Teacher’s racism in thai schools

[WilliamCave]

Hi

Been a bit since I posted on Thai visa .

I don’t want this to be a Thai education bashing. Because it is not the system it is a mind set .

 

My kids were always if not most times the lowest marks in there class , that always surprised me . My kids speak both languages and I only speak  English at home with them .

 

My kids and go out in Thailand and other countries we have travelled and they do everything in English out side Thailand .

 

I brought them back to Canada because of my job for a few years , was concerned about there English in a Canadian high school and the teachers here told me after a few months they are at par with other Canadian kids . 
 

How can that be that my kids are at the bottom of there classes in Thailand and in Canada they are fine ?

 

My neighbour In Thailand had a few remarks to me about my kids not knowing English and that was not good .

He asked my son questions in English and my son responded  only in Thai 

I have heard this form other thais about my kids also.

 

So I asked my son why don’t you speak English with Thai people ? 
 

His response was . Dad they don’t speak the same English as you and me.

I was actually speechless after he said that to me .

 

There are thais that have been educated in foreign countries that are fluent in English that they will talk English with but the average Thai in Thailand even uni students he won’t talk English with them .

 

Even in the school they try to correct him and it is hard on my kids because they have to listen to there teachers and they know it’s wrong 

 

Another time I went to his school to talk to his Thai English teacher and she could barely understand what I was asking her so I talked to my son in English and asked him to translate to his teacher and  she spoke to him in thai and he translated it to English for me .

 

The think that got me was his teacher looked like a deer in the head lights stunned that he could do that translate between the language something she could not do 

 

There mind set has to change , about learning English.

because of the education system there they will go to University in Canada and finish there education system here . 
 

I plan on going back to Thailand soon but my kids won’t be , because my wife and I want them to get there education in Canada my wife  even told our kids they can go back to Thailand after they are finished there education in Canada she does not want them go back there for school. 
 

u Guess  they have to realize Thai English is only used in Thailand 

 

[upu2]

If your son respned to questions in english and th teacher didnt understand it is highly probale that the teacher would think the reply was wrong even if it wsnt.

If this is the case you cant call it racism as it is not. What it is, is a mis-understanding across a language barrier. This I think is most likely th case and has nothing to do with racism.

I could of course be wrong but that is my concept of the problem based on what has been offered in the OP.

[Scott]

It's hard to say without knowing a few specifics but there could be a variety of reasons.   First, Thai-English teachers are almost exclusively focused on grammar, in my experience.  

 

Many students I've had over the years that speak English well, do not perform well in the Thai Exams.  

 

Another consideration is how much emphasis you, as a parent, have put on grades.  A lot of western parents don't worry quite as much about test scores and grades and in Thailand, everything is about tests and grades.  

[hgma]

both of my kids are multi language, Lao included.

Both were proud to be  top 3 in their School  English O net qualifications

Daughter was as proud as anyone good be, yet on the promotional pictures she was not even pictured.

My wife(Lao) blames it on the second hand view SOME (not all!!!) teachers have about the least developed country as their neighbor.

My daughter seems to have no problem whatsoever with her absents on the promo's!

She got proof you know (her explanation) she has a fancy certificate.

That's life.(2)

 

[Rhys]

It is best to complete college in Canada...

[Pilotman]

OP you are wrong in your first sentence, its both the system and the mind set.  In point of fact, its a general teacher incompetence, lack of structured teacher training, lack of any 'world view' or world knowledge, poor syllabus, the constant manipulation of a mystic religion and other pointless cultural brain washing; almost everything that could be wrong with Thai education is wrong.  When did you last go to a Thai house and see book cases full of books, Thai and others? When did you last see kids reading novels, or geography books, or history books and indeed any books bar those stupid comics they seem so fond of. Maybe in isolated cases in big cities but in the villages, not a chance.  If anything, there needs to be a lot more Thai education system bashing. 

[Pilotman]

13 minutes ago, Rhys said:

It is best to complete college in Canada...

Absolutely. That is a no brainer.  

[Pilotman]

14 hours ago, WilliamCave said:

they have to realize Thai English is only used in Thailand 

1. They also need to acknowledge that Thai is only spoken by Thais, and apart from speaking to their grandparents,  is totally useless in the real-world.  Just to add, my wife insisted that our Thai/Brit daughter learnt and continued with her writing Thai work,  up to her starting High School, ( she was wholly educated up to first degree level in England and Taiwan ) after that I put a stop to it and told her to concentrate on her normal school work, and that if she wanted to work on a Asian language it should be Mandarin or Japanese, not Thai, which she did.   She is fluent in Thai, Lao and reasonably so in Mandarin and can still read and write Thai, albeit not perfectly, but so what, she doesn't live here and never will.    

[Solinvictus]

It's almost as if the concepts such as 'excellence' or 'improvement' are frowned upon within Thai schools. Excuse me, if I'm mistaken.

 

There is a reason why "I'm fine, thank you. And you?" has not improved much beyond that...

 

Here is a golden nugget takeaway. It's actually good most of the time to just keep the conversation to that depth anyway. 555 Don't be telling the neighborhood your business now! Ohhh, the bitterness! It's so bitter!

[DavisH]

Wne you say, lowest marks in their class, do you mean their English subject? How are their scores in other subjects, which I assume are in Thai?

[kynikoi]

A child cannot be sent to a substandard school with the expected result a superior education. The parent can also see the child is getting challenging things to read and develops good writing and critical thinking skills.

 

With the Thai it's all about grammar, on a page and usually simple gap filled sentences and bookwork.

 

Better students and parents know the value of tutors as well as uprooting the student and sending them to the best Bangkok school possible.

 

In your situation, Canada sounds perfect.

[Scott]

Off-topic post removed. 

 

[kingstonkid]

OP you are forgetting one big thing.  Thai teachers supposedly only have to score 400 on the TOEIC which of all the tests is the easiest.  Most Thai teachers can not even score that high.

 

My neighbor's son is in a university prep M5 school where the studetns are treated and taught like they are already in uni.  2 months ago they got a new THASI English teacher.   When I asked him how she was he told me that she is pretty, smiles a lot but all the students in his class speak better English than her.  

She gives them writing assignments because she can grade them for accuracy without having to speak or read or know anything about grammar.

 

His mark just happened to coincide with the GRAMMARLY SCORE.  Funny that.

 

As to your kids keep them in Canada but away from the big cities.

 

 

[Ventenio]

On 2/20/2021 at 5:06 PM, Pilotman said:

They also need to acknowledge that Thai is only spoken by Thais, and apart from speaking to their grandparents,  is totally useless in the real-world. 

?????

 

If they live and die in Thailand, isn't that the "real-world"?  So, you are saying Thailand isn't the "real-world," which implies something darker.  sad.

 

on another note, it's funny when falangs get mad because nobody understands them and they can't speak Thai.  We are in Thailand, but falang says, "speak English!!!!"    

 

English in Thai schools are all about the same..........even university students forget things taught to seven year-old kids.....most can read OK, write OK, but speaking (the most important part) is abysmal.  The bar has been dropped soo low that if they say, "I like apples" in high school teachers will say, "wow, great job!!"