Napa Bilingual School Review

[chiangmaiexpat]

This is a review of the Napa Bilingual School in San Phi Sua, Chiang Mai. Our two daughters attended Napa during the school year 2012/2013 at level P2 and K3 respectively. The school is located on the same compound as the probably better known Nakorn Payap International School (NIS). Napa school started out as a kindergarten only and offers primary education with a bilingual programme since 2011. The first thing that catches the eye of the visitor is the well-maintained compound and the beautiful new building that was completed in late 2012. The rooms and facilities are first-rate and the school shares certain key facilities, such as the sport hall, with the NIS.

What appealed to us as parents were not so much the facilities, but the pedagogical philosophy that was explained to us in the first few meetings. There was talk about a balanced bilingual (60% Thai / 40% English) education that stresses modern educational goals, such as learning by example and experience, rather than by rote learning, reduced homework, promoting individual talents, critical thinking, and a sense of responsibility, etc. It all sounded good and the teachers who were introduced to us were open to our questions. We enrolled our kids and the first three or four months went by with our daughters enjoying the new environment and making new friends.

The first sign of trouble were the text books used for instruction which we had a chance to see in their entirety only after enrollment. The Thai language book, for example, was written by a (Western) Christian missionary and had obvious linguistic shortcomings. The English text books were translated from the Thai language and contained orthographic and grammatical mistakes. We did not think much of it at first, because some minor imperfections are acceptable after all. The first eye opener for me was the sports day, which consisted of a display of cheer-leading, parading, and a pretense relay competition in which every student had to run 20m (!) before being handed a medal. It was quite clear that none of the students had ever trained for it.

Unfortunately, there were more problems in the second semester. Not only did I find more and more mistakes in the English teaching materials, but teachers were replaced, and classes and subjects were canceled without parents being notified. We felt that the academic progress of our girls was falling behind their potential. When the school changed the teacher for English lessons from a native speaker to a Thai teacher whose English language qualifications seemed doubtful to us, we made an appointment with the director of the school to express our concern. The meeting was less fruitful than we hoped for. The director was rather defensive and did not address our concerns directly. She told us that she was not able to find native speakers and justified the problematic English books by saying they were prescribed by the ministry's curriculum, both of which sounded not entirely convincing to us.

Though worried, we decided to wait until the end of the semester and see how things worked out, since it was already past mid term. What can I say? They didn't. More non-native English teachers were hired to teach English, while experienced teachers were dismissed. The subsequent summer class was organised in a haphazard way without an overarching concept or goal, just to keep students occupied. In the end, we decided to withdraw our daughters both from summer class and from school. Regrettably, the management reacted to that by creating the rumour that we had been advised to leave the school. I am not sure why they did that; possibly it was a face-saving effort.

In summary, I have to say that the Napa Bilingual School does have excellent facilities and leaves a good first impression, but unfortunately the everyday school reality doesn't live up to it. There does not seem to be a well-established curriculum yet and we found deficits in both the teaching materials and the quality of instruction, although to be fair it must be mentioned that we also met some excellent teachers. The problem at Napa seems to be a lack of focus on quality, or perhaps just a lack of professionalism at the management level. It is certainly not an easy task to get a bilingual school up and running, to find qualified teachers, select great books and still comply with the regulations. However, this isn't going to happen without focusing uncompromisingly on academic and pedagogical values, especially for the English teaching part. After all, parents choose bilingual schools over Thai schools for a reason, so the English instruction requires much more attention than in a regular school.

[Krupnik]

Thanks for the review. Interesting insight. I believe Nakorn Payap International School, the sister school on the same compound, would be a better option.

[zeichen]

Bilingual curriculum in general should be avoided.

the first question to ask yourself is where do you think your child will want to live when they are adults. If in Thailand, then what is wrong with a good private school purely in Thai?

[PlanetX]

My experiences with NAPA date back to 2009-2010 but during this time I did find it to be a very good school for Thai language and culture while still having a small portion of English instruction. The advertised 60/40 (Thai/ English) seemed incorrect as I found it to probably be more like 75/25 but the Thai teachers were very good with a majority having graduated from the very respected CMU Early Childhood Education program. The foreign English teachers were in and out but its hard to expect more from a 30K a month salary.

NAPA seemed ideal if a parent wanted their young child (ages 2-4) to be immersed into Thai language/ culture while still having some basic exposure to the English language. It was also was right next to NIS so parents could move their child over to NIS for kindergarten and beyond. As mentioned in the previous review, the facilities are very good.

