Teaching New Subjects

[nellyp]

Next year the school I am at is adopting what they call an LSP program. It will involve teaching Social Studies, Computers, and Physical Education to the students in English. Some teachers already teach students maths and Science in English, which is difficult enough; even with the books supplied. Now these lessons are to be taught to new students, who are unfamiliar with the language or terminology.....nightmare. Does anybody out there do anything similar? Do you know if the lessons will run alongside lessons in Thai? Will there be testing in English, with government tests? Do you think we will need to work to the Thai curriculum for the subjects? There are so many questions and we do not get to talk to anybody in the know for a while ye,t so any input would be appreciated.

Cheers

[Scott]

I have worked with this situation for a number of years. There are a number of methods and different ways of going about it, but much depends on the age of the students. With the younger grades the students are first taught the subject in Thai and then in English. The concept needs to be taught in their native language. You then teach the subject in English.

Remember that basically what you are doing is teaching English, not math, science etc. Concentrate on the language portion of the material; less on the actual subject. As the students progress over the years, the programs diverge and the students are able to learn in English. For example, in the high school, the social studies taught in Thai is completely different than in English. We teach World History, Ancient History etc.

[nellyp]

I have worked with this situation for a number of years. There are a number of methods and different ways of going about it, but much depends on the age of the students. With the younger grades the students are first taught the subject in Thai and then in English. The concept needs to be taught in their native language. You then teach the subject in English.

Remember that basically what you are doing is teaching English, not math, science etc. Concentrate on the language portion of the material; less on the actual subject. As the students progress over the years, the programs diverge and the students are able to learn in English. For example, in the high school, the social studies taught in Thai is completely different than in English. We teach World History, Ancient History etc.

The students we teach will be M1 up and they have not been taught in English before so I would think it will be Thai lessons with us then teaching the English equivalent. Do you have the same books as the Thai teachers (translated,) or do they give you different books and you have to find out what the students have already been taught?

[Scott]

That is a big problem. We have English versions based on the Thai curriculum for the Grade school level, but for High School, we use standard text books--Singapore has a good selection.

We have a program at one of our schools that has high school kids who have not been taught in English. It is a very challenging program and we have had to 'dumb-down' the material a great deal. The focus remains learning English. Once they begin to catch on to the vocabulary, syntax and jargon used in the different subjects, you can begin to teach the subject. It is a very slow process. I encourage our teachers to have them do a lot of reading. You read to them, they read back and then a couple of basic questions. As time passes, they get familiar with the words and way they are used. It's a slow process and there is a lag if they don't have a good background in English, but it can be done.

The biggest problem I see with the teachers in that program is they get really frustrated. I periodically go in and try to give both the teacher and the students a little encouragement.

[peteinchina]

For me, teaching English is done through other media anyway. I like to use theatre, jingles for advertisements, cooking and so on.

Teaching English Social Studies for example, is the same. We can choose a topic, like cultural difference. Do a bit of research on food in Laos, methods of cooking, why they cook like this - food types that are common, fuel types, utensils etc etc.

Then, in an ideal world, do it! Cook some Laos food.

The opportunities for learning English by doing are rich - multi inputs, taste, smell, texture, visual, oral, all fix the words much better than simply chalk and talk.

The social understandings are tied into the English and they learn cultural differences.

Any topic will do - clothes, change within their own culture, all sorts of things.

Whole language learning.....

Sorry if this comes across as patronising or unrealistic! I like this way and do everything I can to manipulate the curriculum to my own ends.

For the record, I have done f***k all teaching in Thailand and it might be different. my experience, 2yrs teaching in China, 10yrs teaching in New Zealand.

[nellyp]

That is a big problem. We have English versions based on the Thai curriculum for the Grade school level, but for High School, we use standard text books--Singapore has a good selection.

