English teaching reform in Thailand to begin this year

[sirchai]

So when and how will this new reform start this year? Is it similar to the high speed trains and tablet PC's?-

[sirchai]

Anecdotal information isn't always the best way to plan a curriculum for learning a language. A lot of older students can and do learn a second language quite successfully. Other students can't quite get their head around a new language even though they start learning when quite young. There are a lot of individual variables in learning.

Of the people who I know (sorry for being anecdotal--but it is based on working in nearly 20 different countries), there are a couple of things that seem to help, the most important is the actual use of the 2nd language. People who are exposed to, or use the language seem to speak better and function better in the 2nd language.

In Thailand, once out of the classroom, most students have little exposure to English. Even in EP/Bilingual and other intensive programs, their exposure outside the academic setting is limited.

I had the "good luck" to tutor our Assistant director's son, who's a M.4 EP student at a well-known high school in Ubon R. He can't speak one sentence correctly, nor did he understand my Americanized English.

He'd made a statement that around 60 % of his classmates don't understand their English teacher.

[claaay]

I started adding some coaching skills into my classes and found this worked for most students.... what they needed was some one to help them develop the confidence to "use the language" without fear of making a mistake.

This is tantalizing. Would you care to go into greater detail? Perhaps not here. Got a blog?

[sirchai]

English teaching reform in Thailand to begin this year

When I saw this post, I printed it out an gave it to our Thai head teacher. I saw when she read it that she didn't understand what it was all about.

Now I didn't see anything about this "reform that will start this year." I'd be more than happy to be able to use an intelligent board which we've got, but mostly used by our PE Thai teacher and those who don't use it for educational purposes.

I teach two hours per week, Thai English teachers also two. My idea to use the same text books was denied as all that comes from a foreigner who knows what teaching is all about.

My Thai colleague in grade six had used a book called Bounce off, or so and it started with a pirate and his sword.A lot of nonsense, a story about a ghost in the White House in Washington D.C, where not even the teachers knew where that is, etc..

I was trying to make them understand that you can't just throw English books at them, as they'll have to start in grade one, then continue with the same books.

Okay, I could choose the books, which will be Let's Go for this year, but the Thais will continue with their shitty, aeehh questionable books, as they're so used to them.

Whatever they're planning in Bangkok, if the school administrators don't get it, things will never change.I could use a projector last year and the students' level of English was much better. Using the same topic for an hour in class, then an hour using the same topic in a PowerPoint Slideshow and the world wide web.

Plus the use of various programs I had bought, such as Rosetta Stone, Tell me more and some fantastic programs to teach long and short vowel sounds.

One of my colleagues, holding a Master's in English wanted me to correct her speech whenever she says something wrong. The problem is that she always says something wrong and teaches that.

Okay, the new school year will start on 16th of May. If there're changes, when will they start? I'm confused. -

Edited March 29, 2014 by sirchai

[Chiang2000]

Most has already been clearly stated in the preceeding posts. Most of what has been said is gospel.

The simple truth comes down to some simple questions. Are the people involved in this reform really serious, or is just yet more political BS? Given that the doors open to ASEAN next year, have any of them contemplated just how much face is going to be lost here when the rest of ASEAN find out just how bad the standard of English is in this country? English is the official language. It doesn' t take a crystal ball to see the problems that this country will face. Not least of which is going to be a higher rate of unemployment.

These 'reforms' have been muted for a long time. Each year, since 2000, there have been changes to the 'new' curriculum with references in the introductory pages that there were some minor problems that would be addressed by this new version. Yet NOTHING has changed at the coal-face! And as long as there IS the current level of corruption and incompetance, there will be no real change. ONLY a true native speaker can even hope to be able to teach the nuances and correct pronounciation of ANY language. When many of the Thai teachers can't put three words of English together correctly, there is no hope. ALL teachers of English should hold a TEFL/TESOL/CELTA certificate - that includes ALL teachers of a language. Obviously almost all Thai teachers would fail to get one.

Student-centred learning? The majority of Thai teachers that I know can't even teach by rote! Bamboo rules.

One problem that has not been mentioned is the de-training that is done by some Thai teachers. I had one particular case recently involving two students in a speaking competition. I had personally taught both of them the correct use of ordinal numbers and one girl, in particular, was both accurate and confident in the use thereof. As a judge in the competition I was shocked when I found both students having been taught by their Thai tutor to use cardinal numbers instead. Most Thai teachers can NOT pronounce correctly and indeed have many problems with even simple grammar. To actually undo correct use of the language, to my mind, says it all!

Kids in this country deserve better but I don't think they're going to get it in my lifetime.

Good luck to all NES here who are trying to do the right thing by their students, I am retiring from this farce that they call the education system.

[NotEinstein]

I volunteered at the village school for 5 years, but had to stop 3 years back because of the Teacher's Licence rules.

I saw the headmaster yesterday, and he asked if I could help his teachers with english, so they could teach P1-6 more effectively. His M1-3 english teacher has suggested paying YMCA to visit once a week. I reminded him of the work permit rules and that anything beyond just chatting is out.

