Teach Thai Students To Use English, Expert Says

[webfact]

Teach students to use English, expert says

THE NATION

An internationally recognised Thai educator yesterday urged the Education Ministry to implement its English Speaking Year 2012 policy in line with proven techniques and a results-oriented approach.

"I don't want to see the Education Ministry go ahead without a clear direction," Associate Professor Saowalak Rattanavich said.

As a lecturer at Srinakharinwirot University, she has conducted extensive research on Concentrated Language Encounter-based teaching. Many of her projects have been funded with foreign grants.

Countries including Japan, India, Malaysia and South Africa have adopted teaching models developed by her.

"Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said.

The Education Ministry recently unveiled the English Speaking Year 2012 policy as a way to prepare the country and its population for the full advent of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.

"We must start with real usage of speaking, reading and writing the language in daily life first. Grammar can come later," Saowalak said.

Teachers must also be provided adequate training.

"The language class should be fun and fresh. And importantly, the teachers must understand that each student is different," she said. "Teachers must know how best to develop the potential of each student."

Supapak Poramatikul, director of the university's Prasarnmit Demonstration School (Secondary), said her school had improved students' performance in foreign languages by hiring native speakers.

"But I'm not sure how schools with budget constraints will cope with the English Speaking Year 2012 policy," she said.

Efforts to improve students' foreign-language fluency must be sustained over the long term otherwise there will be no tangible results, Saowalak said. Her models have been proved effective in improving language competency of students at the primary level in foreign countries.

"If we implement them here, big changes should be seen in three years," she added.

-- The Nation 2011-12-21

[thaicbr]

"We must start with real usage of speaking, reading and writing the language in daily life first. Grammar can come later," Saowalak said.

Wow. Finally a Thai teacher that gets it... she should be head of the Ministry of Education.... Because they really DON'T get it

[steven100]

They should have adopted this approach years ago ... and I have always said that when they introduced the one child / one computer scheme some time back it should have been mandantory to learn to speak english as part of the program. !!

Years wasted when students could have been made to learn to speak proper english and then they would have opportunities to apply for jobs outside Thailand.

:jap:

[rkidlad]

"The language class should be fun and fresh. And importantly, the teachers must understand that each student is different," she said. "Teachers must know how best to develop the potential of each student."

Of course, you can't learn anything if it's not 'fun'. Every lesson at school and university for me was so much fun. If it hadn't been fun, I would have lost concentration and failed.

Maybe the 'fun police' could come in and observe English classes. If the classes are not 'fun', they can make fun police arrests.

[hellodolly]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

[Xangsamhua]

"The language class should be fun and fresh. And importantly, the teachers must understand that each student is different," she said. "Teachers must know how best to develop the potential of each student."

Of course, you can't learn anything if it's not 'fun'. Every lesson at school and university for me was so much fun. If it hadn't been fun, I would have lost concentration and failed.

Maybe the 'fun police' could come in and observe English classes. If the classes are not 'fun', they can make fun police arrests.

[gkinbkk]

@hellodolly

Yes but how would this country prosper if the working class could speak English?

Still a relatively inexpensive location yet the back office boom completely passed the country by. Lack of English speaking resources being a major factor! By speaking English maybe that cook or assembly line worker would have other career options?

Our mate Taksin knew it when he said that Thai golf caddies were the best in the world and the country could prosper by exporting them to the world but guess what? None of them can speak English well enough to forge a career overseas.

[hanuman2543]

Where are the teachers which can make this come true? Where is the political will? Where are the motivated students? Who waste one thought about the common Asean labour market starting in 2015? She is right, but we all know that the only thing what will happen is the usual blabla. One can only be sorry for the future of so many students.

[bushwacker]

It would take 3 years to teach basic English to the Thai English Teachers, IMHO!

[MrMuddle]

This lady is right when she says "Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical,"

Over 10 years ago, my nephews and nieces had English text books (printed in Mexico !), that told a story of a postman walking through a village delivering letters, in the snow (!). We had to explain that this was normal in England, before starting to work on the actual content of the story. This theme recurred throughout the book, in that generally we had to explain what the story was about, before tackling the words and phrases used.

There have been all sorts of excuses used by governments here, to attempt to justify the poor use of English, the most famous probably being the one about not wanting to confuse people that Thailand had once been colonised, when it hadn't. (!!)

I think there is a genuine fear among those in power, that exposing Thai people to a proper English language based education, will enable them to use the internet more effectively, and lead to social unrest.

I agree with thaicbr's posting, this lady does indeed "get it", and she should be fast-tracked to a position of real power in the education ministry, then maybe this country would have a chance to catch up with neighbouring countries, in the use of English.

