Do Your Kids Speak Better English Than Their English Teacher?

[klubex99]

One question that has always sort of sat on the back of my mind.

Do your Thai kids speak better English than their Thai English teachers?

I mean.... I wonder what goes through a Thai English teacher's mind when they see a half farang kid sat in their English class. Do they think 'dam_n, I bet this kid speaks better English than me'.

Or have your kids ever came home and told you that their English teacher is wrong about some things?

Maybe the teacher keeps turning to your kid to confirm something is correct?

Just seems to me, that there must be some cases of the tail wagging the dog

[historyprof]

You really don't know the answer? Come on. Did you go to school in Thailand? What is your real question?

[i claudius]

Yes ,our son was educated in a British school from 7 to 12 years old and speaks with our local accent ,when he was in school here he represented the school in Bangkok, reciting an essay in English from memory that he had written,he was in the top 20 in the country. he is now in his second year in uni and has already been offered a job with a large company

Claudius the proud Dad

[klubex99]

You really don't know the answer? Come on. Did you go to school in Thailand? What is your real question?

Confused.com

No I went to school in the UK. Your reply makes zero sense, are you drunk perhaps?

Nope, you are probably just a twisted troll who doesn't have the spare change to go out and dribble into a beer glass, so comes on here to cause trouble before your internet connection gets cut for non-payment.

[klubex99]

Yes ,our son was educated in a British school from 7 to 12 years old and speaks with our local accent ,when he was in school here he represented the school in Bangkok, reciting an essay in English from memory that he had written,he was in the top 20 in the country. he is now in his second year in uni and has already been offered a job with a large company

Claudius the proud Dad

He seems destined for great things.

[richard_smith237]

A friend of mine was dating a Thai Airways flight Attendant who's English was good. Nonetheless the FA's all had to attend English Class at some point of the year.

A situation arose whereby the vernacular imparted by the tutor was questioned by the lady in question (the FA).

In true 'avoid loss of face style' a standoff ensued resulting in a phone call to my friend who confirmed the questionable nature of the teachings.

The fallout of a further standoff resulted in a raised voice and show of anger from the tutor and the realisation by everyone else in the class to shut-up or risk failing the course.

I hope examples such as this are diminishing as the Critical Thought Process in both the tutors and the students develop. I feel it is prudent that what many consider one of the most important characteristics in anyone especially developing children becomes a priority and responsibility for any parent.

[Somtamnication]

My son came home with his notebook, "corrected" by his teacher.....

"The old man had an accident" was corrected to "The old man accidented".

[arthurwait]

Thai English teachers or TEFL'ers ?

A girl in my class at school in the UK her mum taught French and German at our school. The teachers 'checked' with her many times.

[Yooyung]

My son is nearly 6. At the age of 2 1/2 we, as a family went back to Aus so that I could finish studying. At the time obviously my son spoke baby Thai. After living there for that amount of time his English skyrocketed. We have only been back for about 4 1/2 months and already he is speaking Thai like a pro, with no problems at school or relating to other kids. His English is being maintained at home by me...and mum to an extent. So, in answer to your question.......

I can most definitely see a time, knowing all I know about Thai English teachers, that my son will come home and say "Daddy today my teacher said ******* " He may even get into a bit of trouble as well as I am teaching him to question things that clearly dont seem right. Its not a popular move within the context of Thai culture but its got to start happening sometime. It may as well be the leuk kreungs that do it.....nobody else will!

[pilm]

I wonder what goes through a Thai English teacher's mind when they see a half farang kid sat in their English class.

Fear (of being corrected or challenged at a later point)

Resentment.

Jealousy.

What's for lunch, somtam gai yang or red ant eggs and leaves.

[historyprof]

You really don't know the answer? Come on. Did you go to school in Thailand? What is your real question?

Confused.com

No I went to school in the UK. Your reply makes zero sense, are you drunk perhaps?

Nope, you are probably just a twisted troll who doesn't have the spare change to go out and dribble into a beer glass, so comes on here to cause trouble before your internet connection gets cut for non-payment.

