Continuing Thai Language Education for your kids OS

[ozsamurai]

  I suppose the topic is fairly self explanatory.  But with an imminent return to the land of Oz on the horizon for No.1 son to begin grade 1 in Australia, it leaves me with the question of how to maintain his Thai Language ability.  He is Anubaan 2, so as fluent as any 4yo is in both English and Thai.  When he is back in Australia, I would think it a shame if he loses his ability in Thai.  I have been a teacher for a long time and teach him English and Japanese at home.  Mrs Oz is a Master's graduate, but readily accepts that she would find it difficult to teach, she's just not that good at it, and has no experience, more of a do'er.  So..... what material would I be able to get a hold of to take with me for say at least the next few primary school grades.  Any recommendations?  For sure if we were in a major city perhaps seeking aout a language class may be an option, but we are going to be far from that situation in country Victoria.  Having spent 20yrs in Japan and having grown up with lots of [italian/aussies japanese/aussies greek/aussies] I know that without a formal education they end up being very limited and mostly poor speakers of their 'native' language.  I don't speak Thai, but that's a whole new ball of wax, I'm not likely to master it faster than he can learn it.

 

Oz

[ozsamurai]

  Just a thought on this, I have all the 6 Manee readers, do you know if these are sufficient for a base?  What grade would they normally take a student to?

 

Oz

[starrdog]

The Manee books go all the way through elementary school (ป.6). If you want more modern textbooks, the websites on the back of my kids' books are:

 

http://www.iadth.com

http://aksorn.com

 

which might be worth a look to see if you can purchase through them. Good luck!

[ozsamurai]

  Thank you for those links, they will be looked over thoroughly by Mrs. Oz.  It's also good to know the info on the Manee, so the 1-6 are correspondent to year levels?

 

Oz

[starrdog]

Sorry, I didn't read your previous post correctly. I'm not actually familiar with the Manee readers so someone else will have to help out there. I was talking about the Manee books which are numbered by years, and each year has 2 books. All 12 are available for free download in pdf format:

 

http://dlib.in.th/manamanee

 

Editing to say at least they used to be there. I see where you can read them but I don't see a download link. My wifi is having problems so I'm not being terribly patient. If they've removed the download links, I'm sure you can track down other copies using google.

[Trembly]

Please tell Mrs. Ozsamurai that she is overthinking it and all she needs to do is talk to her son in Thai constantly.

I grew up in Bangkok but preferred to speak in Kam-Mueang to my mother, who hails from Chiang Rai. There were no other Northerners in our social circle in Bangkok and to me it felt like we had our own private language.

I have never lived in Chiang Rai (save for one year when I was older), only going back for holidays, yet I can speak the language perfectly.

Organic learning is the most effective; if your son can find and maintain Thai friends who are into reading Thai language comics (as a gateway towards books) I think you'll have nothing to worry about.