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University teaching shows why Thais' command of English is so abysmal!


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2 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.


Good point.  Since I moved here I've been approached by so many schools to do cash in hand work teaching conversational english.  Obviously I can't because I have no degree or teaching licence but it's a topic they are aware requires improvement.  

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2 hours ago, djayz said:

Here we go again... if I had ฿ 1 for every time people pointed out the absymal level of English here, I'd be a millionaire by now! 

If the teachers haven't mastered the language, then how are they expected to teach their students?!?!

 

Teachers and professors who have their positions partially thanks to family connections and are never observed by neutral peers with the aim of improving standards. They have no motivation to improve themselves as teachers nor to help their students improve their (students) lot in life. The language center I work at observes all teachers once and sometimes twice a year and conducts regular student feedback surveys. All with the aim of 1) keeping teaching standards up and 2) to check student i.e. customer satisfaction with the teaching staff. 

This could easily be done at the public schools and universities. 

 

I couldn't agree more. My stepdaughter was not allowed to go to the toilet during class until she asked to go to the toilish. Apparently toilish is the actual English word for toilet. 

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About 3 years ago my Thai step son's gf (2nd year at Chiang Mai U) asked me and another expat (from Canada & England) to help her with her university English course. After half an hour or so we were shocked. Not only did she have to learn words and concepts we never use, and poorly understand, they were complex to an extreme. We both have some university  education so are not total dummies. Even the sentences she had to learn the meaning of we struggled over as the concepts in the sentence were complicated, and never ever used in normal speech.

 

The students just don't stand a chance here with learning English in school.

 

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3 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.

British English would be a great place to start. I would not for example not recommend teaching pidgin English as spoken in Jamaica.   

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1 hour ago, Johnniey said:

What is it a technical/vocational college?

I worked in a Thai university for over 10 years and all the teachers in the English department spoke impeccable English as many of them had PhD's from English universities. They had all studied to a Master's degree level abroad. 

 

The only mistake I often heard was that they used "ever" as in "I ever been to Spain".

 

Who cares if the Thai word "koy" is misspelled? I know many so called Thai speakers who think this word means "have" or "used to", as in "I have been there", "I have eaten it before". 

There was even a poster here years ago called, "ajarn", who had been learning Thai for many years didn't know this Thai word meaning "not very".

 

But go ahead all you people living in Thailand, who can't communicate in Thai, and criticize the Thais ability at speaking English as after all they should, shouldn't they?

"The only mistake I often heard was that they used "ever" as in "I ever been to Spain"."

 

Seems like an odd mistake for people that spoke "impeccable English"?

 

Back on topic - the inadequate teaching of the language is unfortunate (bearing in mind there are so many Brits and Americans living here that could be used to point out mistakes), but those that eventually need to use the English language can hopefully be understood - and learn as they spend time speaking the language.

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2 hours ago, pookiki said:

All from Liverpool, right?

My wife (who is Thai) got her doctorate from the University of Missouri (where we met) and taught ESL in Wisconsin public schools for 20 years. She could never understand my friend Bob who is from somewhere east of Liverpool. Sorry, that's the best I can do. The geography of England is not my strong suit, never been there.

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45 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

It goes even further, my Thai granddaughter goes to a higher level bilingual school, Primary 6, and she speaks close to native speaker English, to some extent coming from long-term immersion from birth from listening to me speak English to both her Thai mother and father who also speak good English.

 

She's had good qualified English teachers in P1 thru to P6 and alsi on kinder. Her current P6 English teacher is a well qualified and professional farang for English construction, spelling, real conversation, etc.

 

Plus at her school the kids have English taught by a Thai teacher. The Thai teacher can speak some English, she listens to the Farang teaching and is supposed to take notes and copy the same lesson later the same day repeating / explaining everything in Thai language.

 

Granddaughter tells tell us again and again that the Thai teacher continuously tells the class that the farang is wrong and is crazy and his salary is a waste of money. 

 

The kids have to try to remember to say things as taught by the professional farang teacher when they speak to him, and say it in a different construction (which they all know is incorrect) if they are talking in English (which is not often at all) to the Thai teacher. 

 

And they have to remember all of the above when they have mid-term and end of term Exams; one for farang taught English and a separate exam for Thai taught English.

 

A few Thai parents (who speak very good English) have complained about all of this direct to the school head, they always get told in no uncertain terms that they are wrong.

