U.S. Mission Thailand Supports English Training for Chiang Mai Municipal Schoolteachers in New Bilingual Program
U.S. Mission Thailand congratulates the Chiang Mai teachers who successfully completed a U.S.-funded training course for a new bilingual program which will be introduced later this year in Chiang Mai municipal schools. The Mayor of Chiang Mai Municipality Mr. Assanee Buranupakorn and Regional English Language Officer Frances Westbrook congratulated 27 teachers at the closing ceremony of the training program on May 6.
The teachers’ training program is an initiative of Chiang Mai Municipality, supported by the United States government, and facilitated by AUA Language Center Chiang Mai. Instructors at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University provided important input.
Throughout the program which started in January 2022, instructors based at AUA Language Center trained 14 math and 13 English language teachers in methods of teaching math and English skills to young learners using English as the medium of instruction. This new bilingual program is slated to begin in Chiang Mai municipal schools in the upcoming May-June 2022 semester.
“The U.S. Mission to Thailand is proud to support the Mayor’s goal of giving all Thai youth the opportunity to become leaders within their communities, regardless of background. This new bilingual program is a great example of how a modern educational program can be implemented in the public school system in Thailand,” said Regional English Language Officer Frances Westbrook.
“I would like to express my sincerest thanks to Embassy of the United States of America, Regional English Language Office (RELO), and AUA Language Center for supporting this bilingual training workshop for Chiang Mai Municipality… to develop educational opportunities for Chiang Mai Municipality Schools to be more effective in the learning and teaching of English, benefitting the students,” said Mayor of Chiang Mai Municipality Mr. Assanee Buranupakorn.
The total budget from the U.S. government for this project is approximately $45,000 (1.5 million THB). In addition to this program, the U.S. Mission will have five English language Access programs in progress in 2022 that will provide English language education to students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, including programs in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. These programs will be facilitated by AUA Language Centers. The U.S. government support of quality English language teaching is robust in Thailand, especially in the Northern region.
