Teaching Teachers Is The Crucial First Step: English Speaking Year Policy

[webfact]

Teaching teachers is the crucial first step

Wannapa Khaopa,

Jitarpa Suwanatat

The Nation

For better English classes, they must be confident themselves

BANGKOK: -- To force teachers who haven't spoken English to speak it without giving them any assistance is not a good idea - but to help train them to speak simple sentences that can be used in their classrooms will provide them with a good start.

Late last year the Education Ministry announced its English Speaking Year policy -but no clear guidelines to assist teachers to speak English have been seen so far.

Two teachers who have never had any conversations in English with their students at a Bangkok private school told The Nation recently they felt more confident after being trained to speak simple sentences, which they could use with their students in classrooms.

"I realise that I have to improve my English because the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is coming - and especially as the ministry has launched its English Speaking Year policy in preparation for the AEC. But, I don't know how I should start speaking this language," said Suwannee Junyananta, 56, a mathematics teacher at Joan of Arc School.

She and around 50 teachers at this school attended the training on English usage in class provided by Fun Language International (Thailand) recently.

Two English native trainers and two Thai trainers taught them how to speak English in class with their students. They learned language structures for use during their time at school - when greeting, when giving commands or instructions to students, during mealtime, when interacting with students outside classrooms, and when saying goodbye to students at the end of the day.

The trainers taught and encouraged them to speak out in English without nervousness during the fivehour training. At first, the participants were shy to speak out, but the trainers tried to make them more confident. They looked more relaxed and eager to learn and also dared to speak after they their activities and played games in English for one to two hours. This made them laugh and helped them bring down barriers in their minds, said Duangchai Tangsanga, founder and president of Fun Language.

Promporn Tangsanga, special activities and communications director of Fun Language said her company had analysed what conversations were necessary for teachers and designed the training course especially for them.

In addition, they could adapt the lessons and games they learned from the training to teach their students, Promporn added.

"I will speak the basic English sentences learned in the training to my students when the school reopens," Suwannee said, adding that she felt better with her English. "It's not that difficult."

"Teachers should try to improve our English or else we won't be able to catch up with our students. I myself have tried to listen to news in English," said Somwang Garin, 58, a science teacher who also attended the training.

Somwang said she assigned each of her students to find an English word per day and explain the meaning of the word to their classmates. She also told them to search for information in English to describe scientific charts, so they would learn vocabularies from each other and from the charts.

She added that teachers of every subject at her school would have to start speaking English with their students soon.

"If teachers do not use English regularly, they cannot speak at all. The use of English everyday is the deeprooted problem for Thai people. They have to learn conversations that they can use and adapt them to their everyday life," Promporn urged.

She pointed out that the policy was good, but the ministry should also guide schools on how to improve teachers' English or provide them with training and evaluation of how the training works.

Meanwhile, Suwannee and Somwang admired their school director for providing the training, which was helpful for them.

Somwang also said she wanted directors of other schools to make a move towards improving the English skills of their teachers.

According to Promporn and Duangchai, the company has provided the training free of charge to 15 private schools in Bangkok and neighbouring provinces. Five more schools will be trained during this summer vacation. While offering the training, the company is improving its curriculum to better suit teachers' learning behaviour.

"If the government wants our company to provide the same training to state schools, we are pleased to offer the training with low fees," Promporn added.

-- The Nation 2012-05-14

[sparebox2]

The local English teacher are mostly quite useless.

Can't even pronounce twenty and seventy correctly.

[MaxLee]

Unless you instill the necessary "self-motivation AND self-discipline" to succeed in any language learning to the "average unmotivated, lazy Thai citizen", it's just a wasted effort and a frustration on the well meant lecturers...

I tell you that exactly "DISCIPLINE AND GENERAL SOCIAL BEHAVIOR" are the main root for a lack of attitude for those arrogant "kids" these days who do nothing else than playing Iphone and surfing the internet. how can you expect them to develop "self-motivation AND social behavior???

[kevjohn]

The local English teacher are mostly quite useless.

Can't even pronounce twenty and seventy correctly.

Even though my wife speaks English very well,

I also have a problem with her twenty and seventy

but thought this was because, I am almost deaf.........true.

[ivan96822]

There are tons of challenges when motivating students to learn a new language...Too many of them are apathetic and want to ensconce themselves in their own native tongue.

