Thai language school-is Walen any good?

[jdinasia]

Sadly due to forum rules against slagging off on sponsors.. No matter how warranted it is not possible to give my real opinion.

[MacWalen]

The original question was is Walen any good? in my opinion it is one of the worst Thai language Schools, but if you are interested check them out along with others in the area and make your own mind up.

Walen is the most popular Thai school in the world. What we do works for most of our customers and numbers are growing in every location where we have a school. Also the number of students learning Thai online is steadily growing, other schools dream about having as many students as we do. Say what you want but money talks and BS walks. If the customers are happy that means we are achieving our goal. Sure, a lot of you guys don't like Walen and it doesn't have anything to do with our teaching but with other things, perhaps disliking me as a person. It is just too easy to criticise, I find it motivational as it encourages me to continue the good work!

Walen School - the amazing story continues!

[jacky54]

I think the op question was about learning Thai though, and not as many do just signing up for the ed visa. How can anyone dislike you, actually I think you are a great salesman. However, I believe those critical of the method and quality of the teachers have made valid points.

[brianp0803]

Walen provides an efficient and complete paperwork to get student visas.

Excellent marketing and website.

The Bangkok branch has 3 small classrooms and no classes Saturday and Sunday and no classes weekends.

Amazing class sizes are still small.

The staff is kind enough to mark perfect attendance except when you passport shows you were not in Thailand.

Most students believe it efficiently provides the services they require.

Maybe this still does not answer the question.

Edited October 7, 2014 by brianp0803

[zeichen]

"If the customers are happy that means we are achieving our goal."

This does not equate to effective or the best method for learning a language.

You have a successful chain because you provide a service that people want at a price they are willing to afford. (typically ED visa not proficiency in the language.)

If your marketing strategy demonstrated how 99% of your students pass the Thai proficiency exam after 1 year of studying, then you could argue that your schools are good.

The OP was asking if your methods and teachers were able to facilitate effective learning of the language. Not if it was a popular school.

Also as a consumer, I ignore all posts that start with "most popular ...school in the world". Please share with us your research that has allowed you to boast such a claim. How do you know how many students other schools have had?

Also you are comparing a chain with single schools. So perhaps if you choose an individual school and compare it to Some university programs, you might not have the same boast.

For example does your CM branch service 500 full time Thai language learners a year? Because I know 2 universities that have at least that many foreign students learning Thai.

You have an abrasive personality on these forums and come across very high minded. I think that when you are posting if you state purely facts and not boasts, you might get less negative attacks.

Fact: your business is quite successful and you have made an extensive chain of your schools.

Fact: your schools don't only teach Thai so be careful when making boasts about number of students to include only those that are taking Thai.

Fact: your marketing focuses primarily selling young female teachers to expats that are more interested in getting a visa that allows them to stay in the country, than providing the best most effective strategies for advancing ones language.

I do know that you are proud of your "self-made method" but your ads don't emphasize your method as other things.

You confuse successful business with effective teaching.

[brianp0803]

I agree with the Walen method that learning to read Thai is important.

But, the book has very little organization. Maybe 10 new words that everyone reads the letters and pronounces the words then listen to the teacher read 10 questions from the book.

Then the students read the answer written in the book.

Sometimes students don't under the question or the answer but can read the words.

This method is not helpful for learning conversational Thai.

People who live with a Thai girlfriend and only speak Thai with her can learn new words because many of the words in the book you would never use in daily life.

If the method is important and and not the teacher,

and the method is to read a book that is poorly written,

then I think not effective.

The book has no progression.

The method is you can join on page 1 or 60. No assumption is made about knowing any prior vocabulary introduced in the book.

I was suprised by the claim most students attend most class.

Based on what information?

The branch in the center of Bkk offers Thai classes maximum 48 hours a week (12 classs 4 hours)? With 3 classroom, assuming average 10 students per class, this means maximum 360 students classes.

I would think the branch in the middle of bkk had more than 350 students.

