It really isn't ready.

And the problem is two-fold and because of the levels that I teach at, I can see where the problems lay. I teach first to fourth grade.

Firstly there are MoE budgets and the policing of native speaker teachers and the constant changing of goal posts for what is a relatively small salary. How about a clear mandate on what is supposed to be taught and in what flavour of English? It seems far more important to me than sitting a Thai culture course and having to travel to Bangkok to get a teachers license. Then there's the almost total absence of phonics and basic letter writing in kindergarten. Those years are largely wasted. More than 70% of the English language can be read and pronounced using phonics, but the kids here are largely taught whole word recognition.

This means that first grade gets hit straight away because so much of what should have taken place in kindergarten has to be squeezed into each term. 50+ class sizes with 50 minute periods also make it nigh on impossible for one-to-one verbal interaction and this means that rather than learning English, students learn 'about' it. Lots of students per class equals lots of papers to mark which equals gap fills and multiple choice tests because they're easier to mark.

So, we skip happily through first, second and third grade, without any of the students being able to produce free form language of their own, verbal or written, and only having the ability to answer basic yes or no questions. They might be competent with notebooks, workbooks and worksheets, but they're still not actively using any of the language, beyond funny and cool words like Mr. Bean and Ben 10.

And then they hit fourth grade where past, present and future tenses are suddenly introduced and it leaves at least 50% of them dead in the water. Fourth grade should really be a two year course, with half of it focused entirely on listening and speaking.

I've also taught fifth and sixth grade where the English becomes even more complex and impossible to use in active conversation. And then they move on up to their teenage years where they get the A to Z of English grammar day in, day out. How incredibly dull and boring it must be for them. And again, they're not learning English, they're learning 'about' it.

And the end result of all of this? A noticeable percentage of Thais who can get the gist of what you are saying but cannot reply in kind, beyond yes, no or don't know.

Mr Oh, Thailand