Thailand's English Skills Lowest In S E A

[Thai at Heart]

I'm not surprised at the results since two of the 5 countries assessed were either colonized or occupied by English speaking countries (Singapore and Phillipines). You can go on and on about the reasons why Thai's aren't as fluent in English but at the end of the day it might not be a national priority. Take Japan and Korea as examples. From my experience the average Thai speaks or understands more english then most of their East Asian Brethen. The average IQ of the population of East Asians is one of the highest in the world at 105 yet their english skills are poor. Why? Because their education systems did not make it a priority. Will they lose out on globalization? I doubt it. Using english skills as a measure of how good a country's education system is is misguided. Of course being bilingual or multilingual will certainly benefit an indvidual and English is certainly spoken worldwide though by no means is it a gold standard to measure a country's educational system as so many seem to imply.

That is an interesting point, but I think there is a very large pool of people who are fluently bilingual from having resettled overseas from both Korea and Japan. I think there are fewer Thai people in the same position.

Samsung changed all company correspondence for middle management and above, to English 4 years ago.

[culicine]

The problem is nothing to do with white teachers. The majority of Thais are taught by Thai teachers who are afraid to speak english (even if they could), and use Thai 95% of the time. I'm still astounded that the average government school graduate can say barely more than hello, even after 12 years of learning english. There are plenty of excellent speakers of english here, educated in private / international schools / overseas, but they are in the vast minority of all citizens.

...and of course, none of these excellent speakers of English can get jobs teaching the language. A lot of people do not place any value on a Thai degree whatever the subject and it's no surprise to know why.

A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English, told me the local school needed another three English teachers. He knows that my wife has a very good command of the language, written and oral but he reckoned even if she could get a job she would only be ' worth ' 12000 baht a month whereas he earns about 30000 baht a month. Why ? She has far more chance of getting the children to understand what she is trying to teach them. If they really don't understand, she can revert to Thai and explain which most foreign teachers can not do.

I suppose I can dream on.....

That's what the Thai teachers get. It's all the wrong way up, around and back to front.

Generally Thais who are fluent in english won't teach kids in schools for 12K a month. There is a LOT more money available outside the school environment. and I have NEVER had to revert to using Thai when teaching kids in my english program. Perhaps in a government school it would be useful, but even then I would still limit the use of Thai in the classroom. Using Thai a lot doesn't encourage them to listen and understand(english).

[Emdog]

"A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English," My guess is he teaches Canadian English. US English and Canadian has a few differences. As for English spoken in England.... about 15 years ago I got to know staff at hotel in Nha Trang. Mr Mann, VN at desk said to "I think I speak pretty good English, but when Mr. X talks, I can't understand him." (X was from London, with cockney accent). I told him "No worry, I can't understand him either!". I taught English in Japan long time ago. The students took 12 years of English in school, but none of it was English conversation. Couldn't speak a lick. Got me a job, so that was fair dinkum...

Edited June 11, 2013 by Emdog

[culicine]

English is the tip of the iceberg. How do Thais matchup in math, world history, geography, civics and science? Anyone know?

My thoughts:

Math: I've heard conflicting reports, some saying that Thais do okay.

Science: I'm not sure, but at least they don't teach creationism here, like Texas.

Civics, geography and history: 5555

With 50+ kids in each class, by and large unmotivated and easily distracted, striving Thai students certainly have their work cut out for themselves. Though they do indeed exist.

My grade 9-10 math(s) students would be more advanced (by about a year), compared to international schools here and Australian schools that I'm aware of. The students are rather bright and cope well with non-traditional open ended kinds of questions. The students don't have a problem; it's the system that lets them down, especially at the end of high school when entrance exams become important.

Where do you teach? And how are you able to make that assessment? I'm not doubting you, just curious. Thanks.

