khaan

I would appreciate if someone could help me if they have a greater technical knowledge about Internet connections than I do?

My laptop is connected to an Internet cable inside my apartment building for access to a free Internet service provided by the building management.

I can also use a wireless connection which I'm doing right now to be able to post this question on TV and this is similarly provided by the building management.

The high speed cable service works okay for a few days but then after say 4 or 5 days I can no longer connect. The technician in my building claims it is a software problem in Windows itself in my laptop ,but I don't know what would cause the software to trigger this condition?

The last time the technician told me to go through some steps but I have to admit I have forgotten the very last ones and I wondered if someone here would be able to help me to complete the final steps of the procedure :-

he said to :-

1. Right click on the computer icon on the desktop

2. click on device manager

2. click on " network adapters " these are shown as being

" Atheros AR8152/8158 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller ( NDIS 6.20 )

and secondly " Realtek RTL8188CE Wireless LAN 802.11 PCI-E NIC "

4. After that he told me to " refresh " the connection but I have forgotten how to do so?

But I would also like to know what triggers my computer to go into this state in any case?

The wireless connection is working okay but I have noticed once this fault happens to the cable connection,

the wireless connection doesn't work either until I unplug the cable. Then I can connect to the wireless Internet connection.

But if I leave the cable in then neither the cable or the wireless works?

Here's a play by play of what happened a few days ago at Walen (this is similar to what happened last year too, but I can't remember last years' details). I walked in and introduced myself in Thai, and asked to take private lessons. The receptionist answered in poor English, telling me I needed to talk to an English speaking salesman. Some farang with good, but heavily accented English came to talk to me, and basically asked me what I wanted. I started telling him, in Thai. He looked around nervously, and the receptionist told me that he's an English speaker. So I asked to talk to a teacher. A teacher eventually came out and I explained what I needed in Thai. She was cute, but not as cute as the pictures. She did her best to respond in English only, but occasionally slipped into Thai. I told her that I wanted someone to sit with me 30 min while I read a novel out loud,and correct my mistakes. Then I wanted someone to discuss the grammar lesson that I did the day before for 30 min. Finally, I wanted someone to converse with me for one hour. Anyway, we only got into the details of the first 30 min.She basically told me they'd have to check on availability of teachers, and would get back to me.

They try to put the student at ease by not requiring them to speak Thai. This is the opposite of what they should be doing in most situations.

Walen School – not a good choice for conversation

thank you Leo.

Very very unprofessional and quite rude on their part

Why do they do that ? based on what you say, they certainly don't display the behaviour of an establishment that is doing everything

It possibly can to encourage students to keep learning and improving their Thai?

Both land and condo pricing keeps rising in line with the rest of Asia, no surprises there.

There seems to be a lot of people waiting for a crash , you only need to read the oldest posts but its not happening.

In reality most people looking for a collapse have effectively now priced themselves out of the land or condo market.

This is no different to the uniquely Thai way of doing business regarding anything being offered for sale

not just real estate . even if there are fewer actual buyers

they will put the prices up as we see right across the board for anything in Thailand.

What you are forgetting is that there is a fundamental difference between " price " and " value "..

You can ask any price you like but getting it is an entirely different matter?

I'm reading Aesop's fables in English and Thai. When I read the English first I undestand about 80% of the Thai text, but when I read Thai I understand about 50% which is usually not enough to get the message.

I can understand about 90% of what my Thai friends write, and give the appropriate answer to about 50%. Sometimes I have to consult a dictionary (online or paper). Some of my Thai friends have serious problems with orthography, but I can guess the correct word in most cases.

WOW Christian to be able to type Thai online quickly enough to chat is an incredible achievement in such a short period of time! I am envious of you

coincidentally it was only this week someone advised me to read children's books. Where did you happen to buy Aesop's fables in English and Thai?

In what sense is this a success story? I hope that's not all you learnt in 6 months.

I suppose you expected he'd be near-native after six months...

I for one consider the OP's achievement (learning to read and speak at a basic level in six months) to be a success story. Of course, he's got knowledge of lots of different languages that he can draw parallels with, but I think his main point is that if you put in the hours with a wide variety of materials you can get pretty far in a short amount of time. To the OP, I say congratulations, and best of luck on your way to fluency!

I second that!

Hello.

