Thai Kids At International School

[girlbetterknow]

Hi there! Bangkok Patana does limit Thai students as they keep it international as much as possible. But I know many half Thai/British students who go there as I have been there before while I was young. It is a great school and also offers IB. But I ended up going to Harrow International School when it opened up in 1998 and have attened there since last year 2009 as my final year in sixth form. I can say there is a fair few Thais that go to Harrow but also there are a few more non Thais joining the school as the school has grown. I can say that Harrow was the best time of my life and i truly miss it. The school has a rule that you must speak English at all times but obviously not in Thai classes and other foreign languages. We get warning cards if we are caught speaking Thai, Chinese etc. I can say though that many of the Thai student who join improve their English accent in time. My ex boyfriend also attended Harrow since it opened and he has such a lovely English accent and we are both now currently studying in University in UK. He is full Thai. But both of us know how to speak, read and write both Thai and English with also extras such as Chinese with basic French and German. Education at Harrow is high and also has sister schools in UK, Hong Kong and Beijing. I believe that Bromsgrove also has the same simular education as Harrow as their is also a Bromsgrove in the UK with both Harrow and Bromsgrove being Boarding and Day schools. Bromsgrove and Harrow also follow the British traditions such as shirt and ties with boater hats which I find looks wonderful and makes me feel proud to have been part of a school that has helped me so much as I also have mild learning problems. Harrow has a residence called Hyde Park Vibhavadee right next to the school which many students and parents have brought. Any way good luck

I just saw all my mistakes here, sorry about that. I was pretty tired and bored when I was typing this.

[MikeyIdea]

Language should not be your concern. Your child will naturarly get native speaking both languages. It is important that you make sure that your child gets the Thai reading and writing bit early, you have to enroll your child in the Thai courses (all extra not included) if you send to an international school - in kindergarten I mean, don't wait until primary school with it

It is a concern that so many schools are full of Thai children and teenagers, I see it as a real concern but not because of language. These rich Thai kids aren't that nice actually. They are spoilt and over confident (or try to show they are) and their parents haven't really showed them the importance of respect. It's like their parents forgot to teach them something. A stupid sample, like it or not; They were the ones who almost never stood up to offer my 75 year old mother their seat on the sky train. The girls much worse than the boys in that respect

I took my daughter skating the other day, A couple of vans from Regent dropped off students. Of some 20 kids, only 2 spoke English, that happened to be the only half Thai and her Thai friend. And they weren't that nice actually

Have you considered a combination of bilingal and international? I certainly do not think that the Thai education technique is good but there are still many advantages from exposure to both to consider.

I think this thread contains quite a bit of thoughtful information How To Best Combine Schools, Teaching Techniques, Culture And Tradition - Thailand Forum

One quote from that thread

A toddler today will finish university in 20 years time, she will then work for 40 years after that. Half way down this toddlers working life, that's 40 (forty) years from now by the way, China will be the world leader economically, India will be second and America and the EU will have struggled to stand still economically for the last 20 years. The Asian economies on overdrive driven by several billion diligent people who are pushed forward not only by the positive feeling of living in a country where things gets better every year, but also by an improved educational system will have taken over the world economy. America and the EU will still be powerful of course but it is going to be at the level of struggling to stand still.

I wouldn't miss the Asian bit for "better education" - my personal opinion

Good Luck

Interesting post. I think the thing that many people overlook when deciding 'between' Thai or internationals schools is that it is not all about the language. It is really more about the broader pedogogical issues (teaching and learning styles) and social environment. My kids are in a Thai school but are both fully bilingual (Thai and English - with a bit of Chinese thrown in). I too have seen many Thai kids who are in international schools who really seem to struggle with expected cultural norms, especially with their immediate and extended families eg. being overly opnionated with their elders. This may seem triviall but I think it is a very often overlooked consequence of an international school environment. One of the other things is the often transient nature of both teachers and students in the international school system. This can lead to a lack of commitment on the part of the teachers ( some but certainly not all) and a difficulty in forming long-term friendships amongst the student population. For me, I'd like something in-between and am still searching for the best option.

