Slip

4 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Because a great many of the EU politicians and political parties are working feverishly for a Federal State of Europe. A singe currency, the Euro, freedom of movement, open borders (for EU citizens), and centralized law making are all helping to create this as a "fait a compli" - without ever bothering to openly state their aim and actually putting it to a vote of the people. Slowly slowly catch a monkey. Obviously this clown supports that ideal.

 

Many of the politicians who passionately want this despise Britain for its democracy, parliamentary procedures (which the Tories are trying to weaken), its common law and enshrined citizens rights etc etc. They either wanted Britain to leave or tow their line,

Just out of interest what examples would you give of the enshrined citizen's rights that are superior to the EU's?

47 minutes ago, Boon Mee said:

It's interesting  that Trump didn't rail against the NYT and some other mainstream outlets re the so-called Russian 'interaction'.  Buzzfeed and CNN deserved all of his focus.

Perhaps it is a strategy of 'divide and conquer'.

40 minutes ago, iReason said:

Pathetic:

 

CHEERING SECTION

 

"When the president-elect arrived, a group of staff and supporters standing in a space near the elevators in the Trump Tower lobby applauded.

That group would act as Trump's personal cheering section during the news conference, clapping and whooping whenever he made points they liked."

Four legs good, two legs bad?

I haven't been to Pai for at least 10 years, (I stopped going after the BKK Thais descended en masse), but I seem to remember that a lot of the locals were muslim.

2 hours ago, pumpjack said:

first seen the headline and thought right away  drunken ( brits ). 

 

anyway,  i agree they should be taught a lesson.   but its really no big deal , 2 drunk idiots.

 

maybe they were stung at the bar  

You must have been most upset when you discovered your bigotry was without any logical reason. That is the nature of bigotry I'm afraid.

At least if the orange don spends all his time in twitter wars with celebrities he should have less time to cause any trouble.

10 minutes ago, georgemandm said:

You tell me how is this post thailand  related , 

someone  worried about someone putting rubbish in their bin in England.

not thailand related at all .

It's in the 'home countries' forum.

you guys should arrange your room before it gets deleted and you lose touch, perhaps for ever.  T.T

The boat in this picture doesn't really look much different to the various ones I have been on that ply the southern islands.  Is the weather in the north of the Gulf really so much worse than in the south? (near samui and KPG for example- the Chumporn-Tao-KPG-Samui one does OK-I've been on it dozens of times.)  Surely the weather and seas are at least potentially far worse on the Andaman side?

On 12/20/2016 at 8:30 AM, the guest said:

If only mainstream schools in Thailand would have access to the same level of education. Alas, this right is only restricted to a privileged few with deep pockets.

I think you need to have a look at their website. (created using  WIX.com.  Create your own for FREE) Or you could always email them on their gmail address.  Be sure to check out their 'meet the teachers page' which doesn't manage to mention as much as a degree in humanities in the entire teaching body.

I'm not sure this is quite the sort of establishment that you are thinking it might be. :D

2 minutes ago, EnlightenedAtheist said:

 

So, we can have a debate, but I am not allowed to show any evidence. Mmm! Why do I find the terms and conditions of yours rather problematic. No deal! 

 

The poster wrote an extensive essay, whose length you did/do not object to (and so it is fine), but you do object to mine, so it is too long. You cannot be serious. You speak with a forked-tongue. 

It is posts such as the one I mentioned that I am objecting to.  Your views on spelling, whilst interesting, are not representative of all viewpoints on the issue. However you are using a posting style that dominates the available capital of the thread.  Please allow a free flowing discussion.  Perhaps you could post links to the more enormous examples that you are trying to show, some of which you have duplicated time and again throughout the thread.  

Some of the other longer posts are indeed challenging, but they have form and content which can be followed, unlike a massive list of words with differential highlighting.  I implore you to be more considerate of other posters.

9 minutes ago, EnlightenedAtheist said:

 

And you don't have an agenda! LOL

 

Did you find anything erroneous in what I posted? Please demonstrate, instead of obfuscate.

