Roger Posted November 24, 2001 Report Share Posted November 24, 2001 I recently checked a Thai student friends English homework for her. It was pretty good, a few spelling mistakes etc.I am not an English teacher by the way. Three things that I didn't correct were the sentences " I am always up for seeing a movie" and " Last weekend I relaxed big time" and " I am so stressed with studying hard". I explained that "up for" and "big time" could be considered slang and were mostly spoken by young people. I did not think these were incorrect though. The teacher gave a bad mark today and said she should have said " I like going to see movies" ( which to me has a different meaning to what the student was saying), "last weekend I relaxed for a big time" ( relaxed for a big time???!!!!) and " I am very stressed with study"!!!! I think this shows how poor Thai teachers can be. This is at university level too!!! Any suggestions on getting this teacher the sack or transferred to an inactive post? [ November 23, 2001: Message edited by: Roger ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haltest Posted November 24, 2001 Report Share Posted November 24, 2001 I think on the whole the standard of their written english is very bad. Where I live in london I know quite a few thai students because I study thai here, and my girlfriend is thai. My girl is studying her MBA here and I quite often check her work before she hands it in. In all the essay I don't think there is one perfect sentence, I am no denigrating her efforts because she does try hard but after I have checked her assignment I might as well re write the whole thing for her. Another friend i know here who is also at the same level and studied english here for 4 years, studied english in Thailand since she was 8 or 9, and her written english is also very bad as well, very crude and with basic errors all over the place. I am not sure what the answer is, and yes learning another language is hard, my thai teacher corrects ny written thai a lot as well, I am just surprised that the written english is not better considering the amount of time and effort that has been spent studying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2001 Report Share Posted November 24, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Roger: I recently checked a Thai student friends English homework for her. It was pretty good, a few spelling mistakes etc.I am not an English teacher by the way. Three things that I didn't correct were the sentences " I am always up for seeing a movie" and " Last weekend I relaxed big time" and " I am so stressed with studying hard". I explained that "up for" and "big time" could be considered slang and were mostly spoken by young people. I did not think these were incorrect though. The teacher gave a bad mark today and said she should have said " I like going to see movies" ( which to me has a different meaning to what the student was saying), "last weekend I relaxed for a big time" ( relaxed for a big time???!!!!) and " I am very stressed with study"!!!! I think this shows how poor Thai teachers can be. This is at university level too!!! Any suggestions on getting this teacher the sack or transferred to an inactive post? [ November 23, 2001: Message edited by: Roger ] Just give up, when delivered by Thai people the state of English learning in Thailand is utterly pathetic. My TW has done various types of English studying, and I have NEVER seen a Thaifolk-originated exercise, textbook, test, etc connected with her studying that was not riddled with errors. Not one. Checking her homework was often an exercise in frustration because, for example, none of the response choices in a multiple choice question was correct, or the obviously correct answer had mistakes/typos in it, etc. This includes (actually, this was especially true in the case of) university coursework. English is FAR more complex than Thai in structure and nuance, and sadly the whole mai pen rai attitude on life is not conducive to activities where actual effort must be expended to push one's envelope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2001 Report Share Posted November 24, 2001 Good post Roger. Your Thai friend's knowledge of English slang was obviously a source of some embarrassment to her Thai teacher. However, there's little doubt that your friend has not grasped the idea of 'what audience am I writing for?'and the use of 'up for it' and 'big time' were not appropriate in an academic pc of writing. Tone is one of the hardest writing concepts for Thais to learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 26, 2001 Report Share Posted November 26, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Bangkok Phil: 'up for it' and 'big time' were not appropriate in an academic pc of writing. Academic? Since when is writing about your weekend an academic subject. Also by the sounds of it, the Thai teacher was not embarrassed by the use of slang but more or less oblivious to the fact that it was slang. Sounds like student could be teaching teacher a thing or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickman Posted November 27, 2001 Report Share Posted November 27, 2001 I asked one of the Thai English teachers at school today what time she arrived at work and she said "six and a half".... Hmmm, she can't even tell the damned time! Stick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2001 Report Share Posted November 27, 2001 quote: Posted by Dan Academic? Since when is writing about your weekend an academic subject. To a Thai student learning how to write a multi-paragraph composition with paragraphs dividing morning, afternoon and evening activities with time signals in chronological order instead of one jumbled up inappropriate mess, then yes, it becomes an academic essay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Posted November 27, 2001 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Bangkok Phil: To a Thai student learning how to write a multi-paragraph composition with paragraphs dividing morning, afternoon and evening activities with time signals in chronological order instead of one jumbled up inappropriate mess, then yes, it becomes an academic essay. I have to stick up for my friend here, she was asked to write two paragraphs describing her weekend, which is exactly what she did. She wasn't told to write in formal English. And it wasn't a jumbled up inappropriate mess, believe me. At the end of the day it comes down to the Thai English teachers very poor grasp of the English language.The sentence "last weekend I relaxed for a big time" goes to prove that. Cheers Roger [ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: Roger ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 27, 2001 Report Share Posted November 27, 2001 Hi Roger, I was really just pointing out to Dan that the simple subject of 'my weekend' in itself is a very serious topic when you are trying to teach students organisation of a basic composition. It's a subject I've used a lot in the past and you wouldn't believe the number of intermediate level speakers that can make a complete pig's ear of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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