Encouraging Thai Children To Read

[simple1]

I'm seeking some positive suggestions to overcome my Thai stepson's (aged 13)resistance to reading books. It seems to very much be the norm that Thai chidren have very little interest in reading. Other than a historical lack of access to education for many Thai's, does anyone care to shed any light on this matter?

[GuestHouse]

Try introducing the child to something they might enjoy, for example Harry Potter in translation.

Or better still talk to a Thai teacher and get some recommendations.

I'm not sure if it will work though, as reading is a habit that is learned before a child is six or seven years old.

My Thai wife and, her parents, sisters and nephews and nieces are all avid readers, it is something they learned at home, not something they learn at school.

Only this weekend my wife and I were discussing the lack of reaing in Thailand, we are packing to move house and have over a thousand books between us, a friend called by with his Thai wife and he commented on the number of books.

His wife commented on how much money we must have spent on them!

[plachon]

Best way to encourage reading amongst kids is to get rid of the goggle-box, especially in Thailand. And line your house with all types of books like Guesthouse. And be a role model to them, by reading to them, with them and just reading.

But starting them early is also a key, and a bored teenager with the attention span of a goldfish, could be a hard nut to crack.

[Sexy Beast]

I teach in Cambodia and there is hardly any Khmer literature. I don’t know about the Thais but reading for pleasure does not exist over here and that doesn’t help me as a teacher because it’s very hard to encourage.

[Ajarn]

Excellent question...

When I used to teach, as part of every conversation course, I would ask each student, "What do you like to do in your free time" Typically, their answer included, "read books!".....But, further examination always seemed to reveal it as "Joker (comic) books"...

Much of the problem is what's available. Most of the small shops sell these comic books because they're cheaper and better selling than the 'better quality' books....

The Harry Potter series has been great, I think. I even have Thai adults asking me about it. And the content in Harry Potter is surely better than what's in most comics, especially the ones from Japan with all the sexual violence and stuff...

As more and more books become available in the Thai language,as the base of English readers increases, and as television programming broadens its scope more internationally, people will start, hopefully, to become more interested in reading more than comic books, or at least drop them for something maybe more productive and mind-expanding.

As for re-motivating a 13 year old, good luck.

If he's resisting because the reading material is boring, then make it more interesting, either in the material, and/or how you present it to them

Praise him when he starts to follow the right path, too. All kids appreciate good guidance.

But, if his resistance is simply because he thinks it will wind you up (not unusual for teenagers in any culture, in my experience!), then that's when I hope your good luck will help you

[Sexy Beast]

In Khmer there is absolutely no books for casual reading. There was before the Pol Pot regime. It's a pain in my job to motivate students to read outside the classroom.

But to get a thirteen year old interested in books Ajarn is correct in saying it’ll have to be a subject that has relevance to him in some way e.g. he might like swords, dragons and stuff. That may well do the trick.

[350torana]

Comic books are not exactly novels, but reading is reading , and reading a comic book is a good place to start.

I have noticed that many Thais do not read to young children, this must have something to do with the lack of interest when they get older. My mum and dad read to me everynight when i was young and showed me the magic of books and i read to my infant daughter in the same way

[Bluecat]

I  have  noticed  that  many Thais  do not  read to young  children, this  must have  something to do with the  lack of  interest  when they  get  older. My mum and  dad  read  to me everynight when i was  young and  showed  me the  magic  of  books and i read to my  infant  daughter in the  same  way

I agree with the fact that whatever your parents do, you will probably do.

Or anyway, would want to do.

But whether many Thais do not read, I do not know.

My girlfriend's parents read quite a lot and she reads all the time.

Her sister comes to my place, she spends the whole day reading.

And they read "normal" books, not comic books.

So much for Thai not reading,...

As far as I'm concerned.

My parents read whatever is available for them to read.

Same for me.

Same for my son.

My daughter does not read.

Well, there are always exceptions,...

[wolf5370]

When I was a young teen, my parents were allways trying to get me to read something other than the odd magazine/comic. They never succeeded. I am now an avid reader. I allways have several books on the go, and read at least one novel a week.

Get the books that might interest him, andf leave him to it. Let him see you reading and enjoying it (Terry Pratchet etc). He will either go or not go, I think trying to push him towards it will lead him away - oh, and ban the violent comics from home!