I would like to recommend Pro Language as a very good school, especially for the reading and writing that you want to improve. They are also very efficient at the ED Visa. I have been studying there for nearly 3 years and have found them to be extremely helpful in all respects. You can study either as a small group, or in a private one to one class.

One of the best things about this school is the teachers are all properly qualified to teach, which is not always the case in other schools. Another plus point is they are very good at finding the right level for you. They would make sure you are in a class that is appropriate for your level of Thai. I have found the course material to be a very good standard.

One a last note, I know that they offer many options for the days and times you would like to study. Because they are an established school and have a lot of students, it is easy for them to schedule you into a class for the days or times you want to study. I used to study just on a Saturday for 6 hours each week, so I know its quite possible to study at a weekend like you want to do.

Please check this school out. Its really worth it. I tried several schools and found this to be far the best. Oh, they also do a free trial lesson for prospective students, so perhaps you can go and give them a try.

Good Luck

Jason.

Hi Jason.

Thank you very much for your informative reply because not many people seem to ever comment about Pro Language.

If you have been doing it for three years you must be pretty good at speaking Thai by now ? And presumably your reading skills are good also?

So if you have been there all that time it means you would also have made many visits to the immigration Department in Chiang Mai i.e. everytime you renewed your Visa. Did the immigration officers test you as many people here have discussed and was it a tough experience ?

Thank you very much for all the informative and interesting replies

When I was talking to a Monk today he wondered just what the origin was of the word เก้าอี้ for

chair because he said very few words in Thai finish with the " êe " sound?

He speculated that it was more of a Chinese style ending ?

Just wondered if anybody here can concur on that?

I think if International companies have to spend millions on moving up north. Then they may well move to another country, especially if the Thai Government don't do something to make sure they can control the floods, and avoid the same situation. But they are only self interested, so I don't expect them to build waterways that could carry flood water away from the city.

Will condo prices surge? I find that hard to beleive, OK your condo is safe from flood water but how you going to get out the building if the water outside is even 1 meter high?

central Bkk didn't flood so what 1 metre of water do you refer to

On the contrary new condos tend to sell out very quickly when a reputable developer is involved.

selling a property is difficult anywhere in the world if you need the money now, took me 2 years to sell my house in Oz put the profit was worth it. the rewards can be awesome in BKK just ask some of the flippers that have made a fortunate reselling off the plan in desirable locations.

"Gritsada Suptuaychone, secretary of the Electrical, Electronics and Allied Industries club under the Federation of Thai Industries, said it was possible for some factories, particularly those that are labour-intensive and can relocate their operations easily, to move out of Thailand. The two main factors that would lead them to relocate are high wages and uncertainty over government measures to prevent future floods."

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=86123754

I will also be needing to make a similar decision to you mja

ChiangMai University told me when I went to see them they no longer teach Thai at their language Institute?

I believe also quite a few people lost their money after they suddenly cancelled the course last year so that doesn't seem to be an option any more.

With regards to 2 and 5 in your list you may wish to consider what has been " debated " in the following thread.

http://www.thaivisa....r-pro-language/

Also AUA sent a reply to my enquiry on the basis that there is no guarantee they would accept just anyone

on their course so with that one there is also no guarantee either.

If you happen to go to a free language lesson at Walen and Pro-language which they both let you do

to help you reach your decision and which I haven't done yet , I would be interested to read your comments

and observations.

Also imagine the US govt, German govt, Italian govt etc unloading all their gold at the same time if their fiat currencies collapse. No-one is going to want another currency or even some form of guarantee backed by gold, they will want first hand payment in hard currency (gold). That would be one hell of a fire sale for the gold market too. When the creditors and liquidators come calling fair values go out of the window and the few remaining assets that do experience stress in their pricing. So if anything the demise of fiat currencies could well come with a drop in gold price too - for a while at least. Not disimilar to the last couple of weeks, but on a larger scale.

Another assumption gold bugs seem to assume an orderly transition in passing gold from one hand to another, as though it was a gentleman's agreement. When countries collapse, violence among many other breakdowns in law also kicks in, and legal possession or title gives way to rule of force. So I hope all those gold bugs have also bought a gun or two and fortified their homes

Just a thought

if you are correct about gold still doesn't give me any more faith in paper currency so what you're saying really at the end of the day it's better to invest in these

khaan said on 11-18:

I wonder if anyone who can speak ,read and write Thai exceptionally well has ever provided an INDEPENDANT

critique of the methodology adopted by these two schools? it would be nice to read about the

advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of an observer of both methods ( as opposed to the

proprietor of the business ).