Good post MrJohnson

I have often heard Thais say that they didn’t want their kids to go to international schools because they change so much, won’t listen to what their parents said, don’t show respect any longer, things like that. I didn’t believe in it at first, I thought that it was just Thai parents who didn’t want their kids to “become difficult”. I heard it since the early 90’s by now but I have changed my opinion over the years. I had kids of my own and I learnt and developed myself, I thought much about the topic of bringing up children and came up with the simple conclusion that it isn’t as easy as that

Kids at international schools are expected to take initiatives, expected to question everything, freedom with responsibility and all that, all the things we see as valuable assets for life. We also prepare our kids since they are small, we allow them to try and fail, we teach them that they can climb Mount Everest, and we teach them that they will hurt themselves if they fall down. IMO, we train our kids much better in responsibility, we train them in freedom and how to handle it. How do many rich Thai parents teach their children? Spoon feed them until they’re 6 years old, never allowed to go outside the gate, don’t question or even worse, ignore question, little freedom fortunately matched with little initiative and certainly no responsibility, that would be not taking care of the children well

I think you word it very well MrJohnson

“I too have seen many Thai kids who are in international schools who really seem to struggle with expected cultural norms” - I’m glad I’m not alone

I would also struggle with expected cultural norms, I would really appreciate the change, the freedom but I surely wouldn’t be very good at handling the responsibility bit. And I don’t think I would know where the line between acceptable and stepping over the line should be. Respect shouldn’t go down but it does if it isn’t specifically compensated for, doesn’t it?

This is a difficult subject, the problem is there and it won’t help blaming. Blaming who? The parent who didn’t know or the student who wasn’t taught?

No easy solution to parenting and I love the challenge

[PattayaParent]

I remember when I was a kid (long long time ago) and my parents sent me to a French speaking summer camp, in order to improve my French. Unfortunately there were several other kids who also spoke German as a mother language and I used to hang out with them, speaking German. Needless to say that my French did not improve a lot. So I believe this "English Only" rule is quite OK.

At my kids school the rule is speak English in the classroom, anything you want at break times / lunch.

There seems to be quite a lot of Dutch kids there as they have separate Dutch lessons and celebrate Dutch community events.

[fletchsmile]

I agree with Mikey above that language isn't really the drawback of having mainly Thai kids. The English level at an International school will be fine given the teachers will drive it by teaching in English.

The main worry of having too many Thais that I have is cultural:

1) I'd prefer more of a balanced international set of friends, so they pick up different cultures in addition to Thai

2) As observed above, many of the Thai kids in international schools can be a bit spoilt. This seems more so in international schools which are mainly Thai, as they don't get the same variety in classmates, and so certain norms set in. Let me also say there are perfectly nice Thai kids in every school, I just prefer the variety in balance.

As a couple of key observations:

i) Thais can be very loving to their children, but sometimes don't know how to say "no" to them. Having other children whose parents say no, and the kid knows to accept this, gives a nicer balance for the type of person I want my children to be:)

ii) Thais generally believe strongly in hierarchies. Westerners believe more in equality. Again having other parents to balance is useful, and other kids that also accept the idea of equality is nicer

Edited July 5, 2010 by fletchsmile

[Thakkar]

This might turn into a long post, so applogies in advance.

I speak from my own experience and that of my kids.

Growing up in Bombay, I spoke Marathi, Gujrati and Hindi as fluently as any eight-year-old by the time I was eight. Then we moved to Hong Kong. I was thrown into the deep end: a low caliber local bi-lingual school since no other school would accept a kid that spoke no Cantonese, no English and didn't even know the English Alphabet.

I was a terrible student, but I made friends easily. I quickly picked up Cantonese on the playground and English by watching television religiously instead of doing my homework, which I had no idea how to tackle anyway.

