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Your Health & Happiness: Top honours for Thai spas and wellness resorts
Hua Hin, Thailand – Five Thai spas and wellness
retreats won top honours at the 2006 SpaAsia Crystal awards ceremony during the
second SpaAsia Wellness Summit organised at this rapidly growing beach resort
last week.
Just under 300 delegates from 30 countries, including spa professionals,
investors, hoteliers, medical practitioners, brand managers and governmental
agencies, attended the summit, held here for the second consecutive year.
The summit focussed on reviving the “spirit” of the industry under the
theme “Themed Enlivening the Spirit: Kindred Hearts to Healing Passions.”
Organised by the Singapore-based publishing group Wellness Media, the summit
featured a line-up of internationally acclaimed and accredited speakers,
comprising academics, doctors, life coaches, healers, trainers and spa
operators.
The Thailand SpaAsia Crystal award winners were:
Best Human Resource Programme: Six Senses Resorts & Spas
Best Destination Spa: The Dheva Spa at Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi,
Chiang Mai.
Best Wellness Retreat: Chiva-Som International Health Resort
Best Complementary & Alternative Medicine: Chiva-Som International
Health Resort.
Publisher’s Choice Award: The Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle.
The summit was preceded by a professional Study Tour organised by the Spa
Association of Thailand to give participants a chance to meet with a premium
selection of Thai Spa operators and checkout a display of Thai Spa products.
Tourism Authority of Thailand governor, Juthamas Siriwan said, “The promotion
of health and wellness tourism is one of our key strategic marketing directions
in the year ahead. The summit gave Thailand a wonderful opportunity to take
this strategy forward.”
Thailand is blessed with an abundance of practitioners of both modern and
traditional forms of health and wellness.
The Thai government is trying to promote traditional health because they focus
on prevention rather than cure, use local resources and contribute to the
preservation of tropical plants and local heritage.
Thai herbs, used in cuisine and medicine, as well as health and beauty
products, are a part of daily life and used prominently in the more than 700
long-stay health care centres, spas and resorts in Thailand. For those who
prefer modern medical treatments, Thailand boasts more than 400 private
hospitals.
Wellness and beauty products are estimated to generate annual revenues of
billions of baht for the Thai economy.
The Doctor's Consultation: Liver, ethanol and health foods
by Dr. Iain Corness
Ask any man which is his most important organ and he will
undoubtedly point to his bladder’s siphon hose. Perhaps the magic symbol of
masculinity, but it is certainly not the be all and end all. (Though
indiscriminate use can end all!)
The liver is one of the more important organs you possess. Without it you will
die, whereas you can get by without a kidney, or a lung or a thyroid, or even
Willy the wonder wand for example (most women do)! Yes, I’d rate my liver
above my thyroid any day.
Think of your liver as a filtering and detoxifying device. Chemicals are taken
up by the liver, to be broken down into non-toxic chemicals, all to protect
your system. Clever organ your liver, to know what’s good for you and what
isn’t.
The most well known liver toxin is our old friend ethanol, more usually
referred to as booze. There is “common wisdom” that says certain types of
booze are more damaging than others, but that just isn’t so. Irrespective of
the color or shape of the bottle it came in, ethanol is ethanol, is ethanol.
It is the percentage of alcohol that is the important factor. That alcohol
affects the liver is generally accepted, with the end result being called
cirrhosis, a fibrous hardening of the liver which then becomes unable to carry
out its job correctly. Toxins build up. You feel unwell and it’s all
downhill from there.
Some proprietary or prescription drugs can produce an inflammation of the
liver tissues too. Or worse, produce a breakdown of the liver tissue itself.
Amongst these is the headache medication paracetamol (the ubiquitous
“Sara” tablets, for example), but before you throw them out of your
bathroom cabinet, it requires some heavy and very frequent dosage of
paracetamol to do this.
Other prescription items that may produce liver problems include Methyldopa,
several penicillins, Simvastatin (the cholesterol lowering drug), Diclofenac
(a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) and Ketoconazole (anti-fungal).
Prescription drugs can be dangerous (even though you can get most of them over
the counter in Thailand), but that’s why they have a PI (patient
information) leaflet inside the box (the bit you throw away and don’t read).
Probably if you read it, you wouldn’t take it!
