ptk, wearing ties and teaching English

Dear All, There’re lots of holidays these days and the festive moods are creeping in finally ka!

I have two little stories to seek your advice na ka.

 A boarding school in the lower north under our network has just called for all male teachers to wear ties every day. Our American grantee isn’t comfortable with it because the weather is hot and even without a tie, he finds the hot weather continues to be his challenge. He noticed that not all male teachers follow the direction’s order. He raised the matter with a teacher who said it was beyond her control. What do you think should be the best way out for him ka?

 As you might be aware, we send our American grantees to teach conversational English (ETAs) in 10 provinces. Our ETAs got a one-month training in Bangkok as most didn’t have any background in teaching languages. They are assigned to have around 15 hours of classes per week (18 is maximum) ka. Some schools have asked our ETAs to teach their teachers for at least 4-5 hours every week and in several cases, teach their directors about an hour each day. They need time to prepare all the lessons for their regular classes. English proficiency of teachers and directors is quite low (if not very low for some!) and requires lots of preparation on the ETAs’ part. What would be your advice ka?

If there’s any other comment you have out of the two cases, do let me know too ka.

Warm regards,
Porntip

Thu 12/8/2011 7:15 AM

ptk, Japanese and English proficiency

Dear All, Let’s get away from our flooding crisis for a moment to be sane na ka!

I just read an article written on November 1, 2011, entitled, ‘Global Economy Exposes Japan's Shortage of English-Speaking Graduates’, By David McNeill. Wished to copy it but during this time, a summary might be much better lae ka!

It reflects very similar challenges to our own with demands of the companies to be based elsewhere outside Japan. They do require close cooperation of universities and increasing numbers of students to have exchanges or get overseas degrees.

The latest sign is called, ‘Rakuten English shock.’, which is the country's largest online retailer. It told ‘its 6,000 employees that they must be fluent enough in English to converse with one another by next year. Executives who aren't up to speed will be fired; rank-and-file workers will find their path to promotion blocked.’
Secretary Clinton told the U.S.-Japan Council in Washington last month that today "Japan ranks sixth." She pointed out that the number of Japanese students studying in America has dropped by almost 50 percent over the last 14 years.
The author pointed out that it could be because of the low birth rates, costs, credit transfer barriers, and low value of foreign degrees.
Japan's largest business federation, the Nippon Keidanren, organized a summer conference for the country's top universities to meet with corporate bosses, discussing ‘how to bring Japan's traditionally aloof institutions closer to the corporate table.’
The Keidanren used the forum to announce a scholarship plan that will, from next year, give 1 million yen, or $12,835, each to 30 students from the 13 universities now designated Global 30 institutions.
This little article shows our present and future challenges to become more international, concerns and concrete actions of the industry to be closer to education institutions. At the same time, it implies how far education system is from the real and practical skills our graduates and people need to be equipped.
Give time to think about it when you want to stay away from flood-issues na ka!
Stay dry, safe, sane and strong for our future to restore our country ka!

Porntip

Thu 11/3/2011 8:39 AM

ptk, ASEAN and US

Happy Tuesday morning ka, everyone…..Hope you’re enjoying the first day at work na ka. It’s so good to have another long weekend too!

Several little things I’d like to share today ka:
1. I read Khun Surin Pitsuwan’s book entitled, ‘ASEAN รู้ไว้ได้เปรียบแน่’ (Knowing ASEAN is an advantage!), and like it in various ways ka. It gives me an overall picture what to be expected in 2015 and what to be aware/prepared before then ka. His extensive experiences and insights are really valuable ka. Our schools and universities should move forward to rethink of our own attitudes toward our neighbors, our knowledge and understanding about our own country and them, and how education should focus on.
Some quotes I find useful for us to prepare our Thai citizens (with lots of collective strategic actions needed lae ka!):
- Building a community is unavoidable as the countries can’t afford to be isolated any longer
- ‘Think long term, think big’ while trying hard to find ‘win-win’ approaches for all
- Dare to go out and invest in the ASEAN market
- Education, exchanges included, is the most important mechanism to prepare us for the ASEAN Community
- We need to learn how to appreciate the diversity in our own country and other member countries
- Quality is the key to our healthy survival with opportunities offered for people to strive to their fullest potential!
- English proficiency as well as favorable attitude about our neighboring countries is crucial
- Law has to be enforced and standardization put in place
- Identify of ASEAN is not identity of interest, but it’s identity of values of sharing, of happiness and ownership

