 |
 |
 |
Testimonials for Khru Yuki Tachaya
“I have found Kruu Tachaya to be an excellent teacher who has helped me improve across all aspects of the Thai language. She is patient and conscientious and has proved eminently adaptable as a teacher – always tailoring her approach to suit my particular interests. I would say that two things, in particular, strike me as being significant strengths in Kruu Tachaya’s teaching. First, Kruu Tachaya has a a very good ear for tonality/phonology. She is assiduous in correcting errors and is able to give correction in a way that does not detract from the flow of reading or conversation. This is extremely helpful when it comes to learning a tonal language like Thai. Secondly, whilst Kruu Tachaya’s lessons can be, for the most part, ‘immersive’ in style – keeping to Thai as much as possible – the fact that she is bi-lingual means that, on occasion, she is also able to communicate, with reference to English, the particular nuances of language meaning or usage and this is, at times, invaluable.“ Oliver Duce, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
“Kruu Tachaya is an exceptional teacher, I found her on the internet and am grateful I did. She’s thorough, patient, and a kind-hearted young Thai woman who’s more fluent in English than most native speakers here. She’s also willing to take questions via email outside of the lessons and is prompt with a detailed answer. A teacher who is enthusiastic and makes the difficult process of learning a foreign language enjoyable. And that is invaluable.” Michael Conaway, Los Angeles, California, USA
“Having been to Thailand several times I thought it would be best to learn to speak Thai for my future trips. I searched the internet for online instruction and found Tachaya. I truly enjoyed taking lessons from her and being able to do it over the internet made it extremely affordable. Without the internet I wouldn’t have been able to take the lessons due to a very hectic work schedule. Tachaya is EXTREMELY patient and a wonderful teacher to work with. Her command of the English language is impeccable which in my opinion helps her to be a better teacher. I hope to take more lessons from her in the future and would highly recommend her as YOUR Thai language teacher.” Scott Manschester, Denver, Colorado, USA
“I have been enjoying classes with Khun Tachaya for the past five years. She has been helpful and patient teaching me Thai. Having lived in Thailand for several years, it has been good to finally start learning to read and write Thai. There are such subtle differences with vowel length and tones, that having a private classes are invaluable. I’m able to record the classes and later review what I’ve been learning. Khun Tachaya has been very professional in answering any questions, she answers very quickly by typing on the skype chat program. I’m happy to recommend khun Tachaya to anyone wishing to learn Thai, at either a basic or more advanced level.” Peter Tresize, British Columbia, Canada
“It’s remarkable how much Thai language khru Tachaya taught me to read, speak and understand in less than six months. I truly don’t have any special aptitude for learning foreign language and everything I try to learn has become more difficult as I grow older. Even so, I was able to learn far more than I ever expected because of the qualities she brought to the process. Her innate ability to assess “readiness” for each next step was amazing. It kept the learning process moving forward without ever feeling overwhelming. Her flexibility in scheduling appointments and reliability in keeping them ensured a consistent process that was also convenient. I think the value of private lessons is quite clear. While an individual hour of time in a private lesson may cost more than an hour of class offered somewhere, the difference was much less than expected and the tailored learning experience moved things along at exactly the right pace. I was never falling behind or waiting for others to catch up.” Andrew Hall, Long Beach, California, USA
“I was so lucky to have found Tachaya through internet searches for a Thai teacher this past fall. She is both professional and affordable. I am currently filming a documentary in Northern Thailand and decided that I needed to be able to communicate with my subjects better than I did during my first shoot. So I learned Thai before my second shoot and the difference was amazing. My characters opened up to me and appreciated my effort and thus gave me a better effort in their English. As we were both learning a new language our communication was vastly improved. I am positive that the film will be better and emotionally charged due to Tachaya’s teaching me so much vocabulary and grammar in only 40 hours of lessons. It was an integral part of my trip and even allowed me to haggle for some lower cost for goods at the market. Thanks Tachaya!” Dave Adams, Brooklyn, New York, USA
“The hardest part of Tachaya’s class is to keep thinking that it is a class, she has the ability to take me to subjects that I’m passionate about and sometimes feel so strong that I have to use a known language to express myself. I love her teachings for her patience, attention to details, and professionalism, but mostly because she makes me feel I’m talking with a friend. Wish you the best, khun Tachaya.” Victor Campos, La Paz, Bolivia
“I was looking for a teacher to help me learn Thai for a fellowship in Thailand next year. I was unable to find a teacher locally, but I did find Tachaya’s ad for lessons via Skype. I was hesitant at first because I had been hoping to find a teacher I could meet with in person. However, I was reassured by her introductory email where she asked about my language experience and my interest in learning Thai. After my first lesson, I was sure that I had made an excellent choice. I found that meeting with Tachaya on Skype was fun and far more convenient than traveling to meet someone in person each week. I was able to study how to both ready and write Thai script over Skype. Tachaya is enthusiastic, patient and fun to work with. She makes sure to vary the pace, slowing down when you need more help and speeding up when you’re moving along. She always makes sure that you master the content. If you’re interested in taking Thai for business or pleasure, I highly recommend taking lessons with Tachaya.” Brian Edgar, San Francisco, California, USA