Private school english program. many of the students have learned in english since first grade, and have only ever learned maths/science and of course english, in english language. My observations about the curriculum come from my students who left my school to study both overseas and also to some local international schools. After transfer they started learning the same topics I have taught the previous year. I'm also trained in the NSW maths curriculum so I'm well aware of the content of the junior certificate and HSC exams. However, the HSC extension (especially ext. 2) is more rigorous than what is found in the Thai curriculum at m5-m6 level. The junior certificate (10th grade australia) is about 9th grade level from what I'm teaching in Thailand.

[simon43]

I've recently returned to my family home in Phuket, after teaching in Myanmar for 12 months. My young students, aged between 7 - 12 years old, were all very capable and keen speakers of English. On the regular occasions when I taught language beginners (monks and kids from poor communities), I found them to be highly enthusiastic to learn English.

I was hoping to find a new teaching job in Phuket, but the salaries I have been offered (such as 28,000 baht per month and no holiday pay), are unrealistic and only about 35% of what I was earning in Myanmar.

Next week, I go abroad again to teach, this time in Laos, where my salary is more than double what I've been offered in Thailand.

Of course, teaching is not only about the salary, it is also about job satisfaction. But if I factor that into the equation, then teaching in Thailand is definitely at the bottom of my 'wish-list'.

Simon

[Noistar]

But let's not all forget, this government will make sure all are ready for ASEAN, freely conversing in English everyday with their neighbouring countries.

The length and breadth of the country will be singing 'Auld lang syne' every new year and regularly meeting to discuss Jane Eyre's masterpieces, all over a bowl of Som Tam of course!

Don't forget that the ill-educated, poor Isaan girls having to do a gutty job in Pattaya, soon acquire decent English. Not like the lazy rich kids in CM wandering around in their University uniforms, openly admitting to a complete lack of English. The future of Thailand? Forget it.

[MartinL]

A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English, told me the local school needed another three English teachers. He knows that my wife has a very good command of the language, written and oral but he reckoned even if she could get a job she would only be ' worth ' 12000 baht a month whereas he earns about 30000 baht a month. Why ? She has far more chance of getting the children to understand what she is trying to teach them. If they really don't understand, she can revert to Thai and explain which most foreign teachers can not do.

A childhood friend of my wife's - Thai and a Thai-trained teacher - returned for her first visit to Thailand in 20+ years after living & working as a teacher in Canada. It was her intention to settle permanently back in Thailand following the death of her Canadian husband.

She was so "Canadianised(?)" that speaking Thai wasn't easy for her, although she got back into the swing of it during her time here, and her Thai was interspersed with English words, so she spent a lot of the evening talking to me rather than my wife. Good, colloquial Canadian English, I'd imagine - I don't know any other Canadians to compare her to - but certainly completely intelligible for me as an English bloke, using slang that is common both sides of the Atlantic.

She thought she'd look for work in local schools teaching a subject she'd become pretty much an expert on in Canada - speaking English. Despite visiting many, many schools, there were no takers and she ended-up being convinced she'd not been hired because she "looked Thai", which is what she was, of course.

She's back in Canada again now & is in no hurry to return to Thailand. She took a VERY poor opinion of Thai schools - and Thailand in general, to be honest - back to Canada with her.

[butterisbetter]

460.000 millions speak english as nativ but 1.3 billion speak english as second or third language , so who cares !?

What exactly are you attempting to say?? Many (many) more than 1.3 billion fall into the category you describe. The Commonwealth of Nations alone has a population well in excess of your quoted figure.

While the Commonwealth of Nations may have well in excess 1.3 billion people, over half of the population of the Commonwealth is accounted for by one nation: India. And only about 10% of Indians speak English as a first or second language. The figures I have found say that there are about 1.2 billion speakers of English in the world. About 350,000,000 have it as a first language.

[aTomsLife]

460.000 millions speak english as nativ but 1.3 billion speak english as second or third language , so who cares !?

What exactly are you attempting to say?? Many (many) more than 1.3 billion fall into the category you describe. The Commonwealth of Nations alone has a population well in excess of your quoted figure.