2. In a Time magazine April 22 issue, there is an article on, ‘Made in USA’, which shows how the shift of production (Manufacturing renaissance!) is gradually seen in the US. Instead of ‘outsourcing’, it is ‘insourcing’, and it is changing ‘offshoring’ to ‘reshoring’! It’s interesting to follow this trend, which doesn’t have only economics but also education and social implications.

What a different world we’re living in ka!

Regards,
Porntip

Tue 5/7/2013 8:58 AM

ptk with happiness all around

Dear all, It was a very nice weekend that made many of us feel so very happy ka.

Every year, we organize a project entitled, “Knowing Our Own Roots” and this year the theme was on “Happiness”. I was able to join in one full day on Saturday when we invited two speakers. One is Prof. Mingsarn Kaosa-ard, and the other is Khun Joan Jandai. Both are on the different extreme of life. The former is successful in the career track in the modern world while the latter turns away from the regular track of life.

Ajarn Mingsarn was one of the smartest kids in the country who tended to get the first rank in almost everything she did. When she fell to the second rank of the National Standard Exam (grade 12), it changed her life. She talked about the huge expectations on her by her own self and more so, by those around her. She felt that particular situation taught her how she brought up her kids, aiming to make them happy with the least expectations imposed on them….for sure, much less pressure on the kids, what some of our Fulbright grantees are going through.

She said happiness was different in each stage of life and for her, she plans to work less (still a lot around 8 hours a day but less when comparing with her earlier 15 hours ka!), watch more of the soap opera, and have peaceful time for herself. Her advice is to know oneself and to seek balance in life.

Khun Joan has a different approach to enjoy the delight of life. He started having lots of questions why he couldn’t get rich working in Bangkok. The small amount of his salary had to be spent on buying stuff from large companies since he woke up….from buying toothpaste to food…sure mentioned the companies that we all know well! He tried to be ‘like’ others by saving up to buy a pair of expensive brand jeans, which turned out to mean nothing but make him starved for that purpose. He said all the brand name goods should pay people for making their brands popular ka! He then went back home to grow rice and vegetables while helping build clay houses. He was highly successful with a simpler and happier life.

He stressed that learning in class didn’t help him much at all as he has no need to use math formula. An example he raised was ‘square root’ and how often we have to use it in our life! It was such a waste of time in his view ka. I thought of Osho loei ka!

As usual in our tradition, we asked all the grantees to reflect on the activities (including potluck with the alumni the previous evening). It showed how inspired they were and how much they have learned that “Happiness is all around.” There’s no need to just try too hard to get it. Simply look around to appreciate what we have, how we have felt so happy because of others and how we can make others around us feel happy too. The two extreme sides are our intention to show the choice in life and in whichever way, happiness is the reward ka.

One kid was so inspired that she wrote about the experience on her facebook with very nice sharing of the overall impression. Another told me he didn’t realize how much he could get from this gathering, saying that he came because it seemed like something he should do.

In our way of working, we don’t have any formal system of evaluation with any type of questionnaire. We listen and observe how our efforts play a part to contribute to our grantees’ thinking, and growth plus their desire to share with others who have much less opportunity ka.

I’m very happy to see them happy and inspired ka.

Happy Monday ka.
porntip

Mon 1/20/2014 7:53 AM

Ptk as a positive traveler

Dear all, my US trip was brief but sort of adventurous.....the first to be so very challenging in many ways but positively, life went on with much less worry ka!

