Walen School - Chiang Rai

[klikster]

I am literally dumbfounded at your inability to comprehend simple English leosmith.

Maybe I should get Walen to translate "Keep your nose and you opinions out of my business" into Thai for you.........would that help? Seeing as though you consider yourself an expert.

Anyway. PLEASE consider this as my last request to you to stop quoting me and stop thinking that I give a toss about what you have to say because I do not.

STICK to the topic in hand, which I repeat is not me.

Seems to me that leosmith comprehends pretty well. Just my opinion, and I realize that you are not really interested in my opinion, but ..

THIS IS A PUBLIC FORUM!!!!

When you make a comment here, people can -- and often do -- quote you -- respond -- even intimate that you are less than intelligent. While you may not like that they intimated, quoted, responded; about all you can do is continue sounding like a spoiled brat or, stop posting -- as you promised to do a few posts back.

In Thailand public forums, you are not necessarily entitled to the last word.

[Paul888]

leosmith was at least trying to help albeit in a condescending way, and the matter of my priorities had been closed, until you now wade back in with your unnecessary "attack" (well little girly hand flap) on me.

I know very well how public forums work, and you should know that I know because last time you decided to make an asshol_e comment on one of my posts, and I respionded in kind, you sent me a little cry baby personal message asking why I would be so horrid to you, I explained it to you then.

For the record, I didn't say that I would stop posting, I said my priorities were not the topic in hand, and that comments should be restricted to the topic in hand. I did say that I wouldn't waste another word on Toybits and his god complex, so I guess you misunderstood that bit eh dear?

I will always respond when somebody comments directly on a post of mine, especially as in your case if they are just being an asshol_e.

Anyway, what makes me smile about this thread, even more than how you seize any attempt to try to "get back at me", is that every time you bring me back in this thread I will reply which will bump Walen's thread for more views and inevitably more enquiries for him which will please me, as I know that you are not a fan of his school.

[toybits]

It seems Paul888 just cannot get over me. Pity.

When readers see the posts - they can decide for themselves about Walen.

leosmith was at least trying to help albeit in a condescending way, and the matter of my priorities had been closed, until you now wade back in with your unnecessary "attack" (well little girly hand flap) on me.

I know very well how public forums work, and you should know that I know because last time you decided to make an asshol_e comment on one of my posts, and I respionded in kind, you sent me a little cry baby personal message asking why I would be so horrid to you, I explained it to you then.

For the record, I didn't say that I would stop posting, I said my priorities were not the topic in hand, and that comments should be restricted to the topic in hand. I did say that I wouldn't waste another word on Toybits and his god complex, so I guess you misunderstood that bit eh dear?

I will always respond when somebody comments directly on a post of mine, especially as in your case if they are just being an asshol_e.

Anyway, what makes me smile about this thread, even more than how you seize any attempt to try to "get back at me", is that every time you bring me back in this thread I will reply which will bump Walen's thread for more views and inevitably more enquiries for him which will please me, as I know that you are not a fan of his school.

[MacWalen]

Paul888, we don't know each other but thanks a lot for all the good words. Will be happy to have a beer with you when in Chiang Rai next week. Would be nice to meet in person. Anybody else up for a drink with me?

We will be in Chiang Rai for at least the next 30 years (that is when I plan to retire) so certainly we will get quite a lot of students in this time, many of them have not been born yet. Also with DCS a lot of students will be able to learn and earn. It is all developing very nicely. Cannot talk for other schools but you can count on Walen to deliver good quality teaching.

We will be starting construction soon. Still did not decide on the exact location but we have several options. Ann has surveyed the place extensively.

We have a few jobs available also if you know anybody who is interested. Sales, marketing, admin, Thai teachers, English teachers. The same goes for Mesai, our next school will be located there.

Walen school - we love Chiang Rai!

Ps. Toybits, what about we go for a drink too? I am not looking for enemies but friends and I know how to be a good friend.

Edited February 11, 2012 by MacWalen

[leosmith]

you can count on Walen to deliver good quality teaching.