When I first started, the idea of me teaching the teachers was raised, but it didn't happen. The M1-3 english teacher at the time was almost fluent and easily able - she didn't teach them. The current teacher is probably as capable.

There is no desire in these teachers to make any effort to resolve their poor ability.

There are plenty of potential solutions, but with no will, nothing will change......

[lostinisaan]

I volunteered at the village school for 5 years, but had to stop 3 years back because of the Teacher's Licence rules.

I saw the headmaster yesterday, and he asked if I could help his teachers with english, so they could teach P1-6 more effectively. His M1-3 english teacher has suggested paying YMCA to visit once a week. I reminded him of the work permit rules and that anything beyond just chatting is out.

When I first started, the idea of me teaching the teachers was raised, but it didn't happen. The M1-3 english teacher at the time was almost fluent and easily able - she didn't teach them. The current teacher is probably as capable.

There is no desire in these teachers to make any effort to resolve their poor ability.

There are plenty of potential solutions, but with no will, nothing will change......

I made quite a few seminars for Thai English teachers, primary and secondary level how to teach English most effectively.

The majority couldn't speak one sentence right and it turned out that they're not speaking English to their students. It was pretty difficult to make them speak, but after all they're similar to kids.

Yep, when will it start? Nobody knows and it seems that nothing will change this year. Get more agencies in and let the directors get richer.

They don't really care bout the kids' education, it's more about their wallets.

Edited April 6, 2014 by lostinisaan

[Hawkman]

I see two problems here. 1, the Thai way (not Thai bashing here, just being honest) in how they believe something should be done without outside opinion and 2, Thai kids and their shyness. Some kids are brought up in such conservative and respectful ways (which is good in many aspects), however, are terrified from making simple conversation, whether it's English or even in Thai with other kids. A teacher in many cases can't improve on that, this is more a mental thing.

A big problem is a lot of schools think they know the best way to teach English communication, without listening to the English teachers themselves. They believe students will learn, as if reading conversations from a book. "How are you?" "I'm fine thanks. And you?" "I'm ok, thanks." Then when they hear the "How's it going?" instead of How are you, they all get confused, focusing on the grammar and vocabulary instead of the context.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

Trying to explain that all of the students would not learn a thing and would not be able to pay attention for 10 minutes listening to a native speaker, let alone for 2 hours in a 28 hour course, fell on deaf ears. It was only when I took matters into my own hands and tried it on the receptionists, that they finally listened (not agreeing I was right of course!).

You only have to see some of the questions in the O-net exams etc, to see their idea of how communication is taught, doesn't work. Listening, talking about feelings, expressing opinions, commenting on things, getting pronunciation and intonation right, practicing as much as possible and improving your confidence, will make Thai students better IMHO.

[Seastallion]

I volunteered at the village school for 5 years, but had to stop 3 years back because of the Teacher's Licence rules.

I saw the headmaster yesterday, and he asked if I could help his teachers with english, so they could teach P1-6 more effectively. His M1-3 english teacher has suggested paying YMCA to visit once a week. I reminded him of the work permit rules and that anything beyond just chatting is out.

When I first started, the idea of me teaching the teachers was raised, but it didn't happen. The M1-3 english teacher at the time was almost fluent and easily able - she didn't teach them. The current teacher is probably as capable.

There is no desire in these teachers to make any effort to resolve their poor ability.

There are plenty of potential solutions, but with no will, nothing will change......

I'm a newcomer to the teaching forum, so I hope you can forgive me for speaking without having read the thousands of posts here to get a feeling for things.

I know of only one Thai English teacher, and she is up at 4:30 am every morning studying. She already has her Masters from an internationally recognised university, and wants to continue teaching. She is as frustrated as many posters on this thread.

She recognises the "loss of face" aspect of teachers not accepting their own shortcomings or lackings. She despairs that the students don't ask questions for similar reasons to the "face" issue.

My point in replying here is to state that not all Thai teachers have no ambition or genuine desire to teach.

[lostinisaan]

I see two problems here. 1, the Thai way (not Thai bashing here, just being honest) in how they believe something should be done without outside opinion and 2, Thai kids and their shyness. Some kids are brought up in such conservative and respectful ways (which is good in many aspects), however, are terrified from making simple conversation, whether it's English or even in Thai with other kids. A teacher in many cases can't improve on that, this is more a mental thing.

A big problem is a lot of schools think they know the best way to teach English communication, without listening to the English teachers themselves. They believe students will learn, as if reading conversations from a book. "How are you?" "I'm fine thanks. And you?" "I'm ok, thanks." Then when they hear the "How's it going?" instead of How are you, they all get confused, focusing on the grammar and vocabulary instead of the context.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

Trying to explain that all of the students would not learn a thing and would not be able to pay attention for 10 minutes listening to a native speaker, let alone for 2 hours in a 28 hour course, fell on deaf ears. It was only when I took matters into my own hands and tried it on the receptionists, that they finally listened (not agreeing I was right of course!).