[Squigy]

This article will be consigned to the rubbish bin in a couple of weeks like most others. There is not the will in the system to change anything. Too many civil servants will be out of jobs and we can't have that. Nobody thinks of the kids future only their own selfish future

[xthAi76s]

And, what about Chinese? I know there's been a revival of Chinese language and culture among the Thai-Chinese, giving them ever more options. I know many Thai-Chinese who speak Thai, fluent English (as a result of schooling abroad) and Chinese.

But, what about the rest of the Thais? Chinese should be a given and English too. But, alas, it's hard to convince someone of all the Thai propaganda of self-sufficiency and unique national heritage and insular protection from foreign dangers while telling people at the same time, 'hey, despite how wonderful and self-sufficient we are, and despite how insular we've trained you to be, you should still be interested in learning a foreign language like English or Chinese".

They've got a dilemma on their hands which I hope they can figure out. They've got to revise the story if their satisfied with the current level of nation building. The story could be changed to something like, "the self-sufficiency stuff will probably not work very well in Thailand for any number of economic reasons. However, we are still unique and our Thai-ness should be exported around the world so that they too can see how wonderful we are. This, unfortunately, requires us to learn to communicate well in other languages as we can't encourage the silly foreigners to learn our beautiful language."

Or another version could include something about making Thailand so foreigner friendly that foreigners just start moving here in droves to gain real opportunity that we make available to them. Land ownership and all. Re-education about 'falang' and perhaps more strick entry requirements so as to renew our image here. All that.

EDIT:

Point is, you either learn the dominant language(s) -- English, Chinese or you make learning yours so irresistible to non-natives by making your country/economy/prospects so good that foreigners can't resist.

Edited December 21, 2011 by ThailandMan

[djayz]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

That's a bit harsh. Have you ever thought about the fact that some people cannot find better jobs BECAUSE they can't speak English? Maybe, just maybe, some of the people "planting rice or working on assembly lines" would like to have a better job but their opportunities are limited BECAUSE their English (and other skills) are so poor. Is it their fault that the educations system didn't prepare / teach them the necessary skills to get a better job?

I currently teach English to adults and one of my soon to be former students comes from a farm, has a crap job in a hotel but she speaks English quite well - far better than 99% of the Thais I have met so far! So don't assume that just because someone works in a field or factory that they have no potential.

[xthAi76s]

Sorry -- something going awry with the quotes...

I'm not an academic, but I just thought of something else which might be quite important.

Learning English not only opens a Thai up to jobs where fluent English is a requirement, it also allows them access to a HUGE intellectual and cultural knowledge base of information. Ability to understand English fluently allows them to read English language news sites, social media sites, blogs, etc. And, it also gives them access to 'Western' style logic, ideas of democracy, whatever. It's almost like lifting a curtain off their heads so-to-speak. It could be huge.

They can also now gain an idea how the world sees them vs how they think of themselves which will be very useful moving the country forward, I think.

Edited December 21, 2011 by ThailandMan

[pomchop]

I have found that my students in a poor public high school know way way more grammar and reading/writing skills and practically NO speaking skills. I am told that this is partially because the Thai govt doess annual WRITTEN tests and the reesults impact funding, supplies, number of teachers etc. So OF COURSE the teachers teach for the test because if they concentrate on speaking it would mean not so much time on grammar and then lower test scores. So that is part of the problem.

The other big problem that i see is the Thai english teachers don't really teach much IN ENGLISH. Most of them have very very limited exposure to native speakers and get very little practice themselves in speaking English.

There are tons of older retired expats living all over Thailand that are bored to death and IF IF it were easier to do I think many of them would be happy to volunteer to teach a day or two a week. The first thing though is for the schools to be able to provide x number of work permits for these people. The idea that you need a work permit to volunteer to help out a bunch of kids for NO PAY is not helping. Many if not most of the public schools in rural areas can NOT afford to hire a native english speaker so they have NONE.

If you truly want to help some thai kids learn english why not stop by a local public high school and ask to talk to the head of the English dept and see if they might be able to pull some strings to help you volunteer without any work permit hassles. ...you might be pleasantly surprised. Do not expect them to PAY you as they have very little money. In fact over time you will likely find that YOU will subsidize the kids a bit by buying supplies etc with YOUR money.

The fact is the students will be very very shy around a farang espeicaly in the beginning...when i first taught out in teh sticks i was the FIRST farang most of the students had ever spoken to...so be prepared to get stared at a lot and have them hang on your every word like you are some kind of movie star. My kids are super polite and underneath their shy fears they do seem to want to see if they can speak and understand some english. You won't change the world but you may well be able to help a few kids learn spoken english and that may in turn mean a better job for them in the future.

[DocN]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

With the same argument, please scrap most of Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and other stuff from the schedule!

Sorry, but your point is not really clear to me!

[harrry]

I do not think great effort needs to be spent on teaching kids to speak English. I think the time needs to be spent on teaching them to read and understand written english and to write it to some extent. The focus should be on reading.