I would welcome a rounded debate.  I take issue with posts of yours such as (presently numbered) 642 which spam the thread and make it extremely difficult to navigate easily.  While I recognise what you are trying to achieve I think it may be more appropriate if you could consider that your argument is not the be all and end all.  Perhaps you could try to use main points rather than massive swathes of examples.  You have a point- it has been heard, and to a greater or lesser extent taken on board.  There is no need to hijack the thread in the manner that you are.  Please be more considerate those with other approaches and ideas.  let them be heard.

Maewang99-

Your ideas are very interesting to me, and I agree with many of them, but I wonder at some of your comments a little.  If I may, can I add my perspective?

In brief, I teach English from two separate text books- The first ‘reading & writing’ the second ‘listening and speaking’ which are part of a series designed for such.  They both teach appropriate skills for the purpose- for example ‘listening for main ideas and details’ or ‘reading for main ideas and details’ respectively.  They both also encourage skills such as ‘note taking’, highlighting (only for R&W obviously), personal reaction (either verbal or written), categorisation, and the like.  I also teach a separate reading and writing course (without the benefit of a text book) in which I try to develop the students’ analytical and critical thinking skills through the use of literature.

It seems to me that many of the skills that I teach in these classes are (hopefully) transferable, and indeed mutually supportive.  Does that not fit with your experience?

(Apologies for spelling your name wrong more than once earlier- I was hoping to get a word in edgewise)

5 minutes ago, George Graham said:

What Scotchman with any sense would wish to be included in the native (English) speaker clannadh?

 None that would refer to himself as a 'Scotchman'!

To add a very quick response to Mawaeng's post.  Although the 'thinking student' idea is wonderful, it is the one that most students that I deal with are least comfortable with.  They would much rather copy from each other or a book for example, than ask questions, or give opinions.  I will try to add more later when I have had a chance to read your post in more detail.

20 minutes ago, maewang99 said:

Thailand needs to teach a minimum of ****two**** subjects in English. And spelling isn't one of either of them. Speaking and listening to English, and reading and writing English have very little synergy with each other, unlike Thai.  In addition, original work which involves thinking, analysis and discovery skills, needs to be absolutely paramount over memorization, copying and "having the correct answer".  Contributing to class discussions, asking questions and answering question of others needs to be paramount over obedience and respect for the "teacher".  The teacher's role is to manage and encourage a classroom experience in which the students are actively thinking and discovering a love of learning.

For speaking and listening, students need to (i) listen (ii) think (iii) speak.  Originality and effort should be immediately rewarded. "Correct" pronunciation and "correct" responses are to be the lowest priority. 

For reading and writing, just like speaking and listening.  But it cannot be taught with any expectation that acquiring those skills are transferable to speaking and listening skills in English, notwithstanding that (1) this is not true for the Thai dialects such as Central Thai and (2) that this will require quite a lot of teacher resources (time and energy and effort on the part of the teaching staff)... and therefore if you cannot afford the added resources... stop teaching core subjects in the Thai dialect. 

This is what is required because English is two languages.  The written system has evolved for reading and writing, not for learning the spoken system.  As an aid to acquiring the speaking and listening skills, Thai graphemes should be considered more applicable (for study and even assessment in the classroom perhaps), or the IPA system.... but not English alphabet... and not spelling in English.

Being able to win a spelling bee contest, or correctly pick grammatically correct English sentences is not at all useful nor indicative of an acquisition of a love of learning and discovery.  And it is the latter by which Thailand can be competitive and increase the quality of life as well for it's people.

The best sign of progress for Thailand would be to come in last place at regional spelling bees..... last place.  Being good at English spelling is a side skill acquired by using English... it should not be specifically aimed for... notwithstanding that doing so makes the ajarns job much easier in teaching and assessments (because spelling and grammar is easy to score as well as present)... and so Thailand has a supply of the top memorizers to become medical doctors [which is one of the next fields in which AI will replace humans.. but not nurses who talk to and take care of patients.. I thought I'd add that little rumination into this, just for fun].