Here were what happened (WH) briefly:
WH: My luggage was the one before last to arrive when it was midnight after long flights from Bangkok!

Ptk: Thank God it was there and there was no queue waiting for a cab anymore!

WH: My world-known brand luggage and its zippers were broken after using it for only three times!

Ptk: Great to buy a new one with more modern model!

WH: I hurt my toe finger from closing the door too fast!

Ptk: Time to slow down to be ready for my old age and enjoy wearing a new pair of flip-flops!

WH: Tornado in St. Charles, Missouri!

Ptk:  Great learning experience to see the hotel's disaster preparedness and people's reactions- Public announcement was made for all to go downstairs and stay at the inner corner of the hotel...hotel staff distributed water. Families held their little ones' hands, telling them is was just like school fire drills.

WH: Power outage that made the room totally dark for several hours!

Ptk:  My little yet powerful flashlight was put to great use.....thanks to Ajarn Boondee ka! And better still, more time to sleep!

WH: The flight out of Missouri was cancelled and affected several subsequent flights!

Ptk:  Good lessons learned how to handle the cancellations and new reservations that can be shared with our Thai grantees......and thanks to my family and friends for the concern and help with the new THAI flight! Plus an extra night in LA!

WH: Long wait-time at the airport without any free Internet access!

Ptk:  Luxury of time to read books bought online earlier!

I'll be back home soon, feeling more positive than ever before ka!

Cheers.
Porntip

Sun 6/2/2013 7:00 AM

ptk and why US?

Xinjia yoo ee ka, everyone! I had a leave yesterday and earned 40 baht from the only aunt we’ve left ka!

There’s an article in “International Higher Education” Fall 2011, entitled, “What International Students Think about US Higher Education” by Patricia Chow. As it included Thailand in the survey, it is even more relevant to us ka.

The author pointed out that the US hosted a record high of 691,000 international students from over 200 places of origin in 2009/10 and so the Institute of International Education and the State Department conducted a series of surveys in 11 key original places with Thailand as one as well. They got 9,330 valid responses (didn’t specify how many sent out na ka.)

The questions explored were, ‘Why do students from other countries wish to study in the US’, ‘What course of study do they intend to pursue?’, ‘Do they prefer the US to other key destinations?’,  and ‘What barriers do students face as they wish to study in the US?’

The existing patterns of global student mobility –out of the 3.3 million students worldwide, 20% is in the US while others are as follows: 13% in the UK, 8% in France, 7% in Germany, China, and Australia, and  4% in Canada and Japan.

The results showed that the US is still the first-choice destination from 75% of prospective study-abroad students….because of its wide range of schools and programs (we have lots!), high-quality higher education system (Um! In doubt mai ka?!), and welcoming atmosphere for international students (Yes!), many scholarship opportunities (Limited?) and good student support services (professional and systematic?). I think the English language being an international language makes it easier too na ka.

The barriers to study in the US include high tuition fees, and complex student visa procedures.

Though it seems that the surveys only confirmed what we already know, it  made me think back of our country as I put in parentheses lae ka. While we always want to be a hub of education or learning or whatever, do we have any serious surveys similar to the one above? Do we know our own strengths and weaknesses best? Have our current foreign students answered some of those simple questions, and what about prospective students……do we know where they are and how to find them?

The ambition (hollow policy !) to become a regional hub seems to be unrealistic as only the beauty of Thai culture, gentle and friendly Thais can’t sell lae ka!

Could the Office of the Higher Education Commission come up with some sort of national surveys dee mai ka?

Warm regards,
Porntip

Tue 1/24/2012 4:03 PM

ptk and top 10 disappearing futures

Dear All, Hope you’re enjoying your work ka. How fast as we’re getting to a weekend again ka.

I mentioned the other day that there’s a fun (and in fact, thought provoking) article I’d like to share and you can see from the subject na ka.

The article entitled, “Top 10 Disappearing Futures” by members of friends of the World Future Society, and published in, “The Futurist”, Sept-Oct 2013 ka.

