Speaking Thai in the classroom
It is not what foreign teachers are paid to do.
When I first moved to Thailand I tried to pick up the local lingo and managed to have simple conversations after a couple of months. I used to love seeing the surprise and happiness on Thai people’s faces when I spoke their language.
At my government school teaching job I understood little things the students said in Thai and they were desperate to hear me speak Thai. After a little while saying words like, delicious, hot and fun in Thai became a common routine for me in classes. A lot of students were keener to hear me speak Thai than to learn English themselves.
It wasn’t until moving to a language school, with proper management, that I saw the negative side of a teacher speaking Thai in class. It was also at that job where I saw that some TEFL teachers are actually stuck in the routine of speaking Thai with students.
Teachers stuck speaking Thai
As I said there are some teachers who are stuck in this zone of speaking Thai with students. This is normally either those who have zero training and don’t know better or others who just enjoy showing off.
One such teacher I used to work with seemed to speak decent Thai and had the added bonus of being able to read and write Thai (the students loved that!). The problem was that, like many foreigners speaking Thai, he wasn’t as good as he thought and this caused issues in the classroom and office.
He was probably an intermediate speaker which meant he could do all the basics pretty well but made mistakes when using harder sentences which led to three problems.
Firstly he thought he could use Thai to teach beginner students as he felt he could speak better Thai than they could English. He just fell back on using Thai as he could get his point across and thought it was an easy way to do a class rather than using proper teaching techniques.
Secondly, his pronunciation wasn’t great and a lot of people said they couldn’t really understand him. This actually led to wasted time with students either not understanding him or, even worse, having to teach him the correct words in Thai.
Finally with any intermediate Thai student or above it was really a waste of time speaking Thai with them as they could communicate and discuss problems and situations in English.
In our office he also caused issues as he would speak Thai when a group of teachers and Thai staff were together. Bear in mind all Thai staff were at least intermediate English speakers so there was no need for him to use another language. One of my Thai colleagues at work even flatly told him to stop speaking Thai with her as his Thai wasn’t good and her English was much better.
In the end a lot of colleagues, foreign and Thai, thought he was purely showing off and that he was a bit of an idiot for doing so.
Not our job
As anyone who has been here a while will know, speaking a little Thai will get you brownie points with students. It gets a laugh and a lot of students think it is cool that their teacher speaks Thai. The problem is that it isn’t what we are paid to do.
We are paid to deliver lessons in English. By the end of a class your students should have learned something valuable. Sure you also have to provide a fun atmosphere but you can do this without getting cheap laughs by speaking Thai.
Several schools and language centers even have a policy where all communication is in English. I love this as it encourages people to use the language in natural situations, even when it is Thai staff speaking to each other.
In the worst case scenarios I’ve heard teachers asking Thai students to tell them English words in Thai. It is ridiculous that you’re asking someone who has paid to attend your class to help you learn.
Where speaking Thai is acceptable
There certainly are a few exceptions where speaking Thai is acceptable. For example if students are really stuck on a word and I know it in Thai I will say it if necessary. However, this is only after trying to elicit it naturally. If you are having to do this several times in a class then you probably haven’t planned an appropriate class for that level of students.
The other situation is when there is an emergency and you are dealing with children or very low level learners and need to make yourself understood quickly and clearly. If there is a fire drill or medical emergency this is of course acceptable.
Speaking isn't the same as listening
Something else teachers in Thailand need to appreciate is that you can use your Thai ability but don’t need to speak Thai in the classroom. These days I find the ability to listen to students speaking Thai and understanding them is far more valuable than speaking Thai myself. After a while you will understand the Thai phrases for “I don’t understand..” “Does he mean….” “Do we have to do this….” etc and through this you can respond in English to answer their questions.
Also English vocabulary can be difficult and sometimes students will check with each other the meaning in Thai. If you know the correct word then you can respond positivly in English if they say the word in Thai.
With very low level students this technique works well as most teachers should have at least a beginner level of Thai. If you are teaching things like “What is your job?” “I like...” and food vocabulary then you should understand if students are correct when discussing the meaning of the English phrases in Thai.
Is it the culture of edutainment?
You could argue that the use of Thai with students is partly due to the idea of edu-tainment. Teachers feel under pressure to entertain students and by using Thai that can be achieved in certain situations.
A quick look at famous English teachers here in Thailand will show you that they all speak Thai very well and use it during lessons. Whilst I appreciate the skill they have I would also say that it isn’t necessary as a teacher to speak the native language of your students. Fair play to these people who have found a place for themselves in the market though. I just hope other teachers who work in the classroom don’t see Twitter and YouTube accounts of famous English teachers and feel they too also have to use Thai in the classroom to be loved by Thai students.
