rickbkk

Haven't attended the other schools in Bangkok. I doubt most other people would have the time money or inclination to do so either.  I'm going by the feedback I've heard from people who've tried other schools, as well as my impression from their promotional material.

I was a student at Walen learning Thai as a beginner. The emphasis on learning the Thai alphabet was good, which means you are able to read Thai properly. 

The teaching however I found very old fashioned. Basically it is rote-learning using a very boring text book, not even with any pictures. There is no audio-visual material, no computer screen or display, just white board and the text book. That's it. That kind of outdated teaching went out of use in foreign language classes in Europe about 20 or 30 years ago.

The teachers were competent and mostly pleasant but they had to stick to the outdated rote learning method used. 

Along with learning Thai I also taught English EFL in Bangkok (not at Walen) and we had much better textbooks and audio material than was used at Walen. If we had used Walen methods, I suspect the Thai students would have complained to the school about it as they are very quick to complain, it just wouldn't be tolerated. By contrast, the students learning Thai seem to tolerate this outdated method, I suspect because they are there primarily for the education visa.

Classrooms were small, not much space, as was the front desk area for the office staff, they were crammed in elbow to elbow such as I have never seen in Europe, but I guess that's Bangkok (real estate rents).  Teachers tended to be switched every hour, which I found odd, but I does give you some variety, so maybe not a bad thing.

Price and overall value is ok and the school assisted you with the visa and visa renewal procedure. For a while the school also had an agent at the immigration department who helped you with the process but this then ended, don't know if this has been restored or not. 

Given what's on offer in Bangkok for learning Thai, I'd say Walen is probably the best bet, bearing in mind the old-fashioned style of teaching. To get the best out of it, you need to do extra study in your own time eg with an audio-visual course, online, or private tuition like I did.