Curriculum in Thai Schools

[chiangrai]

I'm trying to figure out the Thai curriculum in the Thai government schools.

 

I started teaching elementary school aged kids(my wife gives private classes on Sundays and

she asked me to help).  I got Oxford English Press elementary school books and all went well.The Oxford books seemed to have the same grammar as what they were learning at the Thai school.

 

I did the same with the teenagers in the first 3 years of high school.  The Oxford press books had the same grammar as the books they use in the Thai school.  As if there was an international standard that they followed.

 

All was fine until I was asked to teach teens in the last 3 years of high school.   The grammar from there school books seemed to take a huge leap forward and was no where near the Oxford University press books for that age group.

 

I'm not a qualified teacher and my wife has never taught anything but Thai school books.  So my question is "is there an international standard for  teaching English and "does the grammar in the last 3 years of high school in Thai schools jump way ahead of this standard.

 

Also there doesn't seem to be any essays in there exams which was the first thing you had to do

when I was taking my high school exams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[otherstuff1957]

I'll answer the second point first: Generally, English speaking and writing skills are not tested in Thailand.  The emphasis in the standard tests is on grammar and vocabulary.  The higher-ups at the MOE consider speaking and writing to be too subjective to accurately assess.

 

As for the huge leap in expectations for higher grades, I don't teach English, but Science seems to have the same, almost exponential increase in difficulty for the higher grades.  I suspect that the reason for this is that in the past, many working class Thais dropped out of school and started working or went to technical collages after M3, so the middle class kids who were left were expected to be able to handle the more difficult material.

[chiangrai]

O.k so I got that one right..........and don't need any more help

on that issue.

 

But I still have to teach them but I have to teach them conversation class.My wife asked me to do this because she and they are blue in the face from learning grammar.

 

Does any one know some good books or websites for Conversation Class.

 

 

[ozmeldo]

The stuff is just everywhere on the web. Much of it is crap but you can find good ideas from which to build lessons.

 

Best advice I can give to you is get them up out of their seats and active. Yeah, it's insane managing 35-45 kids but it's the only thing that gets them talking. Cruise around the class constantly checking students speaking English.

 

If they are conversant, think pair share and group activities. If not, find someone who can be fun.