Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ralphlsasser
TIT  I teach at a private school where only the rich can afford. Everyone knows students acquire English when they want to. The real fact is that yes, the parents want the best for their "little darlings", but do absolutely nothing to make sure they are doing their part as parents to help in the process, eg; checking homework, asking questions, etc. After living here almost two years, I have yet to see or hear a Thai discipline a child for anything. My analogy is they are kind of like an animal. They have them, then they are on their own to more or less raise themselves. That is the Thai culture. Children are a product of their parents and they learn good or bad habits from them. I have had only one parent talk to me about their child, even though I have wrote many bad reports on the report cards concerning their children's behaviour. The principal at my school told me that most, if not all the parents speak English. So, it isn't a fact of being shy or not understanding English. I believe it is a fact of just not caring what their children are doing.
If I would have ever gotten a bad report from my school, or anyone else for that matter, about a problem they were having with me, I wouldn't be able to sit down for a week. This is not the west and attitudes about education and behaviour are much different, but it is my belief that sometimes a good old fashioned "ass whipping" is in order. |
I agree with some of what you say but the problem to me is entirely the system here. The method of teaching English as a foreign language in South east asia is entirely misguided becase starting at Pratom level, children in the majority of schools are not taught to read. in england if your child has not got a reading book going home after a week of school, you're down there asking why. learning english is a combination of skills. thailand thinks you can memorise english which is great for the 5% who regularly have assess to a ferrang but utterly useless for the rest. reding skill are utterly ignored here. if you can read and read for meaning you can take a book home and learn for yourself. when you do role plays, students can actually read them. thailand claims to have a high literacy rate but in my experience 60% plus of the students I encounter cannot read for meaning. All the textbooks i see were designed to teach europeans english. fine because they can read the text already. Thais often go through their whole Pratom level (6 years of english) and still cannot read simple sentences. no wonder their put off from an early level and give up. Parents sadly learnt the same way but i have found in my school that many parents are supportive and will hear their child read at home. thai parents need to see some hope, some real results. i believe Thais are very dedicated and clever but only when the productbeing serve up is related to their life and is at their level. school sneed to wake up and invest in resources that aid learning such as libraries that open, computers that are used for learning and display boards that are smothered in english. 13 of my 6 year old can already reaad simple english for meaning for understanding. 3 of my pratom one are as good at reading as any kid in the west.