Using The "Affiliation" Word To Enhance School'S Reputation, Should They Practice What They Preach?

[jonnyscot]

Hi all, maybe it's me going on a bit about something that isn't really much of nothing, but I'd like a teachers perspective on this issue since I'm no teacher, both our children attend the same school,,, I pay what I consider a reasonable price to have them taught a decent level of English, we chose the school partly on other Thais advice and partly because the school boasts an 'affiliation' to St John's in BKK which i believe follows a UK English program (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong on that), anyway my gripe is that I'm noticing much more the words on the blackboard when dropping them off at school, words such as color,, c'mon,, there are others but those two particularly spring to mind,,, additionally the daughter was stuck on some homework the other day, I went over to help her and saw it was the three letter words they make up with the centre letter blank to be filled in, teacher had done the first one as an example Cud?? Now I eventually found it to actually be a legit word after a quick search, but don't think that's quite suitable and no way would a 6 year old figure that out,, I assumed teacher meant Cod so suggested the daughter correct it and guess what,,, daughter got it wrong.

Now I know there are a few Philippine teachers at the school and understand they are taught American English in Philippines but should the school really stick by the book on their so called "affiliation" to a top English establishment and teach UK English ??

Thanks

[Scott]

Where I work, we have books that come from different countries. We have American books, books from the UK and occasionally books from Australia. Singapore is the major place where we get books.

My instructions to the teachers is relatively simple. Use the spelling from the country where the book is written--mostly for consistency. Do not mark spelling from other nationalities as wrong.

Do not give spelling tests that include words that students may have learned to spell differently, or if you do, mark both spellings as correct.

The difficulty in designing a curriculum for non-native speakers is that many of the books coming from the home countries are simply too difficult for the students. This means the school may have to use a different book. I might also add that some books are simply not in stock and getting the number required for a school can take a very long time.

I would point out spellings that are simply wrong to the teacher. Do so politely. It doesn't hurt for school staff to know that people are paying attention to what they teach.

[jonnyscot]

Thanks for your take on it Scott, I understand where you're coming from, I guess I'm expecting too much precision from the teachers at the school, and not considering that there are other nationalities attending the same school, I just thought that they should be honouring their so called affiliation and be teaching UK English rather than US English

Thanks again

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[Scott]

With regard to the class labeled as "English" or "Language", it is best for them to use either American or British English for the sake of consistency. There are some grammatical differences and phrasing that can confuse the students. For example "Do you have a dog?" as opposed to "Have you got a dog?" If they are using a mix-and-match approach, they should have a reason.

If the program is bilingual, then books in science, social studies, mathematics, etc. it might be best to find the best book, regardless of the language.