Kindly note that they are all under the US context and perspectives, which could even be argued among the Americans, let alone us in Thailand (with daily conflicts here and there!)

The top 10 are:
1. Intolerance and misunderstanding (John M. Smart) through the use of global languages, especially English….as long as global science, technology, free trade, resiliency, and wealth continue to accelerate

In the same topic, Daniel Egger projected that in 2030, cultural contexts could be ignored due to social connectivity through advanced technology, reducing needs to learn other languages but the global one(s)

2. Educational process (Jason Siko) with disappearing public education (, using technology and valuing competencies of skills the workforce demands, site-based technical and pedagogical support, disappearing the factory model of education (one size fits all), and end of grade point averages to focus more on endorsements of specific skills

3. Europe …maybe or maybe not (Manuel Au-Yong Oliveira)in existence as it needs long-term culture change along with structural and institutional change to hold the grouping together

4. Jobs and workplace processes (Thomas Frey) with 2 billion jobs (50% of all the jobs on earth) to disappear by 2030

It’s interesting to also share with you 12 technologies which could be job destroyers and job creators (the author refers to McKinsey”s Global Institute ka)… the 12 disruptive technologies are: mobile internet, automation of knowledge and work, internet of things, cloud technology, advanced robotics, autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles, next-generation genomics, energy storage, 3-D printing, advanced materials, advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery, and renewable energy.

Jobs affected examples: teachers to change to ‘coaches’; driverless cars to rid driver positions, traffic cops, etc.

Paul Rux said even teamwork could die down as there may be much less need since workers can come and go.

5. Stores (Barry Minkin) with innovative marketing channels to sell products in different parts of the world….John P. Sagi highlighted the role of robots at ‘Demo Docks’, not stores

6. Doctors, Surgeons, and “Diagnostic Arts” (Joe Thomae) disappearing with diagnosis becoming personalized to be done at home, and the role of advanced technologies to perform surgery (Benjamin C. Yablon), and diagnosis (using science over art) as pointed out by Morton Chalfy

7. Paper-and the places it goes (David Pearce Snyder) requiring people to have new set of skills working on paperless basis….others will be gone even paper money. Karl Albrecht mentioned the disappearance of postal services, personal checks, newspaper, magazines, greeting cards. Interestingly, he believes physical books “may not go extinct completely, because it offers certain subjective experiences not replicated exactly by electronic media.”

8. Human experiences (Brenda Cooper) that are harder to be anonymous since life will be like an open electronic books and that one will be super-rich to be out of this very circle

9. Smartphones (Paul Saffo) to be replaced by AI-based voice recognition

10. Insecurity from car crashes (Tom Schaffnit) with the extensive use of connected and automated vehicle technology

I enjoyed reading this article a lot and after feeling so, feeling insecure how the future world could be. The projections are based on technologies and don’t really see the philosophy of life, how human beings should be connected as human beings who have to nurture good hearts of caring and sharing.

If the world in 2030 were to be filled with ‘advanced technologies’ for us to work more effectively and live more comfortably in such mechanical ways, the one huge hole is people’s hearts and the world is a better place for robots saa laew!

Regards,
Porntip

Thu 8/29/2013 7:28 AM

ptk and the Philippines

Dear All, I just got back from Manila, meeting with my fellow Executive Directors in East Asia and Pacific (Australia, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Taiwan).

Fresh from there, let me summarize what I got ka.

Manila has grown so much with lots of construction going on yet I noticed that it’s similar ka.

