Dr. Soe Than - English Vitamin Articles for Young People

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My job is to teach English at a university abroad, to design curricula, to write textbooks, to conduct teacher training and workshops for teachers. This is a full-time job. In my free time, I also write books to help young Burmese students improve their English. Whenever I meet Burmese friends and parents, they always ask me questions like, “Even after graduating, young people still can’t speak or write English, and they keep taking English courses. Why? What’s the point? What do we need to do to compete with young people from neighboring countries?”

If you think about it, even after being taught English for over 15 years from primary school to graduation, why are they still unable to use English fluently in real life? The answer is clear, because they are far from real-life English, because they are not exposed to it, and because they have few opportunities to use the language. They are the products of a system where they listen to the grammar rules explained by the teacher in the classroom, change the active voice to the passive voice, memorize essays, and pass exams. They have not received hands-on training in communicative English. This is not to blame the system alone, but because the students have few opportunities and roles to use English in real life outside the English classroom. So, compared to young people in some neighboring countries, our youth know English grammar rules and can read and understand, but they often struggle to communicate.

Due to the generosity of parents who want their children to develop as human beings, they feed their children staple foods such as rice, meat, and vegetables every day, and also give them vitamin supplements to prevent malnutrition. In order to serve as a vitamin supplement for the English needs of young people, I have titled this collection of articles "English Vitamin Articles for Young People ."

These articles are English teaching articles that I wrote on Facebook under the account name Dr. Soe Than English Language. I would like to express my gratitude to my “friends” and “followers ” ​​who regularly read and study on my account. Their questions, comments , and curiosity are the reason I continue to write these articles on Facebook.

May all young people be able to speak English and become people who can contribute to the good of the country and the common good.

kind regards

Dr. Soe Than

Ph.D. (English Studies)

University of Nottingham, UK

(soethan@au.edu)