[chiangmaiexpat]

Bilingual curriculum in general should be avoided. the first question to ask yourself is where do you think your child will want to live when they are adults. If in Thailand, then what is wrong with a good private school purely in Thai?

Why should a bilingual curriculum be avoided? If the kids have a bicultural background -as many "luk krueng" in Thailand do- it seems to be quite a good fit. Even many Thai parents choose a bilingual school for their children, perhaps because English language skills are becoming ever more important, or perhaps they want the exposure to foreign educational values, or because they want to keep the option open to let their kids continue their education overseas.

There is nothing wrong with Thai schools per se, except that the educational standards are poor in international comparison, but this does of course affect all types of schools in Thailand.

My experiences with NAPA date back to 2009-2010 but during this time I did find it to be a very good school for Thai language and culture while still having a small portion of English instruction. The advertised 60/40 (Thai/ English) seemed incorrect as I found it to probably be more like 75/25 but the Thai teachers were very good with a majority having graduated from the very respected CMU Early Childhood Education program. The foreign English teachers were in and out but its hard to expect more from a 30K a month salary.

NAPA seemed ideal if a parent wanted their young child (ages 2-4) to be immersed into Thai language/ culture while still having some basic exposure to the English language. It was also was right next to NIS so parents could move their child over to NIS for kindergarten and beyond. As mentioned in the previous review, the facilities are very good.

Is it correct that your experience relates to the Napa kindergarten? What I said above, applies mainly to the primary school (prathom level).

Cheers, CM-Expat

[zeichen]

It really bothers me that parents know so little about education in general.

Bilingual schools don't make kids bilingual nor do they foster multiculturalism.

First of all they are based on the theory of CBI Content Based Instruction. Which is when students learn through subject matter. It is based on when someone is learning a foreign language they can learn the language through course content. However it is when they already know the content.

Bilingual systems here will teach some topics in Thai and some in English so they are not learning the vocabulary or context fully in one language. So on Monday I have a Thai teacher teaching me in science about stars and galaxies, then on Tuesday some Filipino (native speaker if lucky but rare) teacher teaching in English about planets. Yes I am sitting in a classroom where both languages are being used but it is not reinforcing the same topic. Also since most students English ability isn't strong enough to actually learn new vocabulary in the target language nor extrapolate meaning from context, they aren't truly absorbing the material. It would be better if using CBI to fully learn the subject in one language and achieve the highest and deepest knowledge. Then use the same topics to reinforce the target language students are trying to learn.

In my experience this system is hurting the progress of native language for the minimal increase in the foreign language. I would think parents would want their children to be eloquent in their native tongue both written and oral, but they are losing that and still aren't progressing in English any better than older generations prior to the Bilingual school invasion.

it is nothing more than a marketing ploy rather than a well thought out system of learning.

[chiangmaiexpat]

Bilingual schools don't make kids bilingual nor do they foster multiculturalism.

An incorrect generalisation. Bilingual schools cannot "produce" biliterate children on their own, but they do definitely support a bilingual education, and yes, multiculturalism. If one's children grow up in a Thai home where nobody speaks English, then a bilingual school is surely the wrong choice; we can agree on that. However, I find it a very good choice for kids who grow up bilingually and it goes without saying that this requires support from the parents.

First of all they are based on the theory of CBI Content Based Instruction.

What's wrong with that? CBI is a time-tested effective approach. However, I know three bilingual schools in Chiang Mai, and none of them is sworn into a single approach. In practice, there is always a mix of different approaches, depending on what works best. This is where experience comes in. While CBI probably works best if there is already a basis to build on, there would perhaps be more dual/transitional mode where the teacher responds in both languages at the beginner level.

In my experience this system is hurting the progress of native language for the minimal increase in the foreign language. I would think parents would want their children to be eloquent in their native tongue both written and oral, but they are losing that and still aren't progressing in English any better than older generations prior to the Bilingual school invasion. it is nothing more than a marketing ploy rather than a well thought out system of learning.

