RELO BANGKOK REPORT ON ENGLISH-TEACHING IN THAILAND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BANGKOK 000360 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA/A/L AND EAP/PD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OEXCSCULKPAO PREL TH SUBJECT: RELO BANGKOK REPORT ON ENGLISH-TEACHING IN THAILAND BANGKOK 00000360 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Regional English Language Office (RELO) in Bangkok, consisting of a RELO and a RELO Assistant (LES),is actively engaged in a variety of programs aimed at improving the teaching and learning of English in SE Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia and Taiwan). A diverse region, this continues to be a place where English teaching is atop the national agenda (Vietnam),well-developed compared to other countries but still not adequately supported (Taiwan),tolerated but not encouraged (Burma), and emerging as a tool for development (Laos and Cambodia). This report focuses on RELO activities in Thailand, as well as trends in English teaching and learning. End Summary. -------------- Monks, TV Spots, and other Solutions -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Thailand has had a robust educational policy related to English for decades. As early as the 1950s, USIA's English Teaching Officers were sent to the Kingdom to provide expertise in the field. Thailand TESOL, one of the oldest professional organizations for teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Asia, was founded with Embassy and USIS assistance and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary at a conference where tribute was paid to the USG as its only constant source of support. ¶3. (SBU) Unfortunately, in part due to frequent changes in governments, coupled with a weak Ministry of Education, Thailand no longer enjoys the pre-eminent status it once did among the region's English language education community. Since the current RELO arrived in June 2007, there have been 7 Ministers or Acting Ministers holding the Education portfolio. What was once a symbol of continuity within the Ministry--the Permanent Secretary of Education and then Secretary General of the Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC),a Harvard graduate--abruptly retired in October 2009, leaving a sense of uncertainty among Thai English teachers. ¶4. (SBU) Signs of Thailand's slipping status in the field of English have been apparent for some time. One study by Mahidol University in 2001 showed that test scores of Thai students in English were inferior to those from Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam, among others. More recent figures on the number of Thai students attending American universities show that the country has slipped from number 10 to number 14 since 2006, while Vietnam has jumped from 20 to 9 in the same period. While there are clearly other factors affecting this swing, an improvement in the level of English in Vietnam, among at least some of the population--without a corresponding improvement in Thailand--is at least partially responsible. ¶5. (SBU) Even more troubling are the constantly evolving plans aimed at improving the quality of English education. On a June 2009 visit to OBEC's English division by the RELO and the Director of the Office of English Language Programs, the primary focus of discussions was on a novel plan to use English-speaking monks to offset the fact that 80% of Thailand's English teachers did not major in English or English education. Following that revelation, the Ministry of Education (MOE) proposed a $181 million project to use distance education in classrooms lacking properly trained teachers. This proposal was announced by the Ministry without consulting the Royal Thai Distance Learning Foundation, which for six years has had an innovative RELO-funded program to deliver teacher-training in some 3000 schools across Thailand (see details below). According to some insiders, the MOE disregarded the Foundation's program because its equipment did not belong to the MOE. Another recent effort by the MOE to improve teacher training in all subjects saw $33 million budgeted for a 'Teacher TV Show' which would deliver teaching techniques, tips and success stories through 15-minute daily TV programs. This was proposed to replace "dull" workshops which "fail to meet the teachers' needs," in the words of the Deputy Minister, who did not explain why there was no attempt to deliver workshops which do meet the needs of teachers. Another proposal in 2009 called for 14 secondary schools, 10 in border provinces, to be turned into international schools in order to attract pupils from neighboring countries-Laos, Burma, Cambodia. These schools have no experience offering an English curriculum, lack qualified teachers, and yet are expected to begin teaching in English later this year. The stated purpose of such schools was not to improve the quality of education within Thailand but to provide a revenue opportunity by enrolling foreign students at non-resident tuition rates. -------------- AUA -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Established in 1952, the American University Alumni Association Language Center (known as AUA) was a Bi-National Center BANGKOK 00000360 002.2 OF 003 of the USG until 1992 and at one time was the world's largest single-campus language school. Now with 19 branches around Thailand, AUA is still considered one of the nation's top private language institutions, but the decaying main campus cannot compare to modern schools located in upscale shopping malls that offer hi-tech classrooms and modern business practices such as '100% refund if you don't learn English,' which is a major advertising theme of one competitor. With a RELO or former RELO as the Director of Courses (DOC) throughout its history, AUA enjoyed a considerable degree of cooperation with the Embassy until 2007, when substantial irregularities in several grants were discovered. The departure of the last DOC in late-2009 left AUA in a leadership vacuum and the position is currently held by an elderly British national who once served as deputy director. Should AUA regain its leadership position among English schools in Thailand, it could once again be an excellent base for regional language training projects. -------------- Program Successes -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The English Access Microscholarship Program began in Thailand in 2004 and some 481 youth have participated thus far. Most early programs focused on the troubled deep south--Pattani, Yala and Songkla, where teachers have been killed and schools burned to the ground-but recently students from disadvantaged areas of Bangkok have joined. By having Bangkok kids in the program, Post is better able to integrate them into its activities and Embassy officers are more able to visit classes. In FY09, a total of 79 students entered the Access program in Thailand--64 in Bangkok and 15 from the southern Thai city of Yala. The Bangkok students were selected by the Human Development Foundation, an NGO begun several decades ago by an American priest, and are chosen from disadvantaged neighborhoods. Students receive their English classes at one of the best private language programs in the city. In a show of support for the program this year, the RELO and Public Affairs Section have completely funded two special intensive English camps for the Bangkok participants. ¶8. (SBU) In 2010, Post initiated a unique Digital Video Conference (DVC) series for Access students, linking programs and young people in Thailand, China and Mongolia. Through interactive games and activities, students use English as a means of communicating and learning about other cultures and plans are already underway to continue this concept in the future, perhaps including Access students from a region outside of EAP. ¶9. (SBU) The English Language Fellow (ELF) Program in Thailand has significantly decreased in size since a peak of four ELFs in 2004. Post currently hosts one Fellow, based at the Islamic College of Thailand (ICT),a combined primary-secondary school in Bangkok. As ICT also hosts half of the FY08 Access program, the current ELF is able to work with the students in that program in addition to her regular duties, which emphasize working with teachers at ICT and another school to improve both their English abilities and their knowledge of modern teaching methods. In addition to her many ELF duties, the Fellow assists PAS in organizing and hosting camps for high school students around the country and was recently invited to Laos to help the Fellow there introduce the concept of English camps to students in that country. ¶10. (SBU) Thailand has hosted numerous English Language Specialists and continues to make frequent use of this program. Each year, for most of the past 30 years, RELO and PAS Bangkok have sponsored a major plenary speaker for the ThaiTESOL conference, one of Asia's largest professional development meetings. We also make extensive use of regional Specialists, so that when one is visiting Vietnam, Laos, Burma or Cambodia, they might also be asked to conduct programs in Thailand, a regional air hub. For the past several years, we have also had several Specialists engaged in workshops via DVCs. These have significantly reduced training costs as the U.S. cost of the DVC (staff, facility or studio time, line charges) has often been donated by the institution. One of these recurring DVC programs involves the Royal Thai Distance Learning Foundation, which for six years has been working with PAS and RELO Bangkok to bring the latest American expertise in the field of English teaching (and other subjects) to Thai teachers through a network of about 3000 satellite dishes at schools around the country. English-teaching programs are usually 2 hours in length and are broadcast once a week for 10 weeks. Recent topics have included: Learning to Read-Reading to Learn, Critical Thinking in the English Classroom, Project-Based Learning, Creating a Resource-rich Classroom, and Teaching Pronunciation. The 2010 program will focus on ways of using material from different media in the classroom. -------------- Comment and Trends -------------- BANGKOK 00000360 003.2 OF 003 ¶11. (SBU) Sadly, Thailand's rich history of cooperation with the U.S. in the area of English teaching has produced only mixed long-term results. In yet another example of the MOE's genuine -- but misguided -- desire to improve the quality of teaching in all subjects, nearly $30 million was budgeted to conduct new training. Prior to this training, teachers would be required to take "professional competency" tests to determine their needs. Yet this exam-based approach points to one major problem with teacher training in Thailand--treating teaching as if it were a subject to be memorized and then assessed in an exam. While this might be an effective style for some subjects, it has never been proven effective for language teaching. On the contrary, the train-the-trainer model, where the best teachers are given training and then required to pass along their knowledge in follow-up sessions to colleagues, is a very successful model and was piloted with English teachers in a short-lived network training project funded by the USG and conducted by AUA. Unfortunately, there was limited follow-up and an insufficient budget from the MOE for this part of the training. The use of this training model, however, is a welcome trend in a country where much of the education system continues to be rooted in the lecture format, with students sitting passively in the audience while the teacher reads from prepared texts. ¶12. (SBU) A positive sign in the region is the trend towards teaching English to younger students, and Thailand has joined its neighbors in now offering English to students as young as third-grade. But even this welcome idea is not without problems. Teaching so many additional students requires a large increase in the number of qualified teachers, which simply exacerbates existing training and teacher supply problems. Thailand, like its neighbors, decided to begin teaching English to younger students almost immediately, which meant that within a few months, the already overwhelmed teacher-training system was supposed to provide help to thousands of teachers who had never before taught English or never before taught young children English. It remains to be seen whether this plan will be more successful than a similar one in 1995, which was enacted despite warnings from the RELO (then at AUA),British Council, and Australian educational officials, and then never fully implemented. JOHN