Teachers changing their methods: allowing students to learn by doing

[blazes]

One of the most positive threads I have ever read on TV (with only an absolute minimum of bashing).

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

I just told her to try and get across the idea that you should keep asking questions, questions questions. Tell them that not all questions have answers. Or at least, not just ONE answer.

What IS the meaning of life? Ok, you are not going to produce little Bertrand Russells overnight, but what an amazing concept it is, here in LoS, to be introduced to the notion that there is MORE THAN ONE answer to any question outside mathematics (and perhaps even inside mathematics, I dunno).

[lostinisaan]

"Great news. Eventually the Thais will invent communicative language teaching and critical thinking."

That is like when a woman tells you that your are handsome for your age and weight.

Talk about a back handed comment.

What do you actually know about education or Thai education specifically? (DELETED)

Student centered learning is nothing new but it is very hard to correctly adapt to the classroom and curriculum. Communicative approach to language teaching is so last year. Get with it. Those that are proponents of Communicative approach are those without degrees in education or ability to do anything but speak in the target language. There are so many other skills in language development than just communicating. If all you are doing is relying on that, then you must realize that the students need other teachers helping them with the other language skills.

This article is about a lot more than that. This touches on the role of the teacher, the role of the student. Realizing that collectively your students know more than you do. It is very difficult to show the same results that a standardized test can, so administration tends to think of it is not as essential. This method of education is also very time consuming. Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

Wouldn't you consider “task based learning” as lecturing? And isn't “rote memorization” exactly what Thai teachers are doing, which doesn't seem to be successful?

Shouldn't “associative learning”, - It can be used to help students connect with information more deeply and recall that information with greater accuracy- and “active learning”,- doing things and thinking about the things they are doing- be the most effective ways?

[DaveinAsia]

This article isn't about EFL teaching.

"There are professionally trained teachers from their own countries teaching English here"

Very few at that. Most either teach subject matter in EP, bilingual programs or teach at international schools.

My point is that EFL teachers only really know what is going on with a student from an English speaking perspective. They cannot really comment on the students' education as a whole because they are not involved with cross discipline teaching.

As this article is about Education as a whole and not EFL. You and the other poster seem to be sending this topic off course.

'They cannot really comment on the students' education as a whole'

I think any good teacher can comment on their students education as a whole. It's rather easy to see in any language if a student is bright or not so bright

[seedy]

Seems two posters have a large difference of opinion.

Please express your opposing views in a polite and respectful manner.

[dragonfly94]

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

My mrs has a masters degree, on coming out of the dawn of the planet of the apes film she asked me if the monkeys were real or actors. Just having a Thai degree does not mean you are either educated , or intelligent.

[duckmandon]

You can give a man a fish. Teach him to fish & he can feed for life.

[zeichen]

"Wouldn't you consider “task based learning” as lecturing?"

No, not even close. For example if you have a topic that you have to cover. You could lecture at students showing them diagrams and what not as reinforcement but mainly lecturing to cover all of the material. This is clearly not effective for all students. Since most of us went to university and some of us actually learned things there with professors lecturing at us, we shouldn't dismiss it as totally useless.

Again, I wasn't promoting rote memorization. I was explaining that many teachers newly exposed to a more student centered approach tend to throw out rote memorization completely. It has its uses and as a reinforcement combined with a well thought out formative task it can be useful. When people first read Gardner they feel all refreshed and invigorated ready to reinvent all teaching practices. My point is don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Constructivist task based teaching allows students to explore the subject matter in their own way. Combined with an appropriate lecture, multi media, and selective rote memorization combines the benefits of all approaches. It is neither easy nor expedient.

Telling students what to learn, how to learn and when to learn is what most teachers do. We tend to think of ourselves as the authority in the classroom a kind of gatekeeper to the world of knowledge. This is counter productive.

A real student centered approach does leave most of the responsibility on the student's shoulders but that doesn't mean the teacher should just stand back and goof off. It actually requires more effort on the teachers part than just inputting data.

For example if a teacher says "Do this project so you can learn the topic". That isn't student centered at all. Often having students work together to create the project themselves and making them identify the aspects of the project that will lead them to the desired outcome, is more aligned with student centered discussion.

Teachers shouldn't act is if they are the fountains of knowledge that students must worship at. Which in my experience many of the foreign teachers here are guilty of the same thing.