However, what about “Health food” preparations? The purveyors of these all
cite the fact that the ingredients are “natural” so everyone assumes that
this means “safe”. Not so, I’m afraid. Lead, for example, is a naturally
occurring compound, and not much good for young kidneys. However, since we are
talking about liver problems, hands up all those of you who have heard of
Echinacea? Supposedly fixes everything from falling hair to fallen arches –
but is it “safe”? Well, Echinacea, along with Kombucha Tea are two of the
commonest compounds showing a well documented history of being toxic to the
liver. So if you’re sipping Kombucha tea because you’ve drunk too much
alcohol last night, I would suggest that you change to water!
Others for sale in the Health Food shops with known toxic effects on the liver
include Evening primrose oil, Valerian, Chaparral, Japanese Daisaiko-to (for
dyspepsia), Chinese Jin-bu-huan and several forms of herbal teas such as those
from Heliotroprium, Senecio crotalaria and Symphytum. Makes you think that the
shops that sell them may be incorrectly named, doesn’t it!
But while the column this week seems to be spreading doom, gloom and disaster,
it’s not quite that bad. The liver is a very powerful organ and is capable
of regenerating itself quite quickly, so in most cases of toxicity following
ingestion of chemical compounds (including alcohol), by stopping taking it the
liver recovers and the patient feels well again.
So remember that if you are taking anything regularly and you feel unwell, it
may be the liver – but tell your doctor everything you have been taking! And
no thanks, I’ll give the herbal tea a miss today.
Agony Column
Dear Hillary,
I have been reading your column for many moons on the internet and it
always brings a smile. Been there done that caught that been cured. Now
that I’m finally living in Thailand, I read it in hardprint! Anyhow, I
wished to update you regarding activities at the Chicken Pluckers Arms as
you didn’t seem to have the full picture. On any given evening at the
Pluckers, there are literally dozens of older pot bellied partakers in
coloured beverages that are only too willing to buy a new Trumpy for any
of the delectable young bar-ladies serving them their elixir.
Unfortunately though, there is no “I go with you sexy man” attitude.
So instead, they will down about 15 pints a night to enhance their sexy
image when they come for their yearly two week trip to Pattaya. As they
are fitness minded individuals, they will also forego the pleasures of
chocolate and only partake in the odd serving dish of chips in order to
input the required sustenance. I hope this clarifies the situation at
Pluckers for you.
Tiger
Dear Tiger,
So I take it that sales of Trumpy’s are down over and up there in the
UK, which might explain why Triumph have opened up a factory in Thailand,
my Petal. If the British bar girls were to get in and pull their weight
like the Thai girls do, then the entire economy and other things in the
British Isles would be on the up and up it seems. And a Trumpy in every
bedroom! Thank you for the explanations of the British mating and drinking
habits. No wonder the poor old codgers come out here, even if it is only
to buy a Yamaha step-through! It’s probably a bit late for them to throw
a leg over a Trumpy by now anyway.
Dear Hillary,
Love your column every week, and agree with the guy who wrote that he
wants it more than just once a week. Have you ever thought about putting
it all together as a book, Petal? Think of it as a retirement benefit
plan, sitting back with all the royalties pouring in. You’ll be creaming
them, Hills, creaming them!
The Avid Reader
Dear Avid Reader,
Oh if only it were that easy. JK Rowlings and Harry Potter move over, here
comes Hillary with tall tales and true from the magical country of
Thailand! Read how wicked witches can place a spell over 70 year old men
which changes their credit cards into molten plastic. Watch as bank funds
magically transfer themselves from one man’s bank overseas to an
uneducated Thai girl’s account in Isaan! Wonder as superannuation plans
turn themselves into funds for maintaining herds of buffalo way
up-country! Learn why gold shops like foreigners, especially when they
have a Thai girl on their arms and learn the ‘buy back’ secret
involving bar girls, motorcycles and their salesmen. Find out why pharmacy
assistants have blue thumbs after counting diamond shaped pills all day,
and learn about the disappearing willies from the ‘girls’ on Beach
Road. Yes, Avid Reader, I think these little known secrets should be made
public, and Hillary is just the girl to do it. Thank you for the idea, and
I’ll let you know when they are in the shops, so you can be the first to
buy one. It should be a best seller. I’ll even offer to autograph copies
for a nominal fee, like a box of Belgian chocolates and some French
champagne!
By the way, when you say that you want it more than just once a week, I do
presume you are referring to the column and not anything else (or any
other column-like appendages)! You can’t be too careful these days, I
tell you, Petal!
