English teacher with poor pronunciation sparks online storm

[GinBoy2]

1 hour ago, Blumpie said:

Their english is as bad as my Thai.  

 

Speaker native better than english speak from baby.  That says people but what know I says me?  Right says me.  Right!

If you are trying to criticize me. I speak fluent Thai, Lao, Mandarin as well as my native English and Spanish

[Highend Expat]

Story from May 2020.

 

Many of us still misunderstand the root problems which have little to do with capability. 

 

The Thais generally speak English as a symbol of status within the Thai world. They are learning English to show other Thais that they know English, not to converse with non Thais. 

 

They also are taught to be culturally insular. The Thai elites want nothing less than 10s of millions of average Thais with the ability to look outside the Thai world for information. China does the same to its population (but much more severe). Imagine what average Thais would learn if they desired to look beyond the their elites for information. 

[Artisi]

58 minutes ago, Highend Expat said:

Story from May 2020.

 

Many of us still misunderstand the root problems which have little to do with capability. 

 

The Thais generally speak English as a symbol of status within the Thai world. They are learning English to show other Thais that they know English, not to converse with non Thais. 

 

They also are taught to be culturally insular. The Thai elites want nothing less than 10s of millions of average Thais with the ability to look outside the Thai world for information. China does the same to its population (but much more severe). Imagine what average Thais would learn if they desired to look beyond the their elites for information. 

Nonsense, a vast number of Thai's learn English as it's the language of the global business world, saying it's a status symbol is ridiculous. 

My father in-law, 2 brother in-laws, sister in-law all speak and communicate at a very high level of proficiency, and their children are very proficient, my wife has  o/seas PhD in English education - none of it has anything to do with status, it's about having useful language skills in today's world. 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Artisi

[actonion]

Many years ago while living in Central Thailand my  (Thai) wife introduced me to her friend who is the head of foreign language department in a  local High School, when the friend found out i was from England she asked  me to speak to a very large group of Thai 'wanna be' English Teachers. I was asked to recite   a short sentence, & they were to repeat it paying attention to  rising, and  falling tones,  after 40 minutes  of trying, they couldnt grasp the idea ....

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, Highend Expat said:

Story from May 2020.

 

Many of us still misunderstand the root problems which have little to do with capability. 

 

The Thais generally speak English as a symbol of status within the Thai world. They are learning English to show other Thais that they know English, not to converse with non Thais. 

 

They also are taught to be culturally insular. The Thai elites want nothing less than 10s of millions of average Thais with the ability to look outside the Thai world for information. China does the same to its population (but much more severe). Imagine what average Thais would learn if they desired to look beyond the their elites for information. 

Nonsense. I worked in the Thai educational system for 25 years, and nothing could be farther from the truth. 

[PremiumLane]

I am more bothered by the teacher centered, rote learning style 

[EricTh]

6 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Nonsense. I worked in the Thai educational system for 25 years, and nothing could be farther from the truth. 

What are the chances of somebody who has not taught at Thai schools before getting a job during these Covid times? 

 

[Artisi]

11 minutes ago, actonion said:

Many years ago while living in Central Thailand my  (Thai) wife introduced me to her friend who is the head of foreign language department in a  local High School, when the friend found out i was from England she asked  me to speak to a very large group of Thai 'wanna be' English Teachers. I was asked to recite   a short sentence, & they were to repeat it paying attention to  rising, and  falling tones,  after 40 minutes  of trying, they couldnt grasp the idea ....

How are your Thai tones and understanding? 

[Neeranam]

2 minutes ago, EricTh said:

What are the chances of somebody who has not taught at Thai schools before getting a job during these Covid times? 

 

if you are white, there's a very good chance. Especially if you look smart and don't have a beard. 

[Artisi]

4 minutes ago, EricTh said:

What are the chances of somebody who has not taught at Thai schools before getting a job during these Covid times? 

 

Slim. 

[Neeranam]

Just now, Artisi said:

How are your Thai tones and understanding? 

I know a few guys who have been here over 20 years and still don't know tones. 

I know many farang who don't even know what month it is, yet criticize Thais' English. Actually, they can't even pronounce where they live properly -  they say 'Khon Kaen' or 'Kalasin', just copying the Thai govt. transliteration, which is wrong. 

[ozimoron]

 

[Highend Expat]

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

Nonsense. I worked in the Thai educational system for 25 years, and nothing could be farther from the truth. 

Nonsense. I ran MNCs for nearly 20 years, and nothing could be further from the truth. 

