Teaching seminar helps banish boredom from the Thai classroom

[webfact]

Teaching seminar helps banish boredom from the classroom
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
THE NATION



Boeing joins forces with Kenan Institution to teach methodology of interaction

BANGKOK: -- BORING lessons are an obstruction to a student's academic success, so Boeing Company and the Kenan Institute Asia started the Boeing Technology Enhance Learning (BoeingTEL) project to train teachers in new techniques to make the learning experience more interesting and fun.

"Student participation during the teaching process is the key," Jantana Ngamjan, a maths teacher at Nonthaburi's Nakornnon Wittaya 2 School and one of the project's 10 master teachers in 2014, said last week.

Students' role in the classroom used to be merely listening to what the teacher taught, which made them feel bored and turned off to studying. But this new teaching methodology encourages teachers and students to interact more, so students enjoy the lessons and improve their learning, she said.

She plans several activities in class to make students more confident and take an active part.

"Students usually avoid answering the teacher's questions. So I use a tactic called 'turn and talk', which allows students to discuss the questions in groups and then answer. This way they will have more confidence to answer," she said.

Another key component of this new teaching strategy is relevance to real life. By linking a lesson with daily life, teachers help students understand the lesson better and remember it longer.

For example, Jantana taught a lesson about ratios by using a flyer from a department store to teach students how much goods were discounted.

"This new style of teaching is effective," she said.

The heart of enjoyable lessons is the teaching script, so the project, for five years now, holds a seminar every April on how to manage an interesting class by using teaching scripts. The next session will run from April 27-28.

After the seminar, project staff follow up with the teachers, who can also get their teaching session recorded for the selection of 10 master teachers of the year.

Last year, the project trained 223 teachers from 48 schools in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces of Samut Prakan, Nonthaburi and Nakhon Nayok.

Chodok Panyawaranant, manager of Boeing TEL, said the script comprises five steps: warm up (possibly with a game to jog the students' memory of a previous lesson and get students' attention); introduction (teacher raising questions for students to think on their own and discuss in a group); body session (class activity such as science experiments or students' presentations in front of the classroom); closing (teacher linking the lesson to daily life); and assessment (teacher requiring students to produce "Exit Tickets" by writing the lesson's core content onto Post-It notes and posting them on the blackboard).

The script helps solve the problem of teachers not being able to teach all of the prepared lesson within the class period, said Piya-anong Nisawattananan, a science teacher at Nonthaburi's Nakornnon Wittaya 3 School.

"The teaching script clearly specifies what and how long the activity will be done in class," she said.

Although writing a script could be a bit hard, it pays off. The script makes the class run smoothly and it is very easy for teachers to follow it.

"Compared to the old teaching style, I feel less tired by using this technique," she said.

"When I see students answering my questions, I feel very happy... It seems to make students excited to learn and try things, while also making me more organised and having clearer steps of teaching in 60 minutes.

"Teaching becomes easier for me and learning easier for students, who become happy to study and their scores are better," she said.

One of Piya-anong's seventh graders, Watcharapon Klahan, said studying was fun and science lessons were easier to understand compared to other subjects.

"I like teacher Piya-anong's class because I like experiments and related activities," he said.

For other teachers, the project seems like a good idea.

Siriwan Chankhuntod, a Chinese language teacher at Nakhon Ratchasima's Boonwattana School, said she became interested after reading the guidelines of the Boeing TEL.

"This technique is suitable for the new age of teaching. It uses multimedia and technology to aid in teaching and increases students' role in class. I think it can be adopted in many subjects."

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Teaching-seminar-helps-banish-boredom-from-the-cla-30256537.html


-- The Nation 2015-03-23

[chooka]

Letting students to get involved in classes may help, encourage them to be active in asking questions and not just sit there to scared to question teachers.

[NongKhaiKid]

Younger teachers might embrace this but there will be resistance from older, established teachers who think being asked questions is a challenge to their authority, ability and status and therefore major loss of face.

