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Photo: Thai schoolboys What's On This Page?
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Thailand - Teaching English as a Foreign Language Page 2This applies everywhere but especially in Thailand. In my limited experience teaching English, I have reached the conclusion that students' progress overall is determined by the teacher's ability and effort (10%); the students' own ability (10%); and their determination and motivation to learn (80%). It follows that you can be a great communicator and teacher who works extraordinarily hard but if the students aren't interested in learning, there won't be any progress made. Even if they are bright students who have the ability to learn, but aren't interested, you are still only 20% of the way there. On the other hand, an average teacher with a group of not very bright, but motivated students will make a lot of progress. I recognised this fairly early on and realised that rather than trying to increase my own knowledge of the English language, my time would be much better spent trying to fire up my students thus making them want to learn. It's almost an impossible task though. As Stephen R. Covey, the American author and business consultant, said, "Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly." So, what can you do about students who aren't the slightest bit interested in learning anything? The answer - unfortunately - is not very much, and believe me, I have tried. You can act the clown or reduce lessons to nothing more than games sessions, which at least will get their attention, but the educational value will be minimal. I try to prevent this from being a problem by interviewing students first before agreeing to teach them. The first good sign is if they approach me directly. If the request comes from a parent or teacher, it's a warning sign. They, themselves, have to want to learn. If it's a case of their parents, teachers or employers thinking that learning English is a good thing, there's a good chance that the actual students think differently. Unmotivated students are not much fun. You can work exceptionally hard and think you are making progress because a lesson goes really well but then they don't turn up for a few weeks and when they eventually return, they have forgotten everything so you just go back to square one. Motivated students are great fun and teaching them can be tremendously rewarding. To get an idea how motivated they are, ask why they want English lessons. Those with strong personal goals where English is necessary will have lots of motivation. My best students have been Master's Degree and PhD students who have had to write their theses, or deliver presentations, in English. Other students have been keen to study abroad and in order to win scholarships, Thai students must pass the IELTS exam which is quite tough. These students have all had personal goals which involved being able to use English well and have been excellent students. School kids who learn English because it is part of the curriculum, students at language schools who are there because their parents think it is a good thing, or employees studying English because their employers think it is a good thing can be hard work.
English is a powerful language and you're lucky if you are a native speaker but it isn't easy to learn, especially for students whose native language has a completely different structure - such as Thai. There is a huge vocabulary to learn, as well as complicated verb tenses and conjugations. An example follows: "I swim; I swam; I have swum; I went swimming; I was swimming; I have been swimming; I had been swimming; I am swimming; I will have been swimming; I am going swimming." Native English speakers speak the language without thinking, but, for example, try teaching a student which tense to use to describe a past action or just try teaching the present perfect tense. It wasn't until I started teaching these things that I realised just how difficult they were and I sympathise with my students because it isn't easy. The written language is hardly any better either. Granted, there aren't many letters in the English alphabet but often correct pronunciation is impossible just by reading words. The Thai alphabet has a lot of vowels but that is only because different sounds each have their own vowel. That isn't the case in English where the words 'put' and 'but' look as if they should rhyme but they don't. Students just have to know the correct pronunciation. Unless you are from northern England, the words 'book' and 'boot' don't rhyme. The 'oo' vowel combination has a different sound in different words. And what about the letters 'ough'? Cough, though, thought, through, ought, tough, bough. All different. There are countless example of such things in English. The everyday, commonly-spoken language is littered with idioms and phrasal verbs whose literal meaning is nonsense. Once again, students just have to know what they mean and in effect this just means learning more vocabulary. When I see the look on my students' faces sometimes I can tell it isn't fun. But, it's supposed to be fun, isn't it? That's what every English program in Thailand advertises. What's fun about this? And there lies one of the biggest problems in Thailand: a problem of unrealistic expectations. This whole business with 'fun' stems from the fact that most Thais just won't do anything unless it is perceived as being 'fun'. When they realise it isn't they just give up. It's a cultural problem. The best thing the country could do is start being honest (In Thailand? Mmmm...) and start to set realistic expectations. The ability to speak English is becoming vitally important these days but it is difficult. It requires hours of study, a strong motivation to learn, dedication and bloody hard work. Just turning up for an hour or two once a week and not putting much effort in, while doing absolutely no work whatsoever outside of lesson time will not turn you into a good speaker of English. This might explain why some Thai students who learnt English for three years cannot speak a solitary word and some who studied for 12 years cannot get past, "How are you, I'm fine thank you, and you?"
