MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Vol.9 No.1 (2006) TEACHING OF GERMAN IN teaching of German in Thailand. The author THAILAND: PAST, PRESENT, attempts to state these by means of addressing further questions in the AND FUTURE conclusion and epilogue about the interpretation of the Educational Reform Act, Wanna Saengaramruang1 the objectives of German language teaching at high-school level, the factors to be taken Abstract into account in teaching foreign languages, and, particularly, the policymakers for This paper aims firstly to give an overview of Thailand’s foreign language learning, the development of German language including the German language. teaching in Thailand at both high-school and university levels from the past up to the History present time, since German has been taught in Thailand for more than 80 years and its German language courses were offered for the 2 development has not been studied and first time at the Faculty of Arts and Science, 3 documented systematically or continuously. Chulalongkorn University in 1920 , three The survey and analysis of German teaching years after the founding of the University. The in Thailand in this paper deal with history, first lecturer in the German Language was 4 teaching approaches, curricula, the Phra Montri Pochanakit and in 1935, the first development of teaching materials, the native German lecturer, Dr. Klaus Wagner (the number of German language teachers, first state-university lecturer in the German students, and schools, the attitudes of language), came to the Faculty of Arts. German language teachers, the expectations German courses were suspended during World of and attitudes towards German teaching War II and resumed only in 1957 by Dr. among high-school students, and an analysis Georg Heuser from the DAAD (German of the decreasing number of German Academic Exchange Service). The aim was to language teachers and students. establish German language teaching at 5 Furthermore, this paper also showcases different levels. To realize this, the first group other research works, support organizations, and activities for German language teaching in Thailand. 2 This faculty offered the following subjects: languages, literature, and sciences. It is the current The second purpose of this paper is to point Faculty of Arts. out main problems in the future for the 3 From the report on self-evaluation, Department of Western Languages, Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University, July 2000. 4 Festschrift (1967: 1). Phra Montri Pochanakit 1 Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, studied Chemistry and Pharmacy many years in Chulalongkorn University. The study was funded Germany before World War I. Later he was a by the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University professor at Chulalongkorn University. 2005. Thanks to Keeratikhun Chuenchomrat for 5 The offering of German at the Faculty of Arts help in translation. was made possible by the cooperation of various 51 Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 07:34:34AM via free access Teaching of German in Thailand: Past, Present, and Future of ten graduates was sent to the Goethe Language and Literature at the University of Institute in Munich, Germany, to learn Marburg, sponsored by a DAAD scholarship. German. Ampha Otrakul was among them. After that, she was appointed Head of the After one year and a few months, she returned German Language Department, Faculty of to Thailand in 1959 with the certificate for Arts, until her retirement in 1995. Apart from Teaching German as a Foreign Language and teaching, Ampha Otrakul was a pioneer in a taught at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn number of German-related fields and has University. Thus, she became the first state been recognized at the international level. lecturer in the German language6. Her most important accomplishments include the translation of German literature and youth A German language programme was, in fact, literature into Thai, the translation of Thai offered in 1957, but the first group of literature into German8, and the production of students was not from the Faculty of Arts but a Thai-German dictionary. Moreover, she has from the Faculty of Education. By the end of been the President of the Association of academic year 1962 the first group of three Teachers of German in Thailand for five two- graduates majoring in German was produced. year terms, from 1993 to 2000 and from 2003 One of them, Chompit Saradatta, was granted to the present. In the Faculty of Education, a scholarship from DAAD to study in Surapee Sunghapichai was recognized for her Germany. Then she taught at Chulalongkorn dedication to the development of the German University Demonstration School. At that programme, especially the production of time, there were only three students in the German language teachers at the high-school Department of German Language, Faculty of level. Thanomnuan O’charoen is another key Arts. 1963 was also the first time that two personality in developing the German high-school students majoring in German programmes of the Faculty of Arts. Among passed the