duanebigsby Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 [quote name="Johnniey" I was in US Peace Corps in the '70's in Colombia. We had a 3 month intensive Spanish course, mornings and afternoons, took place in Bogota. The teachers were quite good and all native Colombians. Did I feel qualified to teach Spanish to others at the end? Heck no. This plan (as pointed out) is poor on so many levels. If want intensive 6 week course, it should be held in an English speaking country. Students would have to learn and use the language to survive. Of course have native speakers. Do Thais know enough idioms to "step up to the plate". I doubt they could "knock this one out of the ballpark" when they can't even find "home plate". These ministers who make decisions suffer from disconnect from reality. They need to "wake up and smell the coffee". My old pal who worked in the CIA spent 6 months learning Russian and it was fluent enough to go on a mission and not be suspected of not being Russian. Did he have a watch with a radio transmitter and an abseiling rope hidden inside it? I'm not sure every English native speaker would know these baseball based idioms. How many Irish or New Zealander would know what they mean? Learning another country"s idioms and phraseology is a lot different than learning the language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expatbrit Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 My old pal who worked in the CIA spent 6 months learning Russian and it was fluent enough to go on a mission and not be suspected of not being Russian.Did he have a watch with a radio transmitter and an abseiling rope hidden inside it? I'm not sure every English native speaker would know these baseball based idioms. How many Irish or New Zealander would know what they mean? Learning another country"s idioms and phraseology is a lot different than learning the language. The Irish could throw in a few "Hurling" references and the New Zealanders could use a few Cricket idioms to confuse the h**l out of the Yanks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duanebigsby Posted December 5, 2015 Share Posted December 5, 2015 expatbrit "The Irish could throw in a few "Hurling" references and the New Zealanders could use a few Cricket idioms to confuse the h**l out of the Yanks" In hockey, a desparate team can "pull the goalie" allowing an extra forward onto the ice. The phrase "pulling the goalie" has become an slang idiom meaning to masturbate. How many English speakers would know that? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bermondburi Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 I'm glad the source of this article was Coconuts, it has eased the Mind-Blown experience at least a little bit............. Dont want to rain on your parade its headlines in the Unmentionable other English language paper Still its utter madness! Both articles make it pretty clear it's a long-term plan and it is something that should be aimed for. Of course it is better to use well-trained local teachers than rely on foreign teachers forever. The headline that Coconuts uses is typical of the sensationalism of gutter rags. Why ?. It will always be better to have a native speaker doing the teaching. When I went to school, the French teachers were always French. That way you get the correct pronunciation and inflexion as well. I've yet to meet a Thai who understands future tense. Most Thai teachers of English that I know have a better understanding of English grammar than many native speakers and know that there are only two tenses in English, and no such thing as the "future tense". That said, their pronunciation is generally appalling and there will always be a need for Thai students to learn this from native speakers if they want to use English for anything except basic communication. Twelve tenses in English plus going to as another future one. Plus your passives and they start to add up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dageurreotype Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 My ex Thai university professor today attempted to commandeer me into a project dreamt up be the local prosecutor's office (?) during which a group of Thai teachers would have to complete a crossword in English (? again). I told him it was a pointless exercise and they'd be better off listening to the BBC World Service to improve their godawful pronunciation. I'd told him a Burmese woman I'd come across at some temple in Bagan had taught herself near perfect English this way. He was skeptical and said the reason she spoke English was more likely the affect of having had the British there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tribalfusion001 Posted December 6, 2015 Share Posted December 6, 2015 My ex Thai university professor today attempted to commandeer me into a project dreamt up be the local prosecutor's office (?) during which a group of Thai teachers would have to complete a crossword in English (? again). I told him it was a pointless exercise and they'd be better off listening to the BBC World Service to improve their godawful pronunciation. I'd told him a Burmese woman I'd come across at some temple in Bagan had taught herself near perfect English this way. He was skeptical and said the reason she spoke English was more likely the affect of having had the British there He may have a point about the British being there, but we left in 1948! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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