OK I have read a variety of opinions on the topic of 'Why can't Thais speak English?' Some are correct but some are outright shallow.

I am a Thai, born and bred, and I have had some Eng-teaching experience. I used to be an IP lawyer, then quit to become a law professor; I am now teaching in Phisanulok but currently on a sabbatical leave. I developed a course called "English for lawyers" to teach law students practical English for professional purposes (for a legal profession).

As for my language background, I speak rather good English, I have an intermediate command of French, basic Chinese, and have taught myself ancient Greek. Here are my observations and criticisms:

1. I think most Thai have a working knowledge of English. The ability to use English among Thai population is known to be better than in Japan or China. Thailand is a very popular tourist destination, it is not a secret that people here use English well in their professional lives.

2. I never had any problem creating motivation for my students. As a Thai, I know that mastery of a foreign language requires that 95% of the work be done outside of the classroom. So, my foremost goal has always been to create motivation and love of learning English.

I have a realistic expectation and always tell my student that they will not walk away from the course being able to use proficient legal English as a professional. And improving English will be their life-long project.

By "motivation" I do not mean presenting a language as a "tool," that is how the anglo-saxon think about language. For me languages are portals to other cultures. I motivate students partly by introducing them to a small body of English literature, something their schools never did. Teaching them songs, poems by William Blake or Lord Tennyson. I taught them how to read English blank verse which is the gate to Shakespeare, and give them something to memorize.

This may appear somewhat high-brow but it proved fresh to students who had spent a life time learning grammar; most of them like my materials.

3. I attempt to explain grammar and vocabs as logically as possible. My knowledge of classical language (Greek) and French allow me to explain tenses better than contemporary textbooks. Students are always interested in etymology and your French or Latin can help.

Making language appear logical is one of the best way to draw enthusiasm from students. The law students I taught were not linguistically brilliant. Most law students are those who hate both English and math; it is actually a common knowledge that people who come into the legal profession don't have many aptitudes. (this is pretty true in the U.S. too) But if you present your subject interesting enough, they will learn.

4. Yes. Thailand's English language education is obsolete, inefficient and time-wasting. It is that bad. In my generation, we all went to public schools. But Thai upper-middle classes are now sending their kids to international schools.

Unfortunately, the upper class of the future will be those who speak bilingual but having no profound grasp of either language. I think it is sad that the elite are giving up on the state's education system and choose the path that will produce future elite who will treat languages as tools rather than culturally important assets.

Will the country ever produce quality literature when the better-educated don't even know enough Thai anymore? We will see.

5. Most farang teachers don't have background in languages, not even as a student. They come from all walks of life and come to Thailand to pick up language-teaching jobs.

Thai always appreciate native speakers. But language teachers should be adequately passionate about language and be able to transmit the desire to learn to students. Most of you don't even know another European language and may not have any interest in literature.

6. It is true that Thais are quite lazy. But they are not stupid.

Thais are 40% of Chinese ethnicity, they are genetically pretty smart. Thai culture is a bit like France - that is pretty laid back.

The whole state is bureaucracy, most people dream of civil-servant jobs that employ you for life. Thai bureaucratic system is like a socialist state with in a capitalist state. So it is not one of your corporate-driven societies.

For Thai kids, English is just another subject like math or chemistry. They are chores that kids have to put up with until the final exam. My point is that, to stimulate them to learn English, you have to present English as, not only professionally, but also culturally important to them. I believe that teachers should have some knowledge about local cultures to make connection with students.

I doubt most farang teachers know much about Thai culture. Thais are both conservative and nationalistic (think about a country where 80% are the GOP Republicans). Thus, they'd super appreciate foreign folk who learn their culture or languages. But Thais know more about the world than you think they do.

Maybe it's you who know too little about the place in which you are working

Methaya Sirichit

O.K... please tell me anyone, is this some sort of joke, troll, or a serous posting worthy of some semblance of merit to be allowed here at Ajarn? For a moment I thought I'd inadvertently clicked on a ThaiVisa.com thread by accident.

