The Japan Foundation, Bangkok
KOYAMA Shiori

It has been one year since I was posted to the Japan Foundation, Bangkok (hereafter referred to as "JFBKK"). In this report, I would like to explain about Japanese-language education in Thailand, especially secondary schools, in the past few years.

Rapid Growth in the Number of Learners and Teacher Training

In Thailand, there is a strong emphasis on foreign language education at the secondary school level, and many different languages can be taken as a second language. In addition, the World Class Standard School (WCSS), established in 2010, opened its second foreign language program, which was previously limited to students in the humanities, to students in the sciences, and the number of Japanese-language learners has increased rapidly (according to the Survey on Japanese-Language Education Abroad, the number of secondary school students studying Japanese in 2009 was 42,400, and in 2012 it was 88,325).

The problem that arose was the shortage of teachers. To compensate for this, JFBKK and the Thai Ministry of Education have co-sponsored several teacher training programs. The "New Training Course for In-service Japanese-Language Teachers in Secondary Schools" (also called "New Training Program") was held for 18 terms from 1994 to 2015 to train teachers who were teaching other subjects to teach Japanese as well. These include the "Thailand Secondary Education Public Servant Japanese Language Teacher Training" (also called "OBEC Training"), which was co-sponsored by the Office of the Basic Education Commission and aimed to increase the number of teachers to 200 in four years by hiring 50 people each year who majored in Japanese language at university as secondary education civil servant Japanese-language teachers. Perhaps these programs to increase the number of teachers have been successful, as the number of Japanese-language teachers increased from 1,387 in the 2012 survey to 1,911 in 2015.

As mentioned above, Japanese-language education in Thailand is undergoing great numerical changes, but as a Japanese-Language Assistant (hereafter referred to as "Assistant") at JFBKK, I have very little direct contact.

Teaching Teachers

I remember of the faces of the various learners I have met in the course of my work for a full calendar year. I had the opportunity to meet a wide variety of learners, from lower secondary school students to veteran teachers with more than a decade of teaching experience. They have a wide range of occupations, but the overwhelming majority of them are currently Japanese-language teachers.

I have always felt that one of the characteristics of the work at JFBKK is that there is a lot of follow-up with the local teachers. Local teachers are mainly Thai teachers who are teaching Japanese at secondary schools in Thailand. After completing the "New Training Program" in 2015 and the "OBEC Training" just recently in March 2017, JFBKK is now conducting the "Japanese-Language Brush-up Training," a follow-up training for Japanese-language teachers. In addition, there is a "Japanese-Language Teaching Method Brush-up Regional Workshop" where lectures on teaching methods are held in various parts of Thailand, based on various themes, providing support on both sides: Japanese-language skills and teaching skills. I assisted in the "Japanese-Language Brush-up Training."

"I've learned techniques for teaching different skills." This was one of the comments in a survey conducted at the "Japanese-Language Brush-up Training." We received several responses like this, indicating that the training was effective in "teaching" the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and writing. That's right, even though the "Japanese-Language Brush-up Training" does not include subjects on "how to teach" or "teaching methods," the participant teachers have learned "how to teach" from the instructor's classes. This is a lot of pressure for me, as I have very little teaching experience to begin with. A lot of the time I was in charge of listening comprehension, but the listening comprehension questions, which the students can't see, require a lot of concentration to solve. For myself, the listening comprehension class was a big challenge.

Propagation of Achievement

On the day of the graduation ceremony of the "Japanese-Language Brush-up Training," the anxious expression on people's faces at the opening ceremony turned into radiant smiles. I could guess that each of them gained confidence in their Japanese-language skills during these five weeks. These are long-term results of a five week course, but I believe they are the result of a series of small, short-term accomplishments. For example, in the subject of listening comprehension, there were many difficulties, such as the fast speed of the CDs, the unpredictability of what was said, and verbal expressions that are unfamiliar because they don't talk to Japanese people on a daily basis. However, the moment they hear the words that lead to the answer, their facial expressions light up. I believe that the accumulation of accomplishments that accompanied these "special moments" created the smiles on the faces at the graduation ceremony.

It is a great responsibility to have in-service teachers as learners, and to have them watch my own teaching style. But, outside of our classes, there are many more students, and only in-service teachers can help them learn. Improving their Japanese-language skills and teaching skills will help students all over Thailand. The number of people in front of me may be small, but their influence is immeasurable. I would like to do my duties as an Assistant for one more year, where I can feel the great expansion from a small classroom in Bangkok.

Entrance of JFBKK.
The entire building has been renovated.

References: The Japan Foundation, Survey Report on Japanese-Language Education Abroad, 2009, 2012, 2015.