If you want to understand how Thai students like to be taught, there are some useful pointers on Thai television. Two people who feature prominently on Thai TV are Andrew Biggs and Chris Delivery. The first thing you will notice is that the presenters speak mostly Thai. Andrew Biggs is a native Australian who speaks fluent Thai and Chris Delivery (real name Chris Wright) is also bilingual from having a Thai mother and English father. With all but the most advanced Thai students, if you only speak English in the classroom, the students will hardly understand a word you say and they will lose interest very quickly. They will never tell you they don't understand but instead they will vote with their feet and just stop attending classes. With both presenters, most of what they say will be in Thai and the English language content will consist only of a few words and phrases. In addition to only speaking English, another guaranteed way to lose students is to overwhelm them with new material. The next thing you will notice when watching these shows is that the format of the material is much closer to pure entertainment than education. In one TV slot that Andrew Biggs does, he appears dressed in silly costumes and adopts an eccentric manner. Thai students want to be entertained in the classroom while they learn. Just standing there teaching them grammar bores the pants off them. A zany female stooge (Tui Tui) appears on the Chris Delivery show to participate in sketches. In one sketch that I watched she was pretending to be a Korean tourist in Thailand and there was an equally zany guy playing the part of a monk. The humour of the sketch consisted of the fact she didn't understand anything about Thai culture and kept doing the wrong things, such as trying to touch the monk or offering him food after midday. This had the audience (uniformed Thai university students) hooting with laughter. TEFL schools trying to attract people to sign up for teacher training courses insist that knowing the local language isn't necessary and that teaching can - and should - be carried out in the target language. Saying otherwise would be bad for their business. The truth is that without knowing any Thai you will struggle trying to teach Thais. Not only will you struggle but Thai students seem to get a lot of satisfaction knowing that whoever is teaching them can speak both languages. Maybe it gives them hope they can achieve the same, or maybe just knowing someone who can speak English implies that they themselves don't need to bother learning. Both of the aforementioned presenters have their own language schools - the Andrew Biggs Academy and the Wright English Club. In conclusion, learning to speak fluent Thai and making lessons as entertaining for the students as you possibly can in their native language with the occasional English word or phrase thrown in are the best things you can do to become a successful teacher in Thailand.
Star Trek's Mr Spock would be a great teacher in Thailand. He could just perform the Vulcan mind meld and transfer all his knowledge of the English language to his students. That's basically what most of them want. Typically, when I start a new class lots of students turn up at the first class hoping I am Mr Spock. When they realise I'm not they don't bother coming again. Thai Language schools are forever trying to come up with magic learning formulas. Of course, having fun, is part of the formula but I've seen schools who claim their teaching techniques work on different parts of the brain thereby making learning easier and more effective. I have my doubts though. I have been a student all my life in that I never cease learning new things. My conclusion is that there is no magic formula to learning. It's about motivation, determination and hard work. This is what I can't get through to some students and this is what can be so frustrating about teaching in Thailand. If they have one or two hours of lessons each week but don't bother doing anything in their own time they aren't going to learn. Perhaps in the future it will be possible to transfer knowledge but until that day comes there is no substitute for motivation, determination and hard work.
