The Education Ministry yesterday launched a five-week boot camp for Thais teaching English or the so-called "train-the-trainer" programme for the first group of 350 teachers in state-run schools nationwide.
Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, who oversees the programme, said the teachers will be trained by 30 British Council English specialists who are all native speakers to boost their confidence in English.
"The 350 teachers will live in what we call an immersive environment for 37 days, speaking, listening, reading and writing only in English with native speakers," he said.
Dr Teerakiat said the training aims to improve the teachers' proficiency in the language and their teaching techniques as English lessons in Thai schools focus mainly on grammar and vocabulary, with a lesser focus on communication or creating a supportive learning environment.
"Many Thai teachers and students are good at grammar but they cannot use English in real-life situations. So we need to train them on how to use functional English," he said.
Before expecting better English skills from Thai students, the ministry must first improve its teachers' English skills and their method of teaching, he added.
Earlier, the ministry conducted a survey on the capability of Thai English-language teachers across the country and found only six out of more than 43,000 teachers in public schools can achieve native-like fluency or C2 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF).
Dr Teerakiat said the 350 teachers attending the programme have been selected from across the country according to their CEF test scores -- B2 level and above -- and are required to be under the age of 40.
After the training, the ministry will select the 50 teachers who did best in the course to become trainers for the next group of teachers undergoing the programme.
The remaining 300 teachers will be sent to teach at their schools.
These teachers will be closely monitored by the ministry for one school term before assessing whether their teaching has improved students' English language skills as hoped, he said.