Recommend a textbook that a tutor (with little English skills) can use with me

[FLEngineer]

Looking for a textbook that I can buy a copy of for myself and my Thai tutor. She's in Pattaya, and we do online lessons 3 days a week. But it turns out I'm a little more advanced than she was planning for. She's doing a fine job improvising to make it more challenging, but I think we would both benefit from some extra guidance. 

The main issue is that her English isn't very strong. We need a book that she can follow, so it needs to be more Thai than English. Or perhaps a book that has a "teachers edition" that she can follow in Thai while I use the student edition. Ideally a book I can either order for her on Lazada/Shoppee as well as Amazon for myself, or one she could easily pick up at a store if I send her the money.

Any suggestions?

The tutor in question: https://preply.com/en/tutor/6474974

I wasn't exactly looking for teaching experience when searching 555. 

Edited June 19, 2025 by FLEngineer

[FLEngineer]

For reference, ChatGPT gave me these:

1. Thai for Foreigners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker

Publisher: Paiboon Publishing

• 📘 Student book: Bilingual Thai-English (with Thai script and transliteration)

• 📕 Teacher's guide: Available (your tutor could potentially use the Thai parts or audio)

• 🗣 Focus on daily conversation with grammar and structure

• 💡 Can be paired with CDs or audio files

• 🛒 Easy to find in Thailand (e.g., SE-ED, Kinokuniya, or Lazada)

🔗 https://paiboonpublishing.com/products/thai-for-beginners

This book leans more English-side, but it’s extremely popular, and your tutor can likely find Thai-language notes or adapt easily.

---

2. ภาษาภาคปฏิบัติ (Practical Thai) by Srinakharinwirot University

• 📚 All Thai — made for Thai teachers teaching Thai to foreigners

• 📘 The teacher’s manual is written in Thai

• 🧠 Emphasis on speaking, listening, and functional communication

• 🛒 Available at Chulalongkorn Bookstore or Thai university bookstores

This is great for intermediate learners with a Thai-speaking teacher. Might be too dense without some Thai reading skill, but very strong once you're ready.

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3. Thai Language Series by AUA (American University Alumni Association)

• 🏛 Very reputable

• 📖 Books are largely in Thai with minimal English, structured around real Thai use

• 👩‍🏫 Often used in formal Thai language programs in Thailand

• 📦 Available locally in Bangkok and Pattaya-area bookstores

---

4. Learn Thai the Natural Way by Monta Samphantharak

• 💬 Dialogue-based, whole book in Thai (with English support for learners)

• 👩‍🏫 Designed to be taught by a Thai teacher to a foreign student

• 🛒 Available on Thai websites like Naiin, SE-ED, or Shopee

[Ghost of Senna]

The best book to learn the structure of Thai language and let’s you build the structure of your sentences based on context is Essential Thai by James Higbie. I never learned how to read or write Thai script but you can learn to speak without it here.

 https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Thai-guide-basics-Language/dp/9745242152/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1CS9FK0PT06A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IquxGFZmdV-3U6sYhQ906PowI0xIhihSaZ9z7FhH8gF62bIqpYgfa1tAecP_yqF-se56F9ZitOX4e8vZcRiyvWHhpPSwSLDFvCa6hd-Y_lCPL8Ie9dyTNifnI8bZ5rGb_cVBOyO8TtTKDRYHASMB5_abula8F9sN6dd0LHw64n_YIVZrIo2uDw1BwziH2famRU7LpplmDroYDtdVZqwc7dfvvYS3wmph-k7URGHVET0.6512-v845qRtrXXZbzWaYbOFp0lp2-hFzssSAmL5fnQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=Essential+thai&qid=1750307663&sprefix=essential+thai+%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-2

Edited June 19, 2025 by Ghost of Senna

[Bonkabit]

>1. Thai for Foreigners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker

>Publisher: Paiboon Publishing🔗 https://paiboonpublishing.com/products/thai-for-beginners

I worked off 'Thai for Beginners' with CD's and audio files. Now have OK everyday spoken Thai (but cannot read or write).

