Trapped footballer’s multilingual skills warm teachers’ hearts

By KETKARN BOONPEN 
THE NATION

 

Younger pupils at Chiang Rai’s Ban Wiangphan School show a schoolbook of good deed records with the picture of Mathayom 2 student Adul Sam-on, 14.

 

THE BRIEF video-clip conversation between the 13 footballers trapped in a Chiang Rai cave and the British cave divers who were the first to reach them, was a memorable heart-filled moment for everybody who had been praying for their successful rescue.

 

One of the team, 14-year-old Adul Sam-on, a Mathayom 2 student at Ban Wiangphan School, was heard asking the foreigners questions and helped translate for his friends.

 

Adul, who is an ethnic minority child living just over the border in Myanmar’s Shan State, can speak Thai, Mandarin and Burmese, along with some English and obtained a GPA score of 3.9 while also participating in football, volleyball and track and field sports. 

 

His multilingual ability is due to his involvement in church activities – as he is under the care of the Hope Mae Sai Church – and he is being educated under the Thai government’s “Spirit of Asean” project.

 

According to Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) chief Boonrak Yodphet, the project, implemented at nearly 200 primary and secondary schools since 2010, aims to increase Asean regional awareness and give pupils the opportunity to learn English and foreign languages of neighbouring countries. 

 

Wiangphan School director Punnawich Thepsurin said about half of his 1,160 students – ranging from kindergarten to Mathayom 3 – were ethnic minority children plus some Chinese youths. 

 

 

The school’s Asean study centre focuses on teaching Thai, Burmese, Chinese and English so pupils can communicate in daily life, he said. 

 

The school, with 39 teachers and personnel, has embedded Asean knowledge and four languages in its curriculum for each class in various intensities. 

 

Kindergartners learn English from songs before covering more academic content in primary level. Each week students study four hours of English and at least two hours of Burmese and Chinese, while the remaining subjects are taught in Thai. 

 

There are two Filipino teachers to teach English, two Myanmar-native teachers and two Chinese-native teachers, whose salaries are covered by a budget from Obec and the parents’ voluntary yearly contribution of Bt2,000-per-child, he said.

 

Having closely followed the news of the trapped youths’, Punnawich said he was glad to know the youngsters were safe.

 

“When I saw the video clip of our student talking in English to foreigners in the cave, I was happy that our courses worked and the kid could use it in real life. Now I’m determined to develop the school – which already won an outstanding lower secondary school award in 2014 – to be a good-quality, multi-lingual school,” Punnawich said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30349692

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-10

During the rescue-dive the kids can communicate with the farang divers is what i heard, i wonder what language they speak underwater.

" There are two Filipino teachers to teach English ", well yes, sort of !!

4 minutes ago, Thian said:

During the rescue-dive the kids can communicate with the farang divers is what i heard, i wonder what language they speak underwater.

One diver in each team is Thai. They're sending them through in a kind of relay system, one section at a time 

8 minutes ago, lamyai3 said:

One diver in each team is Thai. They're sending them through in a kind of relay system, one section at a time 

Oh i see,  that's a lot easier for the boys.

 

 

4 minutes ago, Thian said:

Oh i see,  that's a lot easier for the boys.

 

 

Yes, the teams would run the same section of cave repeatedly, so that they get increasingly familiar with the route each time. Then the boy is handed over to the next team, introduced and given any instructions specific to the forthcoming section. The success so far suggests it's an incredibly well thought through plan. 

My Czech mate would laugh at me for speaking only one language. He was fluent in 7 languages. Ended up as a Russian tank commander escaped went to Italy to seek refuge with the US embassy. Once they got all his information on computers they threw him out. Ended up working with the Spanish foreign legion in Africa. Now there were the scary stories. When he arrived into Oz was an immediate hit as he could tap into the Centrelink computer and send extra funds to recipients alive or dead. So I would say computers are more important, but another language is helpful.

 

I am fluent in English and the universal language of 'Too much' 'pang'. I survived for 12 months up north plus my phone to phone home when I couldn't break negotiations. 

Yes...that brief conversation in the video clip was thrilling.

 

Well done to the school and to the boy who after sitting in total darkness and starving for an unimagable period of time,was able to converse with what must have initially seemed like an alien being emerging from the water...

 

His personality still came shining through.

 Hopefully this new,''flavor of the week'' will not soon fade ,much like ''The war on plastics '' and '' The battle to end corruption'' etc etc.I only wish Thailand (my home)didn't need a poster child or a pie chart,to realize what is right for this country,and that change is a good thing.

There are more than 200 countries on this planet, and I don't know how many languages; sure, language barrier is a real problem, and we need a common language; for different reasons,  it happens to be English, I don't complain, I like it and it's not very difficult  ( for Europeans at least ) 

it's good that every child in every school of the world learns English , to communicate with the others;

for the story of the cave, the first contact was in English , between a foreigner and a Thai person, it shows how important it is ( but I am personally happy to know Thai language, learning the language of other peoples is wonderful ) 

1 hour ago, Chris Lawrence said:

Czech mate

?

