Welcoming Mr.Damon Anderson
3
Welcoming Mr. Damon Anderson 22 nd June, 2011 Mr. Damon Anderson Director Regional English Language Office, Embassy of the United States of America Ms. Phanisara Logsdon RELO Assistant Regional English Language Office, Embassy of the United States of America Ms. Warawon Thanamongkol Public Diplomacy Assistant, U.S. Consulate General, Chiang Mai 1. Opening and welcome speech by Dr. Rainer Dr. Rainer expressed appreciation of Mr. Damon Anderson and his team’s visit to our university and he briefly explained RMUTL’s structure and current environment of English language teaching and learning at RMUTL. Although RMUTL is focusing on students’ technical skills, English is still important for them to survive in the international environment. We have Chinese classes and programs to foster their language skills as Chinese influence to Thailand seems very strong. However, students still need to communicate in English. At the conference which was held few years ago, the issue was discussed that Thai students’ ability of English is low. We would appreciate it if Mr. Damon Anderson and his team could help teachers at RMUTL to learn how to use communicative teaching, students’ involvement, classroom exercises etc.
description
Director Regional English Language Office, Embassy of the United States of America
Transcript of Welcoming Mr.Damon Anderson
Welcoming Mr. Damon Anderson
22nd June, 2011
Mr. Damon Anderson
Director
Regional English Language Office, Embassy of the United States of America
Ms. Phanisara Logsdon
RELO Assistant
Regional English Language Office, Embassy of the United States of America
Ms. Warawon Thanamongkol
Public Diplomacy Assistant, U.S. Consulate General, Chiang Mai
1. Opening and welcome speech by Dr. Rainer
Dr. Rainer expressed appreciation of Mr. Damon Anderson and his team’s visit to our
university and he briefly explained RMUTL’s structure and current environment of English
language teaching and learning at RMUTL. Although RMUTL is focusing on students’
technical skills, English is still important for them to survive in the international environment.
We have Chinese classes and programs to foster their language skills as Chinese
influence to Thailand seems very strong. However, students still need to communicate in
English. At the conference which was held few years ago, the issue was discussed that
Thai students’ ability of English is low. We would appreciate it if Mr. Damon Anderson and
his team could help teachers at RMUTL to learn how to use communicative teaching,
students’ involvement, classroom exercises etc.
2. Mr. Damon Anderson’s talk
These 3 Cs should be emphasized in a language class. Especially No. 2 is important. How
teachers work in a class makes difference. There is a fear factor that students cannot express
themselves in English even though they know how to say. We need to give them more practice so
that they will feel more comfortable to communicate, without fear.
-Five Freedoms
1. Freedom to explore into questions: to be able to ask questions, know how to ask
questions
2. Freedom to experiment with it: to play with, to try it, to practice…
3. Freedom to fail: students need to make mistakes, and learn from the mistakes. It’s about
reflection.
4. Freedom of identity: to express your ideas, feeling, cultures. You will start to learn how to
express yourself, then it will be important for you; it will be a part of you. (For reading
exercises, do not ask comprehension questions, let them express how they feel about it,
question about it.)
5. Freedom of effort: try and try …. , and try it again.
“Focusing on 3Cs gives 5 freedoms.”
-Three “C” to participate in this era
1. Critical thinking skills (Solve problems, apply the problems, being creative)
2. Communication (demonstrates communicating skills in English, not tests, cross/inter
cultural communication to be able to read, write, and speak in special purposes.
3. Collaboration (ability to work as a team to take active / passive roles, leadership skills)
3. Useful resources
A useful website that teachers can join the discussion regarding anything about teaching
and learning English was introduced. We can make use of this to improve our teaching skills
or get some useful information for teaching and teaching materials.
Office of the English Language Program (Headquarter, Washington, D.C.) http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/index.html
Materials: http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/resources-et.html
Some past web-chat postings: http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/education/english-language-program/efl-webchats.html
RELO Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RELOThailand
For further discussion, we can contact either Mr. Damon Anderson (RELO) or Ms.
Worawan Thanamongkol (U.S. Consulate General, Chiang Mai). Although the time was
limited, this meeting was productive for us as a starting point. We hope we can have more
discussion in details with them near future, such as holding a workshop or seminar by inviting
Mr. Damon Anderson, for teachers’ development at RMUTL.
Mr. Damon Anderson
Director, Regional English Language Office
Embassy of the United State of America
Tel: (66-2) 295-4493, (66-81) 828-8256
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Phanisara Logsdon
RELO Assistant, Regional English Language Office
Embassy of the United States of America
Tel:(66-2) 205-4492, (66-87)821-4111
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Worawan Thanamongkol
Public Diplomacy Assistant, U.S. Consulate General, Chiang Mai
Tel: (053) 107-772 , Mobile: 081-883-4008
