Do Thais really have to learn English in school?

[rocketboybkk]

I think schools try to teach basics but as at certain level it's probably 'payable'

Also it depends if the kid wants to learn, if they don't, what can you do

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[rocketboybkk]

The teachers are very poor in English. Was visiting a school where my wife's two daughters studied before. The kids in grade 4 had 3 h English in a row without any brake. They started with English in grade 2. The kid could no English at all and the young teacher was impossible to understand.

Was the young teacher a looker? If so, that's all you need!!!

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[SantiSuk]

When I lived in the UK I didn't live in a tourist area and I rarely heard an English person who would speak French. People are universally shy at speaking a foreign language to a native speaker unless they have hit a good level of competence or they are too young to care about making mistakes.

That siad, the teaching is indeed poor here. My adopted daughter aged 17 has lived with me around for 5 years and will not speak one word to me in English. Yes I know that doesn't reflect well on me. She gets 2 hours a week at her amphur town high school, where they used to have a handful of native English speaker teachers and a few others. Now they have decided to stick with Thais and other Asean teachers. The latter understand English quite well, particularly the Filipinos, but the accents are often very distorted. It must be impossible to learn to speak words when all the teachers pronounce them differently.

Surely in this day and age it should be built around a core programme delivered through the internet, DVDs and television by pure native speakers with lots of role playing and with the teachers acting as support workers to a centrally driven programme. I learned German and Spanish in my 40s (one for business and one for holidays and general interest). I did it entirely form tapes/DVDs with no teacher support. I never got far above basic, but whenever I used my new-found skills abroad at least the natives understood me.

[Rhys]

Thai students ... the ones who are not motivated, don't have to learn a thing.. you see it as they come to class..

[SOTIRIOS]

...par for the course...

[Saan]

I attended a wedding in Buriram and the father of the bride sat me next to the local English teacher, who looked horrified. He spoke not a word of English.

I felt for him and carried on an animated conversation with me smiling a nodding my head to save his face. He caught on and started nodding back at me. I left with a new friend.

But this probably explains why my 15 year old step son can barely speak a word of English. When he struggles out a 'goodbye' he beams with triumph. If we have to talk when his mother is not about we do it in Thai which, if you have heard me speak Thai, really goes to show how little English he knows.

He is pretty fluent with 'I want 100 baht'.

I learnt, as second languages, French and Latin, which were a big help. I wish now it has been Indonesian, Thai, Chinese or whatever would be useful in my region.

The only time I used French in my younger days was when I went to New Caledonia. I still had enough to get by but now if I'm speaking with a Frenchman I just shout at him in English and he understands. I wouldn't dare try French even if I was fairly fluent.

[slerickson]

9 year old neighbor girl learning English. Ha ha. She can only manage hello. I looked over her homework and i thought it was very challenging. Requiring her to discern nuances in English usage and grammar. A few Qs would be challenging to adult English native speakers. If that's the curriculum, No wonder they are lost learning. Should be learning: See spot run!

[recycler]

The Thai education system is among the worst in the world. According to recent research of the world bank 1 out of 3 kids of 15 year old is functionally illiterate, meaning that they can't read and write enough Thai to get a decent job.

Education is such an uncoordinated mess, highly militarized and politicized, at school most of the time is wasted on all kinds of non issues. If you want your kids to learn reading, writing, match and English you have to do that at home.

[louse1953]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

who studies french???

The French.

[kerrysum]

Theoretically, yes, for those who are presently in school. But in some communities there are no teachers who can speak or read English. And that is the situation today. For Thai adults, the older they are, the less exposure to English they likely had during their school days.

Another factor is educational attainment more broadly. Today, Thai students are staying in school longer. But 30 or 40 years ago,many never got beyond elementary school, if indeed they completed that.

Now that is a true fact brother, if they didn't pass the basic exam, they were tossed out of the school system....

And it wasn't just for not speaking English.... It was for their own language.....

