#  >  > Living And Legal Affairs In Thailand >  >  > Teaching In Thailand >  >  Question asked of  8th grade Thai students

## Chico

This question was asked of my son's class a couple of weeks ago, the question was asked in English,the majority of his class don't speak or write English very well.

Could you answer without looking on google.
Define the following parts of a curved mirror

A. Centre of  curvature

B. Vertex

C. principal axis

D. Focus

Anyway, I went in search of answers and found the same questions being asked of 10th graders in American schools.

So I ask my son have they being explaining any of this stuff to you, no the answer was they just give us the questions.

And to think we're paying for MVP, basically, all MVP is you get air-con and better holidays than the other students.

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## david44

Define the following parts of a curved mirror

A. Centre of curvature 

Boob

B. Vertex
 Former partner hanging

C. principal axis 
Hitler or Baa as we call her

D. Focus 
Invitation from a pair billiad playing gals in Soi 5 who've had their clothes stolen and promise to pot my balls at a pool party

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## Topper

> And to think we're paying for MVP, basically, all MVP is you get air-con and better holidays than the other students.


What does MVP stand for?

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## Maanaam

Most Valuable Player...of the match, day or  tournament.

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## david44

> What does MVP stand for?


Meat n Veg Pizzaboy

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## harrry

Have you looked in their text book and workbook?

or checked us 8th grade
https://sites.google.com/a/pcschools...t/light-optics

https://www.educationquizzes.com/us/...ence/light-01/

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## Topper

> Most Valuable Player...of the match, day or tournament.


thanks, I learned something today, Chico.

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## Topper

> Have you looked in their text book and workbook?


If I'm not mistaken, basic optics is taught in M3....

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## Maanaam

> This question was asked of my son's class a couple of weeks ago, the question was asked in English,the majority of his class don't speak or write English very well.
> 
> Could you answer without looking on google.
> Define the following parts of a curved mirror
> 
> A. Centre of  curvature
> 
> B. Vertex
> 
> ...


Basic science from when I was maybe.....(trying to think back to an image of the teacher)...12?
Three things Chico; 1. You have to accept that many Thai teachers are teaching because it's a job with a degree of status, not because they are interested in teaching, and therefore they are not passionate about teaching nor actually even interested in teaching. 2. Many Thai teachers teach their students to pass tests, not to understand the subject, hence questions to be answered not information to learn. 3. As in any country, parents should be going over the school work every day with their kids, looking at homework and helping. It's not just the teacher's job to educate a child. Especially in Thailand in light of points 1 and 2 above.

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## aging one

deleted.

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## Topper

> Three things Chico; 1. You have to accept that many Thai teachers are teaching because it's a job with a degree of status ...... blah, blah, blah


Or it could be a requirement to be taught....

I'll take a look tomorrow at the MOE "indicators" (objectives) for science tomorrow and see when basic optics are taught, if you want Chico.

You also need to keep in mind the level of the material being taught....is it simple vocabulary where the parts of a lens is being identified vs. reflection/refraction/diffraction mathematics.

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## Chico

Humble apologies meant to type MEP

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## HuangLao

Yet, why posed in English?

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## Topper

> Yet, why posed in English?


MEP - Mini English Program - Usually where science and math are taught in English as well as Thai.

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## Chico

I got a hold of his forum teacher and asked her, why the curriculum was from the USA, she was dumbfounded but understood what I was saying, basically we just follow orders, then asked her about why the English teachers weren't able to have fun with the kids and take them outside to learn, seems two good teachers have been removed from school because the kids were enjoying learning.

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## Maanaam

> If I'm not mistaken, basic optics is taught in M3....


I think you're right. I've seen students' excersise books open. But, at least in the SMA program, it's the mathematics of it all as per your other post, not just the vocabuary.

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## HuangLao

> I got a hold of his forum teacher and asked her, why the curriculum was from the USA, she was dumbfounded but understood what I was saying, basically we just follow orders, then asked her about why the English teachers weren't able to have fun with the kids and take them outside to learn, seems two good teachers have been removed from school because the kids were enjoying learning.


Thai metaphorical kismet practiced well.

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## harrry

The science curriculum both in the US and here is taugh in blocks of two or three years.  The subject matter is repeated throughout the difference is the expected understanding.  Most early students get some vocabulary, next time round they strengthen the vocab and get some concepts.  The Third time round most of the kids should have a fair understanding.
Maths is done in the same way just with increasing complexity in each repetition.

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## Thailandbound

> So I ask my son have they being explaining any of this stuff to you, no the answer was they just give us the questions


Yes.. a lot of it is just memorization of definitions in Asia. The same goes for middle school students in China and Korea. I used to tutor a student in grade 8 in Korea. Her mom popped some of these terms in front of me with definitions and wanted me to go over the pronunciation and meaning of each word. I asked her if she knew what each of the words meant and if not, we would go over it first.

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## Thailandbound

> So I ask my son have they being explaining any of this stuff to you, no the answer was they just give us the questions


Yes.. a lot of it is just memorization of definitions in Asia. The same goes for middle school students in China and Korea. I used to tutor a Korean student in grade 8 in Seoul. Her mom popped some of these math terms in front of me with definitions and wanted me to go over the pronunciation and definition of each word. I asked her if she knew what each of the words meant and if not, we would go over it first.

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## Thailandbound

sorry, double post. I went to edit and that happened. ^

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## Neverna

> This question was asked of my son's class a couple of weeks ago, the question was asked in English,the majority of his class don't speak or write English very well.
> 
> Could you answer without looking on google.
> Define the following parts of a curved mirror
> 
> A. Centre of  curvature
> 
> B. Vertex
> 
> ...


All students have a book for each subject (school provides or parents provide). Assuming those questions were for your son's science class, look in his science book (or the book for whatever subject it was).

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## Chico

Surely the teacher should still sit students down and explain the subject to them.

A bit like they inform the students, the school is closing on Wednesday but they had exams on Thursday.

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## Neverna

> Surely the teacher should still sit students down and explain the subject to them.


Yes, but we will never know exactly what happened in the class or why. Perhaps the teacher was trying out the TTT method of teaching (test teach test) [Jest].
Does your son take his school books home with him?

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## Chico

He does when I'm here, I'll take a peek later.

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## Thailandbound

> Surely the teacher should still sit students down and explain the subject to them.


They may get the definitions at the beginning of the term and be asked to memorize them and their definitions. This is what I've seen many times. 
They only learn them in more detail during the year, but even then. When they are tested on them, they sometimes need to know their definitions and not necessarily how they are used in context.

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## Chico

I'm really starting to think of taking him out of MEP, and finding him a good tutor.

There's a kid in his class, that went to a good boarding school in Khon Kaen, he's supposedly very bright, and even he so it seems said the teachers are pathetic.

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## HuangLao

Consider the individual of the OP, firstly. 
Seemingly contradictory.

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## Neverna

> I'm really starting to think of taking him out of MEP, and finding him a good tutor.


What subjects is he taught in English? English, science and computers? 
And who teaches him those subjects? Thai teachers or native English speaking teachers?

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## Looper

> Define the following parts of a curved mirror
> 
> A. Centre of curvature
> 
> B. Vertex
> 
> C. principal axis
> 
> D. Focus


Easy, but can you put your finger on the 

E. Latus Rectum

?

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