Dear Hillary,
The other night at a party I met a lovely buxom lady from Morocco who
is over here for a conference and then holidaying for three months. Before
making any further moves which could embarrass me, do I have to be
circumscribed (sic) to date a Moroccan? I thought I would take her for a
run in the countryside and show her a bit of Thailand first, but I do not
want to spend too much time on the project if I will still get nowhere.
Enquiring and intact
Dear Enquiring and intact,
You certainly don’t hang around, do you Petal? What sort of a hot date
did you have in mind? A fact finding mission to see what Buxom Moroccans
wear under a caftan? I also presume you really meant “circumcised”
rather than “circumscribed” (laying down the limits) or were you just
being circumspect (a trifle wary)? Whatever, yours is this week’s
silliest question. I am sure the lady in question is more interested in
what sort of person you are, and where you are taking her, rather than
whether you’ve had one centimeter lopped off the end of your exhaust
pipe. By the way, what “bit” of Thailand did you have in mind? And the
item about getting nowhere? Depends whether you take a map with you, my
Petal, so you should know where you’re going, doesn’t it?
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Camera Class: Seven Days in the Kingdom
by Harry Flashman
There is a book that was published almost 20 years ago called
Thailand Seven Days in the Kingdom (ISBN 0-920691-37-4, Times Editions,
Singapore). During the period March 2-9, 1987, 50 renowned photographers shot
Thailand, as they saw it, and their work (85,000 shots) was compiled into a very
large coffee table book. I am lucky enough to have one of these books, given to
me by the Thai photographer Tom Chuawiwat.
Luca
Invernizzi Tettoni
However, this is not a ‘for sale’ advertisement, this book is far too
valuable to let out of my sight, let alone part with forever. But what this book
does show is that all of us who own cameras have a wonderful photographic
subject to shoot. Thailand. In all its enormous diversity. Take a look at the
photograph with this article. Taken by famous photographer Luca Invernizzi
Tettoni, this is a wonderful shot. And it is a shot that we can all learn from,
if we open our eyes to it, and other opportunities.
Taken in the Dusit Maha Prasat, this is described as a bronze figure holding the
sword of a past King. Look at the lack of detail in the background which means
that the photographer probably used an aperture of around 2.8. There are also no
signs of artificial lighting, so I have to presume that the shot was taken under
natural light. There is no distortion anywhere, so it wasn’t a wide angle
lens, in fact it looks as though it was probably a standard 50 mm lens. That
being the case, there is no reason why you and I cannot also take this shot, is
there? Walk in close, set the aperture on 2.8 and let Aperture Priority find the
correct shutter speed and you have it.
However, I am not advocating that you high-tail it to Dusit Maha Prasat and
slavishly copy this image, but what I am saying is that ‘similar’ shots such
as this one of Luca Invernizzi Tettoni’s are completely possible for you, an
amateur. All it needs is for you to open your eyes to the endless photographic
subjects that are in Thailand, right there in front of you.
So a few pointers. First, do not be afraid to walk in close. In fact, walk in
several meters closer. Take a look at Luca’s photo again - he is so close he
has cropped out the spire on the hat, but the image does not lose its power. In
fact, it is even stronger. I repeat, walk in several meters closer!
The book Thailand Seven Days in the Kingdom was really a maxi-project with the
50 photographers snapping away for a week, and this can again give you a tip
towards your own picture taking. Rather than a week, I suggest that you spend an
afternoon on one subject. Choose the concept and then go and shoot it. The book
had five main topics, Institutions, Religions, Rural Life, City Life and finally
one called A Heritage of Beauty which was a study of the ‘old Thailand’
still with us today.
So what could you shoot? Well here’s a few (and teachers may even like to give
some of them to their classes as a project) starting with Transportation. What
scope you have here from city transport, right the way through to pedi-cabs.
Just remember to make the subject the “hero” and move in close!
Another subject could be the marketplace. Again there are so many items of
interest in any market, from the ‘on the spot’ butchering, live eels on
display, to BBQ grills with smoke belching out of them, to the carousel for the
children while mother shops. A complete afternoon (and more) is there for you.
Just give yourself a project and go and shoot it.
I have written before about your local temple. The wat offers you an incredible
array of subjects, and you can take these without getting in the way of the
followers of the religion. For example, close-ups of the filigree work on the
columns and the details in the murals will keep you going for many days, to
cover the subject completely.
Give yourself a project, and walk several meters closer!
