Can we afford to see the almost three-fourths (3/4) of our country’s young generations remain economically stagnant as they are today? We know the necessity of acquiring or learning a second language in order to compete in a developing society. In order for them to reach their goals to strive for a greener future, young non-English speaking students must not be isolated in foreign language classrooms. If the key to upward mobility is learning English, there must be a change in Thailand's classroom instruction methods.
EIS offers a promising program to help less-privileged students acquire knowledge in English. They can now learn the second language with less expense. The pathway for their greener future is now open. Through EIS they can acquire and learn the second language perfectly the same as the more privileged students do.
EIS was first introduced in Makudmuang Rachawittayalai School, but sad to know that it does not prosper because of the change of administrator, and due to the negative perceptions and attitudes of teachers and students towards the use of English language.Secondly, Makudmuang Rachawittayalai School was already an English bilingual school for a long period of time. Therefore, for this reason, most teachers as will as most parents have a wrong concept of the EIS. They thought that it is just a redundancy of the English program.
Surapong Ngamsom is the researcher and initiator of EIS. He then initiated the program at Sunthonphu Pittaya Secondary School (SPSS), a school for poor and less-privileged children located in Rayong Province, Thailand. While the initial reaction from the school’s community was somewhat negative, Surapong’s initiative and commitment to maintaining a positive attitude prevailed, and the teachers and students soon came to accept the program after experiencing effective results.
As proof, after one term of on-the-job training, teachers who were before non-English speaking teachers began using English as the medium of instruction in their classrooms. At first it was not easy for either the trainers or the trainees. It is not easy for the two persons to talk to each other with two totally different languages in which both cannot understand each other’s language. The feeling of difficulty lasts only for a couple of weeks, then the on-the-job-training runs smoothly and gains a positive result. The keys to success are the willingness to learn, receptivity, cooperativeness, willingness to adopt changes, and resourcefulness of teachers and students.
The positive result is not only visible for the teachers but more so to the students and their parents. The students can now interact freely during class discussions using English as a medium.