Did Anybody Just Recently Conduct A " Help Me Through a CEFR Test Seminar"?

[lostinisaan]

Hello and Sawasdee Khrap,

Just wanted to find out if anybody just recently had "the honor" to conduct a CEFR seminar for Thai English teachers, who failed their test, or maybe planning to hold one soon?

I knew that it would start, sooner, or later, but had no idea when exactly. It’s confirmed that the first weekend seminar will start in two weeks and I'd be more than happy to find out how any eventually already held seminars of you went, what and where the problems were, etc...

I'll conduct a listening and reading seminar with approximately 50 - 60 high school teachers who scored really badly in their CEFR tests, a few weeks ago.

I've got some experience with CEFR seminars, know how "good" some of them really are, but would deeply appreciate other peoples' opinion and experience regarding this matter.

Considering that it's only on a weekend, I'll have to be careful to choose the right material, but see it as a challenge and really love to do it.

Just wondering how others deal with some people who sometimes like to show their defiance, other teachers’ /trainers’ techniques to "teach teachers" on a weekend how to read and understand various vocabulary, that is being used in let's say B 1 level of CEFR assignments.

I’d like to thank you very much for taking the time to read this and I’m truly thankful for any useful input that might, or might not be of help,or interest. No infatuated, or buffoon infiltrated posts, please.

Cheers and Khop Khun La Lai…

[stubuzz]

As you know, a weekend seminar will not really help boost the teachers English ability. I suggest to keep it easy, have fun, and take the money. By the way, what is the going rate for teaching a weekend seminar?

[bigt3116]

I got 5k for a 2 day weekend one on this subject.(9 ish - 12 then 1ish-3).

[lostinisaan]

Sorry, had a “ban flu” (BTW, thanks for the really helpful pills!) and wasn’t able to post for a few days. I finally had to do the seminar alone, while our coordinator just sat there on her huge posterior and let me do the two day thingy alone. Stress times three.

I went to bed last night at 1.30 am, as I had to prepare a lot of stuff for today that wasn't even planned and wanted to share my experience(s) with those who're interested and might have to prepare and conduct similar seminars in the near future.

It seems that there'll be plenty of seminars in the next weeks, where they’ll need your help. The order comes from OBEC and the educational area offices have to select the candidates they might think they’re capable of doing it. Got another one this coming weekend, then a few starting in the middle of next month.

Those who scored A 1 should be taught stuff/ vocabulary/ listening and reading assignments from the next higher level. High school teachers should score higher than primary school teachers, but I've had some trainees for the last two days, who obviously had no idea about easiest English.

. There were English teachers who scored A 0 in their CEFR test, which doesn't even exist.

One of the trainees was our high school teacher, who's covering levels from M 1 to M 3. She scored A 1 and I could see that she felt very uncomfortable to sit in this seminar.

Just watching their faces when they're listening to some easy English from the CEFR website immediately showed me that most of them basically understood nil.

Based on that I prepared my activities and there's only one youngish guy who could answer quite a few questions, very smart and talkative. Only one out of so many….

On the first day, I gave them an easy "check in a hotel activity", which I had done with M 3 students a few moons ago. I "scrambled the sentences up" and they had to find the first sentence from the clerk, then the guest, etc. Holy buffalo god.....

I had students in M 3, who did that in ten, or fifteen minutes and gave me the sheet back, without a mistake. But these high school teachers did not even know very often used and easy vocabulary?

Just wondering if they write something on the board and let the kids copy that into their notebooks…

I do not know if the rural location could be the reason for their poor language skills, but it's very hard work to get them going, never had such a difficult group before.

Of course was the reason always the same that they didn't graduate in English.

For those who're interested, I've got some decent material and I'm willing to share it with people who might or might not have a problem do prepare such a seminar and conduct it in a way that the teachers also learn something……..

The OBEC wants to see what material trainers were using and they might give you an evaluation on that. It’s not that they’re using a cheap excuse to get your materiel. Anyway, you can put a watermark on it, or put a password in.

