Speak Thai Course Overview
Everything you need to know…
Getting started: When you enrol you will receive the login details for your Student Hub where you can view and download your learning materials and access your teacher contact information. If you purchase the workbooks separately you will receive them in the post usually within 5 working days. Your teachers contact details will also be sent via email. Get started by downloading the learning materials and contact your teacher to arrange a free trial lesson
Free Trial: During a one hour trial lesson your teacher will introduce you to the course materials, assess your current skills and ensure you start at the correct level. This is also the best chance for you to work out the logistics of where and when you will attend lessons with your teacher.
Learn Thai: Arrange your tuition and pay your teacher directly, £12 per hour for private lessons or bulk buy 30 hours tuition for a discount (see below for group and discounted rates). Continue to learn for as long as you need and book lessons at times to suit you and your teacher. The average student will complete the Speak Thai Course in between 30 – 60 hours but this depends on your starting skills and learning speed.
Teachers: We have trained over 130 teachers nationwide all using the same teaching materials. It is easy to stop learning with one teacher and start with another. If you want to learn with another Thai Style teacher we will happily send you their contact details. It is good to have o
ne main teacher for consistency but it is also an advantage to learn with many different Thai speakers to practice your listening and speaking skills.
Course Options: Short Course | Speak Thai Course | Read & Write | Speak, Read and Write | Upper Int. Thai
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Thai Style’s Teaching Methods:
Thai is a tonal language so for westerners who are not used to speaking with tones the most effective way to learn is with native speakers who can help you pronounce the tones, correct your pronunciation and answer your questions. If you follow our steps to learn with a native speaker we expect most students will speak great Thai after about 30 hours tuition.
Private tuition helps individuals learn at their own pace and speeds up the learning process by focusing on strengths and weaknesses. You should try to practice new skills everyday, which is why we have incorporated creative homework with audio and written tasks to test new skills and help you remember. The homework and audio work in conjunction with the written materials you following lessons with your teacher.
- Learn to make Thai sounds and tones to pronounce Thai words correctly
- Use repetition to help you memorise until you can differentiate different sounds and tones
- Practise listening until you can distinguish Thai sounds and tones
- Build up lots of vocabulary and understand Thai grammar
- Learn how to make simple and complicated sentences to use in conversations
- Practise conversation with your teacher to help you speak naturally
- Learn how to read and write to better understand Thai
Study objective & Course Aims: The course has been developed to emphasise on conversation skills, pronunciation and tones, basic grammar and general conversation using English transliterations. We expect the average student to have a basic understanding of the language to help them converse with Thai people. We aim for students to understand the principles of Thai language, basic vocabulary, basic grammar and able to speak basic Thai conversation as well as distinguish the Thai tones.
Who is it for?
- Complete beginners
- Individuals who already speak a little and want to improve
Duration & Lessons:
- Arrange as many lessons as you need to complete the course (average 30-60 hours tuition)
- Each stage consists of 10 chapters (see the course outline below)
- There are three stages to complete, 30 chapters in total
- Each chapter can be taught in 1 – 2 hours depending on each individual
- We advise you attend at least one or two, 1 hour lessons per week
- You may increase lesson duration (1.5 hours or 2 hours) and pay your teacher pro rata
- Try to leave 2 or 3 days between lessons to give you time to practice and consolidate new skills
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Learning Materials:
Provided to help you learn and develop speaking and listening skills;
View Example Chapter | Section 1 Example Audio
- Written materials give you structured lessons. The intuitive, easy to follow chapters cover many different topics.
- Audio materials work in conjunction with the written materials to remind you the correct pronunciation and develop listening skills.
- Self Study homework tasks test your listening, pronunciation, vocabulary and knowledge of Thai to help you develop fluency.
- Video lessons are also provided to give you a visual learning guide.
To keep our costs down and enrolment fees affordable the learning materials are provided as a download available from your Student Hub. The worksheets are PDF format and look great on an iPad or you can print them to take along to your lessons. The audio is provided in MP3 format which can be used on any computer, tablet, smart phone or portable music device.
Workbooks: As well as the downloadable version of the materials you may choose to purchase a workbook separately during the enrolment process. The workbooks are one stage of the course (10 chapters), A4 size and contain over 100 pages of content. They cost £12 each.
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Speak Thai Course fees:
There is a one off enrolment fee which provides you with everything you need for your lessons. You can save money on the enrolment and tuition fees when you learn with a friend.
Enrolment Fee:
- 1 student: £80
- 2 students: £139
- 3 students: £179
Tuition Fees:
- 1 student: £12 per hour
- 2 students: £20 per hour (£10 per person per hour)
- 3 students: £25 per hour (£8.33 per person per hour)
Workbook add-on: You can download the worksheets from your student Hub or you may choose to buy the workbooks. There is one workbook for each stage of the course (10 chapters). They are A4 size and contain over 100 pages of content. Workbooks cost £12 each.