The breakthrough came when, at the age of twelve, I joined the local public library while on a school field trip. The school I attended had no library and I had never seen such a collection of books in my life. I couldn't believe that I could just take any book home to read at no charge. Even after reasurances that I would not be hauled off to jail, I walked out gingerly clutching my two books, fully expecting to be hauled back in. This was at the height of beatlemania and one of the first books I'd borrowed was a collection of their song lyrics, songs I'd been hearing on radio and TV.

That week, I discovered a passion for reading, and not just song lyrics.

I had discovered what so many already knew: that the secret to knowledge, delight, endless entertainment and learning to sing like the Beatles, was books. I visited the library everyweek, reading voraciously on many subjects all the way into adulthood.

When our daughters were born, we'd read to them from the moment they could sit up. Actually, I even read to them while they were still in the womb. When our first child began to walk, holding on to the walls, I had a carpenter come in and build three-feet high cabinets with a rounded, small-hands-grippable edge all along the walls of our appartment. I put small cardboard picture books and other books all along the surface whence my little one could grab what she pleased as it was all at her eye level.

When our kids were ready to read, I hired a professional to teach them to read using a system called Jolly Phonics. Like me, they developed a love of reading. They are now teenagers and still love to read. They consistently spend more on books and magazines than toys or clothes, though their growing passion for fashion is a nascent worry.

We now live in Chinagmai and our daughters attend an International school with a lot of Thai and mixed race students as well as many Koreans. They read and write Thai, though not as well as Thai kids their age. They read and write Chinese (which they'd began learning in HK), though not as well as Chinese kids their age. And their English is as good as, if not better than, most kids their age anywhere in the world. Our elder daughter even won recognition in a Citylife writing contest for a story she had written when she was eleven and submitted when twelve even though the minimum entry age was fourteen. Another student from her school won the first prize that year.

Till recently, our daughters took private one-on-one Thai lessons thrice a week. At their request we stopped the lessons on condition they read some Thai book or magazine every day, and, read aloud to their mother whenever she demanded. They continue to willingly attend private Chinese lessons four hours a week. They are free to quit anytime they want, on condition they write me a convincing letter as to why they want to quit and absolve myself and their mother of all responsibility should they in future realize what a monumetaly stupid mistake it was to have passed up the opportunity they had to master Chinese.

Kids can handle as many languages as you throw at them, but it has to come naturally and willingly; I don't believe in forcing them. I believe all of us are drawn to reading because it feeds our restless, hungry minds. However with so many other destractions these days, a love of reading has to instilled early in life and TV-watching drastically curtailed though not completley banned.

More important than any school they attend, is the childrens' home environment. Do the parents have a loving relationship, respect each other and resolve disputes in a mature manner? More than money, can the parents afford the children copious amounts of tiime and patience? Can they be counted on to provide a non-judgemental, sympathetic ear and a shoulder to lean on? Do they explain their decisions, make reasonable demands and are they open to reasoned arguments while impervious to mindless whining?

Last week we went on a family holiday to Pattaya. We shopped, we ate, watched the Alcazar Show, went to a temple, etc. But the most fun we had was in our hotel rooms. Although the girls had their own room with a connecting door, they spent most of the time in our room —watching TV, talking, ordering room service, painting fingernails. And the girls made us learn this little nonsense ditty they'd made up:

If the cheese don't puff, 'twas not a puffy cheese. If the puff ain't cheesy, 'twas not a cheesy puff.

(Try reciting it. It's not as easy as it looks)

I don't know if all this helps the OP, but I certainly felt good writing it. And I just realized it's 2 AM.

[MikeyIdea]

This might turn into a long post, so applogies in advance.

I speak from my own experience and that of my kids.

Growing up in Bombay, I spoke Marathi, Gujrati and Hindi as fluently as any eight-year-old by the time I was eight. Then we moved to Hong Kong. I was thrown into the deep end: a low caliber local bi-lingual school since no other school would accept a kid that spoke no Cantonese, no English and didn't even know the English Alphabet.

