Testing the Teachers

I was notified on Thursday that I would be involved with several other teachers to go to Pratum Thani and test some of the local English teachers. Dr. P had set it up and asked for me and Ajarn N. We had worked with her before with the 13 Brothers Fiasco. The two day event would begin on Tuesday and last two days.


I arrived to the Huamark campus early (I hate traffic jams) at around 0615. Bought a newspaper and read a bit. I also took a couple of pictures of how it looked this early on campus.

Our van came by to pick us up at around 0800. There were seven of us with another meeting us at the school. The trip took about 40 minutes as we were going against the traffic.

The school was a middle school and was considered one of the top in the district. Gathered together were around 40 or so English teachers from around the district. Basically each school in the area sent one teacher to represent the school. The goal was to define the criteria of being an English teacher as it related to what the Thai government had laid out. English and English teaching has been a hot topic for the last month, since the Thai students had tested out at the bottom of Southeast Asia. Well, actually next to the bottom as they had out performed Cambodian students but just barely.

The English teachers I talked with and tested and interviewed were enthusiastic and motivated. Their English however was preintermediate. I did give them credit for not being shy in using their English. These are very dedicated teachers and this impressed me greatly.

During the two days, we got to know the teachers fairly well, gave them several different tests and then evaluated their performance.

Thailand has a huge problem with English teaching - basically no serious English teaching is happening. The English teachers simply do not have the skills to meet the demand. The whole ed system in Thailand, in fact, is a disaster. It should be scrapped and build from the bottom up. Traditional methods of teaching English just will not get the job done in today's world.

The two days were interesting but hardly worth the effort as Dr. P felt that we accomplished very little as the system will not change.

Dr. P gave me three DVDs to check out. She had been talking about them for some time and I was anxious to see them. These were of a series from the US called 24. I spent the next three days watching them. Big problem as now I must wait to see the whole set and it is killing me as the series was fantastic!

Well, anyway we finished the testing and the meeting and the evaluation. We met some pretty neat teachers and the surrounding area was good for a change. The school itself was well endowed and it seemed to be doing its job. Ajarn JD took over my classes while I was gone so I would not have to make them up later. My students are just preparing to give their presentations, so this was not an inconvenience for me. What the heck, the Chair Person, Dr. C and the Dean, Dr. P were both involved and I would do anything for these wonderful people!