Thai language teacher attracts students fascinated by Thai movies and TV

Thai language teacher attracts students fascinated by Thai movies and TV

2023-09-14

Now we meet a language teacher from Thailand who embraces popular culture. Teerayudh Somwatee came to Taiwan seven years ago for graduate school. He found many of his classmates were fascinated by Thai movies and TV, and were keen to learn the language. That’s how his career in teaching began. And he stays true to his students’ interest, incorporating popular music and idol show references into class. His hope is to tempt more students to the challenge of cross-cultural exchange.

Originally from Chiangmai, Teerayudh Somwatee has been in Taiwan for seven years. He first came here to study, but in the last few years the popularity of Thai “BL” stories has meant a surge in demand for Thai language classes. It wasn’t what he expected, but now he finds himself teaching Thai.

Teerayudh Somwatee
Thai language teacher
I realized there were people who were interested in Thai current affairs. So I found some news articles, translated them to Chinese, and posted them on fan pages online. Then some people were interested in the Thai language, so I took some Thai language materials or simply Thai words or sentences and put them in as references. Then people private-messaged me asking if I taught Thai. I like teaching Thai. I think it’s a great job. And I also like the lifestyle and the living environment here.

Somwatee’s teaching style incorporates current affairs, and he treats his students like friends. They go to the cinema and even follow celebrity news together. His fun classes make easy the arduous work of language learning.

Teerayudh Somwatee
Thai language teacher
Lots of Thai people are studying Chinese now, actually. I want more and more Taiwanese people to study Thai. That way we can use each other’s languages to understand different cultures better.

With his experience of life in both Thailand and Taiwan, Somwatee can easily bring the Thai language into everyday life for his students. His greatest wish is to bring more people into a genuine cross-cultural exchange.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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用語言搭橋梁 "冰塊老師"劉世明掀泰語學習熱潮

2023-09-14

來自泰國清邁的劉世明(Teerayudh Somwatee)，熟悉他的人都叫他"冰塊"，他在台灣就讀研究所期間，因緣際會開啟了泰語的教學旅程，從泰國偶像劇、流行音樂，到泰國的傳統文化，透過他的妙語如珠，讓許多人對於泰國文化有更多的認識，

來自泰國清邁的劉世明，來到台灣已經第七年，原本只是來台求學的他，近幾年因為BL劇的熱潮，引發台灣哈泰族，學習泰文的熱潮，意外地走向泰文教學的旅程。

[[新住民劉世明]]
"我發現有一些人可能是，對泰國的一些現況的新聞有興趣，那我就會找一些有趣的新聞翻譯成中文，貼在粉專，然後就在那有些人，是可能是對泰語的部分有興趣，我就把一些泰語的教材，或者某一些簡單的泰語單詞或者句子，放進去給大家參考。後來就有一些人，就是有私訊來，問說有沒有在教泰語。教泰語是我喜歡的工作，我覺得還滿不錯的，然後就是這邊的生活方式，那個生活環境，也是我喜歡的生活。"

上課風格融入生活時事，與學生互動就像是朋友，帶著學生上電影院，甚至還會一起追星，充滿趣味性的教學，將生澀難懂的語言與文字，慢慢地成為身體的記憶。

[[新住民劉世明]]
"現在其實是很多泰國人在學中文了，那我希望也有越來越多，台灣人來學泰語，那這樣我們就可以用彼此的語言來更多的瞭解，我們不同的文化。"

透過台泰兩地的生活經驗，劉世明將泰語自然地融入台灣人的生活日常，他最大的心願，就是透過語言，讓兩地文化交流的大道上，有更多夥伴加入同行。

以上內容由《我們一家人》節目提供內政部移民署監製

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