Using economic theory and in some cases highly complex mathematical models, game theory can predict important facets of human behaviour. It's quite a fascinating subject and one which probably inspires many budding mathematicians to further their studies. I wonder what the majority of Thai students understand about game theory? Every year the big Thai universities hold open weeks. I guess the idea is two-fold. Firstly it showcases the university (very important for face) and secondly, the high-school students who attend get a chance to find out more about university life and what they can hope to achieve from tertiary education. Tens of thousands of school kids are bussed in to spend the day at the university and I can guarantee that attending the event is given the highest possible priority. Just the mention of the university's name causes people to gasp in awe and admiration so this is very important. So what happens on the kids' day out? Well, running at the same time as 'Open Week' is an agricultural fair next door with lots of food stalls. The kids wander around without a care in the world stuffing their faces with barbecued squid, ice cream and whatever else takes their fancy.
Once inside they crowd around the dead bodies with hands covering their mouths and looks of terror and fascination on their faces. Thais have a very strange attitude towards death. Their own death of that of other people doesn't seem to bother them. They are fascinated with it but at the same time terrified of ghosts. After their stomachs are full and they have taken pictures of themselves with a Tyrannosaurus Rex and seen several dead bodies lying unceremoniously on cold slabs it is time for some real intellectual activity (more quotes). This involves mainly looking at things which are considered fun (remember sanuk?). As far as participation is concerned that would be far too much like hard work and not sanuk. Making exhibits sanuk for the kids isn't always easy. For instance, what do the mathematics department do?
When teaching English you have to reduce things to the level of playing bingo for about 95% of students otherwise they just aren't interested. When students arrive in class the last thing on their mind is an English lesson. To get their attention I often play Hangman with them which at least gets them focused on me. The idea of the game is just as a warm-up exercise but it also helps with vocabulary. I normally play the game with proverbs as I believe that proverbs are a good insight into culture. On more than one occasion when I have tried to elicit feedback from students about what they want to do more of, it is to play Hangman. They would be quite happy playing games all lesson rather than doing any of the boring stuff that actually constitutes learning a new language. It's frustrating when you want to teach and all they want to do is play but that's the culture. And I am not referring to 13 year-olds but final year Bachelor's degree students. Sometimes when trying to teach in Thailand it feels that the best thing to do is put on a pair of oversized shoes, a red nose and make animals from balloons. They don't want a teacher, they want a kids' entertainer. I think I have made it clear that not all Thai students are like this. I have met some exceptional ones but the vast majority aren't really interested in any serious learning. They are nice people but unless there is a serious shift in attitudes, Thailand won't be producing too many Nobel prize winners in future years. So is it that the Thais don't recognise the problem of a whole generation of underachieving students? Not at all. They understand the problem very well but unfortunately their ability to solve problems isn't quite as good as their ability to recognise them. The government have started giving away starter kits to newborn babies. These include plastic books and CDs which are intended to, "Promote thought and mental stimulation." That's the answer obviously. To quote the BBC web site, "Launching the programme, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thailand needed to create a generation of quick and clever minds." Ah yes, a plastic book for newborn babies will do it. If teaching in Thailand this is the kind of thing you are continually up against and if you try to beat the system you will lose. If you actually try to teach and your lessons aren't considered sanuk the students will just stop attending and make up pathetic excuses as to why, such as they couldn't understand you. Now, where did I leave my red nose?