Need to go to sleep now, have a nice week. Monday six hours of grade one and two, also science and math. Hurray…

Edited July 19, 2015 by lostinisaan

[fgmr]

You are right in wondering whether they just write on the board and the students just copy. My stepson has an exercise book full of stuff he has copied and cannot read more than a word or two. When I queried the content of his lesson his reply in Thai was exactly as you are wondering, He stated she, the teacher enters classroom, writes on board, tells the kids to copy and immediately walks out leaving students to do their copying which is often taken from them at the end of lesson by teacher's re-entry. It is a rare occasion when the students are able to bring these exercise books home. Not being a teacher but having in the past taught adult electronic engineers some computer science, with regular exams to check progress, my mind just cannot comprehend the amount of wasted time incurred by the students.

I do hope all your effort is rewarding you with some success. I wonder how many appreciate it?

Sorry, had a “ban flu” (BTW, thanks for the really helpful pills!) and wasn’t able to post for a few days. I finally had to do the seminar alone, while our coordinator just sat there on her huge posterior and let me do the two day thingy alone. Stress times three.

I went to bed last night at 1.30 am, as I had to prepare a lot of stuff for today that wasn't even planned and wanted to share my experience(s) with those who're interested and might have to prepare and conduct similar seminars in the near future.

It seems that there'll be plenty of seminars in the next weeks, where they’ll need your help. The order comes from OBEC and the educational area offices have to select the candidates they might think they’re capable of doing it. Got another one this coming weekend, then a few starting in the middle of next month.

Those who scored A 1 should be taught stuff/ vocabulary/ listening and reading assignments from the next higher level. High school teachers should score higher than primary school teachers, but I've had some trainees for the last two days, who obviously had no idea about easiest English.

. There were English teachers who scored A 0 in their CEFR test, which doesn't even exist.

One of the trainees was our high school teacher, who's covering levels from M 1 to M 3. She scored A 1 and I could see that she felt very uncomfortable to sit in this seminar.

Just watching their faces when they're listening to some easy English from the CEFR website immediately showed me that most of them basically understood nil.

Based on that I prepared my activities and there's only one youngish guy who could answer quite a few questions, very smart and talkative. Only one out of so many….

On the first day, I gave them an easy "check in a hotel activity", which I had done with M 3 students a few moons ago. I "scrambled the sentences up" and they had to find the first sentence from the clerk, then the guest, etc. Holy buffalo god.....

I had students in M 3, who did that in ten, or fifteen minutes and gave me the sheet back, without a mistake. But these high school teachers did not even know very often used and easy vocabulary?

Just wondering if they write something on the board and let the kids copy that into their notebooks…

I do not know if the rural location could be the reason for their poor language skills, but it's very hard work to get them going, never had such a difficult group before.

Of course was the reason always the same that they didn't graduate in English.

For those who're interested, I've got some decent material and I'm willing to share it with people who might or might not have a problem do prepare such a seminar and conduct it in a way that the teachers also learn something……..

The OBEC wants to see what material trainers were using and they might give you an evaluation on that. It’s not that they’re using a cheap excuse to get your materiel. Anyway, you can put a watermark on it, or put a password in.

Need to go to sleep now, have a nice week. Monday six hours of grade one and two, also science and math. Hurray…

[lostinisaan]

You are right in wondering whether they just write on the board and the students just copy. My stepson has an exercise book full of stuff he has copied and cannot read more than a word or two. When I queried the content of his lesson his reply in Thai was exactly as you are wondering, He stated she, the teacher enters classroom, writes on board, tells the kids to copy and immediately walks out leaving students to do their copying which is often taken from them at the end of lesson by teacher's re-entry. It is a rare occasion when the students are able to bring these exercise books home. Not being a teacher but having in the past taught adult electronic engineers some computer science, with regular exams to check progress, my mind just cannot comprehend the amount of wasted time incurred by the students.

I do hope all your effort is rewarding you with some success. I wonder how many appreciate it?

Sorry, had a “ban flu” (BTW, thanks for the really helpful pills!) and wasn’t able to post for a few days. I finally had to do the seminar alone, while our coordinator just sat there on her huge posterior and let me do the two day thingy alone. Stress times three.

