Comments on: English in Myanmar

By: thi ha htun

thi ha htun — Tue, 20 May 2014 06:58:08 +0000

I thinks this leassions is usefull for my lfe.
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By: Roger Chua

Roger Chua — Tue, 13 May 2014 03:53:06 +0000

In reply to Jenny Scott. The danger here is that, while becoming more 'professional', I see monolingualist ideologies being perpetuated in your approach to teaching English in Myanmar...remember, Myanmar and the rest of the world for that matter, is deeply multilingual, thus multilinguistic resources can be positive and constructive resources in the teaching of English classroom. Never deny the value of these resources with a monolingualist perspective of English language teaching. You are going into a country that is deeply deeply multilingual.

By: Alejandra Ting Yin Yu

Alejandra Ting Yin Yu — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 04:57:18 +0000

In response to Saw above and the article, I would like to share a different voice, maybe just to raise some concern. It is true that some foreign teachers are just “tourists” in most Asian countries, though they do provide a very precise way of spoken English to the student population who haven’t had the chance to study in an English-speaking country. I am not a foreign teacher, I am bilingual. I have had the chance to sit and observe many Asian teachers using their native language to teach grammar, and I noticed that even the teachers themselves who are teaching grammar make plenty of unacceptable grammar and pronunciation mistakes. Given these observation experiences, I really don’t agree with the statement that teaching English grammar with the aid of local language is a great strategy in language learning and teaching or that it saves time. Rather, both foreign and local English teachers should aim at refining their professionalism throughout their career life.

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 11:40:59 +0000

This makes me remember when I taught Chinese in another country, a Chinese institute required foreign university students to sing Chinese national anthem in a program.some students thought it was a way to offend their culture and quit program directly.It probably happens if the any native speaker teachers think their own culture is better than the other countries, especially the less developing countries, and their teaching journey will not be so successful to students. because students are not puppets.

By: Li Jia

Li Jia — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 10:04:10 +0000

Dear Kimie, many thanks for sharing with us the English language practices in Yangon. Three weeks ago, I just came back Myanmar. I’ve also taken quite a number of English landscapes in Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin, and it seems that English signage can be clearly caught in official institutions such as police force, governmental hospitals, schools ect. whereas another language is also increasingly popular though its linguistic state is not as high as Myanmar and English. No matter which shops I went, I could always hear ‘Xiexie’ (‘thank you’ in Chinese). As far as I know, there are 13 border tourist routes granted by Myanmar and China, and there is no visa required for mainland Chinese travelling to Myanmar borders from then on. Hopefully there would be more Chinese linguistic landscapes in Myanmar catering to the tourists from the most populated country.

By: Jenny Scott

Jenny Scott — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:22:00 +0000

I would personally disagree that bilingual teaching is the best approach, but can completely understand your comments about poorly trained foreign teachers coming in. The problem is that Myanmar was – until recently – seen as a no-go area and trained teachers were reluctant to go there. This meant that only volunteers would arrive who we have often seen are ill trained and prepared to teach.

But… the good news is that we are starting to see more local teachers look at training opportunities with companies like ourselves. English education is growing in Myanmar and more teachers are taking it seriously as a *professional* option!

This is our article on teaching English in Myanmar; I hope you find it useful: http://www.icaltefl.com/index.php/country-guides-for-teaching-english/teaching-english-in-myanmar.html

By: Saw Winn Minn

Saw Winn Minn — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 03:03:10 +0000

Most of native teachers do as you mentioned in our country. They also don’t know how to do teaching very well. Very few native teachers are very good. In my opinion, bilingual teaching is better in English classroom of Myanmar. Myanmar language is used to explain English grammar rules and English to English is for fluency skills. This traditional effective way can save the time too. Grammar translation method is very popular in state high schools. As i notice,those students who attend English speaking international schools are weak in accuracy skill but the fluency skill is better than those students from state high schools. It would be better if the native teachers try to respect our culture and respect students’ dignity in language classroom of Myanmar. We don’t like singing Christmas songs or reading children’s book in English classroom. That is.