11 minutes ago, Aforek said:

it's good that every child in every school of the world learns English , to communicate with the others;

for the story of the cave, the first contact was in English , between a foreigner and a Thai person

I think Thailand is second from bottom in the region in terms of English language proficiency. The lack of importance in learning it was highlighted last year when the PM stated that Thai could replace English as the world's lingua franca.

The first boy to speak to the rescue teams (and the only one who can speak English) is from a hilltribe and was born in Burma.

23 minutes ago, Aforek said:

There are more than 200 countries on this planet, and I don't know how many languages; sure, language barrier is a real problem, and we need a common language; for different reasons,  it happens to be English, I don't complain, I like it and it's not very difficult  ( for Europeans at least ) 

it's good that every child in every school of the world learns English , to communicate with the others;

for the story of the cave, the first contact was in English , between a foreigner and a Thai person, it shows how important it is ( but I am personally happy to know Thai language, learning the language of other peoples is wonderful ) 

It was only one boy who could communicate with those divers and he is Burmese not Thai. Obviously not all Thai learn English at school. 

A school director was actually available for an interview after a tragedy. That's really heart-warming.

It was a great scene to hear him communicate with the two British divers. Not so good when out of 12 kids he was the only one he could speak basic stuff and he is Burmese. 

 

Thailand is generations away from having a proficient English speaking nation. 

19 minutes ago, pegman said:

It was only one boy who could communicate with those divers and he is Burmese not Thai. Obviously not all Thai learn English at school. 

I spoke in the future ; long way to go I know, I should have said " it would be ideal if every child in the world could learn English at school " 

22 minutes ago, pegman said:

It was only one boy who could communicate with those divers and he is Burmese not Thai. Obviously not all Thai learn English at school. 

I spoke in the future ; long way to go I know, I should have said " it would be ideal if every child in the world could learn English at school " 

2 hours ago, Chris Lawrence said:

So I would say computers are more important, but another language is helpful.

Computes are another language. Code is. 

It was only one boy who could communicate with those divers and he is Burmese not Thai. Obviously not all Thai learn English at school. 

Delete ‘learn’ and add ‘understand’, then I’d agree with you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was a great scene to hear him communicate with the two British divers. Not so good when out of 12 kids he was the only one he could speak basic stuff and he is Burmese. 
 
Thailand is generations away from having a proficient English speaking nation. 

Look on the bright side, it was one more than who could swim!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Adul, who is an ethnic minority child living just over the border

I guess that means he's not "Thai" and therefore will not have the opportunity to further his education by going to college regardless of his grades. Has this been changed?

11 minutes ago, gr8fldanielle said:

I guess that means he's not "Thai" and therefore will not have the opportunity to further his education by going to college regardless of his grades. Has this been changed?

No, he can further his education in Myanmar

4 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

Yes, the teams would run the same section of cave repeatedly, so that they get increasingly familiar with the route each time. Then the boy is handed over to the next team, introduced and given any instructions specific to the forthcoming section. The success so far suggests it's an incredibly well thought through plan. 

Well said. So much for the Nay Sayers!

I think the boys are using a agua type mask they can be equipped with wireless comms I don’t know for sure but I did see a photo in one of the threads a few days back and the agua mask would be an good choice for the job and a reassuring voice understood or not would be reassuring for a novice diver 

1 hour ago, gr8fldanielle said:

I guess that means he's not "Thai" and therefore will not have the opportunity to further his education by going to college regardless of his grades. Has this been changed?

Well maybe someone can start an Educational  Trust for him so he has that opportunity. There would likely be enough $$$ roll in to send him to an Ivy League school. Maybe Oxford would give him a scholarship.  This story is worldwide. Who knows what could catch fire. In my home country last winter there was a terrible bus accident involving a young men's hockey team. A local lady started a Go-Fund-Me to help with expenses. Her goal was to raise $5k. It got closed out less than 2 weeks later when it hit >$15m.

5 hours ago, Thian said:

During the rescue-dive the kids can communicate with the farang divers is what i heard, i wonder what language they speak underwater.

Divers don't speak much of any language underwater, it's all eye movements, body contact, hand signals and (probably primarily in this instance) tugs on lines and tethers... the universal language of divers.

3 hours ago, BobbyL said:

...

Thailand is generations away from having a proficient English speaking nation. 

..and LONG may it continue.

 

Or, be careful of what you wish for.

10 minutes ago, pegman said:

Well maybe someone can start an Educational  Trust for him so he has that opportunity. There would likely be enough $$$ roll in to send him to an Ivy League school. Maybe Oxford would give him a scholarship.  This story is worldwide. Who knows what could catch fire. ...

Let's not get too carried away now. I need him to make coffee in our Yangon office and we'll see how it goes from there, OK?

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

No, he can further his education in Myanmar

No he can't. His language prowess is afforded by being a diligent student at a Christian-based Thai outreach on the borders. There's bugger all that comes close on his Burmese side of the border. There are similar initiatives in Myanmar but as a rule, they aren't collocated (or aren't permitted to collocate) in the more remote, northern ethnic minority states of their Union.

Yes the teachers are from the Philippines and the boy is from Myanmar.says it all really.