Question for Parents of school children at International Schools with limited Thai lessons

[Chopper]

My 7 year old daughter is in a mid-tier international school (year 3) that follows the IGCSE curriculum. She is half Thai and half English. Whilst her written, spoken and understanding of English language is very good and commiserate with where she should be at her age her Thai is not. 

 

There are only 2 Thai lessons per week in her school time table. She can speak and understand Thai to a reasonable level though not to the level of a student at a Thai school. She is unable to read or write Thai at present. Her mother teaches her as best as she can but works very long hours running her business.

 

My question is if I hire a Thai tutor at weekends and in the school holidays going forward would it be a reasonable expectation that my daughter over time would be able to read and write Thai, understand the Thai TV channels, be able to read Thai newspapers and so forth and to what standard? I accept that being immersed in English all day at school she is never going to speak, read & write like a native Thai.

 

I would be very interested to know how other parents in this situation with older half Thai children dealt with this issue and to what level of reading and writing their children attained.

 

My overarching concern, albeit a long way off, is that if my daughter ultimately decides to work in Thailand whilst having a good quality education at an international school with internationally recognised qualifications she may be at a disadvantage if her Thai reading & writing is not to a native standard.

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated from parents that have already travelled this path with children that have already graduated or with children that are still in an  international school and what are you doing to improve your child's Thai language reading/writing would be most welcome.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Our children attended international schools here (Kindergarten through grade 12), and although they are verbally fluent in Thai from speaking Thai in the home and with their Thai friends, they would not be able to hold a job that required professional-level reading and writing Thai. They did have the usual Thai language classes in school much the same as your daughter.

 

They have all graduated and gone on to university in the US and have not expressed any desire to return to Thailand to live and work. 

 

Given the cost of both their international schooling here plus US university, I would find it difficult to justify the expense when contemplating Thai salary levels. Perhaps when they are better established in their careers they could consider coming back if they wanted to start their own company or had a position with a large multinational firm that would give them a generous expat package. But it is their call in any event.

[Chopper]

45 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Our children attended international schools here (Kindergarten through grade 12), and although they are verbally fluent in Thai from speaking Thai in the home and with their Thai friends, they would not be able to hold a job that required professional-level reading and writing Thai. They did have the usual Thai language classes in school much the same as your daughter.

 

They have all graduated and gone on to university in the US and have not expressed any desire to return to Thailand to live and work. 

 

Given the cost of both their international schooling here plus US university, I would find it difficult to justify the expense when contemplating Thai salary levels. Perhaps when they are better established in their careers they could consider coming back if they wanted to start their own company or had a position with a large multinational firm that would give them a generous expat package. But it is their call in any event.

 

Etaoin, thank you very much for your reply. It is most appreciated.

[digbeth]

If it comes to that, can your connections afford her a "dek inter" nepo baby jobs at multinationals in Thailand, those cushy jobs require minimal Thai skills 

 

otherwise the better option is with access to your home country's passport, get university education there and a job with multinationals whilst there, and work her way way towards Thailand where her Thai language will be an asset over other executives they send to Thailand

[youreavinalaff]

The best bet would have been to bring the child up as bi/multi lingual from birth. That is how our daughter was brought up.

 

It really is not difficult.

[jayboy]

On 10/24/2023 at 4:49 PM, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

a position with a large multinational firm that would give them a generous expat package

 

Dream on.These are as rare as dragons teeth these days and certainly not available to Thai expatriates  who deign to return unless they have some highly marketable skills.Most end up working for the family firm.

 

I have interviewed quite a few of these people in my time.A key impression was how dreadful (not personally but in terms of being employable) were the alumni from second rate American universities.The best of them with advanced critical thinking faculties wrote their own ticket.

 

The main problem even high flying Thai expatriates experience on return to Thailand is the lack of a personal network.Obviously this will vary depending on the length of absence.

 

 

 

 

[Maybole]

My granddaughter had the same problem and needed extra tuition . She caught up in about two years. 

[richard_smith237]

Chopper - our 9 year old son (British Father / Thai mother) attends an excellent International School in Bangkok, yet we are in the same situation regarding the Quality of Thai education he receives, which is 2 rather basic Thai lessons per week - we supplement his Thai with extra curricular classes outside of school. A lot of children at international schools end up doing this. 

 

Having a native grasp on the Thai language becomes particularly important if the child wishes to follow a medical, dentistry or a legal career in Thailand where its simply not possible to do so without attending Thai University (in Thai language) these skills are often supplemented with an overseas education, however its not possible to secure positions in Thailand in these professions without a Thai Accredited qualification in that discipline - hence, keeping optoins open although we fully expect that our Son will attend a reputable Western University. 