There may be reluctance of experienced observers to voice opinions and independent critique on this subject for reasons shown below in a posting on a different Thai-language forum.

And I quote:

"This is no longer the best forum for Thai learners. ThaiVisa is allowing their sponsors** to call the shots. Long time members are being banned for protesting. Due to their heavy-handedness the most valuable members have stopped commenting."

**One sponsor

thank you very much Canaris

very interesting information !

You guys are getting nasty, have a nice day too. Despite your bashing of Walen on a regular basis we've just had yet another fantastic day so all this negativity seems to be working well.

Not everybody makes a great issue of paying 24,960 baht for 180 lessons plus an ED visa assistance. It is really a bargain for the direct method. If you are on such a very tight budget then perhaps looking at an ED visa is not the best option for you. If you just want to learn Thai we can offer you less lessons. If, however, you want to learn and get an ED visa our price is 24,960 Baht and we have to work hard to provide the service.

Despite the fact that some posters or even some students don't like me that much as a person they know very well that Walen is famous for providing most reliable service and indeed cares about the quality of teaching. Of course hard to please everyone. If you can do better than me please become my business partner.

Walen School - trying to please everyone.

Mr Walen I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of your school compared to Pro Language ?

Naturally you would expect some former students of yours will provide information about their experiences and this hopefully will assist potential students to make a fair comparison between your school and Pro Language ? Why do you consider that to be bashing? Are you suggesting it is wrong for me to post comments from some of your past students regarding your teaching methods ? And was I wrong to simply raise the question about why you need to charge the course fees upfront for 12 months ?

I don't know why you describe this as being ' nasty ' ?

I have to say also I regard your rather patronising comments about being on a tight budget as being a little bit insulting and a complete distraction from your failure to adequately respond to some of the questions.

And why is it possibly a bargain if people finish your course still unable to hold a basic conversation in Thai as described by more than one person ? And why is it a bargain when I have already said that with the paperwork it is possible to get a better type of Education Visa ( multiple entry as opposed to single entry that you offer ) at a fraction of the cost that you are charging.

Perhaps know better SIr, you should go ahead with what you feel is best for you. Nothing was meant to be insulting, if that is how it sounded to you I apologize, it was my impression from reading your posts that the price bothered you.

Regarding learning, if some students do not apply themselves they will not learn at Walen or any other school. We cannot force someone to be a good student. There are millions of people around the world that start learning a foreign language and fail for various reason. If you want to compare yourself to those who fail and not to those who succeed you are doing what is best for you.

Regarding obtaining the ED visa at the fraction of the cost that Walen charges, I don't think you have verified this one. I am not her to argue with anybody. Peace.

Because you changed some of the wording from what was your initial response I would like to reply to your paragraph 2 in particular.

Of course I will apply myself and indeed I have proven that already by learning the Thai consonants and vowels entirely on my own at home.

And as I have mentioned previously I have been studying the course work of Pro Language books 1 to 3 also in my private time.

I have already developed quite a reasonable vocabulary and judging from the reaction of Thai's when I speak to them, I seem to be making

a fair amount of progress already without the assistance of any language school ( other than the notes ) .

So in fact there was an even bigger incentive for me to enrol at Walen because it would have been potentially something different

and would have expanded my Thai language skills even further having already learnt the Pro Language way.

So once again I certainly will not compare myself to ' those who fail ' as you say but equally I will not enter into

a commercial arrangement with anyone unless I am satisfied with the terms and conditions .

dont be so melodramatic it is not rocket science. it is simply x people x trains. perhaps a train had a mechanical failure and caused a delay.

The trains were running normally. It wasn't there that the build up was. It was the fact that only two gates were open for so many people going through.

don't hold your breath because that would need planning and foresight

I was in a 7/11 a few days ago, in which 1 counter was open. There was a que of about 8 people waiting to pay for items. Another staff member actually had the common sense to open another counter and split the que. Perhaps he's the man for the job @ Asoke BTS? PM me for location and description of said mastermind!

But it does test me when three other staff members in that situation keep mulling around doing " administrative stuff " with one register open.

It reminds me so much of Basil Fawlty- " you people ponse in here expecting to be waited on while I'm trying to run a hotel " !!

WOW...

Belgian's getting beat up..

Russians choking waittress'

Farangs getting guns shoved in their faces...

