Any new activities as a result of the AGAIN English is important and we are going to....

[Rhys]

Well, the MOE has given the AGAIN challenge,   to increase English abilities of students, has your school taken any steps in that direction?

 

At my place, this means another class of English for the university students instead of 3 it is now 4 classes as a graduation requirement..

[tonray]

Yes....Immigration in Bangkok asked me to prove I no longer worked for my old school and now work for my new school by demanding letters from both before they would approve my extension this year. They sure are taking this English abilities thing seriously...555

[muzmurray]

11 hours ago, Rhys said:

At my place, this means another class of English for the university students instead of 3 it is now 4 classes as a graduation requirement..

 

Presumably this is over the duration of their course, (4 years generally)?

 

We already have 4 compulsory subjects that all students take, regardless of their major.

[Rhys]

3 hours ago, muzmurray said:

 

Presumably this is over the duration of their course, (4 years generally)?

 

We already have 4 compulsory subjects that all students take, regardless of their major.

 

Sadly, for the general education requirement English courses takes place in the students' freshman program years only. Then no more.

[muzmurray]

19 hours ago, Rhys said:

 

Sadly, for the general education requirement English courses takes place in the students' freshman program years only. Then no more.

 

Ouch !

 

So all forgotten by graduation.

[Rhys]

18 hours ago, muzmurray said:

 

Ouch !

 

So all forgotten by graduation.

 

 

Would it be any other way?  Even for some English majors, this is the situation.  You know the type of student, the one who became an English major because they could not get into the faculty they wanted or my parents wanted me to become an English major.

 

However, the bright spots are the students you have guided and they went on to finish their MA and use their English skills productively for their jobs

[Speedo1968]

Not sure if the right place for my posting.

I have taught my own occupation here in Thailand as part of a general contract as a consultant.

I have taught English Conversation privately to all ages of students, including those with dyslexia, ADHD's and those in employment.

I have worked / lived here for 20 years.

I am retired at least as far as teaching English is concerned.

 

Regarding extra classes in English.

I live about 45 km south of Khon Kaen.

A local private primary school has "admitted to" ? it's standard of English amoungst it's students as poor.

Class sizes are around 26, thought this was quite low for Thailand, even England.

Therefore it has / has to ( ? not sure if such a thing as a govt request to a school exists ? ) offer 2 hours per day of English for "FREE", during the current school holiday.

Many parents ( I do not have children at this school ) already say there are not enough teachers and, that their children have difficulty in understanding the English spoken by the teachers.     The latter not surprising and, is further complicated by the CD's sometimes used in English classes where, the accent may be from a New Yorker or rarely a native English English teacher.

Having books that mix both US and UK English doesn't help - I have even seen pages in one schools books where some chapters the dialogue includes Hispanic English !    great for the children who watch Cheech and Chong ........

 

I did ask one question of the school via someone, "Could a student or students who are always getting good / high grades go to the next years age group for the free lessons, if the study work is deemed suitable ?    Obviously, and you may agree, the reply was "No".

 

Finally,  a food stall where I drink Oleang ( Thai coffee ), the teen-aged daughter was desperate to keep in-front of her English school work, all credit to her for constantly asking if I could teach ( which I was willing to do as one-on-one or as a group of 3 students ). The mother was seemingly keen but constantly haggled over the price in front of her daughter, even at 30 baht an hour one-on-one she still wanted the price down. The young girl was sadly disappointed.     Yes, you can have a go at me for not offering lessons for free, then get everyone knocking at my door.    What chance is there for the children who want to learn and the parents can afford, especially when exams are coming up ?

 

As I said at the beginning - nothing really new here, I think it is just me getting older and saddened at the loss to the children.

[muzmurray]

14 hours ago, Speedo1968 said:

A local private primary school has "admitted to" ? it's standard of English amoungst it's students as poor.

 

I gave up reading at this point, a spelling mistake - we all make them sometimes, but basic grammar errors from an ex-teacher, very bad form.

[Rhys]

 

 

It appears this time many schools are making the serious push.. adding extra classes..hiring qualified teachers.  A shock indeed.