I've been teaching in Thailand for quite awhile now and was surprised by a new teacher the other day. He uses Thai characters (alphabet) to write out the new vocabulary. So the word "doctor" would be written in Thai but the students are saying an English word. As I have never seen this done before I was curious and asked about it. He said it worked well for him and at his last school he translated a long English Christmas poem into Thai characters and the students successfully read it in front of a school assembly.

I have mixed feelings about this, not sure if its good or bad or whatever. What do some of the teachers here think about this method?

Secondly whenever he teaches he brings a big bag of candy and "prizes" to every class. When an answer is correct the students get a candy. Every class. I understand why he does it, I also give prizes (pencils) once per term when we play Bingo, the prizes do make the students attentive and competitive. I think doing this every class is overboard.

The students are first and second year female university students, but basic English skills.

(not looking for fuel to get him fired, nice guy and a good co-worker, just curious about the methods)

Thanks.