So, Dr. Evil, if you sincerely believe all that you wrote, I'm here to offer a rebuttal. First thing off the bat, you mention "pedophiles hoping to score on your twisted fantasies".

Well, I think it's safe to say there are probably just as many, if not more, people of this type in your own home country than here living as expats. Sure, the odd one pops up now and then, but no more so than you see elsewhere.

YAHOO just had a post today about a US female teacher having sexual relations with two of her students. It's a global phenomenon and not one unique to Thailand. Plenty of Thai teachers, I assume, are also in similar situations but we just don't hear of it much as it's not on their radar in the way it is in the West.

Then you refer to "drunks just trying to get laid." Hmmmmmmmm, again I see plenty of Westerners living back in the U.K., U.S., E.U., A.U., etc. doing this very thing as well. It's also a world-wide phenomenon and nothing new under the sun.
Plenty of Thai blokes doing just the same every night of the week, if not more! Why is an expat "evil rubbish" for this and a Thai is not?

So then you suppose that Thailand is out on a house-cleaning spree and mission to rid itself of foreigners with the Ministry of Education is now proposing I must marry a Thai to keep my job? I think not.

I have a Masters of Education degree, a teacher's license (on number two now of the new, 5-year certificates issued with a photo ID), speak fluent Thai, and have been living and working here for well over two decades now. Having a Thai wife is the last thing I would ever want, need, or have and I assure you that nobody is going to fire me for my choice of whom I marry, or not as is my case, prerogative, and HUMAN RIGHT.

I attend so many educational meetings, seminars, conferences, etc. it would blow your mind (and bore you to death!). I work in school administration, teach only 12 classroom hours per week, and am very, very familiar with any and all directives regarding foreign teachers as that's a big part of my admin position.

Please, do provide some factual support for your "prediction of the outcome" of that supposed meeting. And the statistic you quoted of "removing 80%" of foreigners deemed "undesirable", please inform us all of your source on that as well that you're referencing.

Sounds like a soundbite you heard on the tube or read in some forum, but I'd be willing to bet it's far from fact or ever actually going to happen. As is the supposed "database" where we are all being profiled and spied upon. Really? A Thai NSA is in the works now specifically targeted towards expats? My oh my.

If I understand correctly, in summary, your position is that only persons of approved sexual orientations, marital status, alcohol/drug consumption habits, etc. are going to be permitted in to live in this "New, Improved and Sanitized Thailand" you claim will come to effect in 2016? Am I right? And I thought this was Christmas, not April' Fools Day.

Good luck with your delusional visions of grandeur, mate. The Thailand I have known, loved, and lived in since the early 80's is still very much the same as it was then, and will always be, regardless of what "crackdowns", "crusades", and "hubs", you want to use as scare tactics to make this country your own personal utopia.

It's just a country, a place like any other, no better in some ways and no worse in others. We live on a very small planet nowadays, and it is high time to disregard the xenophobic notion that Thailand only belongs to those born here. Immigration and Emigration are common to every country I know of, save North Korea.

Perhaps you hope and pray Thailand is headed in that direction instead?? If it truly is, as you purport, then I guess I better start packing my bags, sell the house, truck, and say goodbye to all my students. OH! Wait! This is THAILAND. Sabaii, sabaii, arai godai, and mai-bpen-rai.

Anyway, on a more rational and sane note, Happy Holidays to one and all here at Ajarn.com and please, please drive defensively if you're on the roads during your school break over New Years! Better yet, keep the car at home and just fly.

Cheers!

Back home for Christmas in Zandvoort Aan Zee

In response to 'Kicking out the undesirables' (Postbox 10th December)

I first of all do not think that anyone from any A.S.E.A.N country would want my Thai wife. I could possibly have seen this happening around nine years ago but she has changed considerably since then. We have been happily married for ten years. I consider ten years to be a short length of time like a spit in a wind storm. I always say "getting fatter and older together".

My wife has a daughter and I was uncle to her when she was six. Now she is sixteen and I am poppa.

My wife has managed a successful business of eight years of which I am a 'silent' partner. We have Thai documents (partnership) to prove this. I support the business when needed.

