Teaching Science In Thailand

[rays]

I have just gained a position as a chemistry teacher in a Thai school in Chiang Mai as part of their English program. Although, I am a well qualified biochemist, BSc PhD, plus a MSc in Environmental Science, I have no experience of teaching Chemistry to M4-6. Is there anyone out there who does the same and can offer some advice in how to teach? My view is to prepare simplifed notes based on the text book given to me. Present the notes and then talk in depth about the notes. Do this for 30 mins and then give them problems to do. Any advice.....anyone?????

[PeaceBlondie]

It depends if the students know more than 200 words of English. Otherwise, imagine explaining photosynthesis or atomic structure to three year olds. I worked with a real life MSc. rocket scientist who tried to explain such things to 12 year olds with 100-word vocabs. Let's just say he had a much rougher time than my daughter who teaches chemistry to native-speaking geniuses.

[AjarnChan]

I have just gained a position as a chemistry teacher in a Thai school in Chiang Mai as part of their English program. Although, I am a well qualified biochemist, BSc PhD, plus a MSc in Environmental Science, I have no experience of teaching Chemistry to M4-6. Is there anyone out there who does the same and can offer some advice in how to teach? My view is to prepare simplifed notes based on the text book given to me. Present the notes and then talk in depth about the notes. Do this for 30 mins and then give them problems to do. Any advice.....anyone?????

Forgive me if this is obvious, but I think your first hurdle to overcome is whether or not they actually understand much of what you are saying in the first place. Although in principle M4-6 ought to have a decent vocabulary and grasp of English they are normally very reticent to speak, or admit that they are baffled by what is going on.

I teach English and Tutor students studying subjects such as yours. I often find they come to me with pages of Notes which I need to 'translate and explain for them'. This observation is not meant as any slur on Science teaching, you have a perfect right to expect students in an 'English program' to be fluent in English. But do not be too surprised if they are not able to grasp everything you say, at least until they gain experience with your accent, presentation, vocabulary etc.

Just my 2 cents worth, intended to be constructive ;}

[AjarnChan]

PS - as a general Tip [useful when teaching anything to anybody] - try to SHOW them what you mean. In other words any sort of Practical Examples will get your message across far more easily than simply droning on, no matter how interesting or important the subject matter.

At least in the early stages be prepared to define and explain even the simplest terms, using the simplest language you can manage. As 'PeaceBlondie' pointed out use the minimum vocabulary you can, also prepare graphics were possible; handout 'crib sheets' summarising the upcoming topics, many Thai students are really very keen and will actually read everything you give them.

Good Luck !

[PeaceBlondie]

rays, education is weird. Maybe once you left secondary school, none of your uni professors ever had one course in education methods, psychology, etc. They never knew a Paiget from a Peugeot. But secondary educators are expected to know all that stuff, plus the culture of the host country. Good luck. It can be much more difficult than rocket science.

[Ijustwannateach]

(the above advice is sound!)

Ray, I don't envy you. Teaching is so much more than subject knowledge, though the subject knowledge is important. I suggest you pick up a couple of books on the subject and start reading- it's way too big a subject to cover in a quick 'advice thread,' even if any of us were inclined to type that much. Read back through other threads in this forum. Consider taking a course or two, at least by correspondence.

And, though it's probably obvious to you at the moment- learn by doing. Change things that don't work until they do.

[paulfr]

My personal opinion after teaching Math for 4 years here is that while it is true

that teaching is more than subject knowledge, it is not that much more.

I really doubt the education degrees make that much of a better teacher.

It is a bit like starting a business. Everyone lines up to tell you how many

ways you will fail. You must listen to what they have to say, but not get discouraged.

So my advice is not to worry about this too much.

What you will need to know is that classroom management, otherwise known as controlling

the class [student behavior], is very very important. For M4 to M6 you have young adults that will test you

and your limits constantly. It is what their life job is right now discovering the world and its

boundaries. So in general you must start out with a good set of rules that you expect

of them and they will tend to comply. Go over them and get their agreement that each rule is

there for good reason. Now you have a contract with them and you can hold them to it.

I suggest you interview several teachers and buy them lunch, pay them a consulting

fee, and find out how they control their classes as well as any other advice they may have.

Also go observe some classes. Most teachers will be happy to let you do this if you can

get the school's Admin approval.

Good luck.

Edited March 7, 2009 by paulfr

[otherstuff1957]

I teach Science to much younger students, so I can't really help you with specifics, but I always have the kids make their own 'Science Dictionaries', using vocabulary that I will introduce and use during the next chapter. Obviously your students will be more advanced than mine, so they should already know the basic vocabulary, but you will need to make sure that their vocabularies are extensive enough to understand your lectures & lessons.

I would start the class with a fairly extensive quiz about basic and advanced scientific vocabulary, including a section where they have to read about an experiment and write several sentences about their conclusions. This will do two things: 1 It will give you a good idea as to their capabilities. 2 It will establish you in their eyes as a serious teacher who is going to make them learn and work. You can relax and have some fun with them later, but if you come across as a tough teacher who still has some sense of humor initially, you will find that classroom management will be a lot easier later.

Remember, you can always become more easygoing later, but you cannot effectively start out relaxed and become stricter later.

[lumyail]

I think "teaching" is helping someone/students to learn. You may think back when you were a student who was your favorite teacher, and why you liked he/her? Chemistry is a hard subject and can be more challenge when the teaching is taught in English, differently, for Thai students to over come the concepts.

You may start with simple terms and definitions. I think follow the textbook is very good idea. Thus, students can have something to refer to, and the subject matters will make more senses as you and textbook talk likely the same. Explain in depth? I think it may depend what the objectives are. I would tell my students of my expectations in classroom and subjects what they need to know. These will help them to focus. For example, I might tell them that I expect them to understand when they look at the periodic table about this, this, this. Provide them questions, these will help them how to study. I would have 1-2 questions in classroom for them to work by themselves for 2-3 min. This would make them think, follow along, then do the questions together in class. This would keep them awake. Give them some examples that are related to the topics you teach when you have a chance, including your experiences, your failure and success, or how you encountered when you were in high school (2 min). Normally, students enjoy hearing some stories of their teachers.

You will be just fine; this is why you are qualified. As times go by, you will adjust and see best fit between subjects and students.

Have Fun!!

[culicine]

1. Try to see the the content of their past exams. If the school is on the ball they should (hopefully) keep all their mid term and finals in a cupboard somewhere. Take a look at these - try to asses from this their ability and level of english. This will give you some baseline to work with.

2. Try to get a curriculum from the school. It's great if they have a textbook, but don't slavishly follow either the curriculum and especially not the textbook. If their level is quite low the book will siply put them off learning. If you have a book to follow, glean from it the main points and summarise them and give a few worked examples as necessary - perhaps you can present it as a power point presentation if possible. At the end of the class given the students the printed outline of your lesson/s. Don't give it before as they will just read it and not listen to you. If they are writing from the powerpoint/board they are likely also not listening.

3. Explain slowly and clearly and ask concept checking questions to check they are following.

4. If possible back up the theory with practicals. In chemistry this could include making models of molecules, or experiments. The thai admin will love to see models. They think kids aren;t learning anything if they don't make something haha. The experments might be tough especially if there is a lack of equipment. One of the reasons I now teach maths and not science!

5. Note that many behavioural problems occur because students don't understand you/what is going on. There is also a lack of motivation to learn for many of them - they can go to uni regaredless of what they learn in school, sad to say. Thus, you need to bring in the chemistry as close to their everyday life as possible. e.g food additives, pollution, etc. This can serve as a motivator.

good luck!