General impressions:
- It is so very modernized and the traffic is jammed so the Filipinos have to plan quite well. We were advised to leave our hotel at least 3-4 hours in advance ka. The roads are smaller than ours, though.
- There should be a widening gap from the types of buildings and congested little houses. Life for city and well-to-do people looks like a wonderful one with fancy restaurants and good food all around.  On the contrary, my heart sank when I saw very small boys sitting pitifully by the roadside, waiting to beg for money ka. Post-corrupt leadership era has changed the country into a new chapter of life with different issues and challenges to handle capitalism too ka.
- People were kind and really hospitable. I feel we’re losing our warmth and caring the Thai namjai saa laew when comparing with the Filipinos as they gave very impressive services that you kind of felt that it was from their heart lae ka!
- They depend on exporting workers so much that they have special lines for them. Can we compete with our English proficiency and attitude toward ‘lower status’ of jobs???
- Felt so good to be in the ASEAN region as my female Filipino counterpart and I could hold hands in public and wouldn’t be mistaken for being a lesbian couple ka. Our cultures make our relationships easier in different ways from the west ka….though we seem to move toward that situation na ka.

Regional issues:
- China was mentioned very often as quite a few countries seemed to be cautious about its dominance in the region.
- More countries are focusing on youth mobility with funding support from their ministries.
- English proficiency is of high priority, especially in Malaysia. The government plans to increase Fulbright English Teaching Assistants from 50 this year to 75, 100 and 300 in 3 years ka…..what are we doing and is it a serious sustainable effort?
- Japan was hit hard by the Tsunami and New Zealand with an earthquake so now, we’re getting close to having a standard operation procedures while getting more alert to education our people about safety and precautious measures in time of emergency like food and water to last for 3-5 days at least. In Japan, one company produced helmets and it gave out helmets to all the staff for them to walk back home when tsunami hit them so Fulbright Japan has started providing it too ka.
- We could expect delay in getting funding from the State Department for next fiscal year because this is an election year. With Hillary Clinton announcing that she won’t seek the second term even if President Obama is elected, some new policies will be seen…..could be quite similar to our country to see new projects from new leadership lae ka!
- More funding from the US will be geared for Asia and the Pacific with reduced budget for Western Europe.

Cheers.
Porntip

Fri 3/30/2012 11:12 AM

ptk and Teach for Thailand

Dear all,  let me start by having this quote from Barack Obama as follows ka:

"From the moment students enter a school, the most important factor in their success is not the color of their skin or the income of their parents, it's the person standing at the front of the classroom... America's future depends on its teachers."

This is from my Facebook posted by ‘Teach for Thailand’ and immediately made me feel like emailing to our group !

Last week, I linked our Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) , who have acquired direct experiences in ‘Teach for America’ program with a ‘Teach for Thailand’ key person for them to interact what should be planned, done, and assessed.

In just an hour listening to their sharing, I learned a lot. The objective to make quality education accessible to the poor is ambitious but so very valuable ka!

In the US, the program was founded by Wendy  Kopp based on her 1989 Princeton University undergraduate thesis. It has developed much further to become, ‘Teach for All’, with a number of countries adopting this model to improve their respective education systems. Wendy Kopp has become one of the 50 influential women ranked by Fortune in its recent issue too.

Our American grantees pointed out that teachers would be held accountable if the kids failed. The teachers must take it as their challenges to make the kids learn, however difficult and complicated it could be. They said it was really tough to go through the two years of Teach for America, with many intensive sessions of training and assessment. But finally, they felt so rewarding.

As for Thailand, it’s still in the beginning phase with support from large companies, like PTT and SCG ka. Because it’s modeled after Teach for America, it focuses on leadership development with a series of training and academic support. At this stage, this Foundation has got funding from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for teachers under this program to teach in low-income area schools.

Definitely, there are so many challenges lying ahead for Thailand to make this program work. But I believe that it is a ‘can do’ one as there are strong partners, serious commitment, and sincere caring.

It was great to see younger ones….all are under 30 becoming so passionate about education and how they could potentially take part through these two programs. I now feel more hopeful about our education ka—Gen M’s desire to change the world is used in a very meaningful way and we do need their energy, enthusiasm, and efforts to help with our future generations ka.

Cheers!
Porntip

Tue 10/22/2013 8:03 AM

ptk and political-security Pillar of ASEAN

Dear All, Hope this note finds you well ka.