[Darlek]

I'm seeking some positive suggestions to overcome my Thai stepson's (aged 13)resistance to reading books. It seems to very much be the norm that Thai chidren have very little interest in reading. Other than a historical lack of access to education for many Thai's, does anyone care to shed any light on this matter?

Try buying a childs world atlas written in Thai , its not possible.

Thais dont know whats going on around the world ,it doesnt exist .

[ASIC]

Does the kid have any interests that could help here? I learned English by spelling my way through computer magazines with the help of a dictionary?

ASIC

[alleypanda]

I growing up in a little house with a few furnisture but we had two big book shelfs full of books thounsands of them. so I learn how to read at very young age and reading had becomes my habit since than.

I think growing up in a place like that help kid become a reader.

[maitembot]

I growing up in a little house with a few furnisture but we had two big book shelfs full of books thounsands of them. so I learn how to read at very young age and reading had becomes my habit since than.

I think growing up in a place like that help kid become a reader.

Shoot me if I'm wrong, but English isn't your native language, right?

[astral]

It is cultural thing. Thai's do not seem to read very much at all.

When they have to, at school, it is a book like the Ramayana.

A good story I know, but heavy going.

Not an inspiration to pick up a book for fun.

I like the idea about Harry Potter in Thai (Helly Poster, my son called it) and will investigate the idea, as he has the same problem. He does plough through books about the comupter games he plays, so I suppose that is a start.

Comic books may be a start, but...............

I remember interviewing a Thai university graduate for a job.

His CV said he liked reading, and I was looking out for applicants who were above the boring Thai average. So I asked him what he read?

The answer was "Comic Books"

Personally I would have kept quiet and not put that on the CV.

Not exactly inspiring.

[bina]

consider the illiteracy rate (6 th grade level) of large amount of adults over 30 in issan area; i watch the guys that work with me read the sports i print from the thai newspaper in internet... it takes them forever to read a column; i brought back mags about fighting chickens, that went over well but saw that most of these guys read out loud to themselves very very slowly which by western school standards is considered ok until third grade. useing a dictionary was nigh on impossible, i'm better then them and i dont read thai but understand how a dict. works...the kids i worked with in ban chiang didnt read and i went to see their local school library; dusty, old boring books such as ancient encyclopedias and relgious works... other, translated stuff seemed to be old british childrens stories, now really.?

even my kibbutz raised children when in first grade didnt like reading books that were translated from england america etc. they couldnt relate to their own reality of kibbutz, farm, tractors, no street traffic, even the food in the pictures was so different they didtn recognize anything so it didnt help them empathize or relate.

my oldest reads only in english now thanx of course to "harry potter" and my mother's insistence. Car magazines, sports, fashion, dont forget books ARE expensive and take up room in houses that dont always have room (as some of the family houses i was in -- one sleeping room and all the rest is outside on the porches or under the house.

[bina]

having said all that, of course for most people reading has to be in the culture; i think the thai culture may be more an oral culture so even in yuppie thai houses that have everything, if it isnt in the culture, then that's it.... music, tv, movies...among jews, scholarship, i.e. studies in a yeshiva and being a teacher or students was once (among religious orthodox still is) very very important; for most israelis, the CV would probably say: newspaper.

what is boring thai average? i work with illiterate or semi litereate workers and i find them imaginative creative in solving problems (improvisation when proper tools etc not available which is often) curious but ethnocentric of course w/no knowlege of WESTERN history etc as we know it but then why should they?

my kids know everything fromt he point of view of the middle east... i mean, america has three countries in it: texas,new york and los angeles and they are near each other right? .... so dont worry about your teenagers

[plachon]

Bina's correct, unless reading has been encouraged from a very early age, one may be "educated" to lofty levels, but still basically be illiterate. I know several Thais with PhDs from Thai universities, that don't have a single novel on their bookshelf, just lines on text books in their field of study. Hence, literature (whether from the Western or Eastern traditions) is quite alien to them and reading a book for the sheer pleasure of it is seen as a waste of time. This disdain for books, tracks back to lack of parental encouragement, and no doubt the cycle will continue with their children. Hence, the rather narrow world view of most (but by no means all) Thais. At the other extreme, I have a few very literate Thai friends whose knowledge of English literature knocks spots off mine, and one in particular who has made a pilgrimage to Bronte's birthplace on t'Moors!