Trying to find a particular language school in BKK - maybe someone knows it?

[MarkC63]

For months Ive been trying to locate a particular school in BKK.
They had a number of youtube videos showing their classes and they were unusual in the sense that the teachers, usually two just talking, animatedly to one another, would not speak any English at at.
It seemed to be quite a big busy school with this particular method of not speaking any English but the farangs were learning by absorption in some way. It was all quite high energy and I thought it might be a method that would work for me.
Now I cannot find any of the videos and I wonder if the school has closed down....
Ring any bells anyone? 
Thanks for reading.

Mark

[Gene1960]

aua school 

[dddave]

Possibly AUA?

https://www.auathailand.org/en/

[carlyai]

12 hours ago, dddave said:

Possibly AUA?

https://www.auathailand.org/en/

Definitely AUA. Called 'the natural approach' if i remember.

 

Be warned, it takes a good while to learn using this method. Probably 6 months to 2 years, depending on your ability to pick up languages. You progress thru the classes from beginner to ...... I found it good to also have a break and do the structured approach sometimes as well.

 

This was years ago, have fun.

[Orton Rd]

More like 20 years using that method

[recom273]

AUA changed its method, as far as I know.

 

I studied by this method, it is great as supplementary study or once you had a grasp of the language.

 

They had a grading system but only 2-3 classes, the grading applied to the level and number of words that you could comprehend.

 

You selected the classes that you thought interesting and just attend, no pressure, I think you paid for a block of classes that lasted for 3 months, these classes along with the teachers, rotated on a monthly basis, so that people with limited time availability could study different classes.
Each class was an 55 mins, and covered subjects that are hard to find Thai people to talk about in everyday life - religion, social issues (drug addiction, domestic violence), specialist vocabulary, royalty, current affairs, etc - It was a great time in my life, the campus is really chilled in the evening, nice classmates, you can get something to eat before class. There were a couple of teachers that were absolute rockstars. People were under the impression it was all about passive learning through immersion, but there was an element of interaction, they would question the odd confident person, talk to me in southern or Issan dialect for fun.

 

I really enjoyed my time there, but we moved from BKK. If it is still available at AUA, then I thoroughly recommend it.

 

As others say, you need some other structured study, or at least a very good grasp, if you study at AUA you will be there for a long time - I used to study at UTL in the morning, and progressed through the writing levels until I had to start work.I would imagine the basic level at AUA rather uninspiring, you could save a lot of time and using structured learning to jump to intermediate level.

 

 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by recom273

[MarkC63]

You guys are great. Thank-you.
Ive already got a bit of Thai but fast losing it here unable to practice.
As soon as I hear the videos my familiarity with the vocab is coming back to me so I know this will work for me.

I think the method is great, personally speaking. Thais, speaking simple clear Thai and explaining as they go ( albeit in Thai) will definitely work well for me. So happy to have found this again thanks to you guys. This forum is a brilliant and helpful resource.

Mark