Following a post-seminar project for 16 high school teachers, we work with RIHED to come up with a so-called ‘Encyclopedia of ASEAN-1st Phase’ and just had a focus group yesterday.

It was so enjoyable ka. I was really impressed that Ajarn Somkiat Onwimon agrees to write about political-security pillar of ASEAN, not because of his name but because his first proposed issues are so interesting.

For this document, we aren’t looking for facts ka….anything that could help American teachers to know and identify key issues about ASEAN to the point that their students will be able to discuss after doing some more research on the topics of their interest checking the websites we’ll have provided ka.

We ask our writers to answer questions in 3 sections ka:

Our first section is looking for ’10 things about ASEAN the public probably don’t know’. Ajarn Somkiat highlighted ASEAN’s geographical base of grouping together, ASEAN centrality on the driver’s seat to prevent any major power domination, non-interference (which westerners could feel so frustrated!), democracy (slow progress the ASEAN way), etc.

The second section is ‘Constructive partnership between ASEAN and the US’. He selected ASEAN’s role with dialogue partners, including both the + and – of countries involved, EAS, APEC, ARF, etc.

The last part is ‘Between two sides of the world’ and Ajarn Somkiat has chosen to discuss comparative historical perspectives, local governments, human rights, etc.

The economic and socio-cultural pillars will also follow similar patterns. Several ajarns from Thammasat, Chula, and Dhurakijpundit as well as a representative from the ministry of foreign affairs and from media gave really good suggestions to include issues on role of mass media in politics like election, rice, narcotics, world heritage under these two pillars ka. I’m so happy to hear that a few said they now are looking forward to reading this booklet ka!

We hope that this document will not only be used by American kids but also by our Thai schools, which are required to be more alert, yet, seem to focus on hard facts that after all, don’t do much to the ASEAN development and our own readiness preparations by 2015 ka.

More highlights on critical issues and critical thinking ka!

Regards,
Porntip

Thu 9/8/2011 9:17 AM

Ptk and internationalization in Thailand

Here I am again ka....sorry for the misleading subject last time na ka...it was about the 10-year mapping of internationalization and thanks for several real prompt feedback ka....driving me to write more na ka nia!

I attended a session on 'internationalizing internationalization' as it would mention about a case study in Southeast Asia only to find that it was about Thailand and surprisingly, it was one with a bit of my involvement ....I remembered it vaguely la ka.

Dr. Karen McBride, assistant director from San Jose U conducted 23 interviews on Thailand's perspectives, policies and activities relating to internationalization-- mainly leading universities and senior leaders in the higher education circle ka.

Here are some interesting findings ka:
- There are altogether  981 inter programs--- have to ask OHEC if it is accurate with one question whether we want to use it officially since we may need to make sure all are 'truly international', or it should accompany our definition mai ka??

- Our internationalization has both the eastern and western elements and I'm so glad ka that we are better in getting to be more unique to fit in with our own context, not simply copying (and sometimes not a complete copy ....without philosophy of what imported ka). The different elements are English language, privatization/university autonomy, ICT, QA, benchmarking against the west, and global workforce.

- In terms of advantages of our higher education, they include culture of hospitality, comparative infrastructure, medical science, cost of living, and geographical positioning.

- On disadvantages, English ability was the first on the list, followed by resource allocation, and formal and detailed national policy.

- There was a comment that no emphasis was on intercultural learning as our focus is on the English language itself and there is not much about other neighboring languages either ka.

Have asked her for a summary and hope to get it once she has polished the document by next month ka.

This is an interesting study which would give some issues for us to see ourselves and what we could really benefit from the advantages we have while making learning about the languages more meaningful too!

It should also be noted that the study seemed to be limited to a few research universities so far as I could gather na ka.

You bet I'll write more ka:))

Warm regards,
Porntip

Thu 5/31/2012 5:24 PM

ptk and international partnerships

Happy Wednesday ka, everyone.

I was told that I was sort of quiet especially toward the end of the year….jing jing ka as I was again running around na ka.

