Thai Language School Reviews

[kuffki]

Firstly i like to say that i hope this thread would be useful for those living in Thailand and wanting to learn Thai.

I also would like to ask all BM to only provide reviews from your personal experience not what you think or heard or been told.

Input from people who have actually gone to school to learn Thai would be greatly appreciated not only by me but i think by all people considering going to school

 

In my 7 years in Thailand i have attended 2 schools. Pro Language in Bangkok and Wallen & Callen in Pattaya.

 

Wallan & Callan

 

I have been studying there for a while now and personally i am not impressed at all.

The method itself may work for some people but i find that you repeat everything like a monkey and not given an opportunity to use your own head to make sentences.

 

They adertise skilled, qualified teachers. Not sure about Bangkok, but in Pattaya not even 1 teacher is actually a teacher by qualification.

Yes they all finished university but none of them did teaching. I hate to say but it also appears as some teachers are ex bar girls, May not be true but they sure act like it. Some hardly speak any English.

 

There are 2 good teacher there, but when i say good, they are good out of everyone else.1 teacher during the lesson was too busy sending texts or looking in the small mirror while missing all the mistakes.

The other one(get ready for this and do not laugh) she can not actually read her self. I mean she can read but does not know any rules of the language, can not explain anything, makes spelling mistakes herself and unable to spell or follow when others spelling without looking into the book. To make matters worse she talks over students, so people do not get an opportunity to actually learn and get it out themselves.

 

While some have mentioned seeing the owner or manager sit in on the lessons, in my 6 months of 3-4 days per week, i never had anyone sit in on the lessons to see how lessons go, or have any survey or anything to see student satisfaction

 

They state they teach how to read and write-well teaching reading is giving students an alphabet and student is suppose to study on their own time, while in class just follow the teacher.

 

They do not teach pronunciation nor to they correct when you speak the tones.

 

Most annoying thing is, on the next level they start to correct little, so its like having to re-learn everything again.

 

In the beginer class, you have people who have done the book 3-7 times and are pretty good at everything and people who only started and do not know anything. So you end up having people with some knowledge sit around for weeks without learning anything, while other times, other way around and beginers end up sitting like dummy's not understanding anything.

 

I know a few guys who did 15 +months at that school and did all 3 levels. While they surely know more then me-they do not speak Thai.They know many words but can not put it into a sentence. One of my good mates done it all and he agrees, he will not even say he speaks reasonable Thai. In my opinion and he agrees, he speaks little Thai, enough to order food or drinks and thats about it.

 

This school is in NO way a conversational thai course. It isn't going to help you speak to people on the street, ask or answer common questions because it teaches reading NOT general conversation. Yes you learn many words, but whats a use knowing words if you can not put them together.

 

The text books are only in Thai without any "karaoke thai" (english transliteration) in the book. They do have the english meaning for each new vocabulary word but that is it, no phonetic spelling in english of how to pronounce the word in Thai.

 

In my opinion Pattaya branch is only good for getting the visa to stay here, if you really want to learn Thai-this is not the place, despite all the guarantees they advertise, as i said there is not even 1 qualified teacher.

 

Although i have learned many things, most of my speaking comes from home study off internet, while in class i mainly learn useless words.

 

 

Pro Language

Let me just confirm that i attended the one in Bangkok not Pattaya.

I thought it was great. Teacher spoke excellent English and was able to answer any questions in regards to language rules and structure.

At Pro, they do not teach you how to read and while i think reading is very good, it is not the most important thing.

Teaching method is totally different, you are taught sentences, so you can have little conversations, also you are taught real language not the formal language which as a foreigner you will hardly ever use.

 

You can not just join a class at any time. If you missed the start of a class you would need to wait for the next round, this way everyone in the class is on about the same level, so people who learn faster move on to the next class while slow learners can repeat from the start.

Every time you go to your course you have the same teacher for the full 2 hours, while in Wallen, you get 1 teacher for 1 hour and another teacher for another hour.

 

All in all, Pro is much more professional with really skilled and qualified teachers.

 

 

Would love to hear reviews from other people who attended same or other schools. But please be realistic in your review. saying you can speak Thai well if you learned how to order food or drinks is not actually knowing Thai well.

[collie]

Can anyone add to this thread as I think it would be really interesting.