I disagree with that. Your conclusion that the bilingual system "hurts" the native language progress and bears "minimal" results is based on the assumption that students carry their second language like a deadweight and have no real interest in it. This is a false assumption, because it's usually not the case, except perhaps for Thai kids without SL support. Kids generally have the ability to absorb two languages at the same time, although this doesn't come for free. When learning two languages, fluency is reached somewhat slower in each of them and bilingual studies tend to increase the total amount of material. But in the long run, does it matter? Eventually, complete fluency is reached in both languages and who cares whether it happens one or two years later. It's one of those cases where the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages IMHO.

But there is more to it than just language learning. Attending a bilingual school implies contact with different cultures. There are foreign teachers and Thai teachers. They have different modes of expression, different teaching styles, and different values. This is almost more important than the language aspect. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I relished the opportunity to have teachers from different countries. So yeah, I'm sold on the bilingual "marketing ploy" as you say (actually it's trilingual in our case), but I am aware that it requires extra effort.

Cheers, CM-Expat

[Beetlejuice]

My daughter worked as a secretary at Napa for 2 years and I used to be a frequent visitor there.

From my experience Napa`s teaching methods are highly professional and the staff extremely accommodating and eager to listen to any concerns the parents may have.

Napa did have problems hiring native English speaking farang teachers, mostly due that some proved under qualified after checking their references or had visa problems, and would sometimes just leave at short notice. In other words they were unreliable. But I can give assurances that all Napa staff are highly qualified and professional at the jobs they do and Napa has a great deal of credibility and a good reputation in Chiang Mai

The OP alleges; (`The director was rather defensive and did not address our concerns directly'). This I find difficult to believe or perhaps the OP has his own interpretations of how he believes his children should be taught that differ from the school`s own curriculum and teaching methods?

What the OP has described sounds like a totally different Napa to what I used to know. Perhaps he is too exigent or expects all of a school`s curriculum to be tailor made for his kids.

I would recommend any ex-pats to send their kids to Napa, especially as a preceding education if they intend to stay in Thailand for the long term and to prepare their children if intending to further their education here, such as an International school and later on to University.

[chiangmaiexpat]

My daughter worked as a secretary at Napa for 2 years and I used to be a frequent visitor there.

From my experience Napa`s teaching methods are highly professional and the staff extremely accommodating and eager to listen to any concerns the parents may have.

It's good to share different experiences, because that contributes to a well-rounded image. I can attest that the school is eager to listen to parents' concerns, but I am not so sure about the professional teaching methods.

The OP alleges; (`The director was rather defensive and did not address our concerns directly'). This I find difficult to believe or perhaps the OP has his own interpretations of how he believes his children should be taught that differ from the school`s own curriculum and teaching methods?

My "interpretation" is that a selection of text books with a substantial number of errors in them is less than professional. Regarding the meeting: a "defensive" discussion style is one that focuses on justifying choices, defending positions, and averting blame instead of seeking solutions. Very common around here.

What the OP has described sounds like a totally different Napa to what I used to know. Perhaps he is too exigent or expects all of a school`s curriculum to be tailor made for his kids.

You are jumping to conclusions. I don't expect any school to customise their style, methods, curriculum, or time table to my personal needs, although there are certainly parents who do, as I can tell from experience. However, I do expect professional procedures, methods, and quality control that measure up with the special challenges of a bilingual programme. To this extent I am fussy.

Cheers, CM-Expat

Edited July 18, 2013 by chiangmaiexpat

[bluweyze]

Bilingual curriculum in general should be avoided.

the first question to ask yourself is where do you think your child will want to live when they are adults. If in Thailand, then what is wrong with a good private school purely in Thai?

And why do you think a bilingual school is a bad idea? All academic research shows great advantages in children speaking two languages. Even if the children never lived in Thailand the mastery of a phonics based language and a tonal language will have great benefits if the child wants to learn more languages. The world is changing, the great super-powers of the past are shrinking and language skills will be even more a great benefit.

[bluweyze]

I sent my son to NAPA for the first 2 years (kindergarten level). The school was excellent for that period but like the poster we had concerns about the lack of English tuition which at the time was no more than 25% even though it claimed to be 40%. Like the poster we took our concerns to the management and received approximately the same reaction. I have no complaint because it is the school's right to say 'this is what we do'. We moved our son to Lanna because we wanted more English but we continue Thai instruction at home. Later this year we will send our daughter to NAPA. The English allotment now looks more but I doubt that she will stay there more than two years. We want both our children to be bilingual, our son already is at 5 years. The initial start in NAPA helped but it just wasn't good enough to keep him there longer. I think money is an issue at NAPA, with no profits.