General Ability Of Thai Students I'm sorry, but I have to say it is pretty poor if they have only ever been taught in Thailand - their speaking and listening ability anyway. I've tried to help Thai kids who have been learning English for years and they don't even know the most basic of phrases. What's interesting is that their writing, reading and knowledge of English grammar is normally very good. At times I am challenged when I get questions related to tense structure for a particular tense. The students I've taught have been taught English grammar by Thai teachers and they could put many native speakers to shame on the use of grammar. I've talked about not letting lessons become boring but to see how the kids are taught English grammar is unbelievable. The receptionist where I used to stay was complaining of a headache one evening but trying to do some college work at the same time. When I looked at what she was doing she had about ten A4 pages of English verbs with all the conjugations for the various tenses and was trying to commit them to memory. I honestly can't think of a worse way to learn English. It makes teaching Thais a weird experience at times. You can teach them a very easy question that requires the past participle of a verb. They will know the past participle for whatever verb you give them but won't be able to form the easy question properly. What you think should be difficult they can do but what you think should be easy they can't. What is not good with many Thai students is their listening and speaking skills. It's not really their fault. When you listen to some of the Thai, Filipino and Indian teachers who are in Thailand teaching English it is no wonder. I can barely understand them and I'm a native speaker. There is normally no need to speak English in Thailand so people don't. Where Thais do need to speak English you will notice a big difference. Phuket bar girls have quite a mastery of the language. If you meet Thai youngsters who have been abroad for a while on a scholarship it is a completely different story. A few I've spoken to have come back from the States after a year speaking fluently. It just goes to show, the Thais themselves are very able but the major problems in Thailand with learning English are culture, the education system and foreigners masquerading as teachers. It would be easy to say the reason they aren't generally very good is because they are lazy but they aren't inherently lazy. The real problem is lack of motivation. If someone isn't interested in something they're just not going to apply themselves and if they can't see a need to improve their English why should they be motivated to learn? My best students have been the ones with very clear goals and objectives. If a PhD student has to defend his or her thesis in English to an international committee of assessors you can be sure they will be quite motivated to improve their English. If a student is determined to get a scholarship abroad or wants to work or study where English is a necessity they will be motivated to study. Unfortunately the majority of Thai students aren't that motivated. They accept that English skills are quite important but still aren't interested in applying themselves. School kids attend lessons (sometimes) because it is part of the curriculum and some companies send their employees for lessons but they don't really want to be there. Some parents pay out for their kids to have private lessons but the kids themselves are more interested in boy bands, motorbikes, Ragnarok and sleeping for 14 hours a day. Motivated Thai students are a joy to teach ... if you can find them.
Updated: 10th August 2007 At the time of writing, I have been living in Thailand for almost four years. In that time I have learnt some Thai vocabulary and certain phrases. I have also taught myself to read Thai to the point where I can negotiate menus, figure out street signs, and make out where buses are going to. In my opinion, it's a pretty pathetic effort after living here for that amount of time. I'm a bit ashamed not to be fluent by now but it's been a steep learning curve and learning gets tougher the old you get. I didn't start learning Thai until the age of 43. However, I only have to demonstrate that I can read something in Thai and some Thais react as if I have just performed a miracle. "You can read the menu and you've only been here four years!" What's the big deal? Anyone with average intelligence can easily do the same. How can you live in a country for four years and not learn how to read a few basic words? That would require real stupidity. I started to notice that my own expectations of what is achievable in a certain timescale are very different to that of many Thais. Many of the students I have tried to teach (especially older ones) seem to believe that it is impossible to learn how to speak English in their life time. Because they firmly believe this, they convince themselves they will never be able to learn and it quickly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If only their approach was more positive, and they believed they could learn (which they can), they would make much better progress. The learning process here is very slow compared to what I am used to. After buying Iss a notebook computer, I paid for her to have some basic computer skills classes. I attended one class and was a little surprised at what I saw. For about 45 minutes the students were taught what the cursor keys do and allowed to play with them. Press this one and the cursor goes one space to the right. Wow! And this one makes it go one space to the left. Wow! Where I come from, these functions are so basic and obvious they wouldn't even be mentioned - but not in Thailand. Why is this? I think it has something to do with the powerful hierarchical social structure that exists in Thailand. It is certainly not a bad thing to show respect for older and more learned people, but many of the people lower down the scale seem almost to have an inferiority complex. This can have a big impact on their self-confidence which, in turn, inhibits what they are capable of achieving. In many Western societies, I don't like the arrogant and disrespectful nature of many young people but the attitude of 'no one is better than me' can be positive in that those people go out and do things that young Thai people wouldn't consider doing. It's quite complex. As a teacher, I find myself dishing out a lot more praise with Thai students than maybe I would with students from elsewhere. I do this with words of praise and even applause at times. The other students will happily applaud a classmate who has done well. It's completely over the top but the idea is just to try to improve their self-confidence and self-esteem in an effort to make them believe in themselves. Lacking self-belief (as many Thai students do) can be a serious inhibitor when it comes to making progress in the classroom.