I was a terrible student, but I made friends easily. I quickly picked up Cantonese on the playground and English by watching television religiously instead of doing my homework, which I had no idea how to tackle anyway.

The breakthrough came when, at the age of twelve, I joined the local public library while on a school field trip. The school I attended had no library and I had never seen such a collection of books in my life. I couldn't believe that I could just take any book home to read at no charge. Even after reasurances that I would not be hauled off to jail, I walked out gingerly clutching my two books, fully expecting to be hauled back in. This was at the height of beatlemania and one of the first books I'd borrowed was a collection of their song lyrics, songs I'd been hearing on radio and TV.

That week, I discovered a passion for reading, and not just song lyrics.

I had discovered what so many already knew: that the secret to knowledge, delight, endless entertainment and learning to sing like the Beatles, was books. I visited the library everyweek, reading voraciously on many subjects all the way into adulthood.

When our daughters were born, we'd read to them from the moment they could sit up. Actually, I even read to them while they were still in the womb. When our first child began to walk, holding on to the walls, I had a carpenter come in and build three-feet high cabinets with a rounded, small-hands-grippable edge all along the walls of our appartment. I put small cardboard picture books and other books all along the surface whence my little one could grab what she pleased as it was all at her eye level.

When our kids were ready to read, I hired a professional to teach them to read using a system called Jolly Phonics. Like me, they developed a love of reading. They are now teenagers and still love to read. They consistently spend more on books and magazines than toys or clothes, though their growing passion for fashion is a nascent worry.

We now live in Chinagmai and our daughters attend an International school with a lot of Thai and mixed race students as well as many Koreans. They read and write Thai, though not as well as Thai kids their age. They read and write Chinese (which they'd began learning in HK), though not as well as Chinese kids their age. And their English is as good as, if not better than, most kids their age anywhere in the world. Our elder daughter even won recognition in a Citylife writing contest for a story she had written when she was eleven and submitted when twelve even though the minimum entry age was fourteen. Another student from her school won the first prize that year.

Till recently, our daughters took private one-on-one Thai lessons thrice a week. At their request we stopped the lessons on condition they read some Thai book or magazine every day, and, read aloud to their mother whenever she demanded. They continue to willingly attend private Chinese lessons four hours a week. They are free to quit anytime they want, on condition they write me a convincing letter as to why they want to quit and absolve myself and their mother of all responsibility should they in future realize what a monumetaly stupid mistake it was to have passed up the opportunity they had to master Chinese.

Kids can handle as many languages as you throw at them, but it has to come naturally and willingly; I don't believe in forcing them. I believe all of us are drawn to reading because it feeds our restless, hungry minds. However with so many other destractions these days, a love of reading has to instilled early in life and TV-watching drastically curtailed though not completley banned.

More important than any school they attend, is the childrens' home environment. Do the parents have a loving relationship, respect each other and resolve disputes in a mature manner? More than money, can the parents afford the children copious amounts of tiime and patience? Can they be counted on to provide a non-judgemental, sympathetic ear and a shoulder to lean on? Do they explain their decisions, make reasonable demands and are they open to reasoned arguments while impervious to mindless whining?

Last week we went on a family holiday to Pattaya. We shopped, we ate, watched the Alcazar Show, went to a temple, etc. But the most fun we had was in our hotel rooms. Although the girls had their own room with a connecting door, they spent most of the time in our room —watching TV, talking, ordering room service, painting fingernails. And the girls made us learn this little nonsense ditty they'd made up:

If the cheese don't puff, 'twas not a puffy cheese. If the puff ain't cheesy, 'twas not a cheesy puff.

(Try reciting it. It's not as easy as it looks)

I don't know if all this helps the OP, but I certainly felt good writing it. And I just realized it's 2 AM.

Thanks for writing an excellent post Thakkar