English teacher with poor pronunciation sparks online storm

[ChipButty]

17 minutes ago, Expat Tom said:

Let me point out a few facts about all language learning. There are four skills in learning any language; 

in order of acquisition, listening, speaking, reading and writing. 

 

I counted 5 skills there, so Maths is not your strong subject?

[Mansell]

My kids got to a private school.....the oldest 14 speaks English with Thai emphasis on the words which means I cannot understand what he is saying. The younger boy 9 learned English listening to me and we have conversations together because he speaks real English. They need to be taught by a genuine English speaker, not a Thai with not much grasp of the language, otherwise it is wasting every body’s time.

[Phil McCaverty]

5 minutes ago, watthong said:

And thank god for that. Go around the world and see how many people speak or write the "Queen's" English? Not many, except maybe in India, and to the relief for the rest of us. Being a few doesn't necessarily means you're the elite, look at what happened to the native Americans. So keep going.

American by any chance? 555

[watthong]

1 hour ago, fredwiggy said:

1 hour ago, Rookiescot said:

You are not teaching English if you are using the American version of spelling and pronunciation.

You are teaching American English. 

American English isn't English? Tell that to everyone who speaks it. American English is the most influential English in the world. And even though I was born in the US, I'm not taking sides, as the US is a melting pot of all countries.

English no longer means the Queen's English, thank god - same manner as my xerox machine is a Minolta. Amazing how some folks still have their head back in the glory days when "the sun never set on the British Empire". Where is it now, I wonder, or rather look at what it has become.

[dallen52]

18 hours ago, neverere said:

Nonsense, this is about teaching. In this case the teacher should have been vetted for English speaking ability prior to being used in this capacity. 

It's certainly an interesting topic. 

I'm a retired engineer with numerous years of workplace training and assessment, course design skills, and the required TAE and TAELLN, language literacy and numeracy skills/qualifications.

Designed and delivered globally to many nationalities. 

But a local community group wanted me to do a TESOL course before I could do volunteer work.

 

No worries mate...

(Its not happening)

 

 

[n00dle]

4 minutes ago, Pilotman said:

Hasn't this all gone a bit off topic?  

Yes.

[Pilotman]

12 minutes ago, miamiman123 said:

Don’t believe this???

i suggest you peer into a P6 science class at a “Well known EP school” right here in Bangkok..., watch then playing games and running around in the classroom.... then ask why they don’t understand RNA vs DNA at the M1 level??????
this is why!  

Whenever I see the school in my wife's village, and I mean every time, the kids are doing nothing and the staff are mostly sitting around in the staff room. The only other time I see activity is when the kids are running about playing football or arriving and leaving the school.  To my certain knowledge this has been going on for over 20 years, which goes a long way to explain the lack of education in the family's now grown up kids, all working on the farm.  Hardly surprising really.   

[bbbbooboo]

Hmmm.... this seems all part of the Thai belief(mistaken) that they know more about English speaking than they actually do and comes across as arrogant stupidity ?

[CraigInBangkok]

54 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

Irony aw! That's where all the metal comes from.

Blackadder:
Baldrick, have you no idea what "irony" is?

Baldrick:
Yes, it's like "goldy" and "bronzy" only it's made out of iron.

[2long]

Funny subtitles on this one. Sorry if this has already been posted. I don't have time to scroll through all the pages.

 

[fredwiggy]

Just now, Pilotman said:

Whenever I see the school in my wife's village, and I mean every time, the kids are doing nothing and the staff are mostly sitting around in the staff room. The only other time I see activity is when the kids are running about playing football or arriving and leaving the school.  To my certain knowledge this has been going on for over 20 years, which goes a long way to explain the lack of education in the family's now grown up kids, all working on the farm.  Hardly surprising really.   

Same thing here. My wife's older daughter says her teacher just gives them papers and stays on her phone all the time. The English teacher there barely  speaks any English. I asked them if they needed any help but they said no. Her daughter can only speak a few words but she can answer questions in sentences. When our daughter turns 5 she will go to the same school I help at and learn English from the teachers there, along with learning from me until then. The bigger cities have better teachers, and the private schools are the best choice, usually employing actual English teachers.

[Artisi]

4 minutes ago, visacrack said:

(Will this one pass through 'moderation'? It's not 'hateful' - it's just 'inconvenient truths'. Maybe time to make 1st amendment principles prevail over 'community rules'?)

 

While those criticising certainly have a point, I myself as a non-native speaker reject any criticism (tips are welcome though) by people who won't 'waste time' to learn a foreign language themselves. (Not to elaborate on why she as a thai is in an extremely difficult position, as there is no linguistic link there - figure learning thai!) Most of you don't even master your own language to even a basic degree - or does anyone here know what the 'great vowel shift' (see WP article) was? And not just was, because it continues to condition our mutual communication to an extent you haven't even started to grasp. 

 

After decades of watching and studying your habits, I now call you anglo-autistic fools, and ultimately it's all a consequence of your substandard edusys. I know you have some strong points, but guess what: All civilised nations do. The trouble is your uber-alles attitude, based on your despicable acting/feigning and mythmongering - easily comparably to J-ry's 'chosen people' myth (still they use you as tools in their global, oriental religion-driven supremacy game). 

 

You're welcome, do have a nice day  .)

 

how about translating your comment into something understandable.

And, the post is about the poor level of language being used by teachers to teach English, absolutely nothing to do with what you appear to be trying to say.   