[MaxLee]

There are tons of challenges when motivating students to learn a new language...Too many of them are apathetic and want to ensconce themselves in their own native tongue.

Exactly... they just learn maybe 3-4 maximum in a class or extra class, and what do students do naturally... speak Thai with their parents, friends and relatives in "their free time", same old story, so much for "self motivation"

On the other hand you cannot expect a hand full of foreigners to teach a language to an entire society where over 85% lack social behavior norms AND self discipline.... Class rooms are overfilled with 40-60 students already, and how can someone who cannot even speak their language bring order???

Lastly, and most importantly, from many Thai people's point of view, which isn't wrong on the other hand: We foreigners are also in THAI territory, so why should the average Thai adjust to the foreigner's 'pesky language'??? Why should they bother learning another language if they have other socio-economic problems to deal with already... That's from the other side point of view...

But government of this country and the greedy farang among us fail to realize that...

IMO if us foreigners can level up at least to the basic to lightly advanced conversations in Thai language that would IMO be a better step, than "FORCING PEOPLE TO LEARN A LANGUAGE",....

BUT discipline IMO comes first, before we can think about teaching anything in terms of language or academic skills....

I hope I made a point,... thank u all, have a nice day...

[upena]

How can they learn English when the literacy rate for the Thai language is about 41%

[rubik101]

Just for fun, get them to ask for some peanuts.

Comes out like arse for some penis 99% of the time.

[sprq]

Just for fun, get them to ask for some peanuts.

Comes out like arse for some penis 99% of the time.

Impossible, because Thais habitually convert a final 's' into a 't'. Peanut is a word any Thai can pronounce very well, the problem is that they pronounce 'peanuts' exactly the same way, omitting the 's'.

So can we have a good joke next time?

[Jonners]

I was always amused to ask them to say. 'laundry' to which the response was usually, 'raundly'. Then, if you ask the same person to say, 'raundly', they will often return, 'laundry'. 'Love it.

[allan michaud]

This is largely a social problem. I work in Cambodia but am married to a Thai so I see the huge difference between the countries in this regard. Here in Cambodia, almost everyone wants to learn some English, the level here is amazingly good even in the remotest places. From what I have seen in Thailand there is little interest in learning English (or anything much for that matter) complete apathy. Another thing also highlighted by this article is the fear of trying to speak English, the fear of losing face I guess. I have heard this from teachers here before. One I know took over an English class from a Thai and was appalled how scared the kids were to even try to speak. This was because the Thai teacher had insisted on perfect grammar rather than encouraging them to experiment and try to link words and phrases together. This was so extreme that he actually had a child wet himself in class because he was afraid to ask to go to the toilet as the previous teacher became very angry if they made even the smallest mistake. English is a very flexible language and it is easy to say the same things in a number of different ways. I believe this fear is a large part of the problem and it is simply a matter of encouraging people to experiment, not to be afraid of making a mistake, good grammar can come later once they become more confident. But they need to want to learn and that is not something I see very often in Thailand.

[skybluestu]

This is largely a social problem. I work in Cambodia but am married to a Thai so I see the huge difference between the countries in this regard. Here in Cambodia, almost everyone wants to learn some English, the level here is amazingly good even in the remotest places. From what I have seen in Thailand there is little interest in learning English (or anything much for that matter) complete apathy. Another thing also highlighted by this article is the fear of trying to speak English, the fear of losing face I guess. I have heard this from teachers here before. One I know took over an English class from a Thai and was appalled how scared the kids were to even try to speak. This was because the Thai teacher had insisted on perfect grammar rather than encouraging them to experiment and try to link words and phrases together. This was so extreme that he actually had a child wet himself in class because he was afraid to ask to go to the toilet as the previous teacher became very angry if they made even the smallest mistake. English is a very flexible language and it is easy to say the same things in a number of different ways. I believe this fear is a large part of the problem and it is simply a matter of encouraging people to experiment, not to be afraid of making a mistake, good grammar can come later once they become more confident. But they need to want to learn and that is not something I see very often in Thailand.

Exactly! Many students are too scared to even attempt to speak English due to worrying about making a mistake but as they become more fluent they become more accurate so they should be encouraged to speak as often as possible.

[Milo]

Maybe my experiences unusual/out of date? Taught from 2002-2006, M4-M5-M6 govt school, 50-ish in class etc.

