LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Missing component in getting Thais to learn better English is the joy of reading

Published on Aug 17, 2005

Re: “Better English teaching needed”, Letters, August 15. The Nation is right when it says grammar and repetition are not the ways to improve English, and that a more communicative approach is desirable. But the editorial does not mention the most powerful means of improving English test scores, as well as developing proficiency in general: massive recreational reading. Our own research, as well as the research of others, consistently shows that those who read more for pleasure in English show superior development of reading ability, writing ability, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. We recommend schools vastly improve their collections of interesting, comprehensible reading material, and provide some time for students to do extensive, self-selected reading.



Any student who has read widely in English – who has, for example, read “Goosebumps”, “Fear Street”, and the Harry Potter series in English, and who has studied English for a few years in a well-planned communication-based English programme – will do very well on any test of English, and will have no trouble conversing in English on a wide range of topics.

Kyung-Sook Cho, PhD, Busan National University of Education, South Korea

Stephen Krashen, PhD, University of Southern California

Sy-Ying Lee, PhD, National Taipei University

Ching Kang Liu, PhD, National Taipei University

Beniko Mason, EdD, International Buddhist University, Japan

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Why not be open to creative instruction techniques?

Re: “Better English teaching needed”, August 15). The key to Thai educational reform is earning how to unlock inherent creative-thinking and analytical abilities. Galileo observed: “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.”

Creativity is everyone’s birthright. All human beings have a basic need and unlimited capacity for self-expression and critical thinking, but few are given the opportunities or outlets to fully develop their innate creativity potential and development of related skills.

Visualisation and creative perception involve seeing and understanding things differently; expanding horizons beyond givens and rules; exploring unknowns while applying practical aspects of experiential knowledge; and setting vivid imaginations free. Creative thinking can make the same different, the old new, the ordinary unique. We never stop learning, but learning strategies, abilities, styles, rates and ways of learning vary from individual to individual. The encouragement and nurturing of creative thinking innovations help guarantee healthy growth, self-esteem and respect for others – essential elements for building caring humanitarian values featuring compassionate understanding. Pax vobiscum.

Dr Chanchai Prasertson

Bangkok

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Plenty of reasons for why students are tongue-tied

Re: “Better English teaching needed”, August 15). Indeed, it is disheartening to accept the blatant truth that the English language skills of Thai students have not improved significantly over the years. But to blame the education ministers or to the government alone is insensitive and malicious, not to mention preposterous.

Also, it is arrogance, if not ignorance, for somebody to fault Thai students for not being able to master the language swiftly in comparison to other students of different nationalities. English is hard for them to learn due to the inert influence of the Thai language in them, which is evidently shown by their inability to correctly pronounce English words irrespective of their years of learning.

It is also reasonable to note the fact that majority of those students who studied the language abroad speak better than those locally taught, regardless of the educational institution. This simply shows that the teachers play a crucial role in the delivery of skills and knowledge. Who are the teachers then and what are their qualifications? Scan an English language newspaper ads section; it will give more than the answer: “Wanted English teachers. Qualification: native English speakers. No teaching certificates necessary, we train you”.

Thai people should comprehend that a person who fluently speaks English is not automatically a good English teacher. Teaching is an art and a skill that requires years of experience to master. Do not be impressed by the often flowery and pompous English of an institution’s administrators when choosing schools for your kids. Dig deep into the qualifications of every single teacher.

Bong and Pla

Bangkok

After years of instruction by native speakers, language complaints still surface

Published on May 16, 2004

Re: Competence in written English, native speakers and elite cards

Ref: “Thai people are more than capable of teaching English” (Letters, April 30), “Elite cards in exchange for English is not a bad deal” (Letters, May 6), “Language errors can have a certain charm” (Letters, May 9)

In trying to suggest a path to common sense for Thai education, I cannot avoid commenting occasionally on the issue of English and its native speakers. This issue heats up periodically when Thai schools look for “native speakers” as teachers and, automatically, it raises the question of contradictory, nonsensical, improper and discriminatory selection criteria of applicants that favour fake and inferior degrees.

