Appalling English Teaching

[WilliamG]

On 8/31/2021 at 2:29 PM, gummy said:

whilst it is sad to think people still watch it then there was nothing sadder than those who had an erection watching  Ena Sharples on set.

Have a look at Buggernation Street on You Tube. Wonderful stuff.

[Lowseasonlover]

18 minutes ago, WilliamG said:

Red or Blue?

Red from the north side

[WilliamG]

On 8/31/2021 at 3:49 PM, Bluesofa said:

I always thought her character would get rid of any erection within seconds.

Not for Albert Tatlock though!

[Jingjo]

You should perhaps consider getting curriculum material from your home country.
For example from back home in Australia you can get something like this: https://www.teachersuperstore.com.au/home-education-bundle-australian-curriculum-year-2

Edited September 5, 2021 by Jingjo

[TheDirtyDurian]

The best thing that happened to my kids re learning English was moving away from Thailand. Relocated to the Middle East and it was amazing to see the rapid progress they made. Tapped into the local Thai community and all the kids would play together with English being the main language. What a difference being away from Thailand can make. Kids relocated back to Thailand a few years ago but English is still their first language, and they probably speak it better than many UK born people.

I hate to say it but you do get what you pay for and 15,000 a term is peanuts. There may be some good government schools in the larger cities etc but they're going to be hard to get into. 

Schools are a business in Thailand. Never forget that, and that goes from the cheapest to the most expensive. 

 

[TukTuk]

On 8/29/2021 at 5:50 AM, Bluesofa said:

My wife's four-year-old niece is learning  at home at present, obviously due to Covid. If this wasn't happening I would never have known the appalling level of English being taught.

The niece is colouring in, learning to recognise shapes, etc. She's also doing some very basic writing (in Thai and English) by filling in the dotted letters. That seems fair enough.

The school appear to be using adapted American worksheets which are emailed to parents and then printed out. I'm saying that because part of getting them to recognise names, they had to draw a line linking the person's 'picture' to their written English name (even though they know only half-a-dozen letters of English)
Pictured were: Tom Holland, Dwayne Johnson, Mickey Mouse, Snow White.
The only picture my wife's niece recognised was Mickey Mouse. She'd never heard of Snow White. As for the two males, I had to google to see who they were and find a picture of them, as I'm not American.

This is 'English Kindergarten 1' Perhaps it's subjective whether you spell it kindergarden /kindergarten? Being British I only know it as nursery school.

Someone at the school, or in Thailand anyway, has printed on most of the worksheets in a large faint grey coloured font, imitating a watermark, "Make a wit" and immediately below it in Thai "ผลิตปัญญา". Using google translate it offers: 'produce intelligence'

I was trying trying to work out what the Engrish meant. I noticed that one of the google options from Thai>Engrish was 'intelligence' or 'wit'.
"Make a wit" makes me think of Oscar Wilde.

The point of my rant is that (to avoid defamation) this school is in a city between Khon Kaen and Nong Khai and and has the name of our lord's mother. It's not cheap either. At least someone else in the family is paying the 15,000 Baht a term for the nursery school.

Oh, and before my wife's niece was accepted we took her to be interviewed at the school. I saw they had drawings of various animals along the wall, with the English name written by an alleged teacher. 'Ploar Bear' was one.

Yes, it's easy for me as a native English speaker to criticise. Having the cheek to charge what they do, they deserve it, and have no defence.

 

We had our son in a school at a cost over 450,000 baht  plus all the fee's they throw at you.

When we moved back to the USA, he was a year behind his peers.

9 years later he is in his third year at the University of Florida. National Honor Society Scholastic Award winner.

Number one goal for us was to get him an education where he would be able to have a good life and career where ever he planned to live.

Best decision ever.

Thailand can always wait.

For him, he adamantly does NOT want to return and live in Thailand.

And he will have the education and skills so he does not have to.

[billywillyjones]

On 8/29/2021 at 5:34 PM, Marble-eye said:

If I can be so bold as to recommend this teacher, she might not be the best teacher in Thailand but I have been reliably informed that her rates are very reasonable.

Some of the Thai comedy is actually quite funny.

[AussieBob]

6 hours ago, TukTuk said:

We had our son in a school at a cost over 450,000 baht  plus all the fee's they throw at you.

When we moved back to the USA, he was a year behind his peers.

9 years later he is in his third year at the University of Florida. National Honor Society Scholastic Award winner.

Number one goal for us was to get him an education where he would be able to have a good life and career where ever he planned to live.

