Best, economical way for a Thai to improve English ability in BKK?

[Elkski]

The title really sums up my question clearly.  

A BKK friend  I know wants to improve their English skills.   They look into an English class near phaya Thai BTS station.  It was 500 baht per hour.  This person works full-time so cannot take day classes at a university or something.

Any  ideas close to thong for bts would be welcome.  Maybe online and YouTube is best idea. 

[Artisi]

B500 per hour, is this one on one or a class situation. 

[Elkski]

500 is one on one.  Because she can't do the class 9-3 3-4 days a week.  

[ratcatcher]

Interestingly and somewhat sadly, the ones with the best English skills are often bar girls or hotel workers where they have the opportunity to interact (among other things) with farangs, most of whom speak English. Employees in banks and other such offices always answer the question "Do you speak English? with "Yes, nid noi."

Another sad fact is that the law forbids foreigners from teaching Thais English unless they have a W.P., degree and are in a school or learning facility. Thousands of expats in villages and towns throughout Thailand might be willing to help young people in some simple group conversation get-togethers, but are always in fear one of Big Jokes emissaries appearing. 

(Said slightly tongue in cheek of course.)

[Kwasaki]

Find English speakers and sit and talk to them everyday making your position clear especially for a young lady.

A teacher friend talks to me once a month and is very good, can read and write now too. 

[katana]

50 free lessons from Orm School:

 

 

[lamyai3]

10 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Find English speakers and sit and talk to them everyday making your position clear especially for a young lady.

A teacher friend talks to me once a month and is very good, can read and write now too. 

Given the likelihood of misinterpretation at being approached by a woman here (for whatever apparent reason) it might be better to seek out female expats for this. I often think women are naturally better organised and explain things like this more clearly anyway. If she has a basic level of English and she's just looking to tidy things up this would be quite easy, much more than if she's trying to learn from scratch. 

 

Rather than having a too broad goal of "can you help me learn English" she'd do better to narrow down her goals to specific subject areas of interest and ask for clarification on them. This makes it much easier for the person to target their reply, and even if they can only give five or ten minutes of their time it could be very useful. 

[Chrisdoc]

Do not live in Bangkok but a while agowas very keen on finding Thai people to talk Thai to and I would help them with their English. Was even willing to pay but found it impossible to find someone. Ended up at a Thai language meet up group. The Thai leader at the group was wonderful but it was still hard to find one on one conversation. I would check out meet up groups and I am sure you will find many English speakers wanting to swap language skills.

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[justin case]

so funny as English is taught in school but this is TIT

 

land of THAI only, center of the world

[5633572526]

The best way is the most obvious way. Talk with your English speaking friends. I took Thai language classes when I first arrived here which taught me words but I learned more about conversation by talking with friends who spoke Thai than from my classes. 

[chrisinth]

44 minutes ago, justin case said:

so funny as English is taught in school but this is TIT

 

land of THAI only, center of the world

French was taught (compulsory) at the secondary school I went to. I could never, in a real situation, put words into a phrase even to try a conversation. Always told myself I wasn't stupid, just never got to practice the language outside of a school environment.

 

This IMO is what happens in Thailand regarding English for the majority; no where to practice it unless moon-lighting in bars, restaurants or shops. Add to that the lack of native speaking teachers (outside the major cities) and the subject becomes a tick in the box for the establishment; a few hours a week taught strictly in the school environment.

 

So, again IMO, not really funny.

[Pravda]

True Story:

 

A few years ago I was inside the metro with my wife and we saw a couple of those nicely dressed Jehova's Witnesses holding a book and eyeing their next victim. With a tone of slight disgust I asked wife what she thought about them spreading their religion in Thailand. To my shocking surprise she said "Theeeyyyy niiiceeee, nothing scary".

 

Really? You don't mind them?

 

No she says. They talk to me and offer me free English classes. I go and then I leave.

 

Lolz.

 

I guess the classes paid off as she told me she got interviewed for one of the biggest international companies in Thailand and got the job.

 

That was over 10 years ago. I am sure they still offer free English classes if one is to listen to their gospeling drivel.

 

 

 

 

[YT3k72Em]

She can listen to english language or english learning podcasts during her daily commute.

Better than glued to facebook for an hour. Watch netflix instead of Thai TV dramas.

[Elkski]

This friend has no commute.  Has decent English from working in medical industry for 17 years.  That or school looks ok.  But she talks to fast.  I think it's best for a woman to learn from a nice sounding woman.  

[phuketsub]

It's all about listening in context.

 

True, there is more context out there now than ever before with Netflix, podcasts, regular TV and what-have-you, but it seems all of these compete among themselves ever more for one's attention. Also, the Thai language subtitles also serve as a crutch that hinders natural learning by listening. 

 

I am glad to have thrown myself into a "must listen to survive" situation to learn Thai before the advent of Internet and the rest of the digital info avalanche.

 

Best bang for the buck is just to find a cartoon series or English language media  that will engage the listener enough to keep him/her tuned in for long stretches. The good news is that it's free. The bad news is that the person has to focus and listen when there are so many competing windows for attention these days.

 

 

 

 

[mike324]

watch TV shows / dramas and practice speaking like actors on screen. There are many Thais who watch korean dramas and can speak the basics very well and quite fluently just from watching dramas every night. This is a start if she has no opportunity to make friends with fluent speakers and has no time outside of work.

[Golden Triangle]

The BBC does quite a good series of English for Thai speakers at various levels of competency, my Mrs has just started using them as she wanted to improve her English language skills, she practices what she has learnt on me and I correct her where necessary, she also watches a lot of English language movies and TV series, I also have the radio on all day (BBC Radio 2) so she mimics the presenters and various phrases and also asks me to explain some of the song lyrics for her, she's doing quite well and it's free and she can pick and choose when to do it ????   

[lamyai3]

3 hours ago, Elkski said:

This friend has no commute.  Has decent English from working in medical industry for 17 years.  That or school looks ok.  But she talks to fast.  I think it's best for a woman to learn from a nice sounding woman.  

This makes things much easier for her. She could watch a lot of English language movies and dramas to pick up a nice cultured accent and get a sense of pacing. Doesn't need to be hard work, can just watch English language programmes on whatever subjects she finds interesting. And then to practice, either find English speaking friends or get into the habit of starting conversations with people, and asking frequently if she's unclear if she's saying something right. Slowing down her speech isn't a big deal, just takes some self awareness on her part.