I agree 100% that the system needs a total overhaul but what many posters that teach here fail to realize is that they are a part of that system and are equally to blame.

We as westerners assume wrongly that we and our systems of education foster critical thinking more. Educational systems have always stifled creative and critical thinking. The foreigners that tend to criticize Thais for not being critical thinkers are those that only speak English. How can we expect a second language learner to critically think in a foreign language and judge all of their education on that.

Yes, the top down approach to life here does stifle but unless you have actually taken a course in Thai with a good professor and listen in Thai to other students, how do you know what their critical thinking capabilities are?

There is no need of debate, Education needs reform. It does in all countries. As education is an ever changing almost biological creature. What/how and why we teach today isn't for today it is for the future needs. So we cannot always sit on yesterdays knowledge and we must prepare students to adapt to all things in the future.

Isn't it time that the western imperialist mentality end. Why do posters think that every western person here is more knowledgeable and better suited to redraft the entire Thai educational system?

Complaining and pointing fingers is just adding to the problem. How many actually think that they are a part of the solution? If you say yes, isn't that a little arrogant?

In order for more teachers to use the approaches in the article, there needs to be a way that it can be assessed from a governmental perspective. That is the challenge. Until the universe gets rid of standardized testing, there will be little hope for all teachers to effectively integrate these methodologies fully.

[zeichen]

sorry double post.

Edited April 20, 2015 by zeichen

[Thaddeus]

Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

For subjects that are fact orientated it is, history, geography ect.

For most other subjects discovery and how to discover is way way better.

A friend once asked me to find out how well his daughter was doing in maths (she was 9 years old at the time)

I wrote on a piece of paper 15 x 9 = ?

She just stared at it in a state of confusion.

I made it easier 15 x 10 = ?

No change..

I asked her why she couldn't answer that, she showed me the 25 times table that they had been given to memorise and said they hadn't got that far in maths class yet.

Who is to blame for the child not knowing how to multiply by ten by just sticking a zero on the end, the child or the teacher?

Had the teacher actually managed to work that one out anyway? and what sort of hissy fit would they throw when they were told (it was a large one btw)

Students have to be involved in class not just lectured to, and I see this article as a desperately needed breath of fresh air in a stale room.

[lostinisaan]

Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

For subjects that are fact orientated it is, history, geography ect.

For most other subjects discovery and how to discover is way way better.

A friend once asked me to find out how well his daughter was doing in maths (she was 9 years old at the time)

I wrote on a piece of paper 15 x 9 = ?

She just stared at it in a state of confusion.

I made it easier 15 x 10 = ?

No change..

I asked her why she couldn't answer that, she showed me the 25 times table that they had been given to memorise and said they hadn't got that far in maths class yet.

Who is to blame for the child not knowing how to multiply by ten by just sticking a zero on the end, the child or the teacher?

Had the teacher actually managed to work that one out anyway? and what sort of hissy fit would they throw when they were told (it was a large one btw)

Students have to be involved in class not just lectured to, and I see this article as a desperately needed breath of fresh air in a stale room.

A great example. We'd just started a bilingual program, last May with one Prathom 1 class. At the end of the year most of them could do simple multiplications,as shown in your post, but a the Thai math teacher then told me that it wouldn't be part of the Thai curriculum this age.

However, one day i made a test for my grade one kids, some addition and subtraction, some exercises with numbers in brackets.

I gave one copy to our 16 year old son, who's now "studying electronics" at a technical college. He had no idea how to do this easy math what first graders can easily comprehend.

In grade six classes, I always implant some science, or math in English lessons.

I can't believe how bad the majority of Thai kids in the ordinary programs really are. For example, how many hours are there in one year? ( Taking 365 days)

Most of the grade six kids needed a long time and finally had the wrong number.

If kids in grade six can't multiply 365 with 24, then you know that something's terribly wrong with the system.

Edited April 20, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Guest]

"Wouldn't you consider “task based learning” as lecturing?"

No, not even close. For example if you have a topic that you have to cover. You could lecture at students showing them diagrams and what not as reinforcement but mainly lecturing to cover all of the material. This is clearly not effective for all students. Since most of us went to university and some of us actually learned things there with professors lecturing at us, we shouldn't dismiss it as totally useless.

