For that, you should be getting quite a bit, especially if that's for kindergarden. Really a teacher that teaches secondary school should have a CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) or a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), these are the benchmarks, although a CELTA is given more credit internationally as you can fail it as that is not the case with the TEFL. Those that have a DELTA (Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults) are usually to be found at places such as The British Council in Bangkok or the top universities or international schools and are much more expensive. If teaching kids or kindergarden then they should have a CELTYL (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners).MrPlum wrote:.....I'd estimate annual cost to be 100,000.....
Ask them and see what they say, it is possible that they will "blow sunshine up your arse" but if you meet the teacher and are happy with them that's a start.
Decent places though will want to send their teachers to get one of these certificates at the earliest opportunity as they make a massive difference in ability and competence. OK, the more far flung places may cut corners on these things but in a place like Hua Hin the shcools "should" have their act together, certainly for 100,000 a year.
Best thing to do is ask questions related to what I've mentioned above.
-Can I meet her/his teacher for 5 minutes?
-Can I see a copy of the course that he/she will be doing?
-Is the course approved by Oxford/Cambridge or a official teaching authority? If not, then who made it?
-Do your teachers participate in career developement programs, and if so, where?
-Does the teacher have a CELTYL (for kids) CELTA/TEFL (for M1 and above)? If they don't have one then what training have they done? (Trust me, teaching young learners is way different than teaching adults)
-Do the teachers elicit, modal, drill?
-Do the teachers do group/pair work?
-What is a reading skills lesson like here? How is it conducted? Do you use MRT when doing receptive skills lessons? (MRT=Mininal Response Test)
The reason these certificates are important is because they are about modern teaching methods, not just the parrot fashion and whiteboard copout.
As far as curriculums are conserned many places are using British/American ones or take something from the Internet. Many places with older students (adult courses) are using "Headway" (Oxford) or "Cutting Edge" (Cambridge) and both Oxford and Cambridge do some exellent young learner courses/books.
Find out what they're using.
These sort of schools that charge so much and claim to be the best or one of the best in a certain area really should have their act together on the teacher hiring front as you can have all the facilities in the world but if you have sub-standard teachers then it all means nothing.
Most of what I've said is just good common sense and is not particulary aimed at any particular establishment. Any parent should consider the above and ask constructive questions on subjects that consern them as it's an important subject.
I do not know either school being talked about here and have never taught in Hua Hin so I am not being biased in any of this, either for or against. Just stating what should be going on for that price.
Feel free to use the terminology or points from my post as they are all correct teaching jargon and if they (head teacher/western teachers etc) don't understand what you are talking about then it's a red flag.
If I was teaching kindergarden then I would be expecting questions of such nature, especially from western expat parents.
MrP's post is also good.
Edit: Typos