Thread: Advice on TEFLing

Some of my kids books are defiantly US, don't mind much, beauty of English, different ways, but you can communicate. Glaswegian and an inbreed yank from Tennessee.
Somethings piss me off, most kids think Thailand has alligators, not crocs.
There are lots Zee, not Zed, but better than nothing.
Here diesel is called sola, think we can live with windshield and widescreen. Jim

Gators, crocks, hose, sox. I'm sure the bloke who wrote the book would have prefered to be referred to as an inbred yank ( adjective) rather than "an inbreed yank" (transative verb). George Carlin had fun with words. It keeps people interested and interacting. Can't be too stuffy or the kids will think you were born on an Island or something. And yes a shield does block the wind better than a screen. Some things just make more sense. Did the Scotts use a screen to keep the neighbors at out? Lighten up and have some fun Jimmy. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

Originally Posted by Gravesend Dave

It would need to be an intense course with a live in teacher much in the same way a kid learns from parents.

Given that this is obviously completely impractical, teachers do what they can to simulate that.

1 hour a day with 20 classes of 30-50 kids and the whole 'just chat with them' idea looks pretty ragged pretty quickly.

Originally Posted by jamescollister

Originally Posted by ACT

Originally Posted by Bogon

To work in the middle of Bumfuck, a CELTA will obviously help, but a good grammar book should suffice.

Strange.

So the students just need someone who knows what they need to know.

Not someone who knows how to teach what they need to know?


Sounds like a load of bollox really.

Students surely need (and at least deserve) a teacher. Someone with at least a little bit of teacher training, no? Just because you read a book on verbs and adjectives surely doesn't mean that you should then be deserving of getting in front of 50 students and teaching them about it. What about teaching techniques etc?

Think you are getting it wrong, nothing about passed perfects, pronouns, verbs or proper grammar.
It's about speaking in english, you don't need to know rules fo speak.
It's just a high school with kids learning conversational english.

Jim, I think you have it right. There are countless kids in Isaan who will never be exposed to an NES. If your goal is to teach them how to say words without regard to grammar (which can be taught somewhat by many Thai teachers) then you will help the kids.

IMHO ANYTHING is better than having kids who are never exposed to an NES. Anything.

Originally Posted by JBaker

This always amazes me. I would like to be tactful but I'm not sure how.

Don't worry about it. You're just a typical Yank and, in consequence, easily amazed. Your lack of tact is down to your nationality. Yanks have been tactless in just about every foreign policy they have adopted since World War II and that is why they have used their economic power to make the world a poorer place to live in. "Poorer" in every sense of the word.

Fuk Tefling
Rob A'banc
Go Tel Fling

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

imperialistic nonsense

Commie bastard.

^ I've been reading Foucault, Barthes and other French faggots recently; note to self - stop!

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

On the accent/dialect/'style' issue: I suggest you folks do some research...

1) Kids just need to practice and gain confidence/usage, it doesn't matter if the NS is from England, US, Ireland, Convictland, etc - language is language; the differences between dialects are tiny compared to the similarities. For the kids to have a few different types of NS is ideal.

2) The language is not converging, and we will not all be speaking English English or American English in 50 years... Look at the UK and the massive quantity of dialects, we have not converged despite the political efforts of the elites around London. The same is true in the US; one landform, hundreds of years together, but the language is still evolving and changing in different directions - welcome to planet Earth; and we're all the better for it...

Cultures and societies mix together in many different ways, to name but a few: Microsoft, Apple, etc, push American English spelling; BBC, CNN and most international news organizations generally use RP English; Thais use Tinglish; MOST non-native speaker usage of English is with other NNS, so it's just as likely as K-pop, J-fashion and Chinese growing business practices will push their culture into English; the list goes on and is always reinventing itself. This British English v American English is imperialistic nonsense...

Very well said.

It's amazing to me how much the different accents in the US have softened since the introduction of the internet and national television.

When I was a youngster, those in the SE US had what we call a "Southern Drawl." The younger generations are losing much of that. I was recently in Atlanta Georgia and noticed a big difference from the way they talked in the 60's. The older generations still have it, but the younger people are influenced by computer games, the internet, sports broadcasts, music, TV and on and on.

Kids seem to universally have a desire to fit in with the "in crowd" and if they see themselves outside the mainstream, they try to adapt.

There is also a lot of movement in the US due to going off to college, getting a job transfer, etc. etc.

The internet, TV and movies are produced on the West Coast. The West Coast has the least accent in that words are spoken without much tone or emphasis unless done deliberately for affect.

I still see, and further predict, that the internet and other mass media will homogenize world English.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

2) The language is not converging, and we will not all be speaking English English or American English in 50 years... Look at the UK and the massive quantity of dialects, we have not converged despite the political efforts of the elites around London. The same is true in the US; one landform, hundreds of years together, but the language is still evolving and changing in different directions - welcome to planet Earth; and we're all the better for it...

-------------------------

Yes, but through all of those centuries there wasn't the internet, or anything else to daily bombard people with one type of English.

-------------------------

Cultures and societies mix together in many different ways, to name but a few: Microsoft, Apple, etc, push American English spelling; BBC, CNN and most international news organizations generally use RP English;

Yes, but everyone is exposed to Microsoft, linux, Unix, Apple, linux/android, Google, etc. etc. but no one I know of in the US reads the BBC or the English version of CNN.

