Home work I, semester 2013

Home work                                                                                                  Khamvone Boulyaphonh

May 5, 2013

My name is Khamvone Boulyaphonh, I am a researcher of the University of Hamburg, and working for the project “the Lao Sangha and Modernity” leading by Prof. Dr. Volker Grabowsky, head of Thaiistik department, Asian-Africa Institute. My task is researching and analyzing the documents, which relating to the activities of the Lao Sangha, daily life in the monasteries, Lao festivals and ceremonies, construction of Buddhist places and traveling abroad of monks in the twentieth century. I am also studying in the Ph.D. level at the University of Hamburg. The topic of my dissertation is “The life, work and Social role of Pha Khamchan Virachitta Maha Thera (1920-2007), Vat Saen Sukharam, Luang Prabang” who was my master, whose collections are being nowadays researched and preserved in the Buddhist Archive in Luang Prabang, Laos. My research work and studies will be finished by the end of March, 2015.

I Help Gene

In the profit-orientation hospital, an increasing of price related to the number of tests ordered by physicians. Even though the price differentiate raids a question on the health service in United States. Does a profit-hospital provide better service than a non-profit hospital? This research discovers, among two systems of hospital, the patients vary in term of age, income, and level of satisfaction with the health-care provider. In the democratic society, fundamentally, the elected government supposed to provide a basic need for her citizen: healthy is an essential one.

Amnuayvit Thitibordin

14 December, 2012

Being Thai, Learning English

The most frequent question from either non-Thai or the native speaker of English tongue toward Thai students is how long or how many years had you been studies English. These popular questions always lead to an awkward answer from most Thai students.  

Why? 

The number of years using to study English is 9 years in the compulsory education system: 6 years in primary-school and 3 years in middle-school. In some case, we need to add another 3 years for high-school student. Moreover, the university graduate should receive more or less chance to encounter with English language in their study. Then, the answer should be 9 years, 12 years or even more than 16 years for the university student. That’s mean, neither blue-collar nor white-collar will awkwardly face similar challenges.  Though, the blue-collar could or at least might be able to avoid these questions by using the so-called Freudian “Defence Mechanisms” to explain their education inferiority that lacking sophisticated English training. Conversely, the white-collar might go further by bringing Thai history of non-colonial supremacy and legacy, many educated-class Thai always connects the ability to handle foreign language with the degree of colonialism. Using a tasteless and anachronistic sense of extreme nationalism in the age of globalization seem to be very smart and rationale for them; but both Thai and some foreign observers seem to be unconvinced by an unintelligent explanation proposed above.

The most important question to ask about English and the second or third language education in Thailand is “What went wrong?” To answer this question, we need to understand the reality of education in Thailand. When they were asked by foreigners about their English, many Thai might lose consciousness, timid in character, or too limited in English to answer the question. I would like to answer the question for them, in the longer period than decade of English education in Thailand, each class provides 1 teacher per 50 students. Each class contains 60 minutes timeslot. Most of the student averagely study two hour per day, luckily, three hour per day. In private elite-school the number of student per teacher is between 25-30 students per teacher or even lower.

Unimaginably about how teacher need to mark student homework or practice in ordinary public school, that is totally a time-consuming. In vice versa, how many minutes for student to engage with his or her teacher. The concern problem does relate only with the ration of learners per teaching staff.  In some rural area, more problems involved budgetary constraints, job market, and bureaucratic processes etc. some schools need to carry on without the teacher from another subject that equipped with unrelated knowledge.

The institution problems in Thailand are decreasing competitiveness and the chance to improve the capacity in English skills. The chance to expose to different learning methods is help the learner in both social competency and language skill. The method proposed by Myers is promising because the content will be create and rewrite by the learner in a very active way that opposite with a very passive using by a teacher to convey a one-way knowledge to the learner.

Amnuayvit Thitibordin

14 December, 2012

Final Writing

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

These seven photos below show three characters of Queen Cāmadevī, the queen in the legend of Lamphūn province, northern Thailand. 

  

Queen Camadevi (Cāmadevī) was a strikingly beautiful woman in a legend from Lanna (Lānnā) (Northern Thailand) who had come from the Mon kingdom of Lopburi (Lopburī) to reign over the city of Haripunchai (Haripuῆjaya) between the 6^th and 8^th C.AD.

I am comparing these three characters of her in order to show the identity that Queen Camadevi was considered both a warrior and a nun.