“My son and I took several lessons from Tachaya before our trip to thailand. She really got us in the mood for our big trip and helped prepare both of us to communicate better with the people we are going to meet. She’s always on time, completely focused on you during each lesson and customizes all of her teaching to your needs. My son, 15, said that she explained things in a clean and concise way that should be modeled by the language teachers he’s had in school! I highly recommend her to anyone hoping to learn the language or understand it better.” Steve Capellini, Miami, Florida, USA
Testimonials for Khru Miki Chidchaya
“I have been learning Thai at various professional language schools in Hua Hin and Bangkok over a period of twelve months and recently engaged Miki to take lessons in Thai speaking and listening. I found Miki very friendly, extremly helpful and very professional in her teaching methods and as I found her methods to be my most successful, I have no hesitation in recommending her to any student who may wish to engage her.” David Nicholls, Western Australia, Australia
“I learnt Thai and Japanese language from Khun Chidchaya. I found her to be extremely professional with gifted ability to explain difficult things in a manner that can be easily understood. Her teaching methodology is very simple yet systematic. It is difficult to find such able teachers. She is very cultured and soft spoken. I recommend her highly to strengthen the foundation and further.” Dr. Ashutosh Tripathi, Kanpur, India
“I wanted to take a few moments to write some comments for an extremely talented Thai Language teacher that I have been lucky enough to meet. Her name his Miki. I have studied with Miki for several months via Skype video lessons and she has always been creative and very open minded in her approach to teaching. Miki has command not only of colloquial Thai, but also colloquial English as well and I believe this gives her an excellent ability to move back and forth between the nuances of both languages. In my own case, Miki was quick to adapt to my own style of learning. My approach to learning a language is to move back and forth between studying the fundamentals of grammar and then using movies, documentary Films, long clips taken from YouTube, etc. to really begin to get a feel for and experience language as it is used in real life. I could tell that Miki also really liked this style of learning. We made a deal that we would choose film clips that were very interesting to both of us. The result of this approach to studying, was 1.5 hour long video Skype lessons that seemed to fly by in 10 minutes because it was interesting, challenging and exciting. Make no mistake, Miki will make sure you understand the correct fundamentals of the Thai language. But, you can also be certain that her style of teaching will be very creative and the content used in the lessons will not be a bunch of dry, school-book phrases. In my opinion, not only is Miki a really nice, intelligent and open minded person that is a pleasure to study with, but she is also, without doubt, definitely one of the best teachers of Thai language that you will find.” Brian Binns, Los Angeles, California, USA
Testimonials for Khru Mary Jane
“I have been taking lessons with Khru Jane twice a week for over 3 years now. Khru Jane is an amazing teacher and I owe it to her that I can speak, read and write Thai now. She is passionate, flexible, patient, empathetic and resourceful; i.e. she has all the qualities needed to be a good language teacher. She is able to explain concepts clearly and concisely and adapts the lesson according to my level of proficiency. Over time, the lessons have evolved to include both speaking and typing in Thai, whilst at the beginning they were mostly conducted in English. The lessons are also tailored to be interesting for me because she will focus on topics or stories that I am interested in and passionate about and use that to teach me grammar and increase my vocabulary. She is clearly passionate about teaching as she is always cheerful and full of energy in every session. Sometimes, if I feel unmotivated or tired, Khru Jane has a remarkable ability to energize and inspire me when the lesson starts. She can carry the lesson, keep the conversation going, ask questions that will keep me engaged and encourage me to speak more in Thai. I think this is the most important attribute of a teacher because if a student is motivated then they will naturally gain an ability to improve in the language. She also uses a variety of resources to make the learning experience engaging and interactive. For example, we might play a game or watch a Thai advertisement or movie trailer or listen to a song so that I can absorb the language in a variety of ways and also learn Thai that can be used in real situations. We learn a lot about Thai culture during our lessons too, which I think is very important. Understanding social norms, manners and traditions are crucial to being able to communicate effectively in the language you are learning. For example, what is considered normal business etiquette? What are some things I can say in my culture that might be offensive in another culture? What about table manners? etc. Overall, I highly recommend taking lessons with Khru Jane. Teachers like her are really hard to come by.” – DC, Singapore