 

See how easy it is to make a claim without any effort to substantiate? 

[EricTh]

2 hours ago, Artisi said:

Slim. 

Are you a current English teacher? Why are the chances slim?

[RafPinto]

2 hours ago, Neeranam said:

if you are white, there's a very good chance. Especially if you look smart and don't have a beard. 

Time to cut my beard.

[jak2002003]

I think this English teacher is miles better. 

[tubby johnson]

12 hours ago, GinBoy2 said:

If you are trying to criticize me. I speak fluent Thai, Lao, Mandarin as well as my native English and Spanish

Most unlikely.  Also, your poor punctuation gives you away.

[EricTh]

6 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Time to cut my beard.

And also get rid of the tattoos.

[EricTh]

6 hours ago, jak2002003 said:

I think this English teacher is miles better. 

 

It's a comedy show, no Thai teacher teaches English like that in real life.

 

The 'teacher' is a well known comedian.

Edited March 1, 2022 by EricTh

[Dogmatix]

She is probably one of the better English teachers. That’s why she gets this job. But it’s very sad they put up someone so dense she thinks she teaches in a “skoon” and makes mistakes in every line of a simple text. It’s also childish simple Enlish for kids of that age in addition to teaching them incorrect pronunciation, grammar and syntax. These are 10 year olds who have probably been learning English for more than 3 years. At that age in my French classes I had learnt all the tenses and had a broad enough vocab to read proper texts, not nonsense like that.

[jak2002003]

51 minutes ago, EricTh said:

 

It's a comedy show, no Thai teacher teaches English like that in real life.

 

The 'teacher' is a well known comedian.

Did you actually think I did not know that?  It was a joke. 

[actonion]

On 3/1/2022 at 9:49 AM, Artisi said:

How are your Thai tones and understanding? 

Non existant,  .. but i dont  (get paid to_) teach Thai.........they get paid to  (try) to teach english...

[Artisi]

30 minutes ago, actonion said:

Non existant,  .. but i dont  (get paid to_) teach Thai.........they get paid to  (try) to teach english...

Did you miss the sarcasm?

[ikke1959]

I was teaching in  school and the teacher had prepared the lesson. We went outside with the class because the stmudents wanted to be a guide and there was kind of floating market nearby. The Thai teacher did not like me and she came a little bit later. In the meantime I read the sentences the Thai teacher had prepared and started to ask questions to the students, about the floating market, what we could see, eat and so on. But then suddenly the Thai teacher infered and asked me when I was starting with the lesson. The students responded to my questions very well although they were not used this kind of lesson. But the Thai teacher started to scream that it was all wrong and that I had to do the lesson because the students did not understand me and more that kind of stuff. Very embarassing in front of the students. And than she took over the lesson. The students had to repeat the  3 sentences that she had prepared. first all together, than the boys, after that the girls, all together again, a few students , all together again. It was so many times that I still can remember what the sentences were although it is now 7 years ago. So I am still wondering what did the students learn from that lesson..I am sure they liked the way I did it much more, but they can't go against the teacher. Just an example   

[brewsterbudgen]

On 3/1/2022 at 9:52 AM, Neeranam said:

I know a few guys who have been here over 20 years and still don't know tones. 

I know many farang who don't even know what month it is, yet criticize Thais' English. Actually, they can't even pronounce where they live properly -  they say 'Khon Kaen' or 'Kalasin', just copying the Thai govt. transliteration, which is wrong. 

I'm assuming those guys you know aren't teaching Thai, so what does it matter if they don't know Thai tones or what month it is (in Thai)?

[Oww]

On 5/18/2020 at 11:50 PM, trainman34014 said:

Can understand all your points Eric but the fact remains that Thailand needs to employ Native English speakers to teach its Children (and its Teachers) well.    It works well in China, Japan and South Korea to name just three country's.

... "to name just three country's.." 

Apparently your written English ain't up to 'native' standard either.. 

????

[Neeranam]

35 minutes ago, brewsterbudgen said:

I'm assuming those guys you know aren't teaching Thai, so what does it matter if they don't know Thai tones or what month it is (in Thai)?

Just saying, double standards as they would criticize immigrants to their home countries who didn't know what month it was.,

[connda]

On 5/19/2020 at 4:19 PM, kcpattaya said:

Video?

 

[kevc]

Years ago watched a Distance learning class and they pronounced towel as toe ell.

[actonion]

On 3/4/2022 at 12:33 PM, Artisi said:

Did you miss the sarcasm?

Obviously yes