I found all the Sts very diligent & all T's above average. Testing time of course when it all fell apart... but in their defence the overall atmosphere was enthusiastic & encouraging. I must have got out before cynicism took hold

I'm assuming the article referring to primary school level, hope so.

[stevehaigh]

my kids English home work is laughable. i've offered to check the home work assignments she gives out before giving them to the kids but the teacher is not interested. would loose face i guess.

[Jobiwankenobi]

Yeah, the Thai way of learning English is stacks upon stacks of photocopied sheets for homework (especially in M4 M5 M6) and the grammar (ahem) that appears on these homework sheets is utter doggerel! Then the kids are given the wrong answers to these completely incorrect questions, if they're lucky!! Then, stay after school for "extra" classes! In the words of Charlton Heston: "It's a maaaadhouse!"

[happysanook]

This is largely a social problem. I work in Cambodia but am married to a Thai so I see the huge difference between the countries in this regard. Here in Cambodia, almost everyone wants to learn some English, the level here is amazingly good even in the remotest places. From what I have seen in Thailand there is little interest in learning English (or anything much for that matter) complete apathy. Another thing also highlighted by this article is the fear of trying to speak English, the fear of losing face I guess. I have heard this from teachers here before. One I know took over an English class from a Thai and was appalled how scared the kids were to even try to speak. This was because the Thai teacher had insisted on perfect grammar rather than encouraging them to experiment and try to link words and phrases together. This was so extreme that he actually had a child wet himself in class because he was afraid to ask to go to the toilet as the previous teacher became very angry if they made even the smallest mistake. English is a very flexible language and it is easy to say the same things in a number of different ways. I believe this fear is a large part of the problem and it is simply a matter of encouraging people to experiment, not to be afraid of making a mistake, good grammar can come later once they become more confident. But they need to want to learn and that is not something I see very often in Thailand.

I've found it to be the complete opposite. Many of the Cambodians, even in the middle of extremely touristy areas didn't even know numbers. And I'm talking about Cambodians trying to sell stuff to tourists. Had no clue when saying "one thousand", "two thousand"...

- Milo, I wonder if internet and facebook ruined Thai students...? Just a rough guess, about 1% of my 800 students really have any interest in learning english. And half that actually work at it.

Edited May 14, 2012 by happysanook

[kevjohn]

I was always amused to ask them to say. 'laundry' to which the response was usually, 'raundly'. Then, if you ask the same person to say, 'raundly', they will often return, 'laundry'. 'Love it.

Try asking a Thai to say............as snug as a bug in a rug.

Sorry, I just could not put into English, how my wife said it.

Edited May 14, 2012 by kevjohn

[cooked]

My wife speaks rather good English, self taught, and loves to learn, she is very quick. I have realised recently that this may well be because she only got two years schooling! We got lost one day and I realised that she couldn't read maps (like most women, sorry girls!). I showed her in my usual charmingly impatient way and the next day she got us home, reading the map, how's about that?

She worked in her rice fields all her life and is 49.

There is an amazing potential in the Thais which is, I suspect, being suppressed for 'the usual reasons'. Mad people are mad because they don't know that they are mad, ignorant people are ignorant because....

Most of the problems in Thailand with which we find ourselves confronted seem to stem from the same (subject deleted) source, it's about money and power.

[candyman123]

They can start here:

http://classifieds.thaivisa.com/services/tutoring-services/esl-high-school-business-english-teacher-163993.html

[Jerrytheyoung]

I am involved in teaching professional stuff, I have an international experience: i am French but I have been teaching Irish, British, Arabs from Gulf states, Thais, malaysian, Chinese and miscellaneous others.....in spite my "broken" english.

First people must be motivated for learning, making the students "thirsty"to learn, then you have to organise them with supports, even children 4 or 5 year old, going to a library, choosing booking, finding thema and group working after.....

The knowledge of the teacher is important but less important than his attitude and his dedication. To demonstrate his knowledge is not the aim: the aim is to make the student learning. In my team I have one super instructor: I am sure I tell him; "next week you will have to teach Russian", he will do and his students will be passionated (to date he does not know a word of Russian).

The first point is to create the atmosphere; I am french, but I recognised English is the international vector for communicating in affairs, in a lot of professional areas. It is a requirement like calculus, physics, science, geographia in our "Modern" world.

