Mind Your Language - Thailand

A fantastic introduction to Thai with lots of phrases and words you'll actually use. Jom is an incredible teacher, always engaging and dropping in new words and phrases that will come in handy in your travels. Small classes so you get the help you need and an open environment to learn in.

Although I could only do 1 week I learnt so much it surprised me how much you can pick up in such a short amount of time with the right teacher. Lots of repetition and actually speaking involved.

Wish I had done the full course!

I'm taking intensive Thai classes online.

Compared to other language courses I have taken, Mind Your Language focuses more on practical application and more on repetition.

The course is about 20% new sentence structures or new words and 80% conversation, where you practice again and again with words you have learned (even from a few months ago). The teacher is very patient, with humour but also professional: always correcting mistakes without judging. He explains the difference between formal and informal Thai, we practice mostly with informal Thai (like sometimes using an L instead of an R and dropping the pronouns; as this is how most Thai actually speak).

He uses his own material, it can use some refinement, but what I like is that it builds vocabulary by category (many books focus on a dialogue and then eg you learn only the Thai words for 3 jobs, so you are directly stuck if reality is a bit different from the dialogue. Here you learn 30 jobs; same with dishes, drinks, locations, vegetables etc).

In short: very recommended. You will learn Thai that you can actually use.

I start the course in the end of March with Jom, Id like to improve Thai language and I thought this was the right time to do it online.
I really enjoy the class and I find the way of teaching very interesting and efficient.
Jom is a really good teacher and the lesson is fluent and fun too!

I have just finished the "level 1" session of the intensive training "2 weeks to speak Thai" from April 29 to May 10, 2019. My objective was to be able to (finally) communicate with the inhabitants of this beautiful country that welcomes me.
Before I joined, I had participated in an initiation in another school and met the leaders in another school. The rhythm offered elsewhere (generally 2 to 3 classes per week at a rate of 2 hours), like the methods, did not seem professional enough to me to quickly obtain a result for the beginner I was.
I then contacted via Facebook the "Mind your language" school, which runs the "2 weeks to speak Thai" course. I thought that immersion and intensive learning would be more beneficial for me and I had 2 weeks free.
I was immediately confident from the very first exchanges with Jom and Chiara.
I then consulted all the opinions found on the Internet. The pedagogical team supervises you perfectly from the first contacts and very quickly the date was confirmed and I made a commitment.
Our session included 3 adults.
The teaching takes place in a very friendly environment and ends with a Thai cooking class that is just as friendly at Infusion Cooking Class.
The proposed training "2 weeks to speak Thai" gives the essential basics of oral communication and grammar/conjugation. It also opens up a better general understanding.
Jom's teaching skills are a real plus. Jom is particularly experienced, he loves to teach and transmit, he is a passionate person; he is really gifted at making his teaching interesting and inviting to participate in a sustained way. His method is based on repetition: to strengthen our memory, he regularly repeats the same sentences and questions each participant in turn. His classes are dynamic, lively, he knows how to adapt to the different levels and rhythms of comprehension, motivate you when you sometimes despair of retaining these words which are surprisingly similar and difficult to pronounce, and is objectively pedagogical to encourage you to persevere when sometimes you get discouraged.
The courses are given in English. Jom speaks perfect and very clear English. As a result, these two weeks were also a perfect training opportunity for me to improve my English as well.
We were also fortunate to have his assistant, Mind, a teacher in training who is learning Jom's teaching techniques. Mind also trained us with a different Thai accent to improve our understanding. He has the best teacher!
I am French and I was 99% beginner, actually I only knew about thirty words in Thai, which is more than that I pronounced wrong. These 2 intensive weeks (5 hours per day x 5 days per week) are a plus for anyone who wants a solid foundation to start communicating.
The training is also an immersion in the local culture thanks to the anecdotes told by Jom.
His technique to boost memory through repetition is effective, I still hear the sentences that we have repeated so many times:) !!!!
The intensive course is perfect for motivated people, you really need to work to improve your learning, learn vocabulary and of course practice as much as possible.
Now we have to go for it!

