International Schools Isaan

[Lapoot]

Hello and Sawadi krup

 

Is there true international schools in Buriram and or Surin? 

I am aware of “Marie Anusorn School” is this considered an international in Buriram? Is there any Farang out there who might have some info?

Thanks

 

 

[puchooay]

No, is your straight answer.

 

Marie Anusorn is far from international. There is an English program there but only English language is taught by Native English Speakers. Good job too as the Thai teachers have trouble stringing sentences together. Regular classrooms have upwards of 50 kids in a classroom. It was promised, at the inception, that the English program classrooms would be 30 students. That figure is only a distant memory.

 

The best primary school by a country mile is Anuban Buriram. 40 kids in a class. A good group of Thai teachers who speak good English. My daughter went there and I had no problems with the school.

 

 

Edited March 24, 2018 by puchooay

[jackdd]

There are no "true international" schools in Thailand, so if that's what you want you would have to send your children in another country

[HLover]

All the international schools I've seen her full of spoiled kids that don't listen to the teachers or their parents anyway, rarely even show up for class and still get the same piss poor education but pay more money for it. Better to have a home tutor that you can observe every day.

[Trembly]

On 3/24/2018 at 10:21 AM, jackdd said:

There are no "true international" schools in Thailand, so if that's what you want you would have to send your children in another country

Not true.

Off the top of my head I think of . . . 

1. Bangkok Patana School
2. Harrow International School
3. International School Bangkok
4. New International School Bangkok
5. Shrewsbury International School
6. Rugby International School
7. Ruamrudee International School (includes the Swiss Section – Deutschsprachige Schule Bangkok)
8. Lycée Français International de Bangkok (funded by the French government, free for French citizens in Thailand)
9. St. Andrews International School
10. The Regent's British International School Bangkok
11. American School Bangkok
12. St. Stephen's International School (for the OP, this one has a campus in Khao Yai) 

I've probably missed some out because they've been sprouting like mushrooms in the past 15 years. I went to two of those schools and know from personal experience that quite a few others on that list are truly world class (some of them also share the same board of governors as their sister schools in the UK and are inspected by Ofsted). For those geared towards America, ISB  has been affiliated with the US Embassy in Bangkok from its inception and its Bangkok campus cost USD 25 million in 1991 money. 

Sadly most of the so-called international schools / "English Programs" in Isan and the rest of rural Thailand are mickey-mouse jobs that attempt to teach the Thai curriculum in English on a more or less ad-hoc basis and admission is based on the parents' ability to pay extra rather anything else. Because of this the results are often patchy and they tend to contain more than their fair share of entitled students whose parents are big fish in the small ponds of rural Thailand. There are some good places but these tend to be the exception rather than the rule, given the constraints of the Thai curriculum and management. Choose very carefully if you are going down this route. 

Proper international schools tend to use North American and/or European derived curricula, have several layers of independent inspections annually that are administered from the country of origin for the curriculum (or Switzerland for International Baccalaureate), and employ teachers trained and qualified in the relevant countries. Some schools such as NIST or BPS even mix it up by having IGCSE and A-Levels / IB available for their students to choose from as and when appropriate. I've noticed that there are some Singapore curriculum international schools now too but I can't comment on those apart from that I've heard anecdotally that their students tend to be really stressed out and under a lot of pressure compared to students in  UK / US / IB curriculum schools. 

Edited March 28, 2018 by Trembly

[jackdd]

25 minutes ago, Trembly said:

 

1. Bangkok Patana School
2. Harrow International School
3. International School Bangkok

I just had a look at the website of the first three schools that you listed... these are english schools, they don't have anything "international". The first and the second of the schools are even run completely by westerners, do you think this is "international"?

 

I know a Thai guy, born and grown up in Thailand, who went exclusively to "international" schools and an "international" university (i don't know which exactly)... sure, he speaks english fluently... but he can't even read Thai, because somehow the schools missed to make sure the students can read / write their mother tongue.

 

So Thailand has english schools, maybe some are even good at teaching english... but you can't call them international.

[Trembly]

26 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I just had a look at the website of the first three schools that you listed... these are english schools, they don't have anything "international". The first and the second of the schools are even run completely by westerners, do you think this is "international"?

 

I know a Thai guy, born and grown up in Thailand, who went exclusively to "international" schools and an "international" university (i don't know which exactly)... sure, he speaks english fluently... but he can't even read Thai, because somehow the schools missed to make sure the students can read / write their mother tongue.

 

So Thailand has english schools, maybe some are even good at teaching english... but you can't call them international.

Sorry Jack, you've got it the wrong way round.

International schools are not exclusively a Thai thing, they've existed long before they became a fad in Thailand. What you are referring to are Thai wannabe institutions who are making a me-too effort to jump on the bandwagon. The top international schools in Thailand were thriving with student nationality lists that read like the United Nations long before any Thai university or  [Insert town or city] Pittayakhom School had cottoned on to the concept.

 

When I first entered international schooling Thai law forbade international schools from having Thai nationals in more than 50% (or it could have been less) of the places, and the waiting list for the Thai quota was always ridiculous. That law was later repealed, hence the explosion in international schools that we have today. 
 

• International School - Wikipedia
• List of Schools - International School Association of Thailand

Edited March 28, 2018 by Trembly

[jackdd]

From your link to wikipedia

An international school is a school that promotes international education

While definitions vary in the precise language used, international education is generally taken to include:

Ability to communicate in multiple languages; and

 

So, how many languages are mandatory if you study at one of these schools? To me it looks like everything is in english, they might offer courses, but are they mandatory? I somehow doubt it.

In Germany, before you can study at a university you have to learn at least 2 foreign languages, so from a school that focuses on being international i would expect more than that, or at least 2 additional languages on a high level.

[Trembly]

36 minutes ago, jackdd said:

From your link to wikipedia

 

 

 

So, how many languages are mandatory if you study at one of these schools? To me it looks like everything is in english, they might offer courses, but are they mandatory? I somehow doubt it.

In Germany, before you can study at a university you have to learn at least 2 foreign languages, so from a school that focuses on being international i would expect more than that, or at least 2 additional languages on a high level.

You can't have multilingual curricula in a school where the students could come from anywhere in the world. It's just not practical. The schools have to make a decision to have the main curriculum in one language and then have second, third, or forth options depending on student demand and suitability.

I know of only one exception to this general rule; I have a friend who is bilingual in English and French and was educated in an international school in Geneva. She was allowed to take some classes in the French stream and some other classes in the English stream of that school throughout her time there.

Thai is compulsory as per the law, but apart from that it depends on the curriculum. In the UK curriculum a second language is compulsory until year 12. I can't speak for the other curricula but with the student population coming from so many countries there is hardly anyone in those schools who is not at least bilingual.

 

In fact it's usually the native English kids that have to make the most effort in being bilingual (some never succeed) because wherever they go English is compulsory, even in the non-English speaking international schools. 

 

All the people I know who were educated at the Swiss-German and French schools had compulsory English classes and their English is a lot better than my German or French. Many are trilingual to some extent by the time they've reached University. 

Edited March 28, 2018 by Trembly

[BigO]

There one in Nakhon Ratchasima. Anglo Singapore International School, Nakhon Ratchasima Campus, has been open in Nakhon Ratchasima for 5 years. They have two other campuses in Sukhumvit area, Bangkok. They offer Singapore curriculum, the students will have the opportunity to study in a multi-lingual environment. They will learn English, Chinese, and Thai (As they are under Thailand Ministry of Education). The school calendar follows the British school calendar and has 3 terms. The campus caters students from 2 years (Kindergarten) old up to 18 years old (Junior College).