You don't prepare students for the Thai proficiency exam. You don't teach conversation. Based on that, I wouldn't say you deliver good quality teaching.

[MacWalen]

you can count on Walen to deliver good quality teaching.

You don't prepare students for the Thai proficiency exam. You don't teach conversation. Based on that, I wouldn't say you deliver good quality teaching.

But so many think we do deliver quality teaching, because we offer free demo lessons people can come and:

1. See for themselves if they like it.

2. Talk to other students and ask them what they think and if they made progress.

3. Talk to teachers.

If they like it then they pay, if not they do not pay, very simple way. Free conversation is not as effective as structured course as in free conversation you do not learn a lot of new words and you tend to use only the words you already know. With Walen you revise or learn a new word every minute or two. In an average 60 lesson course you learn about 700-900 words, average 12-15 per lesson. What we do works even if you don't think so.

Edited February 11, 2012 by MacWalen

[leosmith]

you can count on Walen to deliver good quality teaching.

You don't prepare students for the Thai proficiency exam. You don't teach conversation. Based on that, I wouldn't say you deliver good quality teaching.

But so many think we do deliver quality teaching, because we offer free demo lessons people can come and:

1. See for themselves if they like it.

2. Talk to other students and ask them what they think and if they made progress.

3. Talk to teachers.

If they like it then they pay, if not they do not pay, very simple way. Free conversation is not as effective as structured course as in free conversation you do not learn a lot of new words and you tend to use only the words you already know. With Walen you revise or learn a new word every minute or two. In an average 60 lesson course you learn about 700-900 words, average 12-15 per lesson. What we do works even if you don't think so.

"Free conversation", as you call it, is actually just conversation. What you teach isn't conversation. Your teachers ask students fixed questions who's answers are in your texts. This is not teaching conversation, and unless your students are doing a lot more outside of class, their conversational ability will be very low.

Conversation is taught in every language school I've attended. You saying it's not effective for learning new vocabulary shows how little you understand about language learning in general. I'm curious - what's your degree in?

Regarding you other comments, just because you can convince people that you have a good product doesn't mean you have a good product. I don't deny that some material is being learned, but your teaching has to be amongst the least effective of the major Thai language schools. One measure of a good school would be it's percentage of proficiency test passers. But your students don't pass. Maybe they don't take the test, who knows. But just asking them if they feel they made progress isn't adequate to judge if you deliver good quality teaching.

[MacWalen]

You are wrong. I speak 4 languages and learning my 5th. I really know what I am doing and my students make good progress. I can relate to them as I know how hard it is to learn a new language. I have been running my school for 10.5 years and have currently about 3,500 students. What have you done that would qualify you as an expert? You certainly have strong opinions but anything more?

[leosmith]

I speak 4 languages and learning my 5th.

Polish, Russian, English, Thai & Mandarin?

I really know what I am doing and my students make good progress.

Good progress compared to who? It would be interesting to pit them against other students, but you don't prepare them for the proficiency test. I'm sure they'd be out-performed, given a level playing field.

I can relate to them as I know how hard it is to learn a new language.

That's nice, and I really mean it. But it takes more. Skipping conversation is about as basic a mistake as anyone could make. Again - what is your degree?

I have been running my school for 10.5 years and have currently about 3,500 students.

Again, just because the business is successful, it doesn't meant the product is good.

"What have you done that would qualify you as an expert? You certainly have strong opinions but anything more?"

You have shared a little with me, so I'll do the same. I'm fluent in 7 languages and working on my 8th. English, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, French, Russian. I spend half of my year traveling, and half working. During my travels, I visit my target countries. This year I'm visiting Russia, China, Japan, Thailand and France. I normally take some courses in my target countries. So I have spent a great deal of time in a great deal of schools studying a great number of languages. I know what works for me, and I see what works in general.

