Teaching The Gf English

[lolex]

Hi Guys,

My GF speaks quite good beginners english... taught herself with cheap books from 7/11 and talking to customers in restaurant etc.

I plan to spend some time helping her improve and wondering what books /cd's are recommended. Some of the ones she has have dreadful archaic english expressions straight from dickens and no grammar etc. I'd like to get her started on a course that we can follow through over the next year or so... possibly supplementing with english tuition while I'm away... but that will be tricky in Chiang rai.

Any advice appreciated!

[OlRedEyes]

My wife, who seems to be addicted to English, is often seen on the BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

No idea how good it is. I assume it's not bad.

[dantilley]

My wife, who seems to be addicted to English, is often seen on the BBC site:

Well, at least tell us which one your wife is then! Is she the teacher pictured in the top-right of the page? Or the Blogger with "Sophie" written over her? Or one of the other ladies pictured further down on the page?

Edited June 4, 2008 by dantilley

[zaphodbeeblebrox]

I would recommend Side by Side, as it is designed for 1 on 1 tutoring, and has an emphasis on conversation. It is available at Asia Books and DK Books. It also can be purchased over the net.

Detailed Side by Side series info

ESL.net ordering info

[lolex]

Thanks for those suggestions !

I just realised (looking at them - BBC and SbyS) another challenge - her speaking ability is way ahead of her reading ability in English -

so something that's in Thai and English (like I need (for learning Thai) but 'the other way around') would be best perhaps....

[TheDon]

My wife learnt English school in Thailand, when she came over here in Sydney and met me, she was always coming out drinking with me and all our friends only speak English so she picked it up really good. When she is drunk it seems her english is flawless.

[ozzydom]

Believe it or not but three of the best English speaking Thai ladies I know learnt from watching kids shows on ABC.....Play School,Heres Humphrey, Banana,s in Pyjamas etc .

[garro]

I would suggest that you find material related to her interests to supplement a good course book. Use and intermediate course book to set the syllabus, but relate the content to things she enjoys. So if you were looking at hobbies you could go deeper into this subject through other materials (example: if her hobby is cross-stitching you can go to a website related to the subject and practice the vocabulary).

I find many of my students love songs, the only problem with this is that the grammar is often quite poor and the vocabulary unrealistic.

[saraburioz]

7/11 books - no way -they are terrible.

[Peterpan]

My wife learnt English school in Thailand, when she came over here in Sydney and met me, she was always coming out drinking with me and all our friends only speak English so she picked it up really good. When she is drunk it seems her english is flawless.

That is strange, Im the same when I get drunk as well, I cant remember what I said, but the wife was impressed with it everytime.

[donovanfoo]

Do you guys notice the inability of thais pronouncing words with "S" , "L" , "V" etc?

A nice name like Kevin would end up as "Carewin".

I tried getting my gf to do the tongue twister , " She shall sell seashells on the seashore"

Cracks me up everytime.

[wolf5370]

"Grill" is always a good one, seems so easy to the farang mouth.

You can get Thai and English dual language books, but the ones I've seen (and have) are either kids books (Bejamin bunny!) or boring (Essays on Thailand). I tried several nglish books for my Mrs and none lasted long enough. I found the best was college becuase she feels obliged to do something then. Her Enlish language is excellent (having ived in the UK for ten years and working in an English job with farangs ather than a Thai restaurant etc) - she used to teach basic English to the kids when she was a primary school teacher, so had a foundation already (like the alphabet etc). Even now her written grammar and spelling is dodgy at best, but her reading is good (no idea how as she rarely reads anything in English- other than labels and recipes I guess - and subtitles on foreign films).

[dclaryjr]

"Grill" is always a good one, seems so easy to the farang mouth.

My wife has fun saying my last name with both an L and an R! That being said, her English is very good. She came to the U.S. with a very limited vocabulary (in 1976) but she has worked at coming proficient. I've NEVER spoken broken G.I. English to her, and she always wants me to correct her pronunciation. She now reads and writes pretty well as well. It's going to be a big change when we retire because my language learning skills are next to zero. I lived in Berlin for six years and the only thing I can do in Deutsch is order beer and ask where the toilet is!

Edited June 5, 2008 by dclaryjr