Cut In Line To Help Motivate Thai Students

ALREADY 40 per cent of Thailand's annual income is derived directly or indirectly from tourism and services related to it. To be able to offer qualified and attractive services and experiences, it is essential for Thai people to be able to communicate fluently in a foreign language.


Ajarn Donald's Response:

This case study is very well prepared and I personally like to say thank you to Professor Jyrki Loima and Ajarn Jutarat Vibulphol for taking the time to conduct this case study and sharing the results in a post (link above).

Next I would like to say that with my 13-years experience having taught more than 6,500 people English in Thailand in ages 4-60 years old but most were secondary students (teenagers M/1-M/6 = 7th graders-12th graders) that I fully agree with these results.

How can we get the parents, students, teachers and schools to come together and examine what are the realistic and practical ways to change this negative trend and make it positive for all students?

Improve Your English With Video Boosters

Pedagogical innovation with videos

Video Boosters are language exercises based on short videos rarely exceeding two minutes in length.

You can choose from clips of recent films or current TV series; music videos or items from international television news: whatever interests you most.

The Video Booster format is based on a series of progressively deeper contextual exercises.

Take a closer step-by-step look at how Video Boosters enable you to fully master the language elements of a video clip and thus help you to improve your English.


A Thousand Words Clip: Cut in line


Vocab Quickview



First we start by introducing a rather fun way to start helping and motivate students to actually want to learn the English language. Video Boosters are coming to your child's school.

Prior to playing the video, you can see a summary of the target vocabulary items in the video clip.

This is a key initial step, as it allows you to focus on those words and expressions which are essential to a full understanding of the clip. The Vocab Quickview list is limited to eight items, so as to allow you to retain them easily.

Scan the vocabulary items, read the definitions, and listen to how they are pronounced.

Hint



Use the contextual translator

If you don't recognize one of the words, just hover over it with your cursor (or tap the word if you are using a touchscreen) to see its translation in your language.
The contextual translator works for all English language words on the site, including those in the given vocabulary definitions. It is available throughout all steps of the Video Booster.

Step 1: The video



You start the six steps of a Video Booster with a simple non-assisted play-through of the video.

Focus on the general idea or gist of the clip and try to recognize the words and expressions you've already seen in the Vocab Quickview.

You won't understand every word, which is absolutely normal. Don't worry about it: you'll see how we guide you through the video in the subsequent exercises.

You'll be surprised at how fast you will develop your oral comprehension if you play Video Boosters on a regular basis.



Step 2: Survival Test


It's now time to test your general comprehension of the video clip through four simple questions.

The questions are designed to determine whether you have understood the basics of what is happening in the video. There is no need to have understood every word to answer them.

You can use the Video Playback and Vocabulary functions at any time during this exercise. Don't hesitate to switch between one and the other before moving to the next question.


Step 3: Listening Lab


In this exercise, you will fill in five gaps in the video transcript.

While completing the exercise, use the text on either side of the gap, using the contextual translator if neccessary, to see which answer makes most sense. You can also play the video at the same time as you fill in the gaps to hear the missing sentence segment.

At the end of Listening Lab, you will have completed the video transcript. You'll also see that having a written resource that goes with the video improves your understanding of it.

This video transcript resource will now be available to you for the rest of the Video Booster exercises.


Step 4: Quiz Challenge


In this exercise, you will be asked more detailed questions about the video clip, but now you can check the video transcript to help you find the correct answers.

The video and vocabulary resources remain available during this exercise.

You will see that by now you are getting quite familiar with the video and you are learning new expressions and language usages.

The next steps will enable you to put what you've learned into practice.


Step 5: Vocab Academy


It's now time to see if you can use the target vocabulary correctly.

Complete a short paragraph in which you'll have to place the words and expressions you've learned into the right gaps in the text.

By hovering over the target vocabulary item with your cursor (or tapping on it with your finger), you'll display its definition - as well as the item's use in a sample sentence - in the vocabulary tool.

A word or expression in English, of course, can have several meanings. The only one you'll see (and use) in this exercise is the one relevant to the video.



Step 6: Grammar Jungle


In this final exercise, you will get some practice with English grammar and usage.

Don't worry, this isn't traditional grammar teaching, it's what's called "inductive" grammar.

We've chosen an interesting grammar or usage principle from the transcript, and explained why it was used in the video. You now simply have to apply that principle in the exercise questions.

The question format in Grammar Jungle varies with each Video Booster.



Final score


The final screen of the Video Booster gives you your overall score and the score per exercise.

A graph allows you to also compare how you did across the various language skills you practiced.

You can share your thoughts on the video and on the exercises with the rest of the English Attack! community by posting a comment (in English of course!).

As a last step, we recommend that you play one of the practice games from those displayed on the screen, which will help you to memorize the words and expressions you've just learned.


Pedagogical recommendations


How to learn English effectively with videos

Frequency over quantity: with over 1,000 Video Boosters to choose from, it's tempting to do exercise after exercise, but the most effective way to learn is to play one (or two) Video Boosters every day.

If you had difficulty with a particular Video Booster, play it again! You'll find it easier.

And to review and memorize the words and expressions you've seen, practice them regularly with a game, especially those related to Video Boosters you've done some time ago.

Photo Vocab


Games

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Cards

Overview 

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