Typically, comments pop up about the lack of competence in written English that leads to funny mistakes. One of the latest would be the signboard on a stand at a recent international show that read “Privillage Card”, aka the much-touted “Elite Card”, which was soon read by Thai visitors as “Pivillage Card” and quickly shortened to “Pillage Card”. After having laugh, a question came to mind. How is it that, after decades of invading native speakers purporting to teach English, Thais still have such poor grasp of the language that they are unable to check word spellings or write and read even the simplest sentences? Is it perhaps because many native speakers are unable to read and write, and therefore to teach, English? These people are usually the first to claim that English conversation is more than sufficient, that writing and reading are unnecessary and that grammar is obsolete. But, strangely enough, all international English tests are reintroducing these unnecessary and obsolete subjects, which are here fostered – oddly enough – mainly by non-native speakers. So, who are the better teachers?

Krabong Kuverakorn



What ever happened to free education?

I read with disgust the article by Chularat Saengpassa on “winning a place” in a school [“School-year reality show for parents”, Opinion, May 12]. That bribery continues so openly is a disgrace to any society.

When traditionalists talk about teaching children to uphold traditional Thai values, is this the sort of thing they are referring to? One thing you can be sure of is all that the children learn from this practice is that money and connections are the way things are done.

Then it struck me that for Orn-uma the receipt of a letter accepting her child into the school is not the end of the payments. On registration she will doubtless be hit by more bills dressed up as being necessary for the child’s participation at the school. Amongst those I have seen receipted at government schools in Bangkok are:

Membership fees for the parents’ association.

Fees for hiring teachers.

Electricity charges (to cover use of air-conditioners).

Cleaning and grounds-maintenance charges.

Application to study computing.

Cost of cards to use the school’s canteen facilities (not for the food itself).

Then of course there is the cost of textbooks and notebooks which have to be purchased.

I once read an English translation of the 1997 Constitution. Article 43 stated that all Thais have the right to 12 years of free education provided indiscriminately by the government.

At present the practice is a long way from what the Constitution specifies. It seems that the supplementary fees charged are limited only by the imagination of the school.

With all the spare money the government seems to have to invest in sports teams, there should be enough to provide genuine free education as promised in the Constitution. Of course, if the shares in Liverpool FC are to be purchased by private funds, that is different. In that case the prime minister should be investigated for misuse of public resources and personnel for private purposes.

Gareth Clayton

Barring EU citizens from teaching in 'UK schools' defies real UK practices

Published on Jul 15, 2003

I am constantly amazed by racist comments in ads and articles concerning employment in Thailand at educational institutions. Where EU international schools require EU citizenship for applications, teachers in Thailand should hail from English-speaking countries. With my EU passport and qualifications I am certified to teach in the UK; in Thailand this would not be possible. In other "native English-speaking countries" it's the same: "To apply for these positions, applicants must be Canadian citizens or be eligible to work and teach in Canada." Would Thailand then have superior standards in education? As far as the level of English is concerned, the national TOEFL test scores tell it all - Thailand ranks second from the bottom in Asia.

Thai management in general tries to impose rules on HR management in order to create a "UK school" that is not allowed in the UK. There are nevertheless some excellent examples of international schools in Thailand that are truly international in student body and staff. Parents should be aware that values communicated by educational institutions in Thailand are often considered substandard in developed countries. The fact that enormous tuition fees are paid does not automatically guarantee value; it does guarantee increased revenue for the Thai school-owner. The education in my home country ranks fifth worldwide, and high-school tuition fees are lower than the fees of any bilingual school in Bangkok. The sad thing is that the Thai people are the ones who are paying the price.

Utopia

BANGKOK

Privatising successful education on the sly

Clearly some people in the Ministry for Education realise that forcing all schools to rigidly follow the same syllabus reduces the standard of education. Teachers cannot introduce new ideas or follow through on topics they find their students are very interested in.

But the question comes to mind, why only 25 schools [in the new flexible-syllabus programme]? Why not free up all schools to have the flexibility being proposed for the "top 25"?

We must read the small print to find the answer. Assistant permanent secretary for education Dr Somkiat Chobphol is quoted as saying that schools in the programme will have the power to increase tuition fees. Then he says that he hopes to reduce government funding and eventually withdraw it altogether.