Entrance Examination to study in other things, she initiated the first M.A. the Faculty of Arts. They continued to study programme in German Language and German and graduated with a B.A. in 1966. It Literature in 1974, the M.A. programme in can be said that the Faculty of Arts was at Translation and Interpretation (German- that time the first institute to produce teachers Thai)9, and the Ph.D. programme in German of German at high-school and university levels7. In 1968, Ampha Otrakul graduated from the Ph.D. programme in German 8 For example, the translation of Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the translation of the works of Böll and those of Nöstlinger; the organizations: Faculty of Arts, Dean, the Head of translation of the German parts of “King the Department. For German organizations: Chulalongkorn’s Letters from Germany, England DAAD, the Goethe Institute, the German and France to Her Royal Highness Princess Embassy, the German Association for Research Nipanopadol on His Visit to Europe in 1907”, etc. (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG), Inter 9 Thanomnuan O’charoen was also the committee Nationes, etc. See Festschrift (1967) and 1. president for the Master’s Programme in Thailändisches Germanistentreffen (2002). Translation and Interpretation in 1994. This joint- 6 Festschrift, 1967: 22. project included the Department of English, 7 Festschrift, 1967: 9, 26. German, French and Japanese. The Master’s 52 Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 07:34:34AM via free access MANUSYA: Journal of Humanities Vol.9 No.1 (2006) language. Wanna Saengaramruang, the first taught by Dr. Hans Klein, who also taught at with a Ph.D. in German as a Foreign the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. Language from the University of Kassel In addition, other important contributions to 1992, was a pioneer in the writing of German German language teaching at the high-school language textbooks, reference works, and level were made by Srinantha Silapasawat, handbooks for Thai learners, starting from the former education supervisor of the German Grammar I (for Thai Learners) in Ministry of Education, and Prisna Taatloha of 1983, Thai-German Tourism Dictionary 10 in the Goethe Institute. Both of them have 1988 and other textbooks and dictionaries dedicated themselves to curriculum design, for German language learning in Thailand. teaching materials, and activities, authoring Moreover, she has been the thesis advisor to for example, the series of high-school graduate students in German as a Foreign textbooks Viel Spaß mit Deutsch and Language. Most of them are German language organizing Friday seminars (since 1975)12 for teachers at high-school and university levels. German teachers. Another personality was Apart from the graduate-degree programmes Clemens Terörde, Head of the German in the German language offered by Language Division and Deputy Director of Chulalongkorn University, the M.A. the Goethe Institute (1990–1998).13 With his programme in German as a Foreign Language advice and support, a number of teachers, has been offered by Ramkhamhaeng both at high-school and university levels, University since 1999. were granted scholarships to attend training in Germany.14 He gave also support to the German language teaching at high- Association of Teachers of German in school level Thailand in 1993. The first high school to offer German language instruction was Bophitphimuk School in 1934, according to the Announcement of the Ministry of Education.11 The teacher was Mr. 12 Taatloha (2002: 202). Reinhold Oswald Geisler. In 1941, a two-year 13 German language course was offered at the Clemens Terörde was recognized as a specialist then prep school of Chulalongkorn University, in Asian and Western cultures with more than 30 years in Asia (1967–1998), for example, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, and Thailand, 8 years before his retirement. See more information in the article “Vesuch einer Bilanz” in TDLV- Forum 6/2001: 109–15 and TDLV-Forum 8/2003: programme in English-Thai Translation and 1–11. nd Interpretation was launched in the 2 semester of 14 From 1990 to 1997, 106 scholarships to 1999 and then followed by the French–Thai Germany were granted to Thai teachers, 18 to programme (O’charoen, 1998: 71–75). Vietnamese teachers, and 9 to teachers from Laos 10 Funded by the Faculty of Arts 1984. under Mr. Terörde’s consideration. Two training 11 Found in the History of Bophitphimuk School, scholarships were granted to Thai teachers to attend 108th anniversary, p.83, ref. to Taatloha (2002: training courses for teaching German in Indonesia. 195). See more information in TDLV-Forum 2/1997: 86. 53 Downloaded from Brill.com10/07/2021 07:34:34AM via free access Teaching of German in Thailand: Past, Present, and Future Apart from the Supervisory Unit15 in the a. Four-year undergraduate curriculum Department of General Education in the for students from the Faculty of Ministry of Education, there are other Thai Arts: and German organizations which have played This curriculum was specifically a key role in supporting German language designed for the students of Arts.