My favorite waitress at a local family restaurant is British. Not only is she very pretty, but her London accent is very pretty and feminine. I love it. But I promise you if she has kids in the US they will not keep her British sound. They will want to fit in with playmates at home and in school and by the time they graduate they will sound like any other American. I've seen it too many times.

Originally Posted by JBaker

her London accent is very pretty and feminine.

You need certifying you do.

^ No he doesn't, he is spot on - as ya knows garvn'r, me spee-in sands fekin saweeeet as!

Originally Posted by JBaker

My favorite waitress at a local family restaurant is British. Not only is she very pretty, but her London accent is very pretty and feminine. I love it. But I promise you if she has kids in the US they will not keep her British sound. They will want to fit in with playmates at home and in school and by the time they graduate they will sound like any other American. I've seen it too many times.

True, but that's a FL cultural environment...

99% of NNS of English: 1) do not live in America; 2) mostly communicate with other NNS of English.

Originally Posted by JBaker

Yes, but everyone is exposed to Microsoft, linux, Unix, Apple, linux/android, Google, etc. etc. but no one I know of in the US reads the BBC or the English version of CNN.

I am not talking about being in the US, I am talking about being on the world; India, China, Thailand, etc. In the world, the cultural mix is huge and multifaceted. AE has never and will never dominate anything...

You will be pleased to know that all research points to the fact that AE is changing away from its standard cultural norms more than other form of NS English (the influence of the Spanish, African-Americans, etc), so you are being less American day by day - your first language will be Spanish in 30 years...

after years of working with an international workforce most people usually cannot pick my origin from my accent

Originally Posted by ACT

Is that the common feeling? I really don't know. Teachers here just do what is needed for them to get by, not what the students actually need? Bit sad if that is the case

If you are teaching in a Thai school you might be lucky to have Thai English Language teachers tell you what students need. I was. Students don't need grammar, they do need conversational practice. End of story.

Originally Posted by Munted

Originally Posted by ACT

Is that the common feeling? I really don't know. Teachers here just do what is needed for them to get by, not what the students actually need? Bit sad if that is the case

If you are teaching in a Thai school you might be lucky to have Thai English Language teachers tell you what students need. I was. Students don't need grammar, they do need conversational practice. End of story.

Spot on. Exactly why the OP can be a big help.

Originally Posted by baldrick

after years of working with an international workforce most people usually cannot pick my origin from my accent

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

^ No he doesn't, he is spot on - as ya knows garvn'r, me spee-in sands fekin saweeeet as!

Originally Posted by JBaker

My favorite waitress at a local family restaurant is British. Not only is she very pretty, but her London accent is very pretty and feminine. I love it. But I promise you if she has kids in the US they will not keep her British sound. They will want to fit in with playmates at home and in school and by the time they graduate they will sound like any other American. I've seen it too many times.

True, but that's a FL cultural environment...

99% of NNS of English: 1) do not live in America; 2) mostly communicate with other NNS of English.

If they are in an even partly developed country such as Thailand, they use American English every time they pick up a smartphone or a computer or read a manual or....

Originally Posted by JBaker

Yes, but everyone is exposed to Microsoft, linux, Unix, Apple, linux/android, Google, etc. etc. but no one I know of in the US reads the BBC or the English version of CNN.

I am not talking about being in the US, I am talking about being on the world; India, China, Thailand, etc. In the world, the cultural mix is huge and multifaceted. AE has never and will never dominate anything...

See above. They don't have to be in the US. The US comes to them in the form of the internet, smartphones, operating systems, manuals, YouTube etc. etc.

You will be pleased to know that all research points to the fact that AE is changing away from its standard cultural norms more than other form of NS English (the influence of the Spanish, African-Americans, etc), so you are being less American day by day - your first language will be Spanish in 30 years...

555. (See, it will be Thai, LOL.) America is changing faster than any other country due to technology. No, the language won't change to Spanish because it is illegal to teach school in Spanish. Schools now have a certified teacher who teaches English to Mexican kids in school one period per day. For the kids, it's sink or swim.

We don't have signs in both English and Spanish either as even Thailand does. Mexicans in the US go full immersion and can't drive or do a lot of other things without reading and writing English.

Unfortunately, teaching English in Thailand without a degree isn't really possible. Great tips!

Originally Posted by JBaker

If they are in an even partly developed country such as Thailand, they use American English every time they pick up a smartphone or a computer or read a manual or....

... everyone is exposed to Microsoft, linux, Unix, Apple, linux/android, Google, etc. etc.

They don't have to be in the US. The US comes to them in the form of the internet, smartphones, operating systems, manuals, YouTube etc. etc.

You are forgetting that you can change the language in Android and Microsoft (I don't know about Apple or Linux; I never use them) so I expect most Thais set their smartphones and MS Windows to use the Thai language rather than English. Manuals are usually multi-lingual so I also expect Thais read their car or phone manuals in Thai rather than English.

^ JRBaker seems to have forgotten that written English and spoken English are not the same. Almost everybody uses 'standard English' in written form, but we all sound different when we speak.

A couple of spelling differences here and there from Microsoft is utterly meaningless in the greater scale of things. Dialects through films and TV shows is far more influential, but even then it's a small % of their daily life and daily usage...

Originally Posted by marybelleaustins

Unfortunately, teaching English in Thailand without a degree isn't really possible.

You're wrong. I know that language centers and several well known "chain" schools employ teachers without a degree.