And I am not just suggesting a different approach, it is actually all but the opposite of how the Thai education system currently works. So much so that personally I now cringe whenever I hear any of the following English words: teacher, ajarn, student and education.  

Copying someone else's worse in not merely "bad behavior"... it is a process of pissing on originality, creativity and discovery.  It is wonderful for "teaching" obedience only (the English word is inculcating, by the way, not "teaching".... and the word for "teacher" as used in Thailand... indoctrinator sounds pretty darn apropro to me).  

In the very near future you will be able to use your smartphone to convert Thai (any of the Thai dialects) into any other spoken or wtitten language... grammatically perfect and spelling as well.... without ever going to school... but a smartphone cannot change someone's cognitive and interpersonal skills nor their love of learning including a love of reading new and wider perspectives on life that is very difficult to achieve by travel alone... books are power packed at this.  And always will be. In fact, those will be the ONLY important skills in the very near future.... unlike in the past.

Factory jobs an clerical jobs will be gone.   

 

You make some interesting points Mawaeng.  Unfortunately this thread has been taken over by someone with a specific agenda, which whilst on topic is hijacking the thread in an extremely distracting manner.  I hope we can see more posts like this.

From accounts I have heard, (specifically Hua Hin) IOs were calling the hotels that people were giving as their place of stay.

10 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

 

99% of people are NOT asked for visas prior to boarding a flight to Thailand, where did you come up with this considering probably 95% of the people who arrive in Thailand via the airport arrive on Visa Exempts

It suggests that in the future it may happen though.  In the same way as many airlines will not allow travel for people with visas but no onward ticket due to their concern about having to pay to repatriate the visitor, it seems likely that they will start to look at how many visa exempt entrances travellers have.  (Assuming of course that this rule is rolled out for fliers as well as land border crossings).

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

In all honesty I would reckon that 'genuine' tourists come to Thailand for 2 to 3 weeks a year, maybe 4 and some may come twice and this will have no impact on them in any way.

We are all aware that 99% of people now are being asked to show a visa prior to boarding for a flight to Thailand. Is that any different to my wife needing a visa to go to UK on holiday with me for a fortnight. Let's face it, she couldn't do border runs to France monthly and stay as long as she wanted.

If it impacts on some teachers who may be unqualified etc and use border hops to keep going and have to leave next year then maybe, just maybe it might change the attitude of the schools that hire them. We all live in hope I suppose.

Quite how it will affect the digital nomads who will convince you they make mega-bucks I don't know.

Maybe they will have to bite the bullet and pay for the Elite Visa?

If it impacts on some teachers who may be unqualified etc and use border hops to keep going and have to leave next year then maybe, just maybe it might change the attitude of the schools that hire them. We all live in hope I suppose.

My bold for clarity.  Meanwhile the schools can't get the staff because the screws are being tightened on non-imm b visas and degree verification rules at the same time.  From the point of view of education this will just cause a bigger problem than already exists.  The slack is being taken up by backpackers employed through agencies that can stay literally for 3-6 months and have no qualifications and no experience.

44 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

 

<sigh>  Visa exempts are NOT for 2 months a time.  They are for 30 days for citizens of a G7 country at a land crossing and 15 days for other countries.  

 

 

http://www.mfa.go.th/main/contents/files/services-20150120-100712-551809.pdf

 but they can be extended for 30 days.  I imagine this is what was meant by 2x2 months.

Apologies- a couple of posters have made this point already- I was away for a few minutes.

We are not government, but we are now on standard uniform with black ribbon twice a week, black twice a week, and white with black ribbon on the other day.

Whatever  happened to that Walen fellow?

On 12/13/2016 at 5:17 PM, EnlightenedAtheist said:

And for those who think that my rant is rubbish, I challenge you to recite out loud ...

