Since Thailand is
joining the ASEAN community in 2015, many policies have been proposed to help
Thailand to get ready for a big change. One of the important aspects Thai
Government is focusing on is education. The program “English Speaking Year
2012” was initiated by the Ministry of Education to encourage Thai students and
teachers to interact in English through activities once a week at school. (For
more information: http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_around_thailand.php?id=6053)
I really do agree with
the idea of encouraging Thai students to speak English. However, my main
concerns are, “Is the exposure to English once a week is enough?” and “Do we
have any other supporting channels that Thai students can use to practice their
English skills?” For me, personally, I don’t think that is enough. I could tell
from my own experience. I have been working in an international school for
almost eight years. I have been exposed to English at least five days a week
for all those years and I am still struggling with my English. On the first
year of working there, I realized that all those years in English classes at
school and University were not enough. The varieties of English which come with
different accents and the cultural differences played much more important roles
in the international communication than I could have expected. Two-way
communication, direct interaction, and regular practices are the keys that help
bridge the gaps. Thai students need to be keeping motivated and encouraged to
learn English in the enjoyable and interesting ways. For example, the primary
students would enjoy watching English cartoons and singing songs instead of
just reading and repeating words after the teacher. One more important factor
is the teachers. Many of Thai English teachers are still shy and not willing to
talk to native English speakers. Last month, my school was visited by a group
of teachers from a school in Lamphun. Instead of observing several classes in
small groups and interacting with native English teachers, those Thai teachers
preferred to be in one big group talking only to each other or Thai personnel
from my school. Needless to say, if the teachers are shy and still not willing
to interact in English, how could they be good examples for their students? In
order to prepare Thai students to be ready for ASEAN community, the Thai
Government needs much more than one day a week of English activities.
It’s not only about insufficient time to study English but also Thai teachers who teach English. My mother teaches in a rural school in Chiang Rai. She told me that most of teachers in her school are between 50-57 years old. There’re only just a few of them that can speak English. This makes me concerned about how students can improve their skills; meanwhile their teachers are also having the same problem too.
ReplyDeleteConsidering with English skills in Thai students nowadays, I think most people agree to make this year "English speaking year." Anyway, speaking English for once a week is not enough to make them improve that much and ready for the integration of ASEAN in 2015. Shyness is the most important thing that makes not only Thai students, but also Thai pople struggling with speaking English. Somehow, the Ministry of Education should start from the primary schools as Manassavinee said before because they are growing to be the future of the country.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is quite easy for the Ministry to set the new curriculums for Thai schools, but it is hard to be done in practice. My parents are both teachers and they usually complain the pragrams that the Ministry assigns for Thai local schools. They say that the courses are not suitable for students and the educational aids are not enough to support both teachers and students. Moreover, the learning process would not quite continually if the syllabus is changed year by year. Therefore, to make the "English speaking year" long lasting, the Ministry of Education should seriously suppport this program not only for the next few years, but regularly.
I definitely agree that one day a week is not enough at all and the students need extra forces for them to get used to English. Only providing alternative channels for English practice may not be effective to make an urgent change, especially when there are not very many free English channels available nowadays. For students, they will not be paying significance to the policies if there are ways to escape. I believe that the most important thing to convince the students is to emphasize on the disadvantages that will occur if they lack of English competence, at least the communicative one.
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