Thais and English: Stop the rote learning, be brave to speak, get better jobs and be happy!

[webfact]

Thais and English: Stop the rote learning, be brave to speak, get better jobs and be happy!

 

video screenshot

 

TNA reported that Thais who can speak English and converse with foreigners comfortably have a big advantage in the workplace.

 

In addition to getting better jobs and more money their life is enhanced by being able to speak English.

 

The TNA video began with a young man called Thanachart Piamlapthanaboon who has won an award from Cambridge University in the UK.

 

He gave an articulate speech about learning in which he stated that there should always be a purpose behind your actions.

 

His efforts at being brave in speaking to foreigners and using reading and movies to enhance his abilities have given him a leg up while other classmates are stuck in the boring rut of rote learning for tests.

 

The report featured Christopher Wright - also known as Chris Delivery - who runs a succesful language school in Bangkok.

 

Chris is a native speaker of English who went to Bangkok Patana School, one of the leading British international schools in Bangkok.

 

He promotes the idea that grammar is only a small part of learning and that children should be encouraged to develop in many different ways using English stimulus from all around them.

 

Online learning and talking to foreigners are two of the ways. Chris is determined to take children out of formal rote learning and give them real experiences that will make them grow.

 

University chiefs backed his stance and said that in the job marketplace it was proven that ability at English was prized and valuable leading to better employment prospects, higher salaries and a better social life too.

 

Source: TNA

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-06-15

 

[Bluespunk]

5 minutes ago, webfact said:

His efforts at being brave in speaking to foreigners and using reading and movies to enhance his abilities have given him a leg up while other classmates are stuck in the boring rut of rote learning for tests.

Children should be taught how to learn, investigate and think and not just memorise  facts that may help them to pass tests. 

 

The most important  lesson being, if you aren’t making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough. 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by Bluespunk

[Orton Rd]

They need to forget the boring and unnecessary grammar lessons, even I don't know what half of it means.

[evadgib]

Just now, Orton Rd said:

They need to forget the boring and unnecessary grammar lessons, even I don't know what half of it means.

I too get my crotchets and quavers mixed up ?

[jaltsc]

"In addition to getting better jobs and more money their life is enhanced by being able to speak English."

 

How can they tell? Most bar girls speak better English than Thais with college degrees majoring in English. I've met some of these graduates, and they can't understand or speak any English.

Edited June 15, 2018 by jaltsc

[flyingtlger]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

He gave an articulate speech about learning in which he stated that there should always be a purpose behind your actions.

Most of the Thai gals I know are pretty good at that......

 

[NetJunkie]

3 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

They need to forget the boring and unnecessary grammar lessons, even I don't know what half of it means.

 

Have you tried stringing together a coherent sentence without all that "unnecessary grammar" ?

[PatOngo]

I know a few Thai's who speak welly goos English!

[stanleycoin]

18 minutes ago, Orton Rd said:

They need to forget the boring and unnecessary grammar lessons, even I don't know what half of it means.

wot, r  u on about m8. 

[stanleycoin]

15 minutes ago, flyingtlger said:

Most of the Thai gals I know are pretty good at that......

 

im sure they do a good job. 

[coulson]

15 minutes ago, jaltsc said:

"In addition to getting better jobs and more money their life is enhanced by being able to speak English."

 

How can they tell? Most bar girls speak better English than Thais with college degrees majoring in English. I've met some of these graduates, and they can't understand or speak any English.

You kind of prove the point. Bar girls make a lot more money than graduates ever could. I couldn't say their job is better though.

[mok199]

i have lived here 20 years,and have never once (not one time) heard thais outside of a school setting ,speaking English in an attempt (in a safe enviorment of classmates) to better themselves. I have on numerous occasions asked '' why don't you and your freinds try "" the answer is always the same ,even their thai parents say '' shy''...in my opinion it is laziness and a lack of motivation..shy is the easy excuse

Edited June 15, 2018 by mok199
speliings

[darksidedog]

This is something we all know to be true. Thais are appalling at English, even most of the teachers can't speak it. Rote learning of anything does not teach you how to learn, just how to remember, which is of no practical use in real life. One wonders how they can bring this to reality, when foreigners who can speak it properly, have such a hard time getting employed?

