Asia talent academy Hua Hin

[hola63]

My daughter wanted to learn how to sing,they told us the teacher could speak English,all what she said during the lesson was f.... and s....

This place should be absoulutely avoided.

[tattoodrob]

That's a shame to hear but my daughter goes there and loves it,she does dancing,singing,keyboard lessons and will do the gymnastics when that starts.i think is a bit unfair you say avoid the place due to one teacher as they have many teachers there who are A1 even if you was unlucky in your choice. I have been going there months already and she enjoys every time,I asked her if any of her teachers had sworn or acted in any way bad and she said no and thought teachers are great,they have 5 or 6 just singing teachers actually. Did you tell the owner about what happened as she really nice lady and sure she would sort it out and you just use another teacher if that one no good,it's a bit unfair to run a whole business down offering many new things for kids to do in Hua Hin due to one teacher of one activity they offer.i have heard all of the singing teachers there and can say they have great voices and my daughters teacher can speak English but they have 3 or 4 that can speak and sing English so probably not same as my daughter but I can sit in with her anytime in any lesson and her teacher is great fun,loves kids and daughter has great fun with her.

Many of the parents at my kids school also send there kids there and there kids love it.

It's a fair comment you make but c'mon saying avoid the place due to one part time member of a big team offering something new for kids to do in Hua Hin is over the top,why not just name the teacher and say avoid that teacher if go there. I dont know what business you in but if someone told the world to avoid your business due to one part time staff thats not good even you had many very good staff then is that really fair? If I go to a restaurant and food and place great but one waitress not good then I wouldn't say avoid the place then i would just mention one waitress was not good,then maybe the owner of the business could read it and act upon it instead of trying to destroy a new business that Hua Hin needs,where else is good to send the kids about dancing,singing,acting,gymnastics,learning instruments in Hua Hin and there was one place before my daughter went to that was smaller,more expensive,worse location and is now shut. Give the guys a chance there, I will tell the owner about it as she so nice so she can sort that teacher out which is what you should have done and if not sorted then fair to run them down.

By the way the owner takes my daughter to shows to enter with other kids from there and my daughters singing and confidence has grown loads already and owner very friendly and polite that I expect she would feel dreadful that your daughter heard such profanity from one of her teachers.

[hola63]

I think a school should not have rude teachers,hope for them the other teachers are more professional.The positive thing is they gave back the money we had payed in about one day,that shows they are honest.The school is probably what Thai kids need but the ones who study at a real international school such as HHIS find it difficult to learn there.If you go to bilingual schools in Hua Hin you will not find many qualified teachers,before joining HHIS my daughter's education has been a nightmare,now every teacher is qualified and the level of education is the same you can find in Bangkok.

I wish Asia Talent Academy can find teachers who respect the kids.

[tattoodrob]

Agree its not good to have a teacher who swears in front of children but maybe she had an off day but anyway thats no excuse but no need to run down a whole place/business with other people working there that are great as thought by me and many others, i been going since it opened and i see many happy kids and parents there coming back time and time again......its a relaxed environment and not really designed to be a formal school,its for kids to enjoy and learn music/dance etc...you know the "Arts" so not sure why you mention the HHIS and say is difficult for a HHIS pupil to learn singing there but Thai kids can learn there,very strange thing to say.....your daughter or other pupils at HHIS have special needs when it comes to improving there singing voice or dance skills or to have fun doing gymnastics ?? By the way if i was the owner then i might be consulting a lawyer as your initial post seems on the boundaries of defamation especially as looks like you only went there once and tell all to avoid even your daughter only tried one thing they offer and was one part time staff member that was rude and not the whole business that was a problem so why say avoid the place....why didnt you just tell the owner instead of running it down online to all or even better then go back next time and sit in and see for yourself like i do.If my daughter had told me they used the f word and s word then i would just tell the owner id like to use a teacher who doesnt swear and give them a chance.Im sure the owner didnt even know your daughters teacher swore in front of her and could possibly have sorted it out amicably. Also children can be funny things as i would be surprised if the teacher swore directly at your daughter or was for the whole duration of the lesson as there must have been some singing involved at some point im sure !! maybe your daughter just didnt sing very good so didnt enjoy it or just didnt enjoy trying to learn,many kids think they want to do something then decide they dont,my daughter tried Tae Kwon Do and after buying all the gear,pads,bags,course etc decided she didnt like it due to some minor reason.....kids are kids but ok swearing is good excuse not to want to go back to that teacher but if she keen to sing or do other thing then dont let one rude teacher put her off trying other activities there with other teachers.

