The right text and work books for English, math and science...

[lostinisaan]

Hello,

We've started a "special program" two years ago and will have a grade three class in May. For English, we're using the "Let's Go series", for science and math text and workbooks from "Pelangi Publishing Thailand, all books approved by the MoE, which doesn't really mean a lot.

The science books mainly use American English, but also a few British words, for example "lorry", instead of the American word "truck."

The math books start pretty difficult for kids who never had English, or math before.

Each class has three hours per subject, which makes it to a total of nine hours per week.

Computer technology isn't taught in English, after two years of "studying" computer, they only know how to "create some funny looking" characters by using MS paint.

What kind of books are other schools using?

I've only heard that they want to "use" different books this year and would really appreciate your input.

Thanks a lot in advance.

.

[Speedo1968]

Difficult to get hold of school text books - relating to English Conversation - speaking as someone who does not teach at a school.

I have bought them in the past from a bookshop but different schools seem to use different school books, now not sure if they are available.

A parent has tried buying online for me, either sold out or only available to schools.

A parent has tried buying two copies of the text books when they became available at the school - only one copy allowed.

I made a comment in the posting "Elementary Students to have one hour a day English"

I have taught Technical English within my own occupation ( freelance farm consultant ), and English Conversation ( privately ) in Thailand.

Previously I taught English with Abschol, also in South America and in England taught farming at Uni.

I have seen school books in Thailand with a mixture of English and American English, from the Chonburi area one schools English Conversation text books included a great deal of text in Hispanic English ( good for watching Cheech and Chong films ).

The words and grammar in the books can be different.

Here in Thailand I always used to take a copy of the childs' English text book, e.g Let's Go, Express English etc.

There are often many many errors - of course it will depend on if you speak English English ( EE ) or American English ( AE )

Some errors are spelling, others grammatical also, I have found errors in historical texts shown in the books that children have to read.

I make a note of these errors but of course cannot correct them as the books are set by the school or govt.

It is awfully confusing for the child when the text books keep changing within pages between EE, AE, Japanese English language text books translated into English for Thai schools, Singapore translations, Oxford English, Cambridge English. The books themselves are often very outdated.

Of course here you also have parents who cannot respond in English, do not converse with their children, where the children having learning difficulties caused by ADHD's, and social difficulties within their own families.

Unfortunately the general standard of English within most businesses, including customer based services ( shopping malls / technical services ) has declined markedly since 1996.

You may probably know about the situation in the UK with the govt. wanting to change / put all govt. schools to Acadamey's ( that's a good word to find the correct spelling for ). Can't do worse than the current govt. schools.

Good luck with your search for text books.

[masuk]

Many English language schools in Indonesia use the Oxford Headway series of text books. It seems there are also American editions, but I've never seen or used them.

Amazon have some used editions on sale currently, and they are far from cheap if new.

For teachers/schools using Headway, we had a good selection of CDs to hear spoken English, plus activities and also a teacher's guide.

Have a look on Google and see what's available.

https://singapore.kinokuniya.com/bw/9780194769662

https://www.bookdepository.com/New-Headway-Students-Book-Pre-intermediate-level-Liz-Soars/9780194715850

http://www.amazon.com/New-Headway-Elementary-Students-Six-Level/dp/0194715094

[chowny77]

Check out www.se-ed.com. If you have a branch of se-ed in your town you can order direct and pay cash for the books or use a bank card.

[lostinisaan]

Many English language schools in Indonesia use the Oxford Headway series of text books. It seems there are also American editions, but I've never seen or used them.

Amazon have some used editions on sale currently, and they are far from cheap if new.

For teachers/schools using Headway, we had a good selection of CDs to hear spoken English, plus activities and also a teacher's guide.

Have a look on Google and see what's available.

https://singapore.kinokuniya.com/bw/9780194769662

https://www.bookdepository.com/New-Headway-Students-Book-Pre-intermediate-level-Liz-Soars/9780194715850

http://www.amazon.com/New-Headway-Elementary-Students-Six-Level/dp/0194715094

Thanks a lot.

[lostinisaan]

Check out www.se-ed.com. If you have a branch of se-ed in your town you can order direct and pay cash for the books or use a bank card.