 

 

 

[Presnock]

We sent our daughter (moved housing) to find the "better" local Thai schools until 5th grade.  We kept moving because all the

schools did not meet the goals we had for her.  In 5th grade we sent her to a "new" school - fantastic buildings, layout, etc half

Thai teachers, rest Farang - though most farang teachers eventually tried to leave as soon as possible as the school was run by

the daughter of a Thai univ. and most of the Thai teachers were schools buddies.  Anyway prior to the end of the first year, we

knew we were leaving - even were offered full scholarship to continue but no way - and by the end of the 3rd year all the original

students were gone as well as the farang teachers.  We went to an international school (CMIS) - daughter on a US passport so did

not have to take Thai classes after 6 grade which the Thai teacher didn't like because she really liked our daughter.  She began studying Chinese in 7th grade, then a year later began self-teaching Korean because she like KPOP (by graduation she had passed

level 4 of the international Korean test), she continued studying Chinese and even taught basic Chinese at another Thai high school

near CMIS, which was broken up by the pandemic, took AP Chinese, did teacher's asst for one year when she had a free hour

daily, taught Korean and English to others as part of the community service they needed to graduate.  She speaks, reads and writes 

Thai with no problems.  She English (American with me), and Thai exclusively with her mother and most of her friends.  She is now

a student at the number one Univ in Thailand studying Korean.  Your wife must take time to speak Thai with your daughter.  Extra

classes should help especially in the writing while watching Thai programs (especially news for vocab) or movies should also help her.

Good luck!

[jcmj]

I had the same issue with my son and had to hire another teacher to teach him to read and write Thai. It took some time, but I bought him some comic books to read when he started. That seemed to help. He loved them and every time we went to the store he would ask for another one. I think if you find something that your child likes and encourage them to read the results will be better. A tutor is a must. I was really annoyed, at first, to learn that the school didn’t teach reading or writing in Thai which I believe is a very important part of a mixed Thai child’s education. 

[2baht]

I got tuition in Thai for my kids, worked out fine, they are fluently bi lingual!

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

11 hours ago, jayboy said:

 

Dream on.These are as rare as dragons teeth these days and certainly not available to Thai expatriates  who deign to return unless they have some highly marketable skills.Most end up working for the family firm.

 

I have interviewed quite a few of these people in my time.A key impression was how dreadful (not personally but in terms of being employable) were the alumni from second rate American universities.The best of them with advanced critical thinking faculties wrote their own ticket.

 

The main problem even high flying Thai expatriates experience on return to Thailand is the lack of a personal network.Obviously this will vary depending on the length of absence.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, generous expat packages are becoming quite rare these days and are often limited to very senior positions. I doubt whether any of my children will return to work in Thailand. It would not make financial sense in most instances.

[AgMech Cowboy]

Well, fortunately, my wife did not work, so she spent time getting my son to read Thai, plus he took the required Thai course at school through the 11th grade.  I'd suggest finding a Thai tutor to supplement your child's school Thai. They are not expensive.

[IndomitableSpirit]

I'm a product of IS in Bangkok circa 90s. We had one Thai class a week, so my mom hired a tutor. I had a Thai tutor coming in our place twice a week for 1.5 hours and that's for 3 years. Since I love learning languages, I became almost fluent in speaking, reading and writing after those 3 years near native level. I don't have Thai blood, so I couldn't really practice it at home a lot. Just get a good tutor, the one who is dedicated in teaching and not just earning. Your daughter being half Thai has a great advantage already, she'll be fluent faster. 

[Dickp]

Our daughter had Thai lesson in best International school back in 1991, but only from 2nd grade till finshing 6th grade, then the school stop Thai as a subjust. We heirded a Thai language teacher to teach her until she was in 11 th grade. She is exceptional Thai read and writing then, now a little rusted after bring in the USA for the 22 years. Shas one BA 2 MA's and Phd, works in the US and comes here one or two times a year. Her Thai is still quit good and she has many Thai friends that can back to Thailand after collage, and work or own their own company.  My advice heird a Thai school language teacher, giver her option.

[khunPer]

On 10/24/2023 at 11:02 AM, Chopper said:

I would be very interested to know how other parents in this situation with older half Thai children dealt with this issue and to what level of reading and writing their children attained.

For my half Thai daughter, I decided for a bilingual (also called English Program) primary school – up to P6, equivalent to year 7 international – with IGCSE curriculum and native English speaking teachers for the subjects taught in English. With a true bilingual school you get both Thai and English – in my area Chinese was a third foreign language – and you also get the Thai culture, which is important if the future would be in Thailand.

 

We changed after P6 to international IGCSE year 8. Thai language was still a subject all the way through the international levels, but limited in number of hours per week, and my daughter got an A in both Thai and English.

 

My daughter had originally only has the Thai future as option – i.e. only Thai citizenship, as I'm not married to her mother, my girlfriend – so Thai language and culture was important. An EU-court changed that later, so she could get dual citizenship and thereby more options to choose from in the future.

 

IGCSE-certificate has no real value for primary level – internation up to Y7 – the bilingual school can be half price of the IGCSE-approved international school; the certificate approval is the expensive part. While for middle school, Y8-Y11, the final IGCSE-certificate is very valuable and entrance to either continuing to Cambridge A-level or with IB.

 

Might be valuable for your daughter to either consider a bilingual school, and/or extra tuition in Thai.

[bizader]

My son just joined Year 1 at an international school. As he has dual nationality, the school offered us 2 options at registration - (1) register him in school as a foreign child (2) register him as Thai. The difference between the 2 was that if I registered him as a foreigner, he will only have 2 Thai lessons per week, but if he is registered as a Thai, he is required to have Thai lessons every day for 2 hrs/day, 5 days a week.

 

We chose to register him as a Thai, but the school did tell us that their Thai curriculum is a toned down version of that in Thai schools.

[Chopper]

Just a quick note to say thank you all for taking the time and trouble to reply. There have been many wide and varied responses. They have all been very interesting and informative to read.