Meg_2003

Apologies for my delayed response, I don't come to check out the Language forum very often.

The title of the thread is 'Where is a good Thai Language school in Pattaya", correct?

The OP is not asking for information on where posters have studied and their reasons for recommending other schools. I did not mention that I had previously studied at Walen as I did not come on here to jump on the 'We-hate-Walen-Brigade', But since you have pointed this out and demand to know the reasons for my recommendation, then no problem! If I had come on here and said "Don't study at Walen! Go to Pro-language", then I would understand your reason for requesting an explanation on why, But I did not. Ok, here goes.

I am going to state nothing but facts here.

Walen is a good school if you are focused on learning to read and write in Thai language. I must admit that it is because of Walen that I can read and write Thai as I can today. At first I felt a little bit like I was being 'thrown in at the deep end' having to read out letters of the Thai alphabet which I had never seen in my life before, but its surprising how fast it comes to you when you know that you HAVE TO read it out to the class. Fast learning. Pro-language uses a slower process of learning the Thai alphabet. For example they will teach 5-10 letters at a time, and stick to smaller words before moving on to larger vocabulary.

However, For the speaking part of the language, I am sorry but I do prefer Pro Language. For example, The first things I learnt at Walen was "This is a pen" and sentences like "This table is not taller than that table, but this table is shorter than that table" where as at Pro Language, the first things we were taught was "My name is (name), I come from (country), I work as a (profession)"

I feel that for beginners to Thai Language, Then Walen is NOT a good choice. For example, in the 3 months that I studied at Walen, I was never taught how to say "Hello, my name is....", the things that we NEED to use in everyday life. The things that we WANT to learn. Basic Conversation. I was never taught at Walen how to tell anyone my name, Where Im from, what I work, or anything about me. So if I was a beginner to Thai language, Then I STILL wouldn't be able to tell anyone anything about me, even after 3 months of studying, but I would be able to tell them that "This is a book"

I feel that students who are keen on learning the Thai language obviously want to learn basic conversation before learning things like "This table is bigger than that table".

At Pro Language, The first few books is Basic conversation, (The things we WILL use in every day life conversations). In the few months I studied at Pro Language, I was taught Self Introduction (Learning how to answer questions about myself and my family and how to ask others about them and their family) , How to talk about mine and other peoples hobbies, what we like to do, what we have done today.. For example "Have you eaten today?" and how to answer. We were taught how to ask for things, the classifiers for everything. We were taught directions, how to ask and give directions in Thai. How to order food in restaurants. What to say on a phone call.. What we need to know when we are out shopping, how to ask for discount, how to ask for a different color ect. How to tell someone we're ill, and how to explain our illness, in thai.

At Walen, I didn't really learn anything that I needed to know for everyday life. For example, I would much prefer to learn how to ask someone what they have eaten today, or if they would like to go shopping with me, rather than "No, You didn't close the door, but you opened the book" (<taken straight from the Walen book)

I feel that Walen is a good school for advanced Thai speakers. For the people who already know the basic Thai conversation. I think it is pretty poor that after 3 months of learning at Walen, my classmates who were beginners to Thai language still could NOT say for example "My name is (name), I come from (country)" .. They could NOT answer any questions that would be asked in every day life.

For myself, I am not a beginner to Thai language, but I just want practice to get over shyness of speaking it in public. Having been here 8+ years, I can understand a lot of Thai, and I know a lot of vocab. I can understand most of the news on the TV, I can understand Thai conversation, but I needed help with getting over the shyness, and getting the pronunciation correct. I wanted to practice 'chit-chat'

After 3 months of studying at Walen, I hadn't practiced any chit chat, and I never got the opportunity to be able to use what I had learnt and tell them that this chair is bigger than that one for example. After a few months of learning at Pro Language, I am now speaking Thai everywhere I go. I have had many, many compliments on how fluent I am.

As I said previously. I apologize to Walen if some of the above is not what you were wanting to hear, but I am sorry, I do not recommend Walen for beginners to Thai language. I believe that when you are learning a language, the FIRST thing you want to learn is how to greet somebody, tell them about yourself and ask them the same questions, to ask for directions ect. How to tell someone you are not feeling well. These are the IMPORTANT things that we need to use in every day life.

One MAJOR big difference between the 2 schools is the teachers. I am sorry, but when someone is trying to learn a new language, I think it is VERY important to have a teacher who speaks your own language FLUENTLY. At Pro Language, my teacher speaks Fluent english. Sometimes I think she knows more English then me! But at Walen, the teachers are NOT fluent English, unfortunately. They have broken English and I noticed that many many times, The teachers were NOT able to fully explain the meaning of something. For example, sometimes when a student asked for an explanation of something they didn't understand, the experienced students of the class had to explain due to the teacher not being able to explain in proper fluent English. Sometimes, the student would have been told to wait until the end of the class when they could then ask the boss. No disrespect to my teachers at Walen, but their english is far from fluent, and it was not sufficient to fully explain and answer the questions of the beginner students.