Thank you very much. I can already see the outcome. Once I found the right books, somebody's making some money by buying some crappy books.

I had two classes the last school year and most assignments were way too difficult for the majority. The workload is unbelievable and giving both classes homework is almost too much work if you've got 20 hours a week.

Once you get to the metric system in math, there're only a few who get it. Even using a ruler to demonstrate millimeters and centimeters is difficult to understand for them.

I don't think that they learn that in Thai, when in grade two. They should learn all in Thai and English, but math and science assignments first in Thai.

It's strange if the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. But it's very bad if the right hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

Thanks for the posts, please keep them coming.

Edited April 2, 2016 by lostinisaan

[laolover88]

I think you have entered a minefield!

What do you mean by Grade 3? Anuban Sam/US Grade 3? How old are the kids?

Most Thai "textbooks" are appalling. They are riddled with errors when it comes to anything English

Also my kids told me they could not do the Maths in school because Maths is not taught the same way as in UK/US.

There's not a lot of point in trying for them to learn anything in English if they have not mastered the alphabet.

Also most Thai English books ask the students to transliterate English words into Thai script. As the phonetics are not transferable they can't speak with a non Thai accent.

What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Literacy/Fluency/Competence?? Do the children also go to school?

We gave up even with our own children and home educated them. But we had to write our own text books!!

But that, also, was in the days before online resources!

[lostinisaan]

I think you have entered a minefield!

What do you mean by Grade 3? Anuban Sam/US Grade 3? How old are the kids?

Most Thai "textbooks" are appalling. They are riddled with errors when it comes to anything English

Also my kids told me they could not do the Maths in school because Maths is not taught the same way as in UK/US.

There's not a lot of point in trying for them to learn anything in English if they have not mastered the alphabet.

Also most Thai English books ask the students to transliterate English words into Thai script. As the phonetics are not transferable they can't speak with a non Thai accent.

What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Literacy/Fluency/Competence?? Do the children also go to school?

We gave up even with our own children and home educated them. But we had to write our own text books!!

But that, also, was in the days before online resources!

Thanks for your nice words, yep it seems that I stepped on a mine and can't do a move now. We'll have three primary classes in May, starting from Prathomsuksa (grade) one to grade three.

The English books (Let's Go), as well as the science and math books come with a work and a textbook. Useless to mention that I haven't had any books when the school year started last May, because they gave all the grade two books for the teacher to a new student.

More important for them? After asking them a thousand times where my books were, I decided to go to a copy shop and the result was more than questionable. Especially when it comes to colors. I received the CD for the English books in the second term, but i wasn't even surprised.

Thais have a very complicated way to teach math, so I'm trying to teach them the easiest way. But that doesn't help you if they can't read properly. When it comes to simple word problems, a lot of them just wait for the answers, which they get from their Thai teachers.

A Thai woman is also teaching them a mix of very hard to understand English, blaming me that my English would be so difficult to understand for Thai kids. The other one is always misspelling words and of course also mispronouncing them, which seems to be irritating to the kids.

They literally translate all sentences into Thai and vice versa which obviously doesn't make any sense.

The science books start with heavy vocabulary, only NES kids would fully understand. There's no science lab, or anything to show them live what you're on about.

Regarding your home schooling idea, please go for a swim at the bay and you'll find some really good stuff to teach your kids at home.

Of course did many things go wrong, because nobody really gave a flying kangaroo, but it's easy to blame somebody who can't lose face.

But I'm afraid that life goes on and I'm trying to do my best. Not really sure if I play the game again. G'day.

[gerryBScot]

It's truly a minefield!

In teaching young kids in a bilingual school I used to think teaching the 'tables' by rote was critical. Of course there are problems with this system. In the UK, for instance, the tables were traditionally learned up to number twelve, because in pre-metric times there were 12 pennies in a shilling. However when I started teaching fractions and factorisation in Grade 5 & 6 I realised that most of the students could for instance tell me that 5 x 7 = 35, but they could not tell me that '5' and '7' were factors of 35, which is arguably more important and useful to know. Then I discovered 'number facts'. This is what I do. I project a slide with all the multiples of 4 up to 48, in effect twelve numbers scrambled up in grid and I ask the students to study the numbers carefully. I then 'throw' numbers between 1 and 12 at students for them to give me an 'answer' from the grid; so if I throw '6', I'm looking for '24' as the answer. I don't do any explaining; they have to figure it out and usually most of them do and my experience is it really works a treat and is far more effective than learning the tables.

