Jack Ma's lesson
Given the poor English language proficiency of Thais, what can Jack Ma teach us about learning English?
As a boy, Jack fell in love with the English language and literature, reading as many books as he could despite not knowing many of the words. When in 1978 China started opening to the outside world, Jack relished any opportunity to practise English. Every morning at 5am he would ride his bicycle to the Hangzhou Hotel and wait for foreign visitors from the USA and Europe. From there he would give them a free tour of West Lake in exchange for free English lessons. This he did for nine years. Indeed, the name "Jack" was given to him by an American tourist after her husband's and father's name.
When Jack became a teacher, he organised English classes at night for anyone to join. He would dim the room lights so students felt less shy about speaking. He admitted his English wasn't flawless -- "I just made myself understood. The grammar was terrible," said Jack. "And that was my take-home message. We have to approach teaching English to Thais from the bottom up, by getting Thais to use it daily, ignoring the accent and grammatical mistakes. Learning any new language is like a muscle. You either use it or lose it."
Thai schools hammer students with grammar and pronunciation. Hiring 10,000 English native teachers isn't going to be enough. I am arguing for "Jack's way" -- encouraging youths to use it on social media, in everyday conversation, on signs and so on.
It doesn't matter if they get it wrong. We have to get Thais to love the language, and be confident in using it without fear of embarrassment.
Many foreign-educated Thai leaders who throw in English words here and there when speaking Thai are often ridiculed by keyboard warriors. Some mock them as "unThai" or pretentious. We need to change this negative mindset and start celebrating "Thailish", combining Thai and English, just as Singaporeans speak "Singlish".
Accordingly, get Thais to use English outside classrooms. Their confidence and love for the language will soon grow. And some of them will turn to reading literature and hone their grammar later on, which isn't too late.
Like I said, use it or lose it. If Thailand doesn't get its act together now, expect her neighbours -- Burmese, Laotians, Cambodians and Vietnamese -- to excel, their nations uploaded to the global economy and global thoughts and trends, while we are forever trailing behind.