Literacy Education for Thai Minority Community

Another three months have passed, and some important changes are coming up for our CLC’s advanced English classes in the near future. DEPDC’s long-term advanced English CLC teacher, Peter is going to leave DEPDC and a new teacher is going to take over Peter’s English classes.

 DEPDC’s Community Learning Center offers an inexpensive option for students to practice and improve their English skills and raise their grades. Private tutoring is quite expensive, and many families can’t afford to send their children there. One major group at DEPDC is students from local high schools around Mae Sai. Another is a group from a local guide.

 Most older students come to the CLC classes to improve their English conversation skills. They often work in fields that require them to occasionally communicate with foreigners in English, so increasing their English skills often raises their employability and improves their businesses.

 The diverse backgrounds of the students makes the classes interesting but also makes them challenging. While the high school students are required to learn a lot of grammar to pass their exams at school, the older students normally need to improve their direct communication skills. For them, learning correct grammar is of little importance compared to simply being able to do business with foreigners in English.

 Basic English classes for children are taught every week, Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The classes have about 20 students who attend. Most students are teenagers, so they can’t just sit and listen for more than a few minutes at a time. They need to do a lot of dancing, games and singing in the classroom. I think that the class is going well and the kids are enjoying the lessons.

 We wish for all of our students to have fun and success in their English classes. DEPDC's staff, volunteers, and especially our students at CLC would like to thank all our past, current, and future donors. Without your support we would not be able to operate the Community Learning Center. Thank You!!