Learning Thai

[DavidHouston]

We frequently discuss the issues involved in foreigners learning Thai. Thai students attending English Program schools tend to have similar problems. See, for example, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/29...al_30042873.php from today's The Nation. Deputy Education Minister Varakorn's comments have been reported in the Thai press as well.

Similary concerns have been expressed with respect to rural Thai schools and the relatively high illiteracy rate among young children. The blame has been placed, variously, on lack of text books; inattentive education supervisors; lack of parential concern; and, poor schools. One Thai foundation is trying to help solve illiteracy by sending newly-created simple story books to the poorest schools. See the article "ภาษาของแผ่นดิน" at http://www.matichon.co.th/matichon/maticho...;sectionid=0130

Anyone have thoughts on assisting education at rural Thai schools?

[garro]

We frequently discuss the issues involved in foreigners learning Thai. Thai students attending English Program schools tend to have similar problems. See, for example, http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/07/29...al_30042873.php from today's The Nation. Deputy Education Minister Varakorn's comments have been reported in the Thai press as well.

Similary concerns have been expressed with respect to rural Thai schools and the relatively high illiteracy rate among young children. The blame has been placed, variously, on lack of text books; inattentive education supervisors; lack of parential concern; and, poor schools. One Thai foundation is trying to help solve illiteracy by sending newly-created simple story books to the poorest schools. See the article "ภาษาของแผ่นดิน" at http://www.matichon.co.th/matichon/maticho...;sectionid=0130

Anyone have thoughts on assisting education at rural Thai schools?

I teach English at our village school and it is the only one in the area which has a native English speaker. I previously taught at another local school but it closed last year due to lack of students. I have found the Thai teachers who teach English here to have an appalling command of the spoken language.

I have found the ability to speak and write Thai to be of great benefit while teaching primary school children in rural areas. There understanding of written English is very poor so I have found that writhing things phonetically in Thai script to be a big help. It is usually necessary to explain everything in Thai as well as English and this is especially true when arranging activities which would turn into chaos otherwise. I have heard of non-Thai speakers teaching in rural areas but I have no idea how they cope and I admire their ability to do this.

I would encourage any other Farang who live in rural areas to help out at the local school. This would not only be of great benefit not only to the Thai students but also to themselves as learning can be a two-way street.

[KhaoNiaw]

There is a term, which I just cannot bring to mind at the moment, where a second language can come in before the first language is fully developed and lead to a child not reaching full command of either.

I once heard an international school administrator talking about this and how they have to take particular care with young Thai children to ensure that they will continue to receive sufficient input to master their first language.

As far as English goes, many Thais seem to believe simply that starting 'younger is better' which is not necessarily true at all.

[DavidHouston]

KhaoNiaw,

Bangkok has well over 100 "International" schools most of whose curriculum is in English. I also understand that the government requires that these schools teach a minimum of four hours of Thai a week to their students.

In the provinces, privately-run international schools are not common but increasingly, public schools sponsor or are partitioned to have English Programs or mini-English programs for their Thai students. As far as I know, most of these English Programs are for high school students; by the time such students reach high school, their command of Thai should be solid enough to allow them to participate fully in Thai-language-based university studies. The disparity between the capital and the provinces is as dramatic in education as it is in virtually every other measure of success.

What should be of the greatest concern is basic Thai literacy among the youngest students in society, all over the country. The Ministry of Education is concerned about students in border areas whose family language may be Cambodian, Burmese, Lao, or Malay. They are also concerned about rural students' ability to read basic Thai books(and not the so-prevelant comic books). I applaud the โครงการภาษาของแผ่นดินเฉลิมพระเกียรติ [The National Thai Lanugage Program in Honor of His Magesty the King] (not the official translation) for its attempt at getting basic Thai readers in the hands of young children.

Have any of you seen these books in your schools?

[garro]

I previously defended literacy among Thai students in another thread in which the poster referred to the local Thai population as illiterate hillbillies who couldn't even speak Thai. I do admit that there are many problems in the education system in rural areas and here is what I have observed;

- there is a lot of uncertainty about village schools remaining opened or closed due to lack of students. One school I worked in closed last year due to lack of students and my current school only has twenty one students in pratum 3-6 combined. This uncertainty about the future must affect teacher performance and student's ability to learn.

- many students in rural areas want to be farmers and this means they and their families fail to see the importance of education. Many twelve year old girls here begin to think about getting married.

- schools have been allowed to develop into little kingdoms where certain teachers have complete control. There is little outside supervision and teachers can often just go through the motions and get away with it. There is no incentive to change.

[DavidHouston]

Let's be careful to distinguish between the notion of "illiterate hillbillies" as a pejoritive characterization of a population and problems of literacy among some portion of the young student population. The first is socially maligning; the second is an issue to be solved. Literacy can be solved with the proper application of funds and attention being paid by the lcoal communities, the government and its local civil servants, as well as NGOs. A few resources can go a long way.