Thai language school-is Walen any good?

[EmptyHead]

The teachers there just read word for word from a book. Nuf' said.

[ChrisB87]

The teachers there just read word for word from a book. Nuf' said.

What their "teachers" do, anyone off the street could do.

[MacWalen]

The teachers there just read word for word from a book. Nuf' said.

What their "teachers" do, anyone off the street could do.

I am afraid not.

[skatewash]

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.

I believe Walen has a policy of allowing potential customers to attend one free class to assess the school's pedagogy for themselves. At least they allowed me to do this at the school in Chalong.

You might also want to investigate Patong Language School. It is one of the bigger language schools in Phuket, also the oldest (I believe). I attended there for two years and I do recommend the school.

One caveat: as you probably know there is a bit of uncertainty at the moment regarding changes to the ED Visa (duration of visa without needing to leave the country, number of hours of classes needed to qualify, number of days per week needed to qualify -- see such topics elsewhere on TV). There have been topics suggesting that some form of testing will be implemented, which probably (perhaps?) includes reading knowledge of Thai script. Also, there has been a case of someone returning at Suvarnabhumi Airport on a ED Visa being asked to read Thai by the Immigration Officer and being denied entry due to failing the test (and perhaps for other reasons). Patong Language School does start their students out with Thai transliterated into English; Walen does not, starting with Thai script from the get go (it is my understanding). I imagine schools will make changes to comply with the new policies (whatever they are), but you should definitely discuss these matters with the school itself. Also, as these changes are very recent it is perhaps not advisable to rely on information on schools' websites which most probably is not completely up to date regarding the latest changes.

In any case, good luck with your studies! Learning Thai is very interesting, challenging, and fun.

[MacWalen]

I believe Walen has a policy of allowing potential customers to attend one free class to assess the school's pedagogy for themselves. At least they allowed me to do this at the school in Chalong.

That is correct, students can try our teaching system without any charge.

[yankee99]

The teachers there just read word for word from a book. Nuf' said.

What their "teachers" do, anyone off the street could do.

I am afraid not.

What are the requirements to become a teacher at Walen..? Do all teachers have a university degree as a language teacher?

[MacWalen]

Do all teachers have a university degree as a language teacher?

No, and neither do Thai teachers at most of other language schools. Our teachers have university degrees but we provide in-house teacher training.

[konying]

Do all teachers have a university degree as a language teacher?

No, and neither do Thai teachers at most of other language schools. Our teachers have university degrees but we provide in-house teacher training.

From the pics being attached, the only prerequisite appears to be teachers have to be young, attractive and FEMALES.

I guess males do not qualify to work at Walen

[cornishcarlos]

Do all teachers have a university degree as a language teacher?

No, and neither do Thai teachers at most of other language schools. Our teachers have university degrees but we provide in-house teacher training.

From the pics being attached, the only prerequisite appears to be teachers have to be young, attractive and FEMALES.

I guess males do not qualify to work at Walen

Plus be able to do that funny bird thing with their hands..

[yankee99]

Do all teachers have a university degree as a language teacher?

No, and neither do Thai teachers at most of other language schools. Our teachers have university degrees but we provide in-house teacher training.

From the pics being attached, the only prerequisite appears to be teachers have to be young, attractive and FEMALES.

I guess males do not qualify to work at Walen

Oddly enough i want to return to studying but only with a male teacher. I just feel imitating the accent helps and i dont want to sound feminine.

[MacWalen]

Plus be able to do that funny bird thing with their hands..

It is W, a sigh of Walen School. Easy to remember. More and more people love Walen.

Edited December 5, 2014 by MacWalen

[MacWalen]

Don't worry, we take a very good care of our students. Over 13 years of experience running schools in Thailand.

[ChrisB87]

This is getting embarrassing.

Edited December 5, 2014 by ChrisB87

[jacky54]

What their "teachers" do, anyone off the street could do.

I am afraid not.

Why not? what qualifications do they have to teach, if any? You have been asked this reasonable question before but you seen to think it's none of the customers business. When I was there two told me they did not have a degree, but you claim here that they all have! To be fair though your 'method' of reading out from a book does not need any qualifications at all.