Concerning our daughter's education she is in a very prominent high school in Chiang Mai. She is in grade 11. We want her to eventually go to a good university such as C.M.U.. I help support our daughter's education too! I am constantly transferring money over from my country to help with our needs.

We also have a block of land in our local area of which we will build a house on it eventually. I can say that we are not "hi so" as my wife comes from a middle class family the same as I do.

I can honestly say that I do not drink alcohol of any kind. I don't drink beer, wine, whisky or spirits. I never acquired the taste of alcohol when I was young and in a way moved to Thailand to escape the yobbery, wankery and binge drinking in my country.

Now, you are probably asking yourself how old is this guy? Honestly, I am fifty years old.

Do I fit what Thais are seeking "disciplined, neat, clean, organized, mentally stable and responsible foreign people"? Perhaps?

For eight years I taught English at government high schools, factories, a small language school, an elementary/high school and an elementary school. The first six years were very good. I taught at three high schools. The first year in the south. Three years at a school near Chiang Mai and two years at another school again near Chiang Mai. Teaching took a nosedive after the six years.

In to the seventh year, I became involved with a teaching agency. This experience was not a good experience and I am glad that I experienced a teaching agency at this very late stage of teaching English in Thailand. I think I would have stopped teaching entirely if I had this experience during my first year of teaching.

As an example, the foreign teachers employed through the agency at a high school were all told that we would have a three-week term break. This changed dramatically to working an extra two weeks doing thirty hours a week(all together sixty hours) instead of the usual twenty hours a week while threatening your current teaching position.

By the end of those two weeks you just didn't care anymore.

Another issue with the agency was that foreigners needed visas and time to get visas to work legally. The agency moaned about the time involved to get a visa.

We all know about small language schools and what they don't provide. I worked at one for four months and did not get what was necessary to work there so I stopped at the end of the fourth month. Not having any official documentation from the small language school at all I did not get paid for the fourth month either.

I stopped because of not having the necessary documents as this really rides on your shoulders after some time.

During the last year I taught at an elementary/high school. I was employed at this school for one reason which was I didn't drink alcohol. During a Christmas day activity morning I was accused of drinking. I had been sick with a flu for two weeks, taking medicine and still coming to school. I have never been accused of drinking in my entire life until that day. How would that make you feel?

Lastly, at an elementary school I was abused by a true foreigner hater. If you have had the experience of being confronted by or even verbally attacked by a true foreigner hater in a school they can be real
nasty pieces of work. Never in my life have I experienced a person with such a hatred towards foreigners until now.

Would I want to teach again? Perhaps? Perhaps not?

Ken

Your Thailand travel blog isn't very good - but don't worry, I can help you. Follow my instructions and you'll soon be on your way to attracting an online audience.

Let's face it, your writing is dull and what you are doing is boring. It's not new (except to you) and the way you are telling it makes people zone out. The best and most widely read blogs are controversial. They polarize people and make them ecstatic or angry. But even if you can't summon up the wherewithal to be different, there are still ways you can be more interesting.

Have an opinion. The only thing that distinguishes you and the other 10,000 people teaching English in Thailand is YOU. Nobody, except your parents, cares if you can be a clown in the classroom. Nobody cares if you ate fried rice for breakfast. And nobody (not even your parents) care if you just bought a beach pebble on a string at a local market for a discounted fifty baht.

Offer an opinion that distinguishes between what you do now and what you did in the past or what other people are doing now. Nobody really gives a toss about two nappy wearing vegans who live in a shack at a crappy school in Nakorn Nowhere... unless one of them is having second thoughts and wants to go home, or one of them is getting drunk and screwing ladyboys.

Don't do reviews. I have better and more reliable places on the internet to turn to for reviews. Unless you have had a particularly extraordinary experience at a restaurant or hotel, then keep it to yourself.