I have learned Thai, Japanese, Mandarin, French, Russian within the last 10 years. I'm 50. I've really pushed myself to find the best methods, due to time constraints. A great deal of my information comes from the internet, and I admit much of it gets funneled to me through this forum:

http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=26634&PN=1

I've taught a little bit of english, and a lot of math and physics. But I'm not a teacher. I'm an aircraft engineer. I have owned several businesses over the years, but I've never owned or run a school. That being said, it doesn't take an expert to figure out that what you are doing is inefficient. Should a school teach conversation? What teacher or school would say "no" to that?

Edited February 11, 2012 by leosmith

[MacWalen]

So perhaps you should try running a school. We need people like you. Your experience as a school director would be very valuable and we could evaluate progress your students were making.

Thanks for sharing also. I am impressed.

I need your advice on something. I run a surf school in Phuket and I have a problem as my best surf teacher does not have a degree in surfing but is really good. Do you think I should replace his with someone who has a degree in surfing?

Edited February 11, 2012 by MacWalen

[Lizard2010]

The way the forum post is going it will be the 1st one everyday.

Getting a lot of free advertising.

[rijb]

I'm interested in your school. I'm a 'write to learn' type of student. I already live here and don't need a visa. What type of course do you recommend?

[klikster]

I know very well how public forums work, and you should know that I know because last time you decided to make an asshol_e comment on one of my posts, and I respionded in kind, you sent me a little cry baby personal message asking why I would be so horrid to you, I explained it to you then.

Interesting spin. I think I still have those PM's you sent. Would you agree to my posting them here?

Well, rats!!! Apparently the upgrade deleted them .. or perhaps it was me in a state of terror ..

I would be happy for you to post that exchange.

Edited February 11, 2012 by klikster

[Paul888]

I think better that we let that and the non Walen elements of this thread die a long overdue death.

[sceadugenga]

I'd like to hear more about the surf school in Phuket...

[leosmith]

I run a surf school in Phuket and I have a problem as my best surf teacher does not have a degree in surfing but is really good. Do you think I should replace his with someone who has a degree in surfing?

I don't know much about surfing, but I'll try to help. A few questions about your surfing teachers and methods first.

1) When you hired her, did you even atempt to hire/train a certified surfing professional (csp)?

2) If you trained her, what makes you think a csp wouldn't be as good?

3) Is there some other reason you wouldn't hire csp's?

4) Do you think non-csp's would work for less?

5) Are csp's not as pretty, and hence less likely to bring in customers?

6) Is it illegal to have instructors that aren't csp's?

7) Would you be forced to bribe officials in order to stay in business for not hiring csp's?

8) What does the ministry of education say about the legality of hiring non-csp's?

9) Do csp's hate you and your school for not hiring them?

10) Is the Thai community, especially the education community, very upset with your school and want to see it shut down?

11) Are you forcing your teachers to use a manual with information not relevant to Thailand, like the assassination of Kennedy, Hitler, Michelangelo, and for that reason, csp's are refusing to work for you?

12) Are you forcing your teachers to use a copy of a manual that was stolen from another school?

13) Do you sometimes hear things like "the day that school shuts down will be the best day of my life" from the Thai community?

[MacWalen]

leosmith, this is a very strange post you made. Large percentage of it is silly. Would not know even how to reply. One question is suggesting bribes or not sure what is the point. Well, I think perhaps you should move on to some Walen not related threads. We do not bother you so don't bother us. Can you do that?

Would you be able to send me a picture of yourself? Just for myself, you spend so much energy on writing those various posts it would be nice to see a picture of your face. Up to you of course. Or perhaps we can become fiends on facebook.

Edited February 13, 2012 by MacWalen

[cmjantje]

You are wrong. I speak 4 languages and learning my 5th.

Speaking 4 languages is normal to me. Being an "old school" Dutch we were teached Dutch, English, French and German the hard way. So even after almost 50 years I can speak these languages reasonably.

I also learned Spanish because a friend of mine was a very good teacher and Bulgarian because one of my wifes was Bulgarian. (Yes I had a pretty good life).

Not learning Thai, although I really tried has to do with two things.

First, if you speak almost perfect Thai to a Thai, most of the time they don't (won't) understand you.