[louse1953]

I attended a wedding in Buriram and the father of the bride sat me next to the local English teacher, who looked horrified. He spoke not a word of English.

I felt for him and carried on an animated conversation with me smiling a nodding my head to save his face. He caught on and started nodding back at me. I left with a new friend.

But this probably explains why my 15 year old step son can barely speak a word of English. When he struggles out a 'goodbye' he beams with triumph. If we have to talk when his mother is not about we do it in Thai which, if you have heard me speak Thai, really goes to show how little English he knows.

He is pretty fluent with 'I want 100 baht'.

I learnt, as second languages, French and Latin, which were a big help. I wish now it has been Indonesian, Thai, Chinese or whatever would be useful in my region.

The only time I used French in my younger days was when I went to New Caledonia. I still had enough to get by but now if I'm speaking with a Frenchman I just shout at him in English and he understands. I wouldn't dare try French even if I was fairly fluent.

For a social experiment a few years ago,i would say good morning to everybody i met on my walk.Now i get it back from everyone,even in the arfternoon.Will have to start walking in the arvo now and try another experment.At this rate i will have the village fluent in 3 lifetimes.

[Mipen]

They are supposed to, but from my experience, only a few want to learn English, or other subjects for that matter.

Their system and teachers put too great an emphases on grammar, and not enough on communication.

Often,I have gone into a classroom just after the Thai, English teacher has finished, and there on the board, and also coppied into the students notebooks, are reams and reams of grammer notes; some often misleading or incorrect. This includes complicated grammar, that many native speakers don't understand. I could ask students in this class simple questions like: What's your name? How old are you? or Where do you live? and all I get re blank faces. Learning English in their system is not fun, so they are not interested.

[hutchings1963]

My wifes son is being taught English but after 2 years he still does not understand,i asked a teacher he said we teach them but never ask them to say anything in English to us,i think it just says it all no sence no feeling

[Card]

I can't blame Thais and their English skills. I learnt French for 6 years, failed my 'o' levels twice before finally getting it the third time, and never could speak anything except the most basic few words. I've also been living in Thailand for 11 years and still can't do more than a few words of taxi Thai.

[janpharma]

If they want to remain a 3rd world country that only can speak to it self and not able to communicate with the rest ot the world...than they don't have to learn to speak and write English...

[Aforek]

I have met a Fillipino man in a bus, going to Bangkok : he speaks good English and is teacher of English in a private school in Sri Maha Phot ( Prachinburi province )

He told me there are two levels in this school : the first one, not expensive , one hour of English every week, pupils not interrested in English, very bad level

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but the second one ( If I rembember 10000 baht for 6 months ) is more expensive but ( he told me ) every course ( science and so ) is given in English many hours a day and their level of English is excellent ! and they are very good in mathematics, chemistry and other science ( they are children of people who have money ); he give this courses himself, only in English all the time

he told me he has two other colleagues, English speaking people

he gives private English courses 100 bahts one hour

[gandalf12]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

who studies french???

I believe it is very popular in France. Everyone seems to want to learn it there

[eliotness]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

who studies french???

I had Dutch, French, English and German in high school, still read books in each and every language, the writers language.

You are a very lucky man, I guess you were at school in Belgium, as French, Flemish and German are all spoken in Belgium. Also if you were in Belgium you would have seen TV in all those languages. I saw more programmes in English on TV in Laos in one night than I've seen in Thailand in nearly 2 years. I mean I've even had to watch "Top Gear" dubbed in Thai. I think as long as they blanket dub non-Thai programmes then the kids will struggle. Heck there are enough channels to choose from, so many in fact there could be 2 or 3 in each important language.

In Britain we have enough problems trying to understand each others accent, especially the Scots & Welsh. And then of course the English have always been lazy in learning anybody else's language, but then again why should we as over the last 200 years we fought and beat them all !!!!!!!!! please just joking.

