Teaching English to a Thai child

[bazza73]

My GF would like me to teach English to her grandson, 11 yo. She quite rightly thinks having English as a second language would be advantageous. I am not a teacher. I speak passable Thai, not fluent. How would teachers on this forum go about getting a teaching curriculum started?

[Scott]

A troll post has been removed.  

[puchooay]

Does the grandchild live with you? If so then no need for actual teaching. Just speak to him everyday. He will soon pick it up. Simple things first like "get up", "are you hungry?", "what would you like to eat?". This is the immersion method and the easiest way to learn to speak a language. That's the way everyone learns their native language after all.

 

At 11 years old he is young enough to pick it up. Once he speaks well you can teach him to read.

 

This is the way that I learnt to speak and read Thai.

[Here It Is]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2017 at 9:53 AM, bazza73 said:

I speak passable Thai, not fluent.

Mum always speaks Thai to son and you always converse in English.  Have to be very strict about this as he's late to the game but not too late at eleven.

 

Be strict and he'll soon pick it up even if you see no immediate results.  

[Guest]

One trick is to make him to watch movies, which are spoken in English and subtitled in Thai. 

That way he gets used to hearing the language. While he is learning English otherwise, he will also pickup the language from the movies. You can also play some English music on the background. 

 

When he gets the basics, let him read English children books / comics. 

[scorecard]

Can always start with development of the question works, often using sign language and/or arm waving etc. E.G: where, when what. 

 

Later this can be extended to incorporated the pronouns: I, you, your, her, him, etc.

 

To be a bit more structured visit a Thai book shop which stocks professional English teaching books, aim for the right age group and at starting level. Most of these books are well developed in terms of step by step progression and have good pictures, cartoons, photos etc.

 

The books I refer to usually come with:

 

- A teachers book (worth having)

- A structured workbook for writing practice, vocab. development etc. Which also provides variety. 

 

One extra point - never speak in broken English, always keep the grammar correct and use full sentences, but simple to start with.  

[fvw53]

I am now more than 70 years old but 40 years ago I spoke already fluently 5 languages when I had to go and live in China for my work.

I decided to learn Chinese with a private teacher ...and despite my skills I found it very stressful to have "face to face" lessons.

On the other side my 3 children picked up spontaneously all the languages in the 5 countries where we stayed...because they were less than 12 years and played with local children on the street or at school.

If your kid is 11 then it is time you find a way to let him play with English speaking children...this will be better than daily "face to face" teaching by yourself

 

[KonKorat]

Easy,speak English!

[bazza73]

2 minutes ago, fvw53 said:

I am now more than 70 years old but 40 years ago I spoke already fluently 5 languages when I had to go and live in China for my work.

I decided to learn Chinese with a private teacher ...and despite my skills I found it very stressful to have "face to face" lessons.

On the other side my 3 children picked up spontaneously all the languages in the 5 countries where we stayed...because they were less than 12 years and played with local children on the street or at school.

If your kid is 11 then it is time you find a way to let him play with English speaking children...this will be better than daily "face to face" teaching by yourself

 

Unfortunately, the kid is in a rather isolated Thai village and mixing with English-speaking kids isn't going to happen.

My thanks to all the posters with constructive suggestions.

[fvw53]

1 minute ago, KonKorat said:

Easy,speak English!

As you are in Sydney this would be indeed very easy...but here in Thailand I know people coming back with a degree from the USA and unable to speak fluently...

[samsensam]

 

go to DK books in bkk (one shop at RCA,  helpful staff) and look at the course books there, find one that you feel is suitable for your method of teaching. any course books by a reputable publisher; oxford press, cambridge press, mcmillan, etc. that way all the hard work is done for you regarding lesson planning, materials, etc. do not waste time and money on locally produced books i have never found one that follows a structured methodology, or has even graded vocabulary and grammar relevant to the students english level.

 

you will be able to buy a student book which you use for the lessons and a companion workbook for homework book so you can check how much, or little of the lesson the student has understood. there will also be cds for listening exercises to improve listening skills and for listening comprehensions

 

get a routine and structure for the lessons and homework going and make learning english fun. good luck

[Acharn]

I agree with others that the best way is to find some way to speak to him in English.  If you speak reasonably fluent Thai it's very hard, because you have an underlying desire to improve your fluency. I was never able to teach my own children or grandchildren. One thing I recommend, don't worry about whether he constructs grammatical sentences or not. As long as he's able to get his ideas across it's fine. I've spent a lot of time with Thais who couldn't speak grammatically and we have an instinct to understand.  We don't worry when infants don't speak grammatically. Oh, something professional English teachers discovered -- we learn language when we need to use it, so try to find ways to force him to speak. I've had to learn a couple of languages. I didn't learn any of them really well, not even Thai, but I was able to communicate, and in every case it was from speaking. The same point was made by the guy who taught me introductory German. He was a prisoner of war after WWII, and said he had a friend with much less education than him who became fluent in English much faster than he did because he spoke to GIs every chance he had. 

[tifino]

Google this:

 

isbn 9789749310861

 

 

I got mine via our Monk, who had a spare issue that he had sometimes lent out to his visiting monks.