Yesterday, I picked up a book I read once on, ‘Who Goes Where and Why?’ by Caroline Macready and Clive Tucker, 2011. Skimmed through again on internationalization policy of a few countries studies from major importers like the US and UK to key countries in East Asia. Starting to compare the policies, I noticed that the main issues were around setting up of a central coordinating body, changing regulations to facilitate the exchanges, focus on research and science, funding sources (mainly from government support), and numbers of students attracted to exchanges, particularly the inbound students.  There was very little mentioning of the English language issue. (Boy! What a HOT topic in our country, which hopefully doesn’t vapor fast ka!)

The most recent book I just got is ‘Developing Strategic International Partnerships’, edited by Susan Buck Sutton and Daniel Obst, 2011. The document focuses on formal cooperative agreements and there’re quite a few issues interesting to follow, what our country may find very useful to make our cooperation go far beyond PR and numbers ka.

I pick and choose some of the goals for partnerships specified which I find could be useful for our own circle ka. They are student learning as global citizens and future workforce; providing international learning experiences even for students who do not study abroad and even in disciplines that have historically had few such opportunities, connecting to key parts of the world; tackling pressing global issues of health, education, human rights; pursuit of public diplomacy and other national priorities, and shaping the global system of higher education in beneficial ways.

It has given suggestion on how to develop an institutional approach to partnerships as steps identified are creating systems to align with missions,  set targets, develop effective practices to initiate and sustain partnerships plus review processes, etc. It seems to be nothing new, right? I think we have lots of knowledge and experiences without learning to do what we learn lae ka….like great laws in our country without proper enforcement and then keep amending laws mai ka?

For the challenges yet to be met, they are: relative newness of collaborations, avenues of support, procedural and structural roadblocks, political unrest, educational and economic inequalities, false assumptions that both sides understood the meaning of partnership in the same way, and overly ambitious but unrealistic proposals.

For me, it could be something like, making it simple yet systematic, พอเพียง yet with ambition, and friendly from our Thai hearts yet professional too ka.

Cheers.
Porntip

Wed 1/11/2012 9:25 AM

Ptk and ghosts

Dear All, I'm still on the road and life is hectic as usual ka.

Several nice things to share but for now ....Ghosts ka:))

My colleague and I finished the last leg of our assessment visits to 20 schools yesterday. It ended beautifully with our happy hearts to go home tonight.

The last school we went is a small school about an hour from Chiang Mai city. We met with a few teachers and one told us that, 'Matthew (our young American Fulbright grantee who teaches there), saw a ghost in his house (which is an old government type housing ka)'.

He then asked his students whether they knew if there was a woman die in his house before!' the teachers there jumped and tried to find out whether it was true.

Well! After talking with Matt, they learned that it was his trick to attract Thai students' attention. He told us that he observed that the kids are very much into ghost stories ka. He even invited them to his house to 'catch ghosts'.

After the story he invented, he has seen his class with full attendance. Since then, he has to tell ghost stories in English obviously....every time he has his class with this group of students. I asked him where he got all the stories from.

His answer in Thai, 'จินตนาการ'!

I sure will go home, feeling so good how an American teacher is highly capable of being responsive to his students' learning styles learning from their context and their culture!

My heart is even happier until now to know that after the Fulbright grant, he has decided to stay on for one more semester (in this small school with mainly disadvantaged students).

His reason was, 'I want to see my mor 3 students graduate'!

Happy day na ka!
Porntip

Wed 9/5/2012 8:40 AM

ptk and gentlemanliness

Dear All, One little stories to share ka:

We invited our alumni to talk with new grantees about their US experiences. When asked about one thing they learned from their Fulbright opportunity, this is what a doctoral candidate in a Thai university who did his one-year research in the US answered.

“I learned how to be a gentleman. My advisor repeatedly pushed me forward many times to help others whenever it was needed.  He himself even after having sat down, would go up to offer his help.  I have since changed my way of treating others!”