We have a program at one of our schools that has high school kids who have not been taught in English. It is a very challenging program and we have had to 'dumb-down' the material a great deal. The focus remains learning English. Once they begin to catch on to the vocabulary, syntax and jargon used in the different subjects, you can begin to teach the subject. It is a very slow process. I encourage our teachers to have them do a lot of reading. You read to them, they read back and then a couple of basic questions. As time passes, they get familiar with the words and way they are used. It's a slow process and there is a lag if they don't have a good background in English, but it can be done.

The biggest problem I see with the teachers in that program is they get really frustrated. I periodically go in and try to give both the teacher and the students a little encouragement.

I can seethis being a very slow process as the standard of English in the school is low all around,.we have just been told that there will only be one class doing this anyway so the panic is over as it will not be as intense.

[otherstuff1957]

Ideally, in a situation like this, you would coordinate your course outline with that of the Thai teacher so that you are teaching the same topics at about the same time. This way you will reinforce each other by giving the students the same information in both languages.

In practice, I have never been able to get the Thai teachers to do this.

I would recommend starting each unit with a vocabulary list that the students must copy. Give them simple English definitions and tell them to add their own Thai definitions as well. Then give them a vocabulary quiz to see how much they really understand. After that, go on a teach the subject, being sure to use as many visual aids as possible.

[nellyp]

For me, teaching English is done through other media anyway. I like to use theatre, jingles for advertisements, cooking and so on.

Teaching English Social Studies for example, is the same. We can choose a topic, like cultural difference. Do a bit of research on food in Laos, methods of cooking, why they cook like this - food types that are common, fuel types, utensils etc etc.

Then, in an ideal world, do it! Cook some Laos food.

The opportunities for learning English by doing are rich - multi inputs, taste, smell, texture, visual, oral, all fix the words much better than simply chalk and talk.

The social understandings are tied into the English and they learn cultural differences.

Any topic will do - clothes, change within their own culture, all sorts of things.

Whole language learning.....

Sorry if this comes across as patronising or unrealistic! I like this way and do everything I can to manipulate the curriculum to my own ends.

For the record, I have done f***k all teaching in Thailand and it might be different. my experience, 2yrs teaching in China, 10yrs teaching in New Zealand.

This sounds great for social Studies as this is what they want us to do anyway i.e. cultural differences between ASEAN countries. the research can be done in the computer lessons as they really want the computer lessons to be about how to research on the net and various forms of social media. So that just leaves Physical Education and it's done. I suppose panting sounds the same in most languages (through fatigue, I might add)

[peteinchina]

Hmmm PE... Not done before...

Treasure hunt / following directions. Outside, give them a route - list of directions... Teams...

What's that following compass sport we do in the west?

I've done this - where the teams go out and produce instructions (no map) to a place I show them - often I will take a pic of a few landmarks, about the same distance from the classroom.

I give each team a different destination and they have to produce the instructions. Then I give the instructions to a different team (maybe 4 - 6 teams depending on class size).

The first team back and the team that gave them the instructions share the victory.

Not exactly PE, but a bit of running, and good opportunities to learn a different kind of English, and a good intro into technical type English subjects.

Health is part of PE in the west....

Debriefs and games reports in English might work.

Victorious team interviews etc.

You can see I'm not one for vocab lists and reciting haha.

[nellyp]

Hmmm PE... Not done before...

Treasure hunt / following directions. Outside, give them a route - list of directions... Teams...

What's that following compass sport we do in the west?

I've done this - where the teams go out and produce instructions (no map) to a place I show them - often I will take a pic of a few landmarks, about the same distance from the classroom.

I give each team a different destination and they have to produce the instructions. Then I give the instructions to a different team (maybe 4 - 6 teams depending on class size).

The first team back and the team that gave them the instructions share the victory.

Not exactly PE, but a bit of running, and good opportunities to learn a different kind of English, and a good intro into technical type English subjects.

Health is part of PE in the west....

Debriefs and games reports in English might work.

Victorious team interviews etc.

You can see I'm not one for vocab lists and reciting haha.

Thanks again excellent input