Thai + English Teaching

[Jamaw]

My question was aimed at Mod and I'm still waiting to find out what qualifies him to teach English.

[Starman]

Hi Jamaw,that's the whole point-what qualifications do the teachers have? I have met many English speaking "teachers" in Thailand who would not pass a fourth grade primary school english exam.While these days many Thais have had an excellent Tertiary education,far better than many of the boozy expats in this country.There is no doubt that English speaking is very difficult for most Thais,but not all ,as Tony would like to have you believe.Many Thai people travel the world privately and for business and academic purposes these days.I think Tony should realise things are changing in Thailand,soon many Thais will speak English better than he ever did.

I support the use of facts to make a point. I don't particularly support posts like this. Maybe you would like to rewrite it.

[Jamaw]

I've come across qualified teachers who have been in the job a while and let themselves go, drinking and womanising excessively but that was a few years ago and way down south. From what I hear from friends who are teaching is that any teacher in a school who misbehaves, is disrespectful to the culture or does not act in a manner a professional teacher should, is out and contract cancelled.

[Eric2012]

Getting back to the beginning of this thread,MOD states that she is offering basic English for beginners.I believe she should be supported in this endeavour ,not brow beaten by a bully.This is not about facts and figures,it is about giving people a fair go at doing what they want,regardless of where they come from.There is still a need for Thai people at the basic level of teaching English as they have a better chance of relating to the problems Thais have in starting out with English.So,give the lady a chance to help her country any way she can.We should always encourage positive behaviour any chance we get.It took guts for a non-native English speaker to offer her services on this site and we should show her the respect she deserves.

[Jamaw]

If anyone is advertising to teach English then they should have the required qualifications. If a Thai is offering to teach English then I simply won't take it seriously. If a Thai is offering to teach Thai to an English person they would still need more than a basic understanding of English.

I've no problems with people helping to learn a language but if you are advertising and seeking to do it professionally then you are subject to comment and critisism in order to justify it.

[Eric2012]

By the way Jamaw/Italian Tony or whatever you go by today-The Mod had the courtesy to identify herself as Ann.Good luck with your teaching classes Ann.And lets pray you get  intelligent and broadminded students  in your classes .

[Jamaw]

Eric. I'm not sure what you're getting at but as I stated, I've nothing personal about this. I never asked for identity, only that anyone who is teaching should be suitably qualified and I stand by that.

In all matters of training standardisation is as important as standards. I have friends who are highly qualified and experienced teachers who have been contradicted by other teachers doing it part-time with no qualifications.

Think of the student! The young student who hasn't got much money and goes to learn English with the hope of gaining a better job only top find out that the English they have learned is very poor. I have experienced this and will always speak up about it.

If you want to teach, get qualified.

[Eric2012]

We seem to be going off at tangents.I agree 100% about qualifications-but this was never mentioned in I/T's original statement that I took exception to.And Jamaw kept referring to MOD as a male after the lady identified herself as a 25 year old Thai female.People need to read what is written to give people a fair go

[Jamaw]

Eric, I've no idea who MOD is, and it is irrelevant to the argument what the gender is.

You slagged off qualified teachers yet appear to support and promote one that is not qualified. I'm trying to get my head round what the basis of your argument is.

If someone is taking money for a professional service and is not qualified then that in my professional opinion lacks credibility. In my country it's a prison term but I accept 'this is Thailand'.

I have a neighbour who's son was turned down for an apprenticeship with Toyota because his written English was so bad. It surprised me as when I chatted to the lad he sounded ok. It turned out he went to an old English chap (now deceased) who gave out English lessons cheap, this was about 3 years ago. I've no doubt his intentions were pure in helping young Thais but there are many like him that are actually doing damage.

[Eric2012]

At no point did I slag off at" Qualified" English teachers.Quite the opposite.I was stating that many "english " teachers are not qualifiedbut,only native english speakers.Which supports the situation you describe about the poor kid.His teacher should never have taught anything other than beer tasting.I/T was criticising on the basis of nationality not qualifications-go back to the original quote-nothing about qualifications was  ever mentioned.This was brought in later to hijack the discussion.I do not like being misquoted-I am quite capable of getting myself into serious trouble all by myself-thankyou

[Jamaw]

Eric, point taken.
I can provide you, or rather bombard you with so much information as to why Thais are so poor at English and why they should not be teaching it. Most of it comes from government sources and as previously stated by Starman, Thailand sits way down at the bottom for English in the AEAN region. The key point being grammar. So, it is vital that anyone teaching English should have a proven, tested and qualified standard of grammar.

There's no real debate or argument, it's quite simple. If a Thai wants to teach English then that Thai needs to do something to have their own language skills tested.

It's nothing personal and this has been mentioned on various forms of Thai media.

[Eric2012]

Thankyou Jamaw,maybe we were on the same side after all.And I thought Thai was a difficult language to communicate in!But I still think there is a place for qualified Thai teachers,otherwise unqualified Farangs will come along and stuff things up.

[Jamaw]

I would accept that, only if done correctly and this has been muted at higher levels. The idea is that a suitable Thai teacher would work alongside an English teacher, in particular at the early stages. This was experimented with last year and the findings were so shocking that it is being re-thought. Basically, experienced Thai teachers of English were so poor at grammar they had to suspend it.

In an ideal world we would have good Thai teachers teaching English but there's little incentive or support. Teachers are poorly paid and the education system is a mess.

Just to digress slightly, to emphasise a point. I met with my bank manager and asked her about business English for her staff. She said there's no demand. I contradicted her and mentioned that there were lots of farangs in Nangrong. In any case I asked her what she did about staff development which brought a vacant look. I informed her (I thought I was reminding her), That the bank has a budget for staff development and languages comes under that, as does IT skills and many more. She hadn't a clue.

Basically, for a multitude of reasons, Thailand is playing catch-up and trying to race to the front but missing out vital bits in the middle.

Times are changing and it's going to get tougher to become an English teacher, as well as remain one, but the demand is there if only some would recognise it.

[Eric2012]

To think Thailand can improve it's standard of English without using Thais is naive.Expats cannot do it alone.ASEAN is set for 2015-Thais will have to be a part of the training process -Remember colonialism finished a long time ago-And Thailand was never part of it-good for them! How about some co-operation and support between Thais and expats for a change? Maybe then we can improve Thailands ranking in ASEAN.

[Nobby]

Times are changing and it's going to get tougher to become an English teacher, as well as remain one, but the demand is there if only some would recognise it.

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