As for the reason for not continuing my studies at Walen, I do not appreciate you saying that I did not have the patience. I had paid for my lessons, and then half way through my lessons, You wanted to change my class time to early morning, because most of my classmates had to start again at the beginning of book 1 because they were not getting anywhere! (At their expense, of course) The morning class was not a good time for me, and you insisted that I must either join the morning class, or I must wait for another afternoon class to come along. When I asked how long I would have to wait to join another afternoon class, the response was unknown. I had paid for my lessons and I did not want to hang around waiting for you to get a class together when you didn't know how long it would take. So, I asked for my money back for the lessons which I had not taken (Paid for 60 and had taken 30) .. I was then told that it was not Walens fault that I could not join the morning class, and then after some time with my Boyfriend on the phone to Walen, It was agreed that I would be refunded, Which I was happy with and which I think was fair. Hence not coming online and expressing my true opinions of Walen, out of respect.

So they are my opinions having been a student at both Pro Language and Walen.

As I said previously. My intentions were NOT to come in here and pick an argument, hence completely not mentioning Walen at all in my first post, However you, Macwalen, have pointed out that I am an ex student and asked for my reason on not recommending your school.

I presume that you are going to come and 'pick' at my post now. Exactly the reason for not posting this in the first place and not even mentioning Walen. So maybe it would be a better idea, to accept the opinions of ex-students and just keep it in mind, Instead of trying to change the opinions of others or start arguments about it. After all, It is just like you said to one student when we were sat in class one day when he asked something about the Thai vocab, and you answered "We just need to learn to accept it the way it is, we cannot change it, so we have to accept it the way it is and not question it". The student did not get an answer to his original question and sat red faced and said "I'm not trying to change it, I just wanted to know the reason why".

I hope this is helpful to other users who are also trying to decide which is a good language school for them. If you are focusing on reading and writing Thai, and already know basic conversation, Then Walen is a good school. But for learning basic conversation, everyday conversation, chit chat and slowly learning to read and write, Pro Language seems to better meet those needs.

I do not have the time to sit arguing about this, I am happy at Pro language and above are my personal opinions, So I would appreciate it if you would have some respect and not start arguing over my opinions, as it just makes your school look unprofessional.

Thank you.

The first one, AKA he 'tasmanian devil' has been re-homed already.

Update:

6 Puppies still looking for new homes. The 2 black and white ones are the girls. Pics taken today

Nos. 1 & 2 are really cute. No. 3 looks like a Tasmanian Devil cross. Only joking, its just the first thought that popped into my head when I noticed his eyes.

Hahaha!! You're right..

He has got unusual eyes, but he is a little fluff ball and so soft and friendly..

Ahh I wish I could keep them all! My BF wants to keep the last one.. So if he can't be re-homed, then we're keeping him..

Pup 3

Longish hair..

Pup 2 - Scratched nose at the side which is healing nicely

(See, he's begging for a new home )

Here are pictures of the 3 little men.. The girl is on hold, someone interested in her but not yet sure if they are taking her..

This is Pup 1 ... Hes such a softie and laid down to pose straight away for pictures His name is 'Eddie'

Pro Language in Pattaya is a very good school.

Sorry .. 4 boys 1 girl

5 boys left

*** UPDATE ***

2 puppies have already been re-homed

6 Puppies left - 5 boys 1 girl

Any takers?

Ahh, Puppies are here in Pattaya.

Free to good home.. 2 gone in the last hour. 6 left.. 5 boys 1 girl

I have 8 puppies that I need to re home!

Please consider a puppy, I have 6 males that I need new homes!

Let me know

We recently took in a homeless dog which has given birth to 8 healthy puppies a few weeks ago.

The mother is a Thai dog, the father who we have seen wandering around (The owner lets him out to wander around every evening) does not appear to be a Thai dog but we are unsure of the breed (Quite Large, dark brown with black markings on face, black stripe down the back, slightly long fur).

The puppies - 6 boys, 2 girls.

The 2 girls are like their mother, short haired, all white with black patches (1 'panda', white with black eyes, and one all white with black patches) ... The 6 boys are like the father. 3 dark brown with black markings and slightly long haired , 1 all brown with slightly long fur, and 2 brown short haired.

If you'd like to see pics first, let us know and we will try to take some pictures. We're living in the Pattaya area. Puppies are fat and healthy, still quite small but already enjoying puppy food.

Can anyone help us out and give one of these pups a loving home? Please PM me if interested. Free to good home - Must re-home as we have a VERY small garden and no space to take care of 9 dogs!

Thanks

A friend is looking to buy a motorbike and is thinking of going to have a look at the Theprasit bike auction first.