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Speak Thai Course Lesson Outline
Stage 1: Trial lesson & Chapters 1 – 10: During the first stage, we aim to introduce the principles of Thai language to students, as well as basic Thai grammar. Students will learn about Thai consonants, vowels, tones and pronunciation, basic vocabulary, basic conversations on different subjects and basic sentence structure. Learning the principles of the language is very important as it helps and leads to a good understanding of Thai language and can be used as a reference for what the students will learn in the future.
Introduction: Thai language and Thai Style teaching methods 1. The principles of Thai language. 2. Transliteration & pronunciation guide. 3. Symbols, lesson plans and learning guide.
Chapter 1: Greeting; formal greeting, informal greeting, traditional way of greeting
Chapter 2: Meeting people; how to ask ‘What’s your name?, real/official name, nickname, and how to say nice to meet you
Chapter 3: About yourself; Job/occupation, nationality, hometown, etc.
Chapter 4: Addressing people; personal pronouns used in different situations
Chapter 5 : People and family
Chapter 6 : Numbers and counting system
Chapter 7 : Classifier / Numerative / Counting system
Chapter 8 : Requesting / Asking for help
Chapter 9 : Things / Singular / Plural (1)
Chapter 10 : Things / Singular / Plural (2)
Stage 2: Chapters 11 – 20: During the second stage, we aim to build up a lot of vocabulary, Thai grammar and emphasize on how to construct sentences. Students will learn a lot of vocabulary because someone at a beginner level needs to know many words to be able to make sentences in conversations.
Chapter 11 : Verb to be (is; am; are)
Chapter 12 : Action verbs ‘to do, etc.’ & Possessive verb ‘to have’
Chapter 13 : Yes / No question words
Chapter 14 : Tense words
Chapter 15 : Telling time & Time words (1)
Chapter 16 : Time words (2); Days and months
Chapter 17 : Directions; Going & Coming
Chapter 18 : Positions / Prepositions
Chapter 19 : Senses
Chapter 20 : Wh-question words
Stage 3: Chapters 21 – 30: After stage 1 and 2, students should have enough vocabulary and understanding of the Thai grammar to communicate, so during stage 3 we aim to let students have free conversation in Thai with the teacher to learn to speak naturally like Thai people and also to help building up the student’s confidence to speak Thai, as well as practise constructing sentences.
Lesson 21 : Emotion and Feeling
Lesson 22 : Personality, attitude and characteristics
Chapter 23 : Ability / Possibility and Asking for help
Chapter 24 : Travelling
Chapter 25 : Money / Shopping & Basic conjunctions (1)
Chapter 26 : Food and Clothing & Basic conjunctions (2)
Chapter 27 : At home & Basic conjunctions (3)
Chapter 28 : At work & Basic conjunctions (4)
Chapter 29 : Activities; Entertainment and sports & Basic conjunctions (5)
Chapter 30 : Illness, Hospital, Clinic and Drug store
A one hour lesson plan:
This is a rough guide for a one hour lesson but your teacher will adapt this to suit you.
- 2-5 minutes : Meet and greet
- 15-20 minutes : Revision from the last lesson. (except free trial lesson, use this time to introduce the course)
- 5-10 minutes : Vocabulary (part 1)
- 5-10 minutes : Conversations or Questions & Answers
- 5-10 minutes : Vocabulary (part 2)
- 5-10 minutes : Conversations or Questions & Answers
- End of lesson : If there is still some time left, the teacher will have free conversation with you to practice your new skills.
Further Course Information: The trial lesson introduces the Thai language and the teaching methods. With a good understanding of the principles of Thai and how to use the materials you will find it much easier to learn Thai. Each chapter is sectioned into topics which contain vocabulary, dialogue, grammar, language points, customs, culture, characteristics and manners relating to each subject.
There are homework / self study parts for each section to help you practice new skills after your lessons. The homework is separated into 5 parts to help you practise and improve different skills; Listening and pronunciation, vocabulary and structure accuracy, function, fluency and principles.
The audio (MP3 downloads) work in conjunction with each section of the course and each homework task and aims to help you develop listening skills as well as remind you the tone and pronunciation of each new word. The audio has a male and female Thai speaker to help you hear the differences between their voices. (read example PDF and listen to example MP3)
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What’s Next?
Continue Learning / Upgrade: When you have completed the Speak Thai Course (stage one, two and three learning materials) you may choose to continue learning. Upgrade to the Read and Write Thai Cource for £80 and receive the next 3 stages to continue your Thai language experience and learn Thai scripts.