Eng learning program,Very impressive

I posted this on ThaiVisa earlier as I am having some conversations there related to my daughter future University concerns,But I thought it might be of interest to others,so I am sharing it here!

I have recently purchased an english learning program to enhance my daughters English skills!My first impressions are very favorable!It is not about memorizing words,rules of grammar or critical examination.It is a repetitive listeningwith a focus on answering well presented reinforcing questions as quick as possible from enjoyable short mini-stories.Recommended listening and answering 4x a day for 30 minutes each time for a week on each individual mini-story or more if needed.No pressure to be perfect or learn at the same pace as someone else,no concern about mistakes etc.

I am absolutely no expert in the English language or its teaching.But I have noticed that most Thai students do not retain much English from the multitude of classes that they have throughout their elementary and secondary schooling!My first thought about this is that those that have an interest in learning English, are not provided enough practice time to ''live in the language''!Second thought is that the study of grammar presented mostly by Thai Teachers is to difficult,boring and possibly presented poorly.but even those that might grasp some of it,speak in a non-natural conversational way as they learn mainly through reading!

It is interesting to note that very young children that are unable to read English or understand instructions relating to grammar are the quickest learners!Obviously they learn from listening and practicing conversations,not reading and writing and studying instructions.So litening to fun conversations,answering simple questions seems to me a very good way to learn!

I was wondering if some of you teachers have any thoughts,experience or comments about this type of teaching?

interested indeed:
what is the name of this english learning program?
Where did you buy it?
for what price?

are there members that have positive experiences with other english learning programs?

parrot wrote:I'd offer the suggestion that you have your daughter write a paragraph or two describing the story....maybe after she's all done with the normal part of the lesson. My experience with a variety of Thais who have gone on to the UK, US, and Germany to continue their studies or have gone on to work for the US government is that writing is their biggest challenge. It's extra work, but in the long run, I'd bet it'd pay off.

I appreciate your suggestion about the writing of the paragraphs,but this particular program reommends against form of studying or extra instruction.Even though many contractions,idioms,verbal phrases and various vocabulary is taught through the reinforcing simple questions that are to be answered,by the student,the entire focus is a no pressure repetitive listening and answering process that supposedly is ''deep learning''.The idea is to listen to conversational most popular 3,000 words used,not learning more formal written English.

The premise of ''natural learning'' as experienced by very young children is the method!''Unnatural learning''of reading,writing and studying rules of grammar is the process to be avoided at this point!I am assuming that is the refinement of English communication that the student would do upon becoming comfortable with the language as spoken informally.
I have spent alot of time with my daughter on her English studies and homework.I feel that although she would like to learn,it is difficult to spend much time on formal studies without getting tired and bored.As an adult I have the ability to motivate myself in my endeavors and would love to see her do the same thing,but teenagers have a difficult time staying motivated doing things that are work,get burned out and bored easily with these tasks with the risk of getting completely ''turned off'' and ''tuned out'' when continiously pushed and pressured,especially when none of their peers are doing it.We adults have experience to guide us,they don't as everything is new!

As I see it,there is only one mandatory rule and that is to do the repetitions of listening and answering for ''30'' minutes 4x a day everyday until fully comfortable with their understanding of the questions asked,There is no pressure about mistakes and length of time until comfortable and the stories and questions are presented in a ''fun manner''!The story is not the focus,learning and understanding the words of it through the easy fun reinforcing way the questions are asked is the focus,comprehension comes naturally!

My personal goal is not to tamper with the process!I do participate by putting the lesson on a speaker once in awhile and ''competing'' with her on who can answer the question the fastest,keeping it as a fun situation.

And occassionally she will read some story books to me and I will correct her pronunciations or improper syllable emphasis and not finishing the complete word,trying to eliminate some of the accent!But not to much and at a time that seems to fit the flow of the moment,so not to be a chore!

My daughter major if she gets into an International University program that teaches in English,will be English communication.This would be her reading ,writing and speaking refinement period IMO!

Just curious - What is she planning to do with an English Language degree? Seems demand will decrease considerably over the next decade as our kids numbering in the thousands now grow and join the workforce; and as Chinese becomes ever more important over English. I could be wrong about that, but I also hear St. Mary's is going with Chinese as a second language over English these days.