[kingalfred]

Interaction,discussion,sharing and questions is of course the way to teach and learn with some subjects.

[aarontendo]

Students being involved in the class and think pair shares are hardly new and innovative. Still, great to hear that it's getting some mileage here...baby steps Bob.

[DavisH]

Is Thailand really this far behind? The is NOT a new teaching style! Involving students in the learning process has been around since at least the 70's-80's. Also, Thai teacher trainees do actually know these methods. Bloom's taxonomy and all that. So, why don't they use it in the classroom?

[lostinisaan]

"When I see students answering my questions, I feel very happy... It seems to make students excited to learn and try things, while also making me more organised and having clearer steps of teaching in 60 minutes.

But the "unwritten law" that students are not allowed to ask their teachers any questions will not change. When will they understand that they can't lose face?

Still a long way to go for this country. Welcome to the 21st century!!

Edited March 23, 2015 by lostinisaan

[otherstuff1957]

Is Thailand really this far behind? The is NOT a new teaching style! Involving students in the learning process has been around since at least the 70's-80's. Also, Thai teacher trainees do actually know these methods. Bloom's taxonomy and all that. So, why don't they use it in the classroom?

Class size is the 500 lb gorilla in the room that no-one will discuss. I once taught at a government school that had up to 58 students per class. Try teaching an interactive lesson with that many students! Until class sizes in Thailand are reduced to a maximum of 25 students all of this discussion of teaching methods is a waste of time.

[Fullstop]

"Student participation during the teaching process is the key," Jantana Ngamjan, a maths teacher at Nonthaburi's Nakornnon Wittaya 2 School and one of the project's 10 master teachers in 2014, said last week.

Students' role in the classroom used to be merely listening to what the teacher taught, which made them feel bored and turned off to studying. But this new teaching methodology encourages teachers and students to interact more, so students enjoy the lessons and improve their learning, she said.

What a stroke of luck it was stumbling over that 1970s Western teaching manual!

[Fullstop]

"This technique is suitable for the new age of teaching. It uses multimedia and technology to aid in teaching and increases students' role in class. I think it can be adopted in many subjects."

Decades old ... I've been doing that for the past 8 years in Thailand. Soon I'll have to leave because I can't get anymore teaching licence waivers. TIT

[lostinisaan]

"This technique is suitable for the new age of teaching. It uses multimedia and technology to aid in teaching and increases students' role in class. I think it can be adopted in many subjects."

Why not in ALL subjects? The main problem might be that most older teachers don't even know how to use any technology, except facebook.

[lostinisaan]

"This technique is suitable for the new age of teaching. It uses multimedia and technology to aid in teaching and increases students' role in class. I think it can be adopted in many subjects."

Decades old ... I've been doing that for the past 8 years in Thailand. Soon I'll have to leave because I can't get anymore teaching licence waivers. TIT

So did I for 10 years. Seems we're both sitting in the same ( sinking?) boat....

[joshstiles]

what the fudge????

isnt this TE 101?

80%of which is common sense.....

oh....now i see

nevermind

[diehard60]

this is not anything new. It has been around for many years. Now they are trying to get it to work. It may be too late for many teachers especially in the rural areas as they all want control of their students.

[lostinisaan]

Siriwan Chankhuntod, a Chinese language teacher at Nakhon Ratchasima's Boonwattana School, said she became interested after reading the guidelines of the Boeing TEL.

She became interested after reading the guidelines. Holy buffalo.

[WonnabeBiker]

Is Thailand really this far behind? The is NOT a new teaching style! Involving students in the learning process has been around since at least the 70's-80's. Also, Thai teacher trainees do actually know these methods. Bloom's taxonomy and all that. So, why don't they use it in the classroom?

Class size is the 500 lb gorilla in the room that no-one will discuss. I once taught at a government school that had up to 58 students per class. Try teaching an interactive lesson with that many students! Until class sizes in Thailand are reduced to a maximum of 25 students all of this discussion of teaching methods is a waste of time.