I would seriously suggest you look for research about the different ways young kids learn to add and subtract; it really is fascinating. My son at five years old had me rolling on the floor kicking my legs in the air. We were reading a counting book in which granny brings in two plates each containing six cakes. The problem was to determine how many cakes there were in total. My son asserted that there were now '66' cakes which has a certain logic to it, if you think about it from a five year old's perspective. There is for instance strong research evidence that teaching children to count using 'columns' stops them developing critical mental arithmetic skills. In Europe number lines and developing the the ideas of 'counting on' and 'counting back' are often used to develop initial counting skills. Check this article out for how it is done in China - very interesting indeed.

One of the key concepts to get over to young learners is the idea of substituting 'one for ten' which is in effect the base of the metric system: ten of these make one of these. I recently did a little experiment in a classroom with G2 students in Thailand during which I introduced Roman the numerals I and X and asked students to change simple numbers like 32 into Roman numerals; with a bit of guidance and scaffolding most were able to do it. I wasn't really concerned with them learning Roman numerals but practising this substitution. However I am going to develop this as most of them got it and even though it is not about substituting 1 for 10, I am going to introduce V as I think the underlying mathematical/symbolic processes are important and helpful.

In general terms primary mathematics is as much about knowing how and what to teach than theoretical, expert mathematical knowledge. In some respects understanding the progression is critical, appreciating how basic operations lead into fractions and rational numbers and then their role in proportional reasoning.

The whole game of teaching primary mathematics is actually a really fascinating business once you get into it. When I was told I was teaching Maths it was intended to be a punishment. I never saw it that way myself and this year I was delighted to be told to teach G1 and G2 Maths during the Summer School - another intended slight! It's what I really want to do and Friday was Day 1 and it was a real blast.

So take courage and trust your instincts!

Edited April 2, 2016 by gerryBScot

[thairay]

I think you have entered a minefield!

What do you mean by Grade 3? Anuban Sam/US Grade 3? How old are the kids?

Most Thai "textbooks" are appalling. They are riddled with errors when it comes to anything English

Also my kids told me they could not do the Maths in school because Maths is not taught the same way as in UK/US.

There's not a lot of point in trying for them to learn anything in English if they have not mastered the alphabet.

Also most Thai English books ask the students to transliterate English words into Thai script. As the phonetics are not transferable they can't speak with a non Thai accent.

What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Literacy/Fluency/Competence?? Do the children also go to school?

We gave up even with our own children and home educated them. But we had to write our own text books!!

But that, also, was in the days before online resources!

Thanks for your nice words, yep it seems that I stepped on a mine and can't do a move now. We'll have three primary classes in May, starting from Prathomsuksa (grade) one to grade three.

The English books (Let's Go), as well as the science and math books come with a work and a textbook. Useless to mention that I haven't had any books when the school year started last May, because they gave all the grade two books for the teacher to a new student.

More important for them? After asking them a thousand times where my books were, I decided to go to a copy shop and the result was more than questionable. Especially when it comes to colors. I received the CD for the English books in the second term, but i wasn't even surprised.

Thais have a very complicated way to teach math, so I'm trying to teach them the easiest way. But that doesn't help you if they can't read properly. When it comes to simple word problems, a lot of them just wait for the answers, which they get from their Thai teachers.

A Thai woman is also teaching them a mix of very hard to understand English, blaming me that my English would be so difficult to understand for Thai kids. The other one is always misspelling words and of course also mispronouncing them, which seems to be irritating to the kids.

They literally translate all sentences into Thai and vice versa which obviously doesn't make any sense.

The science books start with heavy vocabulary, only NES kids would fully understand. There's no science lab, or anything to show them live what you're on about.

Regarding your home schooling idea, please go for a swim at the bay and you'll find some really good stuff to teach your kids at home.

Of course did many things go wrong, because nobody really gave a flying kangaroo, but it's easy to blame somebody who can't lose face.

