Replays show that players get away with being off-side or get flagged down when they are in perfect position. Players protest when they think the referee makes a bad call against their team, but to no avail. A player gets cut down from behind by his opponent and the referee sticks a yellow card in the culprit's face. Both players shake hands and go about their business. There is pushing, pulling, elbowing, body slamming and tripping. Some get caught and some get away with it. In the match between England and Paraguay, the Mexican referee appeared to favour the South American team - or at least that's what the Thai commentators thought.

But at the end, no matter how controversial and unfair the match may seem to be, the result stands. Players from both teams shake hands, pat each other's backs and exchange a few words, only God knows what.

The teams do this every four years. They learn from mistakes. They make their team better. They play harder to win the cup the next time. No country ever tries to wreck the World Cup. No country ever boycotts it.

Somsak Pola

Samut Prakan

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Borwornsak should know he can't leave past deeds behind

 Re: " Borwornsak's cautionary tale", Editorial, June 11. Thank you very much for your editorial on the resignation of former Cabinet secretary-general Borwornsak Uwanno. It was refreshing to read considering that most people appear to be in such a forgiving mood after he went into the monkhood.

As a monk, Borwornsak should know better than most that one cannot escape the consequences of one's own deeds.

Katha

Bangkok

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Native speakers are best suited to teach English

 A survey last year indicated that Thai students and graduates score poorly in English speaking and comprehension. It showed their proficiency lagged that of students from other Southeast Asian countries. There are various reasons why that trend continues, but here are a few personal observations.

First, some background. There's a technical school nearby where a couple of my friends are students. They tell me there are 107 students in the one classroom. There is an English teacher there who is Thai, but the school is searching for a "native" speaker. I mentioned this to an older acquaintance with a bona fide master's degree from an American university. He went to the school to see about the position and was told that the current teacher was getting Bt300 per three-hour class, and that the most they could offer him was the same plus a Bt100 bonus. He declined.

Then there's the English instruction book I bought at a department store. It's a popular paperback titled "Everyday English Conversation" and is distributed throughout Thailand. It looks innocent enough, but in fact it does students a disservice. Leafing through it, I found mistakes on nearly every one of its 184 pages. Besides having many archaic words, there were mistakes in spelling, in grammar and in sentence structure throughout.

It must be a tough row to hoe for the average Thai student struggling to learn English. They get short-changed by teachers, who in turn are offered less-than-subsistence wages by stingy administrations. On top of that, if a student tries to improve their proficiency by studying a popular store-bought book, they are going to be studying faulty information. It may be the same sad story for school-supplied textbooks, I don't know.

The third item is a general statement about teaching proficiency. With few exceptions, native English speakers are preferable to non-native. Over many years of conversing with Thai people, I've noticed the same mistakes repeatedly. When conversing with Cambodians or Burmese or Chinese, I hear mistakes but they are of different types. My point here is that there appears to be a slew of mistakes in conversational English that get passed down (and around) from the highest levels of teaching in Thailand. Maybe they come from the teachers who teach the teachers, or maybe it's from the textbooks they're stuck with. Either way, they certainly stem from non-native speakers.

Native English speakers should be first in line for English teaching positions, period. They should be offered at least halfway decent wages (certainly a lot more than the Bt100 to Bt133 per hour that my friend was offered!). University degrees should not be a factor; the candidates' abilities should. Simply stated, there are certain types of personalities that make good teachers and other types that don't. Having a degree doesn't change that basic fact.

The people who do the hiring apparently can't differentiate between native English speakers (Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Yanks, South Africans) and other freckled farang in regard to their ability to speak English. There are other Europeans who teach English here and, besides often being inept at the language, some have accents so thick you could slice week-old cheese with their diction. Scandinavians usually have a good handle on English ... but then there are the Scots - well, that's a different story altogether.