Little things mean a lot especially in our Thai culture  ka. We like to boast of our own ‘namjai’ (heartfelt caring!) and warm hospitality but we still need to learn a lot more ka.  There are such simple things as holding the door for others, offering to tell directions/take pictures, helping place hand-carry up to the overhead bins in a bus or plane. The keyword is, ‘even without being asked’ or ‘even the person is a total stranger, without any high authority/social status!’

I’m glad our country has one more gentleman ka!

Cheers to his professor!
Porntip

Wed 2/12/2014 1:19 PM

ptk and 5 truths about internationalization

Hope you all had a very nice weekend ka. I now am addicted to an American series called, ‘Grey Anatomy’ about interns, residents and attending doctors’ lives ka, sanuk dee!

I just had a chance to go through the most recent issue of International Higher Education No. 69, Fall 2012. Jane Knight wrote about ‘Five Truths about Internationalization’. This led me to read a back issue of her article on, ‘Five Myths about Internationalization’, which I shared with you a while ago na ka.

The five truths are:

1. Building on and respecting the local context –it is clear that internationalization should not dominate local agenda and priorities ka.

2. A customized process—each institution has its own uniqueness and so it needs to make sure internationalization process responds to its needs and interests.

3. Benefits, risks, and unintended consequences – while there are obvious benefits, there’ll also be some negative consequences like low quality of international students, diploma mills, commercialization of low quality education provision, overreliance of income from related activities.

4. Not an end unto itself—it only ensures that international dimension is integrated in a sustainable manner into the missions of the university, which needs to be regarded as means, rather than end ka.

5. Globalization and internationalization are different but linked—may I quote what she wrote which is clear dee ka:

‘Globalization focuses on the worldwide flow of ideas, resources, people, economy, values, culture, knowledge, goods, services, and technology. Internationalization emphasizes the relationship between and among nations, people, cultures, institutions, and systems.’ They are closely connected and that internationalization can be influenced by globalization ka.

It’s always nice to review the internationalization process periodically to make sure that we have common understanding and that our strategic objectives do meet with our own contexts, limitations, advantages and challenges na ka. I now think of ‘ASEAN-mania’ that has been around everywhere (I think the ones benefiting from the mania could be the shops that sell flags and make the vinyl displays ka!) 

Does the Ministry of Education’s policy help gear schools and universities? Would all the efforts bear impacts on our quality of education? Could our students, faculty and staff maximize the upcoming opportunities while preparing for some negative consequences? Many more questions continue ka!

It finally comes to the tough question of What and How?

Happy Monday.

Porntip

Mon 9/10/2012 10:18 AM

No April Fool's trick today ka!

It's April Fool's day today and I hope  you will have fun coming up with or getting some good tricks ka.

Finally, I decided to have my own blog site to share my experiences, which is linked with an egroup that I've had with me since my Office of Higher Education Commission time.

Before I went to Taiwan, I was invited by a class of alumni of Trimitr Witayalai school. As I was a teacher at this boy school for less than two years, I only knew the group a little with a few I tutored before their entrance exam then.

The class, through LINE, was able to gather about 70 of them and 10 teachers. The core coordinators managed to get pictures to show 'before' and 'after'. They divided their friends according to their careers and allowed all to introduce themselves briefly. It was so impressive to see the development of each and every one of them at the age of 46-48!

They also had a very touching ceremony for teachers, having garlands for all to give to us plus a gift bag. Even I don't know most of them, I felt the rewarding return being a teacher, especially when seeing them grow up to be professional and hopefully be good models for their family and circles.

What was in the bag was practical and cute. Besides kanoms, they gave us each a blood pressure monitor, which fits well with teachers' age. Funny they had a bear for us too. This cute bear wears the school uniform and leather shoes.....so so cute and even more cute as it is from boys!

I went home late that night and didn't have enough sleep since I had to catch an early flight the next morning.

But the loss of sleep was fully filled with inner joy and outer smiles!