Thailand to recruit 10,000 foreign teachers to boost English standards of Thai kids

[rooster59]

Thailand to recruit 10,000 foreign teachers to boost English standards of Thai kids

 

Image: Daily News

 

Thailand's education minister has appealed to foreign embassies and other organisations to help him find an extra 3,000 foreign teachers to help schools teach English and other subjects in English.

 

After a meeting with embassies and other groups Natapol Teepsuwan said that 64 million baht was being spent on the project.

 

He said that at present there are 7,000 foreign teachers in the kingdom. He said this is not enough for his plan to raise standards.

 

He wants the number raised to 10,000.

 

He needs foreign teachers to teach Thai children and teach Thai teachers to teach English.

 

Natapol used the term "jao khong phasa" when referring to the teachers he wants. This means native speakers.

 

Thaivisa notes that in stories of this nature the devil is usually in the detail. The Daily News story was rather lacking in that.

 

It was not mentioned in the Daily News story where these teachers might come from.

 

Thailand has faced criticism in the past for hiring English teachers from other Asian countries, such as the Philippines, though no mention was made of this issue by Daily News.

 

They said that the education minister felt that if the foreign teachers he hires teach the Thais to be better English teachers, then by three years time he won't need so many foreigners to teach in Thai schools.

 

Source: Daily News

 

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[RotBenz8888]

4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

He wants the number raised to 10,000.

Sure they're any that wanna come?

[Thaiwrath]

4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

if the foreign teachers he hires teach the Thais to be better English teachers, then by three years time he won't need so many foreigners to teach in Thai schools.

Another roundabout way of getting rid of some westerners !

[Denim]

9 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

He said this is not enough for his plan to raise standards.

 

 

By lowering the bar.

 

There is a big pool of untapped chavs cluttering up the UK who will jump at this......innit.

[TheDark]

8 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

After a meeting with embassies and other groups Natapol Teepsuwan said that 64 million baht was being spent on the project.

 

He said that at present there are 7,000 foreign teachers in the kingdom. He said this is not enough for his plan to raise standards.

 

He wants the number raised to 10,000.

64.000.000 baht / 3.000 new teacher = 21300 baht / new teacher. I guess that 64 million is price of the project / hiring cost. 

 

 

[spinner2020]

A "different source" we're not supposed to mention is quoting different. Not 10,000 in total but "another 10,000 teachers are required".

That's

a. more like the real requirement

and

b. complete fantasy

 

"The ministry has earmarked funds for their recruitment". Yeah.......

[spinner2020]

2 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

By lowering the bar.

 

There is a big pool of untapped chavs cluttering up the UK who will jump at this......innit.

They'd be too expensive (fortunately!). Think Filipinos instead. "Native" speakers.

[Puchaiyank]

Pray that many will come from Mexico...so there can be a few decent Mexican restaurants around...

[Jare]

 

19 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

if the foreign teachers he hires teach the Thais to be better English teachers, then by three years time he won't need so many foreigners to teach in Thai schools.

13 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

Another roundabout way of getting rid of some westerners !

I'm confused... aren't those foreign teachers going to be foreign teachers still? If he wants "jao khong phasa", then is he planning on branching out from the Phils to Singapore and Nigeria? In the UK, teachers now get a promise of 30,000GBP a year starting salary if they're clever, that's a bit more than 30,000THB a month.

[Jare]

10 minutes ago, TheDark said:

64.000.000 baht / 3.000 new teacher = 21300 baht / new teacher. I guess that 64 million is price of the project / hiring cost. 

 

 

I'll do it for 64,000,000 baht a year, I'm worth at least 3,000 not-really-native-speakers.

[Acrylic]

As long as Thai doesn't change their attitude regarding English language, I doubt it would be effective. 

[Number 6]

A teacher doing 18-22 contact hours does not have time to teach to additionally teach teachers. Nor would I expect schools would pay - but that is teaching as well.

 

Newly hired teachers from God only knows where will have scant ability to teach anyone. Students and teachers alike.

 

It's only the cream of Thai teachers in the best schools that might be interested in learning something from foreigners but with due respect - you need to know something to teach something.

 

Most Thai teachers have taught with their teaching staff for years. No offers made by either parties.

 

Most Thai professional teachers have little respect for foreign staff. They are oblivious shirkers who are paid 28k-40k and it's too much.

 

Old Thai teachers cannot be trained up. They are already dreaming of retirement.