So there we have it. Pick the schools deemed to be providing the best education within the state system and privatise them by stealth, eventually withdrawing all government funding. This will mean that in a few years only the wealthy will have a chance of sending their children to these schools because the fees will have risen to cover the full costs of running the schools. We do not want any more of the peasants getting a chance of a good education: they might learn to question the perpetuation of the wealth divide and challenge the methods of keeping control that the wealthy use. At the very least they might aspire to become part of the wealthy class, and of course they just do not belong in the high-society circles that control the country.

Gareth Clayton

BANGKOK

Learning English and learning Thai are two different exercises

Published on May 12, 2003

Regarding the "native speaker" debate - "Would you hire a farang to teach Thai?", May 9 - Greg Lawrence proves my point on mono-cultural farang teachers by equating the teaching of Thai with that of English. The two are not comparable.

Thai culture is totally distinct, intermediate between Indian and Chinese, and it is poorly known abroad. Thai ways of thinking and speaking are based on emotions not on cold logical reasoning. The language is tonal, like the Chinese. Its grammar and syntax are different: simpler but poorly codified as neither are taught in school. Bilingual dictionaries are improving but are still 100-60 years behind the times.

Therefore, to learn Thai, the average farang: must be young to be still mentally flexible and of good hearing; must have a propensity for languages, particularly helpful for Thai; and, must keep an open mind with no cultural arrogance. For all this, a Thai teacher is an essential bridge, particularly one who understands farang cultures and languages.

English, albeit unstructured, was stabilised 200 years ago but has been destabilised and splintered today by modern linguists. It has a codified grammar and syntax based on Latin. Modern Anglo-Saxon teachers have forsworn grammar and they may find syntax only in such places as Patpong.

The Thai school system, without a tradition of teaching foreign languages, has been conned by the expatriate Anglo-Saxon educators to require only and exclusively conversation, the weakest of the six skills needed to master a foreign language, only to the advantage of the education peddlers that have made the cultural sections and institutes of their embassies an extension of their trade commissions.

Should Lawrence demand proof, he should look into the massive failure of Thai students even in the TOEFL tests, the easiest of those available in Thailand.

Krabong Kuverakorn

VIA INTERNET

If a teacher is unqualified, simply don't hire him

Yes, I am sure there are some less than qualified native speakers of English who are hired to teach English in Thailand. The obvious remedy is don't hire them. One of the big problems with employment in Thailand is that Thais think they should get any job they want, merely because they are Thai, not because they are actually qualified. I guess that's not racist according to Loki Ragnaroekssen [Eminent graduates from Khao San University", May 9]. I have met children from Scandinavia who speak better English than Thai university English professors, so there are exceptions. But would Loki hire an American or a Thai to teach a Scandinavian language? Honestly, no way!

Concerned Observer

VIA INTERNET

For want of quality EP teachers

Published on Nov 26, 2003

The skyrocketing number of schools teaching English – and teaching in English – has triggered a critical shortage of teachers.

Back in 1995, there were just three private schools in Bangkok offering the English Programme that requires that about half of the curriculum be taught in English. Today there are 81 institutions – 72 of them private and nine public – with an enrolment of 15,264 students, and they can be found all over the country.

What is harder to find, say educators, is people qualified to teach in the programme.

The Ministry of Education requires English Programme (EP) teachers to hold a bachelor’s degree in education. Other degree holders will however have to earn “15 credits” at the Rajabhat Institute by attending a Credit of Teaching Profession, an eight-month course which costs Bt28,000. This requirement is, however, not strictly enforced.

Finding native speakers with these qualifications who will work for monthly salaries of Bt30,000 to Bt48,000 at EP schools is a big problem, say school administrators.

The EP schools are in head-to-head competition for skilled teachers with international schools.

When EP schools fail to find qualified Western teachers, they seek to recruit non-native speakers, often Filipinos, Indians and Thais. This brings complaints from parents who don’t think their children will learn good English from non-native speakers.

“My first concern when looking for an EP school for my kid is [whether it has] native English-speaking teachers. I want my son to be fluent in English and have a close-to-native-sounding accent. I know some Indians and Filipinos who speak good English but personally, I just believe in the native teachers”, said Pairoj Pachanapreeda, 41, senior manager of Bangkok Public Relations, whose son is 3 years old.

