Thai term for "school".
There are obvious differences between Lertlah School and the previous schools I have taught at back in Winnipeg, and some of these are factors that affect the way I teach science topics.
First, however, I want to acknowledge the fact that the English Program curriculum developed for all three Lertlah Schools -- private schools -- is based on the Manitoba curriculum. Much of the learning outcomes and units are derived from the documents that are taught in Winnipeg schools. The difference is that these were further customized, so clusters and units have been swapped for others, and often overlap in certain grades. This means that the topics for each grade will differ in Thailand than Manitoba, and each topic may be taught at different grades.
As an example, the grade three clusters in Manitoba are: growth and changes in plants, materials and structures, forces that attract and repel, and soils. In Lertlah campus two, however, the grade three units are: life and the environment, resources and materials, forces and motion, electricity, and water and air.
It is also important to note that comparing Lertlah with the schools I taught at in Winnipeg may be like comparing apples to oranges -- all of my practicum schools were inner city public schools, while Lertlah is an affluent privatized school.
Instruction for Lertlah students is 50 per cent Thai and 50 per cent English. Math and science are also taught in the Thai language, so on average, the students are getting two doses of each.
There is indeed a push for more English instruction, and that's what the University of Winnipeg's Thailand Practicum program has provided:
The government has long realised the importance of the English language as a major core subject in schools, and it has been a compulsory subject at varying levels for several decades. Since 2005 schools are being encouraged to establish bilingual departments where the core subjects are taught in English, and to offer intensive English language programmes (Wikipedia).
The teaching style of Thais are very different, and takes some getting used to. As visitors to the country, we are obliged to abide by these teaching styles.
A Thai classroom is more teacher-oriented than in Canada. The format is lecture-style, where the teacher remains at the front of the classroom for most of the period. One of the things that Lertlah does is rank the students academically. The highest functioning group becomes Section 1 (hence the "1" in P3/1), while the rest of the students get mixed up (i.e. ranking no longer matters) into the remaining sections. It used to be that all the sections were arranged academically -- Section 1 having the highest functioning students, and Section 4 having the lowest -- but policies changed just this year and no one really knows why. So in my case, I teach the highest functioning section of all grade threes, Section 1, and one lower functioning section, Section 2.
From what it appears, the education system of Thailand is a model that Canada's school system has steered away from . Thais appear to follow the Formal Authority style, an "instructor-centered approach where the instructor feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of content which the student is to receive and assimilate" (click here for source), whereas Canada follows the Facilitator/Delegator style, a more student-centered approach where a teacher is more of a guide as students take on more responsibility and ownership of their learning.
There is much to discuss about this topic, and hopefully with time, I will be able to assimilate the style I believe in into the fray.
"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation. "
- Cicero
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