Walen School

[boraborasands]

Has anybody tried that school, which, apperently seems to be widely advertised in quiet a few website.

If anybody has experienced it already, kindly post your feed back.

Kind regards,

[Rionoir]

*bump*

[Jared]

Id be interested to know about this school aswell, has anyone got any feedback?

[Rionoir]

Well if we don't hear anything here you guys can PM me in a couple months... LoL I'm going there to learn Thai of course, but also for the student visa. =P

[marc288888]

I went to walen school at the weekend wanting to start thai lessons on fridays they said they need 6 ppl to start the course on fridays asked a few questions about the ed visa he said you go and get 3 month entry and then this can be extended up to a year so if they dont like the look of you or they are in a bad mood that day you could be stuffed so its not a 100% they will extend your visa, also no refunds given if you dont get your extention .what i did find a bit strange is a sweed or german guy was running the bussiness would of been better if a thai person was behind the desk as i am wanting to learn thai ..so for me the company cannot give me 100% that i will get me a ed visa for 1 year however he did say he has got all his students ed visa extentions but you would say this ....

[Tod Daniels]

I recently watched the Callan/Walen Method School being built on the 3rd floor of the Times Square Building. Evidently the Callan method is the english courses they offer and the Walen method is for the thai language. The owner said they were relocating from a higher floor in the building, so it may have been there for some time.

What interested me was that the thai lessons start right out with thai letters and words. They have no transliteration. Transliteration is used in MOST thai language schools, UTL, Pro Language, and many others I toured before I could speak. I thought it a complete waste of time, especially seeing as NOTHING is ever written here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" in obscure often school specific transliteration. Add that to the fact the thai government has no standardized transliteration scheme (which also shows tones), and it leaves schools are free to use their own system(s).

Being able to read somewhat BEFORE I took a class didn't help at the above mentioned transliteration method schools (Pro Language and UTL). They refused to provide me a text book in thai, saying instead that it wasn't until book 3 that they taught reading. Adding that to their much out-dated but still maniacally adhered to and taught text books and those schools got a BIG two thumbs down from me.

I did take a free one hour class at the Walen School. After the free hour was over I perused their textbook(s) for another hour. My comprehension in reading is quite good but the newspaper still gives me fits. While I can speak easily in actual contextual sentences, without using english words, if I don't speak slowly thais lose comprehension due to my poor tone enunciation. It is also partly due to the fact thais don't expect a foreigner to speak anything close to hi-register thai.

I would be interested in hearing back from anyone who has taken this company's thai language course. I have chatted with Maciej Walenciak the owner many times, and he certainly believes his "direct method" of teaching thai with constant review of previous chapters while using only written thai is superior to all others. IF I had not already been able to read, understand and speak I believe it might be overwhelming initially to a person, but who knows.

As I live close by, I am thinking of showing up at the Walen School one evening to chat with students currently enrolled in the 5-7 class. While I too was told about the ED Visa, I have no visa issues and don't need that feature. Perhaps if enough people from this forum were interested in taking classes there we could get a discount or at least get another class started.

[RAZZELL]

I recently watched the Callan/Walen Method School being built on the 3rd floor of the Times Square Building. Evidently the Callan method is the english courses they offer and the Walen method is for the thai language. The owner said they were relocating from a higher floor in the building, so it may have been there for some time.

What interested me was that the thai lessons start right out with thai letters and words. They have no transliteration. Transliteration is used in MOST thai language schools, UTL, Pro Language, and many others I toured before I could speak. I thought it a complete waste of time, especially seeing as NOTHING is ever written here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" in obscure often school specific transliteration. Add that to the fact the thai government has no standardized transliteration scheme (which also shows tones), and it leaves schools are free to use their own system(s).

Being able to read somewhat BEFORE I took a class didn't help at the above mentioned transliteration method schools (Pro Language and UTL). They refused to provide me a text book in thai, saying instead that it wasn't until book 3 that they taught reading. Adding that to their much out-dated but still maniacally adhered to and taught text books and those schools got a BIG two thumbs down from me.

I did take a free one hour class at the Walen School. After the free hour was over I perused their textbook(s) for another hour. My comprehension in reading is quite good but the newspaper still gives me fits. While I can speak easily in actual contextual sentences, without using english words, if I don't speak slowly thais lose comprehension due to my poor tone enunciation. It is also partly due to the fact thais don't expect a foreigner to speak anything close to hi-register thai.

I would be interested in hearing back from anyone who has taken this company's thai language course. I have chatted with Maciej Walenciak the owner many times, and he certainly believes his "direct method" of teaching thai with constant review of previous chapters while using only written thai is superior to all others. IF I had not already been able to read, understand and speak I believe it might be overwhelming initially to a person, but who knows.

As I live close by, I am thinking of showing up at the Walen School one evening to chat with students currently enrolled in the 5-7 class. While I too was told about the ED Visa, I have no visa issues and don't need that feature. Perhaps if enough people from this forum were interested in taking classes there we could get a discount or at least get another class started.

Great post! I'm interested to know what this school is like too.