The aim of the English Programme is to develop fluency in English among Thai students while maintaining Thai culture and language, said Sirilak Manorom, director of the special-schools division at the Office of the Private Educational Commission at the Ministry of Education.

The ministry’s requirements for teachers are too difficult to meet, said Duangchai Trakulchang, 46, director of three Yamsa-Ard schools.

“There’s a high demand but low supply of the [native] teachers, especially for newly opened EP schools that are now striving desperately to find qualified teachers. Ministry requirements are set up unrealistically.”

Thai wages are simply insufficient to attract qualified teachers from the West to move here . . . moreover, they are in demand in their own countries, said Pisut Yongkamol, president of the Association of Private Schools for English Programmes.

Training new teachers by sending them to the Rajabhat Institute also has its shortcomings, said Pisut.

“The [15-credit] course takes almost one year to complete, and the fee is quite expensive. Some schools don’t want to send their teachers for the course because they have to pay for the fees and expenses. Then there are cases where teachers sign a one-year contract with the [EP] school, and the school sends them for the course . . . when the eight-month course ends, usually just before the teachers’ contracts expire, the teachers move to other schools that offer better pay. So, the [EP] school ends up with nothing,” he said.

International schools can afford to pay higher wages because they can decide their own tuition fees. EP schools are regulated by the Education Ministry and their fees are capped. Some international schools charge up to Bt400,000 a year; government regulations hold EP schools to between Bt30,000 and Bt170,000.

“Foreign teachers usually get around Bt30,000 to Bt48,000 a month at the [EP] schools but they can make more at the international schools,” said Alistair Lawrence, 32, assistant director in charge of foreign staff at Sarasa Ektra School, a long-established EP school.

In a seller’s market, there is a strong possibility of hiring a teacher who proves to be irresponsible.

“The [EP] schools have the risk of teachers leaving in a middle of a term because they have a better offer from an international school,” said Sirilak.

“Job hopping” is a common complaint from EP school operators, who say that a signed contract does not guarantee a teacher will stay for the duration.

“[These people] disappear overnight. They collect their salary after a month and we never see them again – and we never know why,” complained Lawrence of Sarasa Ektra School.

“I guess some of them never worked in a real school setting from 7am to 4pm, only in a language school where they have to be there just for an hour.”

There can be cultural problems, too, Lawrence pointed out. “Some are not flexible enough to understand Thai ways of doing things,” he said. “We’re in Thailand and we need to do as the Thais do. If they expect to behave like Australians back in Australia, why don’t they stay in Australia?”

Pisut, who is a director at Sarasa Ektra School, feels the same way. “Some foreign teachers are packed with so many degrees and a load of experience but they have negative attitudes towards the country,” he said. “They complain about the traffic, look down on Thai women and Thai ways of working.”

“The teachers who come to teach in Thailand may come for the wrong reasons. If they are here for a holiday and haven’t come to teach Thai kids, they may become disruptive for the whole school as they don’t have commitment to students and money is the big issue to them”, said Robert Dugan, 51, the coordinator and head of curriculum and planning at Sarasa Ektra.

Duangcha at Yamsa-Ard School echoes the Sarasa Ektra complaints. “When the [foreign] teachers want to leave, they just leave. The signed contract is only a piece of paper. No penalty can be enforced when they break their contract. We don’t want to sue or go to court because it might hurt our reputation.

“We usually get e-mail notification of black-listed teachers’ records and their photographs. Some are infamous for leaving when they find a better-paying job, some borrow parents’ money and never return, some take their salary advances and then disappear. But these people often change their names from one school to another.”

If native speakers are such a problem, non-natives bring their own set of headaches, schools find, mainly in the form of parent complaints.

“My child’s native teacher didn’t come to class regularly,” said Sid Kannawat, 44, lawyer and a father of a 4-year-old daughter. “A Thai teacher came as a replacement and my kid was already fluent in Thai, so I withdrew her from the school immediately at the end of the first semester.”

“We’ve had a lot of complaints from parents [about non-native teachers]” said Duangchai of Yamsa-Ard. “We invite them to a school meeting to talk to the [non-native] teachers, most of whom have master’s degrees, and see their teaching demonstration. This helps them to accept the teachers.”