[Peterw42]

9 minutes ago, mok199 said:

I have on numerous occasions asked '' why do you not try ""

 

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by Peterw42

[rkidlad]

My missus has always been attracted to 'farangs. Yes, white men. As a child, she would watch Hollywood movies, listen to Britpop and had about a hundred crushes. Because she liked the culture so much, she asked her parents if she could attend English lessons. She did stuff in her free time, asked her teachers what things meant in movies and music, etc. Her English is awesome, but she basically learnt off her own back. You can pretty much learn anything if you really want to. 

 

Now, with her job and travel and the circles she's in, she can't imagine not being able to speak English. She knows how it opens doors, creates connections and opens the mind. She knows that if she couldn't speak English her life would be very different. Some people say they don't need to know English - they're happy. Great. My missus feels her life wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting if she couldn't speak English. 

 

As the Korean director of 'Okja' put into his movie, "Try learning English. It opens doors". It was apparently a joke mocking the mindset that English language speakers think they're supreme. Well, it's the world's language. Maybe one day it will be Chinese. But for now it's English. Learn the world's language or don't. Up to you. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you should not learn it because of something as ridiculous as nationalism. 

[overherebc]

23 minutes ago, NetJunkie said:

 

Have you tried stringing together a coherent sentence without all that "unnecessary grammar" ?

Learning grammar is pointless until you can hold a conversation with a teacher who uses correct grammar when talking to the students. Everyone learns their language by listening and repeating words and sentences.

I can't remember when I had my first real grammar periods at school but I'm sure it was when I was around the age of 12 or 13. It certainly wasn't at 5 or 6 years old.

Simple past, present and future tenses are enough with young children.

[Sir Dude]

Motivation plays a very big role too in all of this and there are two kinds, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Students that have intrinsic motivation always fair/do better because they want to learn from within themselves so as to better themselves. However, extrinsic motivation is all too common these days and these students are there because they have to be or because Mum want's them to study this or that, i.e. the motivation comes from outside of the person...throw in a big dose of idleness as well and the effects can readily be seen all around.   

[BobbyL]

It is a hard area. I taught children in the UK who obviously were native speakers, yet their knowledge of grammar and sentence structure was very poor. That held them back massively as there is such a focus on written work. 

 

I have taught kids here from different countries learning an English curriculum as an additional language who could also speak fluently, but similarly their grammar and sentences were poor. It held them back in their progress. 

 

I think the problem in Thailand with your average child is that there is too much emphasis is on rote learning of grammar and punctuation. It is tedious and boring, but it is mostly taught by Thai staff whose spoken English is also poor. Yet those same teachers could easily identify adjectives, pronouns and adverbs, but not string a coherent sentence together. They need to think about what is the most beneficial.  

 

As another poster said, he wasn't sure about all the grammatical intricacies of English, neither am I and I am a qualified teacher. It is far too complicated and madness to have young children learning about the future perfect tense, or the use of articles and determiners.

 

There needs to be far more focus on speaking and listening, but I don't know where to begin implementing that. 

 

[mok199]

5 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

Motivation plays a very big role too in all of this and there are two kinds, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Students that have intrinsic motivation always fair/do better because they want to learn from within themselves so as to better themselves. However, extrinsic motivation is all too common these days and these students are there because they have to be or because Mum want's them to study this or that, i.e. the motivation comes from outside of the person...throw in a big dose of idleness as well and the effects can readily be seen all around.   

correct...thai students must seek out friends and form groups, and speak English, ''outside the classroom'',they gain confedence..Thai is very ''Nasal ''which produces a distinct sound,thais need to lean to speak English using less nasal...just as westerners must learn to use more nasal to speak thai...

[55Jay]

49 minutes ago, mok199 said:

i have lived here 20 years,and have never once (not one time) heard thais outside of a school setting ,speaking English in an attempt (in a safe enviorment of classmates) to better themselves. I have on numerous occasions asked '' why don't you and your freinds try "" the answer is always the same ,even their thai parents say '' shy''...in my opinion it is laziness and a lack of motivation..shy is the easy excuse

It's also difficult for them to be "wrong" when they're always right. 

About everything.  ?

[z42]

36 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

This is something we all know to be true. Thais are appalling at English, even most of the teachers can't speak it. Rote learning of anything does not teach you how to learn, just how to remember, which is of no practical use in real life. One wonders how they can bring this to reality, when foreigners who can speak it properly, have such a hard time getting employed?

Being able to speak is 1 thing. However conveying the knowledge in English to a Thai with very limited (if any) retained knowledge of English is very bloody difficult.

You multiply that by 40 times and add in a few Thais who have some knowledge and you have a typical Thai English class.