Don't do facts. I recently read a REALLY long, detailed blog on Thai marriage. All the facts were there. It was nicely written... short paragraphs, bullet points and useful information on what to do, where to go, requirements needed, etc. It's probably really interesting if you're a man about to get married to a Thai girl. But really he could have simply posted a link to Thai Visa and saved himself a few hours of work.

The problem is that lists of facts can be found anywhere. The information isn't new and there are better places to find this information. Also, there was a sense of detachment about the whole piece. It was impersonal and dull... it wasn't a 'blog.'

Don't share with us what you ate or bought. I don't care what you ate... unless it's extremely interesting and you have photos. For example, if you have recently eaten stuffed toads in Cambodia and have pics to prove it, THEN I'm interested. Nom-tam-sum-tom-bing-bang-bong is BORING. Keep it in your belly and squirt it out later into a hole in the ground, not an online travel blog!

Always have a comments section that you engage with. If you don't have a place for me to add my opinion to your opinions then I don't like your blog. Blogs should be interactive, interesting and (genuinely) controversial.

And be thick skinned. Be ready for a barrage of criticism. More importantly, learn to embrace criticism and carry on regardless. Accept that it's part of writing a public account to your thoughts online.

Develop a pithy style and use headlines. Even the most fascinating stories can be rendered painful to digest by bad design. Nobody wants to read an endless stream of words. Break up your writing into short snappy paragraphs. Use multiple headings to guide people through the direction of your story and have original photos to break the monotony.

If you aren't a professional writer - don't try to be. Seen a cool word, looked it up and now you want to use it? Well, don't. Keep the language simple. It's a blog not a novel and you're a marketing major from Hull university not bloody P G Wodehouse.

Avoid all quotes by famous people. They are pretentious garbage. 'You know, Mark Twain once said...' I already want to kill you!

Don't add pictures of famous or interesting places that you go to unless you are in them and doing something stupid. I've lost count of the amount of blogs I have seen that have photos of a market in them. Or a stray dog. Or someone selling a mango. Or a slightly blurred off-center picture of the view from your crappy apartment. (It's a mountain in the distance and overhanging electrical street cables in the foreground, am I right? Brilliant!) Unless you want me to come over and break your camera, stop doing this!

Here's a list of words to avoid...

Amazing. If I see this in your blog I will hunt you down and stab you with your own pen.
Delicacies - Thai food is a world away from being delicate. Don't describe your street food poisons as delicacies.
Adorable - cute. Yeah, we get it. Your students worship you because you're so great and they are so cool. They squeak and squeal and touch your hair. Limit the adjectives to ones that won't make me barf. Thanks, much appreciated!

Read through your blog and count the references to 'I'... Now destroy them all. I thank you! And any word with 'iron' in it. (Irony/ironic) You don't know what it means and I hate people pretending that they do.

Finally...Above all - edit yourself and keep it short. Ask yourself this... "Am I writing a blog or a journal?" If it's longer than about 500 words, then it's too long or it's a two-parter!

Right, I'm off to the market now to buy some amazing nom-tam-sum-tom-bing-bang-bong. I'll write all about it when I get back.

Mark

No wonder all the visa regulations have become so uptight here in Thailand. I partially would blame those who spend their time slandering on online forums, not to mention disrespecting the Thais in their own country and talking about all kinds of things which have become taboo in today's world.

Thais are seeking disciplined, neat, clean, organised, mentally stable and responsible foreign people to actually "live" here in Thailand. As long as you are not a pedophile hoping to score on your twisted fantasies and a drunk just trying to get laid while actually live here in Thailand, then you won't have any problems "living" here.

Thailand is evolving and it craves role-models, not drop-outs and ex-convicts. Living here is well worth it, if you can even begin considering getting married and having kids with a Thai woman, instead of just crawling around pubs and getting laid with every single floozy that you meet.

Asean will make intercultural exchange even more possible. If you are a foreigner in a relationship here, but refuse to get married, then consider this. You are in competition with ten other South-East Asian countries for your wife.

The Ministry of Education recently had a meeting, It would be no fun at all if I were to predict the outcome of that specific meeting. Only employing foreign teachers who are married to a Thai lady with children could become a rare possibility. Thailand wants 80% of the foreign rubbish out of here by March next year.