While the Commonwealth of Nations may have well in excess 1.3 billion people, over half of the population of the Commonwealth is accounted for by one nation: India. And only about 10% of Indians speak English as a first or second language. The figures I have found say that there are about 1.2 billion speakers of English in the world. About 350,000,000 have it as a first language.

350 million sounded too low, given the size of the native born populations in the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia. But I checked Wikipedia and it says 335 million. I am genuinely surprised.

[overherebc]

I have two sons, Thai American. Their English is very good, but I only speak to them in English. They both go to Thai schools, not international schools. One son is in regular class and the other is in HM the Kings class at the same school. The quality of teaching is different. in the Kings class the English teacher is from the USA. In the regular class they are Philippine or Indian.

When I came here in 1966, I was in the US Army and worked with Thais. Some of them were very fluent in English, but they were trained by the Army.

The problem with the English language usage in Thailand is oral communication and comprehension. The majority listen to the English and than translate it to Thai in their head. Professor Brown at AUA taught the total immersion program, learn by listening.

Must be a good way; poor kids selling copied goods in Cambodia shocked me with clear, fluent American slang. 'Hey there man, you wanna buy some cigarettes?' After years in Thailand, that is a surprise and....supports what you said & shows the backwardness, pride, uncultured and unexposed tendencies here, with some exception in Bangkok.

It would be quite helpful, if Thai teachers realised that there are millions of bilingual people in the world and they achieve basic bilingual ability without even trying. If I have heard one Thai teacher state that learning two languages simultaneously is too difficult, I have heard 20.

Well . . .of course! But the way it happens is that children are exposed to both languages continually and absorb both equally. Although I'm English I grew up speaking Afrikaans without any teaching - Johannesburg was a bi-lingual culture. And the only way this happens in Thailand is in a household where both Thai and English are continually spoken. It doesn't happen in Thai society and it certainly doesn't happen in Thai schools.

R

Sorry mate, it does happen in Thai society in Bangkok. All my wife's family speak english and the kids are totally bi-lingual. If we spend any time in BKK the whole evenings conversation is carried out in English

[klauskunkel]

As long as the Thais prefer to save face ( for whatever reson they shouldloose ?) above income.. it will not improve.

Bye-the way: loosing from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines all with historic ties to the English language..is understandable, but.. to loose from Indonesia..

its lose, losing. LOSING.

Anyways this poorly written gem awash in the sea of non-constructive negativity really pissed me off.

...you lost me...

[Bcgardener]

I have a factory in The Rayong area and our Kasikorn bank branch arranged an appointment with the local Kasikorn International banking office as we do a lot of import and export. Luckily one of my Thai staff came with me as nobody there spoke English

Thailand good luck in 2015 you will need it.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[khaowong1]

I chocked, arai wa, I chocked.

Edited June 11, 2013 by khaowong1

[aTomsLife]

As long as the Thais prefer to save face ( for whatever reson they shouldloose ?) above income.. it will not improve.

Bye-the way: loosing from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines all with historic ties to the English language..is understandable, but.. to loose from Indonesia..

its lose, losing. LOSING.

Anyways this poorly written gem awash in the sea of non-constructive negativity really pissed me off.

...you lost me...

In addition to other errors, if you look at the first quote, the poster wrote "loose" instead of lose, and "loosing" instead of losing, while criticizing the English ability of the average Thai. JoeAverage was just pointing this out.

Edited June 11, 2013 by aTomsLife

[Thai at Heart]

The problem is nothing to do with white teachers. The majority of Thais are taught by Thai teachers who are afraid to speak english (even if they could), and use Thai 95% of the time. I'm still astounded that the average government school graduate can say barely more than hello, even after 12 years of learning english. There are plenty of excellent speakers of english here, educated in private / international schools / overseas, but they are in the vast minority of all citizens.

...and of course, none of these excellent speakers of English can get jobs teaching the language. A lot of people do not place any value on a Thai degree whatever the subject and it's no surprise to know why.

