[Review] My Thai learning experience with TSL Chiang Mai (Thai 1)

I first got to hear about TSL Chiang Mai on IG, where I am part of the studygram community. Yes yes, call me weird, but I like to experience and learn new things, especially languages.

Due to COVID, they had moved the classes to 2 options; hybrid and online class. The most enticing part was the price; 2500 baht for a month's worth of lessons, 3 times a week. This translates to about SGD102, which is very affordable!

I gathered a few of my friends to attend the trial class and they were quite interested. BUT, when they heard about the frequency of the lessons, they all backed off, citing commitment issues.

I pondered for a while, and when I had to clear my time off and leave to start my new job, I decided to take the plunge and try out their hybrid morning class.

Thai 1 hybrid class

Class intro:

The lessons were taught by Teacher Cindy, and I was the only one who is stationed out of Chiang Mai.

Lesson format:

The lessons focused very much on speaking and the handouts that they gave are romanised, which made it easier for pronounciation. Each student gets chance to practise the vocabulary/grammar. There are lots of short dialogues which are very relevant to travellers.

Class size:

Very big. It was about 15 people for my class. To be fair, usually the beginner classes have a big class size that drops when moving on to the higher levels. (happens to me when I moved up the levels too)

Pace:

Very manageable. I thought that it would be tough to catch up since I was not in Thailand but Teacher Cindy made it very enjoyable. As she reviews the words learnt in every class, memory retention of the words is quite strong.

Logistics:

They use zoom for the students who are online. Also, they will send the notes for the class a few days before the start of class.

Fee payment:

After conversion, the monthly fee is about SGD100 - 102. As I am in Singapore, I used WISE to transfer the lesson fee over. If you are new to WISE, you can use my referral link to get a fee-free transfer up to 900 SGD.

Overall

I loved Teacher Cindy's class a lot and she is quite amusing. The class is very affordable and good for learning as a hobby. The only thing I didn't like was the lack of interaction due to the hybrid model. There were certain times when I couldn't get the full context because most of the students were in class while I was online. And I also FOMO-ed as it seemed like my classmates go out together for lunch after class.

Summary

Pros:

Pace is good
Affordable price point
Convienient (can log in from anywhere)
Speaking is emphasised

Cons:

Hard to interact with classmates
Big class size

Conclusion:

4/5 star

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