somtawin again

[gasman2]

Hi, I would like to ask some fairly basic questions that the Somtawin website fails to answer, as ive sent the school three email in the last few weeks with no response it seems that they aren't too forthcoming either:

1.) What are the fees for the english program kindergarden?

2.) Are the kindergarden teachers native speakers?

3.) What is the ration of foreign kids to Thai kids in the kindergarden?

4.) How much of the english program is taught in Thai?

5.) Are the kindergarden kids supervised at break times?


Teaching English to toddlers is not rocket science.

[STW_Ryan]

Hi gasman,

I'll do my best to help, though I'm only a teacher so I don't have any input into the financial side, and I'm not 100% sure of fees.

1. As far as I know it's something around 90k per semester (2 semesters per year) but I could be wrong. Essentially though, much cheaper than international schools in BKK, similar to Yamsaard and more expensive than Salesian.

2. Each class has a native English speaker. This year we had 3 British ladies. We have Thai staff who assist, and teach Thai lessons (don't worry, the vast majority is in English and taught by the native English-speaking staff).

3. Not sure on the ratio of foreign-to-Thai as I teach primary and don't spend that much time in kinder.

4. Only Thai is taught in Thai. English, maths, social and art are in English.

5. Yes kids are supervised in kinder at all times, they're too small not to do that!

6. Teaching English to 1 toddler isn't rocket science but I'd be terrified of a class of 3 year olds!

Btw class sizes are pretty good, I think last year K1 was 5 kids, K2 around 15 and K3 20ish.

What email address did you contact? I'd like to know so I can find out if it's a wrong address or not being delivered or caught in spam-traps for any reason. If you want to talk to someone in person, drop me a PM and I'll give you our (British) head teacher's phone number so you can have a chat, and he can also put you in touch with our head of kinder (also British).

I hope this helps. Btw the website's due for a revamp soon, I've got something in progress so the new version will be much more informative.

Cheers,
Ryan

[gasman2]

Hi Ryan thanks a lot for your answers, I will drop you a PM, Im pretty sure that the addresses I contacted included one from the website and another perhaps from somewhere on this forum.

Thanks again

[gasman2]

90k per semester (2 semesters per year

Just one thing, does that mean it is 180k a year?? Heard it was about half that

Cheers

[STW_Ryan]

90k per semester (2 semesters per year

Just one thing, does that mean it is 180k a year?? Heard it was about half that

Cheers

It's perfectly possible that I have my numbers wrong (ie it might be per year) as I don't really do much with the finances, so probably best to check with the school. As I mentioned before, if you can tell me what email address it is I can check that mail is being delivered properly, and if needed give someone a prod to actually answer it!

[terry+carmen]

I think these figures are way out.

I have just payed 44k for half year for my daughter in Year 8 (13 years old)

Contact Mark mark@somtawin.ac.th. He runs the Administration Department for a definitive price.

[STW_Ryan]

I think these figures are way out.

I have just payed 44k for half year for my daughter in Year 8 (13 years old)

Contact Mark mark@somtawin.ac.th. He runs the Administration Department for a definitive price.

Oops, sorry, I guess I should seriously avoid a career in sales! In future I'll keep my mouth shut when people ask financial questions!

[Spitfire]

Before we all get too excited about kindergarden EP programs like what appears to be being implied here gasman2 at this school, perhaps the question you should be asking is............

Do the teachers have a CELTYL (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners) or equivalent?

They should do for that price in a place like HH, if they haven't got one then we can only speculate why.

[GLCQuantum]

Do the teachers have a CELTYL (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners) or equivalent?

May I ask, WHY is this certificate all you rave on about when it comes to a thread about schools or teachers. I VERY recently aquired this certificate after 6 years of teaching (4 years at Somtawin). Not only does this little sheet of paper mean nothing towards any improvement in my teaching it was also a waste of time after having already been in the classroom for 6 years and learnt things first hand.

Okay I understand that NEWLY appointed teachers that have NEVER taught before should certainly have this (along with the TEFL?). Everything you learn in the CELTA / CELTYL can be self taught from all the millions of teaching websites on the internet.