RAZZ

[Vit77]

I am one of first students in that school - so automatically I am in the most advanced class now Direct method needs some more tests, however after 3 months of going for the lessons only (4 hours/week = about 24 lessons), I can read the book we got in the class. This book (tome 1 at least) is written in not typical thai - words are separated for easier memorizing. So I still can't read newspapers but sometimes I can read short sentences or words. Other schools offer 24 lessons during 10-14 days, not 3 months - so I believe this method can be good for beginners.. and after that they can communicate pretty well. Of course with some extra practice at home (with thai!! (because of pronunciation)) effects can be visible much faster.

And I just started to recognize few thai letters so I think now should be a bit easier..

The most important for me is visa. Owner told me they refund the costs if I don't get extension - but I didn't have any problem with that. I went to immigration and I got 1,5 month extra (I don't know why). So - if I check the stamp in passport - my full 1 year visa is granted for almost 14 months

Aw, and owner is not german nor english

[g00dgirl]

I also looked at the Walen school at the Times Square Building on the 3rd floor and observed a Thai class. There are currently 3 groups running from what I was told

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10.00 - 12.50

Mondays and Wednesdays from 17.00 - 18.50

and

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 17.00 - 18.50

The rooms are quite small and the chairs I did not find comfortable at all, they are these kind of chairs where 4 or so chairs are fixed together with a small table attached to each chair itself. So you sit very close to your neighbour and can't move the chair around and even if you are not fat or anything you feel quite squeezed into this chair/table thingy. Overweight and big people can't sit in it I would say and the little attached table is .. quite little.

They have no whiteboard or blackboard where the teacher could write anything on and also no projector.

A lot of the class seems to follow the format of the teacher saying something and the group repeating it out loud together or individually. Also a student is told to ask another a question and that student than answers and asks another student.

Questions by the students that occur are allowed to be asked without hand sign and are being adressed by the teacher. It can lead to some students making too frequent use of this and interrupting the class somewhat.

Since new students can join an existing group at any time, the level of the students can be quite different. Like Tod-Daniels already said the book doesn't have transliteration. I can't imagine what that must be like for a beginner, I already know the alphabet for the most part so I did not mind that, but the layout of the book seemed a fair bit unstructured.

I decided not to take part in any of their group classes for now. I mainly did not like the 'teacher speaks, class repeats' style.

[Vit77]

Like Tod-Daniels already said the book doesn't have transliteration. I can't imagine what that must be like for a beginner, I already know the alphabet for the most part so I did not mind that, but the layout of the book seemed a fair bit unstructured.

As I posted - I don't know alphabet and I can read this book. And I am doing better and better with thai language written around.

Writing was invented before alphabet and knowing alphabet is not necessary for reading. That's for sure. There are only few lanaguages in the World where you read exactly how you write the world (some of them are slovian languages). You read english by your experience, can't read letter by letter. Same with thai

.

In my opinion learning thai with latin alphabet and after that with thai alphabet is just wasting time (you learn twice the same thing - and first one completely unuseful).

Anyway - read something in internet about Callan method of learning english.. you just learn, repeat, talk.. don't use board, don't use pencil.. like 1-3 years old children (parents don't show them on board what they should say, parents don't teach them gramma on board - they repeat, repeat, repeat). It works perfect with english, I think there is a chance it can work with thai language also. But of course, only time can give answer.

Aw, and my terrible and broken english is so terrible and broken, because I've learned it by traditional methods (with board, pens, tests, etc..)..

[Jimjim]

The Walen method is just like the Callan method of teaching English, except it's for teaching Thai. The owner is Polish. Yes, he has owned that school there for a while. He used to own the one in Silom. He named it "Walen" by combining Callan and the W from his last name.

In Callan Method, the students are not supposed to be repeating things aloud in unison, it's supposed to be one by one (while the teacher heavily helps them, as is what happens in the direct method), so g00dgirl is a little off on that if they are following the proper way of teaching. The owner is heavily steeped in this, so I would assume he would teach his teachers how to do it properly. The only time they may repeat in unison is when a new word is introduced and the students just say it. So, really, there should be no "teachers speaks, class repeats" style, but it should just be one student repeating. That is the method. Unison chorus is not desired so if this happens, the teacher has to put a stop to it. Also, if they're interrupting the class, the teacher needs to stop it, as in this method, the teacher should be heavily in control. It's probably the students who didn't realize personal question and answer session was over.

As for no transliteration, isn't transliteration a waste of time? Of course it's hard for the beginner as it's completely foreign. But that's why you're going to school, to learn the language. Duh.

Of course there is no blackboard or whiteboard. That's not part of the method, either. It's not needed. Just the books are required.

Some people think Callan Method is the best way of teaching English, some don't. I think it's best for most students, but not for a small minority. As for Walen, I think probably it's good, if the teachers are doing it properly. You should learn pretty fast in class, but with only 4 hours a week, it will be slow in that regard. I would view that as good because then you can properly pace your study out over a year, which is as long as your ED visa.

