Education issue!

[Steps]

We were told a couple of weeks ago that my son has to re-do his second year of school as he did not pass his test. There where 2 children out of the class that had to re-do and both where Luk Krungs. He goes to what i would consider a rural type school in Trat where the education is not great.

My fear is that he is maybe not getting the teaching/attention that he needs over the other kids but who knows. I have spoken to a friend who said i should get him checked out for dyslexia and another friend has told me about mixed race children who's parents speak different languages, learning a little slower due to the effect that 2 languages have on cognitive processes (both friends are well educated and one is in the education field).

Has anybody found it common for children to have to redo a year in school?

I will be going into the school on Monday to speak with the teacher and the head to check on their perceived standards of care and tuition. I did notice that last year he did not receive any homework, nor did we receive any letters from the school to announce any public holidays, school closed days ect. This information was passed to us by the driver who takes him to school.

I think all of this is the deciding factor for sending my son to the UK next year to stay with my parents and go to school there. I think this will massively relieve my fear and worry about him being left behind and being miss treated (this is just a fear i hope and not a reality).

[fiddlehead]

We had a tutor come in on Sundays to help my son (Half Thai, half Caucasian).
It helped.

I think what you need to think about it where your son is going to live when he gets out of school.
I know that's a tough one, and nobody really knows do they?

But, if it is going to be Thailand, he had better be able to read and write Thai.

And he will have a huge advantage by also reading and writing English.

Another year in 2nd grade for a boy is not such a bad thing.
Boys mature later than girls.

Good luck with your son's education.

[lemonjelly]

If your son can study in the UK, that's the way to go, most Thai would kill to be able to send their kids to a school in Blighty, it's a "no brainer".

[Carson2311]

Hi! I also have a child, daugther, together with a Thai woman. It seems like it really has to do with the question of 2 languages.

I also feel that she is a little bit after other children regarding the thai language and communication level with Thai children. On the other hand she speaks english better than a Thai university student.

As she is only second year in school and also only 4 years old, I do not worry so much because it´s very early in life and there is still time.

On the other hand you have the choise to bring her to school in UK. You also have a choise to change the scoll in Thailand to a better one that you feel good with.

The ball is in your hand. Not that you should disregard varningsigns, but I do think that you don´t need to worry too much if you can´t clearly see any signs on your son.

I wish you the Best of Britain, (Good Luck)

[offset]

Are you sure that your son did not have homework to do but he did not tell you he had homework, the 3 schools that my son went to all gave homework even in kindergarten he had a little homework

We had the same problem with my son we were told that in a pre exam test he failed in a couple of subjects and when we looked at some of his workbooks we see that he knew the answers but did not understand what he was being asked in the questions, we decided that we would make him do 30 minute of reading and 30 minutes of writing Thai on weekend days and 30 minutes of reading or writing when he was at school, in his last exam he passed with no problem but we are still making him do his work until we are sure that he can understand Thai very good then i will start to work on his English and Maths

I feel that in Thailand you have to work with your children at home and do not leave it to the school to teach the children everything

[FritsSikkink]

Send him to a private school where he does get homework and help him with that. If not dyslectic than the problem is solved.

[laolover88]

I would want to see the 'test results'. It will, I imagine, surely emerge that the 'problem' is reading, understanding and writing Thai. Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung; so they get no special help.

The lack of communication from the school is par for the course!

Our kids went through from Anuban 1 to Por 6. With the prospect M 1.We decided we had all had enough!

[FritsSikkink]

I would want to see the 'test results'. It will, I imagine, surely emerge that the 'problem' is reading, understanding and writing Thai. Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung; so they get no special help.

The lack of communication from the school is par for the course!

Our kids went through from Anuban 1 to Por 6. With the prospect M 1.We decided we had all had enough!

"Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung" nonsense. Why should they give certain child's more help and others less. If your child can't keep up, you arrange extra help.

[Steps]

We had a tutor come in on Sundays to help my son (Half Thai, half Caucasian).

It helped.

I think what you need to think about it where your son is going to live when he gets out of school.

I know that's a tough one, and nobody really knows do they?

But, if it is going to be Thailand, he had better be able to read and write Thai.

And he will have a huge advantage by also reading and writing English.

Another year in 2nd grade for a boy is not such a bad thing.