To make a claim most students attend class then first compare the number of students enrolled in the visa program with the number of classes offered at the facility.

If there are not enough class times and teachers to have less than 12 enrolled students per class then it is obvious the school does expect the majority of students to attend regularly.

Not sure about after the crackdown but before attendance was never taken. How was attendance reported to immigration.

I would encourage the owner to compare registered students with classes offered (and teachers hired).

Is there enough classrooms and classes and teachers for the number of students enrolled?

Edited October 8, 2014 by brianp0803

[metisdead]

7) You will respect fellow members and post in a civil manner. No personal attacks, hateful or insulting towards other members, (flaming) Stalking of members on either the forum or via PM will not be allowed.

One post in violation of the above has been removed.

[totally thaied up]

Was with WALAN for 18 months. What do I have to say about them? After getting sick an having to go home for 12 months due to illness, I am back in Thailand now an want to further my studies an in the process of looking for another school.

I will not go back to WALAN for several reasons but the main reason being the sterile teaching skills an the boring subject matter. After 18 months I could only read half of book one an after countless hours of trying to speak using their method, I had no success at all.

What was the use in just learning that "this is a pen"... still after 5 months, we had not learnt even how to go to a toilet or even order a basic meal. Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill. Just to say, I have learnt my lesson well as in such, I should have looked for just a conversational school. Yes, I know the Thai alphabet very well now but with a lack of real time teaching of important, every day words, it just ended up being a painful experience.

Could I recommend WALAN to a friend; no, I could not do this them. WALAN certainly did not live up to its hype. The teachers are nice but boring. The teaching method is rashly put together with not much thought. I learnt more on my own then using this method.

I am now, like I said, looking for a good school as I plan to retire here when I turn 50 in 4 years time an will need to speak this language a lot better then I can now. Generally, over the next 2-3 years I want to learn Thai properly, as for when I do finally retire here, I just want to slide into a comfortable life. I miles well do the hard yards now learning.

[MacWalen]

Hm...., this is very surprising. In that time you should have learned at least 1,000 words and still cannot put a sentence together? Easy to criticize here but I would say that some people just don't get it. Nothing to do with the school's method. What we do works for great majority. Learning new words and how to use them is the most fundamental way of learning. Perhaps in time you will appreciate it but may not make a post about it. It's just a lot easier to be critical.

[MacWalen]

And it's Walen not Walan. You seem to have a problem even with the name of the school. Is that also Walen's fault?

[TheCruncher]

Was with WALAN for 18 months. What do I have to say about them? After getting sick an having to go home for 12 months due to illness, I am back in Thailand now an want to further my studies an in the process of looking for another school.

I will not go back to WALAN for several reasons but the main reason being the sterile teaching skills an the boring subject matter. After 18 months I could only read half of book one an after countless hours of trying to speak using their method, I had no success at all.

What was the use in just learning that "this is a pen"... still after 5 months, we had not learnt even how to go to a toilet or even order a basic meal. Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill. Just to say, I have learnt my lesson well as in such, I should have looked for just a conversational school. Yes, I know the Thai alphabet very well now but with a lack of real time teaching of important, every day words, it just ended up being a painful experience.

Could I recommend WALAN to a friend; no, I could not do this them. WALAN certainly did not live up to its hype. The teachers are nice but boring. The teaching method is rashly put together with not much thought. I learnt more on my own then using this method.

I am now, like I said, looking for a good school as I plan to retire here when I turn 50 in 4 years time an will need to speak this language a lot better then I can now. Generally, over the next 2-3 years I want to learn Thai properly, as for when I do finally retire here, I just want to slide into a comfortable life. I miles well do the hard yards now learning.

Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill.

I doubt that your schoolmates were Thai, so the must have learned to speak Thai somewhere. You think they learned it at another school and than changed to Walen ?

[totally thaied up]

My auto correct is at fault. And yes, I will be critical. I have met you on several occasions, your a great businessman but in other aspects, such as teaching, I will agree to disagree. After all, I am not using your service anymore an thus was my experience. If you really listened to a lot of your students, you would see it is not such a perfect world... many complain silently.