 

While the kid in the video is a highly competent speaker it is unknown what his other English skills are like. I am personally privileged to work with some kids who possess equally impressive speaking skill, however their other skills are much less polished.

 

The main flaw with the Thai system in its present form is that it targets only 1 skill area primarily, reading.

The 3 other main skills (listening, speaking, writing) are simply not activated (or even targeted) anywhere near often enough.

 

As a start, a focus should be placed on developing sub-functional English that can be utilized readily in a wide range of situational conversation. This can be practiced and honed in direct conversation or written interaction.

 

And it is the interaction that is a chief cause of slower development, almost nowhere outside of big tourist cities will Thai students ever get a real chance to practice talking to foreigners very often.

 

Could go on, but that is my 2 cents on this issue

[seajae]

52 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

My missus has always been attracted to 'farangs. Yes, white men. As a child, she would watch Hollywood movies, listen to Britpop and had about a hundred crushes. Because she liked the culture so much, she asked her parents if she could attend English lessons. She did stuff in her free time, asked her teachers what things meant in movies and music, etc. Her English is awesome, but she basically learnt off her own back. You can pretty much learn anything if you really want to. 

 

Now, with her job and travel and the circles she's in, she can't imagine not being able to speak English. She knows how it opens doors, creates connections and opens the mind. She knows that if she couldn't speak English her life would be very different. Some people say they don't need to know English - they're happy. Great. My missus feels her life wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting if she couldn't speak English. 

 

As the Korean director of 'Okja' put into his movie, "Try learning English. It opens doors". It was apparently a joke mocking the mindset that English language speakers think they're supreme. Well, it's the world's language. Maybe one day it will be Chinese. But for now it's English. Learn the world's language or don't. Up to you. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking you should not learn it because of something as ridiculous as nationalism. 

similar to my wife, she taught herself english, bought books/cd's to help, she also put herself through university. She manages the main export branch of a company with international business and part of the reason she got the job is because she can converse with all their overseas customers in english plus her background in management and her degree. Her daughter who has just finished her first year at uni studying to be a doctor refuses to use english and will only converse in thai, she understands english very well and used to talk with me often until she started her last year at school before uni, apparently some of the teachers told the students they need to speak thai only. 

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

I too get my crotchets and quavers mixed up ?

Your silly, that's knittting jargon...

[tomta]

The habits  of deference and obedience that  Thais are inculcated with cannot be simply cast aside for learning English. When every day you practice self-abasement in front of superior beings, the breaking of the "mind forg'd manacles" is not an easy thing.

[overherebc]

1 minute ago, scorecard said:

Your silly, that's knittting jargon...

Well, 'you're' silly would be betterer.

[DM07]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

I know a few Thai's who speak welly goos English!

...Engriss!

[Megasin1]

I can't emphasise how important it is to escape Thailand and put your kids through proper schooling if you can. I had given up and was looking forward to retiring to Thailand to escape UK, the cold winters and enjoy my life basking by the pool, free from constant knee pain, when my 10 year old finally decided she wanted to go to school in the UK. The decision has hampered my personal ambitions for the next 10 years or so but what can I say, she is loving it, she is developing and growing, thinking more and more for herself, growing in self confidence and learning in an excellent environment. For those of you that haven't been in touch with the English education system for a while, look again, it has improved massively. If you have young kids get them into a proper school as soon as you can ?

[George Bowman]

My first job in Thailand was teaching at a well-known Bangkok university. There was a fairly large Thai staff that also taught English to the students. However, there was only about 3-4 professors who could actually carry on a conversation with me.

 

All the meetings were in Thai as well as breaks and lunch time. Needless to say, the majority of these teachers would not have passed high school English 101.

 

But yet most of the students passed their English courses with flying colors…

[Kieran00001]

2 hours ago, NetJunkie said:

 

Have you tried stringing together a coherent sentence without all that "unnecessary grammar" ?

 

He did not say they should not use grammar, he said they should drop the grammar lessons.  Did you learn any of the grammatical rules you follow from grammar lessons or did you pick them up along the way by using the language? 

[Aupee]

2 hours ago, mok199 said:

i have lived here 20 years,and have never once (not one time) heard thais outside of a school setting ,speaking English in an attempt (in a safe enviorment of classmates) to better themselves. I have on numerous occasions asked '' why don't you and your freinds try "" the answer is always the same ,even their thai parents say '' shy''...in my opinion it is laziness and a lack of motivation..shy is the easy excuse

Of course all the posters here can speak perfect Thai and try daily to improve their ability to speak Thai.