I had such large classes and share your view. But there is more. Take those long-winded morning speeches. We had an ethics & morality teacher who was the resident guru. She would ignore the bell. voila, 15, 20 minutes of the first class would be toast. And all the other b.s. activities. Preparing something for a teacher's farewell party or whatever. It shows how low a regard schools have for our English classes!

[rijb]

Speaking isn't teaching and listening isn't learning. There are exceptions. But, they're hard to find in a Thai school.

Edited March 23, 2015 by rijb

[DavisH]

I wonder when kids in Thai government schools will be allowed to use calculators. High level calculus, logarithms, trigonometry? Forget it lol. Thailand isn't even in the late 20th century, nevermind the 21st century! Someone should tell the MoE that maths is much more than mechanical calculations.

[DavisH]

Is Thailand really this far behind? The is NOT a new teaching style! Involving students in the learning process has been around since at least the 70's-80's. Also, Thai teacher trainees do actually know these methods. Bloom's taxonomy and all that. So, why don't they use it in the classroom?

Class size is the 500 lb gorilla in the room that no-one will discuss. I once taught at a government school that had up to 58 students per class. Try teaching an interactive lesson with that many students! Until class sizes in Thailand are reduced to a maximum of 25 students all of this discussion of teaching methods is a waste of time.

I had such large classes and share your view. But there is more. Take those long-winded morning speeches. We had an ethics & morality teacher who was the resident guru. She would ignore the bell. voila, 15, 20 minutes of the first class would be toast. And all the other b.s. activities. Preparing something for a teacher's farewell party or whatever. It shows how low a regard schools have for our English classes!

Thailand has a massive problem with class sizes. This won't be resolved anytime soon as the education budget is already one of the largest of all departments. Most of that is used to pay teacher salaries. So to get the class size to 30, the number of schools/buildings needs to be doubled. It's not going to happen anytime soon. Most private schools have far less than 30.

[SaamBaht]

Letting students to get involved in classes may help, encourage them to be active in asking questions and not just sit there to scared to question teachers.

I don't know what kid is going to want to ask a question of a person they must kneel before. This whole respect thing in Thailand is such an barrier to learning. But it's not really respect but fake groveling.

[lostinisaan]

Is Thailand really this far behind? The is NOT a new teaching style! Involving students in the learning process has been around since at least the 70's-80's. Also, Thai teacher trainees do actually know these methods. Bloom's taxonomy and all that. So, why don't they use it in the classroom?

Class size is the 500 lb gorilla in the room that no-one will discuss. I once taught at a government school that had up to 58 students per class. Try teaching an interactive lesson with that many students! Until class sizes in Thailand are reduced to a maximum of 25 students all of this discussion of teaching methods is a waste of time.

I had such large classes and share your view. But there is more. Take those long-winded morning speeches. We had an ethics & morality teacher who was the resident guru. She would ignore the bell. voila, 15, 20 minutes of the first class would be toast. And all the other b.s. activities. Preparing something for a teacher's farewell party or whatever. It shows how low a regard schools have for our English classes!

Thailand has a massive problem with class sizes. This won't be resolved anytime soon as the education budget is already one of the largest of all departments. Most of that is used to pay teacher salaries. So to get the class size to 30, the number of schools/buildings needs to be doubled. It's not going to happen anytime soon. Most private schools have far less than 30.

The "massive problem with class sizes" is similar to pure gold. Try to get your kid into a school with a good reputation, just to find out that there're 55 kids in one class grade seven.

You'll also find out that -depending on your social (financial) status- you'll have to pay for something, that's supposed to be free. Just to get your child into an ordinary school will cost you 20 to 50 K.

Then meeting after meeting, where they openly ask you to "donate" some money. But they do it in a way that nobody loses face and you'll think oh great, I need to help them out with some money.

"Oh, we need a new meeting hall, but we could only get 200 K through a merit. But it will cost about 2 million baht", was one I was confronted with.