[The Beguiled]

Every high school graduate studies English for 12 years. At the end of that 12 years the vast majority can not even answer basic questions or form a simple sentence. They don't know basic verbs or question words, they can't count, they can't tell the time. Most get almost nothing out of that 12 years.

The majority of Thai teachers in government schools do not speak English and are teaching the students total rubbish. Their lessons are speaking in Thai for an hour or having them copy gibberish from a book. The students never actually speak or use the language, because their teachers can not speak or use the language they are teaching.

The lucky ones have a foreign teacher an hour or two a week, but the schools are so overcrowded individual students get little chance to interact with them.

DP25 you are right on the money. 100% correct.

Having spent the last 10 years traveling around Thailand from 10+ major cities to small villages, Thai's speaking any English is very poor in this country. You only have to speak to the Thai English teachers to realise that most of the ones I have met have been teaching the same, same for the past 10-20 years without any in-course additional training. The teacher that taught English to my wife is still teaching at the same primary school and taught my wife's brother who is 15 years younger.

Further, a Thai, that can speak basic English, can now earn 3,000 Baht more per month if working in a hospitality job!

Amazing Thailand

[masuk]

I often get into a song taew where there are a few Chinese tourists on board, and greet them with a 'ni hao'. They often reply to me in English, which I've rarely seen here in Chiang Mai with local folk.

Last week I climbed on board the red bus, and there was a family of six or seven, heading up to Kad Suan Keow. A young voice from the back spoke up, in perfect English, asking where I was from.

We had an interesting chat, while his parents and family looked on. He was just 12 years old!!

I get the feeling that Thailand needs to get its act together. It's the only ASEAN country which demands that prospective, experienced, qualified, English teachers hold a degree, pay all visa fees, insurance, flights and accommodation.

[Liquorice]

Thai students ... the ones who are not motivated, don't have to learn a thing.. you see it as they come to class..

You can take the horse to the water, but you can't force it to drink.

[Keesters]

There has to be some willingness to learn a language. I don't think Thai students are motivated enough to learn. They know that they will pass no matter how bad they are and that in getting a job it is not so much WHAT you know but WHO.

[thaibeachlovers]

I rarely meet a Thai that speaks English ( I don't live in a tourist area ), so either they don't have to learn it in school, or their teachers are rubbish.

I had heard that it was supposed to be taught in school.

I did French & German at school but I can't remember much of it now. It also requires confidence & constant practice, you have to understand that, even with great teachers. Don't be too harsh on them.

I've been speaking Thai for 20 years & reading Thai for over 10 years but I wouldn't consider myself anything better than intermediate.

Fair enough, but I should have mentioned that I was referring to younger people that would have left school recently, not older ones that I wouldn't expect to speak English- sorry about that.

Thanks for all the replies- I didn't expect anywhere near as many.

[thaibeachlovers]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

who studies french???

I studied basic French at school- many, many years ago. I can still remember some of it despite never having had to use it, ever.

[Liquorice]

One of the local teachers came stomping into the café one day completely frustrated.

Da foo -kin Tha kidz nooo wanna leeaarnee Engrish, tey noooo understandee, tey lassee.

Er Sorry.......can you repeat that!

[wwest5829]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

We all have different experiences. I still have been able to use my poor remembrance of 3 years of German study from high school. Certainly have forgotten most but from experience over time, I find I can make my needs known in German speaking countries. I allow that there are many German based words in English which certainly aids English speakers.

As to speaking another language after studying in school, I have noted a reluctance in many countries, notably among cultures fearing loss of face. But that is just my experience. I do not see a critiques of a need to improve Thai education as Thai bashing. Constructive criticism might only be my cultural bias. Depends on the purpose whether critique is in bashing mode, I suppose.

[thaibeachlovers]

When I lived in the UK I didn't live in a tourist area and I rarely heard an English person who would speak French. People are universally shy at speaking a foreign language to a native speaker unless they have hit a good level of competence or they are too young to care about making mistakes.