A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English, told me the local school needed another three English teachers. He knows that my wife has a very good command of the language, written and oral but he reckoned even if she could get a job she would only be ' worth ' 12000 baht a month whereas he earns about 30000 baht a month. Why ? She has far more chance of getting the children to understand what she is trying to teach them. If they really don't understand, she can revert to Thai and explain which most foreign teachers can not do.

I suppose I can dream on.....

That's what the Thai teachers get. It's all the wrong way up, around and back to front.

Generally Thais who are fluent in english won't teach kids in schools for 12K a month. There is a LOT more money available outside the school environment. and I have NEVER had to revert to using Thai when teaching kids in my english program. Perhaps in a government school it would be useful, but even then I would still limit the use of Thai in the classroom. Using Thai a lot doesn't encourage them to listen and understand(english).

I will honestly say I have never met a completely fluent English speaking Thai from the domestic Thai school system.

I studied A level in 2 languages and GCSE in 3 languages. Top grades. Would I consider myself fluent in any of them? No. Did it teach me how to study languages and probably be able to teach them. Yup.

At the supposedly best bilingual school in our town the professional farang teachers get 60k plus benefits and the well qualified Thai teachers get 15 to 20k.

My kids are bilingual, so I can manage the vagaries myself, but the Thai system is rewarding full time thai teachers very poorly versus farang teachers who are farmed out on calculated hourly rates by useless English programs, and this creates huge resentment.

The whole system needs root, trunk and branch reform. I give an hour of my time to my niece to read English to me for free. In reality, it's better than any spoken English education she has ever received.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Thai at Heart

[bigbamboo]

The problem is nothing to do with white teachers. The majority of Thais are taught by Thai teachers who are afraid to speak english (even if they could), and use Thai 95% of the time. I'm still astounded that the average government school graduate can say barely more than hello, even after 12 years of learning english. There are plenty of excellent speakers of english here, educated in private / international schools / overseas, but they are in the vast minority of all citizens.

This gets to the heart of the problem with Thai teachers passing on the bad English they themselves were taught. I taught for quite a few years including university level and soon stopped being surprised at the stories the students told me of how they had learned, or not learned , in High School.

Most had never really put a sentence or two of spoken English together in class as the teacher couldn't handle it and the students knew it.

I know quite a few people who have a BA in English but from their spoken English you would never believe it.

I was recently approached by a group of Thai students (college level - 18-19 years old) with a 'survey' project where they had to find a farang and giggle a lot. And ask questions.

I scanned the teacher's question sheet. Then spent 3 or 4 minutes correcting all the teacher's mistakes. There were maybe 20 errors in 10 simple questions. Then told the puzzled front man that he should give this back to the teacher with all the mistakes corrected, so he/she (teacher) could get it right next time.

I wonder whatever became of my corrected sheet. Sure as sh*t it never got to the teacher (face face face) and it it ever did nothing was changed (face face face)!

R

I have been to several " language " schools as a potential teacher of English and I have returned their test sheet with correct answers and corrected questions. Needless to say I didn't get offered any work

It's quite common to see English textbooks published in Thailand riddled with errors of all kinds.

[klauskunkel]

As long as the Thais prefer to save face ( for whatever reson they shouldloose ?) above income.. it will not improve.

Bye-the way: loosing from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines all with historic ties to the English language..is understandable, but.. to loose from Indonesia..

its lose, losing. LOSING.

Anyways this poorly written gem awash in the sea of non-constructive negativity really pissed me off.

...you lost me...

In addition to other errors, if you look at the first quote, the poster wrote "loose" instead of lose, and "loosing" instead of losing, while criticizing the English ability of the average Thai. JoeAverage was just pointing this out.

and I was being witty, just pointing this out...

[Thai at Heart]

460.000 millions speak english as nativ but 1.3 billion speak english as second or third language , so who cares !?

