Katherine Burke

6 thoughts on “Katherine Burke”

1. Charlotte

   April 8, 2013 at 5:48 pm

   Hi Katherine,

   I don’t think I know what I am doing either. Welcome to the club! Good to see you here!

   Charlotte from Canada

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   1. Ben Slavic

      April 8, 2013 at 8:03 pm

      If we knew what we were doing, then:

      1. we wouldn’t need this group.
      2. we wouldn’t have any fun.
      3. we wouldn’t do that hard internal growth that comes with this work.

      I don’t know what I’m doing either. None of us does. That’s a good thing!

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      1. Clarice

         April 8, 2013 at 9:38 pm

         We are all on a journey to find out.

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2. Sabrina

   April 8, 2013 at 7:54 pm

   Hi Katherine,

   Welcome! I have enjoyed reading your comments lately, and I think CI in teaching ESL is just as valid and important as it is for teaching other second languages.

   You are lucky to be in Thailand. My father in law has been living there for 30 years and we have visited Thailand three times before we had kids (before becoming a teacher I was working for an international airline and was very fortunate to not pay for airline tickets).

   What a gorgeous place and awesome food. Once we drove across the country and saw all the many beautiful places, especially some of the Buddhist temples in the North near Chang Mai. Lots of fond memories of that country. The only thing I hated was the traffic in Bangkok, because you would be stuck in it for like 4 hours and go insane, especially with the dreadful heat there, wow that was no fun! Do people in Bangkok still travel using the tuk-tuks?

   I noticed that English was really hard for Thai people, am I wrong or is there some truth to that? May be with you there now change will come! Thai also seemed like a hard language to acquire. Can you understand/speak it a little?

   You should do some copywriting to promote TCI.

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3. Ben Slavic

   April 8, 2013 at 8:01 pm

   I had the same thought. She is a writer but also a copywriter. We need to keep in that in mind.

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4. Kath Burke

   April 12, 2013 at 10:29 am

   Hello all

   Thank you for the warm welcome. You know I did reply a few days ago but the website was had a techniccup.

   Thanks for the support for my Inspector Colombo approach to teaching English… I don’t wear the Mac or the false eye but apart from that it’s an uncanny resemblance… the highlight of teaching some reluctant 10 year olds in my condo was the first time we made French Fries… and there was smoke coming from the pan. The kids loved it and were closing the doors to try to set the sprinkler system off. Now they like to say in Thai “Yang mai dtai” which means “I’m not dead yet”… and I thought I wasupposed to get Respect as a teacher here. They really don’t like it when I’m being The Teacher.

   Sabrina – thank you. Yes it’s interesting being here in Bangkok. And I have affection for Thailand and the Thai people. The traffic is a bit better because we now have the Skytrain and the Metro… so there are choices at least for central Bangkok. Though the rush hour is still about 7-8 hours of the day!

   About the language – yes it’s tricky. Thai people typically don’t get good quality English classes at school – very grammar focused, large classes with teachers who can’t speak the language so well themselves (they generally won’t have had the chance to study overseas). And the two languages are very different. I’ve gone to Thai class and I can understand and speak a bit, and read a bit. But I’m not at intermediate level yet – even after over a year here.. .and making the effort. I don’t get much CI to be honest..

   Copywriting for CI… ah yes!

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