Thai Language Schools

[laurenmcsporen]

Can anyone please advise which language school is better - Piamittr Language School or Thai Language Achievement School?

Both courses look similar, offer what I'm looking for and are similar prices, but I can't decide which one looks better...

Help please!

[Colabamumbai]

No, have you looked at thailanguagesolutions. on the internet. I was satisfied. Now live in Thalland full time with work.

[kriswillems]

I went to Piammitr. It is a good school. But TLA seems to uses exactly the same program/schedule.

In this case I would decide based on 2 things:

- How many students are there in an average classroom (less is usually better)?

- Can they guarantee you that you can continue studying until the last book, even if there would be not enough students for a certain class (this is a problem in some smaller schools)?

[Tod Daniels]

I think I toured TLA a LONG time ago, because when I checked their website I saw that theyre right in the Phaya Thai Plaza Building next to the Phaya Thai BTS station. I just tried to call em to see if I could go scope out the school, but no on answered the phone. Then again with this weekend being a holiday due to the end of (I think) buddhist lent, probably most schools are closed.

Although Ive never attended Piammitr (เปี่ยมมิตร); I did scope it out, and its a good school with good text books, knowledgeable teachers, as well as providing good bang-4-the-baht in terms of what you get thai language wise.

Ive got TLAs number saved in my phone and will try em again after the holiday's over to see if I cant go refresh my memory as far as whom they are, what they offer, etc.

After a while, given all the thai language schools Ive toured, unless they use whacky methodology, or really stand out in terms of their curriculum offered, etc, they tend to all blur together.

While this is not on topic to the O/Ps original question;

I will concur with the poster known as Colabamumbai that Thai Language Solutions (especially their branch in the Fico Tower on Asok near Sukhumvit) is a pretty darned good school. It would also appear they have a second branch in the exact same building as TLA does just a floor lower. Perhaps if you go scope out TLA, you could stop into Thai Language Solutions too.

What ever you do, DONT fork over a SINGLE satangs worth of thai money BEFORE you sit a free lesson, talk to currently enrolled students, or seek advice on this or other forums regarding a particular school. The last thing you want to do is pay for a years tuition at a thai language school, and then find out their teaching methodology doesnt mesh with the way you learn things. ..

Edited October 23, 2010 by tod-daniels

[kriswillems]

Tod,

The website of Thai language solutions says that the advanced courses are private lessons.

You'll get a popup box saying this when you click on the red arrow below "advanced courses".

That means that for someone that wants the reach a higher level of Thai this school might become expensive.

Schools like Union, Piammitr and AAA offer advanced group courses and group courses for preparing for the government exam. So, they are probably cheaper if you want to reach a higher leel.

Before choosing a school you've to think about what your goal is and how many hours per week you want to study.

Schools like Piammitr and TLA other teach about 15 to 20 hours per week.

It looks like Thai language solutions uses a much slower program. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The schools can maybe not be compared because they offers different products?

[Tod Daniels]

Oh, is that what it said? I couldn't get that pop-up display to work when I clicked on it, so I didn't know .

You in all likelihood are correct; other schools may off a higher level of language study at a much lower price point and via a more time intensive weekly attendance regimen than the private advanced lessons offered by Thai Language Solutions.

It is my experience, most of the inquiries about private thai language schools on this (and other) forums are in regards to a student wanting to meet the Ministry of Educations posted minimum requirements of the 4 hours a week and/or 16 hours a month type of thai study. This being necessary to secure their initial ED visa and the subsequent 90 day extensions of stay based on continuing study of thai for a year. I am also seeing many more private thai language schools offering this type of 'study thai for a year' format when pitching their programs to foreigners, than I did in the past.

FWIW: I wish I had the dedication (and financial wherewithal ) to undertake studying the thai language for 15-20 hours a week. (Although I probably do that here at home on my own. ..)

[Parvis]

Oh, is that what it said? I couldn't get that pop-up display to work when I clicked on it, so I didn't know .

You in all likelihood are correct; other schools may off a higher level of language study at a much lower price point and via a more time intensive weekly attendance regimen than the private advanced lessons offered by Thai Language Solutions.

It is my experience, most of the inquiries about private thai language schools on this (and other) forums are in regards to a student wanting to meet the Ministry of Educations posted minimum requirements of the 4 hours a week and/or 16 hours a month type of thai study. This being necessary to secure their initial ED visa and the subsequent 90 day extensions of stay based on continuing study of thai for a year. I am also seeing many more private thai language schools offering this type of 'study thai for a year' format when pitching their programs to foreigners, than I did in the past.

FWIW: I wish I had the dedication (and financial wherewithal ) to undertake studying the thai language for 15-20 hours a week. (Although I probably do that here at home on my own. ..)

Tod - I am interested in your opinion on Plammitr - and/or others. You are somewhat familiar with my experience - so far. I am also studying at home at present. The basic problem I find is motivation when studying alone - therefore I am considering to possibly attend 15-20 hours/week for a month or so.

My reading ability does not appear to be as good as yours - but I want to study with Thai script only. I can write in Thai script - but normally do not know how to spell a word to be able to write it.