Again, I wasn't promoting rote memorization. I was explaining that many teachers newly exposed to a more student centered approach tend to throw out rote memorization completely. It has its uses and as a reinforcement combined with a well thought out formative task it can be useful. When people first read Gardner they feel all refreshed and invigorated ready to reinvent all teaching practices. My point is don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Constructivist task based teaching allows students to explore the subject matter in their own way. Combined with an appropriate lecture, multi media, and selective rote memorization combines the benefits of all approaches. It is neither easy nor expedient.

Telling students what to learn, how to learn and when to learn is what most teachers do. We tend to think of ourselves as the authority in the classroom a kind of gatekeeper to the world of knowledge. This is counter productive.

A real student centered approach does leave most of the responsibility on the student's shoulders but that doesn't mean the teacher should just stand back and goof off. It actually requires more effort on the teachers part than just inputting data.

For example if a teacher says "Do this project so you can learn the topic". That isn't student centered at all. Often having students work together to create the project themselves and making them identify the aspects of the project that will lead them to the desired outcome, is more aligned with student centered discussion.

Teachers shouldn't act is if they are the fountains of knowledge that students must worship at. Which in my experience many of the foreign teachers here are guilty of the same thing.

I agree 100% that the system needs a total overhaul but what many posters that teach here fail to realize is that they are a part of that system and are equally to blame.

We as westerners assume wrongly that we and our systems of education foster critical thinking more. Educational systems have always stifled creative and critical thinking. The foreigners that tend to criticize Thais for not being critical thinkers are those that only speak English. How can we expect a second language learner to critically think in a foreign language and judge all of their education on that.

Yes, the top down approach to life here does stifle but unless you have actually taken a course in Thai with a good professor and listen in Thai to other students, how do you know what their critical thinking capabilities are?

There is no need of debate, Education needs reform. It does in all countries. As education is an ever changing almost biological creature. What/how and why we teach today isn't for today it is for the future needs. So we cannot always sit on yesterdays knowledge and we must prepare students to adapt to all things in the future.

Isn't it time that the western imperialist mentality end. Why do posters think that every western person here is more knowledgeable and better suited to redraft the entire Thai educational system?

Complaining and pointing fingers is just adding to the problem. How many actually think that they are a part of the solution? If you say yes, isn't that a little arrogant?

In order for more teachers to use the approaches in the article, there needs to be a way that it can be assessed from a governmental perspective. That is the challenge. Until the universe gets rid of standardized testing, there will be little hope for all teachers to effectively integrate these methodologies fully.

"We as westerners assume wrongly that we and our systems of education foster critical thinking more. Educational systems have always stifled creative and critical thinking. The foreigners that tend to criticize Thais for not being critical thinkers are those that only speak English. How can we expect a second language learner to critically think in a foreign language and judge all of their education on that."

I am willing to bet you have never done any upper level strategic projects, deep financial analysis and pro forma projections or creation of a new way to do something ...

I love Thais, but "When logic meets culture, culture wins."

You are lucky to leave a high level meeting here where complex forward "critical thinking" is required ... with a single hair left in your head ... it is maddening beyond description.

No, I do not believe you have built anything here, designed a new system, offered "different but proven" methodologies .. to only get "We have always done it this way” or worse .. a blank “I don’t get it, and don’t WANT to get it” .. stare

Thias are amazing, positive, live in the present and in so many ways .. better that us .. really.

But critical thinking? Analytical deductive reasoning? Pro Forma projections? Scenarios and probable outcomes? No my friend. NO.

And YES … those skills are taught in Western Schools … or were ... it has been a long time since I had chalk in my hair.

[Godders]

It is encouraging to hear of a few instances of Thai educators thinking and acting outside the box. But it is no good relying on commercially-driven organisations such as Samsung to provide an alternative to the current narrow, rote-learning-based mantra - or on the efforts on a few enterprising individuals who are prepared to buck the system. Change must come from within and it needs to be comprehensive and free of any influence from commercial outside interests.

I could paper the walls of my house with newspaper cuttings of successive government which have promised to make the changes necessary to equip the Kingdom's children with the mindset and skills needed to compete in the modern world. The lamentable results speak for themselves, with Thai students remaining among the least intelligent and capable in Asia..