[MacWalen]

Try other schools. Comparison works well and many run back to us. Nothing perfect in this world. Maybe you were not trying. What we do certainly works but you may not give us credit for it.

Edited October 14, 2014 by MacWalen

[totally thaied up]

Was with WALAN for 18 months. What do I have to say about them? After getting sick an having to go home for 12 months due to illness, I am back in Thailand now an want to further my studies an in the process of looking for another school.

I will not go back to WALAN for several reasons but the main reason being the sterile teaching skills an the boring subject matter. After 18 months I could only read half of book one an after countless hours of trying to speak using their method, I had no success at all.

What was the use in just learning that "this is a pen"... still after 5 months, we had not learnt even how to go to a toilet or even order a basic meal. Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill. Just to say, I have learnt my lesson well as in such, I should have looked for just a conversational school. Yes, I know the Thai alphabet very well now but with a lack of real time teaching of important, every day words, it just ended up being a painful experience.

Could I recommend WALAN to a friend; no, I could not do this them. WALAN certainly did not live up to its hype. The teachers are nice but boring. The teaching method is rashly put together with not much thought. I learnt more on my own then using this method.

I am now, like I said, looking for a good school as I plan to retire here when I turn 50 in 4 years time an will need to speak this language a lot better then I can now. Generally, over the next 2-3 years I want to learn Thai properly, as for when I do finally retire here, I just want to slide into a comfortable life. I miles well do the hard yards now learning.

Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill.

I doubt that your schoolmates were Thai, so the must have learned to speak Thai somewhere. You think they learned it at another school and than changed to

No. I think most have been self taught an were grounding a base to learn the aspect of reading an writing. Look, you, if you could speak Thai to a higher degree, could learn from Walen a lot, as you would dive deeper into the subset of writing an reading. If you want to learn how to read an write, it is right up your alley. If you want to learn to speak, no, I believe there are better ways to do it.

[brianp0803]

Was with WALAN for 18 months. What do I have to say about them? After getting sick an having to go home for 12 months due to illness, I am back in Thailand now an want to further my studies an in the process of looking for another school.

I will not go back to WALAN for several reasons but the main reason being the sterile teaching skills an the boring subject matter. After 18 months I could only read half of book one an after countless hours of trying to speak using their method, I had no success at all.

What was the use in just learning that "this is a pen"... still after 5 months, we had not learnt even how to go to a toilet or even order a basic meal. Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill. Just to say, I have learnt my lesson well as in such, I should have looked for just a conversational school. Yes, I know the Thai alphabet very well now but with a lack of real time teaching of important, every day words, it just ended up being a painful experience.

Could I recommend WALAN to a friend; no, I could not do this them. WALAN certainly did not live up to its hype. The teachers are nice but boring. The teaching method is rashly put together with not much thought. I learnt more on my own then using this method.

I am now, like I said, looking for a good school as I plan to retire here when I turn 50 in 4 years time an will need to speak this language a lot better then I can now. Generally, over the next 2-3 years I want to learn Thai properly, as for when I do finally retire here, I just want to slide into a comfortable life. I miles well do the hard yards now learning.

Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill.

I doubt that your schoolmates were Thai, so the must have learned to speak Thai somewhere. You think they learned it at another school and than changed to

No. I think most have been self taught an were grounding a base to learn the aspect of reading an writing. Look, you, if you could speak Thai to a higher degree, could learn from Walen a lot, as you would dive deeper into the subset of writing an reading. If you want to learn how to read an write, it is right up your alley. If you want to learn to speak, no, I believe there are better ways to do it.

I believe you are correct that many people in the visa classes that can speak Thai have lived in Thailand a while and studied other places.

I know some students live with Thai partners that can only speak Thai but they need a visa.

There is another school that focuses strictly on conversation and their technique is to learn how we did as children - listening. Their visa program requires a lot more hours.

