Thai Language School In Pattaya

[davidst01]

Hi there,

Wanted to ask any farang that live in Pattaya a question... Can you recommend a decent language school in Pattaya. Im interested in improving my Thai on a casual basis whilst I reside in Pattaya. Nothing too serious but maybe 3 to 4 afternoon sessions a week. Im not doing this for an ED visa- only personal improvement and the love of learning...

Please let me know if you can recommend a good language school.

Many thanks in advance

[timekeeper]

did you see CTLS?

they are a freeplayo sponsor

its a big school behind Big C extra

friend of mine went there

said it was very good

[WaywardWind]

I would be interested in the recommendations as well, as my wife and I would like to learn conversational Thai.

We live in Wong Amat, so the Easy ABC School on Pattaya-Naklua Road would be most convenient for us. They also seem to have the most reasonable rates (i.e., a current promotion indicates 19,960 THB each for 4 -15 participants for 80 one hour lessons)

Does anyone have any experience with or information about them?

Edited June 26, 2012 by WaywardWind

[bob4you]

The one by Big C Extra is Whalen School, very good, wife is former student and sister in law is current student. Both are happy with the school. They have beginner classes Mon. Weds. Friday.

[WaywardWind]

The one by Big C Extra is Whalen School, very good, wife is former student and sister in law is current student. Both are happy with the school. They have beginner classes Mon. Weds. Friday.

Thanks for this, Bob...it looks interesting. Bit more of a hike for us, but the prices and schedules seem to work for us. Will look into it.

[saengsureeya]

And otherwise PLC along Pattaya Klaang (just around the corner from Walen).

Ask if Ms. Suthida is still teaching there.

Owner is Ken Bebbington.........manager is his wife (forgot her name)

[bertdryden]

I attend Pro Language, 4 hours a week over 2 afternoons. I find them very good. They are opposite Big C on Pattaya Klang. I think that most of the schools will let you sit in a lesson for an hour or 2 to let you try & see if it's for you.

[henry2109]

I attend ABC easy language school. They have to locations, one in Naklua, the other one on Thappraya Road between Jomtien and Pattaya.

I am satisfied with the school and would recommend it. I am studying on an ED/Visa, so 4 lessons a week.

[jak2002003]

I go to Pro Language School. I think its one of the best ones. I have no complaints with the school and the teachers are really good. The don't rip you off either, and are good at planning lesson times to suite the student. I know they do group and private classes.

I get the ED Visa from them also.

You can get a trial lesson for free to see if you like it.

[MacWalen]

davidst01, I would like to invite you to Walen school for a free demo, we offer a different approach to teaching Thai, most students love it because we teach directly in Thai, no transliteration at all and the results are incredible. We also have fantastic teachers and certainly are not focusing on ED visas. You will get great value for money.

Walen School - knowledge is power

[Asianrider]

Avoid Prince of Wales school on Third Rd. Had a trial lesson there, but principal wanted to teach outside on the road, so she could smoke too !

[eldiablo12]

Also suggest you at Walen school at Pattaya Klang Rd.,

Another option is A.U.A. Pattaya at Central Festival Pattaya Beach

4th Floor on the beach side behind Toys R Us.

[Pattaya46]

davidst01, you should first say where you stay in Pattaya.

School is a place you will go several times a week and it's very convenient to have one near or easy-accessed from your home.

Then you should look for ED-visa schools in this area. They are far cheaper and many are good ones .Most will accept you for a trial so that you can see how they teach and if you like the way and place. A good thing with ED-Visa school is they usually have course for 8 or 12 students, but as many people only want the visa you often have no more than 3 or 4 students in class, and that is a very good thing to learn.

Normal school are often about 25,000 baht/1 year while ED school price in Pattaya is always falling. Most are below 15,000 and I saw some of them below 10,000!

I use one ED-school. Whe usually are 2,3 or 4 students. All is in Thai. The book is in Thai with just English translation in the "new words" sections. When the Book 1 is finish the course restart from page 1, until you get the level for Book 2. You have to read, understand, speak, remember. A good way, at least for me.

Check and try several schools and take the one that correspond to you.

[devasurfer]

davidst01, you should first say where you stay in Pattaya.

School is a place you will go several times a week and it's very convenient to have one near or easy-accessed from your home.

Then you should look for ED-visa schools in this area. They are far cheaper and many are good ones .Most will accept you for a trial so that you can see how they teach and if you like the way and place. A good thing with ED-Visa school is they usually have course for 8 or 12 students, but as many people only want the visa you often have no more than 3 or 4 students in class, and that is a very good thing to learn.

Normal school are often about 25,000 baht/1 year while ED school price in Pattaya is always falling. Most are below 15,000 and I saw some of them below 10,000!