Spoken english is very hard to learn without exposure to good spoken english constantly.

The ability to read English enables access to a wide world of material as it is one of the international languages for business and science.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Scott
formatting

[janverbeem]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

So you probably knew at the age of 6 which career you gonna choose in later life.

[hanuman2543]

Sorry -- something going awry with the quotes...

I'm not an academic, but I just thought of something else which might be quite important.

Learning English not only opens a Thai up to jobs where fluent English is a requirement, it also allows them access to a HUGE intellectual and cultural knowledge base of information. Ability to understand English fluently allows them to read English language news sites, social media sites, blogs, etc. And, it also gives them access to 'Western' style logic, ideas of democracy, whatever. It's almost like lifting a curtain off their heads so-to-speak. It could be huge.

They can also now gain an idea how the world sees them vs how they think of themselves which will be very useful moving the country forward, I think.

Really good point, but what you see as a benefit is a big downside in the eyes of the people running the show here and they try to slow it as much as possible. They forget that it is no longer possible to control the flow of information and so things will change, but the process will be slow.

Edited December 21, 2011 by hanuman2543

[bannork]

The administrators are out of touch with the true levels of ability of the students. My Mattayom 6 students are now taking the GAT test prior to the university entrance exam. It's way, way too hard for them, many native speakers would have trouble with some sections.

[SomTumTiger]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

Yes, but if they knew English, perhaps it would affect their world view, and expand their horizons. Then they would have options besides being a "cook in a Thai diner".

Edited December 21, 2011 by SomTumTiger

[WilliaminBKK]

What a load of baloney. She says and I

quote

""Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners' daily lives. The content must be practical," she said."

Wake up people you don't need English to plant rice or work on a assembly line.

If people choose to go into a career that requires English make it available for them. No need to teach the cook in a Thai diner how to speak English.

This is just like Canada where they push French on to students who only need it when they go into a grocery store where the labels are turned so the french side is showing.

What she is really pushing for is to teach kids how to play games on their tablets in English.

As a Canuck who is bilingual-I'm proud of being able to speak, write, read and dream in both official languages.

I think any effort on this front is good for Thailand if only to catch up with the rest of Asia.

[comeondoit]

as an expat i would really like to do something for the thai kids, however since i am not a native english speaker, i did not so far offer my help.

native english speaker seems to be the trend. still i know that english speaking thai are often understanding my english much better than

that one of native speakers with their many different idiomatic spellings. i was working all my life as an international had to be understood by

many other nationals with poor english skills,,,this made me a much better (in the sense of beeing understood) english speaking

farang than many native speakers. to be close to real life many non native english speakers would be excellently qualified for what this teacher is

speaking about. saying this, i think to widen the base would make it for many poor schools easier to find somebody helping them with english for free.

however as said before the ball is with us farangs, we will have to do the first step, the school will not by herself looking for help and may only

accept native english speakers

[xthAi76s]

as an expat i would really like to do something for the thai kids, however since i am not a native english speaker, i did not so far offer my help.

native english speaker seems to be the trend. still i know that english speaking thai are often understanding my english much better than

that one of native speakers with their many different idiomatic spellings. i was working all my life as an international had to be understood by

many other nationals with poor english skills,,,this made me a much better (in the sense of beeing understood) english speaking

farang than many native speakers. to be close to real life many non native english speakers would be excellently qualified for what this teacher is

speaking about. saying this, i think to widen the base would make it for many poor schools easier to find somebody helping them with english for free.

however as said before the ball is with us farangs, we will have to do the first step, the school will not by herself looking for help and may only

accept native english speakers

Hi. I agree with some of what you are saying here. People who are used to speaking English internationally usually understand that the best way to make English widely understood is to drop things like colloquialisms and speak in a more 'vanilla', basic manner.

What I do not agree with is that the

ball is with us farangs

. I think it's pretty inappropriate for the guests to take a position of 'begging' to help the Thais. Legally and morally the ball is with the Thai legal and educational systems. They must reach out in honesty for help and make it such that the guests' help are welcomed. Edited December 21, 2011 by ThailandMan

[Kilgore Trout]

I do not think great effort needs to be spent on teaching kids to speak English. I think the time needs to be spent on teaching them to read and understand written english and to write it to some extent. The focus should be on reading.

Spoken english is very hard to learn without exposure to good spoken english contantly.

The ability to read English enables access to a wide world of material a it is one of the international languages for bussiness and science.

What people are forgetting here is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to learn a second language without mastery over a first one. How many Thai students speak, read and write Thai properly?

You can't learn English grammar unless you have a competent understanding of your mother tongue's grammar; and the way Thai students are taught language (thai) in school is a big impediment; they are taught rote and only know the rules of Thai from memorization; no understanding of the concepts and structures present. No encouragement to be expressive in vocabulary spoken or written.

