Learning English Through Joining An ( or more) English Forum?

[lostinisaan]

Hello and Sawasdee khrap,

Just recently,there's a guy asking how his wife could enhance her English writing skills. Wouldn't joining in a forum do the trick?

I mean, you could ask people to correct your wrong English, pretty much the same what some guys on this forum are already doing with me from time to time.

I was trying to get my wife in. But no, her computer skills aren't good enough and she's isn't interested either..

What about high school students, who want to get better in writing, learning new vocabulary and having fun through a sort of a conversation?

Why are there only a few girls on this forum? The rest are grumpy old men, right?

Just asking. Thanks a lot in advance for any thoughts.

Edited September 8, 2015 by lostinisaan

[stoneyboy]

Another veiled attempt to provoke members with diatribe which bares no resemblance to the thread title.

[gerryBScot]

I reckon there are more appropriate forums for learners than this one although participating in the discussions could clearly assist.But it's quite an applied skill and I could understand why other media might be more attractive.

[tingtong]

Here is what I think as a non-native English speaker, who has been there...

I believe if you look at English forums, in general, or even for example ThaiVisa forum, and even the teaching section...you must realize that there wont be much academic type learning, part because of the grammar, part because there is lot of slangs, abbreviations, and such.

I mean, sure why not learn what people mean when they write LOL, IMHO, ASAP, AFAIK, <deleted> or even TiT, BIB, BIL, TGF, BBJ...but that wont counter the rest of the wrong grammar things, and once learning something wrong ( spelling) it takes long time to correct. Just see the "natives".

As silly as it sounds maybe for some, I think reading improves the writing skill. Worked and works for me ( to a certain degree, I guess)

If not a book, reading the subtitle under a movie ( English language with English subtitle) might work too, also makes often easier to understand or connect what you hear to what you read. In case it is a cartoon, with easy enough text to read, should work for kids too.

As for teens, I have a teen son, and his top hobby isn't reading, so, have to find more interesting ways to engage him.

Youtube and little games on phone!

Youtube is full of songs that kids like, and most has even a version with lyrics! BINGO!

They like the song, so, initial interest secured, the lyrics aren't that extremely difficult to read ( some rather silly, or repetitive, or both) and usually it is also short enough to still feel more fun than work/study. This should sort the new vocabulary line, maybe writing can be improved by adding short comments to the songs? Also if it can work with my son, I am sure it would work 10x better with girls

The little games on phone/tablet....almost same recipe. Interest is given, and that is half way to success I would say! Titles come with little descriptions, stories, updates, news; in game there are things/objects, some case little chats to interact with others.

Let me give an example, my son likes Clash of Clans ( it is OK not to know, but in my case as a decent? father I have to know this).

Anyway, you decide if anything useful or not, maybe a little out of the box for some NES, but hey I came from a different boat, and the Thai are in the same boat as me, so, maybe not without any value, though probably different aspects.

Edited September 8, 2015 by tingtong

[lostinisaan]

I reckon there are more appropriate forums for learners than this one although participating in the discussions could clearly assist.But it's quite an applied skill and I could understand why other media might be more attractive.

My post wasn't about TVF only. I was also trying to get a Thai colleague on the boat, to join in here and another teaching forum.

You can get news in English from several sources, learn new vocabulary and be part of a topic specific discussion.

There's plenty of reading involved and I think it's a great tool for Thais to find out more about their own country in English, understand the difference between a "mate" and a "dude"., etc.....

There's a Thai on the teaching forum a while ago, but I haven't read anything from her for a long time. Maybe the result of an ordinary assault, which is quite common here.

[gerryBScot]

I reckon there are more appropriate forums for learners than this one although participating in the discussions could clearly assist.But it's quite an applied skill and I could understand why other media might be more attractive.

My post wasn't about TVF only. I was also trying to get a Thai colleague on the boat, to join in here and another teaching forum.

You can get news in English from several sources, learn new vocabulary and be part of a topic specific discussion.

There's plenty of reading involved and I think it's a great tool for Thais to find out more about their own country in English, understand the difference between a "mate" and a "dude"., etc.....

There's a Thai on the teaching forum a while ago, but I haven't read anything from her for a long time. Maybe the result of an ordinary assault, which is quite common here.

I think that is the real issue - come on here innocently for a chat and get ripped to sheds for your efforts. Interesting juxtaposition of different cultural approaches for sure!

[BKKdreaming]

song lyrics "might" help with some words but maybe you do not want your son to be speaking those words

Movie lyrics are probably better but most people only watch a move once , a sond you will listen to many times....

Maybe cartoons or comic books might work ????

[lostinisaan]

song lyrics "might" help with some words but maybe you do not want your son to be speaking those words

Movie lyrics are probably better but most people only watch a move once , a sond you will listen to many times....

