Training program will see educators study in China on full scholarships

BANGKOK - Teachers in Thailand's capital are learning Mandarin to help the country cope with an increase in Chinese tourists.

On a hot Saturday afternoon recently, volunteer Mandarin teachers in Bangkok came to the Confucius Institute at Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University to take their weekly three-hour course of Mandarin and Chinese culture.

"Our teachers voluntarily use their spare time to train local teachers here every week," said Wen Xiangyu, Chinese dean of the institute, which was established in 2006.

In Chinese teacher Song Chunzhi's class, some 20 Thai teachers were learning Chinese expressions and constructing sentences under Song's instruction.

"I have been taking the course for three years, it helped me a lot," said Nantawat Radsamee, a Mandarin teacher in a primary school called Wat Ladplakao after the class.

The Confucius Institute also went to Nantawat's school and held a cultural event there to celebrate the Chinese Lunar Year of the Rooster in February, which attracted many pupils to join.

Prasat Seri, a fine arts teacher, has been attending the course for several years. He even drew pictures to teach Chinese characters and made a picture book, which was later promoted by Bangkok's Department of Education as a standard textbook to teach Mandarin in all primary schools in the city.

Prasat expressed gratitude to the teachers of the Confucius Institute in helping him check and edit the picture book.

"I love the course, especially the cultural part as there is always something new every week," he said.

Besides Song's class, there were other three classes every Saturday being run by the Confucius Institute, which puts local teachers in different classes according to a language test at the beginning of each semester.

According to Wen, the Chinese dean, the Confucius Institute at the BSRU has cooperated with Bangkok's Department of Education in the training course for at least five years.

Around 1 million Thais are learning Mandarin, which means a lot of teachers are needed, said Wang Wei, a teacher at the Confucius Institute.

Teachers of the Confucius Institute, originally from Tianjin Normal University of China, used their expertise in education to start the training program with Bangkok's Department of Education.

"We have thought of many activities to attract local teachers to keep coming to the classes," said Wen, who added that every year 20 outstanding Thai teachers get the chance to study Mandarin in Tianjin Normal University for a month with full scholarships.

Wang believes training local teachers is very important for Chinese-language teaching in the long term.

"Thais cannot always rely on Chinese to teach them, they have to have their own Mandarin teachers."

"Some schools told us they don't need teachers with master degrees, but I think they will gradually understand a teacher with a master's degree can help them improve their Chinese-language teaching significantly," Wang said.