Teach English in Burlington - TEFL Courses

Problems for Learners in thailand (10) Learning english can prove very difficult for non-native speakers. Depending on their background, many students will experience different problems when trying to learn english as their second language. This is especially true for students in thailand. The thai language system is very different from the english system, and this can create many problems for students, some of which are very difficult to overcome. The thai writing system is very different from the Roman alphabet. Many students may be only vaguely familiar with the Roman alphabet, or they may be completely new to it. Learning a whole new alphabet while learning a new language can prove very difficult for learners. In addition, the thai writing system has no punctuation, so the concept of using punctuation in a sentence will also be completely new. It is very common for thai students to be confused about comma usage, as well as using the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence. In addition to not having punctuation, the thai language system does not make use of the different parts of speech. This can be very difficult for thai students to learn and understand, due to learning language from a different template. Students may confuse the different parts of speech, or more commonly, only use the base forms of verbs. A student may say "I go to market" when the intended sentence is actually "I am going to the market." thai students may also find certain inflections and stresses difficult to understand and master, due to the system of stresses and that are built in to their mother tongue. For example, if the word is computer, a student may say "com pu ter" instead of the correct form of "com pu ter". Likewise, some sounds that are not in their mother tongue can be difficult to pronounce. This students have problems with consonant combinations like sh, ch, and str. Careful repition of these sounds is necessary to achieve the desired results. In addition, thai students will often confuse their Ls and Rs. "Great" may become "gleat", or the student may accidently drop the R entirely, making the word sound like "gate". "Brake" can become "blake" or "bake", and so on. Another way that students can confude words like these is to add an extra syllable before the L or the R. For example, "slack" may become "salack". Another problem that students may encounter is the pronunciation of different sounds that have the same spelling when thai words are written in the Roman alphabet. The most common of these is the Th sound, which in thai is pronounced like a T, so the word "that" may mistakenly be pronounced as "tat". These are many of the problems that thai students can encounter when learning english as their second language. As a teacher, it is beneficial to be aware of these common mistakes and prepare for them. If a teacher knows what to look and listen for, some of these mistakes can be corrected before they become a common habit for the student. Sources: Experience Talked to a local teacher http://www.simandan.com/?p=383 "Learner Difficulties for thai Students" by Voicu Mihnea Simandan