Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

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PeteC
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Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by PeteC »

Is there a requirement from some or all schools for a foreign teacher to learn some spoken Thai? If not a requirement, have you found it an advantage to know something to help explain a point, or to understand what the kids are talking about among themselves?

I read elsewhere that those teaching English usually have a hard and fast rule that only English is to be spoken in class. However, I feel there would be an advantage to speak Thai on certain occasions to endear yourself to the students, as well as that odd moment when a few words in Thai could better explain a point you're trying to make. Just IMO. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by E-Dork »

Using Thai in situations when student's are finding it hard to understand the concept of whatever you're teaching helps immensely. Other's will disagree but if you pair up beginner level students, one pair to be taught by a farang with no Thai language behind him and the other to be taught by a farang that is fluent in Thai, you will be suprised at the huge difference with improvement.... and I mean huge.

This does not excuse though, farangs speaking Thai in class whom have bad pronunciation or a bad grasp of the language... as I said, if you are pretty much fluent it is massively beneficial to use it in class for beginner level students.
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by migrant »

How do the schools value it?

If two farang teachers apply, and skills/experience are similar, does speaking Thai help?
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Spitfire »

Depends who and what age you are teaching. Children/beginners may need some assistance with some stuff to gain perspective but it is often seen as a last resort to use the native language.

This sort of stuff though can be a mute point depending on student motivation, whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic, ie do they want to be there and learn or are they there because someone else is making them attend (from within or from outside).

Most decent teacher training courses like the CELTA etc, which is about teaching adults, make trainee teachers attend a lesson or two in a language like Hungarian or something obscure so that you can understand the difficulties non native language students face and they spoke no English in those lessons but I learned more Hungarian in those input sessions than I thought I would, but then again, I was intrinsically motivated to learn, so it worked.

Many teacher training courses would see using the native tongue in your lesson as a failure to prepare properly as you would have 'graded' the lesson/students wrongly as the content of the lesson is too difficult or you haven't presented it well enough.

There are arguments on both sides of the stick about this one though, just my 2 bahts worth.

Migrant - Probably wouldn't have much influence on the decision, again, depends where you apply, some might ask and many won't and the ones that do may want to know for other ends than what we are discussing. Foreign teachers are mainly employed for the receptive (reading/listening) and productive (writing/speaking) skills areas to provide authenticity of language use.

Edit - Tidying up and couple of typos
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by usual suspect »

When I was teaching the kids always liked it when I knelt down at the side of an individual's desk, & explained.. in Thai (speaking slowly).. what we were doing.
The kids knew my Thai was limited and it was great fun to them to correct me on many occasions.
In my classes this Thai/English/Tinglish made for fun lessons & they were always happy to learn more.
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Spitfire »

As a follow up/epilogue to my last post then I will also mention that basically I use my Thai as a way of 'breaking the ice' and then the students know I'm capable of learning their language too and that my lessons can be fun too, puts them at ease, but that's about it and we are talking about adults here, not kiddies.

A common problem that many teachers face is the unrealistic expectations of the place they work at. Many teachers are presented with goal posts that are completely unrealistic, like they are given 'Headway' that is way too advanced for the standard of the students but the college advertises that this is what they learn, but it is completely wrong, just have to work within the goal posts you are given and good teachers can do that, however misguided the school's expectations are.

You have to be realistic and that's why many mention about speaking Thai, helps them in an unrealistic world that they find themselves in and said institutions haven't a clue, but require this and that.

That's the game, in a perfect world an all etc..........
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Vital Spark »

In answer to your original question Pete, no. There isn't a legal requirement for English teachers to speak Thai - thank goodness.

I have taught from Pratom 1 through to (currently) university level, and I've never spoken Thai in the classroom. I can speak and understand quite a bit of Thai, and if I hear students speaking in Thai saying they can't understand what I'm talking about, then I'll explain it more slowly in ENGLISH what I want them to do.

I've worked with teachers who want to impress their students with their knowledge of Thai. They are usually incompetent teachers boosting their own ego.

After 13 years teaching English here I've never had a student complain because I don't speak Thai in the classroom. On the contrary, they often want to learn with me because it forces them to use English.

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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Vital Spark wrote
There isn't a legal requirement for English teachers to speak Thai - thank goodness.
There used to be if you wanted to have a work permit. When I started teaching in 1990 in a Bangkok College, I got my work permit only after I had taken my P6 examination in Thai language. Not that anybody needed work permits that badly in those days.
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Vital Spark »

Times have certainly changed BG, and well done you for passing the Thai exam in the Thai language. Quite frankly, I would say that it was ignorance on their part at that time to think that you had to speak Thai to teach English.

What I think is more important is understanding Thai culture, and its quirky ways, than the lingo. Usual Suspect mentioned kneeling down beside the pupils to speak to them. That is something I would never do. Students are uncomfortable if your head is lower than their head - a teacher (in Thai culture) is superior. When students speak to me they sit on a chair, if there isn't a chair available (and I'm sitting down) I stand up.

This thread has got me thinking about my French teacher at school. Back in the 70s it was compulsory to learn a second language in the UK. She was French, she could speak excellent English but only used French in the classroom. Bonjour, comment ca va, etc. were her first words to us. We 'clicked' into French, and didn't flip-flop from French to English. The best way to learn a language is by immersion, even if it is two hours a week. I do the same with my students here. It worked for me and hopefully it works for them too.

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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

Post by Bamboo Grove »

Vital Spark wrote:
Students are uncomfortable if your head is lower than their head
I agree 100 %. I did that mistake once and the shock the student showed was enough for me not to do it again. As with everything, if you live and/or work with people from different cultures, you should know at least the basics of their dos and donts. But... I do think that if you want to know a culture well, you should know the language, as it is a key to the culture. So many times the ways of thinking have a strong link to the language used in any given country.
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Re: Foreigners Teaching at Thai Institutions

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