Specific Problems For Thai Speakers Some pronunciation is difficult for Thais. Like other Asians, differentiating between 'r' and 'l' sounds can be difficult. An 'r' sound exists in Thai (Ror Rua) but in colloquial speech it is pronounced as an 'l'. 'Roi' for one hundred will be pronounced 'loi' by most Thais. I sympathise with them as after a year I still can't pronounce Thai words that begin with the 'ng' (Ngor Ngoo) sound properly. They have problems with words ending in certain consonants, such as 't' and 'd'. This is a bit unfortunate when learning English because many past tense verbs end in -ed and the actual sound is -t for words like 'passed'. 'Event' can sound like 'even' and sometimes there is an 's' sibilance when they pronounce the letter 't' so that 'what' sounds like 'whass'. Words beginning with 'v' are another problem because there is no 'v' sound in Thai. English to Thai dictionaries use the Thai letter 'Wor Waen' when transliterating English 'v' words into Thai and this is a 'w' sound. They therefore pronounce 'v' as 'w'. Vanilla becomes Wanilla and Village becomes Willage. Teachers should try to understand a little about the Thai language to realise the difficulties Thai students face learning English. There is no verb conjugation, no use of articles and no singular and plural versions of nouns. All these things can be problematic. I am continually correcting for missing or incorrect articles (the/a/an) and often don't hear an 's' at the end of plural nouns. For example, "I have two brother and three sister."
What are English conversation courses about and which kind of students are suitable? My view is that English conversation classes are about turning basic questions, answers and phrases into real conversations. By their very nature, proper English conversation classes are suitable for intermediate learners, at the very least, and preferably advanced learners. My view and the Thai view, like many things in Thailand, tend to differ. Many Thai students view English conversation as an easy way of learning that avoids any hard work because it's just talking in a relaxed atmosphere of sanuk and sabai (so they think). They want to improve their English but can't bear the thought of some hard work and more awful rote learning, as exists in Thai schools. This misconception can cause a few issues. Firstly, it is not unusual for complete beginners to show up who are nowhere near good enough to be doing English conversation. They should be learning basic English for beginners. This isn't a major problem if the whole class is the same standard but where ability is very mixed it isn't fair on the more advanced students to turn the lessons into beginners classes. Another problem is getting them to put in some effort because of the general attitude that this is an easy way to learn. Learning English is definitely not easy for Thais whichever way they try to learn. I have seen students become quite frustrated because they can't keep up but these are the ones who don't apply themselves. Between classes they don't do a thing. They don't look at their notes, read handouts or try to learn from other sources such as the Internet or local book stores that are full of excellent material. As a native English speaker I have found that Thai students are most interested in me for English conversation. They have had enough of reading, writing and grammar from their previous schooling and having a native speaker around is a good opportunity to practice listening and speaking. It's true that their weakest skills are listening and speaking so this is quite a fair request. So, what do you do then if you are asked to teach English conversation? Is it just a case of chatting to students about anything that comes into your head? Is it fair to ask them, "Tell me a bit abaht yerself, then," "I like going dan the pub." Sometimes it might be OK but there needs to be some structure and lessons need to be planned. Although grammar isn't the focus it can't be ignored, of course. If I hear consistent errors being made I will interrupt what I have planned to go over a grammar point. The lessons should be divided into relevant, structured topics. I make the point to my students that the lessons are for their benefit. In the past I have prepared an outline syllabus but it is up to the students to tell me if it meets their requirements or whether we need to make changes. The trouble with Thai students is they are so passive they tend just to go along with whatever I suggest. Here is an example of the kind of syllabus I have prepared for English conversation classes in the past. The objective is to include relevant topics which will help students if they travel abroad or meet English speakers in Thailand.