Of course the kids speak better English. Kids immersed in a language at home from birth will always speak better English than a Teacher who has learned his skills in college at a much older age.

How could anyone not know this?

The thread is just another example of lets beat up Thailand today.

[yourauntbob]

No kids, but I do tutor a few in the neighborhood from time to time and WOW is some of what they are taught off. Most of the English books that they are given (government issued) have mistakes in almost every question/answer. I am not talking about a cheap Thai school either, many of them go to the mid to top tier elementary schools. I help them with the work that the teacher corrected and I shake my head at some of the remarks. Personally, if I did have kids I would be scared to send them to school in this country.

[wolf5370]

My kids are home schooled now, but a number of years ago they went to a Thai private bi-lingual school. Both my girls were privately educated in the UK from 2 to 8. In the Bi-Lingual school here, they had native English teachers getting it wrong let alone the Thai teachers - the text books are often wrong too (poor grammar and spelling - sometimes so poor it is barely decipherable!). They learned quickly not to question it, they simply ignored the bits that were wrong and used the correct grammar/spelling in their books (this I think is the best way - the teachers themselves know they can not compete, but rubbing their faces in it in open class is not going to go down well). Other Thai kids in their class came to them for help rather than the Thai teachers.

[pilm]

Met a teacher once who said he was doing a 'My Alphabet Book' with his kids.

He went to the toilet and the Head of the EP, (M.A. TESOL) who was in there watched over them.

He came back and the board had been changed to 'My Alphabets Book'. He just laughed.

There is no hope for these people due to their mindset.

[anthobkk]

One of my french friend has got married to a Thai french teacher and they had a baby together. Their son is now fluent in thai and french and quite good in english.

He told me that he once asked the director of his son's school if he can skip the french class because the "thai french teacher" was not able to speak french...

.So I don't know about english, but in french they barely can teach it. I've also met his thai girlfriend who is supposed to be a french teacher with a master degree in french litterature..And it is really difficult to understand her, she can't even pronounce half of a sentence properly and makes so many mistakes.

I assume, english is easier than french, especialy for grammar and pronunciation, but I'm pretty sure that Thai teachers are not fluent and can't teach them properly. None of my thai friends who are fluent english are teacher and prefer to work in international companies.

[banglay]

One of my neighbours who is a Thai national is a teachers of English at a local college, Her command of the English language is so appalling that I can hardly understand a word she says .Yet all her students pass with flying colours at the end of each term...

[itchybum]

I agree.

One of my kids teachers is Scottish.

[historyprof]

I agree.

One of my kids teachers is Scottish.

Do people who speak English understand him on the phone?

[Morakot]

What's for lunch, somtam gai yang or red ant eggs and leaves.

Brown rice with fried vegetables!

Glad this isn't the My-kid-speaks-better-than-thy-teacher thread.

[phuketsub]

My daughter studied in an English Program for three years of kindergarten, then switched to a Thai school where she is the only 'look kreung'...she occasionally gets to study with foreign teachers, but for the most part her English comes from home schooling, which includes reading, math and lots and lots of videos.

I don't expect her to get anything out of her English classes with the Thai teachers, but I like the fact that they use her as a resource in the classroom to help her classmates. She is 'class leader' anyway, so this comes naturally to her.

I do notice her pronunciation slipping from time to time, that's my biggest concern about it at the moment.

My goal is to keep her completely bilingual, but its a real tightrope act in terms of keeping her adequately exposed to both.

[kelboy]

I agree.

One of my kids teachers is Scottish.

Thai-Scottish ......what about the GERMAN - English teachers ,ha, or should we make a new topic for them.

[wolf5370]

One of my french friend has got married to a Thai french teacher and they had a baby together. Their son is now fluent in thai and french and quite good in english.

He told me that he once asked the director of his son's school if he can skip the french class because the "thai french teacher" was not able to speak french...

.So I don't know about english, but in french they barely can teach it. I've also met his thai girlfriend who is supposed to be a french teacher with a master degree in french litterature..And it is really difficult to understand her, she can't even pronounce half of a sentence properly and makes so many mistakes.

