Speech Contests and My Thai Niece. Thailand.
I haven’t written for a while, I have been busy every afternoon with my lovely little niece Nong Ja. I have had the privilege of looking after her each afternoon.
When I arrive home Nong Ja has been sitting in the house with her mum waiting for me to get home. Tomorrow being Friday Ja is off to Bangkok for 3 or 4 months to live with her dad’s parents.
I was not happy with this arrangement but she isn’t my daughter but I hope the time goes very quickly. So every afternoon has been filled with being stupid, going for small walks and even sleeping which I have really enjoyed.
One thing she likes to do is change the TV channels with the remote control. She giggles away when I pretend to be angry and make funny faces at her for doing so. It is a classic watching her push the buttons and when she sees the channel change the cheeky grin she gives you, just waiting for you to go crazy.
The other night Joom and Ben were singing and dancing, this happens a lot and Nong Ja wanted in. It was hilarious watching her shake, clap her hands and scream as the girls did their thing. I have video footage of this and just need to edit it and then upload it to the blog. It is cute and also funny.
Each night Jack and Joom pick her up around 9.30pm after they close their shop. I am going to miss not seeing her. I am hoping to go to the airport in the morning at 6.30am to see her and Joom off.
Apart from that all is well, work is going well. My classes have all settled down as we have all the ground rules firmly in place. Some other teachers haven’t been as lucky, this could be for a number of reasons.
I and a few other teachers have now taken the responsibility of working on a discipline system or Behaviour Management. We are hoping that the system will make it easier for these teachers and also set concrete rules for what is considered acceptable behaviour and work ethic.
We have had one of the newest teachers resign; this is because of a number of issues. We are now looking for a math teacher who is very flexible, relaxed and can mould to the Thai education system which can be very testing if you let it.
I have a very busy weekend ahead, there is Book fair of sorts taking place at Sunee Grand Hotel and I will be attending as we have students from our school in what is called a “speech contest” but is no such thing.
I really hate these so called speech contests. Students are given the topics well ahead of the contest, sometimes there could be as many as ten topics. What happens next is bordering on ludicrous.
Thai teachers then write speeches for all the topics and the students partaking in the contest then needs to memorise all of them. Yes, all ten speeches.
I hate this as it is what the Thai school system is full of, rote learning. The children don’t actually get to input their own ideas even. Some of the words that are used in speeches by tiny little kids I have no idea what the meanings of them are.
I was stupidly asked once to judge one of these competitions and I don’t think they were expecting me to do anything but smile and nod.
When a student finished a speech I asked questions, one small student spoke about sustainable farming and the speech was very good and well memorised but she had no idea what the content meant. I asked some simple questions about the speech that she couldn’t answer.
In her speech she said, “Villagers grow many things so they don’t have to buy them at markets.” I asked her and it was even translated into Thai, ‘what were some of the crops or products that villagers used for self sustainability?’
She started to answer in Thai and I asked for her to do so in English as it was an English speech contest. After a few students’ speeches I was informed that I didn’t need to ask questions, I then informed them that I did need to ask them questions.
For some reason I have never been asked to judge a contest again. These speech contests should simply be the students turn up and the topics are revealed just before the competition, having Thai students think on their feet is not something done.
Nearly everything that is done in Thailand has to be rehearsed to death; it can be so frustrating for foreigners. If we could get schools to implement half the effort that goes into rehearsals for ceremonies and other such things into the work ethic of the students, the Thai education system would not be joked about as it is now in forums across Thailand.
I will go to the speech competition but am keen to see the English reading marathon and also the English books that will be available as here in Ubon Rathcthani we are not blessed with such an amazing range.
So that is a little of what has been happening the last few days, also I have spent many hours studying Thai each day. I have already done 2 hours today but still have maybe another hour or more to go and must get back to this now.
Brunty
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4 comments:
I appreciate your concern about the Thai education system. But, the education problem is one of the burgeoning public policy problems everywhere. Of course, the nature of the problem varies from place to place. But, the magnitude of this problem in Thailand is horrendous.
Surely, everybody has the right to complain about it. But, what's the next step? Changing the behavioral pattern that the Thais are used to is a challenge and difficult, especially when such pattern has become institutionalized and embedded so deeply in the social structure that the Thais, though fed up with the system, defend it, arguing it's their way of life, it's their culture, and it's the Thai way to manage their society.
I'm sure you have heard that kind of arguments countless times in Ubon. I used to teach there in a phony English-language-based program. Was it fun? No. Is the experience valuable? Yes. It has encouraged me to pursue a PhD in public administration and poli sci, so that I will find some ways to respond to the Thai elites' bullshits and at least make the system better for the sake of my children.
What a cute girl your niece is! Hopefully you'll be busy enough at school and the 3-4 months will just rush by indeed. :o)
And I can relate with the frustration over the rote learning method there, too. I went to school in Thailand for 5 yrs in the late 80's and it was boring as heck. The teachers would come in, start copying their text book onto the blackboard while the kids copy it to their notebook. Then we just had to memorize it for the test.
I could somehow justify it with history class, but when it came to math... ughhh.. :oP Math became so much more fun when I came back here for college and actually got to learn how the equations are derived and what they describe instead of just memorizing the formulars and how to manipulate them.
I bet the students in your class will grow up to be very grateful that you are harder on them and wanted them to think rather than just memorize. Keep up the good work! :o)
Hi Brunty,
For competitions the students do indeed practice and practice.
But for more important things, like teaching or presenting a paper at a conference the lecturers at universities don't prepare at all. Just walk right on in. They then talk off the top of their heads or talk and keep looking around at the board to see what slide is coming up next.
I have given countless papers at conferences and it is a lot of work getting it to run smoothly for the 15 - 20 minutes you have got. But the Thais, especially the big shots, they don't prepare at all. And it shows.
When they tell a guest lecturer is coming from some university for a special lecture I usually don't go. Often the lecturer doesn't stand up but sits down in the front with the microphone and rabbles on and on about anything the pops into their head.
If the demand that the sdtudents practice they should also practice their teaching/lecturing/presentations.
Have a good weekend.
Michael
Thailand, I agree there are many factors that make the Thai education system what it is.
Changing the current Thai ways is something that would take many years, more years than I will be here for.
Thais do always say "It is their way, not western society" I agree that many things from our society aren't great but somethings need to be changed here in Thailand.
Smorg, rote learning has it place in some cases, but not all thw time. So many Thai students cannot do critical thinking, if everything isn't before their eyes they go to water and are lucky to speak.
I get furious when I see again and again a white board full of text and kids sitting quietly copying and if they make any noise are given a huge dressing down.
I want my kids to shape the lessons, I offer the core and then we branch off from there.
Michael I thankfully haven't seen a Thai lecturer at work, and now do not want to!
Being prepared for presenting a paper is very important but I could imagine what you have described.
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