Improving English skills is vital: Surin

BANGKOK: -- English could be the key to help improve Thailand's serious educational problems, Surin Pitsuwan, a former secretary-general of Asean, said last week.

The latest World Economic Forum's report on global competitiveness described Thailand's quality of higher education as "abnormally low" in comparison with other ASEAN countries.

"We must pay attention to the content of the WEF's findings. Our standing is getting worse. We have seen Thailand's scores sliding down the scale in all categories survey after survey, year after year. This is a serious matter that calls for a national strategy to reverse the trend," he said.

Thai education has been in a crisis state for a while now and efforts to bring about reform have not borne fruit due to political interference and bureaucratic resistance, he said.

"We talk a lot about teaching our students to be critical, to think independently and to solve problems, not use rote learning and memorisation. But we are getting nowhere.

"English could be an answer to our educational malaise. With a higher proficiency in English, Thai students can change the dynamics of the classroom. They will have access to more information before going to class, forcing teachers to be better prepared and turning traditional lecture rooms into seminars where active exchanges can take place," he said.

In the current sad state of Thai education, teachers have little motivation to prepare their lessons and students have no tools to access information relevant to their courses due to their universally low fluency in English.

English must be an urgent national agenda item. A high percentage of Thai students, even at secondary school level, already carry smartphones.  "But they are IT-savvy only for digital games. And not to access useful information for learning and intellectual growth."

According to the ASEAN Charter, English is "the working language of Asean". All ASEAN business is conducted in English. But Thai youths are lagging behind in this increasingly important communication tool.

Last year, among 54 countries surveyed for English proficiency, Thailand ranked 53, only ahead of Libya.  "That is a dismal state of affairs to be in, when we know well that export growth, GDP expansion and even per capita income increases have direct correlation with English proficiency. I insist, that with a higher proficiency in English today, Thailand's competitiveness will increase many times over tomorrow."

The Nation 2013-09-16

LIFE's New Office and Training Center

Welcome to LIFE's new office:  ASEAN Language & Career Training Center @ Khansuwan Tiger School near the Holiday Inn.  LIFE is so excited to offer our new space, new creative programs and new community outreach training in cooperation with Khansuwan and to invite our old and new friends alike to join us in celebration at our Grand Opening on the 19th of September @ 9 am.  We hope this will be a great new beginning for all involved and would love to have you with us to get things started properly.  Hope to see you there!

Chiang Mai Vocational College English Camp

So, is it possible to take 120 Thai students studying food and nutrition from different schools in many Northern Districts and bring them all together to learn English in one week's time?  Not only is it possible, but we did it; and congratulations to all the hard working students and teachers who gave of their time and efforts to make this happen.  We started on Monday at Chiangmai Phucome Hotel as strangers, most of whom had never been to an English Camp before, and by Friday, they not only had learned a good deal of English regarding their career path, but they had fun doing it and made many new friends.  By the time Friday came, working together as teams, students created their dream restaurants, planned fabulous menus and presented their work to the whole group.  What great ideas and what creativity; we are so proud of you!  And thank you so much for the beautiful heartfelt salute at the end to say goodby; it brought tears to the eyes of many of us, while showcasing the wonderful possibilities for your future with even more of your special talents.  We will never forget all that you gave to us and hope that you will take your new English skills and use them to build fabulous careers in the years to come.  Just remember to keep practicing!