Boys mature later than girls.

Good luck with your son's education.

Thanks for sharing. I would like him to be Bi-Lingual for the many advantages. The tutor on a weekend sounds like a possibility and something worth looking into.

[Steps]

Are you sure that your son did not have homework to do but he did not tell you he had homework, the 3 schools that my son went to all gave homework even in kindergarten he had a little homework

We had the same problem with my son we were told that in a pre exam test he failed in a couple of subjects and when we looked at some of his workbooks we see that he knew the answers but did not understand what he was being asked in the questions, we decided that we would make him do 30 minute of reading and 30 minutes of writing Thai on weekend days and 30 minutes of reading or writing when he was at school, in his last exam he passed with no problem but we are still making him do his work until we are sure that he can understand Thai very good then i will start to work on his English and Maths

I feel that in Thailand you have to work with your children at home and do not leave it to the school to teach the children everything

I feel like this is going to be the only way to go with regards to the hour each night of a weekday, until he goes to the UK next year. I have already spoken to the missus about doing this religiously from 7-8 whilst i take care of the baby. I am also going to make more of an effort to do the English with him myself. It is difficult when you come home from work after a long and busy day sometimes. It is something that makes me feel guilty though. I need to make it fun for him and have fun with it myself. Thanks for sharing cause that is really helpful and it's comforting to know that i'm not the only father out here with this difficulty that people are successfully working through.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Steps

[laolover88]

I would want to see the 'test results'. It will, I imagine, surely emerge that the 'problem' is reading, understanding and writing Thai. Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung; so they get no special help.

The lack of communication from the school is par for the course!

Our kids went through from Anuban 1 to Por 6. With the prospect M 1.We decided we had all had enough!

"Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung" nonsense. Why should they give certain child's more help and others less. If your child can't keep up, you arrange extra help.

Who said anything about "keeping up"? Our kids are 100% trilingual speaking, reading writing Thai, English, French; have plenty of Thai friends. Have sent you a PM. It is not much use people gaily saying get a tutor. Have you been to a Por 1 after school tutor's establishment? They are more like supper and Galaxy clubs than anything else. Many won't even accept Luk Khreung. As for private tutors, teachers don't need extra after school work and income.Teachers are not happy they can speak English better than themselves

My wife and family had to do most of the work when they were smaller.

Edited May 21, 2016 by laolover88

[FritsSikkink]

Are you sure that your son did not have homework to do but he did not tell you he had homework, the 3 schools that my son went to all gave homework even in kindergarten he had a little homework

We had the same problem with my son we were told that in a pre exam test he failed in a couple of subjects and when we looked at some of his workbooks we see that he knew the answers but did not understand what he was being asked in the questions, we decided that we would make him do 30 minute of reading and 30 minutes of writing Thai on weekend days and 30 minutes of reading or writing when he was at school, in his last exam he passed with no problem but we are still making him do his work until we are sure that he can understand Thai very good then i will start to work on his English and Maths

I feel that in Thailand you have to work with your children at home and do not leave it to the school to teach the children everything

I feel like this is going to be the only way to go with regards to the hour each night of a weekday, until he goes to the UK next year. I have already spoken to the missus about doing this religiously from 7-8 whilst i take care of the baby. I am also going to make more of an effort to do the English with him myself. It is difficult when you come home from work after a long and busy day sometimes. It is something that makes me feel guilty though. I need to make it fun for him and have fun with it myself. Thanks for sharing cause that is really helpful and it's comforting to know that i'm not the only father out here with this difficulty that people are successfully working through.

you need to try make it fun for him, not important that you have fun. it is your task

[FritsSikkink]

I would want to see the 'test results'. It will, I imagine, surely emerge that the 'problem' is reading, understanding and writing Thai. Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung; so they get no special help.

The lack of communication from the school is par for the course!

Our kids went through from Anuban 1 to Por 6. With the prospect M 1.We decided we had all had enough!

"Thai teachers are not interested in Luk Khreung" nonsense. Why should they give certain child's more help and others less. If your child can't keep up, you arrange extra help.