Another normal day I guess in Sin City....what ever happened to the family tourist destination ?...

well some must evidently LOVE it !

Pattaya Wins Major Travel Destination Award

dont be so melodramatic it is not rocket science. it is simply x people x trains. perhaps a train had a mechanical failure and caused a delay.

The trains were running normally. It wasn't there that the build up was. It was the fact that only two gates were open for so many people going through.

don't hold your breath because that would need planning and foresight

You guys are getting nasty, have a nice day too. Despite your bashing of Walen on a regular basis we've just had yet another fantastic day so all this negativity seems to be working well.

Not everybody makes a great issue of paying 24,960 baht for 180 lessons plus an ED visa assistance. It is really a bargain for the direct method. If you are on such a very tight budget then perhaps looking at an ED visa is not the best option for you. If you just want to learn Thai we can offer you less lessons. If, however, you want to learn and get an ED visa our price is 24,960 Baht and we have to work hard to provide the service.

Despite the fact that some posters or even some students don't like me that much as a person they know very well that Walen is famous for providing most reliable service and indeed cares about the quality of teaching. Of course hard to please everyone. If you can do better than me please become my business partner.

Walen School - trying to please everyone.

Mr Walen I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of your school compared to Pro Language ?

Naturally you would expect some former students of yours will provide information about their experiences and this hopefully will assist potential students to make a fair comparison between your school and Pro Language ? Why do you consider that to be bashing? Are you suggesting it is wrong for me to post comments from some of your past students regarding your teaching methods ? And was I wrong to simply raise the question about why you need to charge the course fees upfront for 12 months ?

I don't know why you describe this as being ' nasty ' ?

I have to say also I regard your rather patronising comments about being on a tight budget as being a little bit insulting and a complete distraction from your failure to adequately respond to some of the questions.

And why is it possibly a bargain if people finish your course still unable to hold a basic conversation in Thai as described by more than one person ? And why is it a bargain when I have already said that with the paperwork it is possible to get a better type of Education Visa ( multiple entry as opposed to single entry that you offer ) at a fraction of the cost that you are charging.

You obviously know better, so go ahead and do. Nothing was meant to be insulting, it is quite obvious from reading your posts that the price bothers you. So if this is not the issue of money so what is it?

Regarding learning, if some students do not apply themselves they will not learn at Walen or any other school. We cannot force someone to be a good student. There are millions of people around the world that start learning a foreign language and fail for various reason. If you want to compare yourself to those who fail and not to those who succeed you are doing something seriously wrong.

Regarding obtaining the ED visa at the fraction of the cost that Walen charges, are you sure you know what you are talking about. So you have made a real discovery! Let everybody know. Show us how you will do that. One year course with an ED visa for 5,000 Baht as you read somewhere? Give us more info about it please.

it is not the price that bothers me. it is not understanding why you need 12 months fees in advance which bothers me. Two different things

You guys are getting nasty, have a nice day too. Despite your bashing of Walen on a regular basis we've just had yet another fantastic day so all this negativity seems to be working well.

Not everybody makes a great issue of paying 24,960 baht for 180 lessons plus an ED visa assistance. It is really a bargain for the direct method. If you are on such a very tight budget then perhaps looking at an ED visa is not the best option for you. If you just want to learn Thai we can offer you less lessons. If, however, you want to learn and get an ED visa our price is 24,960 Baht and we have to work hard to provide the service.

Despite the fact that some posters or even some students don't like me that much as a person they know very well that Walen is famous for providing most reliable service and indeed cares about the quality of teaching. Of course hard to please everyone. If you can do better than me please become my business partner.

Walen School - trying to please everyone.

Mr Walen I thought the purpose of this thread was to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of your school compared to Pro Language ?

Naturally you would expect some former students of yours will provide information about their experiences and this hopefully will assist potential students to make a fair comparison between your school and Pro Language ? Why do you consider that to be bashing? Are you suggesting it is wrong for me to post comments from some of your past students regarding your teaching methods ? And was I wrong to simply raise the question about why you need to charge the course fees upfront for 12 months ?

I don't know why you describe this as being ' nasty ' ?

I have to say also I regard your rather patronising comments about being on a tight budget as being a little bit insulting and a complete distraction from your failure to adequately respond to some of the questions.

