natewill wrote:Thai Proficiency 2018

  Thanks for the post, I've never read this article and surprise, surprise, it's the truth. I really appreciate the guy's statement where he addresses the causes of the problem:


   ""Each Thai student studies English for at least 12 years at primary and secondary school, but most remain unable to communicate in English. This is the main obstacle to global competition," he said.
The two main challenges that need to be addressed are Thai teachers’ English skills and their teaching approach, according to Mr. Teerakiat.



Such a great article in a face losing society is what had to happen, IMO. Last week, when I walked past a classroom, I saw one of the classes I also teach, taught by a Thai colleague.

  The teacher sat behind the desk like she's glued on the chair, updating her Farcebook.

   I could see seven kids sitting in the back of the classroom on the floor playing cards, while some of them actually did the glorious assignment.

They "studied Thai" by copying a passage of a Thai textbook into a notebook. I've never yet met students who've learned anything through copying any other than perhaps an upgrade of their handwriting skills.

 Our Thai English teachers usually teach English in Thai, at the end of the year they "taught a whole textbook", but none of the students, ( sorry, maybe two, or three kids) finally knows what they've studied.

 Not too long ago when they had to sit a CEFR examination, most teachers only scored A1, A2, a minority B1. a few B2, but I haven't met anybody who mastered the C level.

  The solution was easy and weird at the same time. Many foreign teachers were asked to hold CEFR seminars on one weekend where they then received their urgently needed upgrade in form of a certificate. I was one of them and the level of English wasn't good enough to teach English.

 

 

  On the other hand, would all of them be great teachers, we would be out of work.