Edited December 6, 2014 by jacky54

[canarysun]

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What their "teachers" do, anyone off the street could do.

I am afraid not.

Why not? what qualifications do they have to teach, if any? You have been asked this reasonable question before but you seen to think it's none of the customers business. When I was there two told me they did not have a degree, but you claim here that they all have! To be fair though your 'method' of reading out from a book does not need any qualifications at all.

I have been into many language schools here in Thailand as " a fly on the wall " and all of them " read from a book "

As i mentioned before the saying has always been : " A bad teacher teaches from a book & and a good teacher teaches with there personality "

Farang Jaidee

[Water Buffalo]

This is getting embarrassing.

Second that.

Why doesn't he just stop replying to this thread?

[brianp0803]

Lets be realistically. The school prominently advertising a product.

Probably close to 100% of people successfully get the advertised product.

Probably 100% successful about getting all customers all their 90 day extensions .

Why the discussion about the teacher's qualifications?

But if 8 hours a week is now required then hopefully the teachers will make the time enjoyable.

Edited December 6, 2014 by brianp0803

[Scott]

A few trolling posts have been removed. This is in the education forum and it is moderated more strictly than some of the other forums. Continue and you will be given a warning and a possible suspension.

[brianp0803]

I believe the primary reason people pay money to Walen is because they are very good about getting Ed visa and their trust that all students are attending all classes.

Their idea of teaching Thai script from the beginning is a great idea. The alphabet class teaches the letters and vowels but no reading. Level 1 class is all reading in Thai . People learning Thai between 1 month to 2 years are in the same class.

Having continously running classes that have no start date or objectives is not good for the student but easy for the school.

The book has no organization.

The book has about 10 new words. A native Thai person reads a quesrion in the book and the students xan read the answers from the book.

Maybe 30 new words in an hour and say each word once or twice and then 10 new words.

My friend paid to go there without the visa because she wanted to learn Thai. She stopped attending after 5 months because she felt she was wasting her time. The money was already gone.

Nobody in her class liked the book.

Most the teachers are young and pretty and single.

Foreigners teaching English frequently have had 120 hours of training.

Thai schools have only in house training. But they wouldn't need much training to read a book.

Curious how many hours training between being hired and teaching a class.

If your primary goal is a Ed visa then possibly a good choice. It is a large school and probably good connections with immigration.

If you want to learn Thai then attend a school that advertises they teach Thai instead of a school that advertises they can get you an Ed visa.

I would recommend going to a school that uses Thai script or transitions to it quickly.

Short term phonetics is ok. But if you are serious about learning Thai and living in Thailand then learn to read Thai.

I have several times seen people in a coffee shops reading their Pro Language books. I have never seen a student of Walen reading their school book.

My friend never heard of anybody being asked to do a survey about satisfaction of the school. The satisfaction level would depend if they asked visa related questions or Thai language related questions.

Students are generally very happy with the visa and extension paperwork.

Walen has smart advertising to its target audience.

[jacky54]

I have been into many language schools here in Thailand as " a fly on the wall " and all of them " read from a book "

As i mentioned before the saying has always been : " A bad teacher teaches from a book & and a good teacher teaches with there personality "

Farang Jaidee

Or text of some kind, but the best teachers let you choose the book YOU want to study from and do not impose their own 'method' that they can go through with their eyes closed parroting page after page. Also, a good teacher goes at your own speed so you neither get left behind or kept back by others. Good teachers let you plan with them how, what and where you want to learn. An individual teacher is 10x more effective than sitting in a classroom with others with a bored and disinterested teacher going through the motions.

[canarysun]

In Thailand the teaching is " far too serious " and it's all " Book,Book,Book " The key word to teaching is making it " FUN " people should be laughing and enjoying themselves with " role play " and for younger kids " singing songs " but there is no fun in most of the language schools i have witnessed.This " serious & reserved " attitude unfortunately does not do any favours in the classroom .....

F.J

[tingtongtourist]

I have spoken to a few who go to Walen and other schools,myself trying to decide which to sign up.

