They'll spend five hours per week studying the rudiments of conversational English instead of one, Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin has announced.The scheme is a good step towards overcoming the Thai educational system's embarrassing failure to produce graduates who can speak English well. English is the predominant international language, the common tongue among people of dozens of nations. It is well past time to put English instruction on the right path. Imagine a classroom of Grade 1 pupils hearing easy conversational phrases in English and getting the gist of what's being expressed. For now they're speaking simple English.Our students should be learning English - or any other foreign language - for the sake of communicating with the world, not just to pass exams.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 07, 2016 17:03 UTC