The fear of getting grammar wrong
Postbox letter from Ajarn Nittaya, Samut Prakan
When I was a student, English wasn’t something you learned to use. It was something you learned to pass. Grammar exercises. Fill-in-the-blank tests. Memorise this rule. Translate that sentence. Get the right answer, move on to the next part. Like solving a maths problem
Thai education and TEFL class management
A look at three practical examples to use in your classroom
Class management, although employing techniques, isn't so much a process as a mind-set requiring a separate skill set from that of delivery, a point often missed in progressive education orthodoxy.
Why can't Thais speak English?
Some of these students have had over 2,000 hours of English.
Considering that English has been the international language of tourism and commerce for I don't know how many decades now, and there are I don't know how many thousands of English teachers all over the country, why is the general level of English so poor?
Food and the classroom
Language teachers need nutrition expertise too!
Our students eat. That's a good thing, except that after sweet snacks things can get complicated. This is most noticeable (for me, anyway) with kindergarten children who can't inhibit their impulses. The cause?
Enhancing understanding
Getting students to enjoy using dictionaries in class
Understanding is one of the keys in making a lesson interesting. Students stay tuned to the repertoire of activities presented, deepen their liking for the subject, and look forward to more English encounters.
On teaching classroom language
Getting students to use simple English all the time
Whenever confronted with students who speak Thai in class, I considered it an opportune moment to teach them the right structures.
Who gets the call when their arms are raised?
Which student gets the teacher's questions and why?
Here are the different groups of students within a typical class. They are quite distinctive and there's not really much of a gray area between them.
I don't want to learn!
The biggest teaching hurdle: motivation
Motivation in the classroom, both from the teachers and the students, is essential for learning but it is a tricky balance to strike since the two are so interconnected; if the teacher loses motivation, so do the students and if the students lose motivation, so does the teacher.
Great Expectations
When parents of students are simply too demanding
The demands and expectations that some parents burden their children with are alas often too great. At the moment I’m teaching a kid who hasn’t even turned six, yet his life revolves solely around learning.
The breakfast club
How monitoring a student's nutrition can make all the difference
By keeping the importance of good nutrition on the agenda, teachers can make a difference. But be a good role model to your students before requesting their participation in eating healthy.