But I'm afraid that life goes on and I'm trying to do my best. Not really sure if I play the game again. G'day.

Of course did many things go wrong??? Very good, i hope you find the books you need and read them carefully.

[lostinisaan]

I think you have entered a minefield!

What do you mean by Grade 3? Anuban Sam/US Grade 3? How old are the kids?

Most Thai "textbooks" are appalling. They are riddled with errors when it comes to anything English

Also my kids told me they could not do the Maths in school because Maths is not taught the same way as in UK/US.

There's not a lot of point in trying for them to learn anything in English if they have not mastered the alphabet.

Also most Thai English books ask the students to transliterate English words into Thai script. As the phonetics are not transferable they can't speak with a non Thai accent.

What outcomes are you trying to achieve? Literacy/Fluency/Competence?? Do the children also go to school?

We gave up even with our own children and home educated them. But we had to write our own text books!!

But that, also, was in the days before online resources!

Thanks for your nice words, yep it seems that I stepped on a mine and can't do a move now. We'll have three primary classes in May, starting from Prathomsuksa (grade) one to grade three.

The English books (Let's Go), as well as the science and math books come with a work and a textbook. Useless to mention that I haven't had any books when the school year started last May, because they gave all the grade two books for the teacher to a new student.

More important for them? After asking them a thousand times where my books were, I decided to go to a copy shop and the result was more than questionable. Especially when it comes to colors. I received the CD for the English books in the second term, but i wasn't even surprised.

Thais have a very complicated way to teach math, so I'm trying to teach them the easiest way. But that doesn't help you if they can't read properly. When it comes to simple word problems, a lot of them just wait for the answers, which they get from their Thai teachers.

A Thai woman is also teaching them a mix of very hard to understand English, blaming me that my English would be so difficult to understand for Thai kids. The other one is always misspelling words and of course also mispronouncing them, which seems to be irritating to the kids.

They literally translate all sentences into Thai and vice versa which obviously doesn't make any sense.

The science books start with heavy vocabulary, only NES kids would fully understand. There's no science lab, or anything to show them live what you're on about.

Regarding your home schooling idea, please go for a swim at the bay and you'll find some really good stuff to teach your kids at home.

Of course did many things go wrong, because nobody really gave a flying kangaroo, but it's easy to blame somebody who can't lose face.

But I'm afraid that life goes on and I'm trying to do my best. Not really sure if I play the game again. G'day.

Of course did many things go wrong??? Very good, i hope you find the books you need and read them carefully.

Do you really believe that setting up a functioning EP can be a "one man show"?

The promised two, or three NES teachers last year were never hired.

So yes, many things can go wrong if all is on your shoulders.

[laolover88]

On the subject of "columns" try this guy!!

http://www.garlikov.com/

[Speedo1968]

Hi "lostinisaan"

I have found that Thai children, even from reasonable schools do not understand syllables. I used to teach this from day one and it seemed to give them more confidence in reading / speaking.

I can give a file attachment if you like of the worksheet I used. Let me know.

[lostinisaan]

Hi "lostinisaan"

I have found that Thai children, even from reasonable schools do not understand syllables. I used to teach this from day one and it seemed to give them more confidence in reading / speaking.

I can give a file attachment if you like of the worksheet I used. Let me know.

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your great offer but i think I've got a lot of hand made stuff, which I prefer to use.

Edited April 3, 2016 by lostinisaan

[Speedo1968]

Hi "lostinisaan"

Not sure if you are teaching here in Isaan but I posted the below text in relation to another topic.

I thought you may be interested in my comments.

You may be aware of the disorder, please take care.

Posted 2016-04-01 14:16:03

There seems to be a lot of ADHD's ( Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder ) in Thailand. From my many years here ( since 1996 ) it is noticeable in children from their early years, particularly with males, and seems to follow the male line. Have rarely seen in females, and when seen it was probably more a self protective event rather than ADHD's itself. Isaan for some reason, or people from this area show more cases.

For school teachers it can be distracting, even dangerous and certainly disruptive in a class.

In the town I am in south of KK the teachers at state, church, private schools refuse to allow such children to study extra hours after general classes, in the Summer School weeks, or following weeks of extra tuition. Why ? Safety for the other children and the teacher.