 

Truth is that some of the overall time could be used to much better advantage.

 

A long way to go. 

Re. the emboldened part - is that true or an exaggeration??!

 

I ask as it seems a bit unbelievable, even for Thailand!

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1 hour ago, Johnniey said:

 

Who cares if the Thai word "koy" is misspelled? I know many so called Thai speakers who think this word means "have" or "used to", as in "I have been there", "I have eaten it before". 

There was even a poster here years ago called, "ajarn", who had been learning Thai for many years didn't know this Thai word meaning "not very".

 

But go ahead all you people living in Thailand, who can't communicate in Thai, and criticize the Thais ability at speaking English as after all they should, shouldn't they?

Who cares? Presumably Thais studying at university who expect Thai text not to contain careless mistakes (even if that is a forlorn hope for text in English).

 

Also, the (presumably foreign) people living in Thailand, who, according to you, can't communicate in Thai, are not being paid to teach the Thai language at University level.

 

 

 

 

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Just now, NextStationBangkok said:

ThaiVisa or Thairath thinks, as of whole world is fluent in English, except Thailand.

 

Atleast Thai's know how to take care English speaking husbands, that is already good enough!

 

:passifier::passifier::passifier::stoner:

Re. the second para. - yes.

 

But we're talking about students looking for an education in English to help their career.....

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3 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.

What? There are no versions of English. English is English. There are some slight differences on some words and some local slang but mostly it is purely accent, nothing more.

 

From what I observe thai people have a better grasp then the press would have you believe. Of course if you speak too fast then it can be a problem for some but generally its ok for basic things everyday.

 

However, neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and particularly the Philippines are light years away with English language skills.

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.

In Vietnam I got to know receptionist at my hotel fairly well. and he spoke fairly good English. Had a cockney guest for a bit, couldn't make heads or tails of what guest was saying... "I think I speak English pretty well, but I don't understand any of what he says" he admitted. I said "Don't worry, I don't either" (Being a yank and all....). There are native speakers and then  there are native speakers.

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Just now, NextStationBangkok said:

 

If you ask anyone learning English, what do you want be in the future, like parrots they will say -"I want to mall(rr)y falang".

Please stop confusing prostitutes with those looking to have a career with which being able to speak English would be an advantage.

 

And please (also) don't reply that those saying "I want to mall(rr)y falang" are in the same category.

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6 minutes ago, Johnniey said:
28 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Seems like an odd mistake for people that spoke "impeccable English"?

 

That's why I

 

The use of ever as in "I ever been to Scotland" is fairly common in Asia, Singaporeans say it too.

As weird as it sounds, ever is ever listed as an antonym of never.

 

http://englishthesaurus.net/antonym/never

http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/never

 

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My Thai Wife, whose level of spoken English is quite good, but not to a standard of teaching the subject, was asked to be a Lecturer in English Language at the local University.  She was asked to teach English using "The psychological development of the human being" as the vehicle for English conversation.  The consequence of this is the Students ended up learning two quite complex subjects simultaneously, neither of which was done particularly well.  My Wife was then invited to mark the exam papers of the Students!  They all passed, mainly due to being awarded additional marks for regular attendance.

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The blame game needs to stop. It serves no useful purpose. If you want to learn a language the obvious way is to get lessons from a qualified native speaker of the language you wish to learn.

 

Thailand as yet does not have a solid position within the International trade market which is partly due to the lack of conversational English plus of course the quality of some of the products they try to sell.

 

A solid manufacturing base will inevitably lead to a more serious attitude towards learning English, but that would appear to be some way off at this point in time.

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4 hours ago, jpinx said:

There are so many versions of English (Spanish also) that it is hard to know where to set the standard, but there is no doubt that most Thai "English Teachers" are hard pressed to have a conversation in English with a native UK English speaker.

Unfortunately that is true and even more amazing is that native English teachers are sidelined when it comes to exams, they rather have the Thai English version which most if not all are very badly set out and they also have many ,many mistakes. When questioned the stock answer, depends on what the examiner was thinking................Total B/S that is why after 10 years I stopped teaching , you can take a horse to water but you cannot make it drinkl, likewise Thai students you can teach them but you cannot make them learn and in todays educational culture in Thailand  everyone passes even the stupid ones.

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