 

The Chaos (1922)
By Gerard Noist Trenité

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,

I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.

Tear in eye your dress you’ll tear,
So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer,

Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!

Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written).

Made has not the sound of bade,
Say said, pay-paid, laid, but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,

But be careful how you speak,
Say break, steak, but bleak and streak.

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir,

Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles.
Exiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing.
Thames, examining, combining

Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war, and far.

From “desire”: desirable–admirable from “admire.”
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier.

Chatham, brougham, renown, but known.
Knowledge, done, but gone and tone,

One, anemone. Balmoral.
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel,

Gertrude, German, wind, and mind.
Scene, Melpomene, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, reading, heathen, heather.

This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet;

Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which is said to rime with “darky.”

Viscous, Viscount, load, and broad.
Toward, to forward, to reward.

And your pronunciation’s O.K.,
When you say correctly: croquet.

Rounded, wounded, grieve, and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive, and live,

Liberty, library, heave, and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven,

We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover,

Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police, and lice.

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label,

Petal, penal, and canal,
Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal.

Suit, suite, ruin, circuit, conduit,
Rime with “shirk it” and “beyond it.”

But it is not hard to tell,
Why it’s pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,

Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, and chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous, clamour
And enamour rime with hammer.

Pussy, hussy, and possess,
Desert, but dessert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants.
Hoist, in lieu of flags, left pennants.

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.

Stranger does not rime with anger.
Neither does devour with clangour.

Soul, but foul and gaunt but aunt.
Font, front, won’t, want, grand, and grant.

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say: finger.
And then: singer, ginger, linger,

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, age.

Query does not rime with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post; and doth, cloth, loth;
Job, Job; blossom, bosom, oath.

Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual.

Seat, sweat; chaste, caste.; Leigh, eight, height;
Put, nut; granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rime with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.

Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
Hint, pint, Senate, but sedate.

Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific,

Tour, but our and succour, four,
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria,

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion.

Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay.

Say aver, but ever, fever.
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.

Never guess–it is not safe:
We say calves, valves, half, but Ralph.

Heron, granary, canary,
Crevice and device, and eyrie,

Face but preface, but efface,
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust, and scour, but scourging,

Ear but earn, and wear and bear
Do not rime with here, but ere.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,

Monkey, donkey, clerk, and jerk,
Asp, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation–think of psyche–!
Is a paling, stout and spikey,

Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing “groats” and saying “grits”?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel,
Strewn with stones, like rowlock, gunwale,

Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict, and indict!

Don’t you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?

Finally: which rimes with “enough”
Though, through, plough, cough, hough, or tough?

Hiccough has the sound of “cup.”
My advice is–give it up!*

Or hear it at: https://pop.inquirer.net/2016/12/tongue-twister-lengthy-age-old-poem-about-the-english-language/#sthash.CJpnbGYf.dpuf

This is exactly why I despise (if you recall) efforts to homogonise the language.  I just read this poem out loud to myself.  It is a wonderful celebration of the language.  Now please forgive me as I go back and read all the posts from the interim. :D

Savvanakhet used to have a reputation for being the most relaxed place to get visas in the region.  Would it seem that this has changed? Perhaps there is a new boss in town.

Wow- 2 separate topics about amphur weddings from two different posters in one evening?  Amazing.  I will say here what I said on the other one.  From anecdotal evidence some Amphurs simply will not register foreigners' marriage regardless. Best to check your particular office in advance.

Don Mega, sorry but the OP didn't imply anything of the sort.  He simply asked:

Quote

Can two non-Thais get married at Amphur office?

As you suggest though the couple needs to have their paperwork in order.  If they don't the amphur office will not even entertain the idea never mind provide some sort of unofficial one.  An 'amphur office' wedding is not the same as a 'village wedding', which as you suggest has no legal standing.Are you perhaps confusing the OP's terminology?

Also from anecdotal evidence- some Amphurs will simply refuse to marry foreign couples for no good reason at all.