This acceptance is not always forthcoming.

“In my [EP] school the non-native teachers can only be assistants to the teachers and are not allowed to teach the students directly,” said Mary Charline, 30, a Filipina who works at Udomsuksa School.

“One time there was no native teacher available and I had to teach the students. Some of the students as well as the parents complained to the school. I feel so discriminated against and disappointed.

“I often joke with other [non-native] teachers that we should change our look, have our skin and hair colour changed.”

At Sarasa Ektra, Lawrence says he believes non-native teachers are qualified for the programme, provided they don’t teach English.

“The [non-natives] have good knowledge of such subjects as science and maths. Their abilities are the same and some of the non-natives work harder. They have Asian work ethics. But [a faculty of] 50-per-cent non-native teachers may be too high for EP learning,” he said.

“I’m fine with non-native teachers teaching, but I do take exception to Thais teaching Engish in EP schools. There are plenty of Asians who are good in English, but Thai teachers tend to use Thai language with students often. When they have difficulty explaining in English, they end up elaborating in Thai. It’s natural for a Thai teacher to speak Thai with his Thai students. But this should not be the case as it is an EP school. Anyone who doesn’t know Thai but conversant in English is acceptable for me”, said Anil Pillai, a 40-year-old Indian who is senior manager of tooling engineering at KR Precision and a father of three children.

Some EP schools send their Thai teachers to the Philippines or India to improve their English.

“I think it doesn’t help much,” said one 27-year-old English teacher who declined to be named. “The Philippines and India are not really English-speaking countries and the study period is short, between five and 10 months. When I sit in on their teaching demonstration, none can communicate satisfactorily.”

The Education Ministry requires non-native teachers to score at least 550 on a Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) exam or 5.5 on the International English Language Testing System exam. This also brings complaints.

“The TOEFL test fee is US$130 [Bt5,200]. I have a doctoral degree in Environmental Science from the Philippines and am about to complete another master's in teaching English from Thammasat University,” said Krit Hooktom, 35, who owns a tutoring school. “Still I’m not qualified to teach in the programme unless I take the test and earn 550. Is my educational background not enough to prove that I can teach?

“A friend of mine got a TOEFL score of 560, but he doesn’t speak fluent English.”

“TOEFL doesn’t test [if one is using English proficiently] and it really is expensive,” said Sirilak of the Education Ministry. “It’s just another criterion. If we don’t set up anything, some schools may lose direction and get out of control.”

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Choosing a school

- Attend seminars for parents to find out what’s new in the EP field.

- Do your research, talk to as many parents as possible and visit as many schools as you can. Each EP school is different, in terms of investment, parent involvement, class size, proportion of teachers to students in classes, facilities, learning resources and textbooks, amount of English learning and EP teaching style and focus.

- Check the school’s record to see if it is new or has some background in the education business. A good reputation may reduce your risk of making a poor choice.

- Talk to the school principals to see if the school philosophy meets your expectations. How are teachers recruited and does the school hold regular training and workshops for them? An overseas partnership may be a plus.

- Ask to see a record of the students’ national test scores and compare them to the national average; how do the students do when applying for other schools or universities?

- Remember that there is no accreditation given to EP schools. The Office of the Private Education Commissioner will regularly check on the school to see if it meets all the requirements. However, if the school passes the evaluation, that doesn’t mean the school is accredited.

- Ask the students about the school and their teachers. The students are the best indicators of a school’s quality.

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Pros & Cons

Your children WILL:

- “Wai’”instead of saying “Hi” and giving you a hug.

- Behave according to Thai expectations but have familiarity with Western expectations.

- Be bicultural, with exposure to English-speaking culture and language while maintaining focus on Thai culture and language, history, social studies, history and Buddhism.

- Get away from rote learning and be encouraged to explore, discover and develop critical thinking.

- Have more choices and better opportunities when planning their further education, whether at local or international schools, to study overseas or sit an entrance exam to enter Thai or International programmes in universities.



Your children WILL NOT:

- Be exposed to foreign elements as much as at international schools.

- Be able to read Shakespeare or become fluent in English within six months or even a year. It’s a long process.