Therefore - since you have visited Plammitr and others - what would be your recommendations? My objective is ofcourse to be able to speak fluently - to be able to read is just needed for progress.

Edited October 23, 2010 by Parvis

[laurenmcsporen]

Thanks for your words of advice. I'll look into those free taster lessons!

[Tod Daniels]

Okay, I finally made it out to Thai Language Achievement School at the Phaya Thai Plaza building today to scope out that school .

Here's what I got from it.

Their material consists of 6 modules but really 7 text books as module 2 is two books.

The first one karaoke (phonetics only), but they said they could provide it in thai if you could read already. After that book the rest start exposing you to thai script but the next two still have phonetics, and in Level 2 section 2 you start to write thai script some. They seen to follow close to the Union method, although there has obviously been some serious re-writes to the text which I remember being in Unity's books. There is a lot of time (I mean a LOT of time!!) spent on getting both vowel length and tone down with the vocab they expose you to.

Book three is almost all in thai (in fact some stories etc don't even have english translation to check if you're reading what you think) and there are little if any phonetics. Still it's a well put together book, again with TONZ of drills in toning and vowel length using single syllable and multi syllable nonsense words are over and over. Also there are short stories (sometimes only a paragraph or two long) in the ‘read for meaning’ format, with new vocab covered first, then questions at the end for discussion concerning comprehension, etc.

The pricing structure is in line with any other school offering that 20 day 6000baht dealy where you go 5 days a week, three hours a day for three week 'intensive-ish' program. I didn't ask them about any of their other programs, although their hand out says they offer visa assistance for people studying long term with them.

As far as 'kriswillems' pointing out the advanced courses being private instead of group; it would seem those are offered kinda like on an 'as needed' basis. They go over thai culture, buddhism, current news and events, thai folk tales, social problems, etc so pretty much in line with any Union based methodology which is offered for advanced students at many schools out there. They are for AFTER you've finished all 6 modules in their 'regular books' or demonstrate enough proficiency to get by in thai at that level.

In fact they have a class of Book 4 which is starting tomorrow afternoon (which I may go 'observe' if I feel bold ). That class has only a single foreigner enrolled in it. Evidently even if you're the only one in a class, if you signed up for group classes and you happen to be the only one in the 'group' you still get the class taught to you.

I talked to the owner/principal of the school for about an hour; the first 15 minutes or so in english and then almost all thai after it was apparent to her I could speak thai (albeit with my oh-so foreign accent, lol) as well as read and understand it too. She seems really motivated to provide a good solid foundation for foreigners to get their heads wrapped around the two of the most difficult things concerning speaking thai clearly; toning (of course), but also equally important (at least to me) proper vowel length. As I mentioned already; her books mirror this with drill after drill in both areas.

During our conversation, she had me read some text from book 4. Initially I read it to myself and then told her in english what it said, but that didn't play too well with her . Much to my embarrassment (as there were a couple other thais milling around the office as well as a Japanese student learning thai too!!); she had me read a paragraph aloud in thai. FWIW: She was amazed I could break the words apart in a sentence, and back translate it into english so quickly (then again, almost all my self practice in thai is based around word/phrase recognition). She said my tones weren't too god-awfully bad (although I think she was being kind to me ), and added she easily understood my thai, but that my vowel length needed a little (okay a lot ) more polishing especially multi syllable words which have the voiced yet unwritten vowels -ะ after a stand alone consonant and โ-ะ between two consonants.

I believe this schools is certainly material-wise on par with the best schools I've seen out there. While it's not particularly close to me, using the BTS from Asok Station where I live, I was out there in about 15 minutes, so no great distance either.

I forgot completely to stop into the Thai Language Solutions branch out there in the same building just a floor lower so can't comment on that particular branch. I do remember when I spoke to the owner at her main branch in the Fico Tower on Asok, she said her Phaya Thai branch would use different methodology and cater more to asians learning thai than american or european foreigners.

I'd certainly take a free lesson from Thai Language Achievement as I believe quality-wise it's right up there with Piammitr. While you're out there at Phaya Thai Plaza you might as well tour Thai Language Solutions too, just to see which method works best for you.

Again, please note, these are my experiences and in no way shape or form are endorsements for or against ANY thai language school or it's methodology. As I said before, a method I might think is the cat's meow, you may think sucks, and vice versa.

Good luck hope it helps you decide where to go, and sorry this post was so late coming, and also that it is soo long too. ..

[siam2007]

very interesting indeed.

I too have big problems to find a proper school in BKK to continue my studies (after attending 3 courses - Book 1 to 3 - at AUA in Chiang Mai, where I was lucky to encounter one of the few real good teachers they have).

as for schools in BKK, the formula usually is: too many schools, too few students = group classes never materialize.

from what u wrote, your Thai is certainly much better than mine (even I can as well read to a certain degree), but if you are looking for others to join a class, let me know, maybe we can arrange something.

those 6000 THB are for 60 hrs, did I understand that right ? 20 days at 3 hrs each ? that would be quite an intensive course, which would suit me well.

I may well inquire at that school by myself in the next few days