So, first creating the environment, then giving the tools (A lot of free stuff available from BBC records to the english version of Newspaper (Bangkok Post, The Nation....), so that students, by themselves, will search and get interest in learning.

Then I am sure plenty of expatriates are volunteers for animating from time to time a discussion, even good speaking english Thais (but non teachers) can help,

The key I repeat is to create the environment, but maybe the first step for Thai people is to stop this xenophobic attitude which block them accepting anything from "farangs". And before the first step, it is the step zero.

[David006]

my stepdaughter was graded out of 4 ( don't ask) at her tech school on many subjects...in English she got a 4 in Thai she got a 3..go figure....she can communicate quite well with me. in English.when she deigns too...

...Reminds me of getting low marks in French and English at gramer skool...lol

[Sayonarax]

I thought it was teach Chinese year? or am i confused..

[atyclb]

There are tons of challenges when motivating students to learn a new language...Too many of them are apathetic and want to ensconce themselves in their own native tongue.

Lastly, and most importantly, from many Thai people's point of view, which isn't wrong on the other hand: We foreigners are also in THAI territory, so why should the average Thai adjust to the foreigner's 'pesky language'??? Why should they bother learning another language if they have other socio-economic problems to deal with already... That's from the other side point of view...

But government of this country and the greedy farang among us fail to realize that...

IMO if us foreigners can level up at least to the basic to lightly advanced conversations in Thai language that would IMO be a better step, than "FORCING PEOPLE TO LEARN A LANGUAGE",....

BUT discipline IMO comes first, before we can think about teaching anything in terms of language or academic skills....

I hope I made a point,... thank u all, have a nice day...

You are good at "The art of missing the point", ordinarily a common Thai trait.

ASEAN means English is language of business, international trade, international workforce.

No Thai is being asked to learn English to make a non Thai happy. The information highway aka internet is education/information/knowledge abundant but not in Thai, and not limited to English either.

How would Thailand benefit as part of ASEAN if every farang became conversational in Thai? I am fairly proficient speaking and also read/write, but it does not help Thailand compete/participate in ASEAN.

Edited May 14, 2012 by atyclb

[atyclb]

I am involved in teaching professional stuff, I have an international experience: i am French but I have been teaching Irish, British, Arabs from Gulf states, Thais, malaysian, Chinese and miscellaneous others.....in spite my "broken" english.

First people must be motivated for learning, making the students "thirsty"to learn, then you have to organise them with supports, even children 4 or 5 year old, going to a library, choosing booking, finding thema and group working after.....

The knowledge of the teacher is important but less important than his attitude and his dedication. To demonstrate his knowledge is not the aim: the aim is to make the student learning. In my team I have one super instructor: I am sure I tell him; "next week you will have to teach Russian", he will do and his students will be passionated (to date he does not know a word of Russian).

The first point is to create the atmosphere; I am french, but I recognised English is the international vector for communicating in affairs, in a lot of professional areas. It is a requirement like calculus, physics, science, geographia in our "Modern" world.

So, first creating the environment, then giving the tools (A lot of free stuff available from BBC records to the english version of Newspaper (Bangkok Post, The Nation....), so that students, by themselves, will search and get interest in learning.

Then I am sure plenty of expatriates are volunteers for animating from time to time a discussion, even good speaking english Thais (but non teachers) can help,

The key I repeat is to create the environment, but maybe the first step for Thai people is to stop this xenophobic attitude which block them accepting anything from "farangs". And before the first step, it is the step zero.

Perhaps the government could hire Thai's that have lived in English speaking countries and speak /read / write well. That would take care of the xenophobia issue.

Another poster makes a valid point regarding poor native language competency.

It would seem their entire education system needs an overhaul if they wish to compete with the world.

Edited May 14, 2012 by atyclb

[atyclb]

How can they learn English when the literacy rate for the Thai language is about 41%

"The quality of our graduates is between mediocre and nearly useless."

"Assuming they care, those who have the power to change in Thailand would have to ask themselves: What kind of human capital do we want for the next generation? Do we want high quality knowledge workers and members of society or old-fashioned drones in the mold of the early 20^th century? If we want the former, then we have to change the Thai education system—drastically and immediately. If we want the latter, well, we are already doing very well for that."

http://asiancorrespo...e-21st-century/

[friendphil]

What is the "English Speaking Year policy"? Or should that be-- what is the "English Speaking Year" policy? The article doesn't go into depth on this point. Maybe because there IS no depth to it?

