Thread: Motivating Mathayom Students

I have been teaching Mathayom 3 and 6 students in a government school now for a little over a month. Over this past month I have concluded that all of the problems I am having with my students arise from a lack of motivation on their part in learning English. How else can you explain the chronic skipping of class and tardiness especially for the Mathayom 6 students, and the loud talking in class, horseplay, sleeping in class, and general inattentiveness for both Mathayom 3 and 6 students? Some of the students are motivated, but the majority are not.
I have tried to stimulate the students' interest by being friendly and animated in class by acting out conversations for certain situations, but still, a lot of students, especially the Mathayom 6, are turned off and either sleep or don't want to participate in class activities. Is it going to be necessary for me to stand on my head or dress up as Santa and sing Christmas carols? I think it is because most of them don't understand a word of English which I am speaking. I can speak Thai at an intermediate level, but I admit that my pronunciation and tones especially are bad. Even if I did give the students the Thai meaning for all of the English handouts I give them, they still would not be able to understand the English. I think this is because most of the students have never had a foreign teacher before, and they never developed any listening comprehension skills in the lower grades. So, how can I give them remedial listening comprehension skills which will carry over to speaking if the school handcuffs me by not providing any audiovisual equipment or aids?
I feel that the average Thai places a very high value on the family, money, and status. It seems that they will do almost anything for these three. Do you think there is some way I can play on these three values to motivate my students? I would be very interested to know how most of you are motivating your students, especially the government school Mathayom students.

Originally Posted by prkuehn

I feel that the average Thai places a very high value on the family, money, and status. It seems that they will do almost anything for these three. Do you think there is some way I can play on these three values to motivate my students? I would be very interested to know how most of you are motivating your students, especially the government school Mathayom students.

I teach at a private school and at a guess they are no better than kids in government schools. The kids are from middle class families, with parents who seem to spending a lot of time working or social networking. I think you are right about Thai values although many families do value education.

I have just come from a class much like you describe. The lesson was all prepared and planned but they just didn't want to know. However there are good classes in my school as well. A theory expert would say I have to make my lesssons relevant, and sure language is a problem...but I think it comes down to basci lack of motivation...and on Monday I will have a couple of motivated classes to cheer me up.

Can you not find materials that are better geared to their level if their level is so low? And can you not do anything to discipline kids who are tardy, sleeping, or chatting away non-stop about things that have nothing to do with your lesson? Do the Thai teachers also put up with that kind of crap?

right, I've just spent my morning at the request of a local secondary schools to identify areas of weakness. I did with all classes a simple reading activity where you had to read descriptions of 4 family members and draw them. This activity I did with my P3 yesterday. The results only 1 person from M1-3 in this school had the reading skills to be able to complete the task. I don't belive that Thai students are l;azy just that no one taught them to read and that 90% plus of their textbook is nonense. These students were keen and beautifully behaved but had the reading ability of My 4 top P1 students. If you're a students and you can't read and your textbooks is giving you complex grammar rules, its not surprising you feel like a buffalo and say nothing. The teachers here who say my hands are tied, i have to teach the textbook are failing these kids. If you students can accesss the textbook fine work through it. If as I guess 95% of Thailand can't teach them the basics first. Too many schools continue to pretend that their kids are at high levels. My experience today showed me the reality.

Originally Posted by daneel

Then you have the students from parents who spoil them to death because they know that those kids are the only insurance they have when they get old. These kids already have jobs. They just need a piece of paper to legitimacy it. and so on and so on.

...and that ladies and gentleman just about sums it up!!

Some really salient points here. Of all the people here we shoulder the least blame. Education is big business here. Parents have to stand up and be counted, principals need to be accountable, teachers need performance related pay based on actual results, students need to be taught skill younger. Book companies need toproduce something more realistic. Course it won't happen, it is in my school. funnily enough, i've got group of 4 lazy boys in p4 who i'm alwas at to read, finish work. i now realise after today that they would be in the top 5 kids in the local government Matayom 3 class. its amazing how smarrt and motivated thai kids can be with real skills, its equally amazing how the system fails so many of all but the richest. of the M3 class I took today only 3 out of 20 could read and translate more than 5 of the ten most commonverbs in the English language.. Pathetic.

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.

Originally Posted by ralphlsasser

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.

This is a cultural thing. Most Thai parents see their job as to clothe, feed and put a roof over their kids head. Discipline and education is seen as the job of the teacher. Check out your top students. Generally their parents are on top of it, getting them to do homework and monitoring what they do at school. They are the ones you see on parents day. Sad situation but true!

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.

I do agree with you and there is no question where the fault lies here. The system seems to have learning English backwards. They do seem to rely on memory and that is the way an language is acquired, but you also have to have the basic equation added, which is reading. My brightest students, and I have several, their parents read with their children and take an interest in their education. The rest, the ones that barely keep up, the parents drop them off at 8:00 and pick them up at 4:30. That's about as far as it goes as far as being involved in their education. They don't have a clue as to what they need or even care. But, damn me if I sit one in the hall because he is disrupting the class. They go straight to the principal. They have never came to me and ask why. Even though I have sent many bad behavioral reports home on their report cards. TIT.