In an ironic turn of events, I now find myself standing in front of a large classroom of Thai students hoping to convince them that learning english is interesting and worth their while. I have to compete against fun diversions like Pangya and Ragnarok for their attention. Much more interesting than anything I have to say.
I'm doing the best role-play of a teacher/entertainer that I can. I am trying to find out what young people are interested in. Well, they like american music...
(To your left is my co-teacher Supaporn, Friday is "Thai clothing" day and she always looks quite beautiful in her Thai dresses)
Many of my students are interested in learning other languages. They study Japanese, Chinese, English and anything they can get their hands on. They are interested in studying abroad and learning about other places. Up above, JJ is a level 6 (senior year) student and studied abroad for a year in the UK. Sis a great example of an "international" Thai student.
My friend Si, up above with the elephant building in Bangkok (isn't that a neat building) , was an AFS student in the US. She too is a great example of the new generation of Thai youth who are very international. We have been friends for many years, since working together during a military exercise in Thailand.
Back to my Thai students. One of the projects I hope to do with them is epals, where we connect with other classes via email. We have found some new partners and I watched my students use the internet and I was really impressed. My grade 9 students are very proficient. A lot of my students use the internet to chat - here in Thailand they use MSN chat. I chat with some of my students online and I get to learn about the music they like and it think it forces them to use their english.
more on the next page.....
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