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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    English teacher with poor pronunciation sparks online storm

    An English teacher whose faulty pronunciation confused students nationwide during an online class has become the focus of social media criticism.


    The debut of online learning yesterday (May 18) revealed a number of problems, including an English teacher who delivered incorrect pronunciation during a Pathom 6 class via Distance Learning TV (DLTV). The footage was shared thousands of times via social media, drawing an outpouring of criticism.


    Netizens judged that her articulation, pronunciation and wording were incorrect. Many of them complained that she was misleading students by teaching bad English.

    However, others came out in support of the teacher, creating the hashtag #saveครูวัง and claiming that she was being bullied.

    English teacher with poor pronunciation sparks online storm

  2. #2
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    I'm sure there will be much worse than poor pronunciation. Give it time.

  3. #3
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    Skip to 1 minute 52s into the video.

    Last edited by Neverna; 19-05-2020 at 06:41 PM.

  4. #4
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Poor lass.

  5. #5
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    I wonder how many of the people mocking her are able to teach another language ?

  6. #6
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    This was on par with Armstrong's short stories.

    Fair play for having a stab, but should not be allowed to see the light of day.

  7. #7
    I am not a cat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mandaloopy View Post
    I wonder how many of the people mocking her are able to teach another language ?
    That is not really the point. Most Thais are shit at English. Mostly because the education system fucks them over. Thailand needs to stop thinking they can throw peanuts at the problem and still get results.

    A year or so ago my work interviewed candidates for "foreign relations officer". One candidate had high gpa in an english degree from a reasonable uni. I asked him, in English to tell us about himself, he looked blank, asked the other (thai) committee members (in thai) as to whether the interview was going to be in English, and when told "duh" he walked out.

    There was a survey a whille ago that showed that (roughly) less than 1% of thai teachers of english could pass a basic english exam. While i sympathize with this teacher, she is part of the problem. And before you ask, truck drivers from Essex "teaching" English are not part of the solution either.

  8. #8
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    poor ingrit is better than no ingrit, but that was ridiculous, and she really has no business to be teaching english.

  9. #9
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nidhogg View Post
    less than 1% of thai teachers of english could pass a basic english exam.
    Thailand had 7 english teachers fluent in english.

    Same survey ..I think

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    Thailand had 7 english teachers fluent in english.

    Same survey ..I think
    Yup. Think that is the one. It was a national disgrace. That was quickly forgotten.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat Pragmatic's Avatar
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    Having watched these programs with my kids I think this broad ain't the only one who should be taken to task.

  12. #12
    I am not a cat
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    And just to be clear. My son sailed into uni based on his, i think, IELTS score ( is that right), with i think scores of 6.5 or 7 in each section (which i think is ok?). But that was not down to me, as i know full well i cannot teach English. But we have souced and paid for a sucession of outstanding Thai teachers of English. So long as Thailand "settles" they will not improve.

    I have said before, they need to improve the thai teachers, and PAY for real native language teachers. Teachers, not people with minimum certs who speak english.

  13. #13
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nidhogg View Post
    I have said before, they need to improve the thai teachers, and PAY for real native language teachers. Teachers, not people with minimum certs who speak english
    The latter would take 100,000 baht a month per teacher minimum.

    It's not going to happen.

    The former needs a complete reset.

    The BC has been doing training for decades, but teachers just think of it as a beano, and only perk up when MBK and lunch are mentioned.

    I think I read somewhere a few years ago that in Thailand the budget for education as a % of GDP is the highest in the world. Clearly only a tiny amount of that money goes on training and remuneration for teachers. The rest just disappears.

    But the list of what needs to be addressed is so long. People talk quite rightly about improving the teaching, but the students attitude is also all wrong in so many ways. I've seen the teachers when they are students and they have all the worst traits students could have.

