Do You Teach About Hacksaws?

[Neeranam]

I had a look at my neighbour's Engish jotter yesterday. She has a farang teacher. I couldn't believe what was in it. Surely they are suposed to be teaching conversational English but... 3 pages with beautiful detailed pictures of hacksaws, ratchets and other tools with the Thai translations. I was actually very interested in it as I didn't know the Thai for them but for a 10 year old girl it's bloody ridiculous. On looking at previous lessons, there was parts of a car, and types of cutlery! This is unbelievable!

[crewcut]

Children and fools should be aware of sharp tools.

[alaina]

Sometimes I teach the school maintenance guys words for tools, but that's usually when I want to borrow them.

Not sure how useful those words are in conversation, and nouns are the some of the easiest things to teach since it's just getting students to memorize the words by rote. I don't teach conversation, but I do teach a similar age group and unless the class is nearly fluent, there would be better things to spend time on. Knowing how to use a dictionary, thesaurus and understanding how to get the meaning of words from context would be a few things that are more useful, IMHO.

Sounds like the teacher is trying to learn Thai and recycling his lessons for teaching English or he has very limited resources.

[PeaceBlondie]

Now that you mention it, on the way home last night there was a teenager on a bicycle holding a large hack saw in his right hand..... It's an obvious over-emphasis on teaching nouns and rote vocabulary, as the stapler person above me noted. I like to use dictionaries with pictures, like the American Oxford English Picture Dictionary, available as a computer game with voice, as well. Even the Complete & Updated Picture Dictonary English Thai published by Samran Kamying (available at DK bookstores for only 160 baht) has too many nouns and not enough verbs (do, cut, make, cook, walk, talk) or adjectives (blue, cold, plaid, checked, blonde).

Why not explain the movie series, Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

///Added: now I recall a matayom teacher in a remote province, asking us farang EFL guys to fill in the blanks on a big handout. "This is a wrench" "No, it's a spanner."

[Sporting Dog]

I had a look at my neighbour's Engish jotter yesterday. She has a farang teacher. I couldn't believe what was in it. Surely they are suposed to be teaching conversational English but... 3 pages with beautiful detailed pictures of hacksaws, ratchets and other tools with the Thai translations. I was actually very interested in it as I didn't know the Thai for them but for a 10 year old girl it's bloody ridiculous. On looking at previous lessons, there was parts of a car, and types of cutlery! This is unbelievable!

Maybe the teacher was a tradesman in a former life...go with what you know, and all that.

[Scott]

I've been stuck teaching a few lessons with stuff like that. When presented with it, I try to work on pronunciation rather than vocabulary.

Pain in the bottom, it is!

[PeaceBlondie]

Indeed, part of the art of teaching a lesson out of a book is to skirt around what you don't want to teach, and skipping an entire section ('we can do that later if we have time' or 'this other part is more important' or 'this will be more fun'). An article about Bengali green-grocers in Upper Kensington on the Tyne isn't vital to knowing how to guide tours in Kanchanaburi. If you know there will be a lesson on hand tools, bring in some nonlethal ones and let the kids describe them in English. Or role play, "I need to open the screws in this cabinet. Do you have a screwdriver? I need one for a flat blade like a knife to go into the head of the screw...." Just don't teach too much about screwing.

[foolforlove]

Bengali green grocer in Kensington? oh boy that reminds me of the gem of a textbook I have to deal with.... lots of chapters and dialogs about things that happen along the seaside boardwalk in Brighton England. oh brother. I haven't even been to England outside of Heathrow airport.... some of the items, I even struggle with...I probably should find a Lonely Planet Brighton just to catch up.

Then the chapter on capitals of countries. The book lists about 25 capitals. Almost all the dots on the map are in the Americas and Europe. I think even Africa had 2. But Asia has ONE (Tokyo). Just try to picture looking at a map of the world, where everything east of Turkey and West of Japan shows as an empty un-demarcated wasteland. I mean, Beijing didnt even make the cut! I free hand drew Asia on the board, and put in some useful places like Singapore, Viang Chang, Beijing, Hanoi....