Short Thai Course Overview
Everything you need to know…
Getting started: When you enrol you will receive the login information for your Student Hub where you can view and download your learning materials and access 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 Short Thai Course in between 10-20 hours but this depends on your starting skills and learning speed.
Teachers: We have over 120 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 one 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 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 want to know some Thai for travelling or holiday purposes
Duration & Lessons:
- Arrange as many lessons as you need to complete the course (average 10-20 hours tuition)
- Stage one consists of 10 chapters (see the course outline below)
- One chapter can be taught in 1 or 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;
- 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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Short 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: £39
- 2 students: £59
- 3 students: £79
- 4 students: £99
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)
- 4 students: £30 per hour (£7.50 per person per hour)
Workbooks: You can download the worksheets from your Student Hub but you may also choose to buy the workbook during the enrolment process or after enrolment as an upgrade / add-on. Workbooks are A4 size and contain over 100 pages of content. The stage one workbook for the short course costs £12 per book.
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Short 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)
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.
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: You may choose to continue learning stages 2 and 3 after completing the Short Thai Course. Upgrade to the Speak Thai Course for £50 to continue your Thai language experience.