I went to bed last night at 1.30 am, as I had to prepare a lot of stuff for today that wasn't even planned and wanted to share my experience(s) with those who're interested and might have to prepare and conduct similar seminars in the near future.

It seems that there'll be plenty of seminars in the next weeks, where they’ll need your help. The order comes from OBEC and the educational area offices have to select the candidates they might think they’re capable of doing it. Got another one this coming weekend, then a few starting in the middle of next month.

Those who scored A 1 should be taught stuff/ vocabulary/ listening and reading assignments from the next higher level. High school teachers should score higher than primary school teachers, but I've had some trainees for the last two days, who obviously had no idea about easiest English.

. There were English teachers who scored A 0 in their CEFR test, which doesn't even exist.

One of the trainees was our high school teacher, who's covering levels from M 1 to M 3. She scored A 1 and I could see that she felt very uncomfortable to sit in this seminar.

Just watching their faces when they're listening to some easy English from the CEFR website immediately showed me that most of them basically understood nil.

Based on that I prepared my activities and there's only one youngish guy who could answer quite a few questions, very smart and talkative. Only one out of so many….

On the first day, I gave them an easy "check in a hotel activity", which I had done with M 3 students a few moons ago. I "scrambled the sentences up" and they had to find the first sentence from the clerk, then the guest, etc. Holy buffalo god.....

I had students in M 3, who did that in ten, or fifteen minutes and gave me the sheet back, without a mistake. But these high school teachers did not even know very often used and easy vocabulary?

Just wondering if they write something on the board and let the kids copy that into their notebooks…

I do not know if the rural location could be the reason for their poor language skills, but it's very hard work to get them going, never had such a difficult group before.

Of course was the reason always the same that they didn't graduate in English.

For those who're interested, I've got some decent material and I'm willing to share it with people who might or might not have a problem do prepare such a seminar and conduct it in a way that the teachers also learn something……..

The OBEC wants to see what material trainers were using and they might give you an evaluation on that. It’s not that they’re using a cheap excuse to get your materiel. Anyway, you can put a watermark on it, or put a password in.

Need to go to sleep now, have a nice week. Monday six hours of grade one and two, also science and math. Hurray…

Thanks for your post. I can assure you that it’s not just in English lessons that students from primary to secondary level are copying some stuff right off the board into their notebooks, without even knowing what they’re writing…..

When you ask them an easy question, they can’t answer them. I was watching a Thai colleague while I printed something out in the same room, how she taught a “health” lesson to grade nine students.

I saw a human heart and all its parts and functions on a big screen, a lot of explanation written underneath how the blood circulation works, certain parts of the heart, the function of red and white blood cells, etc…

Unfortunately, was the lesson taught without any explanation about the function of the parts of the heart, neither a brief introduction about the function of red and white blood cells?

I made a joke and asked the teacher ( in Thai) if the white blood cells would transport oxygen through the body and she said yes, while the students continued to copy the whole page into their notebooks.

Of course won’t all become doctors, or nurses, but it’s usually wasted time, when teachers give lessons where they know nothing about it. One of these students was the son of a friend of mine and I was asking him a few days later at his home what the function(s) of red blood cells were.

He knew absolutely nothing about the whole topic which he studied for a few weeks and finally told me that hemoglobin in “white blood cells” protects the body of diseases.

And then the Boy Scout movement tops it all. It’s not the students’ fault, it’s the system.

Finally, the shocking truth about the Thai educational system. Our son is a student at a technical college and I know that quite a few of his classmates (17 years old) really struggle to spell the month July in Thai. I pronounce it: Go-Ra_Ka-Da- Komm, or also spelled “Korakaḍākhom” in Thai กรกฎาคม . No more to add.

[puchooay]

You are right in wondering whether they just write on the board and the students just copy. My stepson has an exercise book full of stuff he has copied and cannot read more than a word or two. When I queried the content of his lesson his reply in Thai was exactly as you are wondering, He stated she, the teacher enters classroom, writes on board, tells the kids to copy and immediately walks out leaving students to do their copying which is often taken from them at the end of lesson by teacher's re-entry. It is a rare occasion when the students are able to bring these exercise books home. Not being a teacher but having in the past taught adult electronic engineers some computer science, with regular exams to check progress, my mind just cannot comprehend the amount of wasted time incurred by the students.

