Ex UK PM Tony Blair visits Bangkok school

23 Jan 2012

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair flew into Bangkok last week and visited pupils at a Bangkok school. The ex-PM was in the Thai capital to meet with education minister Woravat Auapinyakul, who took him to Potisarn Pittayakorn School.

Mr Blair chatted with several of the students and gave them a short English lesson. He taught them to say hello and told them he was happy to meet them. A year four student at the school said afterwards that Mr Blair seemed friendly and was pleased he had taken the time to meet them.

Around 80 pupils from Potisarn Pittayakorn and other Bangkok metropolitan schools attended the meet and greet session with Mr Blair. One, Arisa Sittichokkananon, was among several who plucked up enough courage to ask the statesman for his autograph.

Mr Blair praised the new Thai learning initiative that is pushing schools to speak English one day a week. The education ministry wants both teachers and learners to use the international language to communicate for the whole day.

The former political heavyweight said the decision to encourage English use would be beneficial in the long run and fluency in the language would increase Thailand’s stature on the world stage. He added that he was proud Thai people were learning his native language.

When a high school student asked him if he thought English should be the lingua franca for ASEAN nations, Mr Blair said it made sense as the language was widely used. When asked whether he liked Thailand, he said he did and added that he and his wife had taken their honeymoon in Thailand.

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