And why is it possibly a bargain if people finish your course still unable to hold a basic conversation in Thai as described by more than one person ? And why is it a bargain when I have already said that with the paperwork it is possible to get a better type of Education Visa ( multiple entry as opposed to single entry that you offer ) at a fraction of the cost that you are charging.

I have already established from the Thai consulate in one city in my own country that they will actually even give me

a one year multiple entry visa so I can take care of the visa application on my own.

Without any letter from a language school? May I know what city you are talking about?

So are you charging 24,000 baht just to provide a letter?

No Sir, I did not say that, the letter is issued by the ministry of Education, we just don't process the application for someone who wants to study 1 month. It is too much work.

I have answered all your questions, can you answer mine please? I am really curious which consulate can issue you a multiple ED visa without any paperwork.

Of course I wouldn't study for just one month. That is a red herring and you know it full well

And here this person in this in another forum which I discovered confirms my thoughts exactly !

" Walen must be the most advertised Thai language school on the web. They look like essentially an ED visa selling operation. It looks to me that there money goes to advertising, not student education. It is easy to get an ED visa (I'm on my second year now here in LOS) and costs essentially nothing (5000 baht) not the 30,000 baht that Walen wants.

See Post number 3

http://www.ajarnforu...ool-advice.html

I studied with Walen in Phuket for 6 months earlier this year. I could already speak quite a good level of Thai (best in our level 1 class) Although i could not read anything. After 6 months of studying, i can now read just fine, i cant write yet as i didn't take the course long enough. But overall i was very impressed with the service of Walen. Both the teaching and the visa assistance.

However i do agree with Tod-daniels. Sorry Mac but Walen doest really help to teach speaking. I understand the method of reading then writing and learning to speak as you go along. But honestly, my vocabulary hasn't really increased though out the 6 month course. Don't get me wrong, the reading teaching method is very good. Me and my fellow students learned to read in no time.

I remember going out into town with one of my class mates for a beer one night in Patong. He could read all the signs, license plates, menu's, anything, impressive! But when he tried to order food in Thai he struggled. Wasn't an issue for me as i could already speak and im very happy that i can now read. My friend wasn't so impressed with the course though. He had studied for the same amount of time as me, could read to exactly the same level but couldn't even talk enough to explain to the taxi driver where he stayed.

For me, i would say that Walen was very helpful. I learned what i wanted to (reading) and the visa service was great. However if you can't speak a reasonable level of Thai already, the course might not be the right method for you...

All the teachers in the school also agreed with us when we explained this to them.

So this is truly amazing. I will have to show this post to our teachers in Phuket, first thing tomorrow. Seems the problem would be that during lessons some students are allowed to read answers from the book which is absolute no no, they should answer on their own. If that is the case then the problem lies with the teachers not the method. Some students are so good at reading Thai that despite encouragements to answer on their own they will keep reading the answers form the book. It just shows you how hard it is to get people follow the instructions. So easy to blame later, isn't it? Sure guys, if you will just keep reading answers from your book (by the way the book is totally in Thai, no transliteration whatsoever) you will not learn to speak, you will just become perfect at understanding and reading Thai.

Walen School - the system works!

What do you find "truly amazing" about my post? Thought it was a pretty standard post, nothing that hasn't been said a million times before. I thought you would agree with me that the method doest teach you to speak,but read only. Seems clear to everyone. Don't you ever ask the students or teachers how the method of "you read then i read" is going? Don't you ever sit in the class and see them trying to read from the book instead of answering a straight question. Alot of the students still haven't been taught how to say "Hello, how are you?"

If you can't speak Thai then you can't answer the questions. You have to read it from the book. They even show you where to read from.

The teachers only speak Thai so if you don't know what the question is or means, you have to ask. Your not taught the translation naturally without having to ask.

Would it not be a great idea for the teacher to have an extra totally different question book from the students, with no answer book. That way the students wouldn't be able to just read the answers from the book. Wow, now that system would be "truly amazing" The students would actually learn to speak Thai instead of answering questions by reading the answer. How can it work when the question is next to the answer. It's a good way to learn to read (listening whilst reading) I wouldn't disagree with that. But theres no way this ever helps you to speak. Just ask the teachers or the students. They all agree.

And yes, it can be difficult when you get to immigration to extend your ED visa. He only speaks Thai, like a test. Wheres that book when you really need it?

Your right, they are good with the visa's, after plenty of asking they do get around to doing it for you. Oh and make sure you get plenty of photo's, they lost my 12 so i had to drive back again once i'd paid (again) for 12 more.