As the photos, the main feature of Queen Camadevi’s character which was considered the most is a warrior. The photo of the statue in the center of the city Lamphun shows the standing queen with a sword in her left hand that seems to similar as the photo of a sculpture in the hallowed pavilions at the Lamphun weave institute and the photo of the poster of Queen Camadevi the movie. The actress who was starring as Queen Camadevi shows an action resemble as those statue and sculpture. In addition the sculpture in the hallowed place at Ban Koh Klang differs from the other photos mentioned, because it’s the standing queen sculpture holding an archer with her twin son.  

On the hand, Queen Camadevi other character is the nun. The photo of the sculpture in the hallowed pavilions at the Lamphun weave institute on the left hand side and the photo of the sculpture in the hallowed place at Ban Koh Klang on the right hand side represent a queen in a nun uniform. Last, the photo of the actress from the movie reveals the queen in the action and dressed as a queen's grace.

These photos indicate the following characteristics of Queen Camadevi as the elegance woman who ruled the territory in the northern Thailand by religion.

Describe pictures

Describe pictures

1.

2.

The picture no. 1 is a silver foil inscription from Chiang Mai province in Northern Thailand. It written in vernacular scripts and language (Thai Nithet script and Tai Yuan language). The content about in 1567, Queen Wisuttha Thewī of Chiang Mai (c. A.D. 1564 – 1578) ordered court officials to set up this silver foil to the Lawa and Thais people who lived in five villages and ordered them to serviced Wisutthārām monastery. The villagers were not pay for tax and do public works.    

The picture no. 2 is palm–leaves manuscript also from Chiang Mai and written in Thai Nithet scripts and Tai Yuan language. The content related to the silver foil inscription (picture no. 1). This manuscript talk about the event after the reign of Queen Wisuttha Thewī.In 1632, Fā Sutthō, King of Burma came to attack Chiang Mai and herded people included the villager who serviced Wisutthārām monastery to Burma. In the meantime, one of the villagers brought the Queen’s order (the silver foil) to the King of Burma and arked him to let them go because they were ordered from the Queen to survice the monastery. After he read it, he ordered to his court officials and soldiers to unhanded them back to Wisutthārām monastery. 

Final Writing

Average Distance School when No School in Village 2002/3 and 2007/8 

  

(http://www.nsc.gov.la/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=80)

ATTENTION

1)      Time: no limited time, but deadline: 15/1/2013

2)      Interpretation: The chart above, using metric system for length, shows the average distance school (ADS) located in four areas of Laos (LPDR): Urban (U), Rural (R), Rural with road (RWR), Rural without road (RWOR), and Laos as a whole. Both primary schools (PS) and secondary schools (SS) in mentioned areas were took in account, when no school in village in 2002 March (A), and 2007 August (B).

3)      Method: Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

      PS&SS:       -     ADS in R, RWR, RWOR, and LPDR   −−>  A > B

                    -     ADS in U   −−> A < B     

      PS-a:           -     in A, ADS in R −−> R ≈ LPDR

                    -     in B, ADS in U −−> U ≈ LPDR

      PS-b:           -     in A, U had the shortest ADS, RWOR had the longest ADS  

                    -     in B, UWR had the shortest ADS, RWOR had the longest ADS

      SS-a:           -     in A, ADS in RWR −−> RWR ≈ LPDR (very close)

                    -     B was similar to A (ADS in RWR −−> RWR ≈ LPDR (very close))

      SS-b:           -     in A, U had the shortest ADS, RWOR had the longest ADS

                    -     in B, ADS was the same that of A

4)       Requirement: write at least 150 words in three independent paragraphs.  

  

ASSIGNMENT

The average of distance school, both primary and secondary, located in three areas of Laos (rural, rural with road, rural without road), and in Laos as a whole in 2002 March were longer than that of 2007 August, by the same criteria. But the average distance school in urban, both primary and secondary, did not follow suit during the same periods. (61 words)

In 2002 March, the average of distance school in rural was close to that of the whole Laos, whereas the schools in urban held this feature in 2007 August. Furthermore, the highest amount of the average distance school in these two periods was the priority of the schools in rural without road. More important, in mentioned periods, the lowest amount of this item differed. In 2002 March, this feature was held by the schools in urban; and, by the schools in urban with road in 2007 August.  (87 words)

In 2002 March and 2007 August, the amount of the average of distance school in rural with road was sharply close to that of the whole Laos. Moreover, in these periods, the lowest amount of the average distance school was the feature of the schools in urban, whereas the highest was held by the schools in rural without road. (59 words)