In particular, the conspicuous failure to establish English as a second language will put the Kingdom's workforce at a huge disadvantage when competition among the ASEAN trading group of countries begins in earnest. If the vast majority of Singaporean and Malaysian children speak English, why can't Thai youngsters who spend a decade or more supposedly learning to talk falang

From the experiences of my own five children, it is all too clear that the teaching material and methods being used in Thai classrooms are outmoded and ineffective. "Dad, they're so boring", was the reaction of my youngest to the English lessons inflicted on her class of seven-year-olds by a teacher who was clearly out of her depth.

What an indictment of a system which seems designed to fool Thais into believing their country is the centre of the universe and what happens outside its borders is irrelevant to their lives.

The results of this myopic approach are all too painfully clear in everyday life.

We live in a bustling seaside resort which attracts hordes of foreign visitors and has a large and rapidly growing immigrant population, mainly from Northern European countries. The vast majority of these temporary and permanent residents speak English, and they not unreasonably expect to be able to use the world's lingua franca in their travels.

Here they are doomed to disappointment and inconvenience, as few employees in the local banks, government offices and utility offices can speak anything other than their own native language and (such is their knowledge of the outside world) would probably be incredulous learn is only spoken within the confines of the Kingdom.

English is just one noteworthy casualty of the inherently insular Thai education system. Don't even get me started on the average LOS child's knowledge of world history or geography!

Unfortunately, the new regime gives the impression of being even more conservative and parochial than its recent predecessors and even less likely to lead the educational revolution necessary to enable future generations of Thais to survive and prosper in an increasingly global marketplace.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Godders

[Anon999]

Confucius said it a long time ago "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand"

There are number of variations on the Chinese Proverb;

Tell me, I'll forget.

Show me, I may remember.

But involve me, and I'll understand.

[Harveyg]

"Great news. Eventually the Thais will invent communicative language teaching and critical thinking."

That is like when a woman tells you that your are handsome for your age and weight.

Talk about a back handed comment.

What do you actually know about education or Thai education specifically? (DELETED)

Student centered learning is nothing new but it is very hard to correctly adapt to the classroom and curriculum. Communicative approach to language teaching is so last year. Get with it. Those that are proponents of Communicative approach are those without degrees in education or ability to do anything but speak in the target language. There are so many other skills in language development than just communicating. If all you are doing is relying on that, then you must realize that the students need other teachers helping them with the other language skills.

This article is about a lot more than that. This touches on the role of the teacher, the role of the student. Realizing that collectively your students know more than you do. It is very difficult to show the same results that a standardized test can, so administration tends to think of it is not as essential. This method of education is also very time consuming. Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

Quote

I'm not sure where you stand with student entered learning other than it is difficult to implement, which I agree with. But I believe it is the only kind of teaching that makes sense as a definition of what teaching is. Your last sentence though, without further elaboration, could be used by almost every teacher as a confirmation of satisfaction that what the teacher is doing follows your precepts: I do a little lecturing, I have them memorize, then I give them a task. In short, balancing the 3 is not a strong enough statement for me. I would prefer statements like, the less I talk the more students learn(in general), can the memorizing be done in a context where higher level cognitive demand is present, can the task be given first and its use give rise to the incidental rules or procedures. Hope that makes some sense to you all absent specific examples...

[Lupatria]

One of the most positive threads I have ever read on TV (with only an absolute minimum of bashing).

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

I just told her to try and get across the idea that you should keep asking questions, questions questions. Tell them that not all questions have answers. Or at least, not just ONE answer.

What IS the meaning of life? Ok, you are not going to produce little Bertrand Russells overnight, but what an amazing concept it is, here in LoS, to be introduced to the notion that there is MORE THAN ONE answer to any question outside mathematics (and perhaps even inside mathematics, I dunno).

MORE THAN ONE answer to any question?

As sad as it is in a country where the PM is already pissed off with one question by the media and constantly threatens to shut down inconvenient publications, no matter if their reporting is based on facts - then there is only one answer to all questions. Accordingly this mindset goes down from top to universities, schools and even Kindergarten..

[zeichen]

"In particular, the conspicuous failure to establish English as a second language will put the Kingdom's workforce at a huge disadvantage when competition among the ASEAN trading group of countries begins in earnest. If the vast majority of Singaporean and Malaysian children speak English, why can't Thai youngsters who spend a decade or more supposedly learning to talk falang"

You do realize that those countries were colonized by English speaking governments?

How about compare to Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Vietnam.