The words and sentences I speak best are the sentences I learned from hearing many times.

I agree phonetic translation will greatly inhibit long range learning of Thai.

I know many people can speak fluently buy can't read.

When we teach English we usually tell students to read to increase vocabulary and see proper grammar.

[brianp0803]

People complain about Walen because they think it is not serious about teaching Thai.

Hopefully the owner can provide simple statistic about their Bkk office (close to MRT and BTS) to prove them wrong.

Number of students enrolled divided by number of classes must be less than 10.

Number of students enrolled divided by number of full time Thai language teachers is less than 100.

Survey of past students would report that the schools accurately reports student attendance on reports to immigration.

Ratio of students using the visa option compared to students coming for quality of education.

Many schools don't have the capital to be able to issue visas but still attract students.

Survey students and ask why they choose the school (visa, location, reputation for teaching Thai)

Percent of students after paying for class attending class. (Based on enrolled students per class and number of students in the classroom)

Survey students asking about their opinions about qualuty of book.

Length of time the average student takes to progress from one level to the next.

Answers to these questions would show the quality of the school for teaching Thai language.

People would stop complaining about the school being only a visa farm with good results from the above questions.

I don't think anyone can complain about their paperwork for getting Ed visas and extension for all students.

[Scott]

I always find it interesting when people criticize a program, but have no first hand knowledge or nothing to compare it to.

The same is true with the TEFL programs. People will complain about a program that they never attended. Interesting.

[jacky54]

seems like when the customer complains about walen's teaching Thai on here they are always wrong, they are always blamed, did not work hard enough, did not get it etc. It's always their own fault, not walen's method or the teachers! On the other hand I never saw a complaint about walens visa provision, that says something.

Edited October 15, 2014 by jacky54

[brianp0803]

I always find it interesting when people criticize a program, but have no first hand knowledge or nothing to compare it to.

The same is true with the TEFL programs. People will complain about a program that they never attended. Interesting.

What do you base your assumptions?

How do you know if it isn't former students complaining who have also attended other schools?

Nobody complains about their legal department producing good paperwork to ensure students get visas.

There are many rumors you never need to attend a class and you can still get your extension and renewal.

If true, then immigration must be getting falsified attendance documents.

Many people feel it is only for paperwork for getting a visa.

Simple statistics could prove the rumors wrong.

Many thousands of people have attended (enrolled in) Walen for Ed. Visa.

Many people want to learn Thai and not need a visa.

With the large number of x- students, are these x-students recommending people not needing a visa to attend Walen?

What percent of their students attend without the need of a visa?

Valid question?

Easy for a business to provide?

Teacher / student ratio is important for learning.

I think a standard question I would want to know is- the number of enrolled students per class (not necessarily the same as number attending)

Reasonable question?

Easy for a business to provide?

Broad claims

"Our method works"

"Most the students attend class"

Claims based on what research?

The business providing simple statistics should reduce complaining.

[totally thaied up]

seems like when the customer complains about walen's teaching Thai on here they are always wrong, they are always blamed, did not work hard enough, did not get it etc. It's always their own fault, not walen's method or the teachers! On the other hand I never saw a complaint about walens visa provision, that says something.

The Visa provision was easy but if you are willing to work at your studies, I think anyone can learn anything. For the 50,000 or so baht I spent with Walen, the experience of learning the alphabet an vowels an learning of 500 words (an the words you learn in Book One are not that usable in the real world), the money was well spent in the sense, I understand it now but in real terms, the teaching method is more suited for someone that can speak Thai an needs to learn how to read.

Yes, I expected to be attacked in some for voicing my issues. After all, Walen is a very good businessman an it is in his interests to look after his business interest. I went to school 3 days a week for 17 months. I am well educated, am able to learn but when I get replies like, "I was not trying enough or some people don't get it", for me personally, that speaks tombs amount of information. If you treat or think your students are idiots, well, you just take your business elsewhere. Too others that say you have no prior experience, so you cannot voice anything about these issues is wrong. I now have experience, I am well educated an for me this course was wrong, so you just move on. Yet it is good to raise your voice just to show, that we, the student do have a voice an Mr Walen should look at what many are thinking silently but not voicing in public.