Money Matters: Currency Management Strategy Part 2
Alan Hall
MBMG International Ltd.
As for economic fundamentals, the
euro-zone is now in a tightening phase as the ECB is moving to raise
interest rates and central bank liquidity has been tight for some months.
The ECB also has a tougher inflation target than the Federal Reserve and GDP
prospects look decidedly better over the next 12 months. We continue to
favour the Euro over the US dollar in the short term but remain cognizant of
the facts that the EU constitution remains fragile and that European growth
is likely to falter at any point.
The US current account deficit is nearly US$800bn and the Bush Government
budget deficit gets no smaller. Enough said when combined with a potential
GDP growth slowdown and negative interest rate carry.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has signalled that the days of quantitative easing
are over and that the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) is near. As domestic
growth and demand improves the BOJ becomes increasingly confident that
deflation is over and that the economy will continue to improve. There is no
doubt that the Japanese economy has turned the corner and with recent
liquidity being reduced from the Japanese system, the Yen is our favoured
currency on a short/medium term basis. To also help explain recent equity
market turmoil an investor need look no further than the Japanese net
liquidity being drained by the BOJ from the system, monetary base growth has
turned sharply negative.
The British pound has traded in a narrow range with the Euro over recent
times. The UK housing market appears to have stabilized and with high real
interest rates and an inverted yield curve, has positive interest rate carry
momentum in the short term. However, the large current account deficit and
high consumer debt levels give longer term concerns.
 China
is the new kid on the major currency cross-radar. The Renminbi has been
pegged against the US Dollar until recently and is very slowly being allowed
to appreciate over the past 12 months. When the currency peg was in place
you could have argued that the US/China deficit/surplus negated each other
but now the Chinese may “touch” the monetary brakes temporarily to cool
off credit and slow growth slightly, but with the 2008 Olympics and 2010
Shanghai World Trade Fair looming, it will be short lived. Given the massive
geo-political risks at present, what are the short term trends?
The weakness of the dollar index this year from the 200 week moving average
levels reconfirms the longer term trend of dollar weakness as we head to 80
on the DXY. The US Dollar went into freefall in early April after breaking
an up trend line of a bearish head & shoulders pattern. However, it’s
possible that the US Dollar might actually be forming into a bullish inverse
head & shoulders pattern with the left shoulder in early 2004, the head
in early 2005, and the right shoulder currently forming. If this is the
correct pattern, then the US Dollar could soon find support and rally all
the way up to the 100 level.
The above comments from our technical research team confirm the big picture
view that for the US dollar index are key and a bounce back towards 100
would break the 200 week moving average. This would be the end of the long
term trend. To break the 20-30 year range on the US Dollar index will
require a significant monetary or geo-political event such as a breakdown of
the dollar standard, avian flu epidemic or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian
president attempting to carry out his threat of having Israel wiped from the
face of the earth. The rally in the gold price shows demand for the precious
metal that far outstrips commercial supply and demand. The gold price has
also decoupled completely from the US Dollar recently as a “major
threat” premium is built into the price of the oldest store of wealth vs
almost all flat currencies in the past 12 months.
In conclusion, in the long term we may be near the turning point for the US
dollar and breaking 80 on the DXY is a seismic event. In the short term US
dollar based investors need to have significant non-dollar (preferably Euro
and Yen) assets unhedged in their portfolios whilst investors who wish to
buy assets in US Dollar should hedge out the currency and hold cash in Euro
and Yen. Much the same as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and before him Saddam
Hussein, wish to do with their OIL proceeds!
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The above data and research was
compiled from sources believed to be reliable. However, neither MBMG
International Ltd nor its officers can accept any liability for any errors
or omissions in the above article nor bear any responsibility for any
losses achieved as a result of any actions taken or not taken as a
consequence of reading the above article. For more information please
contact Alan Hall on alan@mbmg-international.com
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Tail waggers: Dogs and their impact on human society
by Nienke Parma
 Dogs
have their own way of communicating.
Dogs
have taken on many roles in order to help us. The ones they fulfill nowadays
differ from those in the old days. Although they are still used as hunting
aids and as protectors of homes and properties, currently their tasks are
mainly aimed at being our companion pet-animal. They are also used for more
specific tasks, such as for sports and competitions, rescuing disaster
victims, tracking down criminals, lost ones above and below water, narcotics,
explosives, melanomas, or guiding and assisting our blind and deaf, the
elderly and those with special needs. They act on stages or in movies, or even
as a plain income or food source, as science objects or as living objects for
the fulfillment of the gambling needs of the more bloodthirsty amongst us.
