How Long Must I Attend Class?

[wasabi]

I will be attending Piammitr Thai language school. My original belief was that I need to go to class 3 hours a day 5 days a week, but after looking at the schedule I'm not sure if 6 hours a day are required! I would greatly prefer 3 hours, 6 is too much. I have studied Thai for 4 years and I know 3 hours is the limit of my attention span.

If you've attended this or a similar school does 3 hours a day meet the requirement for the visa? Please have a look at the schedule.

Edited April 18, 2008 by wasabi

[kriswillems]

In some schools the minimum of hours to get a visa is 180 hours per year (which is in my opinion not enough for any serious language study).

I went to Piammitr. You can either choose to study in the morning or in the afternoon. If you want a student visa (single entry for 3 months) you need to pay for 3 modules (better check with them to be sure). One module is 60 hours in 20 days (Monday to Friday), so 3 hours per day. That is 4 times more hours than some other schools require. Piammitr is very cheap per hour, but not cheap if your main goal is getting a visa. If you want to study longer then 3 months (I hope you want that) Piammitr can help you to extend your visa.

The first school in Thailand I went to was Piammitr and after that I went to many other schools that are closer to my home. Until now it's still the best school I ever went to. I am very thankful to them. They really improved my life in Thailand a lot! I can arrange almost anything by myself in Thai language, although I am still far from the level of a native speaker.

Some teachers at Piammitr are better than others, most of them are very good. They don't inform you who will be your teacher, because they are afraid either the teacher from the morning or the one from the afternoon will get all students, while the other one will have no students. The head teacher is pretty cruel and hard, so she's the one that helps the students prepare P.6.

Most teachers have very little knowledge of English (no real problem for me, because I am not a native English speaker). There are many levels of students, especially when studying book/module 1 to 4, which is sometimes annoying.

This is how I studied:

First month: book 2

Second month: book 3 and book 6, so 6 hours per day studying (I skipped book 4 and 5 because I could already write)

Third month: book 7 (was fun!)

Fourth month: social problems (also fun!)

Fifth month: did one month P.6 preparation (normally it's 3 months).

I decided not to test, because at the moment P.6 was organized, I had only been studying 5 months, while most other students had been studying 9 until 12 months. I just started too late to catch up.

I would really like to return to study there, but practical problems don't allow this.

If you can, focus on Thai script from the beginning, even if the teacher writes phonetic.

Good luck, and if you've any questions feel free to ask.

PS. there are many other schools that used very similar books. Probably they are also good. Although the method is old-fashioned it is a method (some schools have no method at all) and it has proven to work (every year many students pass P.6 based on this method).

Edited April 18, 2008 by kriswillems

[wasabi]

kriswillems

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am a very serious student and studying Thai is my passion, however I know my limits and 3 hours is just right before I start day dreaming and losing focus. If all goes well I plan to attend Piammitr a year or more. I can already read, write and speak Thai at an intermediate level from studying 4 years at a local wat. Hopefully I'll pass the Pratom 6 someday.

[riga]

Hi guys, I'll take the chance here to ask you your opinions

I'm interessed in following course of thai, but I need some suggestions.

I've visited Thailand many times and I have some notions of thai spoken language.

I know thai thai alphabet and I can read it (slowly, and forget about exceptions), but I am a really beginner.

How would you rate PRO LANGUAGE??

I don't know if a course of 15 hours a week is good for me, I have no idea of the "PACE" they have.

And having a small knowledge of thai I don't know if it's betterto start from scratch or there are schools that test your skills

and then suggest you the level you should enter

[kriswillems]

kriswillems

Thanks for the detailed reply. I am a very serious student and studying Thai is my passion, however I know my limits and 3 hours is just right before I start day dreaming and losing focus. If all goes well I plan to attend Piammitr a year or more. I can already read, write and speak Thai at an intermediate level from studying 4 years at a local wat. Hopefully I'll pass the Pratom 6 someday.

Piammitr focuses on sentence structures or fixed expressions and less on (reading, speaking or writing) individual words. If you think you've a good knowledge of Thai sentence structures and fixed expressions make sure the head teacher doesn't let you start at a level that is too low. You might feel bored, especially because in the lower classes the teacher writes in phonetic script (but there a book in full Thai script available).

Book 2 was a bit boring for me (also because the teacher of book 2, at that moment, was not the best teacher of the school).