Most topics can be covered in one two-hour lesson but the idea is be very flexible. If they fly through something I am happy to move on to the next topic quickly but if they are struggling we can take longer than was planned. My PhD students are a little different and I never quite know what will happen when I teach them. I might go in with a basic lesson plan but they will want to talk about something completely different or go through their research projects with me.
A one hour lesson can fly by, especially if students arrive with the usual degree of Thai punctuality, that is, 20 minutes late. For 'teachers' bullshitting their way through classes who don't plan and are only interested in the money, an hour or less is pretty good. If I wanted to I could easily manage a one hour class without doing any preparation. Two hour lessons need planning as without a lesson plan this length of class can seem like a very long time. A huge factor is class size and student enthusiasm. Single exercises obviously take longer with bigger class sizes as you attempt to get everyone to participate. If the students are very enthusiastic they will ask questions and introduce new topics into the lesson. One of my most difficult situations was teaching a teenage girl who didn't have an ounce of spark. Even though I went into each two-hour lesson with a very full lesson plan I would get through it quickly because she just had no enthusiasm. Whenever I asked her anything about what she did for certain occasions the answer was she stayed at home. Her reason for doing an English conversation class was because she was fed up learning grammar and wanted to practice listening and speaking. That was fine apart from the fact she wouldn't speak. Getting more than a one or two word answer out of her was hard work. With regard to course length I have found that 20 hours is quite good for a general English conversation class. It's not too short or too long but if they have specific topics they want to learn about it may be appropriate to add more hours.
I have written some general stuff below but now I will tell you the most important thing you need to know about teaching in Thailand. Thai students spend years with Thai teachers learning English grammar and how to read and write. As a result their reading and writing is fine and they can conjugate every verb you can think of. They can write fairly good English sentences and understand things you write on a white board. That's the good part. What they are hopelessly weak at is listening and speaking. Ask a simple question and you will get a blank look but write it on the board and there will be instant recognition. Ask them to perform a role play and the script they prepare (which they will want to read from) will be good but ask them to answer a simple question and most will struggle. Don't pay too much attention to the many teaching experts out there who will provide intellectual responses on the various teaching methodologies and which parts of grammar are appropriate for different levels of students. Simple questions and answers are just that, simple questions and answers. I don't really care if a simple question and answer happens to be present perfect and not present simple in grammatical terms, it's still a simple question and answer and I will use it with beginners. The most important thing is just to get your students speaking. Many won't want to and will do their best to hide at the back of the classroom. They pay for English conversation lessons and then won't speak, mainly because of Thai culture. They will just want to sit there observing, not participating, and hope that by listening to others and taking notes their English will miraculously improve. It won't. Do whatever it takes to get them speaking. Play silly games if need be. I play one silly game which I call, "Guess the Animal." A student comes to the front of the class and thinks of an animal which they write down for me to see. The other students have to ask closed questions about the animal and the student at the front gives them yes or no answers. The idea is to guess the animal from the answers given. "Can it fly?" "No, it can't fly." "Does it have four legs?" "Yes, it has four legs." It's stupid but it gets them involved, gets them talking and gets them practising question forming. I monitor everything and correct any mistakes. If they don't talk they don't make mistakes but we only learn from making mistakes. Many Thai students are afraid of saying something for fear it might be wrong but this is exactly what I want them to do. I can only help them by first understanding what they don't know. It's an Asian 'face' thing and many are shy. These cultural problems are exacerbated by having a foreign teacher in the class. However, if you are patient and supportive they begin to understand what you are trying to achieve after a while and they also realise that they are beginning to learn. What I will typically do is ask one student a question and get them to answer. I will then ask them to ask the next student the same or similar question, and so on. They all get to practice asking questions and answering. No one escapes. An added dimension is getting them to report answers they hear to the rest of the class. This gets them talking in the third person and practising pronouns and verb 'to be'. "Are you married?" "Yes, I'm married." "She is married." "Have you ever been to Chiang Mai?" "No, I've never been to Chiang Mai." "He has never been to Chiang Mai." This kind of thing. Just do anything to get them talking. It doesn't matter how studiously they sit there taking notes