Written Scholastically by John Irvin                                                                     March 1, 1999

Students of my Oral Expression Class

I decided not to profile a student for this month, because… I don’t have one ready. Sorry folks, but they’re all studying for their finals (remember that in Thailand, the school year runs from June through February, so this month is the final crunch before summer break.). After they finish their finals, the students will probably all go home to their families, so it may be a while before I can get hold of one of those amazing Thai students again to speak to you.

Since the students are unavailable this month, I decided to do something different. We’ll have a little language lesson, then some comments on teaching the oral expression class.

If you come to Thailand, you might notice that Thai people call Chiang Mai University "Maw-Chaw." Where do they get this? Actually, it’s the initials of the school in Thai. Each Thai letter has a name, but unlike "A, B, C…" that we have in English, names of Thai letters have two parts. For example, "Gaw-Gai," "Kaw-Kai," and "Law-Ling" are names of Thai letters. The first syllable always rhymes with "aw," and begins with the consonant that the letter makes: "Gaw," "Kaw," or "Law," for instance, would give you the "G," "K," or "L" sounds. The second part of the name of the Thai letter gives you a Thai word that begins with that letter: "Gai" (chicken), "Kai" (egg), or "Ling" (monkey). Notice I am talking about consonants here; vowels are a different story, which I will talk about another time.

In speaking, Thais sometimes just use the first syllable of each letter when they need to spell a word or recite letter names. In the case of Chiang Mai University, the full name of the school in Thai is "Mahawityalai Chiangmai." The initials are "Maw-Ma," for the first word, and "Chaw-Chang," for the second. But Thais just use the first syllable for these letters, so they get "Maw-Chaw." Simple? It’s sort of like when we say "UCLA," or "USC," or "NYU." Sort of.

You may hear Thais employ this kind of shorthand a lot when saying letter names, using only the first syllable, but it doesn’t always work, because there are some duplicates, i.e., consonants that start with the same sound (there are 5 consonants that make the "K" sound, for instance). Altogether, the Thai alphabet has 44 consonants, and 14 vowel markers (which can make at least 28 different vowel sounds).

I have taught oral expression two times now at CMU. The class is always a little more challenging than regular classes, because it gives the students more opportunity to talk, and more chances to take to have a great time with English. But because the class is loosely structured, it also gives the teacher more responsibility in presenting the projects, carrying out exercises, and in scheduling presentations. An oral expression class can be great fun, but if you get behind, or if you don’t get the students on the right track, it can really be a big problem.

Students in my oral     expression class, last year

The course consists of a series of assignments, which the students must prepare by themselves and present in front of the class. A lot of people have called this class "conversation" because of its emphasis on spoken English, and because of the exercises we do in things like making invitations, offering excuses, and similar things which seem very conversational. But the presentations also consist of formal presentations, such as a debate, or a skit, where the students must prepare their ideas and language in advance.

Students tend to want to memorize their presentations, even to the point of awkwardness. A rebuttal in a debate, for instance, can’t be memorized, nor can a conversation between a student and the teacher, when the topic is determined at the time of the presentation. I figure students want to memorize their assignments for two reasons. One, they don’t have enough ability (or confidence) to use the language spontaneously, and they fear that if they don’t have it memorized they might get completely lost. Second, they are perfectionistic, and they want their presentation to be as good as possible. Speaking English in front of the whole class makes them very anxious. So, in spite of my urging them to use notes, many of them memorize all their presentations.

Some students do have unique individual qualities to offer. Humor is great for relieving the tension and the sameness of most student presentations. Only a few people have the gift of being naturally funny, but everyone appreciates it when someone can make the entire class laugh. Last semester I had one male student who just got people laughing as soon as he started talking; he was, in American parlance, a "natural."

And then there is the person who works really hard on one particular presentation, and through good writing and lots of practice, delivers something really lively and entertaining. I had one female student who was quiet the whole semester, and then gave a presentation on how to make Thai desserts that was punctuated with good stage movements, almost like a mime would do. It was her finest moment in the class.

I’ve had students tell about experiences which were so personal that I thought they were a little uncomfortable to hear, where feelings were laid bare and people cried or expressed remorse over a loss of a loved one. I tried once to talk a student out of giving a presentation (a past experience of any kind was supposed to be the topic) on the murder of her childhood friend, but she insisted, and actually gave an very unsentimental and realistic account (the friend had been murdered by the maid in order to get revenge on the father, who had gotten the maid pregnant and then refused to leave his wife and marry her).

I was just beginning to feel relieved that this sad story was over, when, a few minutes later, another student gave an account of her cousin who became addicted to drugs and eventually died of an overdose. This account became very emotional, and before the end of it the student who was presenting it began to cry. The class just sat there politely, waiting for her to finish. I felt a little nervous and uncomfortable, but it really seemed to be okay with the other students.

Some of the other teachers feel that, in Thai society, there is little allowance for grieving, and that a class like this actually gives the Thai students an opportunity to have some kind of catharsis and get beyond their pain. So, by coming here to teach English, we often get to play a part in the personal development of the students, emotionally as well as intellectually. I don’t feel that I deserve any kind of credit for this, I’m more like a moderator or facilitator at best. But I’m happy to play any part at all in helping the students to grow and get in touch with how they feel, and what they want.
_____________________________________________________________________
More students are coming soon, right here on this website!

© Copyright 1999, John Irvin

This page hosted by Get your own Free Homepage