The two most popular teachers in my old school seemingly thought the mixed English / Thai approach was the way to go in the classroom. Using words like Aroy, Narak and Lon Mak in exagerated Thai accents would get instant laughs from high school and university students. In the end they got lots of class requests and management let their Thai slide as students were happy.
However, if you are a teacher you should be able to plan lessons which are fun, interesting and educational without the need to speak Thai for whatever reason.
Learning Thai
Learning a language is a great thing. I remember the joy of getting an A in GCSE French and being able to use the language well when on holiday there. I remember counting from 1-100 in Thai and my Thai neighbors cheering me on, great times.
The thing to remember is that you are working to deliver English language classes and speaking Thai should be for your benefit, not your students. Learn Thai, be proud that you can speak it well but keep it out of the classroom, OK?
Richard is co-author of a book on planning a life in Thailand.
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Comments
I entirely agree with this article. The clueless morons speaking Thai (I use the term loosely) are always a fail. It's never anything close to correct and always boils down to these numpties needing constant attention. These are the same dolts that end up back home. All the time acquiring said language wasted. They then move on to social media where they speak their acquired tongue to immigrants for the same shock / praise and post it to the Internets. The ones in China are perhaps the worst. Your Thai is crap - save it for outside the classroom. Finally, if you indeed are fluent say... B2 in Thai I would state that using the language in the classroom is acceptable. Less than that and you're just embarrassing yourself. Finally, if you are REALLY good at the language you will be selected for all sorts of extra work to liase between the administration and the 'teachers'. Deservedly so.
By Jim Beam, The Big Smoke (22nd February 2025)
I mostly disagree with this article.
I think it is disrespectful towards the foreign teacher, makes the teacher feel like their efforts are all for nothing and hinders integration into Thai society if a teacher isn't allowed to speak Thai in the classroom. What it comes down to of course, as the article alludes to, is how well a teacher speaks/reads/writes Thai, how it's used to explain things and also, how well the students understand English. I think it might even be a good idea if the school hiring the foreign teacher vets their Thai language skills and based on how well they do, are able to guide them as to how much Thai they should use in their classroom.
Using Thai can be a valuable tool to explain things to a student of English who otherwise won't get it, unless it's spelled out to them in their native language. Thus, a foreigner who is proficient at Thai has a great opportunity to be able to explain things in a way that a Thai teacher, who likely has a much more limited ability to grasp English would be able to.
This presumes that the foreigner has a good to excellent command of the Thai language and doesn't speak with a strong American or otherwise foreign accent when communicating in Thai, can't differentiate between the tones correctly and believes their Thai is stellar, when in actual fact, they're mostly able to speak, but have a poor ability to comprehend the language when spoken to by others.
Obviously, that is a VERY different thing from possessing fluency or a high level proficiency in the language. I can thus understand why a Thai teacher who struggles to understand their foreign colleague, who speaks only a smattering of Thai, would prefer to switch to English.
Other than for a bit of bonding with the students, if a teacher speaks only intermediate or beginner level Thai, then they shouldn't go beyond asking things like "สบายดีไหม" at the beginning of the class just for a little bit of small talk before starting the lesson.
It all depends on the situation, the type of school, the age and English language proficiency of the students and so forth.
At international universities (including international programs taught at Thai government and private universities) and international schools, the usage of Thai is forbidden altogether, even between Thai teachers and Thai students, as the lingua franca in such programs is English. In many such classrooms, there is a mix of students from different parts of the world, hence the usage of Thai would alienate all the international students, thus banning the use of Thai in these contexts makes sense.
By Tom, Central Thailand (19th February 2025)
I both agree and disagree with this article. Yes, using Thai lazily, as a substitute for circumlocution and actual instruction, is unhelpful for the students; yes, thinking you're the best thing ever for knowing how to say อร่อยมาก and ไม่เป็นไร is quite annoying. However, to completely write off Thai as a valuable educational asset is ridiculous. If you can make it to a higher level, you can absolutely use it in a productive and helpful manner.
Two examples from my own time teaching:
a) A very good class was struggling to pronounce the word "purchase", even after multiple call and responses, so I wrote it out on the bord as เพิร์ชัส. Suddenly, the pronunciation was perfect!
b) A few students approached me after class to ask a grammar question, and I was able to explain the situation using analogies to Thai grammar.
When I previously studied other foreign languages, my best experience was when the teacher bombarded the class with the foreign language for 45 minutes, then allowed us to ask questions in English for the last 5. I intend to get to a level of Thai where I can provide the same educational experience, and I believe we all should do the same.
By disagreeablefarang, The Northeast, in vague terms (24th January 2025)