I use one ED-school. Whe usually are 2,3 or 4 students. All is in Thai. The book is in Thai with just English translation in the "new words" sections. When the Book 1 is finish the course restart from page 1, until you get the level for Book 2. You have to read, understand, speak, remember. A good way, at least for me.

Check and try several schools and take the one that correspond to you.

That is great advise. I have tried a few schools and I know it takes time to time the right one for you.

The one I settled on is Pro Language. I can not recommend this school enough, and I know they have a branch in Pattaya.

All good schools will show you their course material and also let you have a free trial lesson. If they don't agree to do that then that would make me think they have something to hide.

Other things to consider are if you would like a private or group class. Also of course the cost of the course and the times you can study. Don't rush into your choice. Ask lots of questions and get a feel for the school and staff.

[jak2002003]

I would be interested in the recommendations as well, as my wife and I would like to learn conversational Thai.

We live in Wong Amat, so the Easy ABC School on Pattaya-Naklua Road would be most convenient for us. They also seem to have the most reasonable rates (i.e., a current promotion indicates 19,960 THB each for 4 -15 participants for 80 one hour lessons)

Does anyone have any experience with or information about them?

Hi. Best one I found was Pro Language School. I have been there for 3 years now and find their style suite me very well. Their prices are the 'normal' rate, and not crazy expensive. Also the course material and books are really good. Most important in my situation was that they were able to schedule the classes to suit me.

Got to mention the teachers are very experiences and properly qualified too. I would say go and try one of their free trial lessons before you decided. Also do some research on the internet to see if there are any reviews about language school in your area. Think Pro language has its own website too.

Cheers

[Tolley]

davidst01, I would like to invite you to Walen school for a free demo, we offer a different approach to teaching Thai, most students love it because we teach directly in Thai, no transliteration at all and the results are incredible. We also have fantastic teachers and certainly are not focusing on ED visas. You will get great value for money.

Walen School - knowledge is power

Dont all the schools teach directly in Thai?

How else could you handle a classroom of different language speakers?

[Pattaya46]

Dont all the schools teach directly in Thai?

No. A good number of them make a strong use of English language during class and/or on books and exercises. They usually have no (few?) Russian student

Lot of schools use the "transliteration" thing. A kind of phonetic translation in an imaginary language. Really a bad way to learn I thing. Better to make a good effort at the beginning and learn the Thai alphabet. Not so hard as you could think.

These are 2 reasons why you must make a try in a school before signing for several months or a year!

[kevkev1888]

davidst01, you should first say where you stay in Pattaya.

School is a place you will go several times a week and it's very convenient to have one near or easy-accessed from your home.

Then you should look for ED-visa schools in this area. They are far cheaper and many are good ones .Most will accept you for a trial so that you can see how they teach and if you like the way and place. A good thing with ED-Visa school is they usually have course for 8 or 12 students, but as many people only want the visa you often have no more than 3 or 4 students in class, and that is a very good thing to learn.

Normal school are often about 25,000 baht/1 year while ED school price in Pattaya is always falling. Most are below 15,000 and I saw some of them below 10,000!

I use one ED-school. Whe usually are 2,3 or 4 students. All is in Thai. The book is in Thai with just English translation in the "new words" sections. When the Book 1 is finish the course restart from page 1, until you get the level for Book 2. You have to read, understand, speak, remember. A good way, at least for me.

Check and try several schools and take the one that correspond to you.

Could you give a clue on some names/details of some of the cheaper ED Visa schools in Pattaya Naklua area.

Many Thanks

[Pattaya46]

Could you give a clue on some names/details of some of the cheaper ED Visa schools in Pattaya Naklua area.

Sorry but the ones I know are mainly south of South Pattaya... not your area.

Just look around your home for ED-Visa panels, or ask

[phl]

The one by Big C Extra is Whalen School, very good, wife is former student and sister in law is current student. Both are happy with the school. They have beginner classes Mon. Weds. Friday.

attended the school along with few friends, and i would rank it on the scale 1-10 at about 0.5

Lessons are certainly fun, shame that the students know how to spell Thai better than the teachers, though the teachers may have changed over the years

[davidst01]

Thanks for all the replies- although some members are now getting petty and competitive with their comments- to be expected I suppose with a lot of competition between the schools.

A valid question above was what area do I live. Answer: Jomtien beach. I should have put this in the original query but what are the closest schools to Jomtien? I know that I will not be motivated to travel too far.

I will also be looking for a school that hosts afternoon lessons. Early mornings are out of the question... I would like to hear from any school that is close to jomtien and has afternoon lessons

thanks in advance

[phl]

So it is actually a real school that people attend? That's news to me.

If I cannot get my O visa sorted out I may look at becoming a pupil...