It isn't just about being legal, it's about not being a possible criminal as well. All foreigners are being scrutinized as we speak. They have an entire database of every foreigner living in Thailand. I wouldn't be surprised if they know what you eat for breakfast. Our biased judgmental comments online and bad behaviour within the country, be it on or offline, played a big part in this.

If you are a sought after black market dealer, or have any links in the fields of oil between say Turkey and the Islamic State, if you are here for some perverted sexual fantasy trip of a lifetime, or just to view Patpong, or be it to scam a foreign national or Thai out of money. You will be held accountable eventually.

Thailand doesn't need face-losing investments with foreign countries anymore starting on the 31st of December this year.

Transnational crime within the Golden Triangle, be it in the English exchange community with regards to Thai students studying abroad or be it Hell's Angels activities in Thailand, is finally in the limelight and now Thailand has had enough. The military has realised that Thailand has been invaded since the early 1980's by transnational criminals and they have finally figured out what is going on underneath that red and white umbrella.

Troublesome foreigners are systematically being removed in a nice way.

So either shape up or ship out. Being legal isn't impossible. 5 years of legit visas without gaps in-between and you can apply for citizenship.

Doctor Evil

Well, I couldn't agree more with James ('My Ideas for Change', 27th November)

My idea is to force early retirement on all the senior staff and administrators that are stuck in the old way. Move in the leaders of more advanced and progressive schools. Put a few military minded personnel in to control the Thai teachers and quit treating the students like they are in the military.

In addition, make it illegal for any student to take extra tutorial lessons at any tutorial business owned by a teacher at their campus.

All this extra paper work the Thai teachers do is to cover up the lack of work they really do. Test grades, activities, attendance etc...are all fabricated to make it look like they are do a great job when in fact they are doing nothing at all.

Next put foreigners in charge of the programs they are teaching in. It is legal (but the skimming off the top would cease and that is the problem. The money is available but they charge extra for a program that should be given as a part of the educational process.)

They can answer to a Thai Director or Vice Director but a Thai is incapable of communicating, understanding, relating to, or desiring to accept us, our methods or in some cases our higher platforms of subject knowledge and presentation. (The Loss of Face Syndrome)

Promote only proficient speakers of English into Administration as Directors.

To help with this, make it mandatory that all directors spend one year working and being mentored in a foreign country to observe, engage, and open their minds before they can take a position of director. This will force learning English as an important part of promotion. Money is available if not skimmed off.

Just my idea. But we all know things won't change until ......

Just a concerned nobody

Having taught at government and private schools I echo the frustration of native English teachers when it comes to Thais being poor in English. I had been queried by the Ministry of Education once as to remedies. I made these recommendations:

1) Lead from the top to the bottom. This means enforce the laws and rules from the national to the provincial and school levels.

a) Cease the 'No student fails" philosophy and make it plain to the parents and students it is by their individual efforts where they will pass or fail in class.

b) Get the parents involved in the education through regular parent-teacher meetings. These meetings should be where the parents are shown the students performance in the records of grades in class performance and participation.

c) Use the Thais desire to play games to learning experiences. Incentivise the participation of the students and keep records

2) The funding from the national office should not be dog robbed to the pockets of the school administrators. Truly designate separate funding for teacher, school administration, and classroom supplies salaries.

a) Pay the teachers for demonstrated and recorded performance. Scale the pay to training, years experience and performance.

b) prosecute the administrators at provincial and school levels who pocket the 'extra' funds designated for teacher salaries

3) Drop the 'save face' attitude in lessons. Effectively teach when asked a question listen, understand the question and answer the question. Do not just say 'yes' . Saving 'face' by telling the questioner any answer without understanding the question is not acceptable to a NES. This is going to be a battle of Thai culture and asian custom with NES culture and custom. It will force a different frame of mind thinking process.

4) Go on a sincere and honest teacher search recruitment outside of Thailand with emphasis on finding master teachers who could take sabbaticals to teach in Thailand for 1-3 yrs.

