Thread: Plan to hire native English-speaking teachers

Originally Posted by Rural Surin

Those whom yearn and wish to take on the language skills will naturally enroll.

Originally Posted by keekwai

April Fool!

From a search .. it seems "The Nation" is th ONLY news media with this story. After 4 pages of Google results full of Thai related forums and blogs that have picked up this story ... The Nation still remains the only news media with the story.

OBECS website .. Google Translate

... has no mention of it.

The Bangkok Post has no mention of it.

The twit who wrote the story has obviously forgotten to let the public in on the joke.

I'm telling you guys .. It HAS to be an April Fools Joke. Just take the "India" bit. A lot of Thais are not too keen on Indians. Imagine the fee paying parents reaction to little Somchai being taught by one.

Filipinos on 83,000 per month .. yeah ... right.

Originally Posted by keekwai

April Fool!

there is a fly in the ointment

Posted 2011-03-29

Thai Visa? George? You're kidding me. He's just a professional copy/paster sucked in by the same joke.

Originally Posted by keekwai

April Fool!

Seems The Notion are carrying on the joke well past its sell-by date, then.....


ARE NATIVE-ENGLISH TEACHERS THE ANSWER?

CHALK TALK

ARE NATIVE-ENGLISH TEACHERS THE ANSWER?

By Chularat Saengpassa
Published on April 4, 2011



The Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec) has caused a stir by floating the idea of paying native English teachers up to Bt83,000 a month in a bid to boost students' proficiency in the language.

While it's great that Obec has finally exercised its power to strive for change, it is worrying that the office does not seem to have everything ready to back up its ambitions.

It plans to attract young graduates with teaching degrees or former teachers in retirement from the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines.

"We will offer them a one-year contract and send them to top schools at district levels," Obec secretary-general Dr Chinnapat Phumirat disclosed.

He said his agency planned to hire just 300 native speakers in the first year of the initiative, which is expected to start in October.

"Then, we will gradually increase the number of native-speaker teachers to 1,000 within five years. They will then be assigned to a wider range of Obec schools," Chinnapat said.

If Obec manages to win Cabinet approval for its ambitious plan, it will have to spend up to Bt350 million in a year to hire 300 native speakers alone.

Does Obec need to pay that much?

It is true that Thai students' command of English is not good on average, according to various indicators. Still, Obec could spend money on providing training to Thai teachers who may be able to teach grammar or English-reading skills better. Native speakers should be assigned to focus on equipping students with English listening and speaking skills.

The reason students' current level of English is not very high may be because Obec has not provided an adequate number of qualified Thai teachers for English classes. To date, only 5,000 teachers have graduated with an English-teaching-for-primary-students major from their universities. On top of this, thousands of schools have taught English without language labs at all.

Therefore, if Obec is going to spend a massive amount on hiring native speakers, it should review whether some of the money would be better spent elsewhere, such as for training Thai teachers or better teaching equipment.

And Obec has not floated its idea at the right time.

Switzerland-based EF Education First, the world leader in international education, last week released the first comprehensive index ranking the proficiency of English among a broad population in 44 countries and territories around the world where English is not the native language.

Using a unique set of test data from over two million adults across 44 countries who took free online English tests over three years (2007-2009), the index shows that Asia's performance was lower than expected, especially in light of the amount spent on private English training.

The worst news is that of the 44 countries, Thailand is ranked 42nd in terms of English proficiency. Thailand's score is only 39.41, against 69.09 for Norway, which tops the list.

EF's English Proficiency Index also shows an interesting strong correlation between a country's English ability and its national income per head. There is also a high correlation with levels of education and export strength. With higher income, governments are investing more in English training.

"In today's highly competitive global economy, English language proficiency is a basic skill and has never been more important for the entire workforce," said Bill Fisher, president of EF's online-learning division, Englishtown.

Fisher added: "For developing countries to compete successfully in global industries and capitalise on the business-outsourcing boom, the ability to produce large numbers of skilled graduates who are able to communicate in English must be a top priority."

Aware of the importance of English language skills, people are more than willing to welcome Obec's move to hire more native speakers.
Obec is serious about this initiative because it wants to prepare Thais for the Asean Economic Community, which is expected to become fully-fledged by 2015. The initiative by Obec will run until 2015 too.

If the initiative is successful, the number of fluent English speakers in Thailand's workforce will increase in the future. Although some children in big cities today are now fluent in English, their numbers account for less than 10 per cent of the child population nationwide.

If Thailand wishes to have an English-competent population to drive up its economy, everyone should embrace the Obec initiative. The only thing is that Obec should make sure it spends the budget efficiently and finds a way to improve its Thai teachers and facilities too. Don't forget that the limited English knowledge of most Thai students is not only due to the lack of native speakers in the educational sector alone.

CHULARAT SAENGPASSA
THE NATION

Chularat[at]nationgroup.com

The Nation still appears to be the only news media carrying the story. Still no mention of anything at the OBEC site. If it's not a joke .. it should be.