[bluesofa]

16 minutes ago, watthong said:

And thank god for that. Go around the world and see how many people speak or write the "Queen's" English? Not many, except maybe in India, and to the relief for the rest of us. Being a few doesn't necessarily means you're the elite, look at what happened to the native Americans. So keep going.

I saw a native American booking into a hotel. The receptionist asked if he had a reservation.

He replied that did have one, but the government took it off him.

 

[Raphus]

Wow. In the video. There are prepositions missing on the graphics some articles also. I think this is terrible if it is being aired all over the country. One school is bad enough, but to the nation on tv is scandalous. They need to have a native speaker there as the pronunciation is certain places had a lot to be desired.

[Tchooptip]

It's fanny in Thai language not a single word end by  the sound L  so 100% of Thai People even the tv presenters ptononced Google Googen so instead of prononcing school she said schoon thats a bit too much.

Class room becames class loom in Issan and most people with little education prononced the letter R like L ror rua like lor ling but not the educated people so that's more strange! Washing TV instead of watching, conmmon.

It's ni to see you  instead of nice to see you not, finishing a word is common too in Tesco when a lady at the microphone give the numbers of the cash register its number fi all the time, instead of five!

By hearing that it gives me the impression of an English comic who would do a skit on the English lessons in Thailand and in fact it is not a comic skit it is the reality????

[Xonax]

I guess that they get what they pay for. No teachers with skilled English teaching abilities, would work for 30,000 Baht per month, which hardly covers a mediocre accommodation. But hey.... Bad English is still better than no English.

[bluesofa]

12 minutes ago, 2long said:

Funny subtitles on this one. Sorry if this has already been posted. I don't have time to scroll through all the pages.

 

I don't believe for a moment that those are the original subtitles?

I bet someone's added them in later, having a larf.

 

[ChipButty]

My wife speaks almost perfect English I think her grammar is better than a lot of farang her spelling certainly is, but she does say some words in English that sound funny I never correct her about it,

[shen923]

Its global

 

 

[Orac]

25 minutes ago, watthong said:

English no longer means the Queen's English, thank god - same manner as my xerox machine is a Minolta. Amazing how some folks still have their head back in the glory days when "the sun never set on the British Empire". Where is it now, I wonder, or rather look at what it has become.

I think you will find ‘xerox machine’ is called a photocopier in proper english........

[sprq]

19 hours ago, darksidedog said:

I suggest that she is indicative of the average teachers ability, and completely explains the poor English capability of students here.   

Exactly. Unfortunately.

[n00dle]

17 minutes ago, bluesofa said:

I saw a native American booking into a hotel. The receptionist asked if he had a reservation.

He replied that did have one, but the government took it off him.

 

Alas it worked the other way, native populations were forced onto reservations, where previously they had enjoyed freedom of movement.

[luckyluke]

32 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

Still easier to understand than half the population of England.

Wish every Brit would speak as Sir David Attenborough does.

[StevieAus]

19 hours ago, watso63 said:

Well without a video with audio what's the point of this "news" as we are unable to judge for ourselves. 

Scroll down it’s at the bottom of the article

[mikosan]

I refuse to rely upon the ability of my adopted daughter's English teacher at school, to teach her proper English, even though she is Filipino and speaks reasonable English.  The best way to learn a foreign language is to be taught by a native speaker.  Therefore, twice a week, I pay for her to have private lessons with an English, English teacher, who speaks with a fairly neutral accent and enunciates very well.

The main problem arises when she has written homework from school, which uses incorrect grammar, words and spelling.  Do I let her learn incorrectly, so she gets the questions right, according to her school teacher and passes the tests.  Or correct her and take the chance on her being incorrectly marked down?   

Edited May 20, 2020 by mikosan

[n00dle]

Just now, luckyluke said:

Wish every Brit would speak as Sir David Attenborough does.

I wish every american would speak like Boss Hogg

[fredwiggy]

Just now, luckyluke said:

Wish every Brit would speak as Sir David Attenborough does.

Good man, very earth conscious. And his brother is one of my favorite actors.,The Great Escape being one of my favorite movies.

[watthong]

14 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

The school books are got from Bangkok via the Philippines who speak American English. This proves difficult in teaching my kids about spelling when helping them with their English homework. I'm English/English and that's what I teach my kids. But when going to school they're wrong. Hence why this county couldn't organise a ....... in a brewery.

For verification, all my Philipino American friends, except for their offsprings who were born in America (to be specific, the USA) don't speak American English. They speak Tagalog-English. Somewhere along this thread it was described as "sing-song" English. Similar to what you hear from an Indian (from India), though at a bit slower pace, but not by much. Though that doesn't rule out the possibility of some Philipino from the Philippines who speak American English and come to teach English in Bangkok...

 

I once met a young Vietnamese girl working at the reception of a language learning center in Dalat, VN. When she answered me in English I thought she comes from California. When asked, she said she has never set foot outside her hometown.

[Tony125]

19 hours ago, EricTh said:

Do you have the video? We would like to judge ourselves.

https://assets.thaivisa.com/forum/uploads/monthly_2020_05/teacher.mp4.70826edb1d2a70b05073860077172df5.mp4

Edited May 20, 2020 by Tony125

[Bangkok Barry]

19 hours ago, cooked said:

IAn English English teacher I know fought for years to get them to admit that the text book they were using contained many serious and unnecessary errors and that putting the scholars through exams based on this textbook was pointless. 

My wife, who speaks English just fine, was studying at a university to be able to teach English to others. Some pages she brought home had something like 40 errors in the three sheets of A4. I went through and corrected them all, she gave them to the lecturer and the lecturer put them straight in the bin.