Children with ADHD's are even expelled from private English schools ( Kumon ? ) if their behaviour becomes too unreliable or violent.

It's not just the lack of attention or suddenly walking out of a class it's when another child is hit, or the child with the disorder picks up what ever is near him / her e.g a mobile phone and throws it at someone, including the teacher.

[billd766]

Hi "lostinisaan"

I have found that Thai children, even from reasonable schools do not understand syllables. I used to teach this from day one and it seemed to give them more confidence in reading / speaking.

I can give a file attachment if you like of the worksheet I used. Let me know.

Could you please send a copy to me via PM.

My son is 12 and my neighbours daughters are 11 and 8.

All are in an EP at school.

Thank you very much.

[lostinisaan]

Hi "lostinisaan"

Not sure if you are teaching here in Isaan but I posted the below text in relation to another topic.

I thought you may be interested in my comments.

You may be aware of the disorder, please take care.

Posted 2016-04-01 14:16:03

There seems to be a lot of ADHD's ( Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder ) in Thailand. From my many years here ( since 1996 ) it is noticeable in children from their early years, particularly with males, and seems to follow the male line. Have rarely seen in females, and when seen it was probably more a self protective event rather than ADHD's itself. Isaan for some reason, or people from this area show more cases.

For school teachers it can be distracting, even dangerous and certainly disruptive in a class.

In the town I am in south of KK the teachers at state, church, private schools refuse to allow such children to study extra hours after general classes, in the Summer School weeks, or following weeks of extra tuition. Why ? Safety for the other children and the teacher.

Children with ADHD's are even expelled from private English schools ( Kumon ? ) if their behaviour becomes too unreliable or violent.

It's not just the lack of attention or suddenly walking out of a class it's when another child is hit, or the child with the disorder picks up what ever is near him / her e.g a mobile phone and throws it at someone, including the teacher.

Hi Speedo,

Of course am I interested in your comments. Yep, I've completed 11 years of teaching in Isaan and thought I'd be able to cope with two different EP classes, but that might have been wishful thinking.

I also taught at big schools before but I've never experienced so many different students with learning disorders, strange behavioral problems and lack of concentration. Plus some other issues. The school is an Anuban in a smaller town, completely different to the provincial city's Anuban.

Too many factors give me a vary hard time. There's no test for the kids if they can join in the EP, anybody with some money can get their kid in. i have students i can have a conversation with and i have students who don't understand simple words.

Planning a lesson is always a time intensive task, because I always have to think about keeping the advanced students busy and trying to help those who struggle.

Thai subject teachers sometimes do not show up and if they do, they're always 20 minutes late. Their art teacher doesn't really give a flying one how loud they are. He gives them a piece of paper and a topic. Whatever monster they draw, it's okay and they receive excellent for it.

When you have a class after art, you need 20 minutes to calm them down. I'm currently updating my BA and study about children with special needs, learning disorders, etc.. and it's quite interesting for me.

I've had several very aggressive students in grade six who really threw a wooden chair on an Aussie teacher, who didn't believe me how dangerous the boy was. The problem was that he forgot to take his medication and he's on Haloperidol.

Of course should such students not attend school, but there're not enough schools for students with special needs.

When I knew that a homeroom teacher wouldn't come to school and i took my wife with me it helped a lot to keep them quiet.

I'm really jealous when I read about teachers who've got one, or even two assistants, which certainly helps a lot.

I'm aware that this job's really burning me out and i truly hope that they'll hire at least one experienced NES teacher this year.

Thanks for your post, please keep them coming. Kindest regards from Sisaket.

Cheers-

Edited April 4, 2016 by lostinisaan

[Speedo1968]

Hi lostinisaan

Just a quick note.

Brighton UK has had its budget for special needs, and people who assist those sleeping rough etc by 4 million gbp.

This means 3 of 5 special needs schools will close, as well as support services elsewhere.

Both my daughters who were involved in support services, one lost her job a few years ago when all funding was cut, the other lost her job end of last month.

There are many new rules about hiring and firing.

On the subject of ADHD's will comment later. My interest is that I study animal behaviour in my own work and helped my eldest daughter in her Uni work.

Be careful out there ..