I just happened to find this old thread from 2008 and 2009 .

Look at Post number 10 -that person said almost the same thing as you Paangjang.

And having read Post number 3 now I'm getting a better understanding why Walen need all the money upfront !

http://www.ajarnforu...ool-advice.html

I studied with Walen in Phuket for 6 months earlier this year. I could already speak quite a good level of Thai (best in our level 1 class) Although i could not read anything. After 6 months of studying, i can now read just fine, i cant write yet as i didn't take the course long enough. But overall i was very impressed with the service of Walen. Both the teaching and the visa assistance.

However i do agree with Tod-daniels. Sorry Mac but Walen doest really help to teach speaking. I understand the method of reading then writing and learning to speak as you go along. But honestly, my vocabulary hasn't really increased though out the 6 month course. Don't get me wrong, the reading teaching method is very good. Me and my fellow students learned to read in no time.

I remember going out into town with one of my class mates for a beer one night in Patong. He could read all the signs, license plates, menu's, anything, impressive! But when he tried to order food in Thai he struggled. Wasn't an issue for me as i could already speak and im very happy that i can now read. My friend wasn't so impressed with the course though. He had studied for the same amount of time as me, could read to exactly the same level but couldn't even talk enough to explain to the taxi driver where he stayed.

For me, i would say that Walen was very helpful. I learned what i wanted to (reading) and the visa service was great. However if you can't speak a reasonable level of Thai already, the course might not be the right method for you...

All the teachers in the school also agreed with us when we explained this to them.

Paangjang thank you very much because this is very useful information.

Can I ask you upon your 90 day Visa extension renewal, did you ever get tested by the immigration officers? Because if you're saying that your

reading skills were better than your verbal skills, I would imagine it would be relatively easy for the immigration officers to quickly jump to the wrong conclusion if they asked you a simple question, but you were unable to answer them ?

I have already taught myself the consonants and the vowels and I am currently in the process of teaching myself how to read. So I believe this is something you can do on your own without going to a school. In my opinion the most challenging part of learning Thai is being able to speak sentences with the correct tone for each word.

What I feel I need now is simply more dialogue and chatting and from what you are saying and from what I have gathered from reading the Pro -Language books which were handed down to me by a previous neighbour, this kind of environment may be more likely in Pro Language than at Walen?

double post

I have already established from the Thai consulate in one city in my own country that they will actually even give me

a one year multiple entry visa so I can take care of the visa application on my own.

Without any letter from a language school? May I know what city you are talking about?

So are you charging 24,000 baht just to provide a letter?

No Sir, I did not say that, the letter is issued by the ministry of Education, we just don't process the application for someone who wants to study 1 month. It is too much work.

I have answered all your questions, can you answer mine please? I am really curious which consulate can issue you a multiple ED visa without any paperwork.

Where did I say that it could be done without any paperwork ? but the point is, with the paperwork I would effectively be taking care of the

application on my own ?

And after I receive it , it seems to me a multiple entry one year Visa is infinitely better than the " one year Visa "

that you advertise? As I understand it with the Visa that you provide while you describe it as one year , the student must still go to the Department of

immigration and pay an extra 1900 baht  each time every 90 days? And if the immigration officers test you upon the 90 day expiry,

I have heard they can refuse to provide you with an extension?

With my Visa I will only need to do a Visa run every 90 days but at no cost?

If you want to learn at Walen and don't need a ED visa you could start with 60 lessons.

http://www.thaiwalen.com/prices.php

I must say the picture of the teachers is making me reconsider taking lessons at Walen.

Young and pretty looking is not a guarantee for good lessons, more like eyecandy which can be distracting to say the least.

I have already established from the Thai consulate in one city in my own country that they will actually even give me

a one year multiple entry visa so I can take care of the visa application on my own.

Without any letter from a language school? May I know what city you are talking about?

So are you charging 24,000 baht just to provide a letter?

If you want to learn at Walen and don't need a ED visa you could start with 60 lessons.

http://www.thaiwalen.com/prices.php

I must say the picture of the teachers is making me reconsider taking lessons at Walen.

Young and pretty looking is not a guarantee for good lessons, more like eyecandy which can be distracting to say the least.

I have already established from the Thai consulate in one city in my own country that they will actually even give me

a one year multiple entry visa so I can take care of the visa application on my own.