Also that was the last time I use ECC again, what an absolute donkey my CELTYL teacher was!!

I'm sure the case is the same at Somtawin as it was when I was there....... If ya can't teach you don't get the job!!!! Would be pretty stupid of a place to hire teachers that can't teach . Some of you guys must think them guys at Somtawin are morons. Well I can tell ya (again from first hand) THEY AINT!!

[GLCQuantum]

Sorry me again!!

Incidently Spitfire. I work in an international school in Bangkok where the fees are in excess of 250,000k plus and 9 out of 10 teachers do not have either a CELTA or a CELTYL so your comment......

Do the teachers have a CELTYL (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Young Learners) or equivalent?

They should do for that price in a place like HH, if they haven't got one then we can only speculate why.

.... doesn't really make any sense.

No offense intended by this post or the last at all mate, just that it doesn't really apply to anyone apart from NEW, FIRST TIME teachers.

Cheers

[Spitfire]

Well GLC, it does say "or equivelant" and that means TEFL etc for adult leaners or some kind of training for teaching kids, it's not the same type of teaching. OK, the CELTYL/CELTA is the Cambridge qualification, think the Oxford one is called Trinity, not sure. So, what I mean is that are the teachers just the usual degree holders with no experience or training for who they will be teaching? Do have a degree in tourism and are teaching English? It's often the case, not saying there's anything wrong with that, just trying to be clear/transparent about what the deal is, my apologies if my last post was somewhat ambiguous.

I am also surprised by you saying that you work at an expensive international school and you say 9 out of ten teachers there don't have a CELTA or equivelant, somewhat unusual these days, though it was pretty much a requisite to be considered for such positions these days.

Well, OK, must say though that I surprised if that's the case, but fair enough, depends which part of the country you're in, I suppose, different rules/requirements for different areas.

[STW_Ryan]

Spitfire, to be honest most international schools look for either BEd/PGCE/Equivalent or lots of experience and excellent references. TEFL/CELTA/etc rarely comes into it. A bit like a British school will ask to see your PGCE but probably won't care much about your GCSEs.

GLC's not the only one of our former teachers to be at an international school, in fact quite a few of our teachers have ended up at very posh schools, which gives some indication of the calibre of people we acquire despite limited funds. We've had some amazing people through the years, some with the bits of paper, and some without.

I personally taught adults in the UK (my oldest student was 72) and found it an enormous jump when I tried to teach kids in Thailand so you're right that there's a definite jump between the two styles of teaching.

Regarding the bits of paper. The legal requirement is a degree, the TEFL/CELTA/etc are optional, and based on my experience you don't learn much from them. You learn much more on your first day in the job (which mirrors my experience in the IT industry where I learned little of use in uni and learned loads when thrown in at the deep end). Let's just say that you end up in situations that just don't get discussed in a TEFL course! Kids do crazy stuff and you have to handle it there and then, and be perfect from the word go, one wrong move will bring the wrath of parents and management! It's scary!

Anyway, back to the point. Any school will look for the best staff they can afford, meeting the legal requirements. So, you need a degree so you're not doing visa runs all the time and that's it for legality. After that you look at the person. Do they have a good rapport with the kids? Do they know their topic? Do they understand teaching methods? Can they manage a classroom? Bits of paper will only tell you some of that, experience (references) tells you more and personally I'd say experience (quality rather than quantity) counts for a lot.

A good teacher can do so much for the lives of their kids, and a bad teacher can make a real mess of it (I experienced both as a kid!), so a school's choice of teachers is one of the most important factors when choosing a school. A great teacher can teach anything and make learning a pleasure with minimal resources and a rubbish teacher will just make your child unhappy no matter what's available, so when choosing a school don't look for a posh library, a huge tennis court, flashy fountains, or any of those things. Look around. Are the kids happy? Are the teachers the right people to teach your kids? That's what decides if the school is right for you or not.

[terry+carmen]

I won’t get involved in the argument about the merits of qualifications verses experience but maybe this will put things into perspective.

For the last teaching post offered at Somtawin there were 120 applications, some teachers just out of university, some with years of experience.

I agree with Ryann there are some amazing teachers at Somtawin and the turnover of teachers speaks for itself.