[Speedo1968]

Brighton had its budget CUT of course

[Speedo1968]

Hello "lostinisaan" Sisaket

I will be long gone by the time the following research is done, IF it is ever done. How many children on haloperidol for ADHD's go on to have Parkinsonism later on in life ?

If you have children with such disorders in your class, you should, for your own safety and that of others, have an assistant AT ALL TIMES. If another child was injured, seriously or otherwise, you could be looking at a law suit.

[lostinisaan]

Hello "lostinisaan" Sisaket

I will be long gone by the time the following research is done, IF it is ever done. How many children on haloperidol for ADHD's go on to have Parkinsonism later on in life ?

If you have children with such disorders in your class, you should, for your own safety and that of others, have an assistant AT ALL TIMES. If another child was injured, seriously or otherwise, you could be looking at a law suit.

The "Haloperidol kid" was in grade six at my former school. Thanks a lot for your warning.

[muzmurray]

Did you have the student's parents permission to post the photo in your OP?

I would be none too pleased with my son's photo on a post that has degenerated into how hard it is to teach Thai children and ADHD!

[gerryBScot]

The key to teaching mixed language ability classes lies in group work. I pre-allocate students to a small group of four or five students purely on the basis of English language ability and ensure there is a mix of abilities in each group. This usually means that at least one student ini each group understands what I am saying and can explain to the the others. Whatever task I set them I expect them to talk to each other in L1 but I always introduce a L2 task for them to report back on. In a Maths class I am quite happy for groups to be using Thai because if nothing else it usually means the more able students are reasoning in a way that the less able kids can understand and often goes some way to ensuring kids are learning content despite not understanding the language of instruction. I also finds the L2 tasks helps bridge the language gap too.

[Speedo1968]

To "billd766"

Did you receive Syllables worksheet ?

Speedo1968

[scooterboy]

You may need to take into consideration whether your kids have to "pass a qualifying exam" to be eligible for these classes, or whether it's the "pay here and your kid is eligible" setup that seems to apply to many schools.

If your kids are qualified, then it shouldn't matter too much which books you choose, as they should already have a good, basic conception of the English language.
If they are "paid" kids, then choose the books that you find easiest in respect of grammar, command of language, worksheets and homework. It'll make life easier for your kids, your Thai teacher(s) - and yourself.

I certainly agree that the grammar, vocabulary and homework examples used in the books that I've seen, are far too advanced for the kids. I see words they have to learn that I only vaguely remember from my own school days - and which I have never used since then. For me, it's important to keep the use of the English language as simple as possible when talking to Thai kids. If they have to learn long and difficult English words - they'll almost never learn to use them properly.

Still, in the end I presume all your kids will pass their exams, whether they're good at English or can't even write their nickname in English. No criticism of yourself, there - the system works that way.

Good luck!

PS Good onya, Speedo1968,for the syllables worksheet - sounds like an excellent piece of work. A copy, please, if you have the time (and inclination).....

[Speedo1968]

To "scooterboy" worksheet just sent to you ( Weds 13th ) by message, hope you can open file ok. Pls let me know if you cant.

[lostinisaan]

You may need to take into consideration whether your kids have to "pass a qualifying exam" to be eligible for these classes, or whether it's the "pay here and your kid is eligible" setup that seems to apply to many schools.

If your kids are qualified, then it shouldn't matter too much which books you choose, as they should already have a good, basic conception of the English language.

If they are "paid" kids, then choose the books that you find easiest in respect of grammar, command of language, worksheets and homework. It'll make life easier for your kids, your Thai teacher(s) - and yourself.

I certainly agree that the grammar, vocabulary and homework examples used in the books that I've seen, are far too advanced for the kids. I see words they have to learn that I only vaguely remember from my own school days - and which I have never used since then. For me, it's important to keep the use of the English language as simple as possible when talking to Thai kids. If they have to learn long and difficult English words - they'll almost never learn to use them properly.

Still, in the end I presume all your kids will pass their exams, whether they're good at English or can't even write their nickname in English. No criticism of yourself, there - the system works that way.

Good luck!

PS Good onya, Speedo1968,for the syllables worksheet - sounds like an excellent piece of work. A copy, please, if you have the time (and inclination).....