Research conducted over the last 20 years shows the impact that dogs (and
other pets) can have on children, elderly, the stressed and the physically or
emotionally disengaged. For instance, doctors at Duke University found that
postoperative heart patients adjusted easier to the new conditions of
self-care while caring for a pet, which in many cases facilitated a speedier
and more complete recovery. Dogs also serve as a stimulus to exercise, a key
factor in most recuperation. Other studies have found that pet owners have an
8 times higher chance of surviving one year after a heart attack, have fewer
doctor visits, shorter hospital stays, and an easier time adapting to a new
routine of recuperation after an illness. Pets lessen stress by lowering heart
rate, blood pressure, and even cholesterol. Elderly people have a lower
incidence of cancer when caring for a pet, and Alzheimer’s sufferers and
autistic children more easily brought back to reality, stimulating them to
smile, touch, laugh, and talk through simple weekly visits from pets. Pets
also help combating depression and isolation through their role as
ice-breakers, and are used regularly in psychotherapy with children. It was
also found that pet-owning children in a war-torn region of Croatia had the
lowest levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
In other words, dogs and other pets can have a great positive impact on our
society. Unfortunately, the opposite does also happen. Worldwide many dogs are
unnecessarily euthanized as a result of physical problems or unacceptable
behavior such as aggression. Often such an action could have been prevented if
we would have understood how a dog’s behavior develops. What we often forget
is that dogs are still animals, having their own way of communication with one
another and with us. They use these signals with us when they are in stress or
in potential conflict, which almost always goes prior to a growl, snap or
bite. It is our responsibility to know what to look for to decrease the risk
of conflict between our dogs, our children and ourselves.
More on this in the next article …
For more information on pets’ health, dog and cat boarding, dog training and
behavior modification and counseling, please, visit www.luckydogs.info or
contact LuckyDogs: 09 99 78 146.
Life in the Laugh Lane: Seeing things another way: part one
by Scott Jones
When I was 15, my personal hero was blind:
George Shearing, the amazing British pianist. I stumbled onto one of his
songbooks and painstakingly learned his unique chord structures. I imagined he
could never think of those strange combinations but perhaps kept putting his
fingers on the wrong keys. He had a tender, sweet touch that gently caressed
the tones out of the keys. His influence is still all over my style. You
don’t go from one chord to the next; you find your way with all the notes in
between, like feeling your way along a wall in a dark room - his everyday
reality. Thirty-five years later I finally met him and saw him play live at a
club, more of a master than ever. I don’t think his blindness was a
disability; it enhanced his abilities. I just played the piano; he became
the piano.
A friend whose blind father was George’s piano tuner and fellow patron of
blind causes in New York related a story George like to tell. In the early days
of commercial airlines, before hour long security checks when you’d hang out
with the pilot, George was on a small plane waiting for passengers to board.
The pilot asked if George wanted him to take his seeing-eye dog for a walk.
George said, “Sure!” The pilot put on his official hat and sunglasses
before being led down the front stairway by the dog as the passengers were
walking up the rear one. Everyone was visibly upset at the concept of a blind
pilot, probably hoping he’d have a seeing-eye eagle while they were flying.
I drove a taxi for a while and two of my regular riders were an elderly blind
couple who required that I back into the driveway and position the rear taxi
door by the sidewalk. Always ready at the door when I arrived, they probably
heard my taxi two miles away, or maybe smelled its stale, musty odor. They’d
come prancing down the walk and jump into the taxi as if they had about sixteen
eyes between them, then give me a running commentary on all the sites we
passed. “The court house is having major reconstruction.” “The
Johnson’s have painted their house pink!” “Honey, the traffic is very
slow. I hope we won’t be late.” I don’t really think they were blind.
They just wanted the special treatment I gave them.
Maurice was the proud blind father of ten strapping sons and daughters who
lived on a horse ranch in Wisconsin. When I rode my bike in, he’d follow me
by crashing invisibly through the woods next to the driveway. He didn’t trust
the parking lot where cars would be in random locations, but the trees grew
slowly and he knew where everyone was. He liked me because he could feel I
liked him and would follow me around by leaning his 110 kilogram body next to
my leg, almost knocking me over. Maurice was a huge St. Bernard dog, with
drooling jaws and drooling eye slits. One day a sinister salesman came to the
ranch, and to dispose of him, Maurice used his practiced technique of rising
onto his hind legs, putting his front paws on the man’s shoulders, his
drooling face a few inches from the man’s wide-eyes, and walking him backward
out the door. He had a great life in the country with his loving, seeing-eye
humans.