“I’ve been learning Thai with khru Jane for over 5 years now. At the beginning I wasn’t really sure what to expect from these Skype lessons. But a few weeks later I was completely persuaded of it. I didn’t just want to follow the structure of the exercises given, I always wanted to make my own sentences and small conversations using the vocabulary from the exercises done together. Khru Jane is an excellent teacher, very patient, always smiling and a wonderful person to work with. We always have a lot of fun together. I still make mistakes when writing my own sentences but it’s getting better and better every couple of weeks. I really appreciate that khru Jane always tries to give me more than one example of how to use a word and how to put it the right way in the sentences. I remember one week we were talking about the word trend/trendy which I wanted to use in one of my conversations. Not only did khru Jane show me how to use my chosen word (which I used wrong) correctly but also gave me three other words explaining how Thai people talk when they mean trendy. This is exactly how the lessons with khru Jane become so valuable for me. I am really happy and always looking forward to learning Thai with khru Jane.” David Meyer, Bern, Switzerland
“I have been studying Thai with Kru Jane for about a year now and she has been wonderful. I have tried other study methods before and have not enjoyed it, but I am really enjoying Pick-up Thai and Kru Jane is a great teacher! Since studying with her, I have grown so much in my Thai speaking. Before studying with her, I would not speak more than a sentence at a time. I was afraid that I was saying things wrong and that people would not understand me. Thai tones made it even more difficult for me to speak and Thai grammar is the hardest thing for me. But Kru Jane has been very patient and kind and always tries her best to help me understand. She always gives different examples to help make sure I get the information before moving on. One example of Kru Jane’s patience is being able to read my Thai handwriting. Sometimes when she goes over my work, we laugh about it, but it is fun and helps me to not make the same mistakes again. I have learned with Kru Jane that it is okay to laugh at my mistakes in learning Thai and that I can grow from them. I am understanding more and more each week and I am enjoying learning the language. I still have a long way to go before I am fluent, but I am confident I can reach that goal studying with her. Now I am at the beginner’s level and I am excited to continue to improve. If you want to learn Thai and feel confident in your learning, I would suggest studying with Kru Jane. I was afraid that Pickup-Thai would be just another program that goes through a method and just expects the students to understand but it’s different. Kru Jane is very engaged with her students and I believe that this is the best way for students to grow. At first, learning Thai seemed impossible for me but now I believe that one day I will be able to speak Thai with full confidence.” Savanna Richard, South Carolina, USA
“I have been taking weekly lesson with Khru Jane for more than five years now. The lessons with Khru Jane are well structured with optional material to prepare in advance which serves as the lesson template. Despite the welcome structure, the lessons are by no means rigid; for large parts of the lesson Khru Jane naturally branches the conversation from the course material and in turn gently encourages and supports my attempts to express and understand the language on wherever the topic might lead. The lessons are always well prepared and whilst sometimes challenging have always been delivered in a light hearted, supportive and above all patient manner. I hope to continue my lessons with Khru Jane for the foreseeable future.” R. Morris, London, UK
“I have taken Skype lessons with Khru Jane for several months now. She is very kind, flexible, and makes learning fun. She uses humor to make each experience entertaining, and she is very patient with my many questions about the lesson, Thailand, and the culture, and very accommodating of my demanding work schedule. The lessons and supporting materials (e.g., Podcasts, guides, transliterated materials, etc.) are well-structured, but she will repeat a portion (or all) of the learning material if I need it. Each lesson has built upon the last, and each interaction with Khru Jane has been nothing but positive! As a testament to her teaching skills and the course structure, I recently traveled to Thailand where I was able to use some of my new found language skills to greet and communicate with my host family, monks at temples, and throughout the day in restaurants and shops. Khru Jane is a joy to have as a teacher, and I look forward to building my Thai language skills with her!” Adrian White, Virginia, USA
“It is now more than 15 months that I am learning Thai with Khru Mary Jane. We have been focusing our lessons on podcasts out of the Creamy Coconut series and recently on the e-book “365 Must-Know Thai Phrases.” Over the last months, my ability of speaking and understanding Thai have improved a lot. Recently I have been on a vacation in Thailand with my wife for about two months, and there I had numerous occasions to practice my Thai knowledge. Although I am still far away from being fluent, I was really satisfied with my progress. And in several situations I even got acknowledgements from Thai people. This success I have to attribute mainly to Khru Mary Jane. She was able to further develop my existing Thai knowledge, and she manages it to keep my learning motivation high. The lessons with her are always well prepared and structured. I especially appreciate her engaged, supportive and patient manner. And it is always a lot of fun to study with her and to exchange views both on Thailand and Germany. I would like to go on learning Thai with Khru Mary Jane, even when I manage to relocate to Thailand, which is my aim and dream.” Arndt Laube, Geisenheim, Germany