English isn't the solution neither is sacrificing cultural needs and importance for western ideals. Thailand needs to define itself first and then create a system that works for itself and not mimic and copy others.

Look at China, it stands strong but still concreted in its own cultural needs and ideals. They utilize rote memorization, corporal punishment, lecture based teaching all the things we know aren't as effective yet, they outperform western countries in Math, Science and related courses.

The problem has been and will be that we tend to throw bandaids at gushing wounds. Mismanagement of resources, overcrowding in the classroom, not accurate assessments nor a clear vision for what the future needs of students is at the core.

These are global issues and not just Thai issues. Teachers all over the world complain about the same problems with educational management. One thing that I respect about California is that they require all school managers to actually teach. It is one thing to make mandates of your teachers it is an entirely different thing to have to live by them in your own classroom.

[DaveinAsia]

Education as a whole has failed globally. Thailand is just a few decades behind in discovering this truth. It's like planning on spending billions on a high speed train system that has been outdated already while other countries are getting ready to build Elon Musks' hyperloop.

Children should be learning yoga, how to breath properly, how to meditate, how to grow veggies and a few of the old school subjects. Their talents should be exploited in a positive way.

Don't most people see that the only thing we do to our kids is brainwash them and make them ready to be slaves in a disgusting system that is purely kept in place to feed the greed of the elite?

How can we send our kids to schools where the only thing they do is kill their imagination, train them to obey and ready them for the 'conveyor belt'?

Schools are passe!

[Harveyg]

One of the most positive threads I have ever read on TV (with only an absolute minimum of bashing).

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

I just told her to try and get across the idea that you should keep asking questions, questions questions. Tell them that not all questions have answers. Or at least, not just ONE answer.

What IS the meaning of life? Ok, you are not going to produce little Bertrand Russells overnight, but what an amazing concept it is, here in LoS, to be introduced to the notion that there is MORE THAN ONE answer to any question outside mathematics (and perhaps even inside mathematics, I dunno).

Inside math as well. Sometimes multiple solution paths, sometimes different answers- depends on the openness of the question posed....

[Harveyg]

Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

For subjects that are fact orientated it is, history, geography ect.

For most other subjects discovery and how to discover is way way better.

A friend once asked me to find out how well his daughter was doing in maths (she was 9 years old at the time)

I wrote on a piece of paper 15 x 9 = ?

She just stared at it in a state of confusion.

I made it easier 15 x 10 = ?

No change..

I asked her why she couldn't answer that, she showed me the 25 times table that they had been given to memorise and said they hadn't got that far in maths class yet.

Who is to blame for the child not knowing how to multiply by ten by just sticking a zero on the end, the child or the teacher?

Had the teacher actually managed to work that one out anyway? and what sort of hissy fit would they throw when they were told (it was a large one btw)

Students have to be involved in class not just lectured to, and I see this article as a desperately needed breath of fresh air in a stale room.

Have to disagree with you a bit. Can I be so bold as to say that a fact based class is almost useless? To me it is. The child: the issue is not that the child doesn't know 15x9, nor is it that x 10 means adding a zero, though understanding those are pArt of the larger picture. A calculator can do that. It's much more basic. My first question would be: can you draw me a picture that shows 3x2? The meaning of multiplication is from where all further questions spring.

[Harveyg]

Education as a whole has failed globally. Thailand is just a few decades behind in discovering this truth. It's like planning on spending billions on a high speed train system that has been outdated already while other countries are getting ready to build Elon Musks' hyperloop.

Children should be learning yoga, how to breath properly, how to meditate, how to grow veggies and a few of the old school subjects. Their talents should be exploited in a positive way.

Don't most people see that the only thing we do to our kids is brainwash them and make them ready to be slaves in a disgusting system that is purely kept in place to feed the greed of the elite?

How can we send our kids to schools where the only thing they do is kill their imagination, train them to obey and ready them for the 'conveyor belt'?

Schools are passe!

I have most of these thoughts myself. I've spent my life in education and there have been times when I wasn't sure if I was part of the solution or part of the problem.

[Cornhack]

I deliberately make mistakes and encourage students to identify my errors, correct me and argue with me. It takes a long time to get them to this point. I have sometimes handed over the reins to a bright student to conduct a lesson. They are great and they get great responses.

.hands on learning was an 'invention' over 30 years ago.