If one teacher at my kids proper school swore or was rude then i would tell the Principal/Owner and give a chance to sort it out but i wouldnt say to all dont go to the school just because of one incident by one staff member...the rest of staff could be fantastic and school fantastic even if one person not good...name and shame the teacher not the school and anyhow that singing teacher could stop working there at anytime and you run the place down which stays online for a long time and doesnt seem fair in this case.Maybe a fair point against you in a defamation/libel case but im not a lawyer! but i know i wouldnt go online to complain about one Thai person that works at someone elses business and didnt even tell the owner of the complaint first..hardly the owners fault when she dont know.....now i feel bad for all the other teachers there especially all the singing teachers as you put them in same bag without knowing them and as you didnt name the actual teacher then no one knows who is the rude one out the nice bunch so doesnt really help Joe Public.

DEFAMATION LAWS IN THAILAND

Slander and libel laws in Thailand.

Chapter 3 Sections 326 up to 333 of the Thai Criminal Code classifies defamation as a crime. However, there are two kinds of defamation in Thailand:

1) Simple defamation (Section 326) — “Whoever imputes anything, to the other person before a third person, in a manner likely to impair the reputation of such other person or to expose such other person to be hated or scorned.”

2) Libel (Section 328) — “If the offense of defamation is committed by means of document publication, drawing, painting, cinematography, film, picture or letters made visible by any means, or any other recording instruments, recording picture or letters, or by broadcasting or spreading picture, or by propagation by any other means.”

THAILAND DEFAMATION: PUNISHMENTS & TRUTH AS A DEFENSE

Penalty for defamation constitutes imprisonment ranging from one year (Section 326) to two years (Section 328). However, the Thai Penal Code stipulates that any person making a statement “in good faith by way offair comment on any person or thing subjected to public criticism” shall not be guilty of defamation. Moreover, if defendants can prove that a statement is true, they won’t be subjected to punishment for said statement. That said, truth is not considered a valid defense if the statement is personal in nature because such proof will not benefit the public.

Civil defamation in Thailand is defined under the Thai Civil and Commercial Code as follows:

“[Section 423] A person who, contrary to the truth, asserts or circulates as a fact that which injurious to the reputation or the credit of another or his earnings or prosperity in any other manner, shall compensate the other for any damage arising therefrom, even if he does not know of its untruth, provided he ought to know it.”

“A person who makes a communication the untruth of which is unknown to him, does not thereby render himself liable to make compensation, if he or the receiver of the communication has a rightful interest in it.”

Online defamation in Thailand is closely monitored thanks to their Computer Crimes Act. In short, the Computer Crimes Act makes liable both the author of “unlawful data” in addition to the website operators. If you delete the material, it doesn’t matter. If someone sees the illicit statements — even if they were only up for 2 hours — its actionable. As such, it’s illegal to post any kind of defamatory material online in Thailand.

May 2013 Update: Things are heating up in Thailand when it comes to defamation law. Via Facebook, a well-known cartoonist published unflattering comments about officials. He is now facing criminal defamation charges.

[RudeRobb]

I can say that my kids are very happy, and I have never seen anything but professionalism and politeness. Sorry you seem to have had an issue, but sounds like they did the right thing and refunded you.