Thanks for your post. It's just a small town, so there's not enough competition and whoever wants in this program is in.Money talks.

No tests, nothing. There're only a few bright students who are good in reading, speaking and writing. The majority is very poor.

We'll see if they hire one or two experienced teacher before May, if not i don't see a future for this program.

Of course did all get good grades, my Thai colleagues even let them cheat when they wrote my tests. Happy Songkran !!!

[scooterboy]

^Jeez, what's with all these grammar police?

Ever heard of the heat, tiredness, lack of coffee, fingers and thumbs, too many beers or mind on something more important that just could be affecting one's writing?

Sheesh.....

Yep, pretty typical of many EP/MEP classes - bundle them in after paying at the door. My learned buddy had MEP classes - his report just about matches yours. Most of the kids cheated or copied from others - normal stuff. Most still couldn't do the exam correctly (and thereby would've failed) so they were told which answers were wrong. so they could use their erasers to remove the wrong answer and plot in a new answer. Still wrong? No sweat, just erase the answer and repeat until correct.

This after the teacher, a week before, had gone through the questions and had given the correct answers.

His philosophy? "I get paid to teach the kids - not to try and interfere with the ways of the school."

Sounds good to me........

PS PM sent to "Speedo1968" - and thanks!

[lostinisaan]

^Jeez, what's with all these grammar police?

Ever heard of the heat, tiredness, lack of coffee, fingers and thumbs, too many beers or mind on something more important that just could be affecting one's writing?

Sheesh.....

Yep, pretty typical of many EP/MEP classes - bundle them in after paying at the door. My learned buddy had MEP classes - his report just about matches yours. Most of the kids cheated or copied from others - normal stuff. Most still couldn't do the exam correctly (and thereby would've failed) so they were told which answers were wrong. so they could use their erasers to remove the wrong answer and plot in a new answer. Still wrong? No sweat, just erase the answer and repeat until correct.

This after the teacher, a week before, had gone through the questions and had given the correct answers.

His philosophy? "I get paid to teach the kids - not to try and interfere with the ways of the school."

Sounds good to me........

PS PM sent to "Speedo1968" - and thanks!

Thanks for your post. I'm always telling my kids that they won't learn anything by copying. Unfortunately, are many of them too used to wait for the answer(s).

And considering that they're well aware of the fact that they'll pass anyway, there's not too much pressure on them to study.

A lot of homework is done by the parents, because they also believe that they'd lose face, as the Thai teachers do.

I'm following the Thai curriculum, but mostly use my homemade stuff to teach them.

A lot of books come with a pretty strange vocabulary for young learners, while other books are way off topic.The science book for grade one starts with heavy vocabulary, then parts of plants, what they need to survive, etc...I mean that's stuff they don't even know in Thai.

Such topics should be taught in Thai first, then in English, but the communication between Thai subject teachers and foreigners really sucks,.. aeeh I mean, could be a lot better.

They gave me books with greetings, where person A says: "How do you do? Person B replies: " How do you do?" I know that his is correct English, but 's using that these days? What a waste of time......

You can basically divide them into three groups. First group a real pleasure to teach them, the second group is only waiting to copy everything of a "friend's book", or worksheet from somebody.

Third group shouldn't be in such a program, they still have to look on a book to be able to write their nickname on a handout/worksheet. Not even trying to mention their whole name in Thai. But I have to be able to name them all by their real name? Insane.

How can you teach such kids magnetism and electricity, or the difference between herbi and carnivores, if they have zero English skills, because they never listened????

{lease try to teach a class of 39 EP kids with strange behavioral problems, while the ordinary classes have not more than 34 kids. Does that make sense?

But the show must go on. Happy Songkran. Beer tastes good, we're at a swimming pool and life's good. . Cheers-

.

Edited April 14, 2016 by lostinisaan

[lostinisaan]

Hi "lostinisaan"

I have found that Thai children, even from reasonable schools do not understand syllables. I used to teach this from day one and it seemed to give them more confidence in reading / speaking.

I can give a file attachment if you like of the worksheet I used. Let me know.

Hi Speedo,

Would you please send me a copy via messenger, please? Have a nice week. Thanks a lot in advance..

P.S. Mao Leo.

Edited April 14, 2016 by lostinisaan