Maybe cartoons or comic books might work ????

Cartoons and comic for the younger ones and movies only in English without subs for the older ones .I've met three excellent English speaking people, one of them a lecturer at a Rajabhat, the other two were doctors at a government hospital.

All of them learned their English mostly by watching English movies. You'd think that they'd been to the States for quite a while, because they speak a real American slang.

But outstanding good and clear.( Forgive me, Brits, I know that you don't believe that Americans can speak a good English.)

Would they for example start to show some comic to little Anuban kids every day, it would help a lot. The problem might be that the teachers don't get it, so it won't happen.

So many ways lead to Rome, but ignorance, combined with lost faces and some decent stupidity are the biggest enemies for students in this country. Mai Phen Rai, Na Khrap.

[Rhys]

psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

[Muzarella]

song lyrics "might" help with some words but maybe you do not want your son to be speaking those words

Movie lyrics are probably better but most people only watch a move once , a sond you will listen to many times....

Maybe cartoons or comic books might work ????

Cartoons and comic for the younger ones and movies only in English without subs for the older ones .I've met three excellent English speaking people, one of them a lecturer at a Rajabhat, the other two were doctors at a government hospital.

All of them learned their English mostly by watching English movies. You'd think that they'd been to the States for quite a while, because they speak a real American slang.

But outstanding good and clear.( Forgive me, Brits, I know that you don't believe that Americans can speak a good English.)

Would they for example start to show some comic to little Anuban kids every day, it would help a lot. The problem might be that the teachers don't get it, so it won't happen.

So many ways lead to Rome, but ignorance, combined with lost faces and some decent stupidity are the biggest enemies for students in this country. Mai Phen Rai, Na Khrap.

I was 45 when I moved to the US...and find somebody there speaking Italian on the West coast is not easy. My English in not good after 20 years, but I learned watching movies on the TV. The same one, many times, until understand what was going on. Works! Cartoons even better......but...do not work the same after watching my wife's Thai soup operas for 5 years. My dog speaks Thai better than me.....and now it is learning English. Shame on me.

[lostinisaan]

song lyrics "might" help with some words but maybe you do not want your son to be speaking those words

Movie lyrics are probably better but most people only watch a move once , a sond you will listen to many times....

Maybe cartoons or comic books might work ????

Cartoons and comic for the younger ones and movies only in English without subs for the older ones .I've met three excellent English speaking people, one of them a lecturer at a Rajabhat, the other two were doctors at a government hospital.

All of them learned their English mostly by watching English movies. You'd think that they'd been to the States for quite a while, because they speak a real American slang.

But outstanding good and clear.( Forgive me, Brits, I know that you don't believe that Americans can speak a good English.)

Would they for example start to show some comic to little Anuban kids every day, it would help a lot. The problem might be that the teachers don't get it, so it won't happen.

So many ways lead to Rome, but ignorance, combined with lost faces and some decent stupidity are the biggest enemies for students in this country. Mai Phen Rai, Na Khrap.

I was 45 when I moved to the US...and find somebody there speaking Italian on the West coast is not easy. My English in not good after 20 years, but I learned watching movies on the TV. The same one, many times, until understand what was going on. Works! Cartoons even better......but...do not work the same after watching my wife's Thai soup operas for 5 years. My dog speaks Thai better than me.....and now it is learning English. Shame on me.

But you do speak- and obviously write- more than one language. You're right about the soap operas, seems that Thais can't live without them.

Including my wife.

Always about rich people in Bangkok, plenty of money and drugs and at least one gets killed. Great stuff. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Send me a message with your address and I'll send you a Rosetta Stone DVD and you'll learn Thai in an easy way. Also 31 other languages.

Edited September 10, 2015 by lostinisaan

[jadee]

Hi, it's hard to give specific recommendations without knowing the writing level of the guy's wife. I think forums work for specific questions and issues but it's going to be slow going. One solution is a paid-for computer program such as Grammarly that automatically checks grammar and spelling, offers suggestions and so on. 
For high school students, reading a lot is one of the best ways to improve writing skills. 
So, encourage the guys wife to read as much as possible and use a good program to check her writing. Programs like Grammarly and others check everything from emails to websites and so on. They help build confidence for people who aren't so confident. 

[tonray]

The way to improve writing and vocabulary is to read instead of playing games on their phone. I teach high school kids and the few that have taken my advice are bounds ahead of their peers. Free books from Amazon kindle, start with some of the classics and read thru once...ten a second time writing down the words they do not know with the context of their usage. Then use the dictionary to fill in the blanks. Then read thru a third time and you will be surprised at the increased level of comprehension.

 

BUT..this requires work and this generation would rather play games on their phone than read a book.