Over the New Year holiday, I was able to visit Croston House Children’s Home in Lamphun, north Thailand and see for myself what English language learning can be achieved in a real life context. Many students of English find it difficult to learn English because they do not see the language being used in situations relevant to themselves.

In my opinion, one of the most important things for a teacher to do is to teach with some kind of context in mind. If students can relate to what is being taught, then there is more chance of them actually learning something.

 On a recent trip with my family to Croston House Children’s Home in Lamphun, I was able to witness how English had been integrated into the everyday life of children living in a children’s home.

Not all homes are run the same way as Glenn Croston runs this home; however, that would probably have something to do with the many years he has spent in the British Army and Metropolitan Police Service.

During my stay, I watched Glenn as he spoke to the children in Thai and English. Many of his instructions to the children were given in English, especially when he wanted shoes to be worn by barefoot children and also when he wanted litter and toys picked up and put away.

One child in particular, Lucky, who came to the home when he was 4 months old, is only two and a half years old now and was able to understand instructions such as this (probably due to him dropping the most rubbish as well as running around barefoot at every available opportunity).

What is good for Lucky must surely be good for everyone else. I believe that Lucky has understood the instructions because they are relevant for him. He can relate to the order as Glenn is his father figure and because the instruction has been spoken in English (many times before) he understands what to do.

The vast majority of these children had no English language experience at all. This gives me some hope with my quest for primary school teachers of English in Thailand. What if we could transfer this into the primary school classroom?

The present basic education English curriculum includes items of furniture in the classroom and classroom items in its vocabulary. Could we not use instructions in the classroom in English too?

Many teachers of English do this already; however, I wonder how many primary school teachers of English in rural school are able to cope with this? Students would, over a period of time, learn classroom instructions as they tend to be repeated over and over again. This activity has real meaning as it is task based and relevant to what the students have to do in the classroom.

In my opinion, this is an ideal example of how important context can be when teaching English to children in Thailand. There is nothing to say that adult learners could also benefit from this type of activity. My students at Udon Thani Rajabhat University already do this and as I have just found out, so does Lucky.

Saravut Riyong (Lucky) from Croston House Children’s Home wearing his shoes and picking up English as well as litter.

(Unedited article published in the Bangkok Post 13th January 2009)