Fairer Ways To Bring Learning To The People: Thai Editorial

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EDITORIAL
Fairer ways to bring learning to the people
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thais should be utilising digital technology to 'democratise' English instruction and other study areas, in order to reduce disparity in society

A recent news item that went largely unnoticed best reflects the situation of English-language education Thailand. The story was about the scores of parents or relatives camped overnight near a well-known school in an attempt to register their children for a special English-learning course. It looked like the kind of scene you now see at the launch of a new iPhone, or avid fans clamouring to get concert tickets. The only difference was that the people involved didn't necessarily have their own interests at heart. They went through the inconvenience and discomfort for youngsters who were lucky enough to have adults spend a night on the pavement for their sake.

If you had interviewed those "campers", you would have likely seen that the Asean Economic Community, which will be inaugurated in two years, featured in almost every answer. Thailand has been on high alert about learning English because everybody knows it will be an essential part of educational, professional, business and even social success on a regional scale. Whether this sudden awareness has come too late remains to be seen, but that crowded pavement might demonstrate that Thais are still far from the right path where English-language study is concerned.

English ability in Thailand remains limited to privileged groups. There were good reasons why this was so in the past. English was best learned in the best schools, or in mother-tongue countries. Today it's different, but a lot of people, even the powers-that-be, still do not realise this. Information technology, the increasing availability of digital devices (and their decreasing prices) are making foreign languages more accessible than ever before. A youngster well-versed in online searches can get free learning content as good as that provided in expensive courses. If children don't know how to access these sources, surely their parents will be able to.

The biggest obstacle to overcome is not children's discipline. One can argue that online learning will fail because factors that can "drive" learners, like peer pressure and competition, are not just there. The truth is, in learning a language, discipline might not be as important as simple exposure or accessibility. Languages should be learned the way a child learns to speak his own mother tongue. It must come naturally, embedded in the many parts of everyday life. With most children crazy about digital gadgets, there are plenty of ways to neatly incorporate English into routines, making the language a major part of digital activities.

Another problem to overcome is the mentality of adults. Parents will remain anxious unless their kids are in a class with the best teachers. Schools and teachers will be reluctant to tell youngsters that the best English-language study options aren't at school but on YouTube. The government and politicians are more difficult to understand. On one hand they're handing out computer tablets for free. On the other, no one is teaching children to exploit these devices for maximum advantage in learning languages. No one is telling Thais that, when gaps still exist in society, utilising these gadgets more smartly can narrow some of the disparity.

Somehow it's ironic that one thing that can be easily "democratised" -learning languages - has become a symbol of inequality. On Children's Day one of the most touching letters to the prime minister came from an underprivileged child who complained that extra, expensive tutorials were further limiting the chances of poorer kids. Both the premier and society are obliged to guide that child and all poor families to online education.

Which brings us to another key point. If self-learning can't be immediately institutionalised, since most workplaces still require college or university "transcripts" in the recruiting process, society must become more supportive in regards to how people learn their skills. Adults have to take the lead, but not by camping on the sidewalk in order to get their children into a popular course. It's time our whole society woke up and realised that learning - of languages or anything else - is no longer confined to the classroom.


-- The Nation 2013-02-22

[chooka]

A lot of thais especially the younger parents are starting to realise the value of a 2nd language and English is the universal language.

[Thai at Heart]

A lot of thais especially the younger parents are starting to realise the value of a 2nd language and English is the universal language.

The whole country should have woken up to this fact 35 years ago.

[caykay]

I can't help but laugh a little when I hear Thai people talk about fairness. In a country that is based on strictly unfair social classes, no one really knows what fairness is. Some of them read or hear about it when their families sent them to study in America, England or Australia, then they try to import it and apply it to Thai society, which just doesn't work. Another silly article written by some western educated Thai who doesn't know anything about his own country.

[fire and ice]

Thais want the "prestigious” English schools to teach their kids and have paperwork to prove their child is good at English – never mind the fact that they come out with limited abilities and probably less than many bars girls who really can speak English. They value the hype/prestige more than the actual ability and will live in denial of the reality.

If someone learns a chunk of English from You Tube then in other Thai's eyes they still haven’t got a "presigious" piece of paper that says they can speak any English, even though many who have the paper can’t speak it at all.

[zoroastra999]

The quality of schools, teachers and learning resources (contrary to popular belief) has little or no impact on our rate of learning. Motivation is everything - with it we can overcome any obstacle, without it nkthing will work.

That is the leszon that nobody wants to learn!

[sreiter]

The quality of schools, teachers and learning resources (contrary to popular belief) has little or no impact on our rate of learning. Motivation is everything - with it we can overcome any obstacle, without it nkthing will work. That is the leszon that nobody wants to learn!

I strongly disagree with some of this! Example: My Thai step son was 7 when he desperately wanted to be an airline pilot. Meanwhile he is 14 and wants to live like a pensioner, has left school with 13 as he said he would not learn anything but chop the teachers wood and dig his garden. Something during those years went very very wrong. Therefore I think quality of schools, teachers and learning resources can have a huge impact on our rate of learning, albeit often a negative one (by demotivation).

In agreement with above quote I do not force him to go to school. There is no point as long as he is not motivated.

Also please define the term "quality"! What about calling a school a good school or a teacher a good teacher if they would foremost manage to motivate learning? At the very end- I agree- it all depends on yourself, but there might be ways to "make you want".

My own observation is that people from some small countries (like the Netherlands or Denmark) speak in general better English than people of some bigger (read richer) countries like Germany. People of the smaller countries grew up with a lot of English (or French) language movies on television- with subtitles in the countries language ( I think due to financial constrains). In Germany John Wayne speaks German, in Thailand he speaks Thai. If there really was official recognition of a problem here- why not have sometimes movies in English with subtitles- and Sesamy Street in English for the kids (and me ) ??

That`s my two pennies worth of input.....Stefan

[aboctok]

Languages should be learned the way a child learns to speak his own mother tongue.

This idea remains popular, but has been discredited. Learning any additional language is a different learning task to acquiring your "mother tongue." For most people, it will be pointless to pretend to be a blank canvas, and resolve to just "absorb" a new language. Once you already have a native language (ie, think in a language), then learning any new language becomes a different task. It requires effective learning strategies—not special secrets, just efficient ways to learn—and commitment. How many foreigners spend years in Thailand, with at least some desire to speak the language, but learn quite little of it?

[culicine]

Languages should be learned the way a child learns to speak his own mother tongue.

This idea remains popular, but has been discredited. Learning any additional language is a different learning task to acquiring your "mother tongue." For most people, it will be pointless to pretend to be a blank canvas, and resolve to just "absorb" a new language. Once you already have a native language (ie, think in a language), then learning any new language becomes a different task. It requires effective learning strategiesnot special secrets, just efficient ways to learnand commitment. How many foreigners spend years in Thailand, with at least some desire to speak the language, but learn quite little of it?

The only kids who are good at this are those that are raised with both languages spoken to the child from birth....even then,one language will generally be stronger, depending on which one is used most.