 

Retirement should be based on 25 years of service then OUT. Not to return for $pecial cla$$es. Out.

 

The hugely expensive and quite ridiculous British Council massive teacher training sessions did what? Nothing.

 

Thailand needs to get thousands of students interested in teaching. That's the answer. It's not an easy one. The US and many countries have the same problem.

 

But if you're looking to a TEFL flunkie in Chaing Mai or Brighton to solve this thing, you're gonna have a bad day.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Number 6

[Number 6]

7 minutes ago, Acrylic said:

As long as Thai doesn't change their attitude regarding English language, I doubt it would be effective. 

We have lots of Filipinos in our building. Just today my wife told me a woman in the lift didn't think she was Thai because her English was so good.

 

I've known hundreds, thousands of students with good to great English skills. You folks are not around these kids and so haven't got a clue. Go visit Japan, Korea tell me for all their GDP how much better it is there bc it's NOT.

 

I've known dozens of Thai teachers with a C1 CEFR.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Number 6

[darksidedog]

This subject comes round and round and never gets anywhere because they are not prepared to pay the money required to get decent staff. They always cheap out and employ those for whom English is often a second or third language. The other issue of course is one of face and paying a farang more than Thai teachers who in their minds are superior causes a problem. Those looking for teaching work need not get excited. This will go no further than the countless identical promises made over the years and the kids in ten years still won't be able to speak English to anything close to an acceptable standard.

[Kelsall]

From what English teachers here have told me, schools prefer American teachers over other nationalities.   True?  I can't see them getting many Americans to fly this far to teach for what is considered low pay in the US. 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Kelsall

[Number 6]

10 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

Those looking for teaching work need not get excited.

There is currently absolutely no shortage of work. In fact there appear to be some decent jobs posted within the last ten days.

 

Harrow

Suankularb

Satit Chula

Wattana Wittayalai

Bangkok Christian

 

Just a few.

 

Plenty of good jobs for GOOD teachers - no matter their ages.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Number 6

[Number 6]

4 minutes ago, Kelsall said:

From what English teachers here have told me, schools prefer American teachers over other nationalities.   True?

Perhaps in the public schools this may be true. I think there are about 2.5 British teachers to every 1 North American. Then you have Oz, New Zealand, Ireland, Scandinavia.

 

International schools are primarily British curriculum and do not hire Americans by and large.

[ThreeEyedRaven]

16 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

There is currently absolutely no shortage of work. In fact there appear to be some decent jobs posted within the last ten days.

 

Harrow

Suankularb

Satit Chula

Wattana Wittayalai

Bangkok Christian

 

Just a few.

 

Plenty of good jobs for GOOD teachers - no matter their ages.

 

Very true and I suspect all those schools are in the private sector. It is the Government schools where the overwhelming majority of kids are educated which is the point under discussion here though. The pay gap between private and government is astronomical. 100K+ for a good private school, 30 if you are lucky in Government and who that is any good is going to work in a poor environment on less than subsistence wages? Monkeys only, which is who they have largely been employing to date, and will continue to do so, and the reason why kids for average schools can't string two sentences together after years of learning. Hell, most of the teachers can't either.

[djayz]

45 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

if the foreign teachers he hires teach the Thais to be better English teachers, then by three years time he won't need so many foreigners to teach in Thai schools

LOL 

So, after decades of "trying" to learn English, and majority of them still haven't come even remotely close to mastering it, yet this guy thinks that they can somehow grasp the language after just 3 years!?!?  

I've tried teaching Thai teachers English and ended up walking away understanding why their students simply aren't improving. The majority of them (Thai teachers) didn't give a rat's ars e and wanted to just play games the whole time.

Pointless exercise, unfortunately. 

That having been said, in the Thai teacher's defense, they aren't rewarded for trying or improving. If the government seriously wants them to improve and help their students to improve, then they must be rewarded in the form of bonuses. Money is a great motivating factor. 

[ThaiBrian]

The schools that are in desperate need are only offering 35,000 THB/Month (~$1,100). I see the same ads on Facebook, from the same school. This may be a private school. 25 - 35k seems to be the going rate with exceptions leading up to 50k. Then you have special cases where you can make far more... but the demands are ridiculously high from what I hear. 

[CNXexpat]

Years ago I have been with my wife at a party in Amnat Charoen (deepest Isaan, 80 km from Ubon). A guy talked to me. After 10 minutes I realized that he spoke English with me. At the end of the evening my wife told me that he is the English teacher of the local school...

