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Problems for Learners in ThailandWhen learning how to speak a language, it is important to understand how a language is written and spoken before you are able to speak, read or write in that language. The thai language is written differently than the English language. It is written in characters or shapes not letters. It is also a tone language meaning that the way a word is pronounced can change the meaning of a word even when it is spelled the same. One word can mean many different things. In English we only have a few cases where this is true but in thai it is a lot more frequent. The thai language has 5 tones that they use to speak a word. The characters help tell you which tone to use. In English you don?t have any indication as to how you say the word, you just have to memorize or know it. Also in the thai language, some words are different depending on your gender. In English this is not the case. These differences would greatly impact a student when trying to learn English. As a beginner, a thai student would need to learn the English alphabet and which letters make what sounds. This could be hard to master and may take time to learn. One difficulty for students would be the stresses and the rise/fall patterns in the English language. Since the English text does not tell you when to stress a word or syllable or when you use rise/fall or fall/rise like the thai characters do, this would be an area where thai students would need the most explanations and practice. thai students may have trouble with the fact that the English language has no difference between when a woman says something and when a man says something. They would also have difficulties with the irregular things in the English language. There are many exceptions to the rules in the English language. A teacher can help these problems by spending more time on these areas. In the beginning, the teacher should have a test that tests the students on if they know the English alphabet and if they know how to pronounce letters and words even if they don?t know what the words mean. Then they should make a plan that entails how to explain the alphabet and different activities they can do. One of the areas a teacher should spend the most time on would be pronunciation. Since the thai culture is a tonal language a teacher should make sure that in every unit or section, they devote time to making sure that the students understand how to pronounce the words or stress certain parts of a sentence. Pronunciation should be one of the top priorities of the teacher. A teacher should use as many activate stages as possible. A Boomerang or a patchwork lesson plan would be a good idea. It would also be good to make the study section one where they would speak and it would focus more on pronunciation even if it is a grammar or culture lesson.