 

 

It is set up for the Thai speaker, with full translations, and transliterations with English as the second language

 

your Google web page from the above search has some good info about this, and alternatives

 

 

 

I also find it a good source, for practicing Thai sounds, by using the English words to sound out the transliteration characters 

[Jaggg88]

57 minutes ago, fvw53 said:

I am now more than 70 years old but 40 years ago I spoke already fluently 5 languages when I had to go and live in China for my work.

I decided to learn Chinese with a private teacher ...and despite my skills I found it very stressful to have "face to face" lessons.

On the other side my 3 children picked up spontaneously all the languages in the 5 countries where we stayed...because they were less than 12 years and played with local children on the street or at school.

If your kid is 11 then it is time you find a way to let him play with English speaking children...this will be better than daily "face to face" teaching by yourself

 

My nephew and his family emigrated to Spain from the UK and he had 2 kids (6 & 8) who did not speak any Spanish. He took them to school and the head teacher said they have very few English speakers in the school but not to worry as his kids would be fluent in Spanish within 12 weeks. Within 7 weeks his oldest daughter was so fluent in Spanish he used to take her to the builder's merchants and translate for him. His younger son was not far behind and well within the 12 weeks.

[ToddinChonburi]

Try going on YouTube and search Sesame street

 Great way to see the letters and hear how they sound.  Teach the alphabet and teach it correctly.  

Also see if you can find the Kat in the Hat book collection.  Coloring books with words.   Work at the kids pace and make it fun.  Pictures with words .    Everything in the house has a word for it .   Fork  spoon knife 

Good luck and have fun with it.

[1FinickyOne]

Probably the best thing you can do at home is speak English - drop the Thai... and you can put a little bit of thought into your usage - mixing it up a bit... my kid also likes music and learns from the song lyrics... 

[TKDfella]

There are some good suggestions here from other posters so I won't repeat their ideas. Exposure to said language is always best. I was approached by a 'private Thai school' to help with their English Language program and my first job was to examine a teaching set they had purchased, which wasn't imo cheap. It had workbooks, CD's, teacher guide, game modules...it really was comprehensive. But it had one problem. I spoke to the head teacher and asked why this particular teaching aid had been bought. It looked impressive, was top aid used in BKK etc. came the answer. The problem was it had been designed for children where English was the first or native language and was unsuitable for teaching as a second language. I mention this only because someone might recommend something similar and I don't wish the OP to spend a lot of money and get little satisfaction.

[Krataiboy]

The present generation seems to learn better using current technology. My younger daughter began learning English with me on my PC and went on to download the websites she liked best on the tablet I bought her. 

 

Her all time favourite and mine is Starfall (just Google it), which comes in a free version which would be fine for getting your youngster started and a much more comprehensive modestly-priced upgrade (which you can do online) once he has got beyond the beginner stage. 

 

YouTube, which other posters have mentioned, has a wealth of free learning material - and lots of nursery rhymes and other children's stuff for a fun sing-along. If you can get your child into the reading habit (maybe by you reading bedtime stories to/with him) all the better.  

 

Good luck!

 

 

[jenny2017]

OP, no idea if you're still searching. 

 

  Please have a look here; http://busyteacher.org/

  ( All worksheets for all different levels)

 

  And here:

 

  https://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/

 

 A fantastic website with all vocabulary in Thai, also explained in English, Audio file and player ( you can record and copy/paste a lesson, if no internet)

 

Different levels from beginner to advanced

 

  And Youtube's English lessons. 

  

 

 

Edited November 23, 2017 by jenny2017

[pearciderman]

On 11/21/2017 at 9:19 AM, TKDfella said:

There are some good suggestions here from other posters so I won't repeat their ideas. Exposure to said language is always best. I was approached by a 'private Thai school' to help with their English Language program and my first job was to examine a teaching set they had purchased, which wasn't imo cheap. It had workbooks, CD's, teacher guide, game modules...it really was comprehensive. But it had one problem. I spoke to the head teacher and asked why this particular teaching aid had been bought. It looked impressive, was top aid used in BKK etc. came the answer. The problem was it had been designed for children where English was the first or native language and was unsuitable for teaching as a second language. I mention this only because someone might recommend something similar and I don't wish the OP to spend a lot of money and get little satisfaction.

 

How did you know this?

[TKDfella]

15 hours ago, pearciderman said:

 

How did you know this?

Can you expand please..how did I know what?

[TKDfella]

15 hours ago, pearciderman said:

 

How did you know this?

Are asking how did I know the purchased teaching program was designed for English native speakers? The answer is that there are two types of said program; one which is intended for English as a second language and another that is for native English speakers. The school had simply purchased the wrong module. In this case there is a Thailand branch of the company and sell modules that are in Thai and English. An example is the short verses sung in English at the very beginning which are about about animals. The name of an animal is in the verse but unless the children know and can speak the other words in the verse also then the verse becomes difficult for them. A child whose first language is English obviously gets to know (or used to) words at home and therefore the verse has more meaning. Hope that answers your question.