Two years ago, I was trying to bring our son into a middle class high school in Ubon. In the beginning they wanted 20 K, which would have been okay for us. But then we had to go there a few more times, one day was Khun Kru A not there, another day was Khun Kru B in Bangkok.

Every time, they're asking the same question and wanted to see my resume as they always thought I wanted a job there. When they finally decided that 20 K wasn't enough and they said "Song Mueng Qua.." it was the end for my wife and me. Could also be 50 K.

But just reducing students doesn't seem to be enough. The quality of teaching, the not knowing how to use a simple projector and how to use the Internet, plus the inability to understand that a teacher in Thailand isn't right after god.

Let students fail, allow them to ask questions, stop hitting kids with bamboo sticks, make teachers understand who and what they are.

Many of them only abuse their position, get a 2 million baht loan easily, with only 1% interest, plus many other goodies.

There're too many of them who sit on their arse all day long, let the kids copy something from the white/blackboard into their notebooks and hit some kids from time to time.

They don't even have commons sense to separate students with learning disorders, behavioral problems, etc..they all "study" with the "normal kids."

No, you're damn right, it's not going to happen soon.

Edited March 23, 2015 by lostinisaan

[cup-O-coffee]

Large class sizes... too much parading before classes allows for only around 35 minutes of lessons after everyone is seated and has their books out and all the chatter dies down...

Having the teacher not lecture, and turn the discussion over to groups is also stupid if this is not supervised. The kids get to decide who they will be with in the group... one or two always dominate and... lecture, or carry the conversation... the remainder always sit there waiting for the dominant ones to lay down the law, and everyone else follows along blindly.

After a few weeks of this, the blueprint for this training begins to suffer from Thai culture, and the details begin to get foggy... people begin to forget the intent... lazyiness and apathy set in... students lose interest in the methods to get them interested...

Back to ground zero.

Results? Wasted effort!

[maidee]

somchai buys 50 gram of yaba for 1000 baht per gram

he deceides to cut it down with 50 gram of other chemicals and now sells it for 1500 baht per gram

what is somchai's profit, after he paid the BIB his 25% licence fee ?

[TPI]

somchai buys 50 gram of yaba for 1000 baht per gram

he deceides to cut it down with 50 gram of other chemicals and now sells it for 1500 baht per gram

what is somchai's profit, after he paid the BIB his 25% licence fee ?

I'm going to use this calculation in my next class, it'll come in quite handy for the graduating class!

[lostinisaan]

somchai buys 50 gram of yaba for 1000 baht per gram

he deceides to cut it down with 50 gram of other chemicals and now sells it for 1500 baht per gram

what is somchai's profit, after he paid the BIB his 25% licence fee ?

The result would never be the right one and.In some areas much higher than 25 %. Its a sort of...aehh complicated.

[lostinisaan]

somchai buys 50 gram of yaba for 1000 baht per gram

he deceides to cut it down with 50 gram of other chemicals and now sells it for 1500 baht per gram

what is somchai's profit, after he paid the BIB his 25% licence fee ?

I'm going to use this calculation in my next class, it'll come in quite handy for the graduating class!

I truly hope that you won't show them the "real thing."..

[Scott]

For upper Mathyom, you will have to add that Somchai gets arrested and the police now take the drugs and they sell them, What is the total amount made by the police on the entire deal? How much does the officer get after he pays his colleague 10% and then 50% to the Captain?

[Scott]

Oh, sorry, I think we are straying off-topic.

[Mr Somtam]

Thailand! Welcome to the 1970s !

[Mr Somtam]

Education budget is enormous. Still most schools are wooden shacks. Where does the money go?

Entering the 21st century with this mindset? Classes of 50 students...

I was asked to do some teaching, but Orbortor no money. Next week all Orbortor go Phuket, sanook, taxpayer money finit! You can give from your heart, khun kroo falang?

Please go €@&? Yourself khrab!

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mr Somtam