Language

Along with the English camps for students, we will be asked to put on training camps for teachers.  This past Saturday we hosted a teacher training camp here.  About 150 Thai teachers came.  We had 4 different stations that the teachers rotated through.  They included phonics, “small talk”, classroom language and creating materials.  

The Thai teachers were so much fun.  Their English ability ranged from beginner to fluent with everything in between.  

I was in the group teaching phonics.  There are sounds for Thais that are as difficult as the ‘ng’ ‘bp’, and ‘dt’ beginning Thai sounds are for us.  They all worked so hard and we had fun demonstrating tongue position and putting together nonsense words to practice phonics. It is interesting that this is a new concept to some of the teachers.  Apparently, a lot of language development is done with whole word learning, repeating, and, memorizing.  

Our Thai language training includes vocabulary and practice putting the new words into sentences and using them over and over.  This whole venue for language is so interesting.  I am thinking it is all important.  If we were learning Thai phonetically, we would have very little conversational language right now.  I have appreciated the teaching techniques used by Peace Corp.  However, I think the phonetics of a language is what allows for continued development and the ability to decode.  I got a beginner Thai letter book to practice making the letters, but also to start learning the sound each letter makes.  Hopefully, I will be able to read Thai at some point and increase my ability through written and oral exposure. 

The “job” of English teacher here will be interesting.  I hope I get to work with teachers in addition to children, that will be the sustainable aspect of being here.