Integrative approach to learning Thai
This last lesson ends with Maanii writing on the blackboard a list of ten items that sum up what it is to be a good Thai citizen: 1. Love the country, religion, and the monarchy. 2. Preserve our beautiful traditions. 3. Obey your parents and teachers. 4. Speak nicely. 5. Know what it is to be generous and to repay the favors of others. 6. Be orderly. 7. Be able to endure difficulties and try to do your best. 8. Know how to save money for the future. 9. Be honest and brave. 10. Do something useful for the benefit of all.
You will meet a new character, Weera, in this lesson. Three pronouns "ฉัน" (I), " ,มัน" (it), " เขา" (he/she/they), a new consonant ฮ /h/, a new vowel - ึ, and the rising tone mark / -๋ / are also introduced.
This lesson introduces more cluster words using s as an initial consonant. A new character, a monkey named Jao Jaw, is also introduced.
This chapter introduces a few more possessive forms, and more meanings for the same words you've already known.
This lesson provides samples of how to make suggestion. In addition a connecting word แต่ (but) is also introduced.
Maanii is excited since she's going to school soon. New words about schools and school uniforms are introduced. These include some new cluster with ร.
Today is the first day at school for the three children: Maanii, Choojai, and Piti. New words about school supplies are introduced including a greeting manner, “ไห้ว”
In this lesson, the three children, Maanii, Choojai, and Piti meet with the school's principal and their teacher, Kroo Pailin. The Thai way of greeting, "Wai" is repeated in the chapter, and is not limited to merely children. Notice that younger people will "wai" elders first.
New words about daily routine in order to be in good health are introduced in this lesson. Notice that children are taught to obey teachers.
In this lesson, you will learn more about Thai culture. Before going to school and after coming back from school, children will "wai" their parents and other elder people in the family. Parents, then, give them blessing.
In this lesson, you will experience a daily routine of Thai schoolchildren. What students do every morning before classes start? New words are also introduced.
This lesson is narrated in a form of poem. A pattern of this kind of poem is discussed in the "Structure" part.
In this lesson, you should pay close attention to the following: 1) two "heart words" - ตั้งใจ and ชอบใจ 2) the "irregular" spelling (and pronounciation) of ชาติ and สัตว์. The short "i" vowel above a word-final ต is not pronounced. Likewise, the final ว with the superscript "karan" is silent. The noun ตน refers to the self, "me, mine, myself." Two discontinuous constructions indicating that an "agent" is doing something for a recipient so they can act on the stimulus --- teaching someone so that they can sing; telling someone so they can listen; reading to so someone so they can listen" are found in สอนให้นักเรียนร้องเพลง เล่าเรื่องสัตว์เลี้ยงของตนให้เพื่อนฟัง อ่านให้เพื่อนฟัง Notice also the modal คง "probably". The word for domesticate animals สัตว์เลี้ยง is literally "animals raised." The word เรื่อง can be a noun meaning "story" or the preposition "about."
This lesson teaches the days of the week. Note the spoken word for week is อาทิตย์; here the formal, usually written, term สัปดาห์ is used. Likewise "Thursday in everyday speech is วันพฤหัส, but the formal term is วันพฤหัสบดี. Three semantic doublets appear: "fields" ทุ่งนา; "neat and tidy, well-behaved, ready" เรียบร้อย; and "disordered, confused" สับสน Notice that the double function of using a primary school text to teach literacy and to socialize the student, i.e. inculcate values, such as being neat and tidy and not "blocking the way" เกะกะทาง. Note also the grammatical function of บ้าง, used alone or in a series of "some of this, some of that." Compare the pattern of repetition of บ้าง with ก็มาก "lots of buyers, lots of sellers." The word ด้วย has several meanings: "with" or "at the same time"; when followed by a noun it means "with" or "together"; when used at the end of a sentence, as is the case in this lesson, it means "also" or "too."
In this lesson the "repeat symbol" ๆ is used to show that the word or phrase it follows is spoken twice (notice its similarity in shape to the Thai numeral "two" ๒ ), indicating plurality, intensifying, i.e. "very, really," or creating an adverbial. Several semantic doublets appear: สวยงาม "pretty", กวาด ถู "sweep and polish," สนุกสนาน "fun", แข็งแรง "strong", เบิกบาน "joyful." The word เพราะ has two meanings in this lesson: "because" and "nice-sounding. The compound ออกกำลังกาย, which means "to exercise" can be broken down to "out+power+body" The directions ข้างซ้าย ข้างขวา ข้างหน้า และ ข้างหลัง "left, right, in front, in back" are taught in the context of รู้จัก"familiarizing" them through physical exercise..
In this lesson the word อย่าง can be used as a noun/measure classifier for "things" or to change an adjective to an adverb as in อย่างระวัง "carefully." Notice the contrast in the use of เป็น "to be/in/as" found in the expression เป็นแกว "in a line," and "to be something wrong," as in เป็นอะไร Mani and Chujai use the less formal polite particles จ๊ะ๊๊ and จ้ะ in talking to each other, preserving the high and falling tone contrasts.
In this lesson, one sees that the discontinuous construction of บอกกับนักเรียนว่า "telling someone that" is similar to English structure: The expressions กำลังจะ "about to" and ใกล้จะ "almost to" or "near to" both combine with the "future" particle จะ
In this lesson Teacher Pailin continues to instill virtues of being a good citizen and ensuring that "our country must be clean" บ้านเมืองของเราต้องสะอาด. A contrast between the formal conditional "if" หาก and the informal "if" ถ้า is made.
In this lesson the important cultural notion of "group" is in play with the expressions "our group" พวกเรา and your group พวกเธอ. Teacher Pailin reinforces Thai cultural values by reviewing the things that the children รู้จัก "know how to do" (to think and do), not simply รู้ "knowing facts and figures". Grammar-wise, we see the use of the superlative in "the most" มากที่สุด. The words สุด and สิ้น both carry the sense of termination, but the former ends something in a point in time (.e.g., the very last day of the month, the last child), while the latter applies to a slightly longer stretch of time (e.g., the final days or ending of the month or year). The former collocates with more words than the latter.
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