I'm Belgian nationality and I've been going and coming to Thailand in the past 7 years. I've tried to learn this language myself through the books and signed up some hours with Thai teachers on skype, but it didn't go well as I've planned and expected it to be, so I decided to search for intensive courses (speaking) during my vacations and this course was recommended by one of his ex-students who has done the course with him before.
I wasn't sure at the beginning but until I've read many positive comments about the teaching methods he uses so I decided to go on and signed up for the last course of 2018.

The whole 2 weeks were absolutely amazing and worth every penny!
What happened in our class was what the school has promised us. Jom started to make us speak and repeat questions, answers, positive sentences and negative sentences on day 1 (there were 8 of us). The teaching methods are unbelievable, it's very simple but effective and at the end of every day, I went back to my hotel with a sore jaw. :-)

He's very informative with a great sense of humour.
I highly recommended the 2 weeks to speak with Jom Nawa.

After „2 Weeks To Speak - Intensive Thai Course“ I can say WOW!
I expected a lot, but not this :)
We were a small class of 5 students and Jom, our teacher.
Joms teaching method is perfect to me and I felt every minute that he loves his job.
After just two weeks our heads are full of Thai Language and Sounds. Even it was hard and brain burning, we learned and spoke Thai so much and laugh everyday by our student Kauderwelsch.
I don’t want to miss this 2 amazing weeks and I wish I had language teachers like Jom before.
Thank you, Jom!

Ich ging ich für zwei Wochen auf die "Mind Your Language School" in Bophut/Koh Samui. Der Leiter der Schule ist Jom Nawa, der zugleich den zweiwöchigen Thai-Intensivkurs leitete. Am Anfang zweifelte ich zwar, ob so ein Sprachkurs in englischer Kurssprache das Richtige für mich sei. Aber nach den ersten Tagen stellte ich doch fest, dass dies für mich eine sehr gute Entscheidung war.

Die Schule selbst ist klein, aber fein. Das Gebäude besteht aus zwei Etagen, im Erdgeschoss mit einer kleinen Küche und alles klimatisiert. Die Lehrer sind alle sehr nett und freundlich. In unserer Klasse waren wir vier Schüler, weshalb jeder entsprechend oft von Jom zum Unterricht und dem Lehrstoff der vergangen Tage befragt wurde. Das passte aber sehr gut zum Leitthema der Schule. Nämlich durch Wiederholen der Wörter und Sätze das Ganze sich schneller und besser zu merken. Die beiden Lehrbücher konzentrieren sich auf das Wesentliche und beziehen sich stark auf Alltagsgespräche in Thailand, bzw. sind sehr praxisorientiert.

I am happy to have done the two weeks to speak course with teacher Jom and 4 classmates. I learned A LOT in the little time we had. I love that this course teaches useful and common Thai words and phrases so you can start practicing after the first day. Jom is the best teacher and challenges each of his students. His teaching methods are superb and the learning environment is very fun and feels comfortable. I recommend anyone interested in learning Thai to come study here with teacher Jom! You won’t regret it! The cooking class included with the course is such a blast and I loved that I had the options to make all of my dishes vegan and they were still sooo delicious! All of the staff at Mind Your Language school are friendly and the facility is nice. I really wish I could continue to level 2, but I had to return home after the course. I look forward to studying Thai again at Mind Your Language! It’s so fun to be a student there :)

My advice to future travelers on this program....
Practice using your Thai with locals! The more you speak and listen the faster you can learn Thai! Really focus on learning how to pronounce new Thai words correctly. It helps so much to get it right the first time verses correcting it after years of saying it incorrectly. Have an open mind and just listen carefully to the sound of vowels and tones ;)

Would I recommend this program?
Yes, I would
Year Completed
2019

The family type of atmosphere in the school was welcoming from the moment you stepped through the door. Coffee or tea was offered which was welcoming.

All the teachers and staff are very friendly and it is that feeling of friendship that makes you feel at ease with your surroundings.
The course teachers are most informative and put the course content across in a friendly and enjoyable manner.

I look back at each lesson and think did I really go through that much information as the time flies past.

I have been to a few other schools dreading each lesson not knowing what to say, but at this school if you make a mistake no problem just try again. It must be the way they teach the language, the TMC methodology which reinforces way you learn the language.

T – Transformation method: Reversing sentence structure.
M – Muscle memory method: Repetition leads to accuracy.
C – Combination method: Creating meaningful paragraph.

I feel more confident in the language to be able to speak to local people outside the classroom