That siad, the teaching is indeed poor here. My adopted daughter aged 17 has lived with me around for 5 years and will not speak one word to me in English. Yes I know that doesn't reflect well on me. She gets 2 hours a week at her amphur town high school, where they used to have a handful of native English speaker teachers and a few others. Now they have decided to stick with Thais and other Asean teachers. The latter understand English quite well, particularly the Filipinos, but the accents are often very distorted. It must be impossible to learn to speak words when all the teachers pronounce them differently.

Surely in this day and age it should be built around a core programme delivered through the internet, DVDs and television by pure native speakers with lots of role playing and with the teachers acting as support workers to a centrally driven programme. I learned German and Spanish in my 40s (one for business and one for holidays and general interest). I did it entirely form tapes/DVDs with no teacher support. I never got far above basic, but whenever I used my new-found skills abroad at least the natives understood me.

The reason for my OP was not that I want to have a conversation with Thai people locally, but when I go to buy something it's usually impossible to find someone that speaks English well enough to understand what I want.

I speak enough Thai that I can go shopping, but if I want something I don't see on the shelves, or I need an explanation about something, forget it.

[quandow]

The system is extremely flawed. I've "taught" English for four years in Thailand, and the curriculum at most schools is focused on making the workbooks pretty and complete, repeat a few words or sentences each lesson to satisfy the rote learning requirement, and little to none of conversational English is attended to.

As well, the Thai teachers teach the grammar part of English, and from what I've seen, they do a GREAT job of it. These kids can identify every part of a sentence (noun, verb, correct conjugation, etc.). They just aren't taught to understand or speak English. They've done this for years and irregardless of all the saber rattling from the ministers, they aren't going to change any time soon.

[gerryBScot]

If you keep telling a child that s/he is stupid or bad or useless and ridicule that child for their perceived stupidity, well any teacher and parent will tell you that the label usually sticks and indeed becomes self-fulfilling. It's the same with the system - sure it is easy to mock it and ridicule it, express astonishment at its abundant absurdity and the startling inability of many Thai school children to perform the most basic functions in English, but what can actually be done about it?

I can assure you the problem is not the students. As far as I can see the students are just like young people in any other part of the world, which is interested and enthusiastic and curious. The kids in my classes show they can learn and that they think and apply learning to many different situations. But what can you really expect to happen to them if you put them in a class with 50-60 others where the teacher is a remote figure, both literally and metaphorically, using a microphone in order to be heard above the constant chatter.

The solutions all lie in the management and administration of the schools, both individually and system wide. That's a right can of worms which I'll sidestep right now. But the English language deficiencies of Thai school kids all lie in the values in the system and the fact that all will kowtow to the decree saying English will be taught in all school but nobody will even consider a strategic approach to teaching languages in schools based on what might be appropriate to specific age groups and their needs. You end up with nonsense such as people learning vocabulary out of context, 5 new words every day, put on a blackboard,often misspelt or incorrectly written , alongside a Thai translation: that's it, ticked off, done, because the curriculum prescribes the vocabulary range students should have at a particular prathom level. Rote learning at its finest and absolutely guaranteed to ensure it cannot result in understanding!

There are really no surprises in any of this for me.

[Tony125]

in the west students study french, spanish, german etc and I've never found them to be able to speak it after graduation. just another pathetic thai bash I suppose.

If your talking about the USA I will agree partially with you but I still can use Spanish and a little French when I went to Laos. My father gran father and uncles were from Portugal and could speak Portugese, Spanish , Italian, English and a little German. Quite a few Europeans speak more than 1 language due to their countries close proximity to each other. It is the USA that has few persons that speak multiple languages and that's not USA bashing as I was born and raised there . I dated a hi-so Thai when I first came over ( but she was living mainly in Switzerland ) and she and her daughter ( 6 yo ) spoke Thai, English German and Swiss.