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Teaching with the Bangkok Post
February 03, 2009

February 3 lessons

I'm still putting on the final touches of two books, so I don't have time to do teachers' notes on a regular basis, but I did want to make a few suggestions about today's general news story.

Justice needed

If you have advanced students, you might want to have them consider how convincing today's story is. Notice that it is from the opinion and analysis section, not the news section. Could it have been published in the news section? (Normally no because it is too opinionated. If it was in the news section it would have to be labelled as analysis).

While there is a strong chance that the writer assertions of unfairness are correct, notice that it is difficult for the reader to make a judgment because she only presents one side of the story. There is nothing from the police or the prosecutors. That would have been useful to have – although it is possible that they refused to speak to her. If that was the case, it could have gone into the story.

This is a good story for background, however, and it will be interesting to see what happens next. Again, the writer is likely to be correct in her assertions, but you can't be sure from the information presented. This is common with texts in the  opinion and analysis section and it is why you can't rush to judgment.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 10:22 AM | | Comments (0)

January 16, 2009

January 16 lessons

For Mark, its Oasis and Guns N’ Roses

I have to go out for lunch with Andrew Biggs today, but before I do, I thought I would make one suggestion for the story about Abhisit. It might be fun for you students if you showed them excerpts of the groups mentioned in the story to see if they agree with the PM's musical tastes. I just checked and there were many many examples of music from Oasis on youtube and I imagine the other groups are represented as well. This would be especially good for an adult group where you could use your laptop.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 10:56 AM | | Comments (0)

January 15, 2009

January 15 lessons

I've been waiting to restart this section of the site until I have finished the books I am working on, but I just had to make a suggestion on today's story in easy English news. To create interest, mention to your class that there is an interesting job opening that is mentioned in the Bangkok Post today. Have them read the story to see if the job interests them. Discuss it with your class and then have them write a short job application describing why they think they are qualified for the job.

American Idol comes back

By Boon Boonprayoon

I would ask the students to write some information about Academy Fantasia and let them compare and contrast the Thai show with American Idol. I would  also ask the students to write a short description of the any of their favourite singers / TV stars. For advanced learners, I would ask them to use at least 8 to 10 words that they learned from the reading.

Answers:
1. 7 times and this year it is the 8th.
2. No, it was facing a slight drop in rating.
3. FOX
4. To show that even the world renown entertainment company trusts the popularity of the American Idol.
5. No, it was not.
6. There will be a new commentator, and the contestants who were voted out will be given a second chance to prove themselves.
7. The recorded audition

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 09:21 AM | | Comments (0)

December 01, 2008

Teaching during the political crisis

coversmall6What's the latest news? That is a question the of the day every day and you can take advantage of it with your class. If you have been following the PAD-government conflict closely with your class, you are ready to assign different groups of students to give periodic one- or two-minute updates -- in English, of course. You will find updates all day every day in our special update section.

If you have not been following the crisis with your class, you might want to spend a day getting your class ready. There is more than enough material in general news and easy English news to do so. Divide your class into groups and have them each look at a different story, noting the key vocabulary in each. Then, have them share what they have learned both in terms of content and vocabulary.

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 11:20 AM | | Comments (0)

November 26, 2008

November 26 lessons

Is Competitiveness constructive or destructive?

See 'Conceding to competition', Outlook page O8
lesson by Boon Boonprayoon

The story is short and precise. Its objective is clear and it is good for a writing exercise. You may ask the students to practice writing a short paragraph, summarising the main idea of the passage. Adding two or three examples from the reading would make the work concrete.

What I would do when I have my students write their own essay is to I give a cloze-test exercise which means, of course, that I need to do the summary of the passage  so that only the very important points are included.

Next, I would ask the students to list out at least seven to ten sentences from the passage that, they think, are essential to the story as a whole. This would make a summary easier. And the students would have guidelines when they next make a summary by themselves.

Answers:
1. Competition / competitiveness
2. disproved
3. essence
4. inevitable
5. get ahead
6. position
7. intelligence
8. capacity
9. tremendously

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:04 AM | | Comments (0)


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