross the street. Both graduates with Masters in English from Chula. English teachers, both of them. Neither one of them could hold an intelligent 2 minute conversation in English. Fairly normal, when the level of English is, good morning - sit down - open your books - and be quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emdog Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Is immigration on board for this? Have they even been consulted? How about cutting through red tape and rip offs and allow retired native English speakers to teach part time? I was a teacher in USA & native English (okay, American) speaker. I don't need the money and would enjoy maybe 10 hrs a week... but I would not put up with ignorant administration making money off of my free time, among other things. Decades ago had a Scottish friend who taught American English in KL. Wonder how they sounded? I'm sure she did well with structure and comprehension, but would have loved to hear them speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StayinThailand2much Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Why do they need foreign teachers? Thai students are not allowed to fail subjects or exams, and Thai teachers are known to manipulate their students' low grades by giving every student, automatically, a 50 or 60% score, whether he or she, after studying English for 12+ years, can string a sentence together, or not. - On paper, all Thais can speak English well. Wonder, why, reportedly, Thai pilots (and other specialists) find it hard to get hired abroad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thian Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 1 minute ago, hakancnx said: One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them... Subtitles are much better, that's how i learned inlit. From the Jerry Springer show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlwilliamsjr18 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 We've heard this before, yet the enthusiasm dies like a flame in the wind. Relax your no work policy for retirees. This would help. There are many of us, who are retired teachers. Yes, I know, there are many who work anyway. But, I don't but would consider if allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricTh Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 17 minutes ago, donnacha said: Even 30 years ago, I thought it sad that innocent Thai kids were getting short-changed because their headmaster hired Poles to teach English on the basis that white faces would be enough to impress the parents. On the contrary, many of the adverts that I saw do specify 'native English speakers' only. The problem is that most native English speakers don't know how to teach English to a non-native speaker. They teach the same way as 'back home' to native English speaker and this method causes a lot of confusion for Thai students. It's the same as native Thai speakers who teach Thai language to English speakers. Most of them don't know how to teach in a way English speakers can understand beyond the basic level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardColeman Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Since the illustrious PM said that Thai will be the number 1 language in the world one day, I can only assume that this is a program to teach students English so that can go out in the world to spread the Thai language to the 6-7 billion populace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaZa9 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Article based solely on speculation.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airalee Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 It’s gonna be tough for them to find teachers that are able to properly mispronounce English in the “Thai way”. For example...if I write my name using the Thai alphabet using the letters that create the proper pronunciation of my name, they can pronounce it, but tell me that it isn’t correct because it’s not the Thai way of pronouncing it. They then go on to tell me how it is supposed to be spelled in Thai in order to have their misspelling match their mispronunciations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mavideol Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 32 minutes ago, strawpanda said: I'm a British native speaker of English with an MA in TEFL. I do a lot of academic proofreading for non-native speakers/teachers of English doing MAs, PhDs etc. Some of them are very good, some less so, but there's definitely an important role for native speakers, though they're not going to work for peanuts. I was faced with a dilemma as the Thai teaching English, had great writing skills, barely no mistakes but when I try to speak to him, the guy couldn't keep a normal/basic conversation, he had not speaking vocabulary, should he keep teaching or should he stop and get conversational skills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chang_paarp Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Who will vet the "native English speakers"? How many people in the Thai education system has the skills to identify a proficient English speaker, let alone a competent teacher? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
recom273 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 9 minutes ago, EricTh said: On the contrary, many of the adverts that I saw do specify 'native English speakers' only. The problem is that most native English speakers don't know how to teach English to a non-native speaker. They teach the same way as 'back home' to native English speaker and this method causes a lot of confusion for Thai students. It's the same as native Thai speakers who teach Thai language to English speakers. Most of them don't know how to teach in a way English speakers can understand beyond the basic level. Another problem is that they aren’t allowed to teach English, lessons are forever interrupted by events and activities, special day or weeks lot to meaningless tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miamiman123 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Start P1 students early hire older teachers not the young ones teach English no games in class!! this is what’s wrong now!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkdawg Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Get rid of the degree requirement and make it a celta or something actually useful for teaching English. Take experience into account and pay a liveable salary, then you might see more teachers that are employable. Invest like the Chinese have done and results will start to show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 that horse bolted long ago...teach them chinese, there are 1.4 billion who will need you to translate chinese to thai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Assurancetourix Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 21 minutes ago, hakancnx said: One big step to improve the english level is to stop dubbing TV-programs. Especially cartoons in english. Kids learns a lot from them... Why do the Dutch speak English well? Simply because English films are never duplicated; such a thing with films of other nationalities. French films remain in French, German films are in German .. and at the end , you meet a lot of Dutch people who know or even speak many foreign languages (for them) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritManToo Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 1 minute ago, recom273 said: Another problem is that they aren’t allowed to teach English, lessons are forever interrupted by events and activities, special day or weeks lot to meaningless tests. Most of the problem is the teachers they hire not speaking English well. It should be restricted to foreigners from countries that speak English as their first language. Not Filipinos, African, Russians, Dutch, etc. who either speak English badly or with incomprehensible accents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Somtamnication Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Well, get rid of the agents and school directors; then we'll talk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bournville Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 This headline implies that Thai in general already have basic English. No they do not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selatan Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 The Thai government should consider employing ethnic Chinese teachers from Malaysia. They can teach English, Chinese and Malay as most Chinese Malaysians are trilingual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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