Relatively boring footage of an upcountry 8-year-old girl speaking English in class has become the most-discussed video online and drawn out a torrent of ugly comments from unbelievably small people.
The video, featuring old footage of a young student from Ban Thon School of Sakon Nakhon province, has been shared around the social network and featured on top television programs this week after being posted online recently.
Although seeing a little girl confidently speak a second language (or even recite from a script) in front of her whole class is pretty awesome, many netizens felt it was their job to trash her performance.
Some tried to mask their contempt for a little girl with criticism of “the Thai education system” while others snorted at her Isaan-Thai accent:
“Not impressive. Her body language does not reflect she understands what she’s talking about. She recites like a bird.” – Gap Focus
“I think she doesn’t even know how to use the language. She just follows her textbook. Who introduces themselves like this? She recited well. I couldn’t recite like her when I was young.” – Gobpy Hero
“But the Burmese laborers are fluent too.” – Sombat Kaewkalya
“Isaan accent!” – Ze-u
Other netizens posted irrelevant comments about her family to discredit the child:
“Her step-dad is a farang. LOL.” – Beebee
“I suspect she has a farang step-dad? Many foreigners live in Sakon Nakhon.” Zacha Kraison
It seems the lesson of this story for children is that if you’re anything short of perfect, don’t share your effort with the public. Everyone is watching and looking forward to crushing your soul. Remember, the internet only admires our international award-winning mathletes, the first Thai (to win a contest) into space and those working for Disney. Therefore, kids, you’ll need to reach some international success before you’ll be accepted in your own country.