I am not worried about a Visa, so that is something else that can be addressed. I am retired now, would like to spend maybe one year here again to learn more Thai but I have other issues at hand. I still have a need to visit my home country regularly due to aging parents an spend quality time with them. I am only 4 years away from 50 but my parents are very elderly an anything can happen to them, so my plans still have to be very open.

[Scott]

I always find it interesting when people criticize a program, but have no first hand knowledge or nothing to compare it to.

The same is true with the TEFL programs. People will complain about a program that they never attended. Interesting.

What do you base your assumptions?

How do you know if it isn't former students complaining who have also attended other schools?

Nobody complains about their legal department producing good paperwork to ensure students get visas.

There are many rumors you never need to attend a class and you can still get your extension and renewal.

If true, then immigration must be getting falsified attendance documents.

Many people feel it is only for paperwork for getting a visa.

Simple statistics could prove the rumors wrong.

Many thousands of people have attended (enrolled in) Walen for Ed. Visa.

Many people want to learn Thai and not need a visa.

With the large number of x- students, are these x-students recommending people not needing a visa to attend Walen?

What percent of their students attend without the need of a visa?

Valid question?

Easy for a business to provide?

Teacher / student ratio is important for learning.

I think a standard question I would want to know is- the number of enrolled students per class (not necessarily the same as number attending)

Reasonable question?

Easy for a business to provide?

Broad claims

"Our method works"

"Most the students attend class"

Claims based on what research?

The business providing simple statistics should reduce complaining.

Unless I am mistaken, this topic is about the Thai language school, not the business model they use.

[brianp0803]

Although the owner of the school is a sponsor, and this thread has been quite critical of his school, the thread remains active.

As far as I can tell, nobody has been banned or threatened for negative comments.

His response to any bad comments has always been- your were not a good student and the system works.

The owner seems sincere about the quality of teaching Thai.

I think if he actually collected some information from the school administration and anonymous comments from students he would understand the comments here better.

I suspect percentage of students attending class after paying is quiet low.

Very easy for him to verify students enrollment to number of classes offered.

This would verify or disprove the many comments it is a visa farm.

[SlyAnimal]

I'm going to post up some guidelines, in regards to moderation of this topic/section, since there seems to be some confusion, which is taking the topic off topic, and in general creating some generally negative sentiments from posters.

Regarding moderation on this topic:

We moderate based on the rules of the forum. The relevant rules which may cause people to have their posts removed from this section generally relate to:

1/ Personal attacks, insults or slurs (This includes insults towards groups of people e.g. All Thai people).

2/ Breach of Thai laws (Particularly the defamation laws, which are much more strict than in western countries).

3/ Comments on moderation.

For a full list of the forum rules (The above are very general), you can view them here

If you post a review of your personal experience, whether positive or negative, that's fine. But your post may be removed if it's insulting someone, or if it's in breach of Thailand's defamation/libel laws. As MacWalen is able to reply to comments, and solve potential issues which some posters may have.

Therefore we have allow a little bit more leeway in this topic than we normally would, so that he has the opportunity to reply and address any concerns posters may have (Which I understand, is his preference).

As MacWalen is able to reply to your comments, and so you have a great opportunity to ask questions about the school. I know that quite a few posters, after posting in this thread, have had their problems resolved, and so it's one of the advantages with Walen (compared to other schools), that if you have problems there is more support available than usual.

Also as he has said, usually it is the people who have problems, who are more likely to post, whereas the posters who don't have any problems, are happy with the service and thus don't feel much need to post. Being one of the bigger language schools in Thailand, they obviously have a lot of customers, and since they aren't simply attracting those customers by having the lowest price, must provide a pretty good service.

