New Mandala

8 responses so far ↓

• 1 Susie Wong // Nov 15, 2009 at 3:21 am

  Would it be possible if the Myanmar government could allow any Australian company to open an English school in Myanmar? Or would there be any possibility between the governments of the two countries to open a channel of communication for providing English teachers for Burmese people? I think learning to speak English from native speaker would be much more beneficial because some of the words and phrase in this video are incomprehensible. I genuinely hope the governments of Myanmar and Australia would consider this request because English is an important language in this age of globalization, a proper English teacher would solve incomprehensible and illegible problems.

• 2 Wrigley // Nov 15, 2009 at 6:36 am

  That clip was tremendous, thanks.

• 3 Tom // Nov 16, 2009 at 2:32 pm

  Susie Wong,
  Interesting idea. At APEC, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith hinted that Australia was considering development aid to Myanmar, in addition to the humanitarian aid it is giving. This would probably fall in the development aid category, and I think would be a worthwhile idea.
  Tom

• 4 Susie Wong // Nov 16, 2009 at 4:53 pm

  Thank you Aussie!
  Thank you for taking innovative thinking into high gear and work alongside Myanmar government and her highly motivated people to learn English. Thank you for applying your skills to one of the most challenging, interesting, and meaningful projects. I think people to people communication is as important as the Market and the State components.

• 5 Bamar // Nov 16, 2009 at 5:09 pm

  Susie,

  I am told by recent visitors to Myanmar that IELTS classes are sprouting all over the 2 main cities, Yangon and Mandalay, faster than ever. Apparently, students aspiring to go for further studies in English language speaking countries need to attain a certain level of IELTS, hence the popularity.

  I do hope the development aid that Tom mentions above will materialise soon and turn into more systematic teaching before the some of the dubious IELTS providers turns this ‘hunger for English’ into chaos.

• 6 Hla Oo // Nov 16, 2009 at 6:14 pm

  Massive English class are not a new phenomenon in Burma, especially in Rangoon and if it is free. More than 35 years ago I used to sit among at least a thousand young Burmese almost every week for more than six months in an English class given by an aging American Buddhist monk in the large mess hall of giant Tha-yet-taw monastery in Rangoon.

  Right in the middle of the class he would frequently remind us of the evil of totalitarian society, and praise the glowing fighting-beacon from United States of America against the heaving communist tide in South East Asia.

  It was a strange concept then for us young Burmese growing up in the era of Burmese Way to Socialism, for the Vietnam war was almost over and influenced by the government propaganda we thought the Vietnamese Communists led by Uncle Ho were gallant heroes against the American invaders.

  He never told us his American name except his monk name. I think, eventually Ne Win kicked him out of Burma for his anti-government and anti-socialist rhetoric or simply killed him, for he just one day disappeared and our English class was suddenly over.

• 7 Luecha Na Malai // Nov 18, 2009 at 1:12 pm

  A foreigner may succeed in learning English through her/his own effort, not just by following the crowd. I hope Burmese students are unlike Thai students in not just claiming they want English and yet not putting earnest effort into their learning it. Most Thai students illustrate how to learn English without succeeding, native-speaker taught or not.

• 8 A Thai // Nov 19, 2009 at 3:14 am

  The clip breaks my heart. There are so many hungry souls out there wanting to learn. This kind of students makes teachers’ lives worth living.

  I agree with Luecha that one only succeed on his/her own effort. I learned to speak by myself at age 24 as what I learned from schools didn’t help me to speak at all. However, the more resources for these hungry learners the better.

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