 

I myself intend to move in the next few years on an ED visa, with the intention of actually leaning the language.

 

Have never heard much good about any schools in Pattaya so appreciate if anyone can give an INFORMED ( REMOVED educated 55555) reply...

Edited June 26, 2010 by collie

[robio]

Good, honest info. May I ask how much a guy can be expected to shell out for a course?

[yankee99]

I went to easi thai on soi bukhao. I had one on one lessons for a total of almost 60 hours. Although i like the teacher and think the world of her the teaching had many flaws. First i was there to learn basic conversation. What i was learning was to formal although correct when everyone is using l in place of r that is what i needed to learn. Also it seems that she is so use to falangs mis-pronouncing the words and does not correct you. I know many words that i was saying wrong and would have to stop and ask why she did not correct me. I also wonder being a man if i would have been better to learn from a man. I am thinking i could hear the tones and pronunciation better from a mans voice but this is only my opinion...

[kuffki]

Good, honest info. May I ask how much a guy can be expected to shell out for a course?

Price list for Wallan-http://www.thaiwalen.com/prices.php

Price list for Pro Language school-http://www.prolanguage.co.th/courses/thai-courses/price/

 

Notice the difference in private lessons prices

[kuffki]

Can anyone add to this thread as I think it would be really interesting.

 

I myself intend to move in the next few years on an ED visa, with the intention of actually leaning the language.

 

Have never heard much good about any schools in Pattaya so appreciate if anyone can give an educated reply...

 

Is my review not educated enough for you?

[kuffki]

I went to easi thai on soi bukhao. I had one on one lessons for a total of almost 60 hours. Although i like the teacher and think the world of her the teaching had many flaws. First i was there to learn basic conversation. What i was learning was to formal although correct when everyone is using l in place of r that is what i needed to learn. Also it seems that she is so use to falangs mis-pronouncing the words and does not correct you. I know many words that i was saying wrong and would have to stop and ask why she did not correct me. I also wonder being a man if i would have been better to learn from a man. I am thinking i could hear the tones and pronunciation better from a mans voice but this is only my opinion...

it seems to be uniform across many schools, the teachers are not actually language teachers. They are educated but none did any teaching course or degree. I really wonder where to find proper teachers with teaching qualifications, as i am sure many will agree may expats want to learn Thai properly so we can converse and have a normal fulfilling life.

 

i speak almost fluent another language besides my native, plus can read and speak little of 3rd, so i know all about learning language and it seems learning Thai is the very difficult but not only because its a hard language but also because there are no skilled teachers(well not that i can find)

[collie]

Is my review not educated enough for you?

 

55555555 Kuffki, sorry if it seemed off.

 

your report was excellent. perhaps I should have used a different word.

 

replace with 'Informed'

 

good thread...

[kuffki]

I could post a review of Pro Language school Pattay from 2 mates who went there, but it is not my first hand experience so it would not be a true review.

Would be good to hear from someone who actually did go to Pro Language Pattaya

[cairns8]

I have just completed 10hrs at plc school on pattaya klang rd,i started off learning tones, then possessive pronouns,then verbs.this led me to form sentences and basic conversation.I found it quite easy to use whilst in the classroom,but struggled when in social situations.I can pick out words the thais are saying and can get the idea of what they are talking about,but a lot of the time girls switch between isaan,laos an korat so it makes it hard to learn from them.I quite enjoy the structure of the lessons but you need to practise and study outside of class if you want to improve.

10 hours of private lessons was 3100baht including hand book.I wanted to try the lessons first before applying for an ed. visa later on in the year.

[yankee99]

I have just completed 10hrs at plc school on pattaya klang rd,i started off learning tones, then possessive pronouns,then verbs.this led me to form sentences and basic conversation.I found it quite easy to use whilst in the classroom,but struggled when in social situations.I can pick out words the thais are saying and can get the idea of what they are talking about,but a lot of the time girls switch between isaan,laos an korat so it makes it hard to learn from them.I quite enjoy the structure of the lessons but you need to practise and study outside of class if you want to improve.

10 hours of private lessons was 3100baht including hand book.I wanted to try the lessons first before applying for an ed. visa later on in the year.

 

 

This is another issue. Studying outside the class is virtually impossible unless you have a thai reading to you and you are translating the vocabulary.