Aditya Birla, Nation Uni Join Up To Boost Teaching Skills

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Aditya Birla, Nation Uni join up to boost teaching skills

THE NATION

Angthong

ANGTHONG: -- The Nation President Pana Janviroj (seated, second from left) signs the MoU with the Aditya Birla Group for the English-language teacher training in Angthong recently.

Aditya Birla Group in Thailand and Nation University's International Language Institute have joined in a "train the trainers" project to upgrade English-language teaching skills in Angthong province.

On Saturday the two inked a memorandum of understanding with four tambon administration organisations at the group's Thai Rayon Co in Muang Angthong district.

The signing was witnessed by Angthong Deputy Governor Panya Agan-lert; H K Agarwal, chairman of the Aditya Birla Foundation for Community Initiatives and Rural Development (Thailand); and Pana Janviroj, president of The Nation.

"We have been looking for the right kind of activities to do to support local communities," Agarwal said.

"We have always placed greatest importance on education, and this is one way we can make our contribution to the communities. By giving teachers more skills, they contribute positively to future generations."

Since 1969, Aditya Birla has been present in Thailand, where it employs 4,300 workers to operate 10 modern plants in Angthong, Saraburi, Rayong, Samut Prakan and Bang Pa-in in Ayutthaya, achieving total turnover of US$1.6 billion (Bt50 billion).

Pana said the initiative with Aditya Birla Group was designed to improve the English-language fluency of students as Thailand prepares to enter the era of the Asean Economic Community.

The International Language Institute will conduct classes for 30 local teachers for up to 90 hours in English-language methodology, conversation and other skills. Last Saturday, teachers started with competency tests and many found the courses helpful.

The teachers are from tambons Posa, Hua Pai, Saithong and Jampalor.

Siriporn Sae Wong, 49, a kindergarten teacher in tambon Jampalor, is eager to start the course, since she wants to brush up her pronunciation and conversational ability to pass on the language to the children.

"Short sentences are fine ... something that the children can easily understand."

Aditya Birla Group, with headquarters in Mumbai, India, is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $40 billion. It employs 133,000 staff worldwide belonging to 42 nationalities in 36 countries.

More than 53 per cent of its revenue is from overseas operations, with Thailand among the first overseas investment by the group. It is the world's largest producer of viscose staple fibre and carbon black and is engaged in a host of other products and services including retail and telecommunications.

-- The Nation 2012-10-02

[cup-O-coffee]

What a waste. Focusing on "children" and making no mention of the older youngsters in Pratum and Mateum make this a dubious venture. I am tired of being positive about these continuous feeble attempts to improve the very simple task of putting a teacher in front of student and getting them to interact in English.

Additionally, what is wrong with this picture? Why should an English teacher have to be motivated to improve their English speaking and comprehension skills with more budgeted money? They either have those skills (hence the reason they were employed) or they are continually improving their skills on their own time out of pure pride in their profession (hence no need for a fire under their asses). Is this a nice way to say that Thai English teachers have sub standard skill levels and are lazy at improving those skills and hence need a fire under their asses to do so?