[SteveK]

8 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

Years ago I have been with my wife at a party in Amnat Charoen (deepest Isaan, 80 km from Ubon). A guy talked to me. After 10 minutes I realized that he spoke English with me. At the end of the evening my wife told me that he is the English teacher of the local school...

Exactly the same experience here in the sticks. The English teacher from the local school sometimes spots me in 7-Eleven and insists on trying to talk with me, can hardly understand a word and just ask her to speak Thai.

[observer90210]

Will Thailand pay them their medical insurance or will the teachers be forced to take, that is "approved"  say for 20'000 THB/month ?

[phuketsub]

I really hate the term 'jao khong phasa' for 'native speaker', because it literally means 'owner of the language', which is patently absurd.  English, like any language, is a dynamic, constantly evolving tool for communication, not a commodity that can be owned by anyone.  Sadly, I think the term's entrenched usage in Thai is an indicator of the cultural barrier Thais have to learning the current lingua franca.

 

And it really doesn't have to be that way at all.

[JAG]

The agency internet connections to West Africa and the Philippines will be humming!

[Ventenio]

Good luck, really.  Let me point out some pitfalls.  Foreign teachers who can't speak English, spending weeks on pointless games only to quit unexpectedly.  Repeat a few times per semester, and everyone is frustrated and confused.  lol.  Then we have the "English" teachers who have an accent that someone from the UK or USA probably wouldn't understand.   Then there are the teachers who get to class 10-minutes late, teach for 10-minutes, and tells the class they can leave early.  Why?  Because the teacher that might replace him/her is likely worse. 

 

30,000 seems to be the average for a farang, with Filipinos super happy between 18,000 or maybe 20,000 (give or take).  You get teachers who have never lived in an English-speaking country, desperate to stay because they need the money, and mad at all natives.  

 

Example:  "Take pen out bag."  "Where you go today?"  "Clap your hand"  "You have two bag, so what do you think about the bag?"

 

It's a clown show; act like a monkey and smile for the camera.  I thought you would have to worry about ghrammmmmmar   but no oh no oh no its your time your allowed to use you're or your...up to you..nobody knows if its or its' or it's right or wright.   lol

 

I was involved for one semester, but any idiot can understand how the system works.  

Edited February 15, 2020 by Ventenio

[MRDave]

Misleading headline. They only want to recruit three thousand more teachers.

[MRDave]

2 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

Good luck, really.  Let me point out some pitfalls.  Foreign teachers who can't speak English, spend weeks on pointless games, and then quit unexpectedly.  Repeat a few times per semester.  Then we have the "English" teachers who have an accent that someone from the UK or USA probably wouldn't understand.   Then there are the teachers who get to class 10-minutes late, teach for 10-minutes, and tells the class they can leave early.  Why?  Because the teacher that might replace him/her is likely worse. 

 

30,000 seems to be the average for a farang, with Filipinos super happy between 18,000 or maybe 20,000 (give or take).  You get teachers who have never lived in an English-speaking country, desperate to stay because they need the money, and mad at all natives.  

 

Example:  "Take pen out bag."  "Where you go today?"  "Clap your hand"  "You have two bag, so what do you think about the bag?"

 

It's a clown show

It serves them right for paying poverty wages!

[Ventenio]

8 minutes ago, MRDave said:

It serves them right for paying poverty wages!

EXACTLY!!!  You get what you pay for...

 

AND everyone is sooo mad if you make 30,000, but then you look at the exams and find tons of mistakes.  Once I saw a school spell APPLE wrong on a massive poster.  APPEL.  Who OK'd this before printing?  LOL.   

 

Once I heard a teacher yell at her kids (she's NOT Thai, not Farang, do the math)....  If I say hi, you say HELLO not Hi.     ???????   

 

Then they go on their Facebook page and type, "Living in good place I eat food such wonderful."  How can you not laugh at this?  Definitely not an English teacher.  Hey, maybe a GREAT Teacher, but pick another subject.  

[bangkokfrog]

This type of fanciful story form an education official comes up from time to time. As someone said before, it comes back to the attitude of students; why work hard to master a foreign language when there is no consequence for failing. I have seen several instances where excellent and very committed teachers achieve disappointing results and come away jaded. Change the "no fail" philosophy in the Thai education system and you will see major changes in not only English but across many subjects.