I assume, english is easier than french, especialy for grammar and pronunciation, but I'm pretty sure that Thai teachers are not fluent and can't teach them properly. None of my thai friends who are fluent english are teacher and prefer to work in international companies.

My wife's aunt teaches undergraduate English in a University here and has done for many years. She holds a masters degree in English. I can not understand anything she says and she can not understand me either - in fact her siblings who do not hold degrees at all, all (bar two - there are about 8 of them or so) can speak more English. Whereas my wife was privately educated in Thailand and then tertiary in the UK (I met her between college and coming to the UK - she was working as a kindergarten teacher during the holidays teaching English to the kids there) and could speak and understand fairly well back then (18 years ago now) - of course she would not be a fair comparison now.

[wolf5370]

My daughter studied in an English Program for three years of kindergarten, then switched to a Thai school where she is the only 'look kreung'...she occasionally gets to study with foreign teachers, but for the most part her English comes from home schooling, which includes reading, math and lots and lots of videos.

I don't expect her to get anything out of her English classes with the Thai teachers, but I like the fact that they use her as a resource in the classroom to help her classmates. She is 'class leader' anyway, so this comes naturally to her.

I do notice her pronunciation slipping from time to time, that's my biggest concern about it at the moment.

My goal is to keep her completely bilingual, but its a real tightrope act in terms of keeping her adequately exposed to both.

My aunt married an Italian and lived in Italy. They had 3 kids. The rule was unless there is a visitor, English only in doors and Italian outside. It was so enforced that they switched as they crossed the threshold in or out. All of them (all in the 40s now) are multi-lingual (one was - maybe still is - a UN interpreter, and speak some 11 languages). Both English and Italian are perfect and their accents change too.

My kids first attended school in the UK (private from 2) before we moved here before their teens. Now in their teens they speak both English and Thai. The younger of the two has a better Thai accent and pronunciation when speaking Thai, but both have excellent English of course (with real English accents).

We made it a point to only speak English when they were very young, which may have been a bit of a mistake, but it did not take long with immersion for their Thai to improve here. Now I only speak English to them - unless need Thais to understand too - and my wife only speaks Thai to them. Me and the Mrs speak English mostly these days to each other. So, my advice would be to try and ensure that she only speaks and hears English in the home - she will get all the Thai she needs in the classroom/playground - will also help the wife.

[roamer]

I once helped a neighbors kid out with some biology homework, or rather I tried to but had to point out that the diagram of the heart she had been given was incorrectly labelled. The only way to correctly answer the question was therefore to relabel the diagram. Of course that was an absolute no-no so the completely wrong answer had to be given and was duly marked as correct. Not sure which is worse, English teachers who can't speak the language or biology teachers who don't know the difference between pulmonary arteries and pulmonary veins.

As I can't see the issue of loss of face disappearing any time soon I can't see the prospects of the education system improving much either.

[Jasun]

I don't hink anything can beat growing up in an English-speaking home. My wife speaks excellent English, but my 3 year old already has nuances in his language she will never have.

[tartempion]

Well my girl is only 32 months young and her English is coming along fairly good.

We are still far away from facing Thai English teachers, but I do expect no good from them.

I am just wondering when I should start talking French, German and Dutch to her???

[FiftyTwo]

My gfs teen daughter speaks much better English than her Thai English teacher.

So much so that she was just given grade 1 for English (lowest grade allowed).

In an interview with the teacher where mum, me, kid all spoke English but teacher struggled I asked,

'My kid speaks the best English in any class you have, how come you have given her the lowest mark possible?'

Apparently,

Teacher lost her class book and all her test results ...... sorry no work so no marks.

Amazing Thailand!

[willyumiii]

Yes and no.

I assist in the English teaching, so my daughter has one who speaks a little better English than her.

The regular English teacher is good and Igood guy. He does have questions about pronunciation. from time to time

" How do you pronounce the word February?" Good question. Do you pronounce it properly?

When I jokingly asked if my daughter could participate in the yearly English speaking competition next year, they were thrilled with the idea .

Thais love to win!

I love Thailand! lol