Best decision ever.

Thailand can always wait.

For him, he adamantly does NOT want to return and live in Thailand.

And he will have the education and skills so he does not have to.

I know and accept that it is up to each person to do what they think is best for their own circumstances, but the path you chose is what I also believe the be the right one and the best one for the child.  Not an option for everyone I know, but I would do the same in your situation. There are many Thai ladies over here with Aussie hubbys - never met one yet that wants to take their kids back to be educated in Thailand.  They all want them to learn about Thailand and speak Thai and know their history, and they all take them home now and again - but they never want them to go to school there - they know what it does to them.  I always thought that a well educated Thai could do extremely well in Thailand in business. 

[gummy]

2 hours ago, AussieBob said:

I always thought that a well educated Thai could do extremely well in Thailand in business. 

Yes some of the richest thieves in Thailand are well educated.

[Vince]

On 8/29/2021 at 2:50 AM, Bluesofa said:

My wife's four-year-old niece is learning  at home at present, obviously due to Covid. If this wasn't happening I would never have known the appalling level of English being taught.

The niece is colouring in, learning to recognise shapes, etc. She's also doing some very basic writing (in Thai and English) by filling in the dotted letters. That seems fair enough.

The school appear to be using adapted American worksheets which are emailed to parents and then printed out. I'm saying that because part of getting them to recognise names, they had to draw a line linking the person's 'picture' to their written English name (even though they know only half-a-dozen letters of English)
Pictured were: Tom Holland, Dwayne Johnson, Mickey Mouse, Snow White.
The only picture my wife's niece recognised was Mickey Mouse. She'd never heard of Snow White. As for the two males, I had to google to see who they were and find a picture of them, as I'm not American.

This is 'English Kindergarten 1' Perhaps it's subjective whether you spell it kindergarden /kindergarten? Being British I only know it as nursery school.

Someone at the school, or in Thailand anyway, has printed on most of the worksheets in a large faint grey coloured font, imitating a watermark, "Make a wit" and immediately below it in Thai "ผลิตปัญญา". Using google translate it offers: 'produce intelligence'

I was trying trying to work out what the Engrish meant. I noticed that one of the google options from Thai>Engrish was 'intelligence' or 'wit'.
"Make a wit" makes me think of Oscar Wilde.

The point of my rant is that (to avoid defamation) this school is in a city between Khon Kaen and Nong Khai and and has the name of our lord's mother. It's not cheap either. At least someone else in the family is paying the 15,000 Baht a term for the nursery school.

Oh, and before my wife's niece was accepted we took her to be interviewed at the school. I saw they had drawings of various animals along the wall, with the English name written by an alleged teacher. 'Ploar Bear' was one.

Yes, it's easy for me as a native English speaker to criticise. Having the cheek to charge what they do, they deserve it, and have no defence.

 

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson! 

[Noble_Design]

The thing about teaching of English and what's wrong with it in Thailand is the system/syllabus. No amount of NES or non-NES teachers can improve on that if the system is flawed since the beginning.

For example from where I came from (Malaysia) and we can lump Singapore together as well, we virtually have almost no NES teachers in public schools at all. And we don't need to go to expensive private or international schools just to learn and be able to converse effectively in English. What we had was a system or framework descended from our former colonial masters which I believe is based on the Cambridge 1119 (O or A levels) and we just stick to that one system for all schools in the entire country. 

Another thing is for all TV channels that shows foreign programs (movies, cartoons etc.) don't dub them in Thai, leave them in English as it is. Just add Thai sub-titles, that's how I learn to listen to the language while simultaneously understanding the meaning by reading the subs.

Also make it compulsory for each students to have a Thai-English dictionary, make it affordable and encourage the kids to browse through it a few minutes a day.  

[Bluesofa]

2 minutes ago, Noble_Design said:

The thing about teaching of English and what's wrong with it in Thailand is the system/syllabus. No amount of NES or non-NES teachers can improve on that if the system is flawed since the beginning.

For example from where I came from (Malaysia) and we can lump Singapore together as well, we virtually have almost no NES teachers in public schools at all. And we don't need to go to expensive private or international schools just to learn and be able to converse effectively in English. What we had was a system or framework descended from our former colonial masters which I believe is based on the Cambridge 1119 (O or A levels) and we just stick to that one system for all schools in the entire country. 

Another thing is for all TV channels that shows foreign programs (movies, cartoons etc.) don't dub them in Thai, leave them in English as it is. Just add Thai sub-titles, that's how I learn to listen to the language while simultaneously understanding the meaning by reading the subs.

