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ASEAN observes bi-lingual education in Mon village

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Wat Wang Wiwekaran School

IMNA : Education officers from eight countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) observed the bi-lingual education system implemented at Wat Wang Wiwekaran School on the Thai-Burma border on September 20th.

The school is located in Wangka village, an ethnically Mon village located in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. Since the year 2008, the school has utilized a bi-lingual education system, where kindergarteners are taught in the Mon language, and students in the 1st through 3rd grades are taught through a mixture of the Mon and Thai languages; this linguistic integration prepares students for successful future schooling in Thailand’s educational system.

Wat Wang Wiwekaran School was previously recognized in 2009 by the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMO) as a successful example of bi-lingual education.

According to Nai Sunthorn Sripanngern, the coordinator of the bi-lingual education system in Wangka village, this is the first time that representatives  from ASEAN member countries’ ministries of education have visited Wat Wang Wiwekaran School.

“It is the first time [ASEAN officers] have come. The main thing is they want to observe [our] teaching system. But SEAMEO already came in 2009”, Nai Sunthorn said.

Education officers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China conducted observations of the school’s a bi-lingual classrooms.

“They came to observe because they all are trying to find a system for teaching [in multi-lingual regions of their own countries] too. The skills officers, the linguistic officers from SEAMEO also came to observe how the students become clever [in the school’s bi-lingual system] and how they are interested in it [the education the school provides],” Nai  Sunthorn reported

According to Nai Sunthorn, the officers particularly approved of the bi-lingual teaching system used in Wat Wang Wiwekaran School’s primary grade levels. Teachers at the school create their own curriculums and include pictures, songs, and poems in their lessons.

He explained that of particular importance in the school’s bi-lingual system are the teachers’ abilities to to actively and animatedly entertain students during lessons, and to engage students while using educational stories within the classroom setting.

The school utilizes a variety of teaching systems, but all are centered around the idea of making education interesting and easy. The Mon teachers employed at Wat Wang Wiwekaran School are also throughly trained, and have a great deal of experience; Nai Sunthorn attributes the school’s success in engaging students, and maintain high levels of classroom participation, to the institution’s innovative methods.

He explained that the school also focuses on teaching students  basic educational principals and lessons at slow rates, and moving students gradually into lessons of higher difficulty. This method reportedly prevents youngsters from growing frustrated with excessively difficult lessons and falling behind in school.

Teachers also infuse lessons conducted in both Mon and Thai with information about Mon culture and history, in order to spark students’ interest in their culture, society, and traditions.

According to a Mon teacher at the school, the ASEAN group with make a trip to China in the future, in order to compare the bi-lingual education systems implemented in Thailand and China.

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