I'm putting this out to anyone who might have some information, but I think it may be an exercise in futility.

My Thai wife and I are moving in February to Huai Thap Tan in Sisaket. We have my wife's 13 year old son, who is a great kid and needs to go to school. The problem is that he has been in the U.S. since he was 5 years old, and cannot speak, read, or write Thai. He only remembers some Khmer Lao.

Does anyone living in Sisaket have any advice? I know that I could send him to Ubon, and have him board there Monday-Friday, but that would be a last resort.

Any serious advice, not telling me how stupid I am would be appreciated.

Other than your suggestion, I'd say get someone to visit SSK to enquire in the individual school within town but that is STILL a long way from H T Tan. You seem to have picked a very difficult time (for the kid) to relocate to deepest rural Issan. Sorry, it had to be said!

It might be an easier transition for him to go into an MEP program (Mini English Program). There are a couple of MEP programs in Sisaket. At 13 I am assuming you are looking for a placement in Matayom 1 (grade 7). Here is a link to a facebook page from one of the schools.

A quick google search came up with this link.

https://www.facebook.com/epsiriket

There is a princess nagarinda school or (something like that) on the outskirts of town that has an MEP but it may only be a boarding school, not too sure on that.

If I am wrong and he is finishing up Pratom you could look into either Marie (catholic school but no MEP) or Anuban Sisaket (has some form of MEP but not too familiar).

For better info stop in at Frank's bar "Living in the Past" or Brian's bar "Cukoo's Next". You can chat with the proprietors, local expats and teachers and find out more info on the local schools. Both Frank and Brian are good sources of info when it comes to Sisaket.

Feb is not the best time to be swapping schools either, he will be joining classes that are almost finished.

I agree with Dilligad that Huai Thap Tan is going to be a long enough commute into Sisaket (likely 45 min each way in a van if you can find one), anything other than a boarding school in Ubon would be too far of a daily commute to consider.

I would suggest, forgetting about going to school until the new year in May, and in the mean time have the wife teach him to read and write Thai, and only speak Thai to him, then in May try to get him into a MEP.

Pop into Franks place (Livin" in the Past) in the afternoon and have a chat with Norman, as he's the Head of the English Program in a local school so that way you will get first hand advice.

English program or no English program is not the answer here.

Schools have to teach every subject in Thai too, especially Thai language and social science. In a school with an English program kids also have at least an hour of Englsih study with a Thai teacher.

The boy needs to start to learn Thai fast. He will not be able to complete his education here unless he can speak.

English program or no English program is not the answer here.

Schools have to teach every subject in Thai too, especially Thai language and social science. In a school with an English program kids also have at least an hour of Englsih study with a Thai teacher.

The boy needs to start to learn Thai fast. He will not be able to complete his education here unless he can speak.

In a MEP, mini English Program, the students have a period of English, Math, and Science, everyday, sometimes more. Obviously the boy will do well in English, but it is still good for him to take as it will help to keep his grammar up. The science and math programs will help him transition into taking them in Thai as his Thai improves. I strongly suggest he spends February, March, and April, learning Thai, before he starts school in May. If you have the time, it would be a great idea for you and your son to go to AUA, in Bangkok. They have 6 week Thai programs, that they claim, by the time you take the third program, you should be at a stage, that you can learn by yourself. I believe they are 3 hours a day, in the morning or afternoon. In your spare time maybe you could take an hour a day to learn and write Thai. I sure wish that I had taken the program, who knows maybe I still will.

If you're willing to board, you might consider doing it at an international school in Bangkok or Chiang Mai and then you and your wife can visit on the weekends but that's making assumptions about your time/work/budget situation. Ubon has direct flights to Chiang Mai and will likely get more in the future.

English program or no English program is not the answer here.

Schools have to teach every subject in Thai too, especially Thai language and social science. In a school with an English program kids also have at least an hour of Englsih study with a Thai teacher.

The boy needs to start to learn Thai fast. He will not be able to complete his education here unless he can speak.

In a MEP, mini English Program, the students have a period of English, Math, and Science, everyday, sometimes more. Obviously the boy will do well in English, but it is still good for him to take as it will help to keep his grammar up. The science and math programs will help him transition into taking them in Thai as his Thai improves. I strongly suggest he spends February, March, and April, learning Thai, before he starts school in May. If you have the time, it would be a great idea for you and your son to go to AUA, in Bangkok. They have 6 week Thai programs, that they claim, by the time you take the third program, you should be at a stage, that you can learn by yourself. I believe they are 3 hours a day, in the morning or afternoon. In your spare time maybe you could take an hour a day to learn and write Thai. I sure wish that I had taken the program, who knows maybe I still will.

"Claim" being the give away word here.

The boy is coming to Sissaket. His Mum speaks Thai. That is all he needs to learn how to speak. The immersion method is best. Let him loose in Sissaket and he can learn from what he hears. His Mum can teach him to read.

Sorry to say, but I do wonder why people who move to other countries fail to see the importance of a child learning his/her mother tongue.

I had a similar problem when bringing my stepson back to Ubon 3 years ago. We have a house in Khemarat which is 100kms north of Ubon. There are only govt schools there and when approached to see if he can start there and learn thai, we were told "No problem, we will put him in Grade 1" A 10 year old in year one with 5 or 6 year olds. I think not. We ended sending him to YES school in Ubon. He learnt thai quickly there to an acceptable level but my thoughts on this school for its other education capabilities and standards is well documented in another post about schools in Ubon. We let him interact with other kids from the govt school before the school year started through a soccer competition they were having and there seemed to be a lot of bullying from the local kids because of my stepsons lack of thai. Kids can get very nasty in Issan.

Its going to be hard work for you to find a happy medium. My wife and her family did try to teach him thai in their own way prior to the school year starting and this didn't work out as they all had good intentions but found it too hard or too lazy to teach him. We sent him to a Summer camp run by YES school to teach him the basic thai alphabet and basic reading and writing. This worked out good. It took him about 2 years to read and speak thai quite well and would have taken another year or so to get his writing up to scratch. In the end due to my frustrations with the education system, both govt and private we relocated back to Australia to continue his schooling.

Good luck with this journey.

Thank you all so much for your helpful suggestions (and not telling me how stupid I am). I will definitely check into an MEP, and visit Frank's Place and Cukoo's Nest. I will have plenty of time because we will be staying in a hotel in Sisaket for a month or so since I told them to stop working on my house until I get there so I can oversee the work getting it finished. We will probably take the advise and whatever we find, start his schooling in May.