somtawin must pay annual?

[dtaai-maai]

Wrong, so the rest of your words hold no substance.

Bizarre - I wouldn't try that one on Mr Plum, if I were you.

You've given a lot of confident advice and opinions on education lately, E-Dork. Objective, well-informed and friendly advice can be very helpful.

Do you teach? Run a school? Work for the Ministry of Education? Have kids at school here? Some knowledge of your experience with the Thai education system would help posters to evaluate the advice.

[Terry]

Mrs T is Thai - I'm a Brit
We have two sons aged 9 & 12
Both went to Somtawin for around 3 years - until Yamsaard opened and we moved them there.

The main difference is that as stated here, Somtawin only provides the minimum 5 hrs of Thai / week

Yamsaard is a full 50 / 50 education

If you intend to STAY in Thailand then Yamsaard is the better option as the kids will be living and growing up in Thailand
If you are 'passing through' for a couple of years & need more of an International flavour then Somtawin might be better.

Having experienced BOTH of these schools first hand as a parent I have strong views about both.

Both schools suffer from an almost constant change of staff. I would guess around 50% of the non Thai teaching staff move on within a year or two. This seems to be a common problem throughout Thailand.

Discipline - when my lads were at Somtawin it did not exist. Kids swapping cigarettes in the play ground and lord knows what else........This situation may have changed.
Certainly at Yamsaard, there does not seem to be a problem - the kids are well mannered and respectful.

Costs are about the same and like all Thai schools there are many extra earners - particularly so called summer schools

Both my boys are fluent in English and Thai to a good standard and yes both my wife and I assist with language skills where required.

The verdict from my boys - Yamsaard is harder work but a much better school all round and they enjoy going there.

As I said - the future of my lads lies here in Thailand and not necessarily abroad, although they are developing the necessary skills for this also.

[E-Dork]

Do you teach? Run a school? Work for the Ministry of Education? Have kids at school here? Some knowledge of your experience with the Thai education system would help posters to evaluate the advice.

Did a lot of teaching many moons ago here which doesn't count for much nowadays. Kids attended an International school here to finish there education when we made the move. Wife runs a teaching 'agency' of sorts -finds a school (normally government) that needs teachers and finds a farang to stick in there (sometimes not the best of the best guys to be teaching IMO).

My opinions are just that. As I said both schools have their plus sides, just depends what your after. The main point I was stressing between the two school's is your child will get much more contact with the English language going to Somtawin.

Unfortunately neither schools are exactly top standard but both better than nothing.

[bigideas]

I prefer Yamsaard because it is happy with it's "bilinguality" and does not pretend to be an international school. How can anyone call Somtawin an international school with such a lack of resources and native English speaking teachers?.. It's a joke!
I too am a big critic of Yamsaard but I hate the hypocrisy of those who so easily dub Somtawin as the best school in the area for all foreign and half foreign kids of school going age.

[E-Dork]

Big Ideas said...

I hate the hypocrisy of those who so easily dub Somtawin as the best school in the area for all foreign and half foreign kids of school going age.

Well that's because ,for some ,the choice for which offers a better education for half farang and farang kids is just THAT easy.

I think Terry gave a very good post on his kids education in each school. Each to their own. He also mentioned the reasons for the move - more contact with the THAI language.

As has been stated it really depends on what choices you want to give your kids when their older. Do you want them to be stuck in Thailand for the rest of their life or would you like to offer them the chance of maybe studying Uni abroad (which a little scrap of paper from yaamsa-ard won't cut it - neither will the paper from Somtawin but at least Somtawin's Education sets you up to take the IGCSE's which WILL be enough to get you in)

You have to think also about the way things work in Thailand if the kid is intending to stay here. The kid who has IGSCE's on his record will get the job over a kid that doesn't.

Before I shoot myself in the foot by going into this further may I ask, what programs have Yamsa-ard set up to prepare students for IGCSE's should they wish to take them?

[bigideas]

Just to keep on subject. Yamsaard School seems to have also changed it's policy of allowing customers to pay in 3 installments. The last slip I got only allowed for 2 installments. 1st Term and 2nd Term. 45,000 per term.

Yamsaard School piloted Young Learners Cambridge English Language for Speakers of Other Languages last year.

http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/youn ... s/yle.html

As yet they neither do IGCSE nor Internationale Baccaleureate.

However, parents who want to study IGCSE's can do the exam at British Council Siam Sq. Bangkok or at many other language centres throughout Bangkok. Coursebooks & resources are available online.

http://www.cgpbooks.co.uk/pages/home.asp

Which are the books I use at home with my kids.

[gasman2]

well now the website has updated with higher prices but says nothing about bi-annual payment, I don't think they'd turn students away paying in 2 installments but who knows. It seems new parents are getting nailed because of their problems last year. It would help if they answered their phone to clarify, how can they update their website but not answer calls?

[poosmate]

I was billed and paid for 1 semester as usual for this upcoming term.
The letter accompanying stated that no instalments of less than one semester would be allowed.

[gasman2]

oh ok, guess im just being paranoid