You only have to see some of the questions in the O-net exams etc, to see their idea of how communication is taught, doesn't work. Listening, talking about feelings, expressing opinions, commenting on things, getting pronunciation and intonation right, practicing as much as possible and improving your confidence, will make Thai students better IMHO.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

That's why it's called "teacher." You'll have to find a way to make them speak. Make a clown out of you, be funny and you'll see that they love to speak English.

​So younger they are, so better is their pronunciation. There so many nice programs foe kiddies to teach them long and short vowel sounds.

You can't just hammer boring stuff into their minds and expect they understand you. Thai kids never say that they didn't understand you, it's your responsibility to figure that out.

Please it was never my intention to criticize you, just my own experience with little Thai kids.

Edited April 8, 2014 by lostinisaan

[Hawkman]

I see two problems here. 1, the Thai way (not Thai bashing here, just being honest) in how they believe something should be done without outside opinion and 2, Thai kids and their shyness. Some kids are brought up in such conservative and respectful ways (which is good in many aspects), however, are terrified from making simple conversation, whether it's English or even in Thai with other kids. A teacher in many cases can't improve on that, this is more a mental thing.

A big problem is a lot of schools think they know the best way to teach English communication, without listening to the English teachers themselves. They believe students will learn, as if reading conversations from a book. "How are you?" "I'm fine thanks. And you?" "I'm ok, thanks." Then when they hear the "How's it going?" instead of How are you, they all get confused, focusing on the grammar and vocabulary instead of the context.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

Trying to explain that all of the students would not learn a thing and would not be able to pay attention for 10 minutes listening to a native speaker, let alone for 2 hours in a 28 hour course, fell on deaf ears. It was only when I took matters into my own hands and tried it on the receptionists, that they finally listened (not agreeing I was right of course!).

You only have to see some of the questions in the O-net exams etc, to see their idea of how communication is taught, doesn't work. Listening, talking about feelings, expressing opinions, commenting on things, getting pronunciation and intonation right, practicing as much as possible and improving your confidence, will make Thai students better IMHO.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

That's why it's called "teacher." You'll have to find a way to make them speak. Make a clown out of you, be funny and you'll see that they love to speak English.

​So younger they are, so better is their pronunciation. There so many nice programs foe kiddies to teach them long and short vowel sounds.

You can't just hammer boring stuff into their minds and expect they understand you. Thai kids never say that they didn't understand you, it's your responsibility to figure that out.

Please it was never my intention to criticize you, just my own experience with little Thai kids.

You missed my point, the school DIDN'T want the students to speak or interact, just to sit and listen to a native speaker talking. I explained that wouldn't work without interaction.

Otherwise, I agree with your points entirely.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

Edited April 8, 2014 by Hawkman

[sirchai]

I see two problems here. 1, the Thai way (not Thai bashing here, just being honest) in how they believe something should be done without outside opinion and 2, Thai kids and their shyness. Some kids are brought up in such conservative and respectful ways (which is good in many aspects), however, are terrified from making simple conversation, whether it's English or even in Thai with other kids. A teacher in many cases can't improve on that, this is more a mental thing.

A big problem is a lot of schools think they know the best way to teach English communication, without listening to the English teachers themselves. They believe students will learn, as if reading conversations from a book. "How are you?" "I'm fine thanks. And you?" "I'm ok, thanks." Then when they hear the "How's it going?" instead of How are you, they all get confused, focusing on the grammar and vocabulary instead of the context.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

Trying to explain that all of the students would not learn a thing and would not be able to pay attention for 10 minutes listening to a native speaker, let alone for 2 hours in a 28 hour course, fell on deaf ears. It was only when I took matters into my own hands and tried it on the receptionists, that they finally listened (not agreeing I was right of course!).

You only have to see some of the questions in the O-net exams etc, to see their idea of how communication is taught, doesn't work. Listening, talking about feelings, expressing opinions, commenting on things, getting pronunciation and intonation right, practicing as much as possible and improving your confidence, will make Thai students better IMHO.

I was once asked to teach conversation to very young Elementary students by showing conversations through a projector and I do all the talking, while the students just sat and listened to me for 2 hours every lesson, with NO interaction from the students.

That's why it's called "teacher." You'll have to find a way to make them speak. Make a clown out of you, be funny and you'll see that they love to speak English.

​So younger they are, so better is their pronunciation. There so many nice programs foe kiddies to teach them long and short vowel sounds.

You can't just hammer boring stuff into their minds and expect they understand you. Thai kids never say that they didn't understand you, it's your responsibility to figure that out.

Please it was never my intention to criticize you, just my own experience with little Thai kids.

You missed my point, the school DIDN'T want the students to speak or interact, just to sit and listen to a native speaker talking. I explained that wouldn't work without interaction.

Otherwise, I agree with your points entirely.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

My Thai colleague had a good excuse for not being able to speak a good English, having a Master's.

All she said was that she would only use English at school, once she's at home she'd only speak Thai. Even the fresh graduates aren't better in English.

Please go to any Rajabhat university and try to find some senior students who speak a good English.