What exactly are you attempting to say?? Many (many) more than 1.3 billion fall into the category you describe. The Commonwealth of Nations alone has a population well in excess of your quoted figure.

While the Commonwealth of Nations may have well in excess 1.3 billion people, over half of the population of the Commonwealth is accounted for by one nation: India. And only about 10% of Indians speak English as a first or second language. The figures I have found say that there are about 1.2 billion speakers of English in the world. About 350,000,000 have it as a first language.

As a first language, considering there are 300mn in the USA, that is a bit of an underestimate.

But the bewtee ov ingurlish iz u kan mazzaker it and itz satill compreehenzibl. So there are literally millions of limited English ability who can use it to communicate.

I recently attended a chamber of commerce meeting up country. Not one of the major company owners could speak English, the first generation old money, kids could. But the newbie money at the table, 30 to 40, none whatsoever.

Big old money versus new money concept of education.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Thai at Heart

[butterisbetter]

I think expats in Thailand relish this kind of survey result, but of course they aren't interested in looking into it further, much better to sit back and say "I told you so" as if they have some in depth knowledge of the cutlural ins-andouts of language leaning and a detailed knowledge of language teaching - suddenly everyone's an expert?

Singapore - ex- British colony

Malaysia - ex-British colony

Philippines - ex - US colony

Indonesia and Thailand not a lot of difference apart from the fat Idonesia had Dutch and English influences

The 'facts' are that Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Moreover English is mandatory in Holland.

The facts also are that Thailand was never 'colonised' (sic) a fact that their xenophobic masters place great emphasis on. BUT they were conquered by the Burmese AND the Japanese. (and were it not for the allies Japanese would be the official language)

And for the record English, is widely spoken in Burma, particularly by anyone who is semi educated.

And finally, Aung San Suu Kyi 'whilst not your 'normal Burmese' has a command of English that would put many Oxford grads to shame.

The problem in Thailand is that parents don't see the need for their children to learn/speak English consequently not many do/or are proficient in the language.

I'm puzzled. What relevance does it have to this conversation that English is mandatory in the Netherlands? Or that Thailand was conquered by the Burmese and the Japanese?

[rametindallas]

Before we dump too hard on the Thai community there is one thing i have not seen mentioned. 3 of the 5 were colonies of an English speaking country

SINGAPORE - VERY BRITISH

MALAYSIA - ALSO VERY BRITISH

PHILIPPINES - VERY AMERICAN How many bases are there or were there.

That is why they are so high actually they should be higher considering.

Thailand will not and cannot become a bilingual country thru education. Sure the kids are learning but as has been stated there is not enough English speaking organizations to further there abilities.

a studetn to me

Teacher i like English but cannot learn it.

When you leave the class do you speak English with your classmates?

Not really we are Thai

When you go home do you speak English to your parents?

no they are Thai and do not speak English.

So what you are saying is the only time you speak English is in class with me or when you see me.

Yes teacher.

And?

This is the way, English is tought all over the world.

That's the way I learned it, being from Germany.

But at least in our English classes, we SPOKE English and did not exclusively learned grammar.

There are many ways to practice English!

Get DVD's in English and with Thai- subtitles, f.e.

Read English books, listen to English music.

But of course, you have to be interested!

If you just listen to Thai- music because it is so sanook or watch only Thai (dubed) movies, because "pasa angrid" makes you "bod hua"....

The owner of a restaurant in Surat Thani came to my table and struck up a conversation. Once I got over the shock at the quality of his English skills, I asked him where he learned to speak so well. He said, "Watching Movies on DVD". I ask every Thai with good English skills where they learned them and none of them reply, "At university". It is all about desire. My Thai GF reads the BP to me most evenings and when she comes to a word that she either can't pronounce or doesn't understand the meaning, she will ask me. She has less 'Thai' accent than my Thai friend who spent 25 years in the U.S. Thais have to 'want' to learn; they are quite intelligent but many are intellectually lazy.