Although as I've previously said, I've never attended Walen (Although am thinking about doing some lessons there, as after reading all of the comments in this thread, I'm curious).

Anyway, I need to goto my Thai tutoring class, I've spent too long posting this and so am running late lol.

Also, please no more comments in regards to the moderation of this topic. I have posted this as a response to those comments, primarily to remove any confusion and speculation. Any further comments on moderation will be removed, however please feel free to contact me personally via PM.

Otherwise, please keep posting "On topic", which is a discussion about Walen Language School.

[JB300]

I'd be interested in anybody's experience of learning a different language than Thai (in particular Mandarin) at the Walen school.

[rijb]

Was with WALAN for 18 months. What do I have to say about them? After getting sick an having to go home for 12 months due to illness, I am back in Thailand now an want to further my studies an in the process of looking for another school.

I will not go back to WALAN for several reasons but the main reason being the sterile teaching skills an the boring subject matter. After 18 months I could only read half of book one an after countless hours of trying to speak using their method, I had no success at all.

What was the use in just learning that "this is a pen"... still after 5 months, we had not learnt even how to go to a toilet or even order a basic meal. Most of my school companions could speak fluent Thai an were just using the school as a Visa mill. Just to say, I have learnt my lesson well as in such, I should have looked for just a conversational school. Yes, I know the Thai alphabet very well now but with a lack of real time teaching of important, every day words, it just ended up being a painful experience.

Could I recommend WALAN to a friend; no, I could not do this them. WALAN certainly did not live up to its hype. The teachers are nice but boring. The teaching method is rashly put together with not much thought. I learnt more on my own then using this method.

I am now, like I said, looking for a good school as I plan to retire here when I turn 50 in 4 years time an will need to speak this language a lot better then I can now. Generally, over the next 2-3 years I want to learn Thai properly, as for when I do finally retire here, I just want to slide into a comfortable life. I miles well do the hard yards now learning.

I have a Masters of Education and extensive teaching experience.

The Chiang Rai Walen is great. I have no qualms about recommending it.

Adults like to learn. But, many don't like being a student.

Edit by SlyAnimal - removed personal insult.

[totally thaied up]

By the way way, no personal attacks, so I just had to punt in with a right jab after your slur good sir. I am happy to be moderated after that attack. My experience was such as I said. I am well educated, a good student as well, but I believe I do have table manners... not like others

[brianp0803]

Many languages schools have huge advertising about student visas instead of trying to attract people wanting to learn Thai language.

Look at the the advertisement. What is the product being promoted?

Most of the students know attendance is not required and the school will complete the documentation in a way they will get the extension. They only come to pick up extension paperwork.

Many are unwilling students attending because that is the condition of their visa. The want to obey the requirement of their visa.

Some want to learn but their primary goal was a cheap way to stay in the country without visa runs.

This environment is probably not good for teachers or people wanting to learn.

If you asked all the students reason for their reason for paying for classes I would expect 90% or greater(if honest answers were allowed) would say because it is a cheap and easy was to stay in Thailand while working.

[SlyAnimal]

Please don't allow comments about other posters to get personal. I've removed 1 post + edited another, and will issue warnings/suspensions if it continues

However please feel free to debate the topic. You guys have different experiences, it happens just debate about the opinion/topic, not about the poster

[totally thaied up]

Brian, I agree. The first 14 months I was there, I tried very hard. After seeing I was going no further, the last 2-3 months was a trail. I hired a private teacher for 5 months an in that time, my Thai improved a lot. Improved enough that I could order meals, find toilets, if I was sick, etc, etc; the very basics of what is needed to live. I have since decided to just do private teaching. I am not after a Visa as I plan only to be here for 3 months out of 6 now. I don't need a Visa mill. I agree totally with the government; too many young people here living off a job, using the EDU to work an not playing via the rules.

[shawn22]

Has anyone studying at the Walen in Phuket? or any other language school in Phuket? If so, I am very interested to hear your experience / recommendations.

Edited October 23, 2014 by shawn22