Recommended.

[FLEngineer]

I found two books online for free. I wanted to also pick up reading and writing skills, so I wanted to avoid books that don't teach Thai script (though both of these books also use romanization). For exercises, I screenshot the page, put it into Photoshop, remove all the English text, and print it out to complete by hand. Then I scan and email to my teacher.

Both are attached. They're each available on Thai resource websites for free. I searched DuckDuckGo for "Thai language textbook pdf" and these were among the top 5 results.

Thai Beginners Course by Stephen Neumair
Mostly in English, but really good with consistent transliterations. I only glance over at them just to see the tone mark to make sure I read it correctly. Lessons are organized well with a LOT of vocabulary.

Thai Language Book for Foreigners
GREAT book for a Thai person teaching a foreigner, as the book is entirely written in Thai, with English translations under each sentence. Exercises are in Thai with transliterations. The transliterations are weird to me (they tried to use unique characters for every vowel), but I try to avoid them anyway. If your teacher doesn't have great English skills, THIS is the book.

Thai_Beginners_Course_Neumair_Stephen.pdf Thai Language Textbook for Foreigners.pdf

Edited June 28, 2025 by FLEngineer

[duke main]

It probably depends on your particular learning style but the best textbook I've seen is from Duke Language school. I don't know if you can just go online and purchase their books but here's the website, or you can call them. They're located in BKK. I wish they had a location in Pattaya.

https://dukelanguage.com

[FLEngineer]

On 27/06/2025 at 22:08, duke main said:

It probably depends on your particular learning style but the best textbook I've seen is from Duke Language school. I don't know if you can just go online and purchase their books but here's the website, or you can call them. They're located in BKK. I wish they had a location in Pattaya.

https://dukelanguage.com

I've decided to choose Duke for my education visa in the first year. As of now the plan is to complete their full program (9 months), see if they have anything they want me to do for the 3 months after that if I'm still paying, and then renew the visa with either Thammasat or Chulalongkorn University for more advanced study. At that point I'll start looking for a job.

[Encora]

On 19/06/2025 at 10:26, FLEngineer said:

1. Thai for Foreigners by Benjawan Poomsan Becker

Publisher: Paiboon Publishing

• 📘 Student book: Bilingual Thai-English (with Thai script and transliteration)

• 📕 Teacher's guide: Available (your tutor could potentially use the Thai parts or audio)

• 🗣 Focus on daily conversation with grammar and structure

• 💡 Can be paired with CDs or audio files

• 🛒 Easy to find in Thailand (e.g., SE-ED, Kinokuniya, or Lazada)

🔗 https://paiboonpublishing.com/products/thai-for-beginners

This book leans more English-side, but it’s extremely popular, and your tutor can likely find Thai-language notes or adapt easily.

Many years ago, I used this and it was good for me. I downloaded the CD audio files onto a Memory stick and put it in my car. On long journeys, (10 hrs+). I'd play it on my car stereo, having read the books and understanding the content, it helped me memorize the pronunciation, like embedding a song in my brain, tones and meaning.
I highly recommmend it!

[FLEngineer]

On 08/02/2026 at 08:24, FLEngineer said:

I've decided to choose Duke for my education visa in the first year. As of now the plan is to complete their full program (9 months), see if they have anything they want me to do for the 3 months after that if I'm still paying, and then renew the visa with either Thammasat or Chulalongkorn University for more advanced study. At that point I'll start looking for a job.

Scratch that. Duke says they're booked 4 months out, and even though I'm not actually coming to Thailand until June, they do not recommend getting the visa in advance. They also told me in an email that I'm not allowed to apply for a new Ed visa under the same language as the first, which is objectively false, because their own program requires you to leave Thailand and get a new visa after 8 months. You ARE allowed to get a new Ed visa for the same language, but you must cancel your old visa prior to applying for the new one.

So I'll be attending AAA Language school in Phaya Thai instead. Their full program is 17 months, at 36k for the Beginner and Intermediate levels, followed by 8k per course for the three advanced courses.

Edited February 11 by FLEngineer