[Nobb]

Good job because change is greatly needed!

[Alwyn]

Let's get all the kids out there to clean up the village... Really?

[smotherb]

fresh approach

It was...40 odd years ago in the rest of the modern world.

Try more than 4.000 years. What are we talking about, learning while doing? Well, have you ever heard of an apprenticeship?

Learning while doing has been a major learning method since the cave men found they could communicate.

[blazes]

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

My mrs has a masters degree, on coming out of the dawn of the planet of the apes film she asked me if the monkeys were real or actors. Just having a Thai degree does not mean you are either educated , or intelligent.

Nor, apparently, does it mean that those from other educational jurisdictions are indeed "educated" when they (as here) hurry to get hold of the wrong end of the stick in a TV thread.

We are not dealing with the quality of degrees here, Squire, but rather the quality of education, two different topics.

And, btw, her question regarding monkeys and pseudo-monkeys is not altogether daft, given the general daftness of that movie.

[ThomasHOL]

"Great news. Eventually the Thais will invent communicative language teaching and critical thinking."

That is like when a woman tells you that your are handsome for your age and weight.

Talk about a back handed comment.

What do you actually know about education or Thai education specifically? (DELETED)

Student centered learning is nothing new but it is very hard to correctly adapt to the classroom and curriculum. Communicative approach to language teaching is so last year. Get with it. Those that are proponents of Communicative approach are those without degrees in education or ability to do anything but speak in the target language. There are so many other skills in language development than just communicating. If all you are doing is relying on that, then you must realize that the students need other teachers helping them with the other language skills.

This article is about a lot more than that. This touches on the role of the teacher, the role of the student. Realizing that collectively your students know more than you do. It is very difficult to show the same results that a standardized test can, so administration tends to think of it is not as essential. This method of education is also very time consuming. Lecturing is the most efficient way to get information out, it also can be the least effective. Balancing your teaching style to combine, task based learning with lecture and rote memorization is probably the most effective.

I don’t know if you are just bad at communicating your opinions or if you actually thinks that the old lectures actually works. I agree that it will work for some people but you need the student to have a fundamental education that will let him/her form their own opinion on the subject.

We have funded my wife’s niece education and she is just about at bachelor level. English has been teached to her for several years and yet I have still to convince her to speak English to me. So one year I asked if I could see her English books and to my surprise the level of the text was actually pretty advanced. But the main difference I think is that In Denmark, where I’m from, the main goal of the early education is to get the kids comfortable with the subject. Get them to speak English by discussing the text in the class therefore building confidence and ability to speak the language. When handing in assignments I could see that my wifes nice should answer multiple question papers where we in Denmark has to write a text in English on whatever subject it is.

Now I’m not saying that we are perfect because we are not and PISA studies show that. But I think it is easier to correct a school system where students get the knowledge and the ability to process it as opposed to just trying to cram information into the kids heads and hope that they learn something.

[SOTIRIOS]

...do not hold your breath....

...when nearly 90% of students polled said 'it is all right to cheat'....and teachers themselves are not far behind....do not expect overnight miracles...

[wvavin]

Really took them a long time to know this.

[FrankOff]

Monkey see, Monkey do........well, start somewhere, its never too late.....

[DavisH]

One of the most positive threads I have ever read on TV (with only an absolute minimum of bashing).

I once had a Thai gf, a teacher with a Masters degree, and she would sometimes ask me for ideas about what to say in the little morning homily she and other teachers in turn had to give to the amassed students at flag-respecting time.

I just told her to try and get across the idea that you should keep asking questions, questions questions. Tell them that not all questions have answers. Or at least, not just ONE answer.

What IS the meaning of life? Ok, you are not going to produce little Bertrand Russells overnight, but what an amazing concept it is, here in LoS, to be introduced to the notion that there is MORE THAN ONE answer to any question outside mathematics (and perhaps even inside mathematics, I dunno).

Inside math as well. Sometimes multiple solution paths, sometimes different answers- depends on the openness of the question posed....

Correct, e.g. a rectangle has area 100 cm^2. Write down the lengths of the sides. Two numbers are subtracted and give the answer 5. Write down some numbers that would give this answer, etc. You will rarely encounter these kinds of questions in regular textbooks, either in Thai or Western books, though. This is where the creativity of the teacher comes in.