Who said anything about "keeping up"? Our kids are 100% trilingual speaking, reading writing Thai, English, French; have plenty of Thai friends. Have sent you a PM. It is not much use people gaily saying get a tutor. Have you been to a Por 1 after school tutor's establishment? They are more like supper and Galaxy clubs than anything else. Many won't even accept Luk Khreung. As for private tutors, teachers don't need extra after school work and income.Teachers are not happy they can speak English better than themselves

My wife and family had to do most of the work when they were smaller.

my kids go to a private school, get English from a Philipino. oldest 1 (11) was first of her class for years, now second. has been to many school competitions youngest 1 (3.5) is second of her class. teachers love them

[offset]

Are you sure that your son did not have homework to do but he did not tell you he had homework, the 3 schools that my son went to all gave homework even in kindergarten he had a little homework

We had the same problem with my son we were told that in a pre exam test he failed in a couple of subjects and when we looked at some of his workbooks we see that he knew the answers but did not understand what he was being asked in the questions, we decided that we would make him do 30 minute of reading and 30 minutes of writing Thai on weekend days and 30 minutes of reading or writing when he was at school, in his last exam he passed with no problem but we are still making him do his work until we are sure that he can understand Thai very good then i will start to work on his English and Maths

I feel that in Thailand you have to work with your children at home and do not leave it to the school to teach the children everything

I feel like this is going to be the only way to go with regards to the hour each night of a weekday, until he goes to the UK next year. I have already spoken to the missus about doing this religiously from 7-8 whilst i take care of the baby. I am also going to make more of an effort to do the English with him myself. It is difficult when you come home from work after a long and busy day sometimes. It is something that makes me feel guilty though. I need to make it fun for him and have fun with it myself. Thanks for sharing cause that is really helpful and it's comforting to know that i'm not the only father out here with this difficulty that people are successfully working through.

When we started to do the work with my son he did not want to do the work so we said that we would only let him watch TV for the same time as he did his reading and writing if he did not do the work he not get to watch his TV

Now he does his work the first thing in the morning at the weekend and he does it after his shower when he comes home from school then the rest of the time his what he wants to do

[Bantex]

My Thai wife speaks six languages and as a result, our young daughter speaks three languages to the point that she can change language mid sentence without thinking. Every word she learns in Thai at school, my wife teaches to her in the other two languages at home. Our daughter wants to learn the languages and will eventually be taught the additional three languages my wife speaks. This skill does not hold her back at school where she does very well.

Edited May 21, 2016 by Bantex

[Suradit69]

another friend has told me about mixed race children who's parents speak different languages, learning a little slower due to the effect that 2 languages have on cognitive processes (both friends are well educated and one is in the education field).

Of course there are differing opinions on most developmental subjects ... often supported by dubious research, but I don't think there's much evidence that bilingual children are in anyway challenged in cognitive development. Obviously individual children don't all develop at exactly the same pace nor do they have the same positive or negative influences at school or home.

Shipping your child off to UK seems a bad choice since you'd be heaping more stress on the child and it's always possible he would experience an unpleasant adjustment to life away from his parents, friends and from bigotry which is hardly rare in the UK.

The following article is worth reading in its entirety (link below)

Today, more of the world’s population is bilingual or multilingual than monolingual. In addition to facilitating cross-cultural communication, this trend also positively affects cognitive abilities. Researchers have shown that the bilingual brain can have better attention and task-switching capacities than the monolingual brain, thanks to its developed ability to inhibit one language while using another. In addition, bilingualism has positive effects at both ends of the age spectrum: Bilingual children as young as seven months can better adjust to environmental changes, while bilingual seniors can experience less cognitive decline.

http://dana.org/Cerebrum/2012/The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Being_Bilingual/

Edited May 22, 2016 by Suradit69

[Suradit69]

If your son can study in the UK, that's the way to go, most Thai would kill to be able to send their kids to a school in Blighty, it's a "no brainer".

it's a "no brainer".

Yes. It certainly is. But if you employ your brain you would realize there are a host of considerations that may or may not make that choice in the best interest of the child, especially a child that young,

I sincerely doubt most Thais would want to send their children away. Most Thai children will go on to spend the balance of their lives in Thailand and being dumped into some school in Britain will hardly make for a well-adjusted school leaver able to reintegrate into life and find employment opportunities in Thailand.

While there are undoubtedly some very good schools and learning environments in UK, there's no shortage of students who emerge from schools there woefully unprepared for anything but the most menial employment in UK, let alone back in their home country.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Suradit69