Thai School With Proper Textbook

[fonkgo]

Could anyone recommend a Thai school in Bangkok that is using a properly organized textbook which contain texts instead of single words and sentences deprived of their context? The book they use should be written in Thai and transcript at beginners level (you might want to review at a later and wouldn't want to look at the transcript at that point) and Thai only at higher levels. There should be situational texts as this is my preferred method of learning.

So far the schools I have visited only use 'sentences out of context' which makes it much harder to progress. How would one read, review and reflect a text when there is no actual texts even after months of learning (sadly the longest text I encountered during class was a text I have written myself.)? I have looked at a few different schools and checked out pretty much all textbooks available in stores but couldn't find a book that actually offers what I am looking for. I would greatly appreciate if somebody could point me in the right direction.

[Deserted]

I enquired about the reading and writing courses at Nisa and was generally quite impressed with the materials. The texts were challenging and engaging. Might be worth paying them a visit.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Other than Berlitz, the only well-organized resources for learning Thai IMO are written by foreigners, mostly long long ago, to the point where much of the language they teach sounds formal and old-fashioned to normal Thais.

I think the market is too small to justify the effort of publishing the kind of texts you're looking for. Plus there just isn't that much local expertise in proper education methodologies - witness the state of the whole school system here.

However effective learning is still possible. Collect and collate your own learning materials and design your own curriculum if you have the expertise. You can find a well-educated Thai to tutor you privately, if you are motivated to learn intensively, a full-time employee shouldn't cost more than B15,000 a month, less if you're willing to be flexible about their schedule.

I highly recommend you look for an older male as well, and make sure they speak with a clear central Thai accent, or hiso types will assume you learned from a bargirl.

Out of all the other commercial outfits, NISA has a very good approach, and you can try different teachers if you like.

[JamesSnell]

I know for sure that Pro Language School has what you are looking for in terms of the text books. I am studying there and am at beginner level. The school Thai books are written in clear Thai language with English translation and also phonetics. Its very useful.

Also they are no just random words. There are dialogues and conversations to follow. In my class we do 'role play' and each student takes a character from the book to speak their Thai vocab.

Now that I am better at Thai language I find myself going back over the old work and studying the Thai text, using my dictionary. Its very interesting.

If you want to have a look at their books they allow potential students to have a free trial lesson.

Hope this has helped.