I do hope all your effort is rewarding you with some success. I wonder how many appreciate it?

Sorry, had a “ban flu” (BTW, thanks for the really helpful pills!) and wasn’t able to post for a few days. I finally had to do the seminar alone, while our coordinator just sat there on her huge posterior and let me do the two day thingy alone. Stress times three.

I went to bed last night at 1.30 am, as I had to prepare a lot of stuff for today that wasn't even planned and wanted to share my experience(s) with those who're interested and might have to prepare and conduct similar seminars in the near future.

It seems that there'll be plenty of seminars in the next weeks, where they’ll need your help. The order comes from OBEC and the educational area offices have to select the candidates they might think they’re capable of doing it. Got another one this coming weekend, then a few starting in the middle of next month.

Those who scored A 1 should be taught stuff/ vocabulary/ listening and reading assignments from the next higher level. High school teachers should score higher than primary school teachers, but I've had some trainees for the last two days, who obviously had no idea about easiest English.

. There were English teachers who scored A 0 in their CEFR test, which doesn't even exist.

One of the trainees was our high school teacher, who's covering levels from M 1 to M 3. She scored A 1 and I could see that she felt very uncomfortable to sit in this seminar.

Just watching their faces when they're listening to some easy English from the CEFR website immediately showed me that most of them basically understood nil.

Based on that I prepared my activities and there's only one youngish guy who could answer quite a few questions, very smart and talkative. Only one out of so many….

On the first day, I gave them an easy "check in a hotel activity", which I had done with M 3 students a few moons ago. I "scrambled the sentences up" and they had to find the first sentence from the clerk, then the guest, etc. Holy buffalo god.....

I had students in M 3, who did that in ten, or fifteen minutes and gave me the sheet back, without a mistake. But these high school teachers did not even know very often used and easy vocabulary?

Just wondering if they write something on the board and let the kids copy that into their notebooks…

I do not know if the rural location could be the reason for their poor language skills, but it's very hard work to get them going, never had such a difficult group before.

Of course was the reason always the same that they didn't graduate in English.

For those who're interested, I've got some decent material and I'm willing to share it with people who might or might not have a problem do prepare such a seminar and conduct it in a way that the teachers also learn something……..

The OBEC wants to see what material trainers were using and they might give you an evaluation on that. It’s not that they’re using a cheap excuse to get your materiel. Anyway, you can put a watermark on it, or put a password in.

Need to go to sleep now, have a nice week. Monday six hours of grade one and two, also science and math. Hurray…

Thanks for your post. I can assure you that it’s not just in English lessons that students from primary to secondary level are copying some stuff right off the board into their notebooks, without even knowing what they’re writing…..

When you ask them an easy question, they can’t answer them. I was watching a Thai colleague while I printed something out in the same room, how she taught a “health” lesson to grade nine students.

I saw a human heart and all its parts and functions on a big screen, a lot of explanation written underneath how the blood circulation works, certain parts of the heart, the function of red and white blood cells, etc…

Unfortunately, was the lesson taught without any explanation about the function of the parts of the heart, neither a brief introduction about the function of red and white blood cells?

I made a joke and asked the teacher ( in Thai) if the white blood cells would transport oxygen through the body and she said yes, while the students continued to copy the whole page into their notebooks.

Of course won’t all become doctors, or nurses, but it’s usually wasted time, when teachers give lessons where they know nothing about it. One of these students was the son of a friend of mine and I was asking him a few days later at his home what the function(s) of red blood cells were.

He knew absolutely nothing about the whole topic which he studied for a few weeks and finally told me that hemoglobin in “white blood cells” protects the body of diseases.

And then the Boy Scout movement tops it all. It’s not the students’ fault, it’s the system.

Finally, the shocking truth about the Thai educational system. Our son is a student at a technical college and I know that quite a few of his classmates (17 years old) really struggle to spell the month July in Thai. I pronounce it: Go-Ra_Ka-Da- Komm, or also spelled “Korakaḍākhom” in Thai กรกฎาคม . No more to add.

No wonder they couldn't spell it with that pronunciation.