[paulmw]

I'm not surprised at the results since two of the 5 countries assessed were either colonized or occupied by English speaking countries (Singapore and Phillipines). You can go on and on about the reasons why Thai's aren't as fluent in English but at the end of the day it might not be a national priority. Take Japan and Korea as examples. From my experience the average Thai speaks or understands more english then most of their East Asian Brethen. The average IQ of the population of East Asians is one of the highest in the world at 105 yet their english skills are poor. Why? Because their education systems did not make it a priority. Will they lose out on globalization? I doubt it. Using english skills as a measure of how good a country's education system is is misguided. Of course being bilingual or multilingual will certainly benefit an indvidual especially since English is spoken in many parts of the world though by no means is it a gold standard to measure a country's educational system as so many believe this article implies.

I think you are missing the point; Thailand was the lowest in ASEAN in reading books not only English books but books in general.

Thais read about five books a year while Vietnamese read 60 books, Singaporeans 45 books and Malaysians 40 books.

Yet Thailand produced more children's and youth books than other Asean countries.

Reading is a major stepping stone to understanding any language or subject.

[aTomsLife]

its lose, losing. LOSING.

Anyways this poorly written gem awash in the sea of non-constructive negativity really pissed me off.

...you lost me...

In addition to other errors, if you look at the first quote, the poster wrote "loose" instead of lose, and "loosing" instead of losing, while criticizing the English ability of the average Thai. JoeAverage was just pointing this out.

and I was being witty, just pointing this out...

Glad you pointed it out, because you lost me there. For good reason, I think.

(I was just trying to be helpful, by the way.)

Edited June 11, 2013 by aTomsLife

[Thai at Heart]

I'm not surprised at the results since two of the 5 countries assessed were either colonized or occupied by English speaking countries (Singapore and Phillipines). You can go on and on about the reasons why Thai's aren't as fluent in English but at the end of the day it might not be a national priority. Take Japan and Korea as examples. From my experience the average Thai speaks or understands more english then most of their East Asian Brethen. The average IQ of the population of East Asians is one of the highest in the world at 105 yet their english skills are poor. Why? Because their education systems did not make it a priority. Will they lose out on globalization? I doubt it. Using english skills as a measure of how good a country's education system is is misguided. Of course being bilingual or multilingual will certainly benefit an indvidual especially since English is spoken in many parts of the world though by no means is it a gold standard to measure a country's educational system as so many believe this article implies.

I think you are missing the point; Thailand was the lowest in ASEAN in reading books not only English books but books in general.

Thais read about five books a year while Vietnamese read 60 books, Singaporeans 45 books and Malaysians 40 books.

Yet Thailand produced more children's and youth books than other Asean countries.

Reading is a major stepping stone to understanding any language or subject.

In so far 6 years of full time education in Thailand, my kids have never had a compulsory text they had to read and understand.

Reams of text books, excerpts, short stories, but zero compulsory books in Thai or English they HAD to read.

[Thai at Heart]

Before we dump too hard on the Thai community there is one thing i have not seen mentioned. 3 of the 5 were colonies of an English speaking country

SINGAPORE - VERY BRITISH

MALAYSIA - ALSO VERY BRITISH

PHILIPPINES - VERY AMERICAN How many bases are there or were there.

That is why they are so high actually they should be higher considering.

Thailand will not and cannot become a bilingual country thru education. Sure the kids are learning but as has been stated there is not enough English speaking organizations to further there abilities.

a studetn to me

Teacher i like English but cannot learn it.

When you leave the class do you speak English with your classmates?

Not really we are Thai

When you go home do you speak English to your parents?

no they are Thai and do not speak English.

So what you are saying is the only time you speak English is in class with me or when you see me.

Yes teacher.

And?

This is the way, English is tought all over the world.

That's the way I learned it, being from Germany.

But at least in our English classes, we SPOKE English and did not exclusively learned grammar.

There are many ways to practice English!

