Spoiled meat

In high school, I ended up on the tennis team. The gloom of getting up at 6 in the morning set in the night before. Worse yet was the coach hitting balls at me. I learned to pretend with no real intention of hitting back.

It may be the same for any level of professional incompetence. It’s not that hard with English. If the teacher keeps students in the dark, students don’t even know how incompetent the teacher is. It’s harder to bluff one’s way through with computers. I guess that’s why they just keep the room locked.

I have seen graduates from overseas MA programs typing with two fingers. Some people can type quickly with two fingers, but these people could not. At the rate they were typing, it would take three years to type the first draft of a dissertation. No wonder I’ve never gotten email from them.

When it comes to teaching computer programs, a sufficiently confusing explanation will keep students clicking aimlessly. Then the teachers can just blame them. “See? Students from the countryside don’t know anything.”

Who is it that doesn’t know anything? I heard that an international organization paid big bucks for teachers to train in computer literacy in Vientiane, innocently letting the school decide who could go. They came back with two fingers, but that was about it. But that's OK. At least it's not spoiled meat.

Harmonious circles

I was told years ago that garbage is cultural. “Martin, it took years even in developed countries for people to stop littering.” I don’t know about the anthropological evolution of littering. I just know that I hate a dirty classroom.

I’m not an order freak. I’m just interested in how people interact with their environment and how that affects learning. If students treat classrooms like garbage dumps, they probably assume that’s what they’re receiving too.

Likewise, there is the sociology of chairs. People choose where they are comfortable sitting and will not budge. Move the chairs and some are ready to sit on the floor rather than move. The most radical configuration is a circle. Lao classrooms are not familiar with circles. I’ve seen circles turn into squares and go concentric in order to create a safe back seat.

Once students get used to it, life is different. They look at the teacher. They stop using their phones. They talk to each other. Circles are equalizing, democratising and harmonious. Rather than an ox cart with slow students dragging the rear, circles spin in forward momentum. With circles, there is a happy hum among the students. It’s the sound of satisfied learning.

No exit

This is from a final paper, submitted by a graduating student at a Teacher Training College.

General information about teaching and learning of KLSS is the technique of teaching and learning not enough and perfect for both teachers and students. Moreover, most of the teachers are old or senior

It passed, but how? Should it fail because it is indecipherable? Should it pass because the next passage is perfect?

In order for students to communicate well they need to have to expand their Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency level (CALP). CALP contains the genres of power that leads to success.

Pass/fail is not that simple. Nor is true or false. Are these statements true or false?

T/F  1. The text is inscrutable/perfect to everyone because someone was paid 2,000 baht to write it.

T/F  2. The paper passed because the teacher wrote it.

T/F  3. Even if the student wrote it, they’d have to pay 2,000 baht to get it checked.

T/F  4. The students are taught gobbledygook for three years so that nobody knows better.

Look for the answers in a future blog. Or just read past ones to figure it out. Got any CALP? If it contains the genres of power that lead to success, where can we get it?

Fire flies bright

My neighbor is the most conscientious A – type I know. Since he’s already prepared thoroughly for his presentation, he’s been preparing poster sheets for his friends. He uses a felt-tip marker so freshly minted that he needs to wear a mask to protect him from the fumes. Now, he’s got the papers hung neatly in the kitchen.

He is so conscientious that he wants his crib notes copied. I have to explain that my printer is not a copy machine and I’ll only type 100 words a minute for something worthwhile. Memorizing the steps to teach pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading is not meaningful when I’ve never seen their own teachers teach reading anyway.

When the academic board grills him on how many steps it takes to explain the passive tense, I’m tempted to prompt him. “Are you asking about a Lao teacher or a foreign teacher?” Surely, he’d get panned for impudence even though he’s the best they’ll ever see.

I tried to think of ways to get him a chance to study overseas. At best, I think I can introduce him to a local NGO. He has qualities that I’ve observed and confirmed. I feel like I’m on the panel for, “Laos’s got talent.”  Listen to what Simon says.