KHONDAHM wrote:Just curious - What is she planning to do with an English Language degree? Seems demand will decrease considerably over the next decade as our kids numbering in the thousands now grow and join the workforce; and as Chinese becomes ever more important over English. I could be wrong about that, but I also hear St. Mary's is going with Chinese as a second language over English these days.

As many teenagers ,her answer is''I'm not sure''.I think her goal is to leave Thailand.She is aware of the social class based caste system of Thailand wihich doesn't afford her much opportunity.She has no paricular interest in teaching ,for the moment,as her limited experience involving students,turns her off to ''dealing with kids'' my thoughts to her have been along the lines of''if you go to a Thai university,majoring in English,it would probably serve as a good base to get the degree in English ed.,allowing you to get a position as an English teacher and promote your own private business,if you remained in Thailand for any reason''.

I also prescribe the attitude of not worrying to much at this time,as she get more experience at the University and with some time,she may find a field that she really likes and that is viable economicly!

At the moment,I think alot of her reasoning involving choosing English as a major,has to do with it being her best subject at school as she ''rides the wave'' of being the best in her school at speaking and understanding,even compared to her Thai English teachers and there is nothing taught at the school that motivates her to choose a particular field of study..

I hear ya. The "wave" has crashed for my daughter at her school. She seems more and more reserved at home this term and keeps telling me she wants to go back to America for school. Something has changed her opinion about schooling here, but I can only (perhaps wrongly) guess what it might be.

Although she is full Thai (and about the same tone as your girl, if not more so), I think she is becoming increasingly aware of the "caste system". I have personally overheard certain ignorant comments made by her classmates about her skin tone while walking her to class in the morning and school events which I think might be troubling her. Can't really get upset about the students if the parents suck, though. In America, although we did not have her in school there (home schooled), she remembers clearly how everyone just loved her to pieces - literally cheering and screaming her name when she arrived - at the day care we put her in 3 days per week for social interaction.

Faced with the same reality for prospects as you foresee if we remain in Thailand (which we probably won't long-term), I have been encouraging her to aspire to "be a Boss, not an employee". I agree that they'll figure it out as they go along. It's good to have A goal even if it may not be THE goal. Good on you for encouraging her to have one. It seems to be the exception with kids and parents I see here.

Just a little something to think about. My Daughter used to Watch a Program called "The Saddle Club" here in Oz about these Kids in a Horse Riding Academy with all the Trials and Tribulations that go with it. She took some DVD's back to the Village when we went on Holiday and left them when we came Home. About Nine Months later we went back and the Older Girls were speaking English sentences which amazed me at the time. It turned out they liked the Show that much they played the DVD's over and over and picked up a lot of the Jargon, simple as that

Aardvark wrote:Just a little something to think about. My Daughter used to Watch a Program called "The Saddle Club" here in Oz about these Kids in a Horse Riding Academy with all the Trials and Tribulations that go with it. She took some DVD's back to the Village when we went on Holiday and left them when we came Home. About Nine Months later we went back and the Older Girls were speaking English sentences which amazed me at the time. It turned out they liked the Show that much they played the DVD's over and over and picked up a lot of the Jargon, simple as that

Only listening,not studying,no pressure or feeling like it is a chore.This program recommends listening to English ''conversation'' in any form,but only small segments,over and over and over by recording the segments onto an MP3 format or only watching small segments of movies over and over!It makes it alot easier for them if the are unreal funny stories/segments also,animal characters speaking english are especially effective,holding their attention!

"The premise of ''natural learning'' as experienced by very young children is the method!'"

There is a problem here. Adult learners do not acquire language the same way as children do. If you don't believe me, ask yourselves why none of you speak fluent Thai. It is a lot harder once you are an adult. I am not saying this course is not effective, however if it is based on this premise then I would be very wary. For what its worth, Noam Chomsky has done a lot of work on language acquisition and his research is worth reading.

Khondahm, "I think she is becoming increasingly aware of the "caste system". This is sad. It is interesting that it is not really an issue over the other side of the river. Not saying it is better here, just making an observation.

By the way, Stan, is that your daughter with the dog on your avatar? If so, she is lovely!