I believe eveyone learns in different way.

Me, i do need something that i can use straight away or soon get bored. I agree,need to know alphabet, but trying to memorize alphabet and reading first just doesnt give incentive to come back again and again.

This Walen method remind me about a kid wanting to learn guitar. In he goes,but the teacher tell everyone they need to read music before anyting!! No fun!!

Also, I heard from 2 people already..both studied around 6 months,both say they learn no skills for speaking everyday thai.

I only stay 6 months at a time, i want some speaking skills i can use!

Sorry mr Walen!

[slapout]

Some of the more advertised language school owners/operators seem to be hunkered down looking for a good exit Thailand strategy since the crack down on visa mills, as some are known. The schools, have brought it on themselves and have ruined the chance for many serious students to further their education and international experience. But that is life, the best thing may be for students to report the offenders to the authorities and enroll in another school. Just make sure you have your ducks in a row prior to going into snitch mode.

Degrees mean diddly squat in this country they are worth a min salary of 15000 baht vs 9000 baht per month if deemed necessary. Many depolomas come from street vendors who are good with a computer or in some rare cases they have lifted a few orginal blank diplomas

The schools of Thailand are operated to make money for some people, as are hospitals, temples, police departments, churches, waste disposal plants, etc Nothing should be accepted for what it seems or you are told, This latter advice will save a lot of heart ache and grey hair, time etc.

Edited December 11, 2014 by slapout

[Loaded]

Some amazingly uninformed assumptions posted as facts on this thread.

[jacky54]

Which are?

[boike]

As you say, you could not care less but others do. They would like to study and stay in Thailand longer so it is in the best interest for those involved to not abuse the system.

I have these conversations in TV forums for years so a newbie posting doest not bother me at all. Just did not these were genuine posts. Maybe you work for that school and just pretend to be a student, who knows. Or you were asked to write those promotional posts, I don't know. You can inform them that they can also advertise on Thai Visa, we need sponsors to keep this website going, how about that? Perhaps they are not aware of this advertising opportunity.

You ARE very jumpy.

Sent from my S4 LTE

[Loaded]

Which are?

from the last few posts but there are many more:

"Some of the more advertised language school owners/operators seem to be hunkered down looking for a good exit Thailand strategy since the crack down on visa mills"

"The schools, have brought it on themselves and have ruined the chance for many serious students to further their education and international experience."

"Degrees mean diddly squat in this country"

"In Thailand the teaching is " far too serious " and it's all " Book,Book,Book " "

[Loaded]

Which are?

from the last few posts but there are many more:

"Some of the more advertised language school owners/operators seem to be hunkered down looking for a good exit Thailand strategy since the crack down on visa mills"

"The schools, have brought it on themselves and have ruined the chance for many serious students to further their education and international experience."

"Degrees mean diddly squat in this country"

"In Thailand the teaching is " far too serious " and it's all " Book,Book,Book " "

I guess those who make uninformed assumptions, either as a post/comment or a reader of a post/comment can be held in the same light, and judgement can be just as harsh, for either. Does this offend your sense of understanding and your assumptive nature????? If you want to quote and critize at least quote the entire post. Others may want full details about what was said in orginal post. Were you a Nation or Bangkok post reporter in a previous life, you make many of the same juvinile mistakes? You seem to have similar powers of deduction.

If anyone wanted to read the full post, they only need to scroll up a few posts. I assumed that was obvious.

Add support to your comments and you won't appear so poorly educated.

[brianp0803]

It will be interesting if immigration puts enough pressure on schools to report actual attendance on the immigration attendance report forms then many of the highly advertised get a one year visa schools will suffer greatly. Schools are possibly making millions per month on student only wanting visas.

People seeking long term visas will not object to the increased cost the schools are asking but if attendance and learning is required then I predict a significant majority will choose other methods.

Why doesn't immigration just check student enrollment and facility schedule to quickly assess if the school can reasonable teach the registered students.

[mataleo]

Bit old just came across

http://www.thailandteaching.asia/schools-you-want-to-talk-about/16761-walen-school-phuket-input-please.html