LOL, yes it is real, have the building and the classrooms with chairs in it.

Attendance is NOT compulsory, as long as its all paid up.

Teachers ability is not the priority nor is the teachers ability to read her own language.

Many say BKK branch is excellent, but i guess they employ real teachers there

PS. Out of all the pics, only 1 girl is still there and she hardly ever teach.

[KunMatt]

Yeah, that what I have always assumed.

If I went the ED route I would actually like to study and learn Thai more academically but by the way the owner promotes it on here I firmly believe that Walen School is not for me on that basis.

However if I ever just want to buy an ED visa I will bear it in mind. How much is a 1 year ED visa Walen?

[phl]

Yeah, that what I have always assumed.

If I went the ED route I would actually like to study and learn Thai more academically but by the way the owner promotes it on here I firmly believe that Walen School is not for me on that basis.

However if I ever just want to buy an ED visa I will bear it in mind. How much is a 1 year ED visa Walen?

From memory 180 hours is 25 000 baht, but this info is a few years old

[Darrel]

A valid question above was what area do I live. Answer: Jomtien beach. I should have put this in the original query but what are the closest schools to Jomtien? I know that I will not be motivated to travel too far.

There is a school opposite Rompo market at the top of Soi 5. I have no idea how good or bad it is, or what it costs, but I have seen farangs in there on occasions.

This is the only school I have noticed in Jomtien but of course there are several on Thappraya just beyond Pratumnak going towards Pattaya and they are easily accessible by bahtbus or even on foot if you like walking.

[Darrel]

A good thing with ED-Visa school is they usually have course for 8 or 12 students, but as many people only want the visa you often have no more than 3 or 4 students in class, and that is a very good thing to learn.

This could indeed be a good thing.

[Darrel]

I went into this Jomtien school and picked up a price list.

What intrigued me most about it was that a student purchases a certain number of hours (30, 90, 180 etc.) for courses that run for 1hr50 minutes, which is counted as 2 hours. In fact in the small print it says that one lesson equals 50 minutes, so presumably that means that the 1hr50 two-lesson period also includes a 10-minute break half-way through. And presumably the student is expected to pay for this break, which of course amounts to a 16% increase per hour on the price paid.

To me this sounds like a total rip-off (in Pattaya? fancy that!) and I wonder if all other schools follow the same sharp practice? Given the prevalence of cartel pricing here I suspect that they do, and I will be doing some more research next week to clarify this.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Darrel

[phl]

I went into this Jomtien school and picked up a price list.

What intrigued me most about it was that a student purchases a certain number of hours (30, 90, 180 etc.) for courses that run for 1hr50 minutes, which is counted as 2 hours. In fact in the small print it says that one lesson equals 50 minutes, so presumably that means that the 1hr50 two-lesson period also includes a 10-minute break half-way through. And presumably the student is expected to pay for this break, which of course amounts to a 16% increase per hour on the price paid.

To me this sounds like a total rip-off (in Pattaya? fancy that!) and I wonder if all other schools follow the same sharp practice? Given the prevalence of cartel pricing here I suspect that they do, and I will be doing some more research next week to clarify this.

yes they all do, which would not be a problem if some school actually employed REAL teachers, as in someone with teaching degree

[Darrel]

yes they all do, which would not be a problem if some school actually employed REAL teachers, as in someone with teaching degree

It's a problem as far as I'm concerned, regardless of how good the teacher is.

Having paid for 60 minutes I expect to get exactly 60 minutes. Just like if I buy a beer or a bus ticket; I expect the whole thing and not a partially-empty glass or to be chucked out 10 km from my destination.

If the teacher cares to call a break between each 60 minute lesson, that's fine with me. But the total time of a 2-hour lesson should be 120 minutes plus whatever the break is. Anything less is theft.

[phl]

yes they all do, which would not be a problem if some school actually employed REAL teachers, as in someone with teaching degree

It's a problem as far as I'm concerned, regardless of how good the teacher is.

Having paid for 60 minutes I expect to get exactly 60 minutes. Just like if I buy a beer or a bus ticket; I expect the whole thing and not a partially-empty glass or to be chucked out 10 km from my destination.

If the teacher cares to call a break between each 60 minute lesson, that's fine with me. But the total time of a 2-hour lesson should be 120 minutes plus whatever the break is. Anything less is theft.

While i agree in principal, i do not agree that teachers ability's are not relevant

You can have skilled teacher who will really teach you and help you learn, so i do not mind the 10 mins break, or you can have a useless teacher there for the whole 120 mins and yet you learn nothing. The last one in my books is the real theft.

At one "special" school i had the pleasure of learning Isaan and complaining did not help as the manager or who ever it was who appeared to be in charge thought it was rather funny.