Also make it compulsory for each students to have a Thai-English dictionary, make it affordable and encourage the kids to browse through it a few minutes a day.  

I agree with what you say, but here in Thailand, it's a case of 'the blind leading the blind'.

I remember more than thirty years ago Thai TV dubbed English language films into Thai. If you lived in Bangkok, on a Saturday night one of the local FM radio stations broadcast the English soundtrack at the same time the Thai-dubbed film was being shown.
It was the only way to watch an English language film at home.

[Dedinbed]

5 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

the blind leading the blind'.

Blind Pew walks into a bar 

then a chair , then a table ..

[Vince]

On 1/12/2022 at 11:22 PM, Noble_Design said:

The thing about teaching of English and what's wrong with it in Thailand is the system/syllabus. No amount of NES or non-NES teachers can improve on that if the system is flawed since the beginning.

For example from where I came from (Malaysia) and we can lump Singapore together as well, we virtually have almost no NES teachers in public schools at all. And we don't need to go to expensive private or international schools just to learn and be able to converse effectively in English. What we had was a system or framework descended from our former colonial masters which I believe is based on the Cambridge 1119 (O or A levels) and we just stick to that one system for all schools in the entire country. 

Another thing is for all TV channels that shows foreign programs (movies, cartoons etc.) don't dub them in Thai, leave them in English as it is. Just add Thai sub-titles, that's how I learn to listen to the language while simultaneously understanding the meaning by reading the subs.

Also make it compulsory for each students to have a Thai-English dictionary, make it affordable and encourage the kids to browse through it a few minutes a day.  

Lots of great points! A great point about dubbing - it also forces you to read and listen at the same time, giving you a real time translation. 

The dictionary is also a great point. 

 

[Noble_Design]

59 minutes ago, Vince said:

Lots of great points! A great point about dubbing - it also forces you to read and listen at the same time, giving you a real time translation. 

The dictionary is also a great point. 

Thanks, another point that I would really like to raise in the case of my country we had very good local teachers who were trained by real teachers from England right up to our independence 60 years ago. 

These teachers came to Malaya (as it was called back then) not because they really like it here but because they really think it is their responsibility to teach English to the locals so they can better serve the crown and colony. And the colonist back then actively encouraged the La Salle brothers to set up as much missionary schools as possible. So all these somewhat helped.

Not sure how the above can help Thailand though since the era of colonialism is long over.

[Vince]

2 minutes ago, Noble_Design said:

Thanks, another point that I would really like to raise in the case of my country we had very good local teachers who were trained by real teachers from England right up to our independence 60 years ago. 

These teachers came to Malaya (as it was called back then) not because they really like it here but because they really think it is their responsibility to teach English to the locals so they can better serve the crown and colony. And the colonist back then actively encouraged the La Salle brothers to set up as much missionary schools as possible. So all these somewhat helped.

Not sure how the above can help Thailand though since the era of colonialism is long over.

Well, I think "colonialism" is really just a way of saying "anti-european" - but many countries have invaded other countries and "encouraged" the adoption of religion and language, etc. 

India used to be a Buddhist nation until Islam, or so I heard, "pushed it out".

China has made itself "at home" in Tibet ;-) and Japan used to occupy a bit more real estate pre-1940s than it does now. 

Colonialism is an economic relationship of "colonies" but massive debt deals and trade 'dumping' that destroys local production is ... something else?  

Some countries export massive amounts of dangerous drugs, like the old British opium empire, is that "drug colonialism" or something else? 

[Vince]

On 11/7/2021 at 2:39 AM, TheDirtyDurian said:

The best thing that happened to my kids re learning English was moving away from Thailand. Relocated to the Middle East and it was amazing to see the rapid progress they made. Tapped into the local Thai community and all the kids would play together with English being the main language. What a difference being away from Thailand can make. Kids relocated back to Thailand a few years ago but English is still their first language, and they probably speak it better than many UK born people.

I hate to say it but you do get what you pay for and 15,000 a term is peanuts. There may be some good government schools in the larger cities etc but they're going to be hard to get into. 

Schools are a business in Thailand. Never forget that, and that goes from the cheapest to the most expensive. 

I think the same thing happens in Japan (or anywhere where English is avoided) - the accent is unfamiliar, confidence is lost in using it, and a strong preference for local language content makes it hard to get an "ear" for the 2nd language. 

As anyone in Japan knows who has heard my horrible Japanese pronunciation, I am not understandable :-p