For a decade I lived across the street from Jeanette, blind, living alone in
her large home. You’d never know she was visually impaired watching her work
in the garden, just that she loved to touch her flowers. She’d set up the
sprinkler and walk around it in a circle, feeling the mist, making sure it made
to all her babies. One winter after a foot of snowfall, I went out 2 a.m. to
help shovel out a friend’s car. He left; it was a beautiful night; I started
shoveling my sidewalk. A few minutes later I hear another shovel. Jeanette was
out doing her walk, hearing the scrape on the sidewalk below the snow, feeling
when the shovel was full. No problem with the job or the time; it’s always
night in her world. One afternoon while mowing my lawn I felt this presence and
looked across the street to see Jeanette waving frantically. I walked over to
hear that her phone didn’t work and she needed to make a call. I gave her
mine and she dialed a number a bit slower than the speed of light. At the end
of the call, she said, “Thanks. Who are you?” I said, “Scott, your
neighbor across the street.” She said, “I never see you!” How do you
respond?
Blind Tom always set us at ease with his ability to laugh at his disability.
“Last night I got into a fight with another blind guy in the parking lot.
Someone in the crowd watching yelled, ‘I bet ten bucks on the guy with the
knife.’ We both ran away.” Tune in next week for more tales of Tom.
Language Matters : How persnickety should the teacher be?
by
Peter McKenzie-Brown
There are endless debates among language teachers about
how concerned teachers should be with their students’ language output.
What is the best balance between the extremes of correcting most of their
errors and correcting none? Do we want students to speak accurately, even if
doing so limits their ability to use the language easily? Or do we want them
to speak more comfortably (that is, fluently), even at the expense of
accurate pronunciation and grammar? How persnickety should the teacher be?
There will always be battles between advocates of accuracy and advocates of
fluency. However, most Western language teachers now fall into the latter
camp, and they are supported by a large body of research and language
theory. According to this point of view, there is an inevitable lag between
language fluency and language accuracy. As language learners develop greater
comfort in using a second language, they become better able to identify and
correct their own mistakes. I believe this principle should dominate
language acquisition.  Here
is a diagrammatic illustration of best-practice language activation in the
classroom. At the bottom of the diagram are the technical stages a good
lesson should go through. Your class should begin with language study, and
then continue with activation of the language through controlled, guided and
free practice exercises.
Forget about spending endless hours teaching grammar or having your students
repeat sentence patterns by rote. Language acquisition takes place most
effectively when your students use it in increasingly life-like situations.
As the band leader said in auditions, “Don’t play me scales. Play me a
damned tune!”
The focus on accuracy is strongest during the language study phase of class.
Here the teacher explains some points of grammar, pronunciation or
vocabulary, and does most (if not all) of the talking. There’s little
possibility of error, because students don’t say much. This stage of the
lesson is short, however.
Teachers need to structure their classes in such a way that they say less
and less as class rolls on, while the students say more and more. When they
do this, students become increasingly active in later stages of class, the
“three practices”.
In controlled practice, the teacher remains in control. Student activities
are such that it is fairly difficult for them to make errors – and when
they do, the teacher’s job is to make corrections. At this stage, teacher
input (also known as “teacher talk time”) is about equal to student
output (“student talk time”). But student output completely dominates
the latter parts of the class. The teacher relaxes control progressively
during guided and free practice activities. Sure, your students will make
mistakes, but their fluency will improve. And if you design your activities
well, your students will correct each other or themselves when challenged.
I haven’t described all the components of an ideal lesson plan in this
column, of course. For example, good classes begin with a warm-up, which
serves to switch on the student’s “second language brain.” They also
include a stage often referred to as “engagement” – a few minutes of
class in which the teacher catches student interest and generates excitement
about the upcoming topic of study.
This column is barely more than the sketch of a notion, but the basic idea
is strong. Let accuracy go in the interest of fluency. If you do, the odds
are you will see immediate improvements in your student’s classroom
performance.
Peter McKenzie-Brown (licmu@chiangmai.ac.th) is head TEFL instructor at
Chiang Mai University’s Language Institute.
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