(This is old but I realized it was never posted)
In the second week I thought it would be very beneficial to teach the difference in ask/ say and my/ yours. There are times as an EFL (English as a foreign language) that I do not want to the students to simply repeat after me, but ask their neighbor “what is your name” and have their partner answer.
During much of my training many of the lectures urged that we not speak any Thai. Apparently having students figure out what the word means rather than translation creates a deeper comprehension for the word. Students memorize the action or the picture rather than first translating in Thai. Well… I don’t know what magic wand those teaches used to demonstrate ask and say, but after about 50 minutes of demonstration and picture drawing I still do not think my students understood the concepts. I had to take a deep breath several times and say “ok” under my breath while I thought of a different way to demonstrate.
The kicker is that Tuesday is my highest performing class. Tomorrow I teach 4th graders who I constantly have to tell “ngiep ngiep noi” shut your mouth and “yut” stop when they touch each other. So as much as it must be frowned upon, I think I have to use some Thai in order to teach classroom procedure.
So I have briefly discussed some of the differences such as I do not give the students grades, have a roster, or know the school calendar, but today I got a better understanding of the rote style of learning (teacher gives info, children repeat and memorize, drill, drill, drill).
I have been teaching my students very simple dialogue : “what is your name” or “what do you like”. It took me sometime, but by the end of class we were able to complete a short dialogue and ask various partners speed dating style. But then yesterday one of my teachers was late to class because she had a meeting on building construction. (Even if the teacher does not come to class the students are supposed to sit in class and work in their book which basically means they talk to their friends).I was going to be in the class for the next hour waiting for my host teacher to take me to lunch, so I decide (like an American) that I am going to help them with their book work and draw, act, and ask questions about their book work. I start to read the dialogue out loud, and it is a very detailed paragraph about Ken moving to the City and what he likes (ex. Public transportation and sports activities at Rangers stadium). I am completely shocked by the level of difficulty in the paragraph they are reading. How are they able to read this, but not answer where are you from?
The answer is rote learning. These students are expected to repeat vocabulary after the teacher, translate paragraphs with dictionaries, but rarely do they ever make decisions on their own and do something creative. For example today I instructed pick any three words on the board and write them on your paper. I asked the teacher after class why this was such a difficult concept to instruct, and she said “This is not the Thai way. Thai teacher says and student does. They are very afraid of writing the wrong thing and getting a bad mark.”
Overall the biggest difference I have noticed is the lack of individuality. Students get very uncomfortable when you tell them to do something that is gray or not clearly defined by the teacher. It is not that this is a horrible thing, but it is just hard for me to grasp when I am so used to as an American making decisions on my own and writing different answers than my partner.
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