Also, someone complained about the chairs. Walen, like Callan, is cheap, so yeah, they're not huge classrooms. But, anyway, in that method they want it be cozy.

All in all, it can be a pretty rough experience for the student at first, but I bet you would adjust if you put effort into it. It's quite intense.

Edit: I added a few things in the body after posting.

Edited September 1, 2007 by Jimjim

[mangkorn]

Writing was invented before alphabet and knowing alphabet is not necessary for reading. That's for sure.

I have no idea what that statement means. How can you read without knowing the letters? How can you write without an alphabet? Do you draw pictures, or what?

[Vit77]

Writing was invented before alphabet and knowing alphabet is not necessary for reading. That's for sure.

I have no idea what that statement means. How can you read without knowing the letters? How can you write without an alphabet? Do you draw pictures, or what?

Good sample is chinese language.

[mangkorn]

Writing was invented before alphabet and knowing alphabet is not necessary for reading. That's for sure.

I have no idea what that statement means. How can you read without knowing the letters? How can you write without an alphabet? Do you draw pictures, or what?

Good sample is chinese language.

Please explain how one can read Thai language without knowing the alphabet.

[Sateev]

Writing was invented before alphabet and knowing alphabet is not necessary for reading. That's for sure.

I have no idea what that statement means. How can you read without knowing the letters? How can you write without an alphabet? Do you draw pictures, or what?

Good sample is chinese language.

Please explain how one can read Thai language without knowing the alphabet.

I think the poster was exaggerating for effect. An example might be a pictogram, or cave drawing.

However, it is true that AFTER learning to read, the alphabet isn't usualy consciously perceived. Your eyes and brain combine to do some 'pattern matching', and the words are read whole, not as combinations of alphabetic characters. In many cases, people have to learn to stop parsing individual letters in order to 'speed read'.

I think this applies to Thai, too. Reading by parsing individual alphabetic characters, diacritical and tone marks is slow, tedious, and prone to error. Being able to see the whole word, made more difficult in Thai because there are no spaces between them, is the only way to increase speed to the point of making reading fluid.

While learning to read, some alphabet recognation is, of course, required. This is the reason many schools use a phonetic system. Places that don't use phonetics just substitute actual Thai alphabet (and tone marks, etc.) for the phonetic system, eliminating the intermediate (and many say, wasted) step. The downside is that Thai is a MUCH more difficult phonetic system than most of the simplified ones you find in the Thai language books.

Some analytical types, myself included, have struggled with remembering the consonant classes, and the tone rules for those classes and vowel length, trying to process them in 'real time', but, in the end, I believe a combination of listening, and learning to 'pattern match' is a better way to become 'fluent'. Not for everyone, but for many of us.

Sateev

[OxfordWill]

I emailed this school asking about the program. I got a reply 7 days later, followed it up with more questions, never got a reply. If I treated my sales inquiries like that I would quickly be out of business! :/ Don't offer email if you can't support it.

The thing about the chairs/tables has totally put me off, combine that with a dodgy aircon unit and no thanks!

/rant

[jetzie]

so does anyone has any unsuccessful experience with this school?

[meadish_sweetball]

Some posts referencing how to cheat the intentions of the education visa system have been removed.

Thaivisa.com specifically requests that you do not recommend or discuss ways of breaking Thai law or its intentions, and to report any such posts to the moderators of the website.

Thank you.

[jetzie]

With sincere concerns over the education visa and the current Myanmar problems, i think i need to bring this out.

My girlfriend is a Burmese national currently taking classes with Callen school, very nice people there.

I was told by my girlfriend that she has to go back to yangon to collect her ED visa if that is successful, and there hasnt been any unsuccessful application so far.

However, i have been reading the papers and seeing quite some serious problems with yangon and her people recently, i wonder how will that affect my girlfriend's application.

I am worried for her safety if she returns to yangon to collect.

Is it only yangon that she can go or is there another consulate where she can visit to collect her visa?

and i'm kindda worried that with the riots and rubbish going on in Myanmar right now, will the ED visa even be approved?

Edited September 27, 2007 by jetzie

[MacWalen]

With sincere concerns over the education visa and the current Myanmar problems, i think i need to bring this out.

My girlfriend is a Burmese national currently taking classes with Callen school, very nice people there.

I was told by my girlfriend that she has to go back to yangon to collect her ED visa if that is successful, and there hasnt been any unsuccessful application so far.

However, i have been reading the papers and seeing quite some serious problems with yangon and her people recently, i wonder how will that affect my girlfriend's application.

I am worried for her safety if she returns to yangon to collect.

Is it only yangon that she can go or is there another consulate where she can visit to collect her visa?

and i'm kindda worried that with the riots and rubbish going on in Myanmar right now, will the ED visa even be approved?

I checked it already directly with the Panang consulate, she can go to Penang in Malaysia, if u want to make sure you can call +6042269484, I was informed that Burmese nationals can apply for the ED visa at that consulate provided they have all the paperwork form the MOE and from our school. Good to know as no doubt there will be some more Burmese students at our school in the future.