In addition; in order to transfer your thoughts and ideas into English it takes creativity in thinking; you can't just translate word for word what you want to say.

Beyond that; I hear all the time Thais saying things like the "s" sound in plurals in English is not important for Thais because Thai doesn't have these structures.

Bottom line is Thais will continue to speak the gobblety gook they mindlessly sputter and call it English; and if the rest of the world doesn't like it; screw em; we do it Thai style. TIT

[pomchop]

as an expat i would really like to do something for the thai kids, however since i am not a native english speaker, i did not so far offer my help.

native english speaker seems to be the trend. still i know that english speaking thai are often understanding my english much better than

that one of native speakers with their many different idiomatic spellings. i was working all my life as an international had to be understood by

many other nationals with poor english skills,,,this made me a much better (in the sense of beeing understood) english speaking

farang than many native speakers. to be close to real life many non native english speakers would be excellently qualified for what this teacher is

speaking about. saying this, i think to widen the base would make it for many poor schools easier to find somebody helping them with english for free.

however as said before the ball is with us farangs, we will have to do the first step, the school will not by herself looking for help and may only

accept native english speakers

I think it is good you want to try and help. You should just find a public high school and go ask the English department ( I think they all have one) them about volunteer teaching. I think many of them would not worry too much if you are not a true native speaker but are just grateful that you speak english and want to help. I have read about people worrying if you have an American or Brit or Aussie accent...but...the reality at least in my school is it really makes no difference...the key is to get the kids to try and speak ANY version of English. That is the FIRST step. Walk before you run. Maybe if they get to university level it might matter but believe me the english that most public high school students will speak the accent is going to be strong no matter what. I think you are correct that it really helps if you have tried to speak and understand english with other NON Native speakers as it gives you extra skill at hopefully understanding the Thai students and then maybe help them prono0unce a little bit better. Good Luck and I hope you are able to find a school where you can help...you won't regret it as it is a lot of fun and you may well find it is one of the best things you have ever done to help out a bunch of poor kids.

[windosill]

I work in Qatar and the place is full of Filipinos working here and earning good money just because they can speak English. 1.7 million people in Qatar with around 300k of these Filipino. Surely it would be good for Thais to learn English as they do in the Philippines so that they to would have access to these jobs.

Edited December 21, 2011 by gdnuttall

[paulrobertlane]

Good stuff but it's only stating the obvious.

Many people have said exactly the same thing for years but are just ignored, so I can't see this lady having any more luck.

Simple facts are that speaking English is far more valid than reading and writing it (although I agree best to do both) and you do not use grammar when you speak. The obsession with teaching grammar "first and foremost" is a travesty really. We know why they do it, becasue the teachers can teach it from books in rote style which means they can get away with limited ability themselves.

You cannot teach spoken English if the teachers cannot speak it themselves. The alternative of "native speaking" teachers is not an option in the places it is needed most i.e. government schools, probably in the sticks due to the financial restraints. In 14 years i have never met ONE Thai teacher fully proficient to be teaching English as a spoken language.

[masuk]

There are tons of older retired expats living all over Thailand that are bored to death and IF IF it were easier to do I think many of them would be happy to volunteer to teach a day or two a week. The first thing though is for the schools to be able to provide x number of work permits for these people. The idea that you need a work permit to volunteer to help out a bunch of kids for NO PAY is not helping. Many if not most of the public schools in rural areas can NOT afford to hire a native english speaker so they have NONE.

If you truly want to help some thai kids learn english why not stop by a local public high school and ask to talk to the head of the English dept and see if they might be able to pull some strings to help you volunteer without any work permit hassles. ...you might be pleasantly surprised. Do not expect them to PAY you as they have very little money. In fact over time you will likely find that YOU will subsidize the kids a bit by buying supplies etc with YOUR money.

It would be great if the Thai Govt was not so harsh in regard to qualified 'ancient' expats wanting to help teach English on a volunteer basis. I have just obtained a 'long-stay' visa, and as I did not have a letter from a Thai school, I was not able to obtain a visa which would allow even volunteer teaching. Maybe while I'm 'retired' I can get the required letter and try again in a year's time.

Edited December 21, 2011 by metisdead
Please do not post in all capital letters, bold, unusual fonts, sizes or colors. It can be difficult to read.

[sprq]

This woman is absolutely right, of course, and is espousing an educational policy that is at least 40 years old in the West. It was called communicative language teaching, and maybe still is (I left the profession 22 years ago). Thirty years ago, the British Council, which had hitherto concentrated on advising and training university teachers of English, especially at Chula, tried to switch its efforts to the training of Thai secondary school teachers in effective modern language teaching methods. There does not seem to have been any result and, sadly, this lady s urgings will almost certainly have no effect either. In some ways, Thais are extraordinarily stubborn and extraordinarily dumb. The state-controlled teaching of English is a supreme example.