I had it easy when I was learning English. It was easy because I was surrounded by native speakers no matter where I went. Such is the story of the native speaker/TEFL teacher. Learning English was simply TOO easy for us. It was so easy many native speakers can use the language to express themselves clearly, even beautifully, yet not know a shred of grammar. Our learning curve was simply a gentle slope.

One thing anyone 'green' in the field of TEFL must understand is that learning English as a second language (L2) is like climbing straight-up a sheer cliff. 'Green' teachers are not the only ones who need to understand this. My Thai students need to understand it as well. During my stay here trying to motivate my students to practice English LSRW (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) outside of class, I've come to realize Thai students overall don't yet understand this fact. Indeed, I'd say they have nary a clue of its potential.

The main reason for this is the Thai education 'system' itself, which turns my Thai students into sheep when it comes to initiative and motivation. In other words, my students let school get in the way of their educations. I say this because my students (and their tuition-paying parents) blindly obide by old rules and methods and never accept new ways of learning things. My students never practice English outside of class. They believe, because 'higher-ups' have instilled it in their minds, that they don't have to do homework in English. If my kids KNEW they were scaling that sheer cliff that is Mt. English, they'd get their acts together and practice outside of class. They would practice at home, at the market, on the bus......ANYWHERE. But sadly, they don't know they are climing that wall. The classroom is the only place for learning and practice according to them.

Practicing English LSRW outside the classroom, no matter how boring, is the key to learning in TEFL. TEFL Students MUST let go of the notion that learning should take place only in the classroom or that learning takes place only at school.

You can play 'Bozo the Clown' in class all you want to motivate your students to learn. Until they start actually practicing English daily outside of class, they'll learn only enough to land jobs at places like Koh Sarn Road selling trinkets in that great 'trinket trench'. I want my kids to have a fighting chance for the finance jobs on Wall Street or those engineering jobs advertised in the want-ads of the Bangkok Post--the jobs that require 'Outstanding Fluency in English'.

RhenoThai