Such a move indicates the government's immediate attempt to tackle the low English competency among Thai students, but it still overlooks the antiquated and ineffective methods used to teach English in Thai classrooms.

English in Thai classrooms

Instead of teaching Thai students English in the way a language is naturally learned -starting from listening and speaking and moving to reading and writing - Thailand's current education system takes the opposite approach and starts with writing, says Thongchai Yenprasert, Nonthaburi Provincial Administration Organization (NPAO) president.

Moreover, our national tests emphasize grammar skills and neglect English conversation skills.

Thongchai urges the Education Ministry to seriously consider why many Thai college graduates still struggle to communicate with foreigners, despite having been intensively taught grammar rules at school for years.

In order to push Thai students to be competent in English, the NPAO is currently funding the Ramkhamhaeng Nonthaburi English Teachers Project, which supplies native and proficient English speakers to teach Prathom 1 to Matthayom 6 level (Grades 1 to 12) students in nearly 80 government schools using the realistic approach of encouraging youths to first speak the language.

Reluctant to speak

A majority of Thai teachers choose to speak Thai while teaching English because they do not speak English well, which means the students do not have a role model, says project director Lawrie Whitmore.

Students know their Thai teachers will translate everything into Thai if they fail to comprehend a point in the lesson. As a result, pupils are robbed of opportunities to listen to and comprehend spoken English. And because the teacher explains in Thai, there is never a need for the student to exert an effort to speak English to their Thai teachers, says Tanawan Kaewpan, head of the foreign language department of Bang Bua Thong School in Nonthaburi province.

Younger students are reluctant to speak English because they do not see it as relevant to their lives, says Whitmore. Many students will not realize the relevance until they enter the workforce.

He adds that Thai youngsters are also reluctant to speak English because of the fear of making mistakes and `losing face' (being embarrassed) if they mispronounce a word or use incorrect grammar.

Competition breeds motivation

The Ramkhamhaeng Nonthaburi English Teachers Project has organized the Ramkhamhaeng Nonthaburi English Competitions to encourage Thai youths to speak English. The key asset of the competition is the use of fun ways for students to learn and to overcome their fear while speaking English.

Nearly 1,500 primary and secondary school students from 70 government schools in Nonthaburi province joined the three-day event. The competition was arranged in various categories of interests that included: word scrabble, poetry, choir, vocal solos, trivia questions and answers, storytelling, drama, television newscasting, chants and cooking.

There is widespread enthusiasm among students because the competition allows them to use English to do things they are interested in, while emphasizing their speaking and listening skills. Because the competition allows students to compete in areas of their interest, speaking English naturally becomes more relevant to them. Making English relevant, is a component often missing in the classroom.

The competition is open to all students, regardless of their English speaking abilities. There is no discrimination on the basis of English competency. The only requirements are a desire to use, speak and comprehend English.

Relevancy is key to success

Woraya Sintanapaisan, a Grade 6 student at Wat Klong Khunsri School, likes to read. She competes in the storytelling division and captivates the audience by impersonating each character of her story, whether it is a girl, a butterfly or a spider.

Woraya is marked on how she projects her voice, the clarity of her speech, her storytelling skills, and dramatic expression, all of which she has clearly mastered.

Although very fluent in her delivery, Woraya says she still wants to improve her accent. She is fortunate to be regularly exposed to English outside her classroom, as she talks daily to foreign customers who shop at her family's small food business.

``I just talk, even though I might make a mistake,'' says Woraya, adding that her confidence comes from reading many books in English, some with Thai translations.

After singing the song ``I Will Always Love You'', Ravikorn Sayamipakdi, a Grade 11 student from Suankularb Witayalai Nonthaburi School, comments that the singing competition motivates her to practice English. She says she often learns new English vocabulary by listening to English songs and trying to understand their meaning from the context within the song.

``You can let others teach you (English), but if you don't try on your own, then there is no use,'' says Ravikorn, before she is greeted by a throng of primary grade students who lined up to ask for her autograph after her stunning performance.

For the television newscast competition, one challenge for students is the lack of a teleprompter often used by news anchors in newsrooms. The absence of a teleprompter means that students often have to memorize the majority of their news stories. Some primary school students visibly struggled to recall the bulk of their news story from memory, but they stoically pushed on to the end with a positive and ``can do'' attitude. Many secondary school students possess the confidence and the delivery style of professional anchorpersons. Students receive awards certificates for first, second and third place finishes in each category of the competition, while the rest of the students receive a certificate for participating in the competition.

Lack of teachers and funding

English cannot be taught effectively nationwide unless the country has the right people to do the job. Many small schools across the country lack funds to hire a sufficient number of teachers. The resulting teacher shortage means that teachers are often pressured to teach subjects beyond their area of expertise.

Those pressured to teach English feel it's safer to strictly follow the repetition drills or vocabulary lists in textbooks, and to have students copy what they write on the board, says Melvyn Sharman, assistant director of Ramkhamhaeng Institute of Languages at Ramkamhaeng University, which is responsible for the NPAO project.

Many Thai graduates who are highly competent in English opt to work in private companies, as opposed to becoming state school teachers because there are more career opportunities and greater salary increases, says Thongchai, who is concerned that this trend will lead to a shortage of quality teachers in the near future.

Government schools lack funds to hire teachers or to improve their school's quality, and the budget request process of the Education Ministry is too slow and elaborate. As a consequence, schools often directly approach their provincial administration organization and ask for funding for a project, he adds.

Realistic approach

Whitmore says other provinces have expressed interest in implementing similar projects. In an effort to demonstrate the efficacy of the Ramkhamhaeng Nonthaburi English Teachers Project, he plans to conduct a random survey of English speaking and listening skills of students in Nonthaburi schools and compare the results to surveys taken in other provinces. He anticipates that there will be an enormous improvement in the English ability of students in schools that participate in the project.

The education of Thailand's children cannot wait for a new government to be elected at the end of the year. This project is an excellent example of how concerned people, who are willing to start at the root of an obvious problem, can teach English effectively in Thai schools without having to wait for an approved plan of attack to officially come through the Ministry of Education.