I live in a small village close to the Cambodian border. I was watching my wife help tutor one of our neighbors with her English homework. She was helping with a project that involved writing an article in Thai and then translating it into English.

The girl was in Matayom 2 in a school that is considered expensive for our area (3200 baht/term)

The girl had no problem writing the Thai article. She was even able to go to the dictionary and translate the Thai words into English. Thats as far as she got.

Seeing my wifes frustration, I decided to ask the girl some simple English questions to see what she knows. She could not even conjugate the verb "to be".

I asked her (with my wifes help) where she studied English. I was thinking it was some kind of up country bad teacher problem.

She said she just transfered from a public school in Pattaya.

That got me wondering how a student advances to the next grade in Thailand. Are all their classes like this? Do they just have to show up to class to get a passing grade?

Can her Matayom 2 teacher (who is Thai) tell her English is only a little better than Prathom 1 or 2? Yet he still gives her this monster project to do. It is probably comparable to giving a basic math student, a calculus test.

Do Thai kids have to pass English to advance to the next grade? If they fail English, do they retake the year they fail or advanced to the next year?

I get the impression the critiera for passing English is to be able to say, "My name is___!".

At my old school which was from KG through to M3 the students moved onto the next English level when they moved on up a year nothing to do with their academic strengths or weaknesses. No streaming at my school.

We did give exams every semester but the students who failed then re-sat the same exam and re-sat until they passed but in reality a teacher would give them the answers on the 3rd re-sit.....

Is this bad? learning a second language at a young age has its advantages but shouldn't they be concentrating on other subjects i.e the 3 r's in their own language??????

In the US I attended a major university and studied to become a teacher...they taught us, among other things, about the social issues in education. Whether to fail a student is a social issue since holding a student back stigmatises them and takes them out of their cohort. We were taught that a school should determine what is best for the student overall by balancing the positive and negative aspects of holding a student back. In Thialand how people fit into society is even more important than in the US...in my opinion....so it is probably even less likely that a student will be held back. I have a Thai niece who has been held back twice....she has a fairly obvious learning disability and quite frankly the school has mostly given up on her. She knows that she is different and so does everyone else including her fellow students. This is not a sad story...except that she does have potential which is being neglected because she has been labeled as unable to learn. I'm wondering if this is what would happen with every student that was held back...it would basically mark an end to their education even if they continued to attend school.

Edited September 27, 200520 yr by chownah

To pass a student who has obviously failed the exam/course is doing a grave injustice to that student! It is to no benefit at all to lie to them and to lie to yourself!

I'm no teacher of English, but I would have no qualms at all about being honest, and then seeing how I could encourage that student to make the grade next time.

A teacher who passes sub-standard work is NOT a good teacher!!

(And please don't talk to me about losing face... Everyone is human and some fail, some pass....)

(I'll wait for the moans and flames.....)

Simon

I think the amount of English speaking Thai's is a direct reflection of their standards for advancement. There is room for improvement. I hope for the sake of the children in Thailand they recognize their short comings and take steps for improvement.

People have different ideas about what passing English means. I passed GCSE French at a very reputable school in England and quite frankly couldn't speak a word of it.

Foreigners often use Thai peoples level of English as a gauge of intelligence which is ludicrous. Learning "English" taught by Thai teachers is more a matter of memorising a cetain amount of information than really learning a language. It shows that the students have the ability to learn languages not that thay are fluent.

Spot on mate. I know many a Thai (well a fair few) with a Bachelors in English, but struggle to hold a conversation (I assume they pass it 'cos they can read and write the language as opposed to speaking and listening to it?).

Cultural Relavitity...In the Thai way:THEY PASS THEM...on... even if they don't cut the specs.. Retest, until they pass and they are made to feel greatful to have access to Education... Makes you wonder about the nursing school system..as this a policy.... But this does not apply to English.. OFF Topic, but to point out.. The Thais do take care of it in their way... however, we may view it....