I am amused by the issuance of proclamations in this country. Don't get me wrong. I think any Thai would be amused by many things about my country as well, and many probably already are. But, the Thai proclamation seems to be based on the idea that "say it, and it will be so."

Any thoughts on this?

[atyclb]

What is the "English Speaking Year policy"? Or should that be-- what is the "English Speaking Year" policy? The article doesn't go into depth on this point. Maybe because there IS no depth to it?

I am amused by the issuance of proclamations in this country. Don't get me wrong. I think any Thai would be amused by many things about my country as well, and many probably already are. But, the Thai proclamation seems to be based on the idea that "say it, and it will be so."

Any thoughts on this?

The circle of self perpetuating incompetence

[anterian]

This comment stuck a chord with me, "My wife speaks rather good English, self taught, and loves to learn, she is very quick. I have realised recently that this may well be because she only got two years schooling! We got lost one day and I realised that she couldn't read maps (like most women, sorry girls!). I showed her in my usual charmingly impatient way and the next day she got us home, reading the map, how's about that? She worked in her rice fields all her life and is 49."

This is exactly the case with my Thai partner, same age, same academic history, same self taught. She has mastered the Internet, and many devices she had never met before, from microwaves to satellite TV. She has also become an avid reader of "real" books, not Thai cartoon books.

I live in a suburban village, at first no one spoke English, I assumed they could not, but over time more and more people started to come out with little bits of English, they find it entertaining, even the kids greet me in English. I tried proper lessons with some, it failed they got bored, but making it fun and random works.

[rcalsop]

Some years back I mailed about my despair for the education of my two children in Thailand and started to look for employment in Malaysia primarily to make a sensible financial move with the benefit of improved education . When we moved my daughters english was deteriorating , and my 4 year old son spoke only Thai after the move the change was amazing , in Malaysia /Penang, English was not an elitist thing it was just part of life and schooling it was normal , as were many other languages , the teachers and normal society spoke, slipping in and out of several languages , but English seemed to reign supreme . With in 3 months my son spoke only English deciding it was "better than Thai" ..upsetting Thai grandma who he met at the airport and announced she would have to "talk English now if she still loved him " similar for my daughter declared as educationally subnormal with learning difficulties in Thailand at a young age is now at University in Malaysia in a full English teaching medium . Interestingly in the Malaysian environment Grand parents and every Thai ( there were many )all happily tried to speak English with little or no embarrassment and they all had fun correcting each other with much laughter and no loss of face, if it is just normal and Tv ,Radio and press is in English there is no loss of traditional languages . I now have to live in Hong Kong where English is once again an Elitist Language big money to be made from extra lessons and tuition and the general standards are very, very very poor ,in fact in mainland China in my factories I find the standards of English amazing and I operate week on week with little translation with most people self taught with a good grounding from normal schools .

[silent]

This is largely a social problem. I work in Cambodia but am married to a Thai so I see the huge difference between the countries in this regard. Here in Cambodia, almost everyone wants to learn some English, the level here is amazingly good even in the remotest places. From what I have seen in Thailand there is little interest in learning English (or anything much for that matter) complete apathy. Another thing also highlighted by this article is the fear of trying to speak English, the fear of losing face I guess. I have heard this from teachers here before. One I know took over an English class from a Thai and was appalled how scared the kids were to even try to speak. This was because the Thai teacher had insisted on perfect grammar rather than encouraging them to experiment and try to link words and phrases together. This was so extreme that he actually had a child wet himself in class because he was afraid to ask to go to the toilet as the previous teacher became very angry if they made even the smallest mistake. English is a very flexible language and it is easy to say the same things in a number of different ways. I believe this fear is a large part of the problem and it is simply a matter of encouraging people to experiment, not to be afraid of making a mistake, good grammar can come later once they become more confident. But they need to want to learn and that is not something I see very often in Thailand.

Exactly! Many students are too scared to even attempt to speak English due to worrying about making a mistake but as they become more fluent they become more accurate so they should be encouraged to speak as often as possible.

Exactly again and amusing with so many English accents, how a native Thai can figure out what's being said sometimes when even English to English from different countries can have difficulty understanding the other. Ah but for some is so much more fun isolating and showing one's own stupidity, then wonder why there might be resentment towards the penis version of English.