Make the criteria for selection be degrees in science, mathematics and humanities from Canada, America, England, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Then when hired place them with schools and teachers in the schools, province offices and national office who really speak English to work as a team to produce curriculum at the appropriate level.

Push the curriculum from the schools up the chain of command. Supply them with housing appropriate to the standards the teacher left.

5) Most important, communicate without intimidation. Lead with honesty by example from the top. Nothing will get or gain support and cooperation for these policy and cultural changes than honest sincere leadership from the top of the chain of command down through the provinces to the schools and classroom.

James

After being in Asia for almost two years and in the USA for the previous 35 years, it's clear to me that us Westerners are huge complainers by nature. Let's face it, we have it easy, especially when you compare our quality of life to those that reside in South East Asia and China and we get used to that.

You go to the Philippines and you hear the old men complaining that women cost $22, when they used to only cost $10. In Thailand, it's Thai women are mercenary - all they care about is money.

Are a lot of Thai women only concerned about money? Yeah. But so are women in The West! At least Thai women give you something in return. You give an American girl a million dollars in one-dollar bills she'll look at you with a straight face and complain she didn't get it in 100's!

Then you have the workplace. Yes, there have been times where I am scratching my head trying to make sense of a decision that was made, but I just go with it. It's not my job to change the way they do things in Thailand.

I don't complain or make a fuss over it. As long as you pay me on time, we're cool. I collect my paycheck (on the 10th) and enjoy life in my free time on a grander scale than I ever could in The USA.

Lastly, let's not forget that we often have had to put up with a lot of unpleasantries in the workplace in the West as well.......and yes we complain about that too!

You wanna complain, try living in China!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - everyone coming to Thailand should work at a language center for a while.

This holds especially true if you are not an experienced teacher or are new to Thailand.

You can work as little or as much as you want to.
They are well resourced.
You'll never have to buy another Bangkok Post again!
Free coffee and banana cake!
Air conditioned classes.
Small classes.
Varied classes.
Always easy to get to, with buses and taxis right outside the door.
Valuable on the job, paid training and learning.

The downsides...

The money is rubbish compared to a salaried job.
If you don't work, you don't get paid.
The atmosphere is cliquey and you'll often get the Thai 'Flavor of the Month' syndrome to deal with.
Students can easily say that they want to change teacher if they don't like you for any reason.
It's just depressing working at a language center after a while.

But as an apprenticeship, it can't be beaten.
Do it for six months, learn everything you can, steal all their resources onto your laptop and run... run as fast as you can!

Mark

I was in the same town as the school and the town was small enough I could have been there in 10 minutes by motorbike. But the recruiter insisted I answer 30 essay questions before introducing me. Notice the grammar and punctuation.

SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS

What is the first thing you do on your first day of class?
How do you apply technology in teaching? Did it become production in the classroom?
Have you ever handlded a class of 50 students? How did you handle it?
How do you teach in class? Primary students? How do you care for them?
How do you handle children with special needs? Or how do you implement discipline in class?
If the dean/director scolded you for teaching mistake, how would you handle it?
If given a chance to be chosen, would you give the best quality of teaching? How?

PERSONAL QUESTIONS

What is the essence of a teacher? Please describe yourself in 5 words.
Do you consider yourself as a professional teacher? Why?
How can you say that you're a fun loving person?
Tell me about a situation that you made the wrong decision in your life.
Tell me about a situation that you made the right decision in your life.
What do you think that makes you different from the other applicants?
What kind of lifestyle do you prefer?

TEACHERS ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS

Please discuss about your methodologies in teaching:
Do you know about phonics?
Have you ever taught phonics before?
Prefer to teach kindergarten, primary, high school, or adult? Why?
How do you teach conversation to kindergarten? Please tell me about your ideas?
What subject do you teach? Grammar/conversation? Etc.

LICENSE AND VISA QUESTIONS

Status, validity, and expiriation
Have a plan out-of-country-trip?
Teacher's license, Expiring date? Or on waiting?
Are done with your Thai culture seminar (training)?

Carl