    They might as well be studying Klingon.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat Pragmatic's Avatar
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    When my kids school (private) has an open day of sorts etc where English needs to be spoken, my kids are asked/picked to orate. Unfortunately the script they get to speak from is so bad that I have to put it into a better form of English. And I'm not the best person to do that but it's better than the shit they're trying to get my kids to say. But being as the parents wouldn't know the difference I wouldn't bother but I do because of my kids.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    The latter would take 100,000 baht a month per teacher minimum.

    It's not going to happen.

    The former needs a complete reset.

    The BC has been doing training for decades, but teachers just think of it as a beano, and only perk up when MBK and lunch are mentioned.
    There are plenty of committed teachers on these courses who put the effort in, but one of the major problems is that once the trainers have left and the eyes of the Ministry Of Education aren't on them anymore, most of them go back to their old ways; to quote one, "when you're not here, this will all be put in the cupboard and never seen again."

    Sustainability is a huge challenge. For me, it has to start from the bottom up with new teachers who are trained in CLT from the very first day and are at CEFR B2 in terms of the language. A reset, as you rightly say.

    Of course, this would also mean paying them a lot more than 15/20k baht a month.

  16. #16
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    The problem as I see it is not just that this young teacher is not good at English - there are plenty of others like her in Thailand - it is that she was asked or selected to be recorded for the Distance Learning TV (DLTV) programme and her lesson was not checked, so not only the students in front of her got an earful of her poor pronunciation but thousands of students across the country watching the same lesson got the same. Why on earth did they choose her? Who chose her? Why not choose a top teacher instead of a young inexperienced one?

    And it's not only her and English. The video I posted earlier also showed a maths lesson for M2. There were glaring mistakes in that too. This is not new. Years ago I used to watch DLTV (they have/had lessons from P1 to M6 for each subject) and it was just as bad then. There seems to be zero quality control. If the Thai authorities want to use DLTV, they should carefully choose which lessons are broadcast and those lessons should be checked for accuracy before being broadcast to the country.
    Last edited by Neverna; 19-05-2020 at 08:50 PM. Reason: typo

  17. #17
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    Quality Control though...step one of that is...giving a shit.

  18. #18
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    More quality teaching for Thai students this week ...

    2m38s to 3m30s.


  19. #19
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ...to improve education in Thailand generally and in English language specifically, blow up the Min of Ed and plow the ground with salt...call UNESCO (or some other organization that is totally free of Thainess) for help in setting practical educational goals, new goal-oriented curricula, teacher and admin training and recruitment programs, building and grounds layouts and salaries...close all private and government demo schools and force Thai-Chinese spawn into the public school system with the kids of rice farmers, Muslims and 15th generation non-citizen hill tribers...and, finally, protect students from predatory faculty...when that is accomplished, give me a call if you need a teacher...
    Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat armstrong's Avatar
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    I don't want to prove anyone's point on the quality of DLTV but many years ago I did a 3 hour lesson for them. Thankfully, I've never seen it back.

  21. #21
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    Thai students are handicapped by their Thai language. Where in the world the words are not separated? What's the reason that - now in the modern time - the words cannot be made separated? It does not change anything on that language they are so proud on, just makes it more easy to learn, to read.

    Then, as a result, the kids read the words by spelling, not by seeing the word as one entity. And so the same style they follow with English.
    And the English is so "unfortunate" that the vowels are not pronounced always identically...

  22. #22
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Thai students are handicapped by their Thai language.
    Your opinion, or is there evidence that points to this?

  23. #23
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    The dissimilarities between Thai and English must be a factor, don't you think?

    But the failure of education in Thailand to mitigate this handicap has been dismal.

  24. #24
    . Neverna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Klondyke View Post
    Thai students are handicapped by their Thai language. Where in the world the words are not separated? What's the reason that - now in the modern time - the words cannot be made separated?
    Thai students learn each word seperately - and if a word has more than one syllable, Thai teachers break down the words into single syllables.

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neverna View Post
    Thai students learn each word seperately - and if a word has more than one syllable, Thai teachers break down the words into single syllables.
    It's not about teaching, it's how they read after the teaching during their life. That's why they learn the Thai language sooo many years, not much time left over for learning something else (beside learning the "ceremonies")...

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