MikeDK

Sorry for the clickbait title. Here goes: I have two children of 7 and 8 years. Their mother is Thai, we are divorced, they stay with her half the time. I work at an international school and thus my children have access to free international education, which we make good use of. My children are therefore fluent in English and do very well in their subjects, and they enjoy school. However, their Thai language and cultural knowledge is falling behind. I will likely not be able to afford an intl university when they grow up; however, I would like to give them them the chance of international scholarships. We are now looking at how we can best boost their Thai, for which I see three options: Keep them at the international school and get them a tutor for Thai on weekends. Send them to an English Programme Thai school. This is kind of the half-way option as some subjects would still be in English, but it is the one I am leaning towards as the quality of education is superior to fully Thai schools and I would still get free tuition. Send them to a Thai government school. I do not like this as the education there is not particularly good and they would struggle hard in the beginning. However, the language gains might be significantly better, i don't know. Options 2 and 3 would ideally only apply until my children reach secondary; this means that my oldest child would be gone for two full years (Year 5 and 6) while my son would be gone for three (Years 4-6). I am looking for advice from parents and former intl students who have been in a similar situation; what worked for you, what did not work? Any tips and tricks, anything to avoid? Thanks!