and nodding agreement, if they don't actually speak their speaking ability will not improve. Now, on to the general stuff. Presumably, in professional teaching institutions, there will be a Director of Studies giving direction with regard to which teaching methods and materials to use. Maybe there is somewhere but it hasn't happened to me yet. Buying text books means spending money which Thai schools don't like doing so not all learning establishments will have them. I've received no help with my teaching. Wherever I've taught, my first task has been to design a syllabus and then put together the individual lesson plans. One school told me to do my own thing but half an hour before I was due to start teaching they decided they wanted me to use their text books. The reason given was one of those 'Only In Thailand' moments. They wanted me to use the text books because doing so gave the school a better image. There was no dialogue about the most effective way to teach the particular students. They were only concerned that the school portrayed a professional image and they believed that by having a few glossy text books it would be good for their image. It was so Thai. This is the land where substance counts for nothing but face is everything. The follow up to this story was that I thought the course in the books was pretty hopeless and after about six lessons I found out that my students had already completed that course. I noticed that whenever I gave them an assignment from the workbook they had already completed it. I was asking them to do exercises they had already done and they didn't tell me. Again, this was so typically Thai. If the school does have text books they can be a blessing or a curse. Using the exercises in the books will cut down the amount of preparation you have to do but I have problems with certain courses. One I had to use was American. My students had not been taught by a native speaker before so were struggling to understand my British accent. Whenever we used a listening tape from the course they had to listen to the most annoying American accents. This only confused them more. Even the characters in the listening tape scenarios who supposedly came from other countries had American accents. It didn't stop at the accents. The scripts were full of crass American phrases and American vocabulary. Rather than devote one lesson to the differences between British and American English, I found I was having to constantly explain differences. Most of the text books are so stuffy too. I'm sure this was why I was so uninterested in learning a language at school. The little dialogues between happy, smiling, multicultural cartoon characters in the books are just so boring. I want my students to imagine being in real life situations which they might actually find themselves in later. Regarding general methodologies, I have found it necessary to put Thai students on the spot in order to make them think for themselves. This applies especially to teenagers. When given a role-play exercise to perform, what they will want to do is plan it completely and write a script down on paper. When it comes to performing the role-play they will just read from their script. In real life situations they can't write down what they are going to say before saying it. They need to think on their feet. I feel a bit mean at times because I know I push them out of their comfort zones but at least they start to think for themselves. The Thai education system doesn't encourage a lot of free thought and thinking on one's feet. Rather than the artificial text book style scenarios, when I devise role-plays I try to think of actual situations a student may find them self in if they went to another country. Being flexible is key, understanding what particular students require and planning lessons to give them what they need. If you need additional teaching material you will probably need to buy it yourself. You will at least get what you want and you will get it straight away. Ask a Thai to do something and it will take weeks. Hopefully your school will reimburse you but it is best to make sure first. I found a great picture dictionary to supplement my own lesson plans. I don't want to follow text book courses to the letter but this book is full of sketches which I can use to illustrate the lessons I have devised myself. The Oxford Picture Dictionary by Norma Shapiro and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein
Published by Oxford University Press It is very comprehensive with pictures suitable for just about everything I teach. Each item is labelled in English and Thai which is great for the students. Once again, my only criticism is that it is in American English which creates a lot of unnecessary work because I then have to explain British/American vocabulary, spelling and grammar differences. Not only that but I don't understand some of the terms myself and it is quite embarrassing having to admit that in class. In the restaurant pages what do I say if I get asked what a busperson is? I thought it was someone who worked on the No. 19 to Clapham Common, but it's something quite different according to our American friends. The sports pages too are all about baseball, ice hockey and something they call football but which isn't. The game they call football requires suits of armour and crash helmets. In addition to hundreds of pictures, the book gives sample questions to begin class discussions and a number of useful grammar points. It cost Bt269 which, for the amount of useful material it contains, was a real bargain.
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