Get DVD's in English and with Thai- subtitles, f.e.

Read English books, listen to English music.

But of course, you have to be interested!

If you just listen to Thai- music because it is so sanook or watch only Thai (dubed) movies, because "pasa angrid" makes you "bod hua"....

The owner of a restaurant in Surat Thani came to my table and struck up a conversation. Once I got over the shock at the quality of his English skills, I asked him where he learned to speak so well. He said, "Watching Movies on DVD". I ask every Thai with good English skills where they learned them and none of them reply, "At university". It is all about desire. My Thai GF reads the BP to me most evenings and when she comes to a word that she either can't pronounce or doesn't understand the meaning, she will ask me. She has less 'Thai' accent than my Thai friend who spent 25 years in the U.S. Thais have to 'want' to learn; they are quite intelligent but many are intellectually lazy.

Accents are irrelevant. Listening comprehension is so poor in Thailand, it's incredible. The government should ban the dubbing of foreign language TV shows tomorrow and rely on subtitles only.

[sirchai]

The problem is nothing to do with white teachers. The majority of Thais are taught by Thai teachers who are afraid to speak english (even if they could), and use Thai 95% of the time. I'm still astounded that the average government school graduate can say barely more than hello, even after 12 years of learning english. There are plenty of excellent speakers of english here, educated in private / international schools / overseas, but they are in the vast minority of all citizens.

reiterate . . .

"Several years ago I was in the situation of having to correspond at length with the head of the English department at one of the big Bangkok Universities . . . the lady in charge of teaching the teachers. I was astonished to discover that her written English was probably similar to that of a bright UK/USA/Aus etc 8-or 9-year-old . . . ie, confident but littered with grammatical and structural mistakes."

I honestly love this one.- Is it really true that the problem is nothing to do with them?

Edited for spell check reasons.

Edited June 11, 2013 by sirchai

[Donnie Brasco]

More than one look kreung has spent a miserable year or two in high school here because of their English proficiency.

After all, how could an eleven year old possible speak English better than their teacher?

[Thai at Heart]

More than one look kreung has spent a miserable year or two in high school here because of their English proficiency.

After all, how could an eleven year old possible speak English better than their teacher?

In the English program in the school up the road, they apparently rely on the luuk kreung to do most of the teaching.

[bigbamboo]

"A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English," My guess is he teaches Canadian English. US English and Canadian has a few differences. As for English spoken in England.... about 15 years ago I got to know staff at hotel in Nha Trang. Mr Mann, VN at desk said to "I think I speak pretty good English, but when Mr. X talks, I can't understand him." (X was from London, with cockney accent). I told him "No worry, I can't understand him either!". I taught English in Japan long time ago. The students took 12 years of English in school, but none of it was English conversation. Couldn't speak a lick. Got me a job, so that was fair dinkum...

I hope they don't speak like you "write" You are borderline illiterate, my friend.

And you don't speak Strine then?

[sirchai]

"A Canadian friend of mine who teaches English -- well, he doesn't exactly teach ' English ' he teaches american English," My guess is he teaches Canadian English. US English and Canadian has a few differences. As for English spoken in England.... about 15 years ago I got to know staff at hotel in Nha Trang. Mr Mann, VN at desk said to "I think I speak pretty good English, but when Mr. X talks, I can't understand him." (X was from London, with cockney accent). I told him "No worry, I can't understand him either!". I taught English in Japan long time ago. The students took 12 years of English in school, but none of it was English conversation. Couldn't speak a lick. Got me a job, so that was fair dinkum...

I hope they don't speak like you "write" You are borderline illiterate, my friend.

" US English and Canadian has a few differences." Is the earth really flat?-

[jackr]

Don't worry Thailand, everyone knows you weren't colonised... I mean one only has to listen to the so-called PM & bro attempt one sentence in Thinglish or spend a bit of time here to see how things operate. A good generation and then some behind some of your lesser-equipped neighbours.