Second, the problem is reading Thai. I mean reading Bulgarian (same as Russian) is far less hard than the Thai alphabet. I tried one course, advertised here on TV. They start with the Thai alphabet. The only thing Thai say is: Hoho, that is not how we learned our language.

I stick with my reasonable 5 and excellent 1. But to think: I am proud of that? No way. For the "old school" Dutch it is normal to Know 4 languages.

[sceadugenga]

I curse the educational system I grew up with in Australia... do you know what language besides English that was available to us in the 1960s?

Latin.

At least when I went to Spain and Italy I could work out some of the road signs.

[rmacdon61]

I curse the educational system I grew up with in Australia... do you know what language besides English that was available to us in the 1960s?

Latin.

At least when I went to Spain and Italy I could work out some of the road signs.

You did a pretty good job with the english scead, I can almost understand you. How's that latin working out for you now?

[Jangot]

I curse the educational system I grew up with in Australia... do you know what language besides English that was available to us in the 1960s?

Latin.

At least when I went to Spain and Italy I could work out some of the road signs.

You did a pretty good job with the english scead, I can almost understand you. How's that latin working out for you now?

Cogitat ergo est. (translate... He thinks he'll have another beer)

Edited February 13, 2012 by Jangot

[dindong]

From another Latin scholar.

EGO reputo Walen schola isn't valde bonus.

hehehe,bet you don't know what that means.

[sceadugenga]

It's not too hard dindong.

Many of our words come from the Latin, ego is I/self, and bonus is good for example.

A good motto for ThaiVisa members would be Civis Romanus sum. Odi pro fanum vulgus."

Work that one out. (A knowledge of the Flashman books will help).

[pomchop]

It's not too hard dindong.

Many of our words come from the Latin, ego is I/self, and bonus is good for example.

A good motto for ThaiVisa members would be Civis Romanus sum. Odi pro fanum vulgus."

Work that one out. (A knowledge of the Flashman books will help).

i also took a lot of Latin in the 60's....overall maybe it was a good choice as it certainly has come in handy over the years with a lot of medical and legal terms and helps figure out the meaning of a lot of the romance languages...but best of all was my high school Latin teacher, the spinster Miss Cook who was the best no nonsense little old lady of 5ft tall and 100 pounds soaking wet teacher ever...she put up with ZERO BS and could make the biggest meanest kid in the class tremble with fear with just her stare...

your latin is something about ..i am a roman citizen and i don't like vulgar people??

[sceadugenga]

I only did a couple of years High School Latin.

Years later I studied Medieval History under a guy who had been a university lecturer in classical languages.

It was an adult class and we had a good relationship with him so we got into him and asked what the hell was the use of teaching kids Latin these days.

He made quite a good case involving sentence structure, logic and the connection to modern European languages.

[leosmith]

Civis Romanus sum. Odi pro fanum vulgus = I am a Roman citizen. I hate people for the temple

gotta love google translate

[sceadugenga]

It's a quote from Horace... I am a Roman citizen. I hate vulgar profane persons.

[JAG]

I learnt Latin. It provides the basic building blocks for learning most European Languages.

Absolutely no use at all for learning oriental languages.

I can speak Nit Noy Thai, but absolutely no Walen.

[rmacdon61]

Latin was as about as much fun as going to a dentist. Part of the science degree was learning every plant/animal/fish by thier scientific name, which is Latin. A dead language used by the world science community for a common name so you can communicate to any country/language. I can count on one hand, the number of times, knowing this was beneficial to me. So hundreds of hours of study broken down to a few minutes of speech HaHaHa.

[MacWalen]

Seems we have eventually found the right location for the school. We did not sign the contract yet but it should be done this week. Once we have a signed contract I will inform you guys about the exact location.

I had very tight schedule so was not able to have any beers with you this time around but will do my best next time. My facebook is Mac Walen. I post a lot of updates so if you want one more friend in your facebook feel free to send me invitation.

I am still looking for a school manager, deputy, Thai teachers, English teachers, sales, marketing and maid. We offer very good working conditions with a great team. If you know some people interested please let them know.

Walen School - Chiang Rai