Ken Albertsen

Chiang Rai

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Check the small print for big additions to 'budget' fares

 It was heartening to read that Air New Zealand was recently fined the equivalent of Bt14.5 million for advertising misleading airfares. The fines were in breach of fair-trade laws because headline fares did not include a range of extra charges and taxes. The presiding judge ruled that an advertisement in which fuel costs were charged separately "smarts most unpalatably of sharp and unacceptable practice". He also criticised the airline's use of "microscopic, minute and tiny" asterisks in advertisements that pointed consumers to fine print on extra charges.

Unfortunately, air travellers in Thailand are increasingly being bombarded with a combination of "cheap" airfares with a sliding scale of complex additional charges and taxes. Recently Tiger Airways advertised an "eye grabbing" fare from Bangkok to Darwin, Australia, from Bt3,476 one-way. On following the ubiquitous asterisk it was found that the total cost of a return fare would be Bt18,495! Malaysian Airlines used similar large type advertisements in the Bangkok press to promote their "supersavers" fare to Kuala Lumpur for Bt2,599 return... Ooops! Check small print ... Bt2,499 was from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur. The Bangkok-Luala Lumpur fare was Bt3,999. Again, on checking the fine print the extra charges and taxes made the actual net return fare for Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur Bt6,679.

A check of the three budget airlines operating the Bangkok-Singapore route revealed that their "additional charges and taxes" for a return fare ranged from Bt1,975 for Air Asia to Bt2,475 for Tiger Airways. Thai Airways' charges for the same route was Bt2,045.

Domestically, of the three low cost airlines only One-Two-Go has a transparent airfare structure. Their one-price net fares make it easy for the mathematically challenged to decide which carrier to use. For example, costing a Bangkok-Phuket return trip in August 2006, on the same dates and using the "cheapest" available fare resulted in the following advertised and net fares (in brackets): Nok Air Bt2,564 (Bt3,700), One-Two-Go Bt3,400 (Bt3,400) and Air Asia Bt1,998 (Bt3,315).

Until such time as the relevant Thai authorities introduce some form of "truth in advertising" legislation, intending air passengers should be suspicious of supposed "cheap" airfares and make sure that they have a magnifying glass handy.

In the mean time, it is about time that airlines gave the travelling public a "fare go"!!

W M Lawrence

Bangkok

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Rather no commentary at all than Thai commentary

 The lack of English commentary for the World Cup matches does not affect my viewing pleasure, but the rambling of the Thai commentators disturbs me somewhat. They like to criticise all the players and imagine themselves as being better than David Beckham.

Can we not have the original sound with no commentary from anyone? Then we could get the feeling of being in Germany, without after-the-fact criticisms of the players by these "wise" guys. We can get the tid-bits from the morning newspapers.

Songdej Praditsmanont

Bangkok

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Consider removing soi dogs for sake of man in the street

 I am a foreigner settled here in Bangkok for the past 10 months, employed with a multinational company.

For me the King's 60th anniversary is a great event to watch since we do not have kings and monarchs in our country. It is amazing to see the Thai people's loyalty to the King and the scenes in the city are almost unbelievable. The various events are handled very meticulously and systematically. The decorations on the streets are done very beautifully. The lighting and the fireworks are also a must-see for any foreigner.

Although there is a cleanliness and orderliness in the city, the only worrying factor is the stray dogs that are in abundance on any street at any given time. I read a few days back that the government was trying to relocate these stray dogs from the most important roads being travelled by foreign visitors and dignitaries. But what about the man on the street? It has become very difficult for us to walk peacefully on any street.

I stay in a serviced apartment that has had an incomplete building next to it for many years. The street leading to the apartment block is isolated and completely taken over by the stray dogs, who bark the whole night, disturbing the peace and the sleep of all the residents of our apartment. All possible complaints have not helped and I am thinking of moving away from this nuisance.

The street dogs are not only unfriendly (barking ferociously at every passer-by) but also dangerous. My colleague was going home late at night after work and he was attacked and bitten by a stray dog without any reason. He has to take regular vaccinations at the hospital for no fault of his. We have to say a small prayer every day so that we reach home safely without any of these numerous dogs attacking us.

It is high time that adequate measures are taken in this respect. I sincerely hope that the authorities concerned take action and make our stay in Bangkok somewhat easier.

Anita Matta

Bangkok

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