Has anyone been there lately? Also any idea of the rules? Last time we went for a look there was something about paying a 10,000 baht deposit to get your bidding number to be able to bid.

If anyone knows exactly how they work please let me know so I can pass on the information. Also any idea what kind of prices the bikes are going for these days? Friend is looking for a Fino..

Thanks!

Disco Duck!!

Ahhh! They're the good old days when Pattaya was FUN!

Sorry to say but this DOES happen, quite often, in Walking street..

I'm a young white female and go down walking street no more than 1-2 times a year. When I last took a walk down there, I had, quite a few times, Middle Eastern men trying to grab me or chat me up. I had one guy grab my arm and tried to pull me with him, I pulled my arm back and told him to not touch me. Last time I also had someone grab my bottom but I couldn't work out who it was when I turned around with it being so crowded. So I bet the walking street 'girls' get this all the time.. Looks like this girl was trying to make some fast cash..

I am not surprised at this happening in Walking Street because it seems that some of the men (Especially the Middle Eastern ones) think its perfectly OK to try to touch you. This is why I hardly ever go to Walking street anymore..

50,000 baht just for being touched does seem a bit harsh though.. A night in jail and a few thousand baht fine at the most should make the guy think twice again before touching a stranger. The guy was probably on holiday, drunk and trying to have a good time, and thought that all the girls in that area were there for one thing..

But yeah, It does happen

We were very very slow all day.. Called up Maxnet, or Triple B, or whatever they are now called, and they said they'd call us back (as usual).

5pm we received a phone call telling us that it was a problem at their end and that all Chonburi was down.. 7pm received another phone call saying that they had fixed the problem and asked if we were back up and running.

Internet is back up working again, speed is OK, Not fast but not slow.

Thai BF read on the Thai forums about this and several people have had the same problem, and it is usually always fixed shortly after you call them. I suggest to anyone that is still having problems, to call them and let them know about it.. Worked for us today..

Is anyone else still having problems? My Internet has gone from bad to worse.

Last night I had to switch off because it was just impossible to use. Today it's even worse. Tested my speed and I am getting an amazing 4KB ! It was 16KB when I first logged on, and going down fast. Soon it will probably be completely off.

Also, My bill has now changed from MaxNet to "Triple T Internet" ...... But friends who were using Maxnet still get a Maxnet bill.. Anyone experienced the same as me?

This is terrible.. I'm paying for 5MB and I am getting 5KB!

I never used to have any problems with my internet, but this last weekend, and this whole month to be quite truthful, it has been terrible. Yesterday I was hardly able to do anything. Today it seems a little better but it will get slower as the day goes on.

It seems to have changed dramatically.. Our other computer is using TOT 1MB and even that is faster than my Maxnet connection which is 4 or 5MB.

i have just seen the jetski rip off clip on Thai TV news

JJ has been arrested and is behind bars where he belongs

not only farangs watch farang TV then.........

Good news! Lets hope it costs him a lot more than 35,000 baht now..

Nice to see there are some honest people around!

Good on you for looking for the owner

As it turned out....she remedied the situation with as little fuss as possible....thus saving herself further embarrassment....which was probably her main priority once the error was made...

If that IS what happened, and she made a mistake, I would like to have thought they would have made more of an effort to call the customer back so they could correct the error. So what if we didn't notice, our loss?

Her face certainly didn't appear to look like she'd made a genuine mistake though with the angry look she had on her face when we returned. Plus the holding the money up, counting it and saying 'Oh!' like she had just realized there were 3 notes and not 2.

Lets just hope that you're right and that it was an error or mistake so that no-one else looses their money..

Lets say she hits the 200 Key in error - gives you your card and receipt....goes to put 200 in the till and sees there is 300......

You have turned and walked away...she is keeping an eye on you because she expects you to return...she has also put the money to one side so if the security cameras are watching they can see why she adds the extra 100 baht when you return.......of course she is embarrassed at her mistake...and wants to remedy it as quickly as possible hence the no fuss addition of 100 baht

Is that too implausible?.....benefit of the doubt?

just a thought.....

Possible, BUT there was security lady standing nearby the cashier. I remember the security being there as they were watching what was happening when we returned to the cashier as we had to jump the queue. If she made an error, she could have easily asked the security to call us back. She could have called us herself because we got no more than around 3 meters away from the cashier before noticing the error. She COULD have called us back herself, we were close enough. Still a possible answer though..

Worth a try especially for the price! We almost always end up in Shabushi but will definitely have to give this place a try!

That's another example of getting what you pay for. The all-you-can-eat sushi at Shabushi almost turned me off eating sushi. There's no such thing as cheap good sushi.

I wouldn't know, Because I don't go there for the Sushi. Tastes